#rasa of suna

[the-rubies-that-i-gave-up]

People need to understand that Rasa and Karura were the best people for each other and I do NOT mean that in a cute way. I wholly believe those two were the same person in different bodies.

[aleksandracoffan]

The author of my inspiration -> @rkaln and another friend ヾ(•ω•`)o

[bakapandy]

There was a Suna chara art style mem on twitter I thought it would be fun to do!

[archer3-13]

I dont think there's ever actually any confirmation on what Rasa [fourth kazekages] relationship was like with his other children, cause thinking on it i dont remember any commentary from the other sand siblings on what their relationship was like with their dad.

certainly they don't seem too aggrieved that hes gone, but at the same time thats because originally the fourth kazekages death was a complete afterthought. relevant only in the sense it was an out from further suna konoha conflict, and by the time the sand siblings showed up again other things were more important/relevant to the story. when rasa showed up as an edo tensai could have presented that opportunity of learning what those relations were like, but rasa showing up again is solely for the gaara therapy hours so he can get some closure. in that moment rasa might as well not have had any other children and gaara might as well not have had any other siblings.

not that i think rasa being a shit dad to his other kids is unreasonable fanon [cause that is technically what it is with the main story being reluctant to comment any which way], as interesting as I find the man he is much like chiyo a cock, cause everyone in suna projects as much asshole energy outwards as possible. and his handling of gaara as a human being was deplorable, even if it also highlights the very real and unaddressed problems of the shinobi world and its values where human individuality, liberty and rights are sacrificed in the name of village prosperity and nation statehood [as opposed to just him being a cock].

but by that same token, I think all thats really confirmed about how he treated the other sand siblings is that he kept gaara forcibly separated from them. and if you separate gaara from the fandom woobification of him and think about it from the perspective of a military nation states leader it makes sense to keep your dangerous ticking timebomb unstable murder weapon away from the easily breakable children that represent the villages chances of future success. I'd almost call it good parenting even [bar that gaara is also his kid] to keep the children away from the unstable murder weapon that keeps accidentally maiming anyone it gets close to.

but i think a lot of that is kinda irrelevant to the actual discussion fandom seems interested in on this matter, because I don't think most people headcannon rasa as a bad father to temari and kankuro based on the patterns of his characters behaviour. I think most people do it out of this idea of "sand sibling solidarity". gaara's the baby woobie of the naruto fandom [its most widely accepted one anyways], and the sand sibling dynamic is a popular one. so its cathartic to blame any of their earlier problems/dysfunction and distaste for gaara on the big ol mean rasa/fourth kazekage.

and I think thats entirely too lame, cause it turns the sand siblings and their dynamic into temari and kankuro being gaaras generic yes men. a problem that does kinda intrinsically infect the original work mind, given that after the chunin exams the sand siblings disappear up until the sasuke retrieval missions ending at which point they're all suddenly buddy buddy with each other. but thats something that was a consequence of time and narrative flow, keeping the story focused and all. but fanfiction offers the opportunity to flesh these things out, and theres some real interesting ground in how the sand siblings transition from being completely fucking terrified [for fairly understandable and reasonable reasons] of gaara to being his pillars of support as kazekage following the [partial] failure of konoha crush. reducing it to rasa being the evil bad man who kept them separated when they actually wanted to be gaaras friends all along, is such a waste though.

anyways, feel free to crucify me now for being mean about the writing around the sand siblings.

[rosalinesurvived]

Another one of my toxic traits is that i thoroughly believe Karura, had she lived, would’ve been the most desi-toxic mother to mother. No more ‘Soft sweet womanly mother-love would’ve saved them all 🥺” the Suna family in my mind pass on mental health disorders through bloodlines like their kekkei genkai.

