#with a hokage who genocided his people

[gai-sucks-titties-in-my-basement]

People criticize the Itachi reveal often because I think they have it in their heads that the Uchiha somehow had a chance of survival in a war, when Kishimoto intentionally shows us that the Uchiha failed a war before to a much less powerful and all encompassing opponent. Because the Uchiha aren’t built for war, they are built for love. Itachi made the only decision he could that would guarantee the life of Sasuke Uchiha would be spared. The point of Sasukes character is that he was always loved. His path of darkness does not exist. His revenge is not against a random act of cruelty on him, isolate him, victimized because he is unloved, but a battle for a bloodline that was declared dead the moment Madara conceded. The Itachi reveal is not to “redeem” Itachi its to let us know that the core of Sasukes character was never darkness, but love.

[orcelito]

That bitch Danzo getting killed and it starts showing his past like I'm supposed to be sad for this piece of shit??? I'm Not. He's a warmonger and a fucking snake. He caused so much suffering, literally inlaid the eyes of Sasuke's murdered clan in his arm -- the clan that HE ORDERED TO BE MURDERED. He conducted genocide for the sake of "peace", and even in death he thinks it's for the best of the village. Nevermind the fact that he literally stole children from their families to indoctrinate them into his underground cult, and he was just Allowed to do this??? Hiruzen when I catch you...!!!!!!

Anyways fuck this dude, I'm glad he's dead. Good for you, Sasuke.

[enavstars]

(Naruto has specifically also called him "mom" multiple times)

Headcanons time!

After the war Obito is perfectly fine (like in canon as we all know, I'm not delusional at all obviously) and also Sasuke goes out to travel the world.

Obito is kept under house arrest at Kakashi’s for a few years until he's finally set completely free and so immediately marries Kakashi.

On the other hand, Kakashi suggests to Sasuke to stay at his house too whenever he comes back to visit the village since he doesn't have a place anymore (until he starts dating Naruto later). At first everything is awkward because Sasuke and Obito have a complicated relationship (with, you know, the massacre and all) and Kakashi also has other quiet intentions.

Kakashi actually hopes to use this opportunity to apologize to Sasuke for how he treated him. I mean, as much as I love them, Kakashi did treat Sasuke unfairly because he projected himself a little too much onto the boy, and now he just doesn't know how to approach the subject because of his poor social skills. When he finally apologizes, Sasuke does not get his point, getting confused because he believes that the fact that he cared is enough (I mean the boy doesn't really know how a healthy relationship with an (older) adult should look like). But Kakashi doesn't like that answer, so he gently explains how just that is simply not enough. This leads Sasuke to finally reflect on his life and decide to move forward, accepting Kakashi's apology.

Afterwards Kakashi talks to him about what can he do as a Hokage to honor the Uchiha clan (I'm still pissed that they tried to brush off a genocide so I'm fixing it). In the end they settle for a memorial and firing (and hopefully imprisoning) the other two council elders that supported it all.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Obito's relationship also develops. Sasuke doesn't forgive Obito, and at the same time Obito is working on his own guilt and atonement, so evidently they don’t get along at first. Eventually, when Kakashi truly becomes one of Sasuke's most precious people/bonds, he starts tolerating Obito because he understands he's important to Kakashi. As time goes on Sasuke and Obito slowly manage to cool off their relationship and find some common grounds with everything they’ve been through. Together they eventually reflect on it, little by little, from the many tragedies that stained their lives to the manipulation they have both suffered; by the result of Konoha’s rotten system in one way or another. Although they have much to work on, especially with Obito, how he tried to pull Sasuke’s strings, and his part in the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke chooses to not give in to his hatred. He understands Obito in the end, and is able to move on. And on his part, Obito does make an effort to treat him much better than he used to.

In fact, one way he tries to make up for his mistakes is by telling Sasuke about the Uchiha clan's history and traditions, the stuff that Sasuke could never know before because he was too young, as he thinks that their legacy should be passed down to someone who truthfully honors the clan with their full chest.

Basically Sasuke deserves love so I gave him a father figure (Kakashi), because every other adult has treated him terribly and he desperately needs one. And Obito is now his annoying/weird uncle/stepfather.

I will of course make more comics because they're also very chaotic, being three people in a single house and yet amounting to:

- two war criminals, Uchiha

- two married men

- two moon-coded traumatized people

(worthy of an unhinged Venn Diagram)

[please-read-the-manga]

Hm, been contemplating these panels lately and thinking about which character is constantly demonized within the fandom/fan works involving them and which is frequently viewed as the ultimate loving and moral person...

And:

One is a man bearing the supposed 'Curse of Hatred' who loves his children so much that he is continuing to parent and offer unconditional love to his son even after said son has already participated in the brutal state-sanctioned genocide of their people/culture and is about to end his (and his wife's - who, btw, is on the same page as him) life.

The other is a man from the supposed 'Clan of Love' who boldly holds the conviction that he would cease his compassion towards even his own child if they stood against him and his dream (the village), regardless of the fact his dream (the village) is a corruptible entity that does not maintain personhood.

Interestingly, I think there is something to be said for the fact both Fugaku and Hashirama are also shown struggling to understand Itachi and Madara (respectively).

Fugaku is actually quite honest regarding his issues in relating to Itachi and while we're not always privy to all the conversations they've had about the state of the clan/sentiment of the Leaf village towards their people, it's clear that those discussions have been had. While the panels where we do see more explicit conversations taking place show Fugaku reiterating to Itachi that his role in ANBU is to serve as a pipeline between the clan/village (which could be argued as an unfair burden foisted onto a child, in my opinion) there are also moments that indicate Fugaku is willing to defer to Itachi (at least on some topics) when his son offers a contradictory viewpoint (like attendance at Sasuke's entrance ceremony, for example).

Side note... this also reminds me of the very short (unfortunately) interactions we see between Madara and his father, Tajima. Tajima clearly respects his son as well and defers to him when Madara insists that they not fight Hashirama and his family on the river - Tajima accepts this from his son without pause.

Alternatively, we also see Madara trying to explain his perspective to a skeptical Hashirama before he commits to taking more drastic actions. Madara is trying to articulate his frustrations with what is happening in the village/how it is progressing with regards to his clan and (even though we never really get Madara's own unfiltered perspective on this time period) we are shown instances of Madara's grievances holding water (ie. Tobirama advocating for Madara not to be made Hokage, but instead pushing randomly for a democratic system that never seems to actually be cemented or made precedent within the village afterwards but absolutely benefits Hashirama/the Senju in the short-run, Madara 'overhearing' Tobirama's continued bias against the Uchiha in private conversations between the brothers, Hashirama continuing to scold his brother -someone who had ample power within the system of governance since its inception- for his bias against the clan even when they're brought back via the edo tensei, etc). Hashirama tries to (weakly, in my opinion) defend the village status quo/way it is progressing and seems to want to better understand Madara, but isn't willing or is unable to go that extra mile for his friend - and, perhaps in some ways, Madara too was unwilling/unable to articulate himself in a more digestible way once their divergence of opinion on their shared village came to this new crux.

