#kisame meta

[nardo-headcanons]

i was looking at your naruto headcanons and they are amazing especially the ones about kirigakure!!! i was wondering if you'll have somes about gender dynamics and expectations in kiri. just asking... also i found out you do art as well...NICEEEEEEEE (im canonsinthehead btw...)

Hii! I'm happy to hear you enjoy my ramblings about Kiri and my art!! Makes me feel like I'm not just screaming into the void.

cn: mentions of colorism, sexism and queerphobia

Gender Expectations in Kirigakure

The role of women in Kirigakure

Generally speaking, it used to be rather uncommon for women to become kunoichi. One of the women who did was Ameyuri Ringo, who quickly became an idol to many young girls in her time. The idea of a woman swordsman was ridiculous - yet she fought her way up to the top. The shinobi affilitation was a very men-oriented field and those women who did became fully fledged shinobi were battle hardened and didn't take shit from anyone.

However, it was very common for women to be part of the workforce, since many citizens are on the poorer side, women from higher ranked families being the exception. The most common jobs taken on by women used to be rice and fruit farmers, seamstresses or business (co-)owners.

This has changed, however, once the fifth mizukage, Mei Terumi, rose to power. She encouraged young women and girls to fight for their dreams and become shinobi as well.

Women of the middle and higher classes are expected to take care of themselves, look pretty and be gracious, elegant and soft-spoken. Arranged marriages were nothing uncommon, often leaving the women with no choice in the matter.

Men's role in Kirigakure

Men are expected to be hard workers, providers for the family, but the image of the ideal man does differ from other cultures. Men in Kirigakure are rather comfortable in their femininity and it is not uncommon for men to wear makeup, do skincare and sleep with silken bonnets to take care of their hair. This often leads to Kiri men being seen as effeminate or flamboyant.

The exception to this are Kiri fishermen and sailors, who have adopted a more 'westernized' view of masculinity. Often foul mouthed and abrasive, they have formed their own subculture of 'new masculinity'.

Gender outside of woman and man

It is not uncommon for youngsters and teens in Kirigakure to reject the idea of being either a woman or a man, however it does lead to scrutiny and condemnation of Kirigakure's older population. People assigned female at birth are more often scruitinized than people assigned male at birth.

The beauty ideals in Kirigakure

Fair, pale skin Fair skin is seen as a sign of wealth and beauty in Kirigakure and a very desirable trait to many people. Skin bleaching creams are widely available and there are many problems with colorism in Kirigakure.

Long, luscious hair Another sign of wealth, long, open hair is seen as the beauty ideal because it means not having to work a tedious job where long hair would be seen as tedious.

Brown eyes In a country where people with kekkei genkai were frequently hunted down and killed, it is to be expected that anyone with a rare or unnatural eye color would automatically be seen as a freak, leading to brown eyes being the beauty ideal in Kirigakure.

A plump, well fed looking body This is pretty much self explanatory, as more plump bodies are seen as a sign of being well fed and able to afford leisure time.

That's all, folks!

[not-so-terrible]

So Kisame's often considered the fourth most powerful Akatsuki member, but the top three are pretty unanimously Obito, Pain and Itachi. And with Kisame's motto being survival of the fittest and MO being taking out the weakest links, it’s fascinating to see him end up as one of the most well connected members of the Akatsuki. And since the top three never openly get to clash, technically speaking, he stays loyal to all of them. He's; 

- Working broadly for Pain, Akatsuki's open leader, who wants to create peace through traumatising the world through a cycle of war

- Working secretly for Obito, Akatsuki's real leader (and by proxy, Madara and Zetsu, Akatsuki's real-real leaders), who wants to create peace through trapping the world in a dream realm

- Working day-to-day for/with Itachi, the Akatsuki's biggest name, most powerful field member, and a secret double agent, who wants to create peace through becoming the most powerful shinobi that's ever lived,  and through using that power 'as much as he wants', 'lead the world to subjugation'

So either Kisame is the ninja equivalent of the minions, or the dojutsu wielding top three of the Akatsuki all looked to him and went 'yup, he's Henchman Shaped'

[hoshigaki]

bestie what are your kisame and/or itakisa hc's?

bestie! thank you for asking!

