#and hand back his manga series to kishimoto

[uchiha-family-for-the-winny]

A better name to ikemoto: pedomoto.

[sneezemonster15]

I have written a little about how Sakura is written to be irrelevant throughout the narrative by Kishi, and as a result, demeaning her character through the literary tool of subversion. Here's another example of how Kishimoto makes Sakura's character redundant and very intently makes her the laughingstock of the manga. Like I have mentioned before, he gets some kind of perverse pleasure out of showing both Hinata and Sakura down and he would go a painstakingly intricate and at times, long way to do it too.

I will be publishing a longer write up about this subversion that Kishi uses for Sakura as an answer to an ask but I am writing this particular post separately because this bunch of chapters portray a series of incidents where Kishi really does it without any subtlety and is pretty in your face about it too, like you can viscerally feel his disdain towards Sakura's character just wafting over and it has made her a huge target for ridicule, it has become a ubiquitous topic for very popular jokes and memes even outside the fandom, lol.

Okay, so the chapter I am talking about is chapter 675 where Sakura has just been kamui'd out by Obito from his space time dimension to protect her from Madara's attack after she fails to stab his rinnegan eye. But she never had much determination to speak of unless it had to do with showing off to Sasuke and Naruto, mostly Sasuke. What is interesting to notice is that it also pointedly harks back to something else that she did (or didn't do lol) with her kunai which resulted in a frustrated and (greatly) annoyed audience, courtesy Kishi.

Her nervous expression, the trembling kunai just centimetres away from its target but unable to reach it, failure to do it anyway, giving an opening to her opponent that could have easily been avoided had she been a little more resolute (no one really asked her to take on Sasuke though, that was her own decision given her poor sense of judgment, fighting strategy and skills), getting attacked by the opponent and then getting rescued by someone. Mostly Naruto.

#Redundant

Anyway. She couldn't do anything, having failed to stab Obito's eye so she is transported back by Obito and she joins Kakashi and Sasuke who are waiting for Madara to return. She sees Kakashi's condition and starts to heal him. Naruto leaves his clone to hold Madara's shadow captive with his sage of six paths staff and returns to Sasuke's side, his better half of the 'main act' of the war which has already been established at this point.

So seeing Sakura healing Kakashi, he takes over from a resisting Sakura and heals him. The ONE thing that she could do and not feel redundant in the trio is taken away from her, lolol.

He not only heals him, he gives him a brand new eye, something that is beyond the reach of prevailing medical jutsu itself. How can Sakura even hope to compete with this? Lolol. Kishi, you sadistic so and so! You won't even let her catch a break.

Naruto can't explain and doesn't even understand how he did it and it took Sakura years of effort to learn medical jutsu and achieve a stage where she could even use her mitotic regeneration jutsu. Hahahahaha.

#Redundant

Okay, now then, Sasuke tells Naruto to keep his guard up while Sakura is acting like her usual pointlessly high handed self trying to condescend to Naruto who just made her presence utterly pointless, and Kakashi starts to reminisce about team seven dynamic. Kakashi, a man who has a very shallow understanding of his team members (he thinks Sakura's love has changed from what it was and that she is kind and gentle lol) and not at all about Sasuke, which he thankfully admits.

But what's funny to me is that Kishi was totally focusing on showing Sakura down, mercilessly. So Kakashi is seen reminiscing about their first day in team seven.

Sakura squealing like a typical immature fangirl crushing over an entirely disinterested and quite embarrassed boy, while having no other goal or objective. While Naruto announces his goal to surpass the current hokage, Sasuke divulges his ambition of restoring his clan's honour and killing Itachi, Sakura just blushes and squeals.

Kakashi thinks she is kind and gentle (because of course he has never seen Sakura treating Naruto, at times even a badly injured Naruto, like a punching bag and manipulating him and everyone else for her ill conceived plans), she has grown and her love for Sasuke has matured because she still cares about him even though he tried to kill her in kage arc. Oh sure, running after a boy and begging for his attention no matter what the circumstances or timing is totally what a mature woman would do, lol. Thing is, he has got blinders on when it comes to Sakura because he obviously very conveniently forgets that Sakura attacked Sasuke first, in fact, she went there with the sole intention of killing Sasuke, while not knowing the truth but suspecting something, after having orchestrated a plan that included fake confessing to Naruto (#rejected lol), drugging her team mates and armed with a puny poisoned kunai which she didn't have the presence of mind to deduce would be pointless against Sasuke who trained with Orochimaru for years, some medical ninja, lol.

Kakashi treats her with kid gloves and doesn't understand Sasuke's feelings or motivations given his own lack of perception and failure to understand the intricacies of emotions and relationships, he makes a lot of faux pas when it comes to his team seven members. Kishi knows that these are the questions any reader would ask since these elements were given such consistent visibility in the manga and such consistent characterisation to the players, he is not an idiot. So he uses indirect and subtle techniques and narrative elements, and forces the reader to ask questions and then provides the answers. How? By showing, not telling. Okay, a little telling as well.

Kishi has already established, through Kakashi's interactions with Obito, that Kakashi is definitely flawed as he writes him to admit that he tried his best but he made mistakes.

And that it can be contributed to his past, when he lost his father so cruelly along with his team mates. He also admits that giving false hope to Sakura when Sasuke is about to abandon Konoha was wrong. And what this proves is that Kakashi isn't infallible. His hypocrisy is very apparent when the core of his principle is to cherish his comrades and yet couldn't even attempt to understand Sasuke, given Sasuke's excruciatingly disturbing and scarring past. And even at the end, he expects Sasuke to behave and acts like it was all Sasuke's fault, not having understood him at all. The reason Sasuke gave up at the end was due to the revelatory experience he had with Naruto in chapter 698. Kakashi is emotionally stunted, perhaps which is why he is so good at being an ideal shinobi. A shinobi doesn't cry, doesn't emote, doesn't complain, doesn't break orders and protects his village with his life. Anyway, what becomes clear is that Kakashi's emotional perception is quite affected and far from accurate for sure.

Anyway, so Kakashi reminisces about what he perceives as the team seven dynamic after Naruto heals his eye and then reminds Sasuke of the first lesson he taught them when they were rookies. Sasuke remains meaningfully silent and only grunts. He obviously has a very low opinion of Kakashi, justifiably, as was established in kage arc and the succeeding chapters after this one emphasize it even more. Heh.

So what does 'Team Seven' decide on?

TEAMWORK.

Where was this notion of Team seven teamwork emphasized on the last time before this? Here.

Where Sakura is seen nursing her past insecurities and ramping her ego to join Naruto and Sasuke in the fight because she can't tolerate being protected by them anymore like a damsel in distress.

She thought she was a full fledged kunoichi after passing her genin exams, lol.

Anyway, so she doesn't want to gaze at the boys' back, meaning being shielded or protected by them, as they proceed to take on their opponent. And she manages to punch and make a dent while insulting her own sensei, like some badass that she definitely thinks she is, it becomes quite clear from her body language and expression.

