#sasuke analysis

[oodearest]

I’ve found myself back into Naruto after being somewhat indifferent to the end of Shippuden. Was not a huge fan of that final arc.

Anyways I remember initially being annoyed and/or disappointed with some of Sasuke’s actions towards the end of the series. Don’t get me started on him immediately trying to fight Naruto after they ended an entire WAR. Grrr!!

But I’m able to articulate better why I found the whole ‘let’s get Sasuke back’ rhetoric in Shippuden so frustrating. This might get long so bear with me, might as well format this as a zany essay while I’m at it.

Mission get Sasuke back — The terrible, no good experience of having your trauma ignored

It’s been a while so I could be wrong, but I feel like team 7 never address how absolutely valid Sasuke’s desire to leave is? Kakashi touches on it when he tries to reason with Sasuke pre-defection but I don’t think it ever got through.

In Sakura and Naruto’s case, they want him back, they say they want to be a team again, but none of them ever considers his perspective?

The inherent racism against the Uchiha

Their approach is pretty tone deaf honestly. Sasuke’s a victim of violence. His people were massacred. At the start of the series it’s only been like 5 years since it happened. Sasuke has no one. He also can’t trust anyone. Prior to the massacre the village ostracised them and feared them. In Sasuke’s lifetime, the village has never been welcoming to his identity as an Uchiha.

To top it all off this hatred was incited YEARS earlier by non other than the village’s own second Hokage. It’s pretty vile how much passive and oftentimes—straight up overt—racism is directed towards the Uchiha and no one ever calls it out?

Honestly after Sasuke learns the truth from Itachi, why would he ever feel at peace in the village again? How could he ever return there knowing what they allowed? Does he even fit in there? Did he belong in the first place?

The loneliness of processing his people’s oppresion

These are some complex issues. Sasuke starts tackling them at 12 when he first leaves and only really process it by the end of the war. He spends his adolescence seeking revenge, when he gets it he spends the remainder of the series grieving. He’s mourning, he’s searching for the truth, he’s trying to grasp anything tangible in this awful world he’s inhabiting.

I cannot stress how MAD I get when Sakura and Naruto are like come back, we miss you, what about our bond 🥺 Like guys priorities?? Sasuke is single-handedly tackling systematic corruption and discrimination, give him a minute.

All things considered, he handles those issues in lik four years. He’s pretty efficient.

Overall I don’t think Sasuke’s problem was ever about losing his morals or succumbing to rage. That played a role of course. But the crux of his issue was him fighting for himself, his people and getting justice for something that was largely brushed aside.

I think it’s disappointing that we don’t see more support from team 7 or the village. No rage on Sasuke’s behalf? Not even a brief acknowledgment that the previous leadership was cooked and unfortunately dropped the ball on protecting his people.

Does forgiveness even apply here?

Naruto is a series about forgiveness and redemption. Which can be so beautiful. However I get the sense they want Sasuke to move on from anger and that’s so not possible given what he experienced. There’s a reason reparations is a big part of reconciliation. Konoha was never going to do that under its current leadership.

Konoha is a system. If Sasuke opposes that system then it’s simply him paving a better way for himself. I don’t get why that concept is hard for them to understand. This village is so cooked that the Sannin peaced out of there as soon as they could. Didn’t even come back post Kyuubi attack.

Naruto is a forgiving character, but as someone who also got done dirty by the village it’s sad that he didn’t understand why Sasuke couldn’t drop all of his grief and plans, to simply return to being one of Konoha’s soldiers.

Anyways there’s a lot of nuance missing here that I didn’t go into detail about. Sasuke objectively did some horrible things. Shippuden is him processing trauma realtime, it’s not a surprise that he’s messy, raw and self-destructive. I switch between being so frustrated with him then feeling so sad about his circumstances.

They could never make me form a one-dimensional opinion on you Sasuke! You’re worth thousands of think pieces.

[ydsurluvhsm]

sasuke uchiha deserves to be loved out loud (´•̥﹏•̥`) ♡

✧.・゜✿・。.☆ﾟ.･｡ﾟ༓☾☼✩.･｡ﾟ☁︎*.☽✩˚｡⋆✲ﾟ｡⋆*

why is it that when sasuke is angry people call him heartless, but when itachi is silent they call him tragic. why is it that sasuke screams for help with blood on his hands and everyone looks away, but when itachi bleeds quietly, people build him altars. i’m not saying one deserves less love, i’m saying sasuke deserved more. more kindness, more grace, more forgiveness. he was a child. a boy who loved his big brother so hard he shaped his whole world around him. and when that world shattered, no one helped him pick up the pieces. so he held the shards in his hands and bled alone.

you don’t understand how devastating it is that sasuke’s entire childhood was a prologue to his pain. he was a prodigy, yes. but also soft. also kind. also eager. he looked up to itachi like he hung the stars in the sky. and when the stars fell, they crushed him. people say sasuke was obsessed with revenge, but it wasn’t about killing. it was about understanding. about making the pain make sense. about proving to himself that love hadn’t been a lie. he didn’t want to destroy itachi. he wanted him to see him. to hurt the way sasuke hurt.

and then he did. and it broke him again. and still—he kept moving. he never got to fall apart. he had to rewire his entire heart and carry on. and he kept losing people. kept losing himself. kept searching for a version of the world that didn’t hurt so much. he tried the path of light and the path of darkness and found peace in the middle of the ruins. it was messy. it was violent. it was lonely. but it was his choice. that’s why sasuke is so important to me—he chose to come back. not because someone redeemed him. but because he did.

it makes me so emotional that people still talk about naruto as the one who saved him when sasuke had been crawling toward the light on his own for so long. he just needed someone to say “i see you.” naruto didn’t save him. naruto waited for him. and sasuke came back. scarred, burned, bleeding—but alive. more alive than he had been in years. when he smiled after the final battle… i felt that in my bones. that little sliver of peace he never thought he’d get. he smiled like he forgot how and just remembered again. like the world was finally quiet inside his head.

boruto sasuke is probably the most heartbreaking version of him. like... the way he tries to be a father when no one taught him how. the way he mentors boruto with patience and grace despite having grown up without any of it. the way he watches over the village from the shadows—not to atone, but because he cares. he still thinks the only way he can protect people is by staying away from them. he doesn’t want to hurt anyone again. and it’s so painful because all i want is for him to be held. to be told “you’ve done enough.” but he never stops. he loves in silence. in exile. in scars.

and the way he treats sarada… oh my god. you can tell he wants to give her the world but he’s terrified he’ll taint it. like he doesn’t think he deserves to stand in the light anymore so he just watches from the edges. she reaches for him and he flinches because he doesn’t know how to be wanted without being feared. but he tries. he tries. he shows up when it counts. even when he’s bleeding. even when he’s broken. he shows up. that’s love. and it’s the kind of love that costs him everything. but he gives it anyway. because he’s sasuke.

he is not emotionless. he is not selfish. he is a boy whose heart was shattered so many times he forgot what it sounded like when it beat softly. but it still does. it always did. he never stopped feeling. he just got better at hiding it. but if you look close, you see it—in the way he protects, the way he hesitates, the way he listens. he’s all bruised silence and trembling hope. he is grief with a heartbeat. and he still keeps walking forward. still believes he can do better. he’s the kind of character who lets himself be hated if it means someone else gets to live in peace. and if that’s not heroic, idk what is.

sasuke uchiha is the most painfully beautiful character i’ve ever known. he is everything people misunderstood about teenage anger and survivor’s guilt and broken love. he is a mirror of the worst the world can do to a child and the best that child can still become. he’s proof that pain doesn’t make you a monster. it makes you real. and i will never stop loving him for that. ( ´•̥̥̥ ω •̥̥̥` ) ♡