i have a lot of thoughts on both so i had to sit with this for a bit and this may have turned into meta posting instead

kisame grew up too fast both in terms of how kirigakure shinobi society is and in the sense that as a hoshigaki the shark traits made him age faster than other youth around him which meant ten year old kisame was six feet tall with a baby face

this man will actually eat anything and when he eats chicken he bites into the bone to eat the marrow out and then eats the bones also but the last time he did that in front of someone (hidan) it was treated as a party trick and kisame doesn't like the attention

he does not like soft things like blankets or pet fur since the texture is too off putting on his own skin, but he does enjoy the smoothness of silk and satin, though if hes not careful the fabric will tear when going across him

i like sticking to canon or as close to canon as i can for kisame since this is the one time where kishimoto's ambiguity actually works in a character's favor. i think kisame, first and foremost, enjoys getting to know people as a form of entertainment, first as a kid when he could gave their reactions towards him as a hoshigaki, then as a teen where the only people he could interact with were older or much younger than him (thanks zabuza), and later as a shinobi getting intel spying on his comrades. kisame is friendly because it makes others unnerved by him and also underestimate him, both which are funny to kisame because he knows he always has the upper hand. i also think kisame views friendships as a fantasy since all the people he interacts with end up dying, sometimes by his hand, so friendliness and conversation are entertaining rather than meaningful. in canon we see in his flashbacks that he knows he can't get attached to people because they will be killed so he is a fundamentally lonely person but hes also a rule follower dedicated to the task at hand so it seems kisame finds it easier to cope with missing out on friendships and relationships by getting along with people as a game rather than fully break from the role of obedient henchman for a nihilistic world ending dream solution he's come to follow instead.

my last kisame headcannon is that hes the beefiest and most sharklike of the hoshigaki because thats hot as hell

itakisa headcannons continued over here

[akatsukirites]

She looks out the window beyond the tower's gaze. On towards the water– Caladan's never-ending seas. Violent and rippling. Soaking in the hour's rain only to funnel it back up into dark clouds. At least here, in the old quarters, the meta-glass sky canopy only allows the most suitable amount of rain. A superficial amount. Just enough so that the crops and plant-life may not drown. 

"You look lost in thought, my lady."

Konan scoffs under her breath, amber eyes searching below the depths for an answer to her worries.

"Please do not call me by such titles. I've long been a traitor of the Bene Gesserit."

Kisame runs a sharpening stone across his blade in rhythm with his own heart-beat. He finds that it's the only meditative practice that stuck with him after betraying the Sardaukar. He runs and runs and yet cannot find home no matter how long he suffers through this ocean planet. He seems content to call her as he will, though she's told him to quit calling her by her title for years.

"Do you worry for the young Atreides?"

"So you've heard the news?"

"Not much intel escapes these ears."

"You still keep old channels?"

"The servants are bored without their masters. Gossip is their only pastime." He flips the blade over. "You must give them tasks."

"I'll do no such thing."

Kisame shrugs, his thick neck preventing his shoulders from coming up too high. His expression says as much. 

"Why do you keep him in your thoughts?"

The sea churns with mystery. A planet with a billion-year history, and this one not always wet. What carcusses and broken steel towers lie beneath the waves? What nearly-forgotten conspiracies and sunken histories? There are answers in the caverns below the surface; yet guarded fiercely by strong currents. She could chart a boat– but then the secrets would go to the cursed Spacing Guild. She knows she cannot swim that strong.

Konan finally turns away from the window. Afternoon shadows fall across the room, leaving most of Kisame's form in obscurity. It is only with her training that she recognizes the tension of worry. "Do you know of the Kwizatch Haderach?"

"The Bene Gesserit prophet?" 

"The Order fears his coming."

"They think the young Atredies this prophet?"

"One cannot know what the Order thinks. But if the Reverend Mother judges him to be so, I can only imagine what horror she'll whisper to the Emperor."

"What better place for revenge than the– what did you call him?" he pauses, looking into Konan's sharp, expectant eyes. "The Kwizatch Haderach's home world?"

Konan turns back towards the ocean as Kisame gives her a report on what remains of their battalions and warcraft after the Harkonnens whipped Caladan with their hatred for the Atreides. Were it not for Kisame's timely orders, they'd all be slaves to those pigs. Though, they lost almost half their reserves in the process. It is a bittersweet victory. 

"And so you find the source of my true worries, my lord."

"It is foolish to rise against the Sardukar with what men we have left."

"There must be another way," she murmurs.

But what way is left for a household with no name?

[doomspiral]

Unbelievable that no one asked you about some of the popular pairs... I want all the hot takes: Gerita, Holytalia, USUK, Mapletea, Franada, Geraus, Swissaus

first of all i think youre overestimating some of these bcs i forgot mapletea *was* a ship, but lets go.

Gerita: D tier ship, cute in canon but where do you go from there? B tier if you let Feliciano be the older man who cradlerobbed a trophy husband and has multiple warrants out and cannot visit for the holidays.

