#like where did that level of energy and focus come from and why Naruto specifically 😭

[idkhowtopickausername]

I feel like the plot of Naruto has been replaced with a version of the story where Sasuke is the main character in my head because the parts that involve him are the only parts I remember well lol

[docexe-mx]

Hola, no sé si alguien ya te ha hecho esta pregunta, pero ¿por qué elegiste NaruHina sobre otros barcos? Como NaruSaku, ¿dónde es más explícito que Naruto está enamorado de Sakura y que ella comienza a devolver sentimientos, o SasuNaru, donde tienen un vínculo más grande y más establecido?

Translated to English:

Hello, I don’t know if somebody has already asked you this, but why did you choose NaruHina over other ships*? Like NaruSaku, where is more explicit that Naruto is in love with Sakura and that she is starting to return his feelings, or SasuNaru, where they have a bigger and more established bond?

Subsequent asks:

Do you believe that Naruto had a bond with Hinata? If so, how would you prove it?

Why is it difficult for people to understand that stating that Naruto cared about Hinata doesn't deny what he had with Team 7? Or why is it difficult for NH fans to accept that Naruto's first ties were to Team 7?

* As an aside, I feel the need to point out that the Spanish version of the first question used Google Translate so the term “ships” (derived from the word “relationships”, and used in fandom parlance to refer to fan preferred romantic relationships) is translated literally to Spanish, that is: “ships” = “boats” = “barcos”. The thing is, we Spanish speakers don’t use the term “ships” when referring to fan-preferred romantic relationships, and a proper equivalent term doesn’t really exist in Spanish (or at least, not as far as I know, you never know what neologisms will come from the Internet after all). So, we simply refer to them as “parejas” (that is “pairings” or “couples”).

That clarification aside, I stated before I was going to reply to these asks, so here we are. Very belated reply, but I spent most of October and November swamped with work and hadn’t had the time or energy to reply before, especially as I ended extending myself and essentially composed an essay.

So, without further ado, the reply is below the cut. I ended composing it in English as the subsequent asks came in English, so I presumed whoever send the questions was more proficient in that language. I put it below the cut for the benefit of whoever doesn’t want to read my shipping rants:

Regarding why I chose to ship NaruHina over other ships, to put it simply, I just found NaruHina’s dynamic and relationship far more endearing.

At the core, NH is a very tender love story: Two kids who suffer from being looked down and rejected (him by most of the village, her by most of her family), ultimately find mutual support and love on each other. Specifically, I found that the scenes both of them have together during the Chunin Exams arc carried a lot of emotional torque, and those scenes made me fall in love with the couple. Those scenes are also the ones that I would use to establish the bond between Naruto and Hinata, because yes, I do think they have a bond, and is a bond we see blossom as the manga progresses even if (admittedly) is not a bond that receives a lot of focus.

He starts as a snotty and troublemaking brat, the worst student in his class and the village pariah (and a pariah for reasons that are not his fault and were absolutely beyond his control). But in spite of all his mistakes, he never surrenders and persists on making reality his impossible dream, no matter what everyone else says. His courage and determination end catching the eye of this quiet, timid girl, who is rejected by her family due to her lack of strength. Her admiration for him inspires her to become braver and stronger, and in the process she adopts his nindo (“I’ll never go back on my word”). Ultimately, said admiration also ends blossoming into love.

At the third Chunin Exam, after seeing Neji trying to demolish Hinata’s confidence with cruel words (cruel words that ring far too close to home for him), Naruto cheers on her, which motivates her to confront her fears and battle Neji in spite of her cousin surpassing her in skills by far. Hinata’s courage and determination during the fight end impressing Naruto in spite of her defeat. Neji’s brutality also motivates him to avenge her honor (and with a blood vow, no less), as he feels kinship with her.

Before the fight with Neji at the quarter finals, Naruto feels down as his opponent is really strong and, in spite of all his training, he is not sure that he can actually defeat him. By chance he ends running into Hinata. She thanks him for cheering on her previously and muses that she is finally starting to change a little and likes herself more now. At her words of gratitude, Naruto drops the bravado and turns sincere with her, revealing that in spite of his boasting, he doesn’t think a “failure” like him who is always making mistakes can defeat a genius like Neji.