✧.・゜✿・。.☆ﾟ.･｡ﾟ༓☾☼✩.･｡ﾟ☁︎*.☽✩˚｡⋆✲ﾟ｡⋆*

(♡°▽°♡): just a lil reminder: sasuke is my broken boy, but we have to talk about how he’s not the best husband or father. his trauma impacts every relationship he has, and that’s why he struggles to connect with sakura and their daughter in the way they deserve. i love sakura so much, but honestly, sasusaku makes me really uncomfortable. sakura deserves someone who sees her as the amazing, strong person she is, not as second best. also, sakura is a huge victim of comphet—she’s been pushed into a straight relationship with sasuke when it’s clear they don’t have the chemistry that should be there. comphet forces women to conform to a heteronormative narrative, even if it’s not what they want, and sakura deserves someone who truly understands her. (*≧▽≦)

[yotonyokai]

So, it's news to no one that the Sharingan is representative of trauma. That's a level one Naruto fact. But I think not enough fans really appreciate how that's represented through what the Sharingan actually can do. Between projecting hellish nightmares into someone's mind and perfectly recording whatever the Uchiha sees, letting them flawlessly replay it over and over again... its main abilities seem to stem from PTSD symptoms. That's the core of what the Sharingan is and why it's so tragic.

The thing that *I* think is really cool about the Sharingan is that it has two branching evolutions. The Mangekyou Sharingan and the Rinnegan. A lot of people seem to think that the Rinnegan evolves from the Mangekyou, but that isn't really true, it is connected to the basic Sharingan and that's because the Rinnegan and Mangekyou are two different methods of processing trauma. The Mangekyou Sharingan doubles down on trauma and makes it integral to one's character. The visions it can project are even worse, the user grows in power with every negative thought and the user will gain two abilities directly feeding from their own personal trauma. Obito and Sasuke have different Mangekyou Sharingan abilities because the way that their worlds were destroyed were completely different. Obito feels like a ghost floating through a fake world, while Sasuke believes that the world is very real. It just need to be burned down and reshaped from the cinders. The one ability shared between every Mangekyou Sharingan user is Susano'o. It isn't a coincidence that the Kanji for this technique breaks down into "He With The Ability to Help Through All Means". It's the Mangekyou user's best friend.

Their own chakra.

Formed from hate.

And it brings them immense pain.

It's an incredibly lonely ability, the end of wallowing in hate and being unable to heal from trauma. Pain and Blindness are the only things that awaits someone who awakens a Mangekyou Sharingan, it's one of the most bleak and cynical things in the series.

So, is the Rinnegan a better way to conquer trauma? Lol. Lmao. So, whereas the Mangekyou Sharingan seeks to exploit the user's own trauma for drive and power, the Rinnegan is the rejection of trauma and all worldly matters. The rejection of death, the rejection of humanity, the rejection of basic rules that govern our world. It is complete and utter detachment with the end goal of becoming God and just leaving it all behind. But... it's cope. Madara was the only human character to naturally possess two Rinnegan. Nagato tried to be a god, but couldn't succeed because the eyes weren't his. Obito tried to become a God, but always kept his Mangekyou Sharingan because he couldn't let go of his trauma, he didn't want to. As unhealthy as it was to cling to this, Madara's goal is even worse. Even Sasuke who gets a Rinnegan independent of Madara, notably only gets one because he doesn't want to sever his ties to the past and wants to remember his trauma, remember what he wants to preserve and why. Only Madara's insane ass is truly resolved to leave it all behind in the name of becoming a God.

[naomihatake]

Honestly, I love this take. It's realistic and it makes so much sense. I've never been a fan of Sasuke, I have to admit, but hating him isn't on the list either. I'm rather conflicted of what to think of him, but at the end of the day he is, in a way or another, a real person who lives in Naruto verse and has gone through a lot.

I don't even necessarily think I should have a certain opinion about him. If anything, I'm mad he's lost everyone around himself at such a young age and his reaction was one of hatred towards everyone, including even his friends (Team 7). The massacre was really thrown out there out of nowhere and it's infuriating. The "solution" the Third Hokage found wasn't the best at all. It's not a solution, it was just a mere option between many others.

However, this is another story

If we really think about it, what Sasuke has done wasn't for no reason, even if he chose an extreme path and he completely turned his back against his friends, thinking who-knows-what. He was young when he took that decision, but he's gone through so much. Living since 6-7 years old all on your own, losing everyone around you, your entire family, watching them die before his eyes twice (to remind everyone he got in Itachi's illusion twice and he was psychologically tortured — he saw the massacre twice when he was still a child); everything makes sense if you stay for a while and think about it

I'm not saying it was right. Hating him like a madman or saying he's done nothing wrong, both of those are extreme. Obviously, people who read the manga or watch the anime will feel whatever they feel, that's normal and understandable. At the same time, it's good to take a step back and watch everything as it is, with every pro and con his story comes with

I'll never be a Sasuke defender or a Sasuke hater — I don't agree with his actions, but what can we really do, right? He's done what he's done and it's important to remember their reality is so different than ours. Children are introduced to gruesome things since young, very young. To think Genins, kids who were 10-13 years old, fought by the side of adults, chunins and jounins in the Third Shinobi War it's insane.

My conclusion? What he's done isn't right or wrong. They were simply actions and decisions, with both pros and cons. Everything that happened was for the plot, obviously, and it had to make sense in a way. Different paths meant a different story and Naruto (the manga/anime) is great just the way it is. It taught everyone a lesson, in a way or another, including us, the readers.

one more... 13 for Sakura or Sasuke. or both!

13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

I’ll do Sasuke, because fandom opinions about Sakura are so utterly unhinged (in wildly non-textual, completely contradictory ways) that I don’t even know what would count as “unpopular.”  

Anyway, my most unpopular opinion about Sasuke is not an unpopular opinion, it’s an unpopular fact, but I’m just gonna let that one lie, because even in an ask meme designed for the sowing of salt, there are some things that I just don’t have the energy to complain about. X) 

In lieu of that, I’ll say instead that I guess my unpopular opinion is that both Sasuke’s diehard haters and his diehard fans are equally disconnected from the fundamental purpose of the story.  Which is totally fine - it’s fandom, so if people prefer playing with whatever pieces of a story appeal to them and not engaging with it as a comprehensive whole, that’s fine; have fun; we’re all just here to enjoy ourselves.  But when we’re talking about reading the story as it was written and as it was intended to be read, both extremes of the Sasuke debate are missing the point.  

When it comes to his haters - when people watch this show without caring about Sasuke, without rooting for him, without hoping for him to get the closure he needs and surmount his pain and free himself from his chains and find his way back to the people who truly love him, then they’re not watching the story as it was meant to be read.  That is literally the premise of the entire manga/show.  The whole “we’ve gotta save the world from all these evil guys” stuff is just a vehicle for the real storyline, which is and always has been “will Team 7 be able to help Sasuke find his way out of the darkness?”  Watching this show while hoping that the answer to that question will be “no” is like...well, I don’t know what you would get out of it, I guess.  Rooting for Sasuke to reunite with his friends and finally be loved and cared for and healed is the beating heart at the center of this story, and if you hate him and think he doesn’t deserve that kind of resolution, then you’re not reading the story as it was written to be read.