Ultimately, I just find it interesting that Fugaku, this character who is often portrayed by fans as a demon of hatred and cruelty, would (in reality) stand by his son even in his darkest hour, even as he is unjustly slaughtering their family, and continue to reaffirm that he is proud of Itachi/loves him - and this is directly counter to Hashirama who asserts he would absolutely kill anyone (including a child) that stood between him protecting that which he loves the most (the village).

And, of course, we also have this to chew on lol...

Sasuke explaining to edo Hashirama that Itachi inherited his 'Will of Fire' jingoism.

Mandatory disclaimer that Fugaku is not infallible and all the characters here (but Fugaku and Hashirama in particular) are their own people/the circumstances do vary (especially as one relationship is framed in the context of father-son and the other as two friends/peers)... I should also note that I still enjoy Hashirama as a character, I just think his flaws are often under-examined and that the hypocrisy inherent to the 'Will of Fire' philosophy/the Leaf Village (and by extension the shinobi world) is equally neglected especially when it comes to this fandom's love of tearing down the Uchiha to their worst traits/moments. But, man, something about these two panels and character portrayals in particular have just been eating at me the past few days, so I figured I'd try to work out some thoughts on them.

[phoenixremix69]

Sasuke, in my opinion, deserved to fuck off

and I don't mean that in a bad way. Sasuke and Team Taka as a whole were people who got firmly fucked over by the world and shinobi society and deserved to leave.

Juugo was born with an uncontrollable medical condition and the only one willing to "help" him was a genocidal madman that was allowed to do whatever atrocities he felt like because the hokage said to let him go that one time

Karin is a survivor of another genocide, and was only allowed to live because her mother and her were deemed useful enough to live as slaves, to the point where her mother was literally sucked dry of chakra and died. Only to be recruited by, oh my god, same crazy asshole. and that was somehow a step up for her

then Suigetsu, another genocide survivor over another uncontrollable medical condition. except in his case, the uncontrollable part was just him having extra powers with barely any downsides. and in fact, he was jazzed to be part of kiri. he was totally up for being a loyal shinobi and joining their most elite group. But fuck that, tube time

and finally, Sasuke Uchiha. another genocide survivor, except this time, the genocide was performed by the person he loved most in the world. a person who proceeded to torture him for a few days straight. and then got no consequences so for all Sasuke knows, he's been completely free to kill more people and ruin more lives. and the only comfort he has is that he's safe in the village, and that one day he'll be strong enough to kill him. except not. another round of torture and being reminded that he should be strong and the only way to be strong is to give up your bonds. so he does, he gives up on his friends and his village and goes to train with the guy promising him free magic powers. and he does it. he kills the man that's been haunting him for almost a decade. only to be told no, not only did that man love him more than anything, not only was he ordered to kill everyone by the village council, but that same council is still very much in power. In fact, one of them has been abducting orphans and brainwashing them into child soldiers for decades. and literally everyone knew. it's not like kakashi never told anyone, hell, he tried to kill the ninja dictator once. so sasuke goes to kill him, and the konoha council, and every leader who keeps perpetuating this bullshit system. and the whole time, his "friends" keep telling him. "Let it go! ignore the systematic oppression and subsequent slaughter your clan faced for decades. ignore all the atrocities the shinobi system has perpetuated and continues to perpetuate even now! come back to the village that's been fucking you over your entire life!"

Fuck that. at the end of the story, after naruto and sasuke's big final battle, and naruto tells sasuke to come bvack, he should've been like "fuck you. i might not have been right but you sure as shit aren't right either. so you know what i'm gonna do? i'm gonna take my actual team, and these chakra monsters that've also been oppressed and enslaved under the shinobi system, and i'm gonna jump in a dimension hole, and never come back. if you ever want me to reconsider, maybe try living up to your promises and start changing things for the better. i'd start with the actual slavery your girlfriend's "family practices

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

My issue with how Naruto is portrayed as hokage in Boruto, and subsequently the treatment of the surviving Uchiha (Sasuke and Sarada) in Boruto, is that it undermines the political messaging of Naruto completely.

So Naruto (the character) agrees with Nagato and Sasuke regarding the abuse they faced and the need for an overhaul of Shinobi society. This is not where he disagrees with them. Naruto (the character) is the closest thing the manga has to a pacifist (though he's a poor representation of one, I'm not going to harp on that too hard as I'm not expecting the shonen manga to get too deep into leftist political theory for its audience of 12 year olds). He is not shown to actually disagree with Nagato or Sasuke on the basis of their beliefs, but instead on their actions. Naruto doesn't believe that mass suffering is needed to bring peace (Nagato's plan of causing pain to bring empathy.) He also doesn't believe in killing all of the kages or martyring Sasuke as someone to be eternally hated for the sake of peace. His issue with killing the kages has to do with the instability that would lead to (what we're shown).

So in modern terms, Naruto is closest to a socdem - someone who wants to work within the system to bring about leftist changes to the system.

Okay

But then we get to Boruto and we have:

The Uchiha tablet has been moved to the middle of the woods, effectively erasing their culture from Konoha completely

Sarada has people making comments about her carrying the curse of hate and faces discrimination for her ancestors part in the fourth war - meaning the very conditions which facilitated the Uchiha massacre/genocide are still in place, furthered by a lack of history education of the Uchiha via the removal of their cultural texts to outside the village (the tablet)

Children still are sent to fight and die for Konoha

The council of elders still has political strength

The anbu still exist

Those who took part in hiding the truth behind the Uchiha massacre/genocide have faced no consequences and have maintained their positions of power

The hokage still has an unlimited term AND is not elected by the citizens of Konoha - the hokage still falls under the control of the will of the elders if they wish to keep their position

And the thing that gets me is that there is no evidence in Naruto (the manga) that Naruto (the character) would hide the truth of the Uchiha massacre. He immediately went to tell people but was held back by Kakashi, but Kakashi would have no power over him once he's hokage.

So is this some commentary about how revolution is the only path forward towards change? I'd be shocked at kishi's sudden change in political beliefs but fair enough, i can totally work with the narrative through that view point.

But the why the fuck is Sasuke, the main revolutionary of the series, now an asset of the state?

Or was the idea that change takes time?

But why were they able to erect a statue of Itachi whilst moving the last of Uchiha culture literally outside the village.

Is it that Kishi didn't think about his own political messages before writing Boruto, effectively ruining Naruto's character as a fighter for the oppressed?

Most likely.

