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carmenserenity123456 · 17 days ago

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The big answer for some questions from ss stans who state that Sasuke would always choose Sakura over Naruto and Retsuden is the proof…. Guys Retsuden is not and never will be canon because firstly Kishimoto did not write it, secondly Eska said it is her interpretation, thirdly it has Kishimoto’s name and art on it because Naruto was created by him and he has a contract that states he have to draw cover etc. and lastly the story of Retsuden contradicts itself with what Kishimoto wrote.

In Naruto manga we have many instances where Sasuke always chooses Naruto over Sakura. The war arc is the best example: he let her fall into lava, he wanted to left her when the bomb was going off, he did not want to save her from Kaguya and through out the manga he always said to her that it is not her business but he always engages Naruto into his life. Of course I understand that ss stans will say that he was into darkness blah blah but so what? Why would he choose Naruto then if he was into darkness? Come up with something more creative please.

Bless Kishi that he wrote Gaiden because there we even find more proof that Sasuke will always choose Naruto over his wife. This is Sasuke’s face after 12 years of not seeing Sakura. He is not happy at all, kind of annoyed or angry even.

This is Sasuke’s face when he stops Sakura from apologizing and in that moment he wanted to tell the truth why he does not come home. His face looks here really angry and Sakura looks worried. Why is she worried? because Sasuke would say the hard truth right there because he is honest.

This is Sasuke when Sakura was captured. Sarada is more worried than her own father, husband of her mom. Instead he is talking about time space ninjutsu…. He did not even want to sense her and she was taken somewhere on Earth.

And here is Sasuke when Naruto was attacked. Sasuke knows that Naruto can heal right away but look at the horror on his face. Ss will say that he does not worry about Sakura because she is strong but that is not the case because even if someone is strong but if you love them you will always worry about them because of these feelings.

In Boruto movie which was written by Kishi, Sasuke sensed Naruto’s chakra in the other dimension right away and went to save him as fast as possible. He even gave him support by touching his back while with Sakura he asked if she can heal herself. Great support and his face 😂

Lastly, you base everything on the novels but in the novel after Retsuden Sasuke wanted to die with Naruto and was so ready to leave Sakura but then you will say it is not canon 😂 So yeah Sasuke will always choose Naruto. Always because he is his one and only. That is why Kishi wrote Gaiden because every non canon trash that comes out about SS will always be massacred by it. Kishi is genius.

#anti ss stans #anti ss #anti sasuke retsuden #anti sasusaku #naruto #sasuke #narusasu #sasunaru #sarada #gaiden

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thebloodredraven · 4 months ago

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"He's more of a brother to me than you ever were to him."

- Naruto, talking to Itachi about Sasuke

I'm rewatching Naruto as a whole because I'm introducing it to my friend, and I like to watch it every few years as I gain new life experience to get a new perspective of something I've been watching since I was a little kid. I've never finished the series past the very beginning of the war arc, though (working on it!).

We're up to the Tenchi Bridge mission in Shippuden and I have some thoughts on how remarkably similar Naruto and Itachi are, specifically when it comes to their shared trait of unintentionally dehumanizing Sasuke and viewing him as a possession, and an object to obtain, rather than a person with his own autonomy and free will. I also kind of wanna go into how Kakashi and Sakura (kinda) were probably the only people to love him as he was but still ultimately failed him, and how all of them drove him away.

Disclaimer: These are all my own opinions and you're under no obligation to agree with any of it. If any of what I have to say bothers you, you're more than welcome to exit the post at any time and ignore me instead of sending hate mail and leaving heinous comments. Anything you have to say in response can be said respectfully. Thanks!

Words: 2.3k

In episode 41 of Naruto Shippuden, there's a scene where Naruto is in his own mind as he's transforming into the Nine Tailed Fox (Kurama). In this scene, he sees an apparition of Sasuke walking away from him and when he tries to go after him, water floods all around him and he can't get to him. He's falling into his own darkness and giving in to Kurama's influence.