At the same time, takes that are like “Sasuke did nothing wrong to anyone ever and has nothing to apologize for and his ‘friends’ are evil and he never should have gone back to them” miss the mark just as widely.  I understand that this attitude is probably just a reaction to the fact that the ending missed its landing so badly (yes, it IS completely ridiculous to write an ending where justice is never done and the whole Uchiha massacre/government cover-up is literally dropped like a hot potato; that is NOT the conclusion we were promised by this story’s previously developed themes and I do not accept it as believable canon), but to watch the story of Naruto unfold and legitimately desire an outcome where Sasuke doesn’t someday come home to rejoin a loving community of friends/surrogate family is like complaining that an author who wrote a book about a particular story didn’t instead choose to write a completely different book about a completely different story.  We ALWAYS knew Sasuke would come back to Team 7 eventually, because that’s what we were promised in the very first chapters of Part 1, when Kakashi teaches his students the sacredness of teamwork and lays the foundation for their friendship.  It has literally never been a secret that this story is going to be about the sundering and subsequent mending of Team 7′s bonds; we KNOW this story is supposed to be about the re-forging of these relationships; that is literally the entire point.  Loving Sasuke to the exclusion of everyone who is written as genuinely loving and caring about him is just as nonsensical as hating him and thinking he doesn’t deserve that kind of love in his life.  That’s not the story we’re being told; it never was.

[sasukekys]

i can’t believe i have to make a post like this but… this is called development.

naruto and sasuke shippers don’t deny that naruto called sasuke a brother before, the point is that naruto doesn’t see sasuke as one by the end of the story. the same way naruto comes a long way trying to understand sasuke and his motivations, naruto comes a long way in trying to explain the nature of his relationship with sasuke.

naruto actually calls sasuke his friend more times than he calls him a “brother”, but that somehow doesn’t stick with people who don’t like the ship.

more importantly than naruto changing how he defines his relationship with sasuke, he explicitly denies an idea he had before. to him, he and sasuke aren’t brothers. you can’t cling onto a previous thought if that perspective changes, especially if they are literal opposites, sasuke can’t be his brother and not be at the same time. the valid idea is the last one, because characters and their perspectives change through the story, it’s called development. naruto has wondered if sasuke was like a brother to him before, but by the end of the story, he doesn’t see it that way anymore.

and it doesn’t even stop at the “friend” label.

because sasuke isn’t satisfied with that word alone, he demands an explanation, and we see that naruto has a particular definition when he uses the word “friend” with sasuke, which it is to hurt when the other is hurt. sasuke wasn’t convinced when naruto called him a brother at vote1, he wasn’t convinced when naruto called him a friend at kage summit, and not even when naruto said that again at vote2.

this is when sasuke is satisfied. when naruto’s definition isn’t tied exclusively with notions of friendship, when they are able to say they share the pain of each other’s hearts, this is how intimate they are.

as for sasuke…

he knew what was it like to have a brother, so he never saw naruto as one.

please let’s drop this discourse once and for all, the story doesn’t leave it open to interpretation.

[watermelonsloth]

I think the reason why Naruto fans get so passionate and upset about the series is because of how real it can be. Naruto isn’t about paragon heroes outdoing dastardly villains. It’s about human beings fighting tooth and nail to survive in a world surrounded by death. It’s about broken systems made and perpetuated by broken people.

The Hyuga clan isn’t just antagonistic or pretentious, they practice slavery.

The Uchiha clan weren’t just killed by some raging psychopath, they were systematically massacred.

Itachi isn’t just cruel to Sasuke because he’s a bad brother, he’s cruel because he’d been told time and time again that you can only survive by being cruel and he wants nothing more than for Sasuke to survive.

Nagato isn’t trying to take over the world just for the sake of power, he’s trying to take over the world because it beat him down to the point of believing that the only chance at peace there is is the world being forced into compliance through fear.

Iruka isn’t hard on Naruto just because he’s a strict teacher, he’s hard on Naruto because he knows from experience how unforgiving the world is towards orphans.

Kakashi isn’t just some silly and slightly lazy teacher, he’s a contract killer still grieving his loved ones and struggling to do better without knowing how he’s supposed to.

Sakura isn’t just a fangirl, she’s a normal girl in a very dangerous and abnormal world constantly being made to choose between what she’s supposed to do and what she feels.

Sasuke isn’t just some edgelord, he’s a survivor who lost everything then gets repeatedly told that he has to choose between keeping what he’s gained and doing better than his brother.

Naruto isn’t just trying to be the best Hokage there ever was, he’s trying to prove his worth to a society that abandoned him just for existing and, in a way, confirm his worth to himself.

The Naruto story is about humans trying to force themselves into the role of weapons because that’s what they were told they had to be. It’s a story where everyone is a perpetrator but no one is trying to do wrong. It’s a story where everyone is a victim but no one is a perfect victim.

The world and the characters aren’t simple and trying to simplify them only takes away from them. So of course we get passionate about showing off all the reasons why they shouldn’t be simplified and all of the ways they’re complicated. Of course we get upset when we see others simplifying them or selling certain aspects of their characters short. Of course we get upset when the series itself simplifies them. Of course we get upset when the series chooses to abandon them. Because it not only feels like the characters are giving up, it feels like the series is betraying anyone who chose to get invested in its complexities.

[sasuke-shway]

[oraclesblog]

Sakura Blossoms

One of the most significant character moments for Sakura Haruno in the original series of Naruto remains one of the most misunderstood. This can, no doubt, be attributed to the fact that a large portion of shonen fans are incapable of understanding any form of writing that isn’t surface-level and doesn’t have to be spoon-fed to them. Many view this scene as an example of illogical decision-making by Sakura because she had an “opening” to stab her opponent, as shown here:

However, Masashi Kishimoto goes out of his way to provide two specific reasons as to why this approach wouldn’t work: a practical reason and a symbolic one.

Practically speaking, it is explicitly stated that had Sakura attempted to stab the Hidden Sound shinobi, it wouldn’t have worked.

It was also established very early on that there was a massive power imbalance between the two and that, no matter what Sakura did, the Hidden Sound shinobi would always have a counterattack because they were more skilled and had more experience. Hence, instead of using the Kunai to stab her opponent, as this particular Hidden Sound shinobi expected, Sakura decided to cut her hair—not only to catch her opponent off guard but because Sakura herself knew that stabbing her wouldn’t work; she’d simply be overpowered.

Symbolically speaking, the reason Kishimoto had Sakura cut her hair (the most important reason and the entire purpose of the scene in the first place) was to signify the beginning of her character arc. To understand this, we need to look at Sakura’s initial character traits and the perceptions she carried at the start of the series.

Initially, Sakura is introduced as a superficial, appearance-obsessed, boy-crazy girl who has a no real understanding of what it means to be a shinobi.

She even outright admits to already considering herself a full-fledged ninja despite having done nothing to earn that title.

This false self-perception is what leads Sakura astray compared to her teammates. She becomes disinterested in the idea of training to become stronger and doesn’t work for the skill she so desperately needs at this point in the story. In her mind, there’s no point in training if she’s already graduated the academy and become a “full-fledged” shinobi. Her own arrogance and naïveté on the subject even lead her to believe that she’s fully superior to her teammates on Team Seven.

However, as the story progresses, we see Sakura’s inexperience in battle and taijutsu, combined with her misguided priorities (particularly her obsession with Sasuke) and her arrogance regarding her own self-perceptions, make her overly reliant on her teammates. This not only makes Sakura a burden to her team but shows the consequences of her actions, behaviours, and beliefs.

The forest of death arc is so crucial for Sakura‘s character, as it pushes each member of Team Seven into moments of growth. For Sakura, it where she learns the true meaning of being a shinobi and the trials and tribulations that come along with it. Sakura is put in a situation where she’s forced to fight on her own for the first time in her life to protect her two teammates. As she does, her enemy grabs her by the hair, trapping her. With no escape, Sakura takes her Kunai and cuts her hair.