EDIT I wanna elaborate on this actually. I think she would’ve raised her kids up to be militant Suna shinobi like literally everyone in the family. I think she was stubborn and authoritarian and prideful and fiery and jaded like Rasa. They loved each other fiercely for a reason. I think they both had serious mental health issues and just a bad idea in general on how to be People as you would yknow, in a generation-long culture of child soldiers. Just because two people love each other doesnt mean they have a sunshine and rainbows nuclear family relationship, especially in their culture where those emotions were probably frowned upon.

[desertgourd]

Rasa: Thoughts on parenthood and leadership

Brief and not terribly organized, prompted by a question asked over Discord:

[Rasa] seems to have good intentions, but is obviously an awful father. I don't think he has any idea what the hell he's doing...The harsh treatment from his father/the village [and Shukaku's weak seal] only makes Gaara's mental state worse. But, it wouldn't be nearly as bad if he had love/support from people. Rasa just doesn't seem to grasp this. Later on, when he's reanimated, he seems remorseful. Do you think it'd be possible to bring out that remorse earlier?

Rasa is a man who, under immense political and social pressure, did with Gaara what he probably thought was his best.

Obviously it was not his best and in general not successful by any stretch of the imagination.

It's about more than fatherhood. Suna is crumbling. In poverty, in constant skirmishes with Iwa, low in natural resources. They need the jinchuuriki to secure them some guarantee of power in the future. Rasa at the time likely didn't understand the true cost he was asking of his wife or his children, and even if he did, he was clearly willing to sacrifice them for the greater good of his village. Even thinking about Karura: Three kids in four years? Would not be surprised if he 'encouraged' her to continue having children until one of them was finally a compatible host for Shukaku.

And yes, his parenting skills. Subpar at best. The people of Sand are not gentle. Their parenting styles tend towards authoritarian; there is a strong culture of obeying your elders; sacrificing your own life for the good of the mission is not just culture but nearly law. It is with this background that we can understand Rasa's attitude not just towards Gaara but his other children as well. Seen and not heard. Do what you're told. Pawns for adults. Of course, with Gaara being a jinchuuriki, born and bred literally to serve as a tool for the greater good of Suna, it is not surprising that he in particular is treated as nearly subhuman - as merely a host, as the weapon he is, rather than a child much less a full human being.

Is he remorseful? Yes, I can see that. The immense pressure he was under to pull up a struggling village through any means necessary, the unprocessed grief over the death of his wife, the likely neglect of his elder children, watching his youngest fail expectations over and over. Rasa didn't attempt to assassinate Gaara because he hated him. He made that choice because he thought it was best for Suna. Imagine how much pain that must have caused him. How much shame.

It'd be possible to bring out that remorse earlier, yes. He's not an evil man, he is simply shrewd, logical, and very set in his ways. If Rasa hadn't been assassinated, if he had been alive to see Gaara grow and change after meeting Naruto - this is something Rasa had never even imagined possible, and he could have begun to support Gaara in this transition had he been around to witness it.

[sungakure0red-sands]

[shikatemarchives]

Of Sand and Shadow by Cinder_Rose - M, angst, romance, 52408 words, multi-chapter, complete

In a time of political unrest between the Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf Villages, the threat of war hangs over shinobi like a stormcloud ready to break.

For Nara Shikamaru, since taking over his father's role as the Hokage's advisor, fighting for his Village has meant less action on missions and more paperwork in the office - and it's exhausting. Until, one night, he's stolen from his bed by Suna ANBU and quickly realises that dealing with the threat of war is one thing, but dealing with the Kazekage's daughter is quite another.

Come with Shikamaru and Temari on their little roadtrip to Suna and enjoy some romantic killing, imprisonment, and daddy issues.