During this scene, he says, "I am weak, so my words don't reach [Sasuke]. Because I am weak, I can't win his recognition. So, whatever happens I must become stronger so that the bond I've finally forged will not be severed. So that Sasuke won't sever the connection with me."

It can be said that the entire reason Naruto is so obsessed with getting Sasuke back is because, as he's stated himself multiple times, he can't confidently fulfill his goal of becoming Hokage if he can't even save his friend from darkness. His entire self-worth rests in the validity that others provide him because he was deprived of that his entire life, and he represses his emotions to the extreme.

It's why he's irrational and dangerous to be around and difficult to work with; it's why he foregoes any plans or strategies people have on almost every single mission he's been sent on from the time he became a ninja till the war and is always the first to attack in these scenarios; it's why he's willing to start giving into the power of Kurama until Yamato tells him how he injured Sakura and how he needed to prove his strength with his OWN power: his need to prove himself to others and get that validation he craves trumps over anything, and anyone, else.

When it comes to Itachi, he told Sasuke that in order to become strong enough to kill him he needed to sever his bonds with those closest to him.

Opposite of Naruto, Itachi kept Sasuke at a distance at all times because of his own goals to rid the world of war and get into a position where he can render ninja obsolete (via Itachi Retsuden). His tunnel vision when it came to his personal goals caused him to disregard how his actions affected other people because he saw it as a means to an end, including slaughtering his own clan and becoming a double spy in the Akatsuki.

When Naruto and Itachi run into each other during the Gaara Retrieval arc, they get to talking about Sasuke.

When Itachi asks why Naruto is so obsessed with Sasuke, Naruto replies with the quote that leads into this post.

I was talking to my friend about Naruto's possessive nature when it comes to Sasuke and that led into be thinking about how Itachi also viewed Sasuke.

I came to the conclusion that neither of these people viewed Sasuke as someone capable of having his own autonomy, his own philosophy, and as someone deserving of having his own personal goals and feelings recognized. Sasuke was always within his full right to end up as hateful and as angry and as hurt as he was, but because Naruto and Itachi care more about their own goals and their own proximity to Sasuke, they don't view him as someone that can make his own decisions; that's why I feel Naruto had such a negative reaction when Orochimaru reminded Naruto that Sasuke came to him of his own free will after Naruto was screaming at him to "give him back." Even after three years, he cannot stomach or accept the fact that Sasuke made the choice to leave him, and it pushes him further into his obsession.

Sasuke made his own decision to go to Orochimaru because he felt like no one else around him genuinely tried to understand what he was going through. They, essentially, just wanted him to let go of his pain and keep living a "happy" life with them. How could they understand when they view him in such a way? Orochimaru was up front with his intentions and his plans for Sasuke from the very beginning. Yes, he was manipulated by the curse mark, but Orochimaru wouldn't have chosen him to begin with if he didn't see what was already in Sasuke.

He was very up front with the fact that he needed Sasuke's body in order to continue living as a powerful being and find immortality. He told Sasuke what the game plan was and knew that in order to get what he wanted, he needed to give Sasuke what everyone else had denied him: a choice. He saw a gifted child filled with jealousy and hatred, which was something fostered by his need to compete with Itachi and Naruto and gave him exactly what he wanted.

Sasuke's entire clan was annihilated by the one person he sought the most validation from. After that heartbreak, he was forced to live in that same Uchiha compound all alone.

While he was dealing with the trauma of that, every single person around him was idealizing him and treating him in a way that probably drove him further into isolation: he was constantly bombarded with girls that were crushing on him and wanting him for his talents and good looks, and the adults around him saw him as the perfect student that didn't need too much attention, so no one paid attention to his needs outside of what he provided in skill. Even though they very much provided the validation and attention he was seeking from his family, no one really bothered to see him.

Naruto was seemingly the only person that actively saw what he was going through because he also knew what that loneliness looked like, but his rivalry with him mattered more than that connection. That's why physical fighting is their form of intimacy. People propped him up on a pedestal from the time he was a small child and when that position was threatened by the least talented kid in his class, it threw him into a spiral (which is another topic).