Holytalia: also D but i liked what i tthhhink kisame was doing with it

USUK: N/A I'm not a teaboo anymore but if tumblr ever goes back to calling bowties sexy again this one stands a chance of getting revamped in a way that could be appealing.

Mapletea: N/A blood from a stone my guy

Franada: C I have 10k in meta that won't see the light of day until y'all can promise to act right.

GerAus: E, also blood from a stone. I like what my friend is doing with it but beyond that im sowwy ??? Blank

SwissAus: A tier, slowly working through some fics with good premises to them. There's chemistry I see the vision.

[silvernyxchariot]

More About Me

ᴀ ᴍᴜʟᴛɪғᴀᴄᴇᴛᴇᴅ ᴇʟᴅʀɪᴛᴄʜ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴏʙsᴇʀᴠᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅs ᴅɪғғᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴇxɪsᴛ. ʙᴜᴛ ɪ'ᴍ ᴀʟsᴏ sᴛɪʟʟ ᴊᴜᴅɢᴍᴇɴᴛᴀʟ.

⚠️DNI: TERFs & FemiNazis, racists, bigots, anti-LGBT+, trolls, harassers, MAPs/pedophiles, incest shippers, meta-slaves/meta-gamers, anti self & OC shippers.⚠️

Current Favs: Supernatural, Wuthering Waves, JoJo's Bizarre Adv. (pt.1-6, reading pt.7)

Romantic/Intimate Self Ships:

¹ Donquixote Doflamingo, One Piece*

² Sunday, Honkai: Star Rail

³ Kavetham, Genshin Impact

⁴ Jean Pierre Polnareff, JJBA pt. 3 & 5

⁵ Kisame Hoshigaki, Naruto

⁶ Satan, Obey Me!

Kin List

¹ Al Haitham & Zhongli; Genshin Impact

² Lisa Yadōmaru & Sui-Feng; Bleach

³ Akasuna no Sasori; Naruto: Shippuden

⁴ Castiel; Supernatural

⁵ Gregory Violet; Black Butler

⁶ Giorno Giovanna; JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo

⁷ Daria Morgendorffer; Daria

• "Will you post more content for [blank] series?"

If I feel like it. My asks are currently closed.

• Rules

Remain civil and friendly to me and others. If you don't like my content, block me, as I also block freely. If Anon is turned off and you do not want your info in the answer blog, say that, and I will omit your info.

No personal questions. No questions relating to incest, pedophilia, or kinks such as watersports, golden showers, or scat. Blood play, breath play, knives, guns, some gore and horror or dark themes are accepted.

I reserve the right to ignore and decline asks or block any patron for any reason.

Q&A

• How are you?

🎶Stressed, depressed, obsessed, and possessed🎶(/small ref)

• What do you post?

Mostly rambling thoughts about my current obsession, including headcanons, one-shots, actual rants, and gaming thoughts.

Sometimes I post my art, but I'll leave that more to my Insta and TikTok.

• Are you autistic?

Yes.

I was also under the impression that many of us here on Tumblr have some form of psychosis or multiple./lh

I use tone indicators, italics, bold letters, warnings, emojis, slang & colloquial vocabulary, JPN emoticons, and strikeout text to emphasize different tones and moods in my writing. Which also leads me to: if you find my tone rude, that is your own fault.

It is not anyone's job to make you comfortable or tiptoe around your feelings on their own blog. (rant here)

• "You sound familiar. Have we met before?"

No.

The internet is a vast place, connecting people of various cultures, countries, languages, socio-political, and spiritual beliefs. I advise you to grow up, meet new people, or venture outside of the small circle you live in.

• "I've never met someone like you before" or "I'm slightly confused by your behaviour. It's unusual."

You are ignorant and brain dead if you've pulled the "I've never met anyone like you before" card.

Other people outside of your country exist. The internet is connecting people from different continents, cultures, spiritual beliefs, attitudes, personality types, socio-economic classes, and people who speak different languages. In my case, speech styles apparently made the list 🙄.

• Are you an AI artist?

No. If I still had my DeviantArt account from 2011, it would be very clear that I worked hard to get to where I am today. I do not support AI "art," "artists," or art theft.

• Are you a shipper?

*Alan Rickman voice* Obviously.

To my understanding, self shippers are also called "Yume(doshi/jin/danshi)," for (fem/neu/masc) respectively. So, I am a yumejin.