Problem is, her feeling so good about herself (I have finally caught up to them) and acting like a badass is very disproportionate with her actual actions and contribution to the battle. Which is why it creates a dissonance in the reader's mind. As she keeps pulling the same shit over and over without changing or improving things, even after having certain realizations, she creates a negative impression of herself in the audience's mind. She doesn't evolve to be better in a manga where characters learn and grow as a rule which then contributes to the main plot, this is a coming of age story as well after all. Same with Hinata.

Btw, Hashirama saying her strength might be greater than Tsunade doesn't mean shit. Because he actually hasn't seen what his grand-daughter is capable of. Her strength is greater than Raikage, as Madara notices after fighting all the kages. Someone as strong as Naruto struggled to fight against Raikage when he tried to stop him from joining the war effort and so Bee had to intervene on his behalf. She couldn't even fight average cloud ninjas Omoi and Karui, lol. Like c'mon, they aren't even portrayed as some super strong, special ninjas, they are a hardly more than comedy fodder. But Kishi won't even let Sakura take some fodder level ninjas, lol, it's embarrassing. And what happens? Naruto comes to her rescue, as always. Heh. No way Sakura is stronger than Raikage, lol.

Why does Kishi do things like these? These obvious contradictions that he knows are very visible to anyone who pays attention? Especially with Sakura, where other characters like Kakashi, Shizune, Hashirama and Jiraiya remark positively about Sakura? To build expectations, make the reader anticipate some awesome action from Sakura, something that would actually justify these positive remarks in the narrative, building the premise of the action, escalating it, but then right at the moment of dramatic and narrative payback, 👎. He makes Sakura fail pathetically (he does the same thing with Hinata) by subverting the narrative development and tropes, by not satisfying the readers' expectations that he so painstakingly develops, by writing the most anti-climactic of actions at the end. No payback whatsoever. What does an actual payback look like? Cue Might Guy's opening all of the eight gates, when he smashes Madara's ribs in as he breaks his own bones in the process. Cue Tsunade grunting like a warrior goddess as she thrashes Madara's clone beyond recognition. Even Sakura when she punches the ground real hard and takes out little juubi soldiers.

He sadistically wastes all that effort that builds up the anticipation.

And what does doing that achieve? Simple. It makes the reader get really annoyed/dissatisfied with the character. And they feel compelled to berate or ridicule her character. And why won't they? They invested in the character and his/her actions in the narrative for a grand payback, watching multiple episodes or reading multiple chapters carefully, and when they don't get it, they would naturally be frustrated. Kishi consistently pulls this shit over and over again with Sakura and Hinata. And why would he go to such lengths to do shit like this? Well, it's not because he wants to make these ladies look credible or worthy. Heheh.

This is exactly why fans who don't see everything through rose coloured glasses, shipping lenses or have a good taste and a good understanding of characters and the human condition, and actually pay attention to what they are watching or reading, are so annoyed by these characters. Notice I am not saying disgusted or hateful (although some of y'all are) but mostly really annoyed and frustrated. Sakura and Hinata, more than anything else (although they are all those things too, like distasteful, boring and cringey lol), are simply annoying. Because of the reason I explained above.

Kishi is fucking relentless about it too. After this sense that he gives the reader of team seven dynamic, he pulls this shit here. No Sakura, no team. Just Naruto and Sasuke being the main act.

After which, we see Naruto and Sasuke fighting together or separately, but not with the team. But after they are given the sage of six paths power by Hagoromo, they fight together, well in sync with each other. Like they are meant to be. Sasuke bosses Naruto around, like usual, Naruto complains nostalgically but you can see he is totally enjoying it to the hilt. And both of them get shit done. Naruto stops Madara's shadow successfully as Sasuke skillfully slashes Madara's physical body in half. But before he can react further, Madara flies to Kakashi, steals his sharingan and just shoves it in his socket, because it really is that simple lol, enters Obito's space time dimension and attacks Sakura. Now Sakura has no idea about Madara's powers, not having fought him at all directly, and definitely not having fought with the juubi jinchuuriki Madara. So where on the one hand, you see Sasuke and Naruto thoughtfully device strategies to fight Madara, Sakura actually is totally clueless. But Kakashi reminds them of 'teamwork'.

So then Madara finally appears and then this happens.

Hahahahaha. Teamwork? What teamwork?Sakura doesn't even know what Madara's strengths or weaknesses are. And just as expected, he stabs her in the chest and stops her punch with his Limbo jutsu. Payback? What payback? Readers who sympathized with Sakura? Disappointed. Readers who wanted returns on their investment, disappointed. But people who understood what she was really like? Vindication. Lol.

She did the same thing here that Hinata does in Pein arc, when she charges at Pein without putting any thought into it. Hinata did it to attract Naruto's attention. And why did Sakura do it?

And what happened in both cases? Long build up resulting in them getting struck with a single hit and then being rescued by someone else. Naruto doesn't even acknowledge Hinata and Sakura droops because Sasuke ain't paying attention to her. So much for team work. Lol.

But what impression does it give to the reader?

1) Sakura's love for Sasuke didn't really evolve did it? It's the same when in part one, she climbs the tree by gathering chakra in her feet to impress Sasuke but Sasuke doesn't pay attention to her and she slumps, highly disappointed. Same as here.

2) She makes it look like she is creating an opening by using a diversionary tactic, but it's quite obvious she is really scared, but is still trying to show off to Naruto and Sasuke because she doesn't wanna stay behind, gazing at their backs again. So she attacks Madara blindly. Her desire to show off and strut around trumps her desire to actually defeat Madara. What a shinobi, lol. This is a freaking war, and she is fighting against a super strong villain who is bent on destroying their world as they know it, but she is more concerned with nursing her own shortcomings. Self centred, yes. And definitely not a badass. Just ass. Hehe.

After getting rescued by Naruto yet again, she wallows in sadness when Sasuke doesn't even glance at her but immediately calls for Naruto, who btw totally gets what he is indicating at without needing to say it out loud. Yay, team seven. Lol. So while Sasuke and Naruto get into form and fight Madara, what does Sakura do?

Precisely nothing. Just sitting there in awe of Sasuke and Naruto. Spellbound at Madara's jutsu and power, that she didn't know zilch about. Kakashi is pretty pointless here as well, but he wasn't the one who just proclaimed they remembered the teamwork lesson and jumped in a fight without any plan. At least, he had the presence of mind to stop Sakura from joining in the fight when Naruto and Sasuke charge at Madara and she again finds herself watching their backs, as he tells her to not do it unless she has a plan. And she does stop, lol. She doesn't have the power or strategy, just ego. All she wants is to impress Sasuke and show off to Naruto and others, who cares there's a war going on? Lol.

3) It becomes pretty clear who the real team is here. And Sakura is very pointedly missing from it. And it stays that way till the end, staying true to the real team seven dynamic. The Main Act.