Getting back to Itachi, he never saw Sasuke as his own person at any point in his life. I know he loved him in his own way. In some ways, he was the somewhat attentive father Sasuke should have had.

But Itachi was not always a good brother. Not in the least.

He always saw him as someone to protect, to coddle, to keep ignorant, keep below him because he subconsciously did not want Sasuke to become a shinobi and go through the same trauma he did (Itachi Retsuden). Eventually, that was no longer an option and that's when the distance happened (in conjunction to what was going on in his own life as a tool that others wanted to use for their own goals).

After Itachi slaughtered the clan, he reinforced Sasuke's lack of autonomy by giving him his own means to an end.

Itachi saw Sasuke as a tool -- a means to his own long, drawn-out suicide.

Naruto viewed Sasuke as the ultimate validation to his own goal to become Hokage.

Neither of them saw Sasuke for who he was or who he wanted to be -- for who he could have been.

I'll even add Sakura to this mix because she has a complicated relationship with him as well. She did end up with him and was his friend before anything, but she’s idolized him to the point of nausea since she was a little girl. She was obsessed with becoming the object of his affection. She had an unhealthy amount of loyalty to him just like Naruto (even though I'd argue she wasn't nearly as bad as Naruto was). She changed her own opinions of something to cater to what he thought so she could seem more favorable to him. For most of their childhood, she dehumanized him and didn't see him as anything other than a love interest for herself.

However.

You can see her slowly taking off the rose-colored glasses in the first part of Naruto during the Chuunin exams at two major points: when she chastised him for acting like a coward and freezing up while Orochimaru beat Naruto, and when she finally cut her hair in the middle of battle (context: she heard that Sasuke loved long hair and that's why she always kept it long).

Beyond that, she actually paid attention to his well-being and noticed when something was wrong or when he was hiding something and brought her concerns up in a non-aggressive manor. At the time, he was aggressive and agitated by her actions, and he reacts as such. Genuine concern is hard to come by for him, so how was he supposed to react?

But clearly, he recognized it and appreciated it because it's been confirmed through his Japanese VA AND English VA AND the novels that Sasuke was starting to fall in love with Sakura long before he realized it and was full of guilt when he left her on that bench.

When the time came to acknowledge that he was an internationally recognized terrorist and killer, the life drained from her face because she realized she had to put her feelings to the side and do what needed to be done.

Because she was willing to accept the reality of who he was and see him for what he'd become. And even though she was unsuccessful, she took steps to have Naruto forget about Sasuke and kill him herself.

At this point, he's learned to use the same tactics people used on him his entire life: only keep people around you that further your own goals. This time, he was in charge. When he formed his own gang, he encountered that dehumanizing behavior again when Karin constantly threw herself at him and practically begged to sleep with him. It was only after Itachi died and he decided to take down the Leaf that he was able to finally have a goal of his own that was solely for him.

I won't go into it too much because I'm already pushing 2k words, but it's worth noting that Sasuke was pushed to do crime because that was the only period of time where he was allowed to make his own decisions and have his own autonomy enough to pursue his OWN goals before that was swiftly taken away by The Akatsuki to....you guessed it, further their own goals.

Sasuke has never been the idol the people in proximity to him saw him as, from any person's point of view. Not Naruto, not Itachi, not Sakura, not Orochimaru, no one. Obito may have been the one closest to seeing Sasuke as he was, but he immediately took advantage of him.

They all wanted to possess him and obtain him in different ways, and one of the reasons I love his dynamic with Kakashi so much is because Kakashi did grow up very similarly to Sasuke, except his own dad died of his own accord and Sasuke’s father was taken away from him.

One of the main ways Kakashi has always been able to connect to Sasuke was the fact that throughout his life he’s had to watch every single person he’s ever cared about die around him. And for a while he was that cold detached person that didn’t want to keep up with friends, didn’t want to be around people, minded his business, and he was mean to everybody.