In response, Hinata proceeds to encourage him, stating that what she admires of him is not that he is perfect, but rather that in spite of making mistakes and failing he has the ability to rise and try again. She considers said ability true strength, hence why she considers him a very strong person, or a “proud failure” as she calls it (and incidentally, this is another detail that makes the ship endearing to me: Hinata is among the first few people who sees beyond Naruto’s flaws and realizes his true worth). Her words end cutting deep into Naruto (just the way he looks at her completely wide eyed shows how much she affects him) and help him to recover his determination. He leaves to face Neji but not before thanking her, stating that while at first he considered her a weird and plain girl, she is actually “a person [he] truly like[s]”.

Later during the fight, after Neji explains the tragedy of his past and the reason for his fatalist outlook on life and destiny, among his rebuttals of said outlook Naruto calls Neji out for his treatment of Hinata, pointing out that Hinata also suffered like him yet still was desperately trying to change her own fate (thus showing us that Naruto also understood Hinata’s plight). Finally, after the fight and Naruto’s victory, his first thoughts while basking on the audience ovations are (at least in the manga): “Where is Hinata? Did she saw that?” (Of course, Hinata is unconscious at this point due to her prior injuries acting up when she saw Neji injuring Naruto, but that’s a bit beside the point).

As you can see, in that entire sequence of events mentioned above is shown that they end forming a bond in their mutual understanding and support of each other, as well as in their shared nindo. It’s not a bond that receives a lot of focus later in the story, admittedly, but it’s still there and later developments in the manga don’t really negate it. Indeed, we end seeing a couple of actually significant story events that ultimately reinforce it. 

I’m talking of course of Pain’s invasion of Konoha (when, while trying to save him from Pain, Hinata confesses her love to Naruto, explaining how he inspired her to change and become better, then Naruto goes straight to Six Tails in rage after watching her being injured by the villain) and the battle between the Shinobi Alliance versus the “Uchiha Sith Lords” and the Juubi (when, after seeing Neji die in battle while protecting him, Naruto is about to surrender to Obito’s rhetoric due to failing to protect his friends, yet Hinata stops him and encourages him again, helping him recover his fighting spirit while telling him that his feelings for his friends were not a lie and pleading him to not let Neji’s death be in vain). Both scenes also have a lot (and I mean, A LOT) of emotional torque, and reinforce the theme of mutual understanding and support that runs in the ship. On the whole, it’s a really positive bond, as it essentially drives both characters to uplift each other.

Now, while there is some of that NaruHina dynamic (“mutual understanding and support of each other”) in the other two ships that you mention (NaruSaku and SasuNaru), there are also things regarding their respective dynamics in the canon that make them… well, far too troubling for my personal taste.

In the case of Naruto and Sakura, their relationship dynamic (especially in the anime adaptation) resembles a lot the typical “Tsundere” dynamic that you see in a lot of manga and anime: A protagonist who has a crush or is in love with a girl with a bad temper, with said girl always punching him out every time he tries to woo her (or otherwise does something stupid or perverted in front of her), although she gradually warms up to him as time passes. I have to clarify that, strictly speaking, I’m not really against that kind of relationship dynamic in anime and manga (indeed, I like a few ships in other series that have that kind of dynamic). However, in the case of Naruto and Sakura, I find that dynamic pretty troubling, primarily due to Naruto’s backstory, hence why I never shipped them in a romantic sense (although I must add that I do like their relationship at a platonic level, as they do have a couple of pretty tender scenes together).

I might also clarify (pertaining to how you phrased your question) that while Sakura does warm up to Naruto as time passes and starts considering him a good friend, in the manga it’s never explicitly show at all that she starts to return his feelings. At most it’s only briefly implied during the early arcs of part II, but the “fake confession” scene during the Iron Country arc essentially throws the possibility by the wayside.

As to Naruto and Sasuke… well, first it’s important to recognize that the manga’s author never intended their relationship to be seen in a romantic way, but rather as a sibling-like relationship. Of course, that doesn’t negate that their bond is central to the storyline, neither that it receives a lot of focus for most of the manga and it also has scenes with a lot of emotional torque. All of that inevitably leads to shippers pairing them together in a romantic way, regardless of what the author’s intentions were.