But with all these other labels, I think you kids would call me a "neutral shipper." But I'm starting to understand proshippers more and more each day. My golden rule is, I will either block you or ignore you if I don't like your work, blog, or ship. What you ship is your own damn business. Not my problem. Of course, on my own blog, I have my limits. As I respect your space, respect mine. Why people aren't logical enough to do this, just makes me believe fandom spaces deserve the hate they get. Examples:

I am a monster fucker and accept furries, but not bestiality (real animals).

I don't approve of pedophilia or the adjacent. But I'm not going to harass you for liking Nahida.

I, too, like Kaeya and Diluc x Lumine shipping (read that as "hentai"), but not specifically Kaeya x Diluc because I see them as sworn brothers.

To my understanding, proshippers are people who are willing to ship anything while letting people be and comshippers purposefully ship things that are seen as "dark" or "complicated." All for entertainment purposes, of course.

I'm definitely not an Anti. Last time I checked, I don't do that thing where Anti's will tell you to "kys :)))" or "i hope u get r🍇ped and assaulted again because u deserve it🥰". I'm not going to rant to you like I'm morally superior to you and, in the same breath, be a harasser. Dear Anti's, make it make sense. 🤨 Because you are being more harmful than helpful.

Foot notes:

* Uncomfortable sharing because someone tried stealing and copying my art and OC...🧍‍♂️We were in the same fucking One Piece server too, like "You're not slick." The mods KNEW this person for copying and tracing other art too, but they let it slide for months, until a group of us were fed up with her and retaliated.

[fina1chase]

Like yeah I make Kisame pregnancy jokes but i get him deeper than that. Also I havent posted my kisame meta bc 1. People dont ask me and 2. Im not too good at properly articulating my thoughts that arent just shouting in the moment

[snickiebear]

your hook bobs, the bait sways (let's see what bites)

rating: T

relationships: hoshigaki akura/ezume (orginal characters), minor haruno sakura/hoshigaki kisame

for @birkastan2018 !!

summary:

a butterfly flaps its wings; the sea responds.

or,

before Kisame and Sakura, there was Akua and Ezume. there was learning peace and learning love and learning of the world, and then there was family and light and an unbreakable future that she can hold with two shaking hands. its more than she's ever dreamed, its exactly what she needs.

[the-pasta-dragon]

An AU where everything in Naruto is the same but Kisame survives

Ugghhh what could have been. He should have surviiiiiiiiiived. The whole Akatsuki should’ve survived but that’s another discussion. I have a lot of feelings about this and they’re all jumbled up. Is this cohesive? Not really. 😅

- Kisame lived damn near his whole life without anybody having his back. For a while he had Itachi, who he genuinely trusted and cared for (although to what extent and how mutual that was is purely up to you). Most importantly, he respected Itachi. And then Itachi died.

-Every time I think of someone else who could’ve gotten through to him, I come up with a reason why it wouldn’t have worked, and I make myself sad again so I’m not including that here because this post would be three times as long with all that rambling.

-But say he did live. Would he go back to Kiri? Honestly, maybe? He still has Samehada, and you know they’d want that back. Yeah, he deserted, but that was after what could arguably be considered one of the most traumatic times of his life. And since Tobito is no longer in power there, things have gotten better.

-Konoha? Itachi’s home (although this option would fully depend on how bitter he was at them). They’d probably welcome him. Cause, y’know. Konoha. And they took Orochimaru back; honestly if they can forgive him for all his BS they don’t have the right to turn away anybody.

-I could see him wandering around just doing his own thing though, maybe meet up with Sasuke’s nonsense occasionally, coming back with him to Konoha to dote on Sarada like a vicious-but-still-incredibly-polite-uncle. Beat the shit out of Gai for forgetting him again. (And that’s a can of worms in its own right. Have you seen that meta post about Gai’s health? I’m pretty sure it was on here; I’d link it but I can’t remember who wrote it.)

-He could’ve gotten an apprentice in Kiri and started training them up in kenjutsu while traveling around. Or if he stayed in Kiri, he could be a mentor for the current/next gen of the Seven Swordsmen, maybe drag Suigetsu’s sorry ass back with him to help. 😂

-Or maybe he’d settle down, start a family somewhere. No matter how many times Kishimoto changed the way he drew Kisame, said shark man was always handsome, if not downright beautiful. Like honestly. Can you imagine babies with blue-grey skin and white eyes playing on a beach next to a little house off the coast of some island? 🥺

- And really this is just all basic stuff that are nice to think about, there’s no telling where one could actually take it if they thought about it in terms of an actual story/timeline change.