So after hyping up the team work element, Kishi discards Sakura's inclusion with a ruthless but consistently written treatment and makes her...?

Redundant.

She couldn't heal Kakashi, she couldn't punch Madara. And she didn't mature, like Kakashi believed. Still pretty useless. Lol.

I am aware that her stans only read the most surface level. How else would they justify something they invest so much in? But unfortunately, it's a fact and not a matter of opinion that Kishi never intended to portray her positively and he certainly puts a hell lot of effort to do so in a clever manner. It's not a coincidence that she (along with Hinata) is such a hated character. It's because she has been portrayed that way. Storytelling and visual language are intuitive by nature. All I am doing here is decoding them. I am writing here what you already know. I am just explaining the how of it. Excuse the digressions lol.

[narhinafan]

I think Naruto only fell in love with Hinata due to the Genjutsu scene. In realistic situations, without being forced, he would have never thought of her like that. He was never romantically interested in her. It honestly makes me think he was guilt tripped into returning her feelings because she had loved him for so long. After the Pain incident, he never really cared if she was okay or not. Honestly, I think Hinata deserved better. She could have been with someone who could truly love her without being manipulated by a genjutsu trap.

Nope Naruto has been steadily showing increased interest in Hinata through out the manga. This started from early on the series from the Chunin exams and beyond. In the manga when Naruto checks on Hinata after the Neji fight it actually looks like he placed his hand on hers and then you have the proud failure speech and him saying he likes girls like her. An iconic moment for the ship was how Naruto astonished and touched Naruto was from her speech we even get him blushing. Not only that, but Hinata picking up Naruto every time he is about to give up has been a trend in the series whenever Naruto is about to go back on his nindo its always Hinata who shares his nindo who sets him straight and he is grateful towards her for doing so.

The Pain fight not only shows how much Naruto cares about Hinata through causing his seal to break, but his relief finding out she lived and how he clutches his heart in tears expresses that Hinata had already become someone special for him. What showed this even more was when went berserk he subconsciously avoided Hinata and got Pain away from her. In the manga there is even a scene where it seems like six tails Naruto was looking at Hinata before pursing Pain. Those are all things Naruto has never once shown or done, while in his nine tailed state and that was the worse he lost control all through out the series.

Naruto did care about her after the Pain incident a lot was going, but during the war when his clone saves her you can see the connection and he was even able to understand and know what Hinata was thinking by her eyes when she started doubting herself. Then you have how it shows Naruto trying to rush to her when infinite tsukuyomi took her.

During the course of the series Naruto was steadily falling for Hinata its subtle, but is there. Even without the genjutsu they were going to be as the genjutsu only allowed Naruto to realise his feelings for Hinata that were already there. In the canon novels pre last it mentions that Naruto and Hinata became closer after the war without any genjutsu involved. Naruto had already falling for Hinata a long time ago just that he didn't realise it and the last actually set up for him to realise and get with Hinata in multiple a ways.

At the start of film it shows that despite all the affection and gifts Naruto was getting from everyone he felt hollow and those gifts to compare to how happy he felt getting the scarf his mother left behind. Hinata's gift would have stood out among all the others he got as not only was it handmade, but also coming from somthing who truly cares about him. Without the whole Toneri situation Hinata would have ended up confessing to Naruto and he would have without a doubt accepted on the spot or end up thinking and realising he loved Hinata. The movie actually shows Naruto taking time to sort out his own feelings before confessing as well. All Naruto needed a push to kick the process off which was inevitable it didn't have to be the genjutsu that was just done to speed up and see Hinata's pov.

Naruto truly loves Hinata, she was his first and true love as stated by Kishimoto. Now the love story could have been told better, but that doesn't change the fact they both love each other and were meant to be.

[watermelonsloth]

Hinata Jumping into the Pain Pit is Weirdly Executed

The Pain Arc is among my favorites, but something’s been bothering me about it; Hinata jumping in to save Naruto before she gets folded by the Deva path. Not the fact that she did it(I think it’s a really nice way for her to overcome her anxiety) or even the scene itself, but the fact that it was her.

To me, Hinata’s role in the arc feels very disconnected. She has no presence at the start of the arc. She doesn’t comfort Naruto after Jiraiya’s death, she certainly has no connections to Pain/Nagato or Konan, she has no relevancy in the question about world peace, and I don’t even remember her making a passing appearance. When Pain attacked, she didn’t take out one of the paths or anything(again I don’t remember her even appearing). Then she suddenly has all of the attention on her as she jumps in, proclaims her love, and gets “killed,” which causes Naruto to flip his shit. Then, she’s back to being near irrelevant. Kakashi carries Naruto back, Sakura hugs him, Hinata makes a brief appearance to show she’s alive, and the arc ends. She doesn’t say anything to him, Naruto isn't especially relieved to see she’s alive, and the confession is never addressed.

Do you see why I think this is a weird decision?

She has one moment of relevancy and then she fucks off until the war arc where she will once again have a brief moment to matter before the epilogue. This decision gets even weirder when you take in the bigger picture. For the scene, Kishimoto needed a liked character with an established relationship with Naruto to futilely jump into save him before getting “killed” by Pain. That character’s “death” would cause Naruto to lose control of the nine-tails, resulting in Naruto meeting Minato and yada yada yada you get the point. (Bonus points if that character jumping in progresses that character’s arc.) Now, I’m not saying Hinata doesn’t meet the criteria, but there were certainly better options. To list a few:

Sakura Haruno was literally right there. She is the primary heroine and love interest of the Naruto franchise. She wasn’t a focus character in the Pain arc, but she was at least present. In early shippuden, it was established that she was insecure about being unable to help Naruto in bigger ways. It was also established that she wanted to help Naruto fight back against the Akatsuki. Moments before the Pain Pit scene, Sakura was shown screaming for Naruto’s help so her having a moment of desperately realizing that someone has to help before turning the tables would’ve been a nice scene. Sakura “dying” would mean that Naruto wasn’t just pushed over the edge by seeing another friend die, but by pretty much losing the last member of the original team 7. I could go on about it being in character for her to do and her saying her choice to step in is selfish would be nice foreshadowing to her later actions in the Five Kage Summit arc and her hugging Naruto at the end of the arc would not only be more impactful but make more sense, but this post is long enough already.

Shikamaru Nara would’ve been a nice segway to becoming Naruto’s right hand man later. He was already one of the most present characters in the arc(helping decode Jiraiya’s code and Naruto moving forward) and it would justify the amount of screen time he’s given in both the arc and the manga. I like Shikamaru as much as the next guy, but it is odd how he’s given disproportionately more character depth and growth than the other tertiary characters despite contributing little to the greater themes of the series and stories of the main characters. Him participating in such a major moment would not only make the prior screen time make more sense but him protecting Naruto specifically could be an alternative start of him choosing to become Naruto’s advisor/assistant. Granted, him jumping in wouldn’t be very “protect the king” or “200 iq” of him, so his decision would have to be justified somehow or lead to some sort of character change.

