zijiaye

[zijiaye]

Thinking about how during the first appearance of the female titan, everyone sees a titan that's destroying and killing everything in her path, a monster, Armin had no reason to see her in another way and yet this is how she looks from his pov

[zijiaye]

If you really think about it, Trump is very much a Naruto type of leader:

Both are charismatic "outsiders" who win through personality rather than competence. Neither studies or cares about actual governance.

Both reduce complex problems to emotional slogans. "Never give up"/"Make America Great Again" - simple messages repeated endlessly.

Both rely on personal loyalty over institutions. They don't understand systems, just believe their gut feelings will fix everything.

Both prefer rallies and speeches ("talk-no-jutsu") over actual policy work.

Both appeal to people tired of complexity who want to believe a strong personality alone can fix deep problems.

Both create personality cults where emotional connection matters more than expertise or competence.

Both are surprisingly funny and good at connecting with crowds despite (or because of) saying ridiculous things.

Both succeed by making everything about personal relationships rather than addressing systemic issues.

Both are treated as prophesied saviors despite showing no actual leadership ability beyond charisma.

[zijiaye]

The idea of wiping out darkness is fairly genocidal in nature if you think about it. What one person defines as "darkness" might be someone else's life, or an entire clan.

[zijiaye]

I actually think Naruto's idealism leads to evil, because true empathy cannot be reached by:

Fighting really hard

Understanding someone's real pain through a relatively brief encounter

Declaring that the cycle of hatred can be broken through sheer force of will.

His idealism denies the depth of people's pain, therefore cannot realistically transform anything. Sasuke's final arc in Shippuden is merely a contrivance. He submits to shonen genre's need for a happy ending.

[zijiaye]

NaruHina's lack of interactions is very much by design. Neckbeards love the fantasies that a hottie like Hinata just provides sex, takes care of children then disappears so that Naruto can do his thing. If Naruto and Hinata connect too much, she might become humanized, has demands, isn't happy with the bare minimum, and treats Naruto like a human being instead of a god. She'd be too confusing and messy.

Obviously they don't want that.

[zijiaye]

Reminds me of this fic where Kakashi compulsively hoards every item related to Obito, as if Kakashi's just a little puppy missing its owner.

EXCUSE ME, BUT KAKASHI-

[zijiaye]

The most controversial opinion I have is that I don't think Carla is a good mom.

She just looks nice and speaks sweet words. But her philosophy is poison.

Repeatedly telling your son that he's special is a recipe for raising a narcissist. Sure enough, Eren turns out to be one.

[zijiaye]

Remember that scene where Kakashi catches Obito on the verge of smooching the class photo?

My HC is that Kakashi accidentally on purpose passes by Obito's place often. Usually he never reveals himself, but when he sees Obito about to make out with Rin in the class photo (why not the Rin's other photos where she's alone btw hmm Obito???), he just cannot stand idly by and watch the embarrassing scene so he descends onto Obito's window to mock him.

Also this scene from a Chinese fic lives in my head rent-free. (The narrator here is Obito). "I'd been sick before when I was young. My classmates would often use illness as an excuse to skip classes and training, or as an opportunity to get attention from their parents. But I always hated being sick, because there wasn't anyone I could seek comfort from. During the worst times, I could only lie in bed alone and endure it. While at the Academy, being surrounded by peers was fine, but times like these only emphasized how alone I truly was. Life is just cruel like that, always reminding me of what I've lost just when I'm about to forget.

Fortunately, I've been relatively healthy, rarely getting sick since I was seven. The only time I really fell ill was the day before my second Chunin Exam.

It was my own carelessness, really. It was already during the seasonal change, and I'd been training from dawn till dusk for the exam. I didn't even care when my clothes were soaked with sweat, and as a result, my fever shot up to 39°C the next day.

I curled up in my blankets, shivering despite having several layers covering me. My mind kept urging me to get up and take medicine, but I couldn't even open my eyes.

Am I going to die? I promised I'd become Hokage, dying like this would be so uncool… I haven't even passed the Chunin Exam yet, and Kakashi will mock me again…

As my mind wandered with these delirious thoughts, I thought I heard knocking at the door, but I couldn't muster the strength to answer it. I closed my eyes and passed out.

In my feverish sleep, my body alternated between hot and cold, and my dreams were bizarre. One moment I dreamed of failing the Chunin Exam again and being stripped of my ninja status; then I dreamed of trying to confess to Rin, but panicked when I couldn't find my love letter; and then I dreamed of Kakashi… he was taking care of me while I was sick, helping me sit up to take medicine, wiping my sweat with a cool cloth, placing his hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

In my daze, I remember thinking how the elderly always say dreams are opposite to reality, and how wise those words were – the real Kakashi could never be this gentle.

When I finally opened my eyes again, it was sunset. The warm-colored sunlight streamed through the window, falling on the corner of my bed, into my eyes, and onto the hair of the person by the window, coating his silver hair with a honey-colored glow.

I stared at Kakashi blankly, thinking I was still dreaming.