The whole reason he gave Sasuke that speech about choosing his own path right before he went to Orochimaru was because he intimately understood what he was going through emotionally.

Naruto and Sakura can say they get where he’s coming from, but Kakashi is really the only person able to empathize with what Sasuke was going through. And if Kakashi hadn’t been consistently sent out on missions and was able to take care of his kids the way he was supposed to, there was a slight chance Sasuke could have still healed from his trauma even with the manipulation of the curse mark.

People forget that Kakashi very well could have ended up on the same path as Sasuke, even without Orochimaru’s influence, because he went through some very dark things. He had every reason to be a very dark character, but he didn’t.

He ultimately failed when he spoke to Sasuke as a soldier and not the traumatized child that was acting out on his pain.

In summary, Sasuke only went to the lengths that he did because of the people around him treating him as a possession to keep or as an object to obtain rather than treating him as an actual person. Sasuke goes through some of the most dehumanizing relationships, and I think that’s what irritates me so much about Naruto as a character.

Because he treats Sasuke, and he talks about him, like he’s a possession to obtain and because someone else “has” him, he has to get him back because Sasuke is his and his only. This extends to other characters around him, as well.

That lack of autonomy was what drove Sasuke away because he very clearly wanted to be seen as his own person but no one around him was willing to do that because they saw him as a means to their own goals. It's why Sasuke developed a "do you really think I give a fuck about what you want" personality trait.

All that being said, do I think they all genuinely loved him? Yes.

Ultimately, we have to remember that these are all small-town children with very little experience of the outside world and that the adults around him grew up in the same conditions because that's what the politics of that world demanded.

I have my opinions about the manga's imperialist propaganda, use of child soldiers, Sasuke's emotional development and how people chronically misunderstand complex PTSD, fascism, queer baiting, etc. but that's another post. Several others, actually.

Believe it or not, I had to shave down a lot of what I originally had in order to keep this relatively short LMAO

If y'all read all of this, THANK YOU! I rarely ever flesh out my thoughts about this show like this and it felt refreshing to get off my chest. Feel free to send me DMs and RESPECTFULLY speak your own mind in the comments/reblogs! ♥

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debbyhalliwell · 1 year ago

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I can't believe that after Kishimoto reviewed the panel it got modified in the physical copy!!! We can see Sasuke smile 😍😍😍😍😍😭😭😭😭😭😭

#sakura uchiha #sakura #sakura haruno #naruto #genin sakura #sasuke fanart #sasuke sakura #sasusaku #sasuke retsuden #sasuke retrieval arc #sasuke uchiha #sarada and sasuke #sasuke

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evenmorebeetles · 1 year ago

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One of the things that always really fascinated me about Sakura's character is how manipulative she is.

I was rewatching the anime with my partner because it was their first time, and when Sakura finds Sasuke to beg him not to go to Orochimaru, my partner said that they were a little disappointed that romance was emphasized in that scene over friendship, and I said, "You know, I think Sakura would have told Sasuke she loved him whether she did or didn't. She knows that he cares about her. I think Sakura would say anything she had to to get him to stay."

And the most obvious example of this is when she does that exact thing to Naruto before the Five Kage Summit, lying about having feelings for him in order to save him, and that scene is what I was referencing when I made the comment, but throughout the course of the anime, there are several other moments where Sakura either outright lies and cons or uses her feelings as a weapon to get her way.

She does it right when Team 7 is formed, when Naruto plays the eraser prank on Kakashi. Her inner monologue shows that she thinks it's hilarious, but instead she puts up this facade. She berates Naruto because she thinks it'll make her appear cooler to Sasuke, and she tells Kakashi that she told Naruto not to do it and that she would never do something like that because she wants to portray herself as not only superior to Naruto but as the good one, the innocent one, the one who can do no wrong.

She does it to Sai, Kiba, and Lee when she knocks them unconscious so that she can go kill Sasuke by herself. She does it when tells Sasuke that she wants to join him so that she can get close to him. She does it again when, at the end of the war, she begs Sasuke one last time. She even does it in Sasuke Retsuden when she cons Penjira at cards and reveals that she's been doing the same to Tsunade for years. And these are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more.