Iruka Umino would’ve been a gut punch. I’m biased and I love Iruka, but sometimes a story needs to twist the knife and this is literally the arc’s darkest hour. He got a little screen time prior to the attack when he comforted Naruto, Iruka’s death was already teased when the Deva path nearly killed him while he was trying to protect someone, and he appears again at the arc’s finale. Iruka “dying” would, at least temporarily, make Shikamaru telling Naruto about the old generation protecting the new all the more grim. The scene could also be a nice call back to chapter one of the series. I’d also like to add that, while any of Naruto’s friends dying would’ve set him off considering the amount of buildup, him reacting so extremely to Iruka “dying” would’ve been undeniably an in character response and it would’ve added at least a little more weight to him choosing to forgive Nagato.

I think I’ve made my case why, without changing anything outside of who jumps in, at least three other characters would’ve made more sense narratively. So, why Hinata? I have two theories as to why Kishimoto thought he should choose Hinata.

1. Kishimoto originally planned to do something more with her character, but ultimately didn’t. Maybe the editors stepped in, maybe he changed his mind, who knows? Not me. I wasn’t there and even if I was, I’m not fluent in Japanese. This would explain both her stepping in specifically and her actually confessing her feelings, but neither being mentioned or relevant again(save for the one movie). It’s also possible that her encouraging Naruto after Neji’s death was that “something more” but it was just awkwardly executed.

2. Hinata is meant to be thematically relevant in the grand scheme of things.

Remember when I said Hinata didn’t have any relevancy in regards to the larger question about world peace? That wasn’t wholly accurate. To explain why, I have to explain the thematic conflict of the Naruto series very quickly.

The series is packed with commentary on humanity, but the thematic question most relevant to what I’m talking about(and arguably the franchise) is “Is it possible for people to understand each other?” (This is specifically in relation to conflict resolution.) This is why talk no jutsu exists, this is why Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry is so relevant, and this is why the resolution of Naruto is international alliances rather than systematic change or whatever alternative plot resolution people where expecting. This question is lingering in the background since Part 1, but it’s first vocalized in the Pain arc when Nagato asks Naruto if he thinks world peace is possible(which is a stand in for the thematic question of if he thinks two people understanding each other is possible). Naruto answers that he doesn’t know but he’ll find out then spends the rest of the story doing just that. The Five Kage Summit arc is him finding an answer(only if the anger/hatred which would normally cause conflict is directed at a single target), the War arc is him reevaluating that answer once he sees it fail when put into practice(the infinite tsukuyomi/Obito/Madara), and the Valley of the End/Ending is the presentation of the final conclusion(yes). There’s more to it than that and the discussion of how well the theme was executed and if the conclusion was accurate is still open, but all of that is irrelevant in this discussion.

What does Hinata have to do with this? Simple, Hinata is integral in both Naruto reevaluating his answer in the first place and the conclusion he comes to. Naruto treats a large chunk of the war arc like a personal conflict. To him, it’s less of a world war and more of a “Naruto vs Obito/Tobi/Madara.” Because of that, he’s done whatever he can to shoulder all of the weight of the war. However, Neji dying for his sake was like a personal failure. Naruto, unsurprisingly, began to crumble at that failure(with the help of Obito’s taunts). Hinata snaps him out of it(slaps him out of it?) and reminds him of his ninja way. Specifically, she tells him that his conviction to protect his friends is shared by all of the shinobi there. She tells him that it’s not shared hatred or pain that connects all shinobi, it’s the love they have for their comrades(as cheesy as that might sound). That’s all to say that Kishimoto may have chosen Hinata to enter the Pain Pit to connect her to the theme that she’ll later be an impactful player in forwarding. By having her face off against the antagonist that brings the theme to the forefront, it makes her transition into her later role smoother.

However, I still think the execution was weird and the product we ultimately got leaves something to be desired. This isn’t to say that the Pain arc is ruined by this scene by any means—I wouldn’t blame you for thinking this is a nitpick—but I’m still bothered by it. Hindsight is 20/20, but even without hindsight I think the scene could’ve been better. Kishimoto should’ve either chosen a character other than Hinata to jump in and connect Hinata to the theme in some other way(or use the character she’s replaced by if you want to completely scrap her) or he should’ve given her more time to be present in the Pain arc.

[docexe-mx]

Some belated thoughts on the first chapter of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, aka, Boruto part II. Spoilers after the cut.

This chapter being simply titled “Boruto” to contrast with how the first chapter of part I was titled “Uzumaki Boruto” is actually a nice touch. Succinctly reflects the new situation of the main character: From the esteemed Hokage son and golden child of the village, to a pariah considered a traitor and wanted dead by his former home. Ironically, Boruto barely appear in this chapter. Most of it is centered on the rest of the cast (with a particular focus on Sarada), giving out exposition and setting up the current status quo.

Ikemoto’s art is still an acquired taste at best, an absolute eyesore at worst. To be fair, he does have improved since the manga started, but not really enough for my tastes.

I definitely like Sarada, Sumire, Chouchou and Mitsuki’s time skip designs, while Shikadai and Inojin’s leave me a bit cold (mostly because they don’t look particularly older). Himawari’s new attire is good, but I would have preferred if her hair was a bit spikier.

I didn’t care much for Kawaki’s design in the flash forward at the beginning of the manga, but his current get-up post-time skip is actually better, although not by much.

Boruto’s design isn’t bad per se, but outside of the cape and some accessories, his outfit is just not that different from his original get-up, which feels like a wasted opportunity (at the very least they could have given him some additional colors or something).

Kishimoto’s writing has some… issues. So apparently, people could still feel something was wrong with the rewriting of their memories in the early days and the obvious contradictions involving the switch between Boruto and Kawaki, but as time has passed, the Omnipotence Shinjutsu has suppressed the unease and now everyone just accepts their new memories as true. While that’s fine and dandy, it still doesn’t explain what happened to the massive amount of physical evidence pointing out that Boruto was the Hokage’s son. Did all the photographs, written records and videos of Boruto just disappear? Were altered by the Shinjutsu? People look at them and think they are forgeries? Kishi, you might not think any of that is important enough to address it but it’s a genuinely massive plot hole that makes this entire plotline fall apart and it just keeps nagging at the back of my head.

So far it’s confirmed that Sarada and Sumire are the only ones unaffected by Eida’s Omnipotence, and Sarada herself seems to have been turned into an outcast in the village because of her insistence on defending Boruto. As to the matter of how to solve the entire mess, Eida still doesn’t have any control over her powers and doesn’t think reverting people’s memories to how they were originally will be possible, but posits that rewriting them again might work although that still carries risks of its own.