Because at the end of Naruto, Naruto vowed to fight for the oppressed. He wanted to fix things for Nagato, and Neji, and Sasuke. He wanted to overhaul the entire system, he just wanted to do so in a way that wouldn't result in more civilian deaths.

That his time as hokage in canon has finished the eradication of a culture from konoha, continued the abuses of children, did not end Konoha's economic reliance on violence, and more is a complete destruction of his character.

And the thing is that Naruto didn't have to end by validating Nagato, Neji, and Sasuke's beliefs. Kishi could have gone full ally of the oppressive state and painted them as incorrect wholly and completely.

He didn't.

He made the choice to have them be objectively mistreated and to have his protagonist agree that change was necessary. HE is the one who validated them. He is the one who wrote their oppression into the story, and also had his protagonist agree they were oppressed and that change is necessary

[thottyimagines]

Top 5 fucked up things that happend in Naruto?

This lived in my drafts for quite a while as I went back and forth with just a top five. I don't think this is in any particular order, because good god these people have suffered. Also, please note that I haven't read or watched Boruto and know nothing about it, so whatever atrocities occur there are mysteries to me.

That time Rin committed suicide by jumping into Kakashi's Chidori, then everyone started calling him Friend Killer Kakashi and even he believes he murdered his teammate in cold blood for the good of the village.

When Minato decided to make his minutes-old son the Kyuubi container and then swiftly leave him as an orphan, and Hiruzen thought the best thing to do would be to let the village terrorize him and leave him without the protection of his powerful, beloved parents' legacies.

Nagato going off the deep end after Yahiko got murdered and deciding to use his dead bestie's body as one of his paths, forcing Konan (who may or may not have been romantically linked with Yahiko, but at the very least was another childhood best friend) to interact with his corpse for years to come as Nagato's real body rotted in the basement.

Orochimaru's whole child experimentation/abduction/murder/body snatching extravaganza is just...horrific. He truly is a plague upon the elemental nations, and I believe if Tobirama were Hokage when Orochimaru started to get weird, he would have been put down like a mad dog. Maybe Minato would have tried to do it had he lived long enough, too.

You can't have a list of fucked up Naruto things without mentioning the obvious Uchiha massacre. Village-sanctioned genocide perpetuated by a 13-year-old family member and his insane cousin masquerading as their equally-insane ancestor is some dark shit, and that's not even getting to the other related factors (re: eyeball snatching, the Sasuke of it all, Divine Intervention via moon goddess planting the seeds of it happening at all).

[katharsisboy101]

Eren is the Ultimate Shonen Protagonist Subversion

So, to expand on the idea of my last AOT analysis, I wanted to talk about how Eren (and AOT as a whole) is the ultimate shonen subversion. Be warned that I will discuss Bleach, MHA and Naruto in this post too, but just brief mentions and nothing really major.

To start, we have to take a look at Eren, who fills all the generic Shonen protagonist boxes and yet subverts them through realism.

HE HAS A DREAM

Shonen protagonists have dreams (or motivations that drive their character). For Goku, it's to become stronger (just because). For Naruto, it's to become Hokage (to make up for the lack of attention he received in childhood, but doesn’t that sound unhealthy?). For Deku, it’s to become a hero (both to help others but also to make up for being born quirkless, and the last part goes completely unacknowledged by the narrative). 

Eren’s search for freedom manifests in the two dreams he has in the series, which are both also subverted and shown to be extremely dangerous. 

His first dream is the wish to wipe out every titan.

Of course, we later know this is subverted both by revealing that the titans are also human, and thus, greatly messing with the black and white shonen protagonist-esque logic Eren exhibits, and by the fact that even after fulfilling his dream, Eren is completely empty, because not only they weren't the simple enemy he thought them to be, but he still has to fight the outside world regardless if he wants to truly be free. 

This serves both as a subversion of the shonen protagonist who has to face black and white enemies, and of the genre as a whole, by adding a huge layer of moral complexity to the conflict in the series.

And because of it, now his second dream is to wipe out all of humanity, and I think I really don't need to point out why this dream is a complete subversion of everything a shonen protagonist represents, right? The shonen protagonist, which usually fights for his friends, ends up getting many of them killed, wiping out 80% of humanity, all because he followed his dream without giving up. 

The takeaway is that following dreams blindly and without any sort of reflection is stupid and can have horrible consequences for both yourself and others, especially if said dreams have a subtext of trauma and generational abuse like many shonen protagonists (and Eren) share.

And that leads me to my next point.

HE NEVER GIVES UP

Shonen protagonists have their eyes set on a goal, and they follow it singlemindedly, no matter the consequences. They always fulfill their dream by virtue of never giving it up, and that allows them to reach recognition and happiness.

Eren also never gives up, and that gets everyone around him killed many times. Hell, if he didn’t have the Attack Titan, he would have died in episode 3 because he just didn’t know when to retreat. Eren doesn’t listen to other people, and never gives up his dream of being free and seeing an outside world “levelled”, and the result is mass genocide. Even though he should have compromised like adults do for the sake of everyone’s happiness, he was a stubborn child that wouldn’t let go of his dream and not giving up resulted in the biggest massacre in history.

Eren's iconic catchphrase, "I will keep moving forward", implies not looking back, not thinking about the consequences or the implications of what you're doing—how many people will suffer because of it, or how to break the cycle of hatred at all. It's a phrase that encapsulates never giving up, at the cost of others, and that's awful. Attack on Titan itself has a message about how giving up is the right choice sometimes, Erwin’s whole thing is “Give up on your dreams and die”, and that allows the scouts to win in Shiganshina and discover the basement. Armin and Mikasa also give up on Eren, and that allows for the remaining survivors to find happiness, and yet Eren just had to be the man, Eren just had to never give up and look where it got him.

HE FIGHTS FOR HIS FRIENDS

Shonen protagonists are unnaturally selfless, and they always go out of their way to save others.

Eren tries to be selfless, hell, he uses his friends as a facade to explain why he did the Rumbling, but it’s all a lie. Because Attack on Titan is realistic, and human beings just don’t have it in them to live for the sake of others.

Shonen protagonists are all about how they do what they do for their friends, but if the story goes a little deeper, it isn’t really about them, is it? Does Deku want to save others because he’s selfless, or because he wants to make up for his percieved inability to be a hero by overcompensating and saving everyone? Does Naruto save his villains because he’s the kindest being who will empathize with any mass murderer, or because he wants to save himself deep down, and his villains share many aspects of himself?

Eren tries to act like he’s doing everything for others, at first to have revenge for his mother when the titans are the enemy and later for the sake of his friends when the world is his enemy. But he’s never doing it for them. He’s doing everything for himself.

Eren feels insecure and powerless because his mother died in front of him, and he puts himself and everyone else at risk by trying to compensate for that fact. He’s not after justice as much as he is after placating his guilt. And do I need to mention how his actions through the Rumbling resulted in Sasha and Hange dying? Does that look like protecting his friends to you?

