sasuke-punk

[sasuke-punk]

and you'll never be pure again.

[sasuke-punk]

🍅

Here's why I really love Sasuke and Itachi's parents, and why it makes complete sense that he'd want justice for them. Pro all these characters.

There's a lot that can be said about how Mikoto and Fugaku raised Itachi, how the boys got compared to each other, and how more often than not parents get more practice with parenting the more children they have, and so the last child gets to know them at a different parenting skill level...

But.

It really says a lot that Sasuke was able to actually go ahead and ask his mother a very difficult question for a child. It's easy to imagine that it's not the first time he came to her with a tough question, and it shows that she was a safe person for him to talk to.

And I like what she replied, too. I love how calm she was, a lot of parents and caregivers would absolutely take it personally and punish the child for daring to ask such a thing. Not Mikoto. She's listening.

Then she tells Sasuke that it only seems that Fugaku is paying more attention to Itachi because he's older and one day he will inherit his father's position. And more importantly,

Mikoto explains that basically Fugaku is generally sullen and awkward but it doesn't have to mean anything, and when they talk in private, he does talk about Sasuke all the time.

And if mother says that father talks to her about him, it's enough for Sasuke, he doesn't need to hear his father's words with his own ears. He doesn't sit there wondering, well great but what if I had never asked, because that kind of world isn't possible for him. He lives in a world where it is safe to ask his mother such things.

Right after that, Fugaku arrives and they have tea together. Sasuke doesn't feel comfortable asking why exactly his father and Itachi fought, at least not right now, but he does ask about the Sharingan, and says he'll master it one day because he is his son, which makes Mikoto smile:

She's glad to see that Sasuke is already acting like a boy who knows that he's important to his father, who never doubted that. He's acting like this to see if what Mikoto said really is true, and she doesn't take this personally either. She knows that Fugaku will respond in a way that Sasuke will appreciate.

And then the best thing happens.

Sasuke is brave enough now to talk to his father the same way he talked to his mother just earlier. If he wasn't safe to ask stuff like this before, he is now. He responded well to Sasuke's first question, about the Sharingan, and now he's asking something a lot more personal. He doesn't wait for Fugaku to leave so he can ask Mikoto instead.

We're shown that Fugaku is the same as Mikoto in the sense that he doesn't reject Sasuke just for asking such a thing, or even for thinking it, like many parents are capable of doing, he takes his question seriously, he doesn't even always have to be awkward, he trusts his young son with something surprisingly vulnerable:

So in short:

Sasuke: mom, why doesn't dad pay attention to me? also Sasuke: dad, why doesn't my brother pay attention to me?

Basically, even though Sasuke did have some difficulties at home, we see that both his parents were in fact open to communication, and I'm getting the impression that they regret not being able to do better with Itachi. In any case, Sasuke can be confident after this that both his parents care about his feelings, and that he can ask them anything. That if more problems appear they can be solved through communication.

How many children have parents like that?

And who wouldn't want to turn the world upside down to avenge them?

P.S.

I also think that this is what enabled Sasuke's interest in the truth later on, to the point that he would resurrect the previous Hokage to hear it. He's always been a questioner, and it was never frowned upon or rejected, he was loved unconditionally underneath it all, even if it did take, well, a bit of questioning to learn that.

Yeah!! 🍅🥰🤗

I bet they would have been the best in-laws too lol

[sasuke-punk]

catharsis of punishment this catharsis of forgiveness that. what about the catharsis of it finally being acknowledged that it wasn't your fault. the catharsis of being relieved of the burden of guilt that never should have been yours to carry.

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i know its like fictional and you need conflict but the way people dont realize that the amount of stories that are like "marginalized groups fighting against their oppression are actually genocidal maniacs who want to kill their oppressors" is due to racist fearmongering kind of bothers me

[sasuke-punk]

Last Sasuke Saturday of 2022 how are we feeling

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Fans of both one piece and naruto (most of them at least): oh yeah fuck the world government! They kill hundreds of innocent people just keep their power and lie about what truly happened! Konoha forever though🥰🥰 Sasuke is a horrible person for wanting to destroy it😡🤬

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<3

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shared pains

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sharingan

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Anyways Sasuke parallels Tsunade in much more meaningful ways than the surface-level bullshit of why Orochimaru mentored him. Both of them are the last members of formerly great clans and feel the pressure to live up to that. Both were closely related to the leaders of those clans. Both were shattered by grief and responded to it by running away from their pain however they could, by closing themselves off and becoming aggressive and distant and putting on masks of arrogance.

Both of them are people who genuinely value human life - Tsunade in her desire to keep as many people from dying as possible while fighting in the Second Shinobi World War and her work as a medic, Sasuke in how he wants to shape the world (before he was brainwashed lmaoo) into a place people don’t fight each other and his general dislike of killing unless it’s necessary.

Both, ironically, were also treated as being wrong when they didn’t want to give their loyalty to the village despite arguably being right, and were then, against all logic, were brainwashed by Naruto to forget their morals and serve the military dictatorship.

Sasuke as a medic would have been so meaningful for his arc. He’s not a violent person by nature, or even an angry person - he’s stubborn, yes, but earnest and kind even when closed off like in Part 1. Him being a medic would still enable him to get stronger, more skilled, but would give him that path away from the violence Itachi, his abuser, said he had to follow. Sasuke through canon essentially just did what the people who killed his clan wanted him to - fell into violence to try and avenge his clan because it’s what he clung to after he’d lost everything else. But that’s so unhealthy for Sasuke especially! Him being a medic would still give him the power and agency he’s wanted, the power he wanted that he might have been able to save his family with, but also gives him his own skills, nonviolent, as opposed to self destructing the way Itachi, again, his abuser, set him up to.

And yes, this means Tsunade isn’t Hokage - thank fuck. She had no reason to actually listen to Naruto, because he didn’t actually say anything to her, just called her a coward. And yeah, while he’s right to a degree, she’s not a coward for refusing loyalty to the village that treated her as a pawn and killed her loved ones by doing the same, she’s a coward because she abandoned her desire for change in her grief. Sasuke, aka the only other character who wants change in this fucking series and who very much hasn’t abandoned it, would be able to show her those same errors without her abandoning her point of view entirely.

Plus, the whole Senju-Uchiha conflict was so emphasized for like, no reason. Okay, they hated each other, and… nothing within the series ever really comes of it. Tsunade teaching Sasuke, the last of a clan teaching the last of her enemy her techniques, again nonviolent ones, them connecting through a desire to save, heal, regain agency but help, would be a much better arc than whatever happened to both of them in canon.

Plus, it could be interesting if you pair it with Orochimaru’s Apprentice!Sakura and canon Naruto, who, despite his teaching for two years under Jiraiya, really doesn’t change at all between the end of Part 1 and Part 2. If Sasuke under Tsunade has become a kinder and better person, Naruto under Jiraiya continues his same flaws and doesn’t change, and Sakura under Orochimaru gets darker and crueller… it would be interesting.

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[sasuke-punk]

Anyway idc what anyone says Sasuke is literally so loving as person, like people use his revenge as a way to be like 'nooo he was so cruel and cold blah blah blah' but it was because he loved his family so much he dedicated his life to avenging them and restoring their honor, cmon guys think at least a bit about him and his motivations before posting about it

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Wild that sasuke is mischaracterized so heavily that people have to write essays w visual evidence to remind others that he has a set of canon personality traits

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itachi being viewed as the pacifist brother and sasuke as the crazy murderous brother but when you look at their kills count lists itachi’s is the longest one…

[sasuke-punk]

offers this sea urchin of a beast as a humble offering for sasuke saturday

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