#quick guide to madara's ems susanoo's faces (according to me): fangs pointing up = madara. fangs pointing down = izuna

[evilkitten3]

#both sound very good topics mutual!#it’s hard to choose tbh 😂#but Izuna having a susan’oo! I need to read this

izuna it is!

so tbh i've gone back and forth on this in my head bc i really don't think everyone needs to have a susanoo (case in point, shisui. why would you give him that. it adds nothing and only makes him look like an idiot for not using it when danzou was trying to yoink his eyeballs), but ultimately i came to this conclusion for two reasons:

first, it's canon that a susanoo changes once you move from the regular mangekyou to the ems. to illustrate this, here's sasuke's susanoo in chapter 484 (i'm pretty sure it's 484, it's definitely volume 52, but unfortunately i don't own that one yet):

compared to his susanoo in 574, after implanting itachi's eyes:

iirc we first see sasuke's incomplete susanoo at the five kage summit in chapter 463 (according to the wiki; unfortunately i don't own volume 49 either), well after he awakens his mangekyou in chapter 402. the third databook states that one must be able to use both amaterasu and tsukuyomi before unlocking susanoo, although if that's true then it's only the case for itachi, as no one else has ever used tsukuyomi ever, while just about everyone has susanoo. however, the implication is that there's a learning process, which neatly slots into sasuke learning to both activate and extinguish amaterasu at different points in time (and with different levels of intent. stop putting your jutsu in people without asking, itachi, it's really weird).

my second piece of evidence is what madara says the first time we see his susanoo (chronologically, during hashirama's flashback): 「この前の傷が元で弟は死んだ・・・うちはを守るためにオレに力を残して！」 "my little brother died due to the wound from last time... he left me the power to protect the uchiha!"

now, we never see madara use susanoo pre-ems, so we have no idea what it looked like before izuna's power was added to it. my theory is that it looked similar to this:

but we really don't see much of the other face at all. the best image i could find was this one:

the back face is hardly ever seen by the viewer, and it's not visible at all in hashirama's flashback. i actually went back and checked just to be completely sure, and yeah, in every single susanoo panel in the flashback, the second face is completely obscured. when he first summons it after izuna's death, the angle is such that the second part is almost impossible to see at all

i think this serves two purposes - first and most obviously, as a physical manifestation of madara's deep-seated trust issues. he can't fully put his faith in anyone else. however, in spite of hating having people behind him, when izuna's life is threatened in their childhood, madara flings himself in front of him without hesitation.

(sorry for the poor quality, that's what i could find. believe me, it's better than it would've been if i'd just tried to take a picture myself lol)

as much as madara dislikes having people stand behind him (and thus dislikes being in a position that would require such a thing, like being a leader), he puts his love for his family - especially his little brother - over his personal discomfort.

so to me, the double-sided susanoo is a representation of both madara's inability to trust others and his desire to keep what he loves shielded with even his own body.

side note: the seals the susanoo face i view as madara's original is making when he summons it in the fourth image appear to be the mirrored ram seal, which madara also uses to become the juubi jinchuuriki (so does obito) and after that to throw lightning out of his hands like he's emperor palpatine or something. the seal the rear face is making appears to be a version of the ox seal, although with the palms pressed together rather than being perpendicular and all of the fingers folded. possibly this is due to madara's susanoo's hands having six fingers rather than five, not sure.

so i've been thinking about the susanoo and i can't decide if i'd rather discuss why the anime changed itachi and sasuke's respective susanoo's colors or why the second susanoo on the back of madara's is definitely izuna's and was not there pre-ems