He literally killed his mom.

Eren is doing all of this because he didn’t grow up, because he wasn’t mature enough to compromise and realize that maybe, just maybe, committing mass genocide isn’t helping anybody, not even himself.

HE HAS THE MORAL HIGH GROUND

Shonen protagonists have the moral high ground, and no matter if the villain they’re faced with is making good points, they maintain their black and white ideals and continue to perpetuate the status quo that is responsible for the conflict of the story (Just look at Bleach and its corrupt Soul Society that never really changes for the better, and that Ichigo still fights for until the end, or Deku and hero society, or Naruto and-)

Sure, they attempt to change a few things, and they give peace to the villains affected by systemic issues in messiah-like ways, but they don’t attempt to question the roots of the issues (Bleach) or they only make slight modifications and everything works out (MHA and Naruto).

Eren also starts as a victim of systemic issues, feeling like he has all the right to wipe out all titans and unabashedly committing himself to that goal without morality really coming into the picture until way later. And when it does, it shows just how dangerous Eren’s black and white morality really is. 

The worst part is that when he talks to Reiner, you can notice that he actually realizes the nuance, but he chooses to ignore it for the sake of “moving forward”, a phrase that once again, doesn’t really have much meaning beyond "not giving up" and that makes Eren and everyone around him suffer immensely. 

Eren swears that he has the moral high ground at the start of the story, and even when he realizes he doesn’t, that he’s the same as Reiner, he still friggin does what he does, because in his mind, he’s still being a hero this way, he’s still trying to save Paradis and his friends…

But he’s just lying to himself. Eren is no hero.

HE’S RECKLESS AND LOUD

I mean, this one is pretty simple. While Shonen protagonists are rewarded for their recklessness and loudness (Deku saving Bakugo), Eren is so incredibly reckless that it puts everyone around him in danger.

The main example of this is when he tries to save Armin and ends up in the belly of a titan as a result. He didn't have the strength nor the intelligence to plan what he was doing, and it got him killed—if it weren't for the Attack Titan, his story would have ended there.

I’ve explained why in the previous points, so there’s no really a reason to repeat myself, but it’s this same recklessness and frankly stupidness and lack of preparation that ends up with a boy that has too much power and uses it in the most stupid way possible.

HE GETS POWER UPS

Shonen protagonists get power ups for the convienience of the plot, in order to timely defeat their enemies. Whether they’re justified or not, it brings ocmplicated power scaling questions in to play, until the protagonists’s strength and the rest of the world’s is so far apart that he becomes a godly being with enough strength to protect everyone he cares about and defeat any enemy.

Instead of that though, Eren’s power ups are a curse, that end up slowly corrupting his mind and do more harm than good in the long run—creating a teenager with too much power in his hands, an amount of power that Eren himself says is too much for one person to handle.

The Attack Titan is often uncontrollable and the casualties Eren brings throughout his path at the start aren’t small, and part of his character hints that it’s his way of fulfilling his destructive tendencies.

And I don’t need to mention how adding the Founding Titan to the mix messes up Eren’s conception of his free will and overwhelms him with the ability to destroy the world and see every possible future.

Yes, this powers give the scouts the edge to finally fight back and Eren is often referred as “humanity’s last hope”, but every coin has two sides, and it’s this same power that dooms 80% of humanity.

Attack on Titan subverts the idea that power is unequivocally good, and it poses the dilemma (that characters that Levi also properly express) that being the strongest doesn’t mean that you can control everything and exercise freedom. The actually strong characters understand that the world is too big for one person to handle and don’t let their defeats and failures define their life and their subsequent goals in it. Life is cruel, and also beautiful, and Eren couldn’t accept the first part and used his power ups to define the plot when in truth all he was doing was throwing a childish tantrum.

Besides, Eren’s seemingly “out of nowhere” asspull power-ups are always properly foreshadowed and even if, at the time, they seem unexpected and unpredictable, later it becomes obvious that they were always intended as a vital part of the story rather than a way of bending the plot to make the protagonist win. 

HE’S AVERAGE… wait, huh?

Eren is what happens when you throw a Shonen protagonist into the real world. All the lofty facades fall off. He’s not powerful. He fails at almost every single instance. He is a burden to his allies most of the time, and there’s a hundred people other than him that could use his powers better than him. Throughout the start of the series, Eren constantly tries to prove the idea that he’s average wrong, and even when he comes to accept that he has to take a step aside and serve as a tool for humanity’s survival, it’s treated as a step forward rather than a bad choice.

Eren both matures and doesn’t mature, he stops seeing things in black and white and yet continues to act self-servingly regardless—he loses his fiery passion and replaces it with pragmatism and manipulation in service of his goals.

He becomes a person, a proper tridimensional protagonist for a story as complex as AOT, and all he had to do is face the world. Of course, the fact thet he loses his simplicity isn’t a positive development in and of itself, because no matter how much he grew externally, his wishes and motivations remained the same, except Eren becomes someone so nuanced that it’s impossible for him to keep pretending like things are as simple as he once thought he was, losing himself in the cruelty and complexity of the world instead of keeping his spirit regardless, like Armin does.

Shonen Protagonists are both Good and Bad

Eren first loses the "bad" aspects of Shonen protagonists, but he also loses the good ones as the story progresses, and retains some others… he becomes a complete person, nuanced, who makes good but primarily bad choices, who is swept up by his ego, by the narrative of a protagonist he built for himself—and he destroys the world as he tries to fulfill it.

Eren loses the optimism, the courage, the camaraderie, and continues with the most toxic aspects of the shonen protagonist—the need to do it alone, the need to fulfill his dream no matter what and move forward, without questioning himself in the process.

Eren fails because he wants to be a Shonen protagonist, but Shonen protagonists are not human beings. No one always wins, we should strive to be like them and at the same time avoid losing the nuance that is so vital in such a cruel and beautiful world like this. The reason why we like Shonen protagonists is because they inspire us, they are role models, simple and ideal, but if you don’t separate the character from reality, you forget that every strength comes with a downside, and you end up following a misleading narrative in which you lose sight of what truly matters.

At first, his wish didn't align with the death of others... but later on, it did. It's as simple as that. He had done too much harm to have any sort of morality at that point. He was corrupted by his experiences, and he lost the idealism necessary to find a satisfying result in which he and his friends live, while at the same time keeping the toxic idealism that wouldn’t let him give up on his dreams. 

Eren wasn’t a Shonen protagonist, and that was both for the best and for the worst, because humans shouldn’t dream and wish for impossible outcomes, but most importantly, they should never lose the hope for a better world, and for their own happiness.