I just word-vomited all over this post. Probably should’ve actually written something more cohesive but I saw the notification four days late (good job me) and it caught me off guard. If you want more word-vomit about the rest of the Akatsuki or more details about any of these, send me a thing? I’m already a mess let’s keep it going! 😅😂

[nardo-headcanons]

Kirigakure Worldbuilding II - Specialties

Inspired by a recent conversation I had with @pxssy-stuntin-for-itxchi, I got wanted to add more to my Kirigakure worldbuiling post!

Food Preservation Since except for a month during the winter, it never really gets cold in Kirigakure. This has lead to its citizens becoming very creative at enhancing the shelf life of the food that they have. Meat/fish is dry-aged and smoked, fruits are turned into preserve, cheong, or slow-dried. Dairy is a luxury in the water realm, so there are a lot of plant based dairy alternatives already, so it’s no surprise the wave realm has a quite big vegetarian and vegan population. Even though their spice tolerance is not the highest, when talking SALT tolerance, no village can beat Kiri. They are VERY generous with salting their food. In order to get a smokey flavor to any dish, you can obtain smoked salt everywhere in the country. The water realm was the first region the come up with the concept of fermentation of food. Milk is turned into yoghurt and cabbage is turned into kimchi and its more popular variant - sauerkraut. Fun fact: Suigetsu comes from a high ranking caste, so he actually was able to afford dairy yoghurt and jello with actual gelatine, and they're his favorite foods.

Kimchi and Sauerkraut

The general spice tolerance of Kiri citizens is not the highest across the shinobi world, so kimchi is mostly exported to Konoha and Suna. The cabbage grown in the water realm is specifically bred to be extra heat resistant and crunchy. In order to cut down on waste, the excess is turned into sauerkraut juice. To put less of a strain on the public healthcare system, the water realm government has issued its citizens to exercise and eat healthy – especially children. To get more children to drink sauerkraut juice, it is produced in portable, biodegradable little juice boxes which are handed out for free in the Kirigakure academy. Every Kiri genin has tasted it atleast once. Scurvy was once a big problem for most shinobi going on long term stealth missionas, since most just lived off dried meat and crackers, except for Kiri Nin, since they always carry sauerkraut juice (and kumquats) with them.

Fruit

Mangos: With their sweet and fruity taste, they’re popular amongst children, especially when dried, rolled into balls with an added sugar crust. While other countries see them as a special treat they’re a staple in Kiri. Papaya: Another Kiri staple. It is eaten either as a fruit in its orange form or in its green form in more hearty dishes. The seeds are ground and sold as a pepper alternative. Its extracts of the are used by the Kiri beauty industry, which is the biggest one, closely followed by Suna's beauty industry. Peaches: Often grown on the mountaintops of the water realm, they’re loved all over the country. Peach trees are seen as a sign of fertility, renewal and good luck. The pits are turned into persipan, which many foreigners don't like. Durian: Those stinky fruit are banned in Kiri’s public spaces. However, it is still the most popular fruit overall, so only a few get exported yearly, much to the other countries' durian lovers' chagrin. Jackfruit: Not a lot of Kiri citizens like its fleshy texture but it is often used as meat alternative by Kiri’s large plant-based population. Lychee: They’re often sugared and canned, or added to jelly. They're amongst the most popular fruit to make cheong with.

Kumquat: Kiri nin love them because they’re basically easily portable, vitamin c filled snacks. Other honorable mentions include: Rambutan, Mangosteen, Starfruit, Cherimoya, Soursop, Yuzu and Tamarillo.

Jelly If you’ve read my last post on Kiri specialties, you probably know that instead of manufactured candy, Sweet tooths (teeth?) in Kiri chomp down on dried fruit, fermented sugary sticky rice and – jelly. Gelatine, like most non fish animal products, is a luxury so most jellies are made with agar-agar, a plant based “gelatine”. Just take some fruit juice and set it with agar – and there you have jelly. Most foreigners find Kiri’s obsession with jelly pudding off-putting, but that doesn’t stop them. Fun fact: Suigetsu comes from a high ranking caste, so he actually was able to afford dairy yoghurt and jello with actual gelatine, and they're his favorite foods. Non food fun fact: As genetic engineering gets more advanced and Kirigakure already having no issues using bacteria, they're also the biggest exporter of nutrient agar for agar plates which are used for the cultivation of bacteria and funghi. Kigakure is the leading village when it comes to biological and medical advancements, which is why Orochimaru has visited very often (and eventually ran into Kimimaro)

[not-so-terrible]