In this moment, Sakura is physically cutting off an aspect of her identity that aided in the superficial virtues of her character, both physically and emotionally. She is unbinding herself to the girl she used to be, freeing herself of her negative qualities and traits, and most importantly, her false self-perception regarding the identity of a shinobi. The act of haircutting within literature can carry various meanings, but the most common symbolism behind it is to mark a character’s transition into a new stage of life. In Ancient Greece, it was tradition to cut one’s hair as a sign of mourning, symbolizing a positive or negative change for the character. In Sakura’s case, she is “killing” her past self and mourning this loss through the act of cutting her hair, while also stepping in to a new sense of self with a clearer understanding of what it means to be a ninja and the harsh realities that follow it. That’s why this line:

Is so important because it serves as a representation, both figuratively and literally, that it’s Sakura’s turn to step into the role of a true shinobi—to be someone her teammates can count on and, most importantly, to say goodbye to the girl she once was.

What’s more is that we actually see how this character development impacts Sakura’s throughout the series. The Forest of Death scene is more than just words; it marks a transition she carries forward, not only becoming someone her comrades can rely on but also becoming someone who understands the deeper nature of things and people rather than viewing them through a superficial lens. This growth is especially evident in her desire to become stronger, seeking out training from a Sanin, and in the way she begins to see Sasuke after the Forest of Death. Instead of viewing him merely as an attractive classmate she has a crush on, she starts to see him for who he truly is—a traumatized boy falling prey to his own pain and going down a dark path. This new perception makes her want to help him, both physically and emotionally, rather than simply wanting to make him hers, as she did initially.

Ultimately, this scene is what gave Sakura the development to become the character she was at the end of the series—a strong kunoich and a true, full-fledged shinobi, as well as someone who can genuinely understand the pain and trauma of others.

[notsorryiml8]

He only had them for 6-7 months??

Looking at a timeline and watching the Land of Waves and Chuunin exams again (how far we've made it so far with the niece and nephew) and just realized how short of a timeframe Part I really is, that in Part I, Kakashi only had Team 7 for 6-7 months before it all went downhill/Sasuke left!!! I don't know why that blows my mind. SIX -SEVEN MONTHS! By the end of Part I to Shippuden and time spent with sensei/mentors, it's like:

Iruka/The Academy : 5 yrs

Kakashi : 6-7 months (months,people, months)

Jiraiya/Tsunade/Orochimaru : 2 - 2.5 years

When looking at it like this, I really think people/fans expected WAY too much out of Kakashi. He started with the traumatized-youth-of-the-year team and had only MONTHS to work with them and from the ground up. Subtract the time he was gone on missions, in the hospital and/or comatose (looking at you Itachi) and that gets knocked down to maybe 4-5 months. He spent less time with them than any other sensei and did a remarkable job for what he was given. I think all of this to say, give the man some grace. That was wild.

When all was said and done, what he did for this little rag-tag team of traumatized feral orphans + Sakura was more than amazing. SIX MONTHS, people, six months. Well, maybe seven, but still...let that sink in. I think people fail to acknowledge this when they call him a "bad sensei-" can't believe people are still doing that years later(!). Let any of the other jonin sensei do what he did in six months and with the team he was given - any of y'all try working with traumatized prepubescents and see how long it takes for them to work together?? I do every.single.day. They're all about survival and living in that trauma mind. Trust? What's that? Teamwork? Nope, gotta look out for me. Then you go and put them on a team with Captain Trauma, himself. Smart move Lord 3rd, smart move. Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it, only other Sharingan, control 9-tails, son of your sensei, blah blah blah. Poor Sakura, btw. Poor little thing didn't know what she had gotten herself into.

I dunno, I just don't think people ever see it from this perspective - that he literally only had them for months. Guy's team - already had a year together. Asuma's team - InoShikaCho were predestined wombmates. Kurenai's team - they were well-adjusted (Shino's the most laid-back person you'd ever find; just give Kiba a puppy; and who can ever get mad at Hinata, well, other than her family).

Traversing other corners of the interwebs and didn't realize just how much Kakashi hate dislike scorn "non-like" there is out there even now. It's wild. All this to say, just showing Kakashi-sensei some love. ❤️ and respect.

[sweet-cuddlebug]

I just saw a guy declaring that Sasuke was abusive towards Sakura and that he doesn't deserve her... and now I want to implode because. What the hell.

First of all, Sasuke never wanted Sakura and that's something he made VERY clear to her.

The fact that she continued to pursue him shows the lack of respect she has for herself. Because she's not even trying to understand him as a person, she just loves (the idea of) him and wants to be with him, and after Sasuke makes it clear multiple times that that's not going to happen Sakura just starts to look stupid.

The fact that people call their relationship abusive has to be some kind of stupid joke. You're telling me that Sasuke trying to kill her after she tried to stab him in the back is abusive? That him not reciprocating her feelings and not being patient or kind after the tenth time is abusive? That him not treating her like his friend when they're enemies at war is abusive?

And I mean the relationship does seem abusive but from another perspective.

Who ignores the other's feelings and tries to make it about her all the time? Who ignores the other's decisions and goes on with her own actions? Who crosses the boundaries set by the other person multiple times? Who ignores the fact that the other is a independent person with a history and only tries to have him under her possession and tries to kill him when that option is no longer plausible? Mhhh.

Sasuke: I don't like you. I don't want you. What I want is for you to get away from me.

Sakura: I'm gonna try to chase you and declare my feelings over and over again hoping that my tears will convince you to stay with me.

Sasuke: Are you at least going to try to understand me as a person and my motives?

Sakura: Why would I do that? I just want to have you

Sasuke: ... Well that's not going to happen, and you're starting to irritate me.

Sakura: *tries to kill him*

Sasuke: *tries to kill her back*

Sakura: How is it possible that you care more about Naruto than me?!

Naruto: *Is worried that Sasuke is going to put himself in danger and ruin his life. Does his best to understand Sasuke's history and his motives. Cares immensely for him and tries to protect him at all costs. Understands that they both have a special connection and if the only way for them to be free from suffering is to die together then that's what they'll do.*

Sasuke: *The reason he wants to kill Naruto is because he is his greatest weakness. He loves him too much and he knows it. He knows that Naruto has the chance to stop him in his attempt to avenge his family. He does everything he can to protect Naruto from dying unless it is by his own hand and trying to kill him brings him great pain.*

Sakura: but I want youuu >:(

[werethecurtainsblue]

Recently I rewatched the entirety of Naruto (and read some of my favourite arcs), and I noticed something that I JUST have to talk about. This is a rather lengthy analysis of Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship and mindset, so please bear with me 😭

During my first watch, I was guilty of thinking that Sasuke changed his mind rather abruptly during VOTE 2. I didn’t understand how he abandoned his revolution after one single fight. But on rewatch… damn. Kishi might be a terrorist, but he knew what he was doing with Naruto and Sasuke. (Panels attached for proof?)

Rather lengthy analysis of Naruto, Sasuke, and the foreshadowing for Sasuke's eventual redemption:

It all begins during the ‘Five Kage’ arc (suicide pact my beloved). Naruto’s grand answer to the entire dilemma Nagato and Jiraiya posed to him — how will you find peace? — was just “I'll bear the world's hatred. Then lets both fight and die together?” (Insane behaviour. Someone please give my frog boy a hug).

But then, it goes a little deeper. Then slowly, it all starts to make sense? For Naruto, this was never about protecting Konoha. Not truly (I don't recognize any other patriotic canon gbless). We see him struggling throughout the Five Kage arc, grappling with the questions posed by Pein, and the weight of everything he's learnt about Sasuke. Everything his beloved village has done to the boy he loves.