[gaaraisbbg]

I’m proud of this :)

[narutoversevacation]

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[the-rubies-that-i-gave-up]

I don't think about them a lot but in my mind I hc the pre-naruto suna kids as being thr most insane bunch of weirdos and decisively FAR more interesting than what fans make them out to be like you have rasa, an autistic sex-repulsed neurobigot and a bitchy little control freak hunted down by the kazekage blood in him. yashamaru is absolutely just a tanuki in human skin, he's a domesticated wet cat bastard the literal embodimemt of FAFO, Pakura is show and tell by Melaine Martinez and the most religious fail!girl to ever fail!girl and a wreck overall and was manic-pixie-dream-girled by the public, Karura’s yashamaru’s mother, father and big sister, a true jingoistic vicious stone-cold hardass and would be a dictat tyrant if she didn’t have rasa and a neat little circle of courtesy/religion/suna duty to hold herself to. And she WOULD bring up her children in both the best and worst of Sunagskure. Baki's actually fairly normal he's just kinda represses his emotions, is uber-paranoid and suspiciously good at keeping secrets/being a caretaker but never mind economic stagnation they'd have rammed Suna into the ground if Rasa hadn't second handedly murdered all of them.

[aleksandracoffan]

[bakapandy]

continues to have sand village brain rot

[bright-hope-spot-19]

This! We really should've gotten a scene like this in the manga. If not the manga, then at least in the anime, but no, of course that's too much to ask for. Anyway, I love how this game at least did something neither the anime nor the manga did, showing Gaara actually caring for his sibs. Also, lmao, why was Temari excluded from this. They're supposed to be the 'sand sibs', not 'the sand bros'.

Okay, bye this is too much for my kokoro bye bye I'm out

[mixelation]

oh yeah, did i ever post about how reborn au konoha crush goes?

i have to iron out some of the details because while i think orochimaru might attack regardless, he has less personal beef with minato and is less confident he can beat him in a fight than sarutobi. so i think maybe the suna leg doesn't happen and that's why our main cast is like "well, no one is wearing rasa's skin like a meat suit, so we don't need to do anything to ward of invasio..... oh"

instead fo a dramatic confrontation i'm imagining a NON orochimaru person in cahoots with him using edo tensei to bring back hokage (including maybe hiruzen immediately after orochimaru murders him?). this non orochimaru person is NOT in the village so part of the crisis is having to locate the summoner. also it's an attack not a dramatic showing against your old sensei, so the undead people are spread out to make it harder to deal with

i think for funsies gaara will lose his shit so there's also a loose ichibi in the village. kushina and maybe team 7 run after him. then i'm thinking itachi & deidara tag team undead hashirama while minato has to counter tobirama's hiraishin, which intellectually he knew having to deal with teleportation was a bitch and a half but he's never been on the other end

on tori's side, she realizes what's happening and is like FUCK I CAN ALREADY FEEL MYSELF DOING SOMETHING INSANE and she decides rather than fight him, she'll lure orochimaru into r&d in order to get him talking and maybe suss out where the edo tensei user is. getting orochimaru talking isn't hard but who the FUCK knows if anything he says is true, and also he manages to pinpoint all her insecurities immediately. like, oh? did you make friends? did you finally find a family who accepts you? do you really believe they actually do, or are they just using you until you're no longer useful?

and then she traps him in a barrier and has a whole villain "this is why you suck" speech ready to go and realizes..... that's what he wants. he wants her to posture and lecture him. so instead she just turns and walks away.

....and then she goes to report to minato and there's a crazy three way hiraishin fight. yes. sexy.

anyway orochimaru gets away but i'm not sure how. maybe he gets some chump in r&d to help him. maybe he mysteriously disappears and i never give a reason. maybe he convinces jiraiya or sarutobi to let him out for some juicy irony

[shaningning-shayangyang]

Rewatching Naruto Shippuden lately and I've been OBSESSED with this around 1 second scene from ep 297 during Gaara vs Rasa

Why can't they just give us the liberty to watch a Temari and Rasa/Kankuro and Rasa confrontation?! Girlie was literally only 3 years old when her mom died, ordered to stay away from her youngest brother, forced to protect her middle brother from their youngest, lost her father at goddamn 15 while Suna was in shambles, almost lost both of her brothers to the Akatsuki and had the Suna Council question her marriage!

I NEED TO HAVE MY TEMARI ARC BEFORE I LEAVE THIS FORSAKEN WORLD.