That being said, while there is also a theme of mutual understanding in their bond of brotherhood and rivalry that also drives them to uplift each other, the problem is that… well, to put it bluntly, their relationship becomes extraordinarily toxic for a pretty big chunk of the story. I mean, seriously: For most of part II of the manga (and most of Shippuden in the anime), Sasuke becomes a massive cretin and jerkass that treats his loved ones (including Naruto) like garbage, causing them a lot of emotional pain and strife. Sasuke also tries to murder his closest friend in multiple occasions and Naruto literally has to give an arm in exchange before the Uchiha finally has a moral epiphany and decides to change his ways. Given Naruto’s backstory, once again I find that dynamic extremely troubling and distasteful, hence why I’m not fan of pairing them in a romantic way.

(I might probably also add that it’s because of the above paragraph why I’m not really fan of SasuSaku either. I have made my peace with that pairing mostly because Sarada is one of my favorite characters in Boruto).

As to your final question… well, I can’t speak for everyone in the fandom neither want to make any generalizations, but from what I have seen around online, it seems to mostly boil down to classic fandom rivalry.

Naruto ran for almost 15 years with the characters locked in a messy love dodecahedron that the author didn’t intend to resolve until the very last second. During that time the different fandom factions that formed around every ship obviously came to blows, with rivalries and grudges forming. The net result is that a lot of people in the fandom have become extremely hyper-defensive regarding their preferred ships, with some people often overstating the importance of certain bonds while simultaneously minimizing other bonds. You certainly see it happen in all the shipping fandoms: There are some NaruHina fans that minimize the importance of Team 7 bonds with Naruto, as well as some fans of ships involving members of Team 7 who take issue with the notion of Hinata also having a bond with Naruto.

It doesn’t help that some fans (usually very young ones) have a very… well, “immature” understanding of love and relationships: Falling in love with someone shouldn’t mean that suddenly all your other relationships become “lesser”. Thus, the fact that Naruto fell in love with Hinata in the canon of the series doesn’t mean that his bonds with his team mates, friends and teachers no longer matter. On contraire, all of them are important in different ways.

[phoenixyfriend]

Alright I’m off work now so let’s Share Some More Thoughts on this AU:

First of all, the mental image of Karin walking down a set of stairs from a throne, camera focused on some impractical heeled boots, snakes slipping down the stairs with her... damn.

(It's not even gay this time, I just... want her to have that Evil Empress moment.)

Anyway, time for like. Actual plot stuff.

Okay so in this context I'm imagining that Orochimaru saw Potential and decided to focus in on Karin to the same extent as Kabuto and Sasuke,  which leads to her having a vaguely different kind of control over the base she's a warden at?

Not quite at K/DA Evelyn level, but mostly because she's. You know. Sixteen. And Evelyn is Sexy Evil in a way that’s uncomfortable and inappropriate for a teenager.

Anyway, Orochimaru's focus means that while Karin is still a little in love with Sasuke, she's been trained into better emotional control and self-confidence and all that.

So she's like "Yeah, nah, I'd rather stay here and play around with science. We have some long-distance 'phones' here, though. I can track just as well from the other side of the continent, Sasuke-kun..."

And Sasuke's just like. That's cool and all but I was kind of hoping to have a medic along, and also I think I need you to help Suigetsu and Juugo with keeping Kisame busy while I kill my brother.

You know. Vaguely sinister stuff like that.

Karin: Okay... what's in it for me?

Sasuke: What?

Karin, leaning forward, smirking, chin-on-hand nonsense: Convince me.

(There's a moment where Sasuke's like 'am I willing to do the sex thing to get her along' but he doesn't even get the words out before she's like 'no, whatever you're thinking is a big no. something else.')

And Sasuke is just. Scrambling and wondering if this is even worth it before she just. Pops up like 'Oh, I have an idea!'

And explains that some of Oro's research indicated that a Mangekyo can be transplanted to a new host to prevent Sharingan degeneration, so she'll come along if Sasuke lets her take Itachi's eyes to later transplant them into a new host, probably Sasuke himself.

Sasuke's very ????? about why she's Weirdly Into This when it seems to benefit him more but like. It does in fact benefit him? So he's just like Sure I Guess and tries not to think about it, because Eyes.