Talking about that, the scene of Sarada and Sumire trying to fool Eida and Daemon regarding how they were unaffected by the Omniptence Shinjutsu but are “definitely” affected by Eida’s charming power was extremely cringe worthy. Although to be fair, it’s kind of implied that neither of the ultra-broken siblings actually buy it and are merely humoring them for the time being.

Shikamaru being the 8th Hokage was a surprise. On the one hand, he is actually a good fit for the position, indeed, back in the original series it was acknowledged he could make for a good one. On the other hand, it also feels weird and I can’t help it but get this nagging feeling that he was made Hokage specifically because Kishimoto forgot that Kakashi was still alive. Then again, his face was not sculpted in the Hokage monument during the flash forward, and if they respect that detail, it would imply he only took the mantle very recently.

While Shikamaru’s antagonism towards Kawaki in Part I wasn’t exactly unfounded (especially considering how things turned out), it did got very old very quickly and now that it’s been transferred to Boruto, it’s even more irritating. He taking out some of that on Sarada for defending Boruto was also annoying, so in that sense, Sarada calling him out and pointing out that it’s his predecessor the one she follows as her role model was actually deserved to an extent.

Kawaki can move freely in the dimension of the Sukuna Hikona. The scene with him watching over the unconscious Naruto and Hinata was really morbid, but it’s clear he is still in a dark place. However, he does seem to care for the safety of the people in the village if his actions to protect them from Code are anything to go by. That’s something at least.

The scene with Kawaki and Mitsuki was heartbreaking. Just the notion of Mitsuki turning against Boruto and fervently wanting to kill him is tragic considering their prior bond, compounded by the fact that his current relationship with Kawaki is clearly not the same and it’s leaving him feeling dejected. I just hope this whole mess won’t end with Mitsuki eventually turning into an outright villain, you just know Kishimoto is itching to explore parallels and contrasts with Orochimaru.

The scene of Himawari training with Chouchou was nice, showcasing their growth as well as Hima’s natural talent. I presume Himawari has already graduated from the Shinobi Academy, although the chapter doesn’t clarify it.

Interestingly, while the chapter confirms Himawari's memories were altered, unlike other village inhabitants, she hasn’t turned against Boruto, refusing to believe that he killed their parents and having faith that they might still be alive somewhere. Of course, all of that is based on her original memories of Kawaki and she is ultimately right. In any case, it’s sweet that she is willing to help her brother and that, in a roundabout way, she thinks highly of her adopted sibling, not only considering her original bond with Boruto but also the bond she and Kawaki formed in the anime.

Code has spent the past few years searching for Boruto after amassing an army from the body of the Juubi. His patience has finally been exhausted so he decides to attack Konoha with the intention of attracting Boruto’s attention. His plan was actually clever, but I’m not exactly fond of him imperiling Sarada specifically, then again this is Kishi’s “traditionalism” rearing its ugly head again.

In any case, the scenes of the attack on Konoha and Boruto’s dynamic entry were cool… or would have been if the art was actually better. All I can say is that I’m eager to see the anime tackling this chapter when it finally returns.

[vote-gaara]

I'm no art major so I might have a hard time explaining what I mean...But tbh I just miss Kishimoto's old art style, especially in the first couple volumes.

It just felt like the characters were less "boxed in" and ridged, as if they had to compete with the background detail to be eye catching? Like it felt as though the characters had a story going on, but you could look passed them and see the details of their environment and make up your own implications about what else is going on around the people you're supposed to be "watching?"

It was so easy to gleam details about the world, and realize that all the settings in the series are a living, breathing place where you - the reader - are just following one of the numerous other stories that are going on at the exact same time.

Then you can make headcanons about technology, locations and different citizens cause the details are right there.

It made it feel that the characters weren't just rooted in their surroundings, but like the environment itself was a character that was worthy of appreciation and interest. Like all the details Kishimoto put in those beginning volumes made me legitimately care about Konoha, and made me feel like I had a personal stake in it.

Like why should I care about some dumb fictional village? Just because the main character cares about it?

Oh, actually it's because it's because it's freaking gorgeous and looks like a place that I want to go visit.

And honestly, even something as mundane and simple as a salt shaker on a table while Naruto is eating with Iruka in Chapter 1 is so visually appealing...It mean that Kishimoto cared enough about his settings to show you - to remind you - that this is a setting that exists somewhere. This place is important. It's worthy of detail and care because there's a whole other layer of world building behind the conversation Naruto and Iruka are having. It's just honestly so blessed and I love it.

Plus, I enjoyed how dialogue wasn't always hard lined into textboxes. I miss when someone was thinking something and it was small little words beside their head, or the words bent or warped based on how the character was supposed to be saying them. It was more charming and made me feel for Naruto and the other characters because sometimes saying something legit feels like there's weight to them, or they quiver a bit, or they're under your breath, or...

This kinda became a rant, but yeah...I'm missing that old style and the love Kishimoto put into the very early days of Naruto. I also want to add that I'm not knocking the later style, because it is still a really appealing manga to look at, but it's just not as charming as it used to be. Plus, I understand how style changes based on how technology is utilized by artists, and I understand that Kishimoto had a lot of crazy time restraints when Naruto was coming out weekly. I don't blame him for not putting as much detail and thought into the background as he used to...even though I did get bored of seeing rock and barren landscape in the war arc (lol).

I guess I'm just glad that I can go back to those original volumes and embrace those gritty, charming and breath takingly detailed settlings that went hand and hand with the characters in making me love this series, and reminded me that this fictional place is something to care about and explore.

[clown-cult]

Sometimes, when the Trashahime manga (and anime) reminds us that InuKag was seperated from their kid for 14 years, I need to remind myself that none of it is canon and that even the mangaka said it's all just a "what-if". Because when that "lovely" reminder gets thrown out there again, I literally want to rip someone's head off. Preferably the person who came up with that idea in the first place.

I know it's not nearly as bad as the whole sessrin thing, which is absolutely disgusting and deplorable, but it's still upsetting.

There were posts on Twitter showing InuKag fridged in a tree in the YH manga, so that's where this rant is coming from. I hope you don't mind.

That’s a big reason why sequels have to be careful or they’ll fail. It’s all very well to introduce new characters and stories, in fact that’s the point, but there has to be a healthy amount of respect, acknowledgement and involvement of original characters and stories that are what built that love and fame around the series and allowed it to have a sequel in the first place.

Legend of Korra had shaky footing on this, while being a very good show, and as it grew and the characters developed and built on an already beloved world and story, it got more popular. It also didn’t treat its original characters from Avatar the Last Airbender too horribly, while not overusing them. The avatar writers struggled to find a balance and not overestimate themselves.

Boruto just can’t seem to find a good balance. It wrecks its characterisation of its original characters in order to build up the new cast one minute, turns around and forgets all about the new characters to rely on the original characters the next minute, and then slaps a whole bunch of poor filler in the middle. Boruto could be great but it’s obvious Kishimoto no longer has any passion for it.