[dearestfallsummer]

The thing is, whenever i saw stupid people try to glorify uzumaki clan or name only for competing them or put them on silver plate to mock uchiha, i just burst out the biggest laugh ever.

Do these people realize both of these clans are so similar that using them as fanwars or worse to elevate one of the clans from konoha is disgusting? Because both of them were wronged by the same village too, konoha. They are the same genocide victims, even worse for uzumaki that nothing is left for them even if there are more survivor like naruto or karin, they knew nothing about their ancestor or culture, the only things remain are the vast chakra or the long span of lifetime which must be part of 5% of the uzumaki. Like why not making naruto and karin bonded as uzumaki? Why not making them as sealmaster/mistress? Uzumaki was so strong and threatening that those villages all agreed to wiped them off, even konoha did not help much, so much for BEING AN ALLY. They only need uzushio/uzumaki to give them the perfect vessels for their biggest weapon, mito, kushina, and naruto were all trapped there. Mito and kushina were completely forgotten there tho, even naruto was known and all credits went to minato instead.

People will say and deny all they want and say that naruto is happy and getting his dream as hokage and all, BUT DOES HE LOOK HAPPY TO YOU? His adulthood is consisted of miserable marriage and nuclear family, even his dream as hokage looked as empty as hell, nothing changed, its all meaningless, people with eyes can see and if you want to deny it, i wont bother with them, just go with those stupid ignorance.

Uzumaki in the end of manga and reinforced w that stupid sequel was truly extinct to me, in naruto's 17 birthday, it was reminder that 17 years ago uzumaki truly dead along with kushina. Uzumaki is left only as ordinary name without any meaning as konoha intended, where its survivor didnt know its truly legacy, it ended there.

Thats why its funnier when dumb people bring brt or hmwr or hell even worse hinata to glorify them as uzumaki, like there is nothing special with them ESPECIALLY AS UZUMAKI, because there had nothing left interesting in them about uzumaki, its just empty name. Like why do use hinata lol, idc she used uzumaki's name because of marriage she is a freaking hyuuga to all boot, the same person who especially get the benefit as a main branch from her slave owning clan, who did not have a thought that her clan is in the wrong, who did not nothing in her position to stop the insanity. Nh especially loved to associating her to uzumaki to make dumb point about how underrated uzumaki or hyuuga compared to Kishimoto's favoritism to uchiha. Like ew, don't ever do disservice to uzumaki by putting them in the same bar as that slave owner clan.

Uzumaki is indeed underrated, cant say the same to the latter. When you want to hype uzumaki, use the right person instead, use mito, the forgotten first hokage's wife who sacrificed herself to be the sole weapon of foreign country that did not have the same appreciation for her and her name. Use kushina, who was brought and trapped as foreigner and weapon where she was bullied for her gene, where she had to sacrifice her own son for a goddamn village that gave his life hell too. Use nagato, karin, and naruto, the survivors who had miserable childhood because they had no real home in their clan's name, separated which later met as strangers and enemies, wronged by a system that stopped their full potential as UZUMAKI, where at the end the meaning of their name lost in the wind.

Imagine if they explored more about uzumaki? The clan of the beloved main character? Where it focused on him and his forgotten clan that just as important and interesting as clan like uchiha or senju? Instead they end it with conformity and heteronormativity where they assasinated the main characters (naruto and sasuke) and left a big stain in the legacy.

I will forever be salty and mourn the uzumaki and uzushio.

[team7-headquarter]

Team 7 introductions are like:

Naruto: I want to obtain POWER so I can force people to look at me like an actual human being and not a monster, haha! They won't ignore me or isolate me anymore! They're gonna BEG ME and put their lives on my hands and— Oh and ramen. All the ramen. And maybe prove to everyone that they are dumb ass fuck for not believing in me? Yeah, prove them wrong, that's cool! And and and Iruka-sensei is cool! I'm so happy when someone does the bare minimum and respects my life and acknowledges the fact that I'm just a kid and that I'm suffering (one of) the craziest discrimination acts applied by our government Hokage...

Sakura: you know how the first real goal I got like the first thing I wanted for myself after years of being bullied and being nobody and wanting to disappear was the affection of this boy? Well, all these other girls think I don't stand a chance and that they'll get the boy, so I'm gonna win the boy and laugh at their faces. Does it mean that I need validation and affection and attention and love? Not, what are you saying, I have a perfect normal life and parents that are totally involved in my life and I am happy! So happy! I wouldn't know what sadness or loneliness is like! Never! I'm normal and totally nothing to worry about!

Sasuke: you'll find that the things you like in life are meaningless when you carry the trauma of being the sole survivor of a genocide committed by the brother you loved and adored. I want him dead which shouldn't be surprising given that we live in a society ruled by violence, right? I hate a lot of things because I'm painfully aware of how miserable our reality is. Since this is my trauma, no one else has the right to do something about it. They certainly didn't seemto have the balls to go after him, even when they call him criminal, so I'm gonna kill Itachi myself. Obsessed you said? Try enjoying life when you know someone can commit genocide and no one would give a fuck and the government won't do a thing. Try caring for others knowing they can get kill any day and you'll have to look the other way. I dare you to.

Kakashi: *most emotionally neglected adult in the village, abandoned as a kid, saw his father do the right thing and get so socially pressured he ended up commiting suicide and the government didn't give a shit, forced to become a perfect weapon at young age to show off the village strength, forced to become an elite assassin as a kid, people in the village widely making fun of his trauma and acting like he's just weird / peculiar and not on the verge of losing his mind for real, a champ at dissociation and a minute more away taking roots in front of the graves of his mistakes because he spent way too much time there in self-punishment, basically the most miserable jounin in the whole village*

Kakashi: hm, I won't let you get to know me or get close to me because everything I touch dies and I don't want to get attachments because you're soldiers and you might die and it doesn't matter that I have history with two of your families and that you all remind every single minute of the boy I watched die and the girl that I killed and the boy used to be. You will never know any of that. I am a whole man with a whole life that you'll never know because I am just your superior here and you must obey me in our missions. I'm definitely not hiding the fact that the village just failed me and set me up to be the one who failed you all in case you get killed or lose your shit once and for all.