There were faint dark circles under his eye, as if he hadn't slept well. Seeing me awake, he looked at me with his droopy eye and said, "Why do you look so stupid the moment you wake up?"

"Wha— no, why are you here?"

"If I hadn't happened to pass by, you would've died from fever in your house."

"…What are you talking about? You're exaggerating! I'm perfectly healthy, the fever would've gone down after half a day of sleep!"

"It's already the second day."

"…"

I was speechless, partly because Kakashi had shut me down, and partly because I felt inexplicably shy, to the point where I could barely meet his eyes.

"Kakashi… did you take care of me for a whole day?"

Now it was his turn to feel awkward. Kakashi lowered his gaze, his voice slightly hoarse: "I couldn't just let you die, could I? Especially when a certain dead-last was crying in his sleep."

My face instantly turned red: "Who was crying! That was—that was sweat!"

"Sweat coming from your eyes?"

"Yeah! Got a problem with that?!"

I glared at him, ready for our usual verbal sparring. But instead, Kakashi turned his head away, and in the backlight, I saw the corner of his mouth curve slightly upward, almost like a smile.

"Whatever, I won't argue with a sick person. If you say so, then so be it."

While I was still stunned, Kakashi had already walked over to take the cloth from my forehead, softly saying as he re-wet it: "You usually act so carefree, like nothing bothers you, but you'll still hide under your blanket and cry alone. What were you dreaming about?"

By now I'd completely forgotten about arguing that those weren't tears, feeling only awkwardness. I'd always considered him my rival, always wanting to compete with him in everything, and there was no way I could admit my vulnerability in front of him, so I stubbornly said: "I wasn't crying from sadness, I… right, I dreamed about marrying Rin, those were tears of joy."

Kakashi's movements suddenly stopped. After a few seconds, he said casually: "Dreams are opposite to reality, you should give up while you can."

"No way! Once I pass the Chunin Exam, I'm going to confess to Rin, just you watch!"

"As if you could pass the exam in your current state. You'll probably be a Genin forever."

"Ahhhhhhh, you're so annoying!""

[zijiaye]

I don't really buy any Team Minato fanfics that don't have Kakashi/Obito romantic subtext tbh. It just doesn't make any sense to tell a purely platonic story about them.

The subtext in canon Obito's story is that he loves Kakashi and is in denial about it.

Take a look for instance at the symbol of him taping the X over KKS's face in that photo before kissing Rin. I mean why not tape over Minato's too if he wants to go "no homo" about it? The same X-shaped suspender on little KKS's outfit on which the tanto is strapped. Imo at that time Obito already had intrusive thoughts about kissing KKS.

(The funniest thing is that he has multiple photos of Rin's face alone on his Rin board, but subconsciously he chooses to kiss the one with Kakashi in it. And the scene ends when Kakashi appears outside the window, like a living embodiment of Obito's subconscious thought hovering over Obito's head.)

Obito also slashes an X onto Kakashi's chest and scars him during the Fourth War. The X is a mark of Obito's claim, a symbol of the secret within the canon.

Another symbol? The eyes they share allude to the Jianjian bird in Chinese folklore (In Japan they are known as Hiyoku no Tori):

"The description of Jian (鹣) or Jianjian (鹣鹣) can be found in Classic of Mountains and Seas - Wikipedia (山海经), the earlist mythical geological book in China's history.

It has only one eye and one wing, can fly only when male and female lean together.

Thus, it has another Chinese name “比翼鸟”(lovebirds) which in direct translation is “the birds fly wing to wing”.

With such description, in Chinese culture and tradition, it used as metaphor to beloved couple.

There is famous sentence in an ancient poem “在天愿作比翼鸟，在地愿为连理枝” (“On high, we’d be two lovebirds flying wing to wing; On earth, two trees with branches twined from spring to spring.” )"

In his childhood, Obito threw himself so wholeheartedly into his infatuation with Rin because she was so much psychologically safer for him. Beyond the fact that she unconditionally supported him like a mom, I don't think their dynamic was really romantic love.

(Every other gay person knows the feeling of throwing oneself into a straight "crush" when one's young. When a boy really loves a girl, in a romantic way, his feelings about her often appear like a mixture of desire for approval, confusion, sometimes even anger, with a slight tinge of despair. Since his own soul now hangs in the balance, he suddenly becomes caught up in anguish. He wants to get closer and run far away at the same time. You know, kind of like how Obito treats Kakashi.)

With Kakashi, Obito was much more psychologically vulnerable. And as an orphaned black sheep in highly traditional clan, I'd wager some internalized homophobia is in the mix as well. All of that gives birth to fear and anger.

I think he stays away from Kakashi during those years of working on Eye of the Moon plan for this reason. I'm reminded of that quote from the Goldfinch: " Stay away from the ones you love too much. Those are the ones who will kill you."

Despite his inability to verbalize his feelings, Canon Obito loves Kakashi so much that the he chooses, in split seconds, to die for Kakashi, twice.