Because now... Naruto finally understands. He's felt the righteousness of vengeance. He's looked at a man and felt nothing but burning hatred. How could he not? Pein killed his master-Jiraiya.

That's when he understands Sasuke.

Pein's question about how Naruto intends to find peace is far far deeper than just shinobi politics. For Naruto, the question is quite simple. How does he intend to save Sasuke, if he himself is falling into the same pitfalls of revenge. If he 'pulls the trigger', then with what face is he supposed to then ask Sasuke to abandon his revenge. (Man I fucking love the pein arc).

(I would like to point out how Konoha has always treated revenge differently when it comes to other shinobi vs an Uchiha. Shikamaru was not only encouraged, but given state support to avenge his sensei. But Sasuke must abandon the notion of avenging his whole family?)

That is when Naruto finally understands. And it almost destroys him. The Naruto we see in the Five Kage arc - taking beatings for Sasuke, begging the Raikage to spare Sasuke on his knees, having panic attacks and nightmares. Perhaps on some level, Naruto is punishing himself for feeling the same anger and hatred that's come to consume Sasuke. Because he understands, and he has no idea how to get past it.

And that pain of not know how to save Sasuke... it's brutal for him.

In that moment, all hope seems lost. Sasuke descends deeper and deeper into his madness. Naruto is a shell of himself just after his most triumphant moment (Saving Konoha).

And then, we get this:

Naruto's answer to the whole dilemma about peace is self-sacrifice?????????? (Bc ofc it is with this boy. He'd rather die before perpetuating the same cycles).

Naruto has begged and pleaded and taken beatings to protect Sasuke. To somehow try and stop the cycle of hatred by sheer willpower. The lesson? The world... simply doesn't care.

Pein said that 'humans can never understand each other', and perhaps Naruto believes that is because of all the burden, anger, trauma, and hatred they carry. Naruto and Sasuke were victims of that hatred. This world shaped them into who they are, irrevocably.

The answer? Humans can understand each other. Naruto and Sasuke can understand each other. But only free of the constraints that hold them back.

Only in death when Naruto is no longer a Jinchuriki, and Sasuke is no longer the last Uchiha, can they let go of all their suffering and resentment, and truly... truly accept each other. Because Sasuke's pain is too deep. His anger and hatred is... understandable. Naruto gets it now. He gets that he can no longer just ask Sasuke to drop everything and return.

He also... can't not defend Konoha. So the solution he lands on - suicide pact - seems inevitable to Naruto. He almost welcomes the prospect of the two no longer having to shoulder their burdens. A world where Naruto and Sasuke are free to love each other without their pasts haunting them.

Flash-forward to VOTE 2:

After their fated clash. It's exactly as Naruto prophesized. They're both beaten, bloody, and on the brink of dying. The anime goes further, and shows that Sasuke believes they're both dead. And for the first time... The first time since VOTE 1... we see him show explicit care towards Naruto? Because now that they're dead, he can finally breathe. He never hated Naruto. He just couldn't... let him in. Because of his anger. Because of his trauma when it came to Konoha and his clan.

They're no longer an Uchiha and a Jinchuriki. They're Naruto and Sasuke. Orphans. Their closest bonds. Finally, Sasuke is allowed to feel Naruto's pain, and care for him.

Finally, he doesn't need to be strong. Only in death is he free to be Sasuke.

Kishi himself even calls back to the suicide pact moment, tying it all back beautifully.

Again, Naruto thinks they're both dead:

And that's when Sasuke laughs. Now that - believing he was dead - he'd allowed himself to feel all the care and love and affection he had for Naruto. He just cannot go back to the place of isolation he'd been trapped in before.

Perhaps that's why Sasuke was so stubborn about cutting off Naruto. Because he knew that he loved Naruto so deeply that if he let himself feel it, he'd drop everything in an instant for that bond. Now that he's let himself feel it, he can never go back. So he finally lets it all go:

Naruto was always right. In a different way. To finally understand each other and accept each other, they had to let go of all their past and trauma. Perhaps death was the answer. Not literally, but metaphorically.

To all those who claim Sasuke never loved Naruto, or was 'toxic' to him. Sasuke loved Naruto: deeply, unconditionally. He loved him so much that he knew he'd drop all of his revenge in a heart beat for him. But his past... simply wouldn't let him.

In hindsight, the moment Sasuke let Naruto in, he was always going to change his mind. That is what Naruto knew all the way back during Five Kage arc. It's why he stopped chasing after Sasuke, and waited for him to come to him first.

In a twisted way, Sasuke's strong love was exactly the reason why he was so intent on cutting Naruto out. But in the end, I'm just glad my boys worked it out lol.

Anyways, if you read this far, thanks for coming to my ted talk lmao.

(Yes, I was sobbing as I typed this out. I just love them both so much).

[tentenarchive]

In Defense of Tenten - the Chunin Exams' Written Test and Her Mirrors

A common joke made about Tenten is how obvious her mirror and line contraption, used to share answers with Rock Lee during the written exam, is. In this post, I'll show how her solution is perfectly reasonable and why she wasn't disqualified by the ninja proctors.

Firstly, we have to stablish what the objective of this written test is: to cheat. The written test was designed to be too difficult for ninjas of their level to be able to answer, forcing them to cheat from each other. Such is stated by Ibiki in the end of the First Phase chapters:

Next, the proctors are all higher level shinobi, better prepared and used to seeing various tricks and jutsu. It's not an stretch to suppose they're aware of EVERY cheating attempt made by those Genin, but were responsible for judging if their technique is too sloppy, obvious or ineffective.

My theory is supported by this scene, where Izumo eliminates one of the ninjas doing the test, claiming he took "five strikes".

It implies the competitors are allowed five errors before being disqualified, and one of the eliminated Genin makes it clear to the reader the "five strikes" are five times being caught cheating.

Naruto is also implied to be caught almost cheating when Hinata offers him her test answers (it can be interpreted either as Naruto being closely watched or Naruto's nerves making him think like that, half the proctors' job is to scare the Genin) and even then he is not automatically removed.

Tenten's technique may be obvious for us, as readers who have been shown by the author himself how she did it, but it's a single and successful attempt, and it's not commentated by any other characters, meaning no one caught on her besides the proctors, and they would only disqualify her if she did it more than once (which wasn't needed, she found the mole with all the answers!).

A pettier criticism i've "how isn't anyone seeing the lines?" to which the answer is very simple: manga is a visual media and the author needed the audience to understand how she was manipulating the mirror. If you take in consideration Tenten's fight with Temari in the anime - which is filler, btw, and it's up to you reading this to decide if it's a fair assessment on their abilities or not - she's shown using invisible lines to manipulate her weapons after throwing them. The lines are, conveniently, only visible when the animation needs us to understand how the weapons are moving backwards. Any other frame they're invisible.

You can see in the panel how the lines fade out towards the bottom and only show where they're attached to the mirror.

Finally: that's exactly what Ibiki expected the genin to do. There have been a few posts, specially on twitter, asking "how are you supposed to pass if you don't have a kekken genkai??". Like Tenten. That's how.

Kankuro and Tenten are the only characters which Kishimoto showed us cheating that didn't use an exclusive DNA super power. Kankuro and Tenten both use hidden threads, one uses chakra lines for puppetry and the last manipulates mirrors. They also pass their answers to their teammates, Temari and Lee.

(Sakura is the only confirmed character to do the entire test without cheating. Congrats Sakura!! You could argue Hinata used her byakuugan to cheat like Neji, but if you think she did it by herself, I will give you the pleasure of congratulating Hinata too. Congrats Hinata!)