[bananaman-mp3]

[ID: A screenshot of a reblog with the blog's url and profile picture scribbled outin red that reads: "...conditionally and only if you never disagree with them? O.o"

the tags underrneath read: "#it never stops baffling me #how fandom turned these two into some idea of love #when the story is literall Naruto obsessign over Sasuke who is not interrsted #and then beating him almost to death because Sasuke doesn't think genocide is good pooitcal move actually #like FFS pls read more mangas people" End ID]

are you serious... if naruto only loved him conditionally why did he risk everything to save him, even when everyone else was set on killing him for being a traitor to konoha?

the guy threw his dignity away, in the eyes of everyone, to defend public enemy #1

he always called sasuke his friend, he never stated that he would only consider him a friend only if he returned as a konoha ninja.

loves him conditionally my ass.

and like- the idea that naruto can only love people that never disagree with him is so fundamentally against his character it's almost comical. if that were true naruto wouldve simply killed nagato. he wouldn't have tried to understand him or talk him out of it the way he did, once he heard his story. he wouldn't have tried talking to obito either. or even neji, konohamaru and inari, as small as those moments look in comparison.

the obsession part would make more sense, given how much he thought about him and wanted him back, to the point even his friends and the girl who was in love with sasuke thought it was too much.

yet the part about naruto beating sasuke up is... weird. they do realize naruto was fighting him because sasukes idea of a revolution meant to martyr himself for the sake of peace, the way his brother did, right?

they do realize that sasuke wanted to kill him at that point too, right? that it wasn't naruto beating a defenseless sasuke, right?

if anything, naruto was leaning on the defensive side and sasuke was the one trying to beat him up. but the were pretty fucking tied in terms of power. thats why he came close to killing sasuke (and viceversa. stop treating sasuke like a weakling.)

now, that doenst mean naruto is completely in the right to simply undermine or ignore konohas wrongdoing just because it only fuels the cycle of violence. naruto himself is victim of konohas shit system, and he has acknowledged many of the problems it caused. he promised to nagato that hed help amegakure when he became hokage.

of course you could argue that narutos methods may not be as effective for change as sasukes more aggressive plan, since systemic change is rarely if ever achievable by working within it. but im not that good with politics so i dont think im the best to talk about it, and that already goes beyond the topic here.

sasukes violent reaction to konohas mistreatment of the uchiha was completely understandable and anyone in his place wouldve don the same. lets make that clear here. i think saying he was highly justified is not a controversial take, at least here. konoha and the shinobi system ARE fucked up.

also, love that 'sasuke is not interested' bit. op, why did sasuke want to kill naruto? tell me.

me when im not interested:

so yeah i think that's a pretty inaccurate take on sasukes feelings towards naruto.

[abattre]

Help💀 I just came across the most outrageous take in the history of Naruto takes!!!

Some Naruto fans were hating on Hiruzen because they suspect he favored Sasuke over Naruto💀💀💀💀💀💀

and I quote "he gave Sasuke a better salary when he became an orphan and a good, fancy house to live in, judging by his living conditions. While Naruto was put in a small appartment and only had ramen and expired food to live off"

😭😭😭😭😭😭help no please help!!! How is it the third hokage's fault that Naruto is a total slob who rarely cleans his home???

I can't find it but that godawful pic comparing Naruto & Sasuke's rooms has done irreparable damage to the fandoms understanding of how terrible Konoha was to the both of them in their own special ways. Genuinely,,,, I think it's so egregious to compare the living standards of a poor ostracised orphan living in the city slums, and an orphan survivor of a genocide living in the same house he found his parents corpses in. Sorry but. What kind of competition is that. Sasuke just cleans more? I guess? It's more a marker of his personality than an indication of a better given government subsidy.

Also like,,, Sasuke didn't have any sort of interaction with Hiruzen to justify the line of thought that he was better treated after the massacre than Naruto. From what we see Sasuke was just,,, left to his own devices after having his entire life obliterated. And Hiruzen was terrible to Naruto too don't get me wrong, I think it's just more obvious to people because Hiruzen has a pretty clear line of connection to Naruto as someone in his direct sphere, so his maltreatment of him is kind of in your face and incredibly back-handed and cruel all-considering. Sasuke doesn't have any link to Hiruzen on a personal level though so I don't know why people keep bringing him up in this conversation when we don't have any information on whatever stipend Sasuke was apparently provided other than being shown that he still lives in the same house he did as a child. And that he cleans his room better apparently.

[comikas-fandom-dump]

Thoughts on the Third Hokage?

He is an incompetent coward.

...

Okay, okay. Real answer. Before I go onto a full-fledged rant about all (or at least the gist) of my grievances with the Third Hokage, let me explain. I personally consider Hiruzen to be the "victim of the plot".

In spite of an earlier, much more sympathetic characterization, Hiruzen gradually became less and less likable as the story went on. But Hiruzen's fall from grace, so to speak, didn't strike me as Kishimoto's "goal", rather than a plot necessity. Konoha itself falls into a similar category.

It is no secret that the story is always positively biased when it comes to everything Konoha. Whether it is child labor or straight-up genocide, the story will always find a way to conveniently gloss over the fact that the Village of the Hidden Leaf is actually the Village of the Hidden Horrors.

None of this was done to fool the audience, however. Naruto's story simply grew more complex. Characters were in need of compelling backstories to make them sympathetic, and they needed compelling motivations to pit them against our heroes. In order to achieve both, systemic issues were introduced to the village's world-building and, as the village's head honcho, it was physically impossible not to have that reflect back onto Hiruzen. The village's grievances would always either act as proof of the Hokage's incompetence or complicity.

This is why I view Hiruzen primarily as a tool of the plot rather than his own character. As for my thoughts on Hiruzen as a character, that one is far more complex.

The Murder Grandpa

As I explained just now, Hiruzen's characterization is driven by the needs of the plot. Initially, he is introduced to us as this benevolent, wise, old man with a silly streak. He spends time with his subjects, advises them on their personal struggles, and is one of the few people who express their sympathies for Naruto's plight.

But that's only until the Chunin Exams roll around.

Notably, the exams were an editorial adjustment that was added later on as Kishimoto planned out his story. According to an interview, Naruto (the character) was supposed to meet other 4-man cells on individual missions. Editors suggested the Chunin Exams be added to speed up the process of introducing characters.

Regardless, exams are no mission environment. Whereas it is entirely believable for characters to encounter dangerous situations on a mission (due to unpredictable encounters while out in the wilderness), a contained, supervised exam cannot turn lethal without the conductors' permission or negligence. Yet, the story likely needed the danger to build stakes, resulting in Hiruzen needlessly enabling death and murder.

Sure, the shinobi world is supposed to be this unforgiving place with no friendships - Only armistices. But, if a so-called "replacement war" must be fought to protect the balance between their nations, why does it have to be carried out on the backs of their youngest and weakest? Why burden them by convincing them that they are carrying the prestige (and by extension, the well-being) of the village on their little backs?

Sure, it makes sense from a logistic standpoint to sacrifice fodder first before wasting your most powerful resources - But Hiruzen still claims to care about the lives of his subjects, declaring the citizens of Konoha as his family. So, for some reason, while condemning Orochimaru for abusing his subordinate's loyalty for his personal gain, he simultaneously has the nerve to take advantage of his Genins' aspirations and loyalty for the village's gain.