Every series of JJBA that follows the previous is adapted by people who are obviously passionate about Araki’s work, the same way he himself is. Even when his stories are become more distant from the original saga of the Joestar family, there’s still a lot of respect for his previous instalments in the ongoing story and every part continues to hold up well.

Yashahime failed on every front. It shoved new original characters who were (mostly) barely fleshed out, useless despite having every ability and plot convenience handed to them when need be, and shut away all the original characters that everyone loved so much, such as InuKag and MirSan, even shippo. The exception, for better or worse (mostly worse) was Sesshomaru who was shoved into every mention of this story as possible, the same story that wrecked his characterisation in a way you just can’t come back from.

As you said, InuKag were taken away from their baby for no good reason, and everything they had worked for and the happy ending they tried so hard to achieve was put on hold for FOURTEEN YEARS before they even got to enjoy it. I don’t see anyone talking about his Inuyasha in particular has just spent his entire life suffering, largely because of his father and step brother, and the sequel just doubled down on that. And Kagome got dragged into the mix too for no other reason than simply being married to him.

Who really thought this was going to be a sequel anyone would accept, let alone love? It systematically undoes everything the original series had these characters learn, experience, fight for and earn for themselves. Everyone suffered, everyone came out looking worse, just so the writers could try telling us how marrying kids is totes okay. Pathetic.

If any of y’all ever wonder if you’ll be able to make it in the world with your own story, or if your own content is good enough, stop worrying! Cuz there’s someone out there willing to throw money at literally anything.

[cintsalis]

Konoha High

Konoha High

© 2017 Konoha Series| CINTSALIS

All original characters belong' to manga artist Masashi Kishimoto; This is purely for entertainment.

_____________________________________________________________________

"Sasuke! I heard that you're transferring to a public school in the Sound Village. Is that true?"

Naruto charges inside of my room to ask me with panic.

"It doesn't concern you."

I say as I pack my belongings. 

Naruto pulls me back, and then he talks about our bond, what makes us alike, our friendship, and that stuff. But of course, there's no need for any of that anymore.

It ended with a fight, a bad one. 

When I transferred, the teacher introduced me to the class, and every one knew who I am and respected me wholeheartedly. Like, I am exceptional. 

 But then after one month and twelve days - The girl with red hair with brown glasses lense, confesses to me.

"S...Sasuke, I...I want to be with you!"

Indistinct whispering and gossiping skips through the aisle. I raised my eyebrows- but stared at her emotionlessly. She leaned closer to my face and even took off her glasses so that I could determine if she was pretty or not. The girls at Konoha high are just the same; two girls, in particular, confessed their love to me. One is Ino, and the other is Sakura. 

But there was something different about the last one, because wherever I go, she goes. She is not just verbally affixed with me; she even wraps her arms around my right shoulder as we walk in the halls. She even waits for me when I go to the bathroom, and she even shares her lunch with me.

"Sasuke-Kun!!!!!"

Her voice,

"Sasuke-Kun, I love you with all my heart!"

I shook off the feeling. Why am I thinking of this?

"Sasuke?" She says.

I walk past her as she slowly turns around to look at me. I made up my mind; I'm going to become the biology project that professor Orochimaru chose me for it. 

when I walk past the Gym. I watched as Sakura was in the game dribbling the ball and shooting from the free throw line, one of her signature moves. I could predict what she is going to do next because I even had to watch her during her practices. Next, she's going to steal the ball from the girl with the number ten on her jersey, I believe her name is Tenten, and soon after, she then dances with the basketball- by dribbling it in between her legs- then after she distracts her- she makes a turn in point and passes it to her teammate, Hinata.

After Hinata gets it- she pretends to shoot- and then, she catches it and does her final shot. It goes in Konaha High scores. 

The game ends, and I stand up and wait for her to walk toward the Gym Locker- because she should be able to see me from here. It all happened so quickly; she was in a hurry and slammed inside another man's arm.

The man stares into her green eyes and as he releases her, he smiles at her and gets down rub her ankle a little bit. When he stands back up again, he gazes at her; even if it is brief, she blushes. 

She walks away with the guy toward the gym exit, still leaning his weight over her to whisper something to her ear. I clenched the towel that is in my left hand and decided not to bother myself with her game days anymore.

"Sasuke-Kun!!!!!"

 She runs over toward me, and when she got in front of my face, she said -breathing heavily,

"You came to watch the game?"

She lifted her chin; then I rolled my shoulders to pretend not to know what she was talking about. 

"I was just passing by," I said, emotionlessly.

She stares at me; without saying a word, she steps back and heads toward the gym locker. That's it? You're not even going to ask me why I'm walking around with a towel in my hands? 

After everyone had left the Gym, she volunteered to stay after to clean up the Gym.

I stayed with her and pulled the cart around as she picked up the basketballs on the edges. When the Gym is clean-  she challenged me to a One-on-one game. 

"Come on Sasuke-Kun, can you steal the ball from me?"

She says excitedly as she dribbles the basketball in between her left legs. 

She spins and turns around behind me- keeping a smile on her face. As she skips around dancing with the basketball- forgetting that I'm here. I steal the ball from her as it goes underneath her legs. She doesn't chase after me; she just pauses and watches me dribble the ball. 

I meet the free throw line and mimic what she does every time she's the one standing over this- green line. 

I shoot the ball, and - surprisingly, it glides down from the hoop, and -just to make her heart beat faster- I lifted my chin as if I were always a pro. 

Her jaws dropped, and then her legs started to move toward me. I attempt to do a lay up-, but then she comes in front of me to block me. 

I turn around and dribble the ball, circling around her, and then toss it from where I am. Her arms wrap around me from behind,  and she chirps about me cheating. 

I turned my head to look at her and then responded with,

"I'm not cheating, Sakura."

I shake off the memory and resume to accept that what I am looking at is just an empty gym.

Perhaps, I stroll outside around the school and found Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo sitting by the water fountain.

"I told you, it's too soon to declare your love for him." Suigetsu says,

"Sasuke rejected you, huh?" Jugo mutters.

"N..No he did not! He-well, he..." Karin tries to figure out the words for what I did, but couldn't find them.

I step closer to them, and even though I am lying to myself, I ask to speak to Karin alone.

"You...be my woman," I say.

She was so happy that day that tears fell from her eyes.

Senior year came uninvitedly, and the affliction that I felt toward leaving Sakura slowly began to fade- whenever I was with Karin, it took a while to get used to but- lately, I know her every move. She usually tries to seduce me however- I hadn't been able to welcome her touch.

"S...Sasuke, why won't you let me love you?"

She says as she leans in for a kiss. Like always, I quickly shut my eyes and let her press her lips against mine. As she turned around, my left arm moved on its own. It wipes it away. That's right; we're seeing a movie today.

While the movie was playing- recalling memories of moments with Sakura returns to me like an arrow piercing through an innocent animal in the woods- who didn't ask to leave the forest ground so soon. It was during our first year, there was a field trip to a neighboring village where there's an amusement park. The amusement park had all 5 nations, and if you wanted to feel like you were from the Sand village, then get admission tickets to their rides. 