Tenten's method was practical, and used her specific skill set: summoning and kunai work (where do you think the mirrors came from? a scroll, that's for sure). It was probably set up before the test started, during the commotion Team 7 created with their arrival. We're not shown it because Tenten is a tertiary character and Kishimoto wouldn't invest 2-3 panels of set up for a 3 panel sequence pay-off that works by itself very well. She is smart, did great and made sure her teammate was not left behind.

Tenten is not even the most absurd method used in this exam, so, as a treat, i will show you, in order, the most obvious cheats shown in the manga from least to most!

Sasuke's Sharingan If you're a ninja from the Leaf Village, you know who Sasuke Uchiha is and what a Sharingan is capable of. Unfortunally for him, the Exam is being held at the Leaf Village and all the jounin and chuunin there are from the Village. Any proctor looking at his direction in a position in front of him could see clearly his eyes and know exactly what he was doing.

Neji's Byukuugan Like the Sharigan, you can physhically see when it's activated, with the downgrade of being noticible by people sitting at up to 95º from him, as the veins are visible on the sides of his face too. A fair trade for the ability to see better than the Sharingan, even if you're not able to copy, in my personal opinion.

Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu The jutsu's hand signal is simple and can be missed, but it's still obvious for any Konoha ninja watching, it is a very recognizable ability. There's also the higher chance of Ino being caught since she needs to do it three times (once for getting Sakura's answers, twice to pass them to Chouji and Shikamaru). Besides, the "dropping dead on the table" thing can be disruptive in a mostly silent classroom.

Akamaru and Kiba's communication Akamaru is barking all the way through the exam, and while the balloon used for the text is the one for thoughts, it's also the same used for whispered conversations up to this point in the manga. The anime makes the barks happen in the real world, and not in their thoughts, and as far as i could find, Kiba can understand dog language but there's no psychic talk between them. By the noise alone he could be caught. I think he wasn't expelled just because a full conversation between dog and human is a novel enough ability to not be considered by most ninjas unaware of the Inuzuka clan's special abilities.

The Most absurd one: Kakuro and his Puppet He put an entire guy no one knows and has never been seen in a room where all the authorities are from the same village and have, at least, a vague knowledge of each other's existence. To increase the absurdity, somehow everyone let Kankuro use his own puppet to guide himself to the bathroom. I cannot express enough how unlikely it is that, in a real info gathering mission inside a single room where all the higher rank ninjas are exclusively from the same village, Kakuro's plan could work. Most decent sensors could also catch the chakra line's signature.

I'll give it to him, making the puppet talk helps with the disguise, but it only fools his fellow attendees, not the proctors. He's too confident that he didn't raise any alarms.

But Ibiki goes as far as insinuating he knows (and has known from the start) about the puppet's existence when Kankuro comes back from the bathroom.

If Kankuro was able to finish the test and not get disqualified, even if he had what I consider the most obvious cheating attempt from the named characters shown, it's fair game for Tenten and all the other important cheaters. Besides, it's a single attempt at cheating, even if it required an entire prep work for it, so it doesn't matter if all the high level ninja's are aware, that's not enough to kick him out.

I cannot leave out the meta reasons why these characters weren't removed from the class: they're important to varying degrees to the story and they need to advance through the first phase to keep readers engaged.

Regardless of how absurd I think Kiba's and Kankuro's methods are, they need to go all the way to the fight tournament after the Forest of Death, where they have important roles to fill: Sasuke and Naruto are main characters and are prioritized by the narrative; Ino and Sakura will have an important character developments and flashbacks during their fight; Neji has an entire arc that only concludes all the way in his fight against Naruto; Kiba is the rival for Naruto in the surprise fighting tournament and he is one of the few characters able to match Naruto's silliness so he can win in a silly way; Kankuro and Tenten are both part of the two strongest cells present in the event, the Sand Siblings and Team Gai, both introduced as real threats to Team 7, and having anyone from these cells lose would undermine the narrative created around then. All of them would get through anyway.

Tenten losing against Temari in future parts of the Chuunin Exam has narrative importance too, a fight I will cover in the next In Defense of Tenten, but in short Tenten was introduced as a threat alongside Neji and Lee, her abilities and experience surpassing Team 7's. Having her lose against one the Sand Shinobi serves to show how big their gap in power is: if someone more experienced and well trained than them can't win against them, Team 7 has no chance. It's part of the build up for the future Naruto and Gaara fight, and the suspense about their real strength (since the fight doesn't exist in the manga, only the result is shown).

Conclusion: people are overly critical of Tenten because she's seen as a "lolcow" in the Naruto fandom, in part by the bad adaptation of her fight with Temari to the anime, which poisoned any feat of hers before and after it; but also because Naruto and Boruto don't give satisfying ends to any of the original female cast besides Hinata (she marries the man she loves and becomes a housewife away from the battlefield, an honorable decision i will never shit on, she never wanted to be a ninja and is a kind mother and wife, good for her!) so all female characters are seem as weak and useless when compared to their male peers. Naruto is a work riddled with undercover misogyny, never out right stated but always preventing the girls to achieve any meaningful resolution or permanent development.

That added to the ever expanding powerscalling abilities and fights make characters with simpler and down to earth abilities and feats outdated by its own universe. Knowing how big the Naruto fights and jutsu get in the future make people look down on crafty solutions like sealing scrolls, kunai and mirrors, when that is a perfectly respectable solution within the series and matches the powerlevel presented this early in the story.

Tenten is not weak, or bad, or useless. She's misrepresented by the most popular media consumed: the anime, and further misunderstood by the fans of said work. Large fandoms can be allergic to text interpretation and infighting is stimulated to the point fans of smaller characters are bullied off social media and forums (i.e. the forum where I got the list of all chapters Tenten is in is filled to the brim with comments about how OP should move the topic to "fan works" since no one would want to read about it in the canon work page, or how the mods shouldn't allow him to have a thread). I respect Tenten's feats, as well as other small characters', and refuse to be fed the same "uselessness" narrative this fandom always had, because i actually enjoy Naruto, even if i have many problems with it, and I take it seriously.

She did great.

[sourinartt]

what is this obsession that nh/hnt stans have with making her some kind of "boss" who tramples Naruto whenever she wants?

I understand, the filler in the anime changed everything from Kishimoto's manga to make hnt look good, not as a submissive woman who accepts anything from her husband, but as a boss who can trample him or scold her children without shyness making her look more like a sakura

but that is not kishimoto's canon, this is the canon

a "boss" should not cry because her children feel abandoned by their father, on the contrary she should go and kick the man's ass and make him understand how much his children suffer without him

(a boss who scolds her children? better said, her own children are the ones who scold her)

but that's not hnt, she's happy to have married Naruto and that's it, she doesn't have the guts to face Naruto either, because she is a submissive woman who will not do anything without his decision

when boruto is angry at his father she does nothing, when naruto is disrespectful to boruto making him feel embarrassed among so many people, she does nothing either, but she has no problem sending her son to take care of his father's ass because she couldn't and almost died trying

this "boss" has a serious thing about abandoning her children if it were to go after a man, it's not something a "boss" does but ok

the first time she was lucky and was saved by skr, but the second time not only does her husband see her as useless for a mission knowing that she has a byagukan, but he also doesn't think about his daughter, Ironically naruto has to remind him that he has her so that he doesn't abandon her and leave her adrift

'tired sigh' seriously I repeat it again, she is not a boss who solves her children's frustrations for not seeing their father, she just cries because she can't do anything and her son gets angry with her, this "boss" has no problem abandoning her daughter not just once but twice to go after a man like she has pursued him throughout her childhood, she also has no problem sending her son into a fight where he will probably get hurt and killed as long as her man is okay

but if she has enough trouble to hurt a child that is not hers, it is only naruto's, this is a debate and I can understand that she did not want her son to be killed but girl, you haven't done anything for him, you have tendencies to abandon your daughter for a man, why do you want to become a responsible mother now?

when naruto simply decided to take care of kawaki without consulting her, she accepted it and that was it, kawaki was already a danger and the village knew it, she herself saw how he sought to fight and hurt his son at all costs, she also sees how he almost destroyed his house and literally acted suspicious almost all the time she didn't do anything either, in fact, she wanted to do something but again naruto raised his hand like a dog to its owner and she simply chose to stay still

the only one who rules the house is naruto, this family accepts anything that comes from him if that makes him stay longer, I hate that headcanon where Naruto is trampled by her because It doesn't exist, and not only hnt stan has that obsession, skr stan also has it quite a bit, just because naruto lets himself be beaten by her doesn't mean he's a lapdog for that girl

naruto can get carried away by skr until she crosses a line and then we have scenes where she cries because she can't be the same as naruto or she and her ego are simply rejected by him, yeah... Great bosses

[jaguarys]

I think what makes Sasuke so painful is that there's no way out. There's no way to recover from what happened to him. There's just no way to exist after your entire family is killed by your favorite person in the entire world.