Konoha: Wow, it’s so great our double agent within the Uchiha Clan has the selfless Will of Fire, completely cancelling out the possibility for trauma, repressed emotion and deep love to trigger the Curse of Hatred and cause them to sacrifice the many for the few they care about. We can relax and leave it all to him :)

Itachi, trapped on a burning clifftop, wrapping Sasuke in duct tape in preparation to throw him over the edge: ~ I will kill our friends and family to remind ☽  you ☺ of ♬ my ☮ love ☠ ~

[verdantmoontruther]

something that makes me chuckle is that nagato/konan/obito/whoever was responsible for pairing together the akatsuki members just did... such a bad job. like i understand that the doylistic reason why each pairing had to juxtaposing members, but on an in-world level, it’s just such hilariously bad luck. get a religious extremist with a penchant for disrespect and reckless violence? great, give him to the century-old neurotic miser who is willing to blaspheme for coin, they’re both immortal, they’ll have loads to talk about. get a sadistic, caustic man whose sole purpose for defection was to create a world of truth? what if we... put a 13-year-old pacifist whose entire defection is built on a lie in his care. get an insane artist? put him with the other insane artist! shelve them like some onions pickled in brine and gunpowder. nothing bad could ever happen there!

maybe obito was just amusing himself at that point.

[leportraitducadavre]

Hello, are you having a great day? Are you enjoying holiday - if you celebrate them, that is. I have this question regarding Itachi: Do you think his character would've worked if he stayed as his Part 1 self?

Would it worked if it was framed how badly Konoha brainwashed him and he had sort of epiphany how rotten the system is and he became a criminal to fight it? Would it work in a way that's why Kisame and Itachi got along so well was because they had similar goal in mind? -Even though I have still troubles figuring out Sasuke in this, maybe it would stay the same or not-

Instead of him being a double agent and being still loyal to Konoha?

(Or is his character so ruined that it couldn't be fixed?)

(PS: Sorry if it is a bit wonky, English is not my first language.)

The problem isn’t Itachi following orders and killing his clan, the problem is the narrative justifying it. The problem is Itachi’s actions against Sasuke are narratively framed as love-driven. The problem is the constant justification of him being “brainwashed” by one single individual while we saw him constantly doing things that dispute this very notion and the basis of the Council’s arguments against the Uchiha. 

I don’t think it’s bad for Itachi to be loyal to Konoha as the very core of the story focuses on the corrupt shinobi system that sustains itself by producing wars in order to gain economic and military power while crushing smaller villages and/or clans. Itachi’s character is nothing but the reflection of a much bigger issue where he’s a complying tool that sees no wrong with the structure in place.

It’s a decent conflict and plot device to introduce in order to polish Sasuke’s character and his anti-system stance, but it gets absolutely destroyed beyond recognition by the need of redeeming a character whose structural core isn’t meant to be redeemed.

The story is pro-system as it’s pro-Naruto. Naruto’s main goal is to be recognized by everyone and, in order to be, he aspires to become Hokage. 

If such desire of him gets even a little bit threatened, then that’s a threat the plot will work around to destroy. Sasuke’s stance inside the plot is a threat -a very much real threat- to Naruto’s core goal as becoming Hokage of a country whose system is built on the oppression, murder, and destruction of others (villages or people alike) destroys Naruto stance inside his own story: He can’t be seen as “the good guy” if what he upholds is paradoxical to his heroic status. He turned, much like Itachi, an oppressed who became an oppressor, the justification for that 180° turn lays in the idea that rage, as a negative emotion, shouldn’t be pursued; yet rage, more so in the face of systematic oppression and genocide, is not only a very plausible emotion but also a very valid one to have. 

Naruto consciously represses his “negative” emotions (they’re emotions, the “negative” or “positive” connotation is given by the cultural perception of those feelings) as he considers them “destructive” of himself and his goals, stripping his feelings of substance when what he feels due to the discrimination he suffered it’s actually a very human and reasonable thing to have. In his particular case, “forgive and move on” isn’t the strongest thing to do, as anger forces the individual to deconstruct the reasoning behind such emotion, while forgiveness means no introspection.

Forgiveness isn’t something to give, it’s something to earn, and not a single Will of Fire supporter (who were the very same who discriminated against Naruto and everyone else), made something to win -Naruto was left alone in his turmoil, and in order not to be alone he granted them the mercy they never even asked for. If he allowed himself to truly experience his emotions, he’d have to chase the core of his ire, which will make him realize that the very issue laid on Hashirama deciding to use vessels to contain the Tailed Beasts, which made the Jinchuurikis central to the power-balance between the villages and that, in turn, made his father decide Naruto’s fate as both an orphan and a Jinchuuriki.