"Sasuke-Kun! Today we're going to ride all of the rides!" 

She point at each ride and excited run towards the hidden leaf village ticket booth.

I grab a hold of her wrist and pulled her back towards me. She turns back and her eyes gaze into mines momentarily. She blinks her eyes confused, and this was all because I wanted to get admission tickets for a different village other than our own.

"S...Sasuke-Kun?" 

I shook off the feeling and let go of her as she slowly approached the ticket booth.

This is where we were first introduced to Sai. He walks down like a model through the brick pavement sidewalk down. This guy looks like he's Sakura's type, I thought to myself. I have a competition.

It turns out that he's actually a sophomore at Konoha high, but he's taking courses at the advanced level. That's why we don't see him around. The others from Konoha met up with us, and Naruto, my closest friend, decided that we boys should go together. Ino agrees that the girls should too. But that was only because she didn't notice Sai at the time. It took a different turn when her eyes connected with his.

"W...Who is this...?" Ino says slowly.

"I'm Sai, beautiful"

Kiba rolls his eyes and demands that we make a quick decision, or he will leave us behind.

"N...Naruto-Kun....?" Hinata says softly.

Her face is red, is it too hot in here? No, that can't be. Wait don't tell me that she-

"Um...If you don't already have a partner to ride...um..."

"Neji!" Naruto shouts as he runs up to him.

"Ride with me!"

Shino stands next to Kiba and everyone just looks at me.

"What's it going to be?" Kiba says,

I snatched Sakura from the girl's group and even that shook Shikamaru a bit.

"Wow, I wished the sand were here." He says.

"Why? So you could ride with Temari?"

The guys joked, but let's face reality- we all know that much is true.

Although we all traveled together, as a group. I sort of wanted to be alone with Sakura, even though we aren't a couple. Everyone waited in line for food and drinks and shared laughter. I watch as Naruto unknowingly casually misleads Hinata. Why do I have a jerk like this as my closest friend? You either like her, or you be blunt and tell it how it is, like how I do things. I'm such a great person compared to that usuratonkachi. I remember pulling Naruto aside and asking him how he feel towards Hinata- and he didn't say much- but tells me that he had always liked Sakura, in that sense, and if I don't like Sakura, then, I should probably stop misleading her. I can't believe he feels that way about me.

I smiled and started to laugh out of nowhere. Karin turns to look at me, and then she placed her finger over my lips, and then I realized where I was right now. I'm at a theatre. Wait, I paid to watch this- not to daydream.

"Ahhh...hahh...ahhh…"

I enlarged my eyes and then cleared my throat. 

"Yes… baby… love me harder… "

I stood up and then started heading toward the exit.

"Love me..!!! Ahhh… haaah…"

I felt chills crawl down from my spine and then turn back to wait for Karin to walk out of the Theatre with me. I stood by the exit and waited, but she watched it until the very end. When Karin walks down the aisle with the other people coming out of the theatre, she walks past me as if I wasn't even there- and then I follow behind her quietly.

"Why are you like that, Sasuke?"

Karin says angrily. 

Her tone pitch has narrowed down. I paused and then waited for her to say more, but she doesn't. We exited outside and took the bus back to the dorms. Karin stay mad at me the whole time. When I walked Karin toward the girl's dormitory- Karin confessed to me.

"I want you to make love to me!"

I enlarge my eyes and felt a panic attack. My body begins to sweat as the words continue to slip through her lips.

"Why can't we be like normal couples? They are intimate with each other! What is a couple if they don't make love to each other? They're not a couple at all!"

Karin screams as she pushes me inside her dorm room. 

"I'm so frustrated with you! We've been together for almost one year, and you don't give me affection!? Make love to me! Hold me! Embrace me! Touch me! You don't do any of that! I… I'm so... I'm so…lonely..even though you're right next to me.."

Tears slid down from her eyes.

I say softly walking over toward her to hug her. She cried inside of my arms, and I knew that this couldn't continue. She has given one year of her life to spend in a relationship with me- when I didn't put any effort in it. She deserves someone who will cherish every second of their time with her, I am unworthy of her time. 

“Let's...break up”

I whisper.

“Nooo! Noooooooooooooo! I'll change, Sasuke!! I liked you for so long!! For the one year spent with me, did you even…. Did you even… Like..me..?”

She sobbed over my chest, and I held her and nodded my head.

“Yes, I did like you, but I don't love you, Karin."

I release her and turn around to exit her dorm room as she continues to cry. I'm no different than Naruto.

Some time during junior high, something occured with Professer Orochimaru; therefore, his project was put on hold. I'm graduating this year, therefore; I won't be able to participate in his project. 

My train ticket to Konoha boards at 3:00 p.m. Suigetsu and Jugo were seeing me off; even after my relationship ended with Karin, I considered her friends my friends. 

Before I left, Jugo hugged me and told me to keep in touch. I nodded and made my way through the security. The train door opens, and Step right inside.

I sat near the window and thought about what I was going to say or do when I saw Sakura again. It took more than 2 buses to arrive there. I hopped on so many bus lines and got confused so many times that I lost count. It was already 7:12 P.M and I hadn’t eaten anything all day. So, complicated. As I was dragging my Luggage out- I bumped into Sai and Ino.

"S...Sasuke-Kun!" Ino says surprisingly.

"Did you get a return passport from the authorities?" Sai asks.

I shook my head no and felt confused by it.

"Things change, but if you need a place to stay, you can stay at my place." Sai says.

"S...Sai, we only have a condo!" Ino says frustratedly.

He smiles softly and whispers something to her ear and she immediately punches him in the stomach.

"How dare you tell me to go back and live with my parents!?" 

Sai smiles and offers to help me with my luggage.

"Don't worry about her; she will get over it." Sai says.

That was acutally very kind of him, not that I ever considered him to be a friend of mine, but according to Konoha.net; he's a friend of... what used to be... my friends. I don't want to burden him, so I only agreed to stay for three days. When we made it to his condo, it’s like an entire first floor house. I set my things aside, turn on the lights, and walk around. There's lots of paintings. Actually, it really is beautiful. I lay down on the red couch and shut my eyes to rest. I ended up falling asleep.

I woke up and explored the studio excitedly. I took off my clothes and walked into the shower room. The mirror lead straight to the showers and it was the shower hose kind. After the shower, I jump out and quickly slip into a black muscle shirt and beige shorts. When I opened the bathroom door, Ino and Sai were in the middle of arguing, but instead of arguing back, Sai pulled her in for a kiss. I need to leave.

"Calm down, he's a friend of Naruto's!" Sai says softly.

"And, a friend of Sakura's."

"He's no friend of Sakura's!" Ino disagrees, "He-well he-"

Ino's not wrong, I am no friend of Sakura's. In truth, if I had accepted it sooner, I could've even been more than that.