Other options are just that he never gets her, the war lasts longer in part because Sasuke is HEAVILY DELAYED in everything he does on account of not having Karin there to point him in the direction of his latest ill-advised target.

(All of Sasuke’s targets are ill-advised and he’s always got a new one.)

And by the time anyone finds Karin, she's gone full Evelyn the way Kabuto went full science horror

Anyway

I'll admit that if I went that route, I'd almost definitely have a larger game at play with other K/DA inspos

Like it being a fem!Naruto universe so we get an Ahri parallel?

TenTen for Kai'sa, probably

(IDK I Just want Karin with Villainess Energy. The problem then is that I don’t have a solid Akali if I move Karin and TenTen elsewhere, because all the other people with K/DA Akali energy are in other generations, like Anko.)

(Ino is Seraphine, though, that one’s not negotiable.)

(The other problem is that I can justify Karin for like... Evelyn, Ahri, or Akali, for varying reasons. Akali is because Karin is one of the only girls I can see in a KPOP Rapper role, the other being TenTen. Evelyn is obvious, and Ahri because Uzumaki=foxes.)

But honestly imagine fem!Naru hunting down Karin to be like "Hey let's form a girl group!"

"...are you high?"

BACK TO LIKE ACTUAL NINJAS AND NOT GIRL GROUPS THOUGH

Okay so you know the Britney Spears “Work B*tch” music video? Like, specifically, this moment. With the really heavy harem vibes.

So imagine corrupted!Karin showing up to the final battle out of nowhere using her chains with all of those curse seal experiments like "did someone call for an army?" (My one reticence being, well, using the experiments because Consent Is Questionable At Best Here, so it really depends on how corrupted we wanna go.)

For a less truly-fucked-up option, it could just be that like... she kind of ended up in charge by process of elimination?

I could replace that with like Willing Oto Soldiers who were just like "Well, Orochimaru's dead and Sasuke and Kabuto both fucked off, I guess this is our next in line?"

And Karin was like "Hey, the world is ending, come help me fight it if you don't want to die with it." and they just went "???? I guess?"

(Does Karin have the summons in canon? No. Does she have them in this AU? Absolutely.)

Oto shinobi: Hey, so who's in charge now?

Karin, with massive BDE and also terrifying chakra chains and one of the remaining holders of the Snake Summons: 😎

Oto shinobi: ...right. Her.

(Besides, are you going to tell her ‘no’ when she says she’s in charge?)

Most of them have Curse Seals now with marginally more consent than the imprisoned experiments. They're not exactly going to turn the tide of the war, given the ACTUAL MASSIVE ARMY that is the alliance, but there's something to be said for "Orochimaru's army of experimental horrors, being led by That Bitch."

Karin recognizes that Willing Participants give better data than random abductees and are easier to work with, and lots of shinobi want magic powers enough to risk side effects, but also, in general, she just...

She's not a GOOD boss, but she's far from the worst. The main problem usually ends up being that, like, she's still sixteen, so mood swings happen, because that's just how teenagers are.

The other big problem is mostly just Bad Vibes but they're not as bad as Oro's or Kabuto's so everyone just ignores them

Is she scary? Yes. Is she scarier than Orochimaru? Hell no. At least not in this context.

She'll murder you if you cross her, but she probably won't murder you and wear your like a suit because she decided you had nice legs.

I feel like Karin's creepy ends up coming from things like "Coos at horrifying chimera of snakes and other deadly creatures the way one would at a small kitten." (Important note: classic Greek chimera, not The FMA Thing.)

(I mean, the method of creation is similar, but nobody’s trying to trick the feds to get funding here. Why use up a perfectly good soldier to make a crime against nature when there’s a goat right there?)

Most of my other thoughts with corrupted!Karin have to do with time-travel or shitposts about drag queens so have a parting thought:

Consider the mental image of Karin walking up to Sasuke and lightly tracing over his cheek with those Evelyn jewelry claws

Vaguely want to do some kind of corrupted!Karin AU based on the vibes from the K/DA Villain video.

Snakes, impractical heels, vaguely inhuman drama, possibly adding in a throne instead of a muscle car, ‘can and will kill you’ energy in spades…