Because he considers forgiveness as this “incredibly powerful concept that only truly strong people give”, he thinks that “not forgiving” and instead seeking justice (by pursuing rage) is intrinsically negative, therefore, whoever searches for it is plunged into darkness and -as a person that “experienced” such feelings and “came out victorious”, it’s his job to show them the way.

I don’t think that Itachi, however, is as deep as Naruto in this regard -he naturalized the oppression his kin suffered at the hands of Konoha and decided it was the natural occurrence of things, him being “not-oppressed” meant that he was doing things as they were supposed to, unlike everyone else. He wasn’t able to see that he was the exception to the rule because he allowed Konoha to strip him from the identity no one else wanted to resign. His emotions weren’t in conflict because there weren’t conflictive emotions inside him in the first place.

He never truly considered himself Uchiha in the strict term of the word (he spoke badly of the clan in front of other members), as he was “Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf” (the order he implanted on Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was "protect Konoha", not be loyal to it -Itachi claiming to be "of the Leaf" was his own conviction).

This nationalistic mindset, vastly sustained in the "greater good" rhetoric, also tries to diminish the relevance of ethnicity identification inside the Narutoverse.

Let me explain it further: Being part of a clan isn't -or shouldn't be by Konoha's standards- as important as being a Konoha citizen. People inside the village should consider themselves Konoha citizens first and part of a clan second, so if the greater good (meaning, Konoha's survival or superiority) entails clans' oppression or the tolerance of slavery practices (Hyuuga), not only these practices are narratively perceived as necessary but also are to be accepted by those affected by them because they have to see the bigger picture.

This rhetoric isn't as challenging for those in power: some fans claim that all shinobi are forced to forfeit/diminish their identity as clan members to be Konoha's shinobi first, yet it translates differently in practice. It's easier for those benefited by the system to consider themselves part of their nation before their clan because their ethnicity isn't perceived nor treated differently.

I'm incredibly sorry for introducing notions you didn't ask for, as your question was far simpler and was more inclined towards the inspections of possibilities. But at his core, Itachi knew what he was doing, Itachi knew the flaws of the system and the reasoning behind his family's attempted coup -as he also was told to kill also the innocents, no person with at least one neuron working wouldn't have realized why that was asked of him.

Kisame and Itachi didn't have that good of a relationship either, they got somewhat along, but Kisame was keeping tabs on Itachi as Kisame was loyal to Obito's plan -the only thing they had in common is that they killed their own comrades by the village's request, yet, Itachi was still loyal to Konoha while Kisame became rogue. Kisame wanted to live in a different place, and he trusted no one but Obito, which is why he saw Tsukuyomi as possible (it depended on no people's desires but Obito's).

Hope this answer satisfies you.

[huskymaine]

Kakashi Has No One to Blame for His Suffering?!

A.k.a part of this post, but with more elaboration on one of the point. 

So recently I went to Reddit, a toxic site I know, someone posted about a good video that they made. It’s the conversation between Kakashi and Sasuke before Sound Four came with some addition of Kakashi’s backstories because as the video maker said “wanted to highlight Kakashi's point of view, after we learn more about him”. The video post is so good and not offensive at all, but it quickly turned into pain wars, because reddit is full of . In the middle of the mess (not really, it’s one of the top comment actually), I found this comment.

This is... something that I wanna talk for so long, because that statement is somehow popular but IS UTTERLY WRONG.

[long post below]

This comment has 30+ upvotes and perhaps more because in Reddit downvotes will reduce the upvotes and I am downvoting the hell of this comment. Meaning that there are at least 30 Naruto redditors who is legit humans in this world who has the same mindset. Or they’re bots, since that statement is so heartless. Borrowing Obito’s words, 

“WHAT CAUSE ME TO DESPAIR IS THIS WORLD ITSELF! THIS COUNTERFEIT WORLDS!”

Because by Gods, it’s so painfully incorrect. I have no idea what they had in mind to write that. Maybe they want to undermine Kakashi’s struggles, but it's like saying that soldier's family shouldn't blame anyone for their grief because "soldiers were ready to die anyway".

For those who read this post and are soldiers/polices and/or having soldier/police loved ones, I am deeply sorry for the insensitiveness of that statement. Hope you and your family stay safe and if something bad happen, you have people who will sympathize with your anguish.

Like seriously, Naruto is a story about shinobi world. Where shinobis kill each other in the name of mission, grieved each other, and bore hatred toward each other. Heck, the main theme of that anime is to “break the cycle of hatred”.