Basically I'm saying that everyone should consider themselves lucky that Sakura's on Konoha's side because if she was the one with the villain arc? She'd be ruthless.

#like imagine if Sakura wanted to kill Naruto #she'd get in close to him by telling him she wanted to come home and he'd be so happy #and she'd put her fist through his heart #sasuke could never #to be very clear I adore Sakura to pieces and I love her for her character flaws #so using this post as an excuse to bash her or her relationships with naruto and/or sasuke isn't welcome #naruto #sakura haruno #sakura #sasuke #naru #team 7 #mine #meta analysis

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inosakutema · 11 months ago

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↳ INOSAKUTEMA

Farewell to 2023 knowing that the girls looked pretty and badass this year! To more content of Konohas' top girls. Boruto anime Code arc - Sasuke Retsuden anime arc - Sasuke Retsuden manga - Konoha Shinden manga

#inosakutema #sakura haruno #sakura uchiha #ino yamanaka #temari nara #temari #boruto #naruto #sasuke retsuden #happy new year 2024 #2024 #happy new year #new years #end of the year

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keepyourpantsongohan · 1 year ago

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Meaningful Highlights from Sasuke Retsuden:

When Sasuke interrupts his own reconnaissance to untie a fellow prisoner who's being bullied, putting his mission in jeopardy to help a stranger.

When Sasuke is struggling to stand and falls backward into Sakura's arms and she catches him, the same way he caught her during the war arc: Without the strength left to even turn around, Sasuke fell backwards, and a familiar warmth caught him. “I got you, Sasuke.” It was Sakura’s voice.

Sasuke being so detailed-oriented with his friends and comrades that he knows their preferred method of picking a lock, and acknowledging he got his way from Kakashi: Kakashi often used the heat of Fire Style to melt the metal part. Shikamaru inserted a long, thin shadow into the keyhole to turn the cylinders. Naruto would make it move with a very small-scale bit of turbulence. Given that he excelled in Fire Style, Sasuke often followed Kakashi’s example and melted the lock itself.

Sasuke's narration putting how he feels about Sakura and how he copes with distance from her into words, both in narration and out loud: Even if they couldn’t always be together, the fact that Sakura was his wife and his family was never going to change. He was able to think like this thanks to a lesson from a good friend a long time ago. The most important thing was the bond they shared. He had a connection with Sakura that not even distance could touch. Even if he couldn’t see her every day, she was his precious partner.

The revelation that Sasuke was waiting for pink blossoms on a tree to bloom because he missed Sakura: “He used to sit here and stare out the window all the time. But he hasn’t been doing that lately. Not since you came. I always wondered what it was he was looking at, but now, I finally get it. He was wondering when that tree was going to bloom.”

Sakura being literally crushed in the crumbling foundations of a building but still being so selfless that she is concerned about not causing rockfall on someone else, and wishing she could be there to defend the prisoners. And, at the same time, Sasuke desperately manually digging through rubble to pull Sakura out, and being the one to heal her.

#sasusaku #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno #sasuke retsuden #sasuke retsuden spoilers #honourable mention to sasuke seeing an ink painting and going 'sai?' they're friendsssssss #another honourable mention to when they're trying to unlock the cure and sasuke is distracted by how much he loves sakura #to everyone who's like: what else did kakashi teach him? apparently! breaking and entering #(that and like. unconditional love from an adult but i digress)#are most of these things about sasuke and sakura's relationship? yes! but so is the novel!!#me when sasuke and sakura talk about how each other's touch is familiar: i feel so normal about this #and shout-out to the naruto thought midway through sasuke's mental love monologues #sasuke may have one hand but sakura and naruto take turns holding it #sasuke retsuden said: i am going to give you a sasuke who is SO EMOTIONALLY HONEST. and they knocked it out of the park #ayesha talks anime #light novels #light novel highlights #naruto series

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