It's that same attitude that Madara already criticized on Hashirama. At some point in time, the abstract concept of "village" replaced the lives of its inhabitants in Hashirama's visions for the future. Both Hiruzen and the Hokage before him have forgotten that wars are fought so the weak and innocent don't have to die, only to sacrifice the weak and innocent so that wars don't need to be fought.

And, while I addressed this in a different post before, Hiruzen very much had the choice to conduct a far less brutal Chunin Selection Examination. In fact, he has held them before, albeit during wartime, and with far more guardrails in place than there were during Naruto's era.

Where Team Minato simply had to battle other teams, under the supervision of proctors, Team 7 participated in a 5-day-long survival training amidst man-eating animals and ninja teams from rival (if not downright hostile) nations and with no proctors.

So yeah. This was a deliberate choice on Hiruzen's end.

The Disaster Hokage

We've already discussed Hiruzen's hypocrisy in regard to the Chunin Exams. Much like his peers and predecessors, Hiruzen has forgotten the purpose of the village and what "protecting Konoha" ultimately means. He ended up resigning himself to the idea that true peace can never be achieved in the world of Shinobi.

It's... not something I like but it's a clever justification of a character's cruelty: By making him a pessimist. But oh boi, he's not just a pessimist and it's getting worse once you really dig into it. Here's a small list of other things that Hiruzen screwed up:

Permanently bestowing political offices onto his unqualified friends and former teammates in what is best described as nepotism.

Waging war on smaller nations or their territory and inflicting lasting damages both to its land and inhabitants.

Trafficking children to forcefully turn them into Jinchuriki (人柱力 = "Power of Human Sacrifice").

Failing to implement the mandatory inclusion of a medical-nin on each team, even long after two world wars with massive casualty counts.

Lowering Academy graduation ages to send literal elementary schoolers to the battlefield.

Neglecting orphans and allowing them to be harassed by the village.

Permitting the practice of slavery for the sake of "clan traditions".

Condoning and sweeping a genocide under the rug by blaming it on the minor he and his friend had been manipulating since (at least) the age of 11.

Failing to hold Danzo accountable for repeatedly forcing children into killing their friends and families and blackmailing a literal orphanage.

Failing to deliver justice to Orochimaru after kidnapping, experimenting, and killing dozens of children, besides committing various other crimes against the village.

Now, I doubt that I need to go into full detail. You get the gist: Hiruzen sucked as a Hokage.

Once again, and much like with Konoha itself, I doubt that Kishimoto ever really intended to give Hiruzen this bad of a track record, or, at least I doubt he did so initially when he first created the character. Even then, he probably hoped to save his characterization by making him an ineffective leader rather than a malevolent one.

Still, the staggering amount of mistakes and downright atrocities committed during his reign, right in front of his face, make it hard to believe it was all just due to incompetence. Some can perhaps be explained or maybe even excused with the "cruelty and unpredictability of the ninja world", ends-justify-the-means-style, but we never even see him try to circumvent that ugly fate even though he is, supposedly, the most powerful man in the village. You can use that excuse for a child or a mere cog in the system, not for the Hokage himself.

And yet, here we are.

[theheirofthesharingan]

How do you honestly feel about konoha/the shinobi system in general?

Shinobi world is a fantastic fictional world with an ancient history that gives depth to its existence. But it's not perfect, because of all the practices that go on in it. The world is dark and mysterious and has a history that is as old as time.

But it is also a broken system of child soldiers, where children killing children or even adults taking advantage of children isn't seen as a bad thing. And that's why Naruto, the main character, exists, who acknowledges how messed up the system is and how hate and love are tied together and he is too naive to understand a lot of things.

We also see the other, darker side of the Shinobi world and Konoha, both, through Sasuke and Itachi. While Naruto's world is all sunshine and green and he learns through his experiences, Itachi has already seen the worst, has done the worst, and faced their consequences. Sasuke, much like him, although in ignorance, has experienced similar things and the way he responds to injustice against himself is a reflection of how violence is embedded in the system of its people, no matter how kind and gentle they otherwise are.

Many people criticise Sasuke for wanting revenge against Konoha, but "revenge" is also the reaction of Shikamaru and Naruto and they're expected to train and kill who killed their masters.

In their world, people not only are more violent to each other than an average person, but also have a higher pain tolerance. And since the ninja world is a place everyone is trying to survive, it's not a place to find out your heroes.

The good people here will have some kind of corruption in them and the bad people will have some kind of goodness to them. And at one point there are no lines because they're all so miserable and broken that one side can do anything whether it's morally right or not.

I feel majority of the fandom uses the real world as a kind of reference to analyse and assess the Shinobi world, which is unlikely to give you a clear image, because what the author is telling you is that the world he created has no heroes. If you're going to use your own personal moral lense to view the Shinobi world and judge characters based on what you approve or disapprove, you're not going to get a clear picture of it. IMO, this is the reason there are such hypocritical takes on the characters like Sasuke and Itachi and other morally ambiguous characters.

Konoha is the same. Since it's the village we spend most time with and the narrative never acknowledgew its system is wrong, it's easier to fall in love with it. Konoha isn't worse or better than the others, in my opinion. It's just that everyone in it sounds like a hypocrite. Kakashi, for example, tells Zabuza they're better people for not making kids kill each other, but then we're introduced to the Chunin exams. We have the venerated second Hokage who experimented with the dead bodies. Hyuuga clan practices slavery. And so on.

Konoha is more powerful than the other nations because they have the right strategy and the strongest tailed beast. And they manage to hide the genocide of its people, blame the victims, driving one away to death and blaming the other for wanting justice (while advocating the same ideals for others, as I mentioned above).

It's awful to see that Koshimoto leaves the darkness of his world unattended. It could be because he needs Boruto to run, so the issues Naruto promised Sasuke would get resolved are never actually resolved. He's probably uninterested. It should probably frustrate me more, but I think when I finished Naruto, I had expected this more or less. And it's been a long time since Manga ended (even it's been long enough for anime), so frustration isn't going to change anything.