So the mentality of “no one can be blamed for shinobi’s death on a mission” is like demeaning the core of the anime itself.

If no one can be blamed for shinobi’s death because “they were ready to die anyway”, what about Chiyo, who attack Kakashi because of his resemblance with the man who killed her grandson’s parents? 

What about Obito, who massacred Kiri nins and manipulate Yagura to Kiri’s ruin because of Rin’s death on a mission? 

What about Nagato, who destroyed Konoha and even at first has prejudice to Jiraiya because he wears headband with the same symbol as those who killed his parents after they attack those ninjas first? 

What about those shinobis who fights with others from different villages before Gaara’s speech because of their shinobi loved ones’ death? 

What about those who hates Kyuubi and Bijuu for the losses of their loved ones on Bijuu’s rampage? 

The heck, what about Sasuke? Itachi is a shinobi who readily accepted massacre order and its consequences you know? In what logic Kakashi has no one to blame on 13 years old Rin’s death but Sasuke has the whole village to blame on 13 years old Itachi’s suffering?

I am in no way demeaning their pain. They are wronged. Their grief is valid. Their loved ones were ripped apart from them in a tragic way because of the cruelty of the world. My point is, if we sympathize with them for hurting because their loved one will not return, why the hell Kakashi somehow should expect that his loved one will not return to him? If they have someone to blame on their suffering, why Kakashi had no one to blame? 

Kakashi is hurting too, by the death of his father, Obito, Rin, his Sensei, and perhaps more. He’s a shinobi since the age of 6, but in no way he was ready to lose them all, especially in such a tragic way. He literally said that he also thought his world was a hell because of the death of his loved ones (who were all shinobis). He even said that Obito’s path maybe is not really mistaken, ya know, the whole brainwashing all people in the world under happy delusion, making it the most illogical statement that Kakashi ever said in the whole anime.

Konoha, Kiri, Iwa, Kurama, he can blame them and we’ve shown many other people do that. Heck, Kakashi can hate the whole world like Obito and Madara. Kakashi has so many people to blame for his sufferings, just because he doesn’t blame anyone doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. 

Although, I can’t fault people much for thinking that way. When we project into Kakashi’s inner self, we can’t find people whom he hold a grudge. But why we can’t find anyone despite the fact that conditionally Kakashi is wronged by so many people?

I can’t find any reason except that Kakashi from the bottom of his heart chooses to not hold a grudge or hatred.

At least from what we saw in anime, Kakashi chooses to not blame anyone for his suffering. Kakashi chooses to not pursue revenge. Kakashi chooses to not have prejudice toward his opponents (past or present). Kakashi chooses to treat Kiri-nin Haku with gentleness and fulfill Zabuza’s last wish. 

Kakashi chooses to console Chiyo (who declared herself as his father’s enemy) when she had doubt with herself and made her laugh (I spoke about it more on this post). 

Kakashi chooses to trust Kurama (the one who killed his sensei and his wife), accept Kurama’s help, thank him, and even say that he was relieved to be captained by him. 

(Humain note : “We can stroke each other off after we’ve kicked its ass!” I’M HOWLING some fan scanlation is amazing. KakaKurama shipper this is your content).

Of course that doesn’t mean he never hates anyone. In his teen on Kakashi ANBU arc he was cold-hearted, had no mercy to Iwagakure shinobis and became “a being that produced darkness”. Kakashi ANBU arc is indeed not manga-canon material, but it was concepted from Naruto 4th Databook so at least the idea came from Kishimoto’s brain (and that’s why it’s the best filler arc, at least for me).

I think that’s how he gets his “obsessing with revenge made you feel empty” speech. During his ANBU era it’s easy for him to blind himself in killing spree and felt empty afterward. As he grew older he has no problem to stand side by side with Kitsuchi the top-tier Iwagakure shinobi that high possibly participated in planning Iwagakure’s movement on Third War.

He also has Iwa shinobis on his squad but at no point as squad leader he was shown mistreated them or threw them on frontline as human shield because of his hatred, although he has the authority power to do so.

Tl: dr = I am not a soldier/police and has no soldier/police loved ones but if I have one, I hope that every time they went to a mission, the first thing on their mind should be that “they have to return” instead of “they might not return”. 

[sloaners]

Let it Go, dattebayo

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A comic commission for @phoenixyfriend, inspired by her fun crossover AU post!

[omoiintensifies]

Naruto pairs/couples are all about balancing each other out. By that logic, if Kisame balances Itachi, shit has to be really dark in Itachi land.