TO BE CONTINUED--I hoped you enjoyed reading this!

[semi-imaginary-place]

naruto blogging part 6: kaguya was a mistake.

kaguya just might be the worst plot development in the manga. literal giant space flea from nowhere trope. because the obito and madara conflict have such weight and build up to them. its the clashing of ideologies, what does it mean to be a ninja, what is the heart of konoha? there's all the character foiling too with the pairs obito-kakashi, madara-hashirama, sasuke-naruto.

genius indra, and useless flunkie dropout didn't inherit his parents power ashura. but like naruto inherited quite a bit of power and is currently one of the most powerful people in existence and with the ying ninetails he's probably about to get another powerup. and then madara and hashirama but hashirama was always the stronger of the two both before the founding of konoha all the way up to their fight in the valley of the end.

if i were to rewrite naruto and fix all the inconsistencies i'd get rid of the uzumaki clan. make the strong bodies and lot of chakra be a characteristic of the senju clan. also just make wood jutsu a kekkai gekken, every other combo element is a kekkai gekken and the senju are called the forest clan it would make it more believable that they were stronger than the uchiha if many of they could use wood element (yeah yeah that breaks yamato's whole character thing but most of his backstory stuff was non manga to begin with). make the namikaze clan the fuuinjutsu specialists. i always thought it was ridiculous that kushina came from the sealing clan but minato was the best fuuinjutsu specialist. Then kushina is from the senju clan and by extension naruto making the symbolism clearer for hashirma-madara and ashura-indra. and the ninetailfox makes double sense for the senju clan. like through the first 600 chapters the senju clan never make a major appearance they aren't shown in any positions of power and the only clan members we see are tsunade, they aren't shown to be an important clan. next kushina isn't the jinchuriki if, pregnancy and birth weaken the seal than the best candidate is a senju who cant get pregnant. also let's be real kishimoto retconned the red spiral on the konoha uniforms, he drew that initially because it looked cool. mmmm i half take this back. having the senju clan dissolve and become indistinguishable from the konoha populace as a whole, the will of fire not being a clan thing but a village thing, that has a lot to work with. im right about the fuuinjutsu thing though.

672 aww look at their matching little marks. the marks are from the sage's left and right hands, so together they make one pair

naruto can just do anything kishimoto wants now huh. rules exist for a reason. this has to some of the most bullshit power in the series yet

poor sakura hasn't gotten a single powerup since shippuden started

wait a moment. earlier it was said that the tree was needed for the infinite tsukiyomi that it would bloom and the eye in the flower was what was necessary but now its both rinnegan that was necessary? smells like a retcon

kaguya really is the worst addition. no kaguya, no hamura (sorry byakugan), no aliens. ...sage kun can stay because of the cute sun and moon marks like just say that he had a third child far after the first two that had the byakugan or something. then the sun and moon marks would just be a powerup to beat madara. (also like wow kishimoto forgot about hashirama), which i mean is bad writing the amount of sudden powerups but there's been so many at this point what's one more. it would be so easy to cut kaguya out too madara gets both rinnegan, opens the 3rd eye infinite tsukiyomi starts, and he gets another bullshit powerup from the 3rd eye for them to fight against. Madara made a good final villian too because of all the foiling and connections

i know in canon the moon movie deals with hamura, but like if kishimoto wanted to keep canon only to the manga imagine in neji were here to round out the eye triad.

if madara's negation jutsu is gone shouldn't minato's arms regenerate?

yeah this is just really bullshit. kaguya was a mistake

he really does change his "plans" every 5 minutes. sasuke "its not for revenge" and then does exactly what he was doing earlier. different goals same method

actually why cant the rinnegan deactivate like the sharingan. the main rinnegan we see are hagoromo who's special. and the rest are madara's eyes. madara would keep them active to show his power, obito and nagato all have implanted eyes and those can't deactivate. yeah from like a lore design perspective sasuke could have normal looking eyes as long as chakra isn't focused into his eyes

[specialability]

Naruto

In my Naruto reread I've basically hit the point where I stopped reading the manga in its original run. I didn't even make it to the Sasuke vs Itachi fight originally and then speed-read a bunch once it ended so I don't remember it much. Unnecessarily long thoughts follow.

The first story arc, i.e. pre-time-skip, is a bit rough sometimes but is fairly tightly written and fast-paced. It has a set of coherent themes and character arcs. Unfortunately, this is only 27 volumes, ending with Kakashi Gaiden.

There are 72 volumes total so that's only about a third of series. The second post-time-skip arc (Shippuden) starts off okay as it reintroduces all the new characters. Kakashi vs Itachi (and Gai's rescue~) is vol 29. As some variety from going to rescue Sasuke they go to rescue Gaara instead. I appreciate this arc because we get some more Sand Siblings and Team Gai. Most interestingly, Sakura gets her one and only battle victory. As far as battles go, it's a well-written one as Sakura shows off her new skills, intelligence, and determination. She gets a W on the board and we get two women fighting together! Chiyo's relationship to Gaara changing is genuinely touching.

The introduction of the chakra types in Shippuden feels like a very late retcon. Even though Kishimoto may have been using those concepts from the beginning, it really doesn't feel like it, especially when he avoids explaining more how more complex jutsu fit the system. It's impossible not to compare to Hunter x Hunter (although I'm trying) because as Gon and Killua progress through that story and learn more about the magic system of that world you definitely get the feeling that all the battles previously still make sense and a lot of things fall into place for the audience as well the characters. It's a bit like hitting a twist in a mystery. In order for it to feel satisfying you have to be able to look back and say "oh, I see it now". For examples of this not being done well see also: midichlorians

While Togashi is definitely the master of shonen battle manga when it comes to coming up with intentional magic systems, it's Oda who is probably the best at coming up with new powers and plot twists and making it seem like he was planning it all along. Fans call him GOda, but in interviews he's always like "at the last minute I had a sudden inspiration on how to finish this battle!" and then fans find some detail from volume 2 that has come back to pay off in volume 200 or whatever. I'm not sure sometimes how much of it is planned and how much is completely flying by the seat of his pants. If you write a manga for so long, there's no way you can remember every detail the way fans do.

And then back into the story... I cannot overemphasize how boring it is to rehash the same argument over and over again. Yamato and Sai are added to Team 7 in vol 32 and this starts the Pain arc which is... painful. It can't help but feel a bit cheap that after only a few years of training Naruto surpasses basically everybody else including his mentors. Pain apparently seeks to derive world peace from essentially causing equal pain to everyone. Fair enough, people in real life have made that argument. However, Naruto's response inspiring him to revive everyone and also kill himself so Naruto doesn't have to bloody his hands feels even more cheap and childish. I can't help but feel the philosophical questions of why is there war and how to solve cycles of violence is beyond Naruto as a character but also Naruto as a narrative.

This is also what strikes me about Sasuke vs Itachi and his interactions with Tobi afterwards. Naruto's response to "how do