And then once he learns that it was actually the village's fault? Now the only solace he had. The only place he thought was safe. Is just as tainted. Just as culpable. Fucking of course he unravels further. There's just. There's no way to return from that.

Ultimately, that's why the others can't do anything about it. Because what can you say in that instance to comfort this person? To bring them back to the light? There's nothing you can say because it's just too much. There's nothing you can say that can mean anything real or substantial

[sasukekys]

the homosexuality and romance in naruto and sasuke’s relationship is textually supported inside the story

this is just an expansion of my own old post (rip sasukesun), but panels will be included in this edition. i also took inspiration from my friend @narutouzumakiarchive who so accurately wrote, and i quote, when determining the validity of something in canon you need to look at the internal logic of the world and the values that the author promotes, my post will only show other instances where naruto and sasuke do exactly (to each other) what is established by the manga itself as “love” or “romance” and even “gay”, many of them have already been pointed out by myself or other people in the fandom, but i wanted to put them all together to reinforce how a narrative is built and how an in universe logic is established. sit down cause it’s gonna be long and i will not leave it under a read more because i’m afraid to lose it forever if i do.

haku and zabuza

land of waves is such a well written arc that its presence, ideas, values etc keep showing up for the whole story. it’s the essence of the manga, if i’m being real, and if i were to put all the references here, it would be endless, but for the purpose of this post, i want to point out the implication of romantic feelings in haku and zabuza’s relationship, without any value of judgement whether i find it “problematic”, and how they parallel naruto and sasuke’s.

sasuke sacrificing himself for naruto parallels haku sacrificing himself to zabuza. but it goes beyond it because haku establishes the importance of wanting to protect people who are precious to you, an idea that persists for the entire manga. the same way haku considers zabuza precious to him to the point that he would die to see zabuza’s dream come true, sasuke’s sacrifice implies he feels the same for naruto, sasuke himself implies in his “deathbed” he wants naruto to fulfil his dream. and later in the manga, naruto internalises this thought, he wants to protect sasuke, who is precious to him.

almost 200 chapters later, and we still have land of waves clear references.

and as if that’s not enough, the feeling of acceptance that makes haku so devoted to zabuza is also shared by naruto towards sasuke.

in the arc itself, naruto recognises clearly that what haku felt for zabuza was love, the word he uses denotes feelings of affection, it’s not a mere “care about” the translation here is saying. the devotion, the desire to protect someone who is precious to you, the feelings of acceptance, they all fall under love as a definition, recognised by naruto himself when he calls zabuza out, but it goes beyond that, because kishimoto wrote haku to have romantic feelings for zabuza, something pointed out by many people in this fandom, haku blushes while calling zabuza’s body beautiful. kishimoto draws them in angles where their mouths are aligned. zabuza wishes to go to the same place haku went in the afterlife.

and yet the devotion, the desire to protect someone who is precious to you, the acceptance, all of those aspects that fall under the definition of love in haku and zabuza’s relationship are applied to naruto and sasuke. i guess it’s easy to accept that what they feel for each other is love, but it’s very curious how they parallel two people with implied romantic feelings in every single aspect of their relationship. again, i’m not here to morally judge haku and zabuza’s relationship or kishimoto’s decisions, the age gap isn’t part of naruto and sasuke’s relationship anyway, but i want to follow the internal logic of the manga, it was certainly a choice to add this romantic subtext for zabuza and haku while making naruto and sasuke follow the exact same patterns.

shikaku

shikaku talks about someone rough having a soft spot for the person they love, and shikamaru thinks his father likes to be bossed around by his mother. this is a trope kishimoto is fond of, in his manga mario, he likes that saori is tough but warms up for mario, but inside the naruto manga, the logic is no different in naruto and sasuke’s relationship. sasuke clearly has a soft spot for naruto, naruto is the only one sasuke shows weakness towards, sasuke admits naruto made me him feel at ease, and one of the things that actually got sasuke’s attention in naruto’s behaviour was his prankster gremlin antics, a trait generally rejected by others. when naruto yells at chuunin exams, people think he’s loud and annoying, but sasuke smiles fondly.

naruto also enjoys to be bossed by sasuke, this was shown in war arc, he says sasuke is “pissing him off” for giving orders but he doesn’t really do anything about it, he smiles and agrees on following sasuke’s ideas anyway, like a smitten boyfriend. shikaku says this is love, and again how naruto and sasuke act towards each other fall under what is defined as love by someone else inside the manga.

tayuya

i made a specific post about this one already, but i can’t leave what tayuya says out of this compilation because it’s one of the most interesting ones to me. tayuya doesn’t define love, she defines homosexuality specifically.

in sasuke’s retrieval arc, during tayuya vs shikamaru, tayuya asks if sasuke is that important for them to waste a team for one guy, and says that’s gay, there’s no euphemism or disguise on her words, she says they are homos. shikamaru himself explains at that moment that no, in his case at least, he wants to save sasuke because he is a brother of the leaf and shikamaru trusts his comrades, he doesn’t think he’s wasting his team for one guy, perfectly understandable, but that doesn’t change how tayuya has established a logic inside the narrative: there is a line to cross.

tayuya talks about “wasting a team” for one guy but it’s not the “wasting a team” aspect that is gay, it’s the idea of “going too far” for a guy that’s very important to you, now i wonder who has an entire narrative surrounding this idea, of many people questioning “why would you go that far for one guy?”.

“is that boy sasuke that important to you?” and the answer to naruto is yes, but not because sasuke is a “brother of the leaf”, and then you continue with what tayuya says after… so you are a homo. how naruto acts towards sasuke is established in the narrative of the manga as homosexuality, not only love or romance.

sai and nicknames

when trying to improve his social skills, sai reads a book on the matter. what kishimoto chose to show the readers by the social rules of the naruto universe is that using sufixes like “-kun” expresses distance, an emotional barrier, something that both hinata and sakura use with naruto and sasuke. but using nicknames and terms of endearment help to combat that distance, and it allows you to form an especial and close relationship. sasuke uses a term of endearment with naruto, a special nickname he doesn’t use with anyone else, actually, naruto is the only person to have that with sasuke.

in a flashback, we learn that naruto called sasuke an “usuratonkachi” first, but sasuke kept it and started using it with naruto. through the manga we see that sasuke calls naruto that multiple times, and sometimes it is when naruto is being an “idiot”, but it’s also in endearing moments, the most remarkable one being vote2, after their reconciliation. in the boruto movie, we learn that sasuke has its own definition for usuratonkachi, someone who hates to lose, a very noticeable trait of naruto’s personality, but something endearing to sasuke nonetheless. naruto’s strong will is something sasuke admires.