[the-real-sasuke-uchiha]

Hello, glad to see people finally understand that sasuke's pure inside, which means that destroying innocent people's lives for fun or for vengeance ain't true at all. I wonder if people read the manga and just decided to exhibit their poor comprehension skills. Sasuke only wanted one thing that motivates him : revenge, and this revenge is justice, and this justice is a revolution. Unlike Naruto who lowers himself to seek the approvals of villagers, Sasuke just decides something far greater that just disturbs others and this is a clear message that those kages or villagers or Naruto don't understand what's peace and what's justice or simply don't want their lifestyles to be challenged because it is so grueling and difficult to bring justice to the shinobi world, because the majority would be annihilated/punished for their crimes or for standing with those who has committed those crimes. Pain confronted Naruto during their battle about the meaning of pain and the importance of justice and the consequences of letting injustice roam free in the shinobi world. And yet, Naruto just repeats the same promise "I'm going to be hokage and bring peace to the shinobi world" and what's this peace he's talking about ? Carrying out the legacy of previous kages to not lose the approvals of villages he's desperate for ? Man, he didn't even punish the elders that are still alive in Boruto while keeping Sasuke as his supporting hand. Hiruzen is the worst hokage who just spent his times letting Danzo rock and lightening up his cigarette to smoke and using his little smile to cover up the double standards and deceptive morals. Tobirama ? Racist, a fascist, this man has ruined everything, his innovations ( jutsus ) has just damaged everything, has worsened everything, and daring to badly judge or speak foul about the Uchihas when he has... experimented on dead corpses for a forbidden jutsu. Come on now, all hypocrites, all criminals, all accomplices, all stupid people who has deserved to perish. Sasuke needed justice, not redemption, he wanted a revolution, and he've good morals, is a realistic character. Now look at what they have done to him in the end... protecting a village and its legacy that both has destroyed his clan.

Hi there, my friend.

I totally agree with you. Sasuke's faults are extremely exaggerated, it was never in him to hurt innocents, and he proved this many times. The revenge he was seeking was legit and fair, and the only form of justice that exists in the shinobi world. He was totally right in despising Konoha and the kages, and his violence against them was justified. What people don't seem to understand is that oppressors don't simply stop oppressing because you ask them nicely. They only do so when they have no other option. I also don't blame Naruto for seeking people's attention or approval when he was a child, it is only natural. But as a hokage he was an absolute disappointment. I can't say it better than you. He made only empty promises to Nagato, and he never helped Ame. He never even made a reproach to Jiraiya, Tsunade or Orochimaru, who were the living war criminals that had contributed to its destruction. Having the two genocidal advisors working for him is unjustifiable. Having the portraits of the racist hokages who lead to the extermination of his so-called best friend's family, is disgusting. It makes a perfect combo with a soulless Sasuke that gave up his goals, his personality and his selfrespect to serve the ones who betrayed and murdered his family.

Thank you for the ask, have a great day and take care!

[bunniefaery]

I saw this article calling Sasuke a Villain and how the live-action shouldn't include his "villain" arc, because it "felt tedious and too convoluted to the bigger narrative" and instead they should make him a pivot for the fight against the Otsutsuki...

Did this person watch the anime or read the manga?

Article from CBR, Title: The Naruto Live-Action Movie Doesn't Need To Adapt This Villain Arc

1. Protect Konoha from what? The Uchiha wanted to end the decades long discrimination and oppression they were facing at the hands of the higher ups... (Not to mention that when Kurama attacked the village (under genjutsu, when Naruto was born), and during the konoha crush, no other villages went to attack the Leaf after the events), not even after the Pein arc...

2. Most people would hate growing up alone, and why was that sentence in bold?

3. Sasuke didn't find out about the true reason Itachi did what he did, until after Itachi died, as well as the real reason behind said Coup... as far as I am aware. And why wouldn't he want revenge against Konoha (specifically the 3 people who are left that caused all of his trauma and the uchiha genocide, it'd be 4 but the Sandaime Hokage was already dead by this point in the story)

4. What "wars" against Madara and Obito? There was only 1 War against them, the 4th great ninja war, that lasted 2 days a.k.a. approximately ~212 episodes, including filler (volumes 55 through 59 in the Manga, according to google)

"Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of her sons (Ashura and Indra, respectively)"

Okay, so the author didn't watch nor read Naruto...

Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki are not Kaguya's sons... they are her grandsons 👁️👄👁️ Homura and Hagoromo Otsutsuki are her sons... and Hagoromo is Ashura and Indra's father…

I feel like the author doesn't know much about Kaguya either, if they did they'd know her story.

"The advantage of Sasuke being a rebel without defecting from Konoha is that Naruto would have the help needed to fight the big villains of the franchise: the Ōtsutsuki."

When the time came, was Sasuke not helping Naruto with that? 🧐 And why shouldn't he have defected from Konoha? What good could they do for him?

Why does Sasuke need to be convinced to return home, when his home was taken from him by this "home" the author speaks of, that "home" being Konoha? Why should he return to the place that treated his people so poorly that they felt they no other choice but to do a coup against the people in charge of Konoha only to be wiped out for daring to stand up for themselves after years of oppression...?

Konoha, specifically Danzo, the third hokage, and 2 hogake advisors, Homura and Koharu (3 of which where Tobirama Senju's students and all 4 of which were on his personal team, and we all know what Tobi thought of the Uchiha) forced Itachi to wipeout his whole clan, excluding Sasuke, and then blamed him for it. They swept what they did under a filthy rug, that already had many skeletons piling up, and acted like he was the most evil person... He was a child and he was forced to do that and to become a fugitive by the old people in charge, who had no business being in charge of Konoha since there should've been a 5th Hokage by then... (regardless if Itachi regretted it or not, which he never really does)

I won't say it...😇

"Sasuke could learn more about how Indra developed a dark side, which passed down to the Uchiha, while Ashura's light gave way to the Senju and Uzumaki (Naruto's family) clans"

1. While I do agree that Naruto should've learnt more of the Uzumaki (and the Namikaze), besides finding out they excelled in Sealing Jutsus, had very long lives and were a bit savage (it wasn't in-depth at all, and there is no one to teach him, since the Uzumaki are also victims of genocide (in which Konoha did not help protect them) and well, I don't know what happened to Minato's people)

2. And that Sasuke should've learnt more of his people (but how was he going to, when he was the only one left at age 7/8?)

3. Indra's dark side... it wasn't passed down, nor did it emerge until his father gave his little brother the title of successor and expected him to follow without questions, having his birthright taken away because he was more introverted than his little brother whom their father called "the flunky useless dropout younger brother" (according to a panel I saw). And implied, at least to me, that ninjustu was created for wars and all things evil (Indra created ninjustu when he was just a child). ah yes his dark side the Uchiha inherited, that darkness of wanting to be treated like people and with respect in the village they helped make.

4. Kushina calls the Uzumaki, among other things, a bit savage. Batsuma Senju punched Hashirama, a child at the time, for being angry/sad that his little brother died, saying he was disrespecting his brother (and him) by basically questioning the system. Tobirama is a Senju, who was not shy about his hatred and prejudice against the Uchiha Clan (he is after all the founder of the bigoted psuedo science that was the "Curse of Hatred" the Uchiha are supposedly afflicted by, a clan that according to him is cursed and called Sasuke "a brat possessed by Uchiha evil") and that's on Ashura's "light" that gave way for his descendants, the Uzumaki and the Senju, "a clan of love~"🥰

Right, because he wasn't a pivot to the story, nor did his and naruto's story have any "heart and impact"... Right...

At some point, I wonder if some of this article is just satire 😅