kishimoto uses a book on social skills to establish another in universe rule, that using nicknames with someone expresses emotional closeness, a special relationship. through the manga, kishimoto portrays sasuke to follow the same rule with naruto, showing that they are close and their relationship is special.

hinata’s confession

hinata confesses her love to naruto during pein’s invasion, in her confession, she explains the reasons for her feelings.

naruto doesn’t say anything about hinata confessing to him, but one arc later he says the same things she said, but to sasuke, basically the same reasons.

hinata to naruto: i nearly went the wrong way, but you showed me the right one / naruto to sasuke: one misstep and i could’ve ended up like you, but my connection with you helped go the right way.

hinata to naruto: i was always chasing you, wanting to overtake you, i just wanted to talk to you, i wanted to be with you / naruto to sasuke: i wanted to talk to you but i didn’t know how to approach it, you made me feel jealous so i made you my rival, but i wanted to be like you, i was always chasing after you.

on vote2, sasuke’s monologue reveals he feels the same about naruto, it’s a direct response to everything naruto has said, he even remembers that very conversation in kage summit, sasuke also adds the loneliness he and naruto were familiar with, but the same feelings of admiration naruto talked about in kage summit are there.

sasuke to naruto: i saw you growing stronger and i reciprocated the rivalry, when you started growing more, i felt jealous, you had a strength i didn’t, you had always walked in front of me.

hinata doesn’t have the same proximity with naruto as naruto and sasuke have with each other, the way she refers at him (the -kun suffix) expresses distance and an emotional barrier, meanwhile the way sasuke refers to naruto expresses a special relationship and closeness, as we can see by the social rules of this universe, and yet, what hinata says to naruto is defined as love. the way naruto and sasuke speak about each other is indicated in the manga as reasons for someone to romantically love one another, but they have a plus that their relationship is seen by the narrative as special, and what they have is mutual.

omoi and shinjuu

another one that has been pointed out by many people in the fandom, i’m not here to exactly discuss shinjuu and its references outside the manga, even though other tumblr uses have done a pretty good job on this. what i’m about to say has already been explained by @narutouzumakiarchive on the same post i linked at the beginning, i just want to compile all the references together and pay attention to the logic built through the entire story.

at the beginning of kage summit, omoi wonders about shinjuu, he specifically uses that word and frames it as romantic, translations are sometimes watered down because omoi says shinjuu (しんじゅう), the furigana is unmistakable, it means double suicide not merely “can’t let me go”, the text that doesn’t say suicide is omitting relevant information. omoi’s thoughts are basically: what if someone is so in love with him they can’t bear to be apart from him, making them propose a lovers suicide if he and the hypothetical person are to separate? omoi wonders about a romantic situation, it is not framed as anything else but romantic.

everybody knows what happens at the end of kage summit right?

the context of the entire arc shows everybody telling naruto to stop going that far for sasuke, to cut sasuke off, and yet naruto has a panic attack over the thought of sasuke dying. when naruto meets sasuke, he tells him the same things hinata said to him, and after everything, naruto proposes a double suicide with sasuke because he can’t bear the idea of existing without him, with this kind of separation. how exactly does that differ from what omoi imagined?

kishimoto throws a random and seemingly comedic and unrelated information at the beginning of the arc, frames it as romantic, and then not so innocently makes naruto repeat the same behaviour towards sasuke at the end of the very same arc. he could’ve chosen anything for omoi to say, and still, coincidentally, what he says fits naruto and sasuke’s relationship perfectly, please someone warn him the things he be writing accidentally.

kushina and minato

able to piss off even people inside the naruto and sasuke pile of shippers itself, what sasuke says about naruto parallels what kushina says about minato and why she fell for him, there are many many narusasu/minakushi parallels, actually, even more after the minato one shot, and it’s not about their personalities or looks, but rather about roles and themes.

kushina tells naruto that she fell for minato because he saved her, the only one who was able to, and he was capable of changing her heart, if those are reasons to make someone fall for another person, what can we say about sasuke that says naruto saved him, the only one who was able to, and was capable of changing his heart?

kishimoto even gives sasuke and kushina the same role of explaining to their son (k) about their fathers, and what they say about naruto and minato is also similar.

(this collage is maoam’s btw, you can check their posts, they also point out a lot of stuff i’m talking about).

kushina about minato: he looked like a sissy and unreliable, he said he wanted to be hokage but there was no way i believed in that / sasuke about naruto: he was always talking about becoming hokage but he was a loser, full of weaknesses, a good for nothing.

kushina about minato: i looked down on him, but i was wrong, he saved me and became a slpendid ninja (and later hokage) / sasuke about naruto: he pulled himself with his own strength and became hokage.

my point here is not even to show how their relationships parallel one another, but rather to talk about how the way naruto and sasuke act towards each other is framed as reasons why people fall in love in this universe, it can be seen as platonic for a reader’s standard, but for the naruto world’s rules, it isn’t, it is romantic.

not giving up

when kakashi wrongly claims that sakura has never given up on sasuke and that she’s only wanted to save him, he associates those feelings with love. this is not the first time kakashi’s judgement on sakura is objectively wrong, in kage summit, sakura was shown to be the same as any other konoha ninja when it comes to sasuke, well any other konoha ninja but one.

sasuke himself acknowledges that naruto was the only one who has never given up on him, not only that but it was naruto who saved him, that’s solely on naruto, nobody else mentioned. despite kakashi being wrong about the person, he also has a definition on love, one that was already used with kushina and minato. saving someone and not giving up on them is framed as love, and it comes out of sasuke’s mouth that only naruto did that for him.

i’ve only talked about the content itself, but in some of those instances kishimoto also uses visual language to get the message through, though that would be for another occasion, i guess.

i wonder how come so many different characters can name what’s love and romance and even homosexuality and have naruto and sasuke meeting every single standard, but people still claim kishimoto wrote it all accidentally because he is, without any proof except for the claim that he is japanese and old and a man, homophobic. i’m sorry, but it’s not “up to the audience” to decide wether naruto and sasuke’s relationship is romantic or platonic. you can disagree all you want and i know people will, but no one has yet provided the textual evidence that shows otherwise. by every metric, the narrative establishes that, in the logic of the naruto universe, what naruto and sasuke have is not only love but romance, and not only romance but homosexual.

[watermelonsloth]

Something something the portrayal of trauma in Naruto is fascinating because of how much of the cast is explicitly or implied to be traumatized. This means that protagonists, antagonists, and everything in between are case studies in trauma response.

Something something traumatized characters lashing out in destructive or even violent ways isn’t necessarily framed as a bad thing. Instead, that violence is framed as a morally nuanced choice. The use of violence is a tool that can bring someone a sense of peace (Shikamaru “killing” Hidan) and prevent more people from getting hurt (Zabuza killing Gato, Sasuke killing Orochimaru), but it can also catch people who aren’t to blame in the crossfire (Sasuke killing the samurai and abandoning Taka) and perpetuate cycles of violence (the entire Pain arc).

Something something through Naruto, characters who lash out, even when they’re framed as being in the wrong, are also treated as being not only deeply sympathetic, but understandable. It’s not uncommon for a character to be given a flashback scene that’s meant to elicit the response “Of course they ended up Like That!” (Gaara, Neji, Itachi, etc.)

Something something the only trauma response that is consistently framed as the wrong way to cope is self-destruction and stagnation. This covers everything from Sasuke’s progressively self-sabotaging behavior to Chiyo’s self-isolation to Tsunade becoming an aimless addict to Shikamaru attempting to burry his emotions to Kabuto’s self-mutilation in an attempt to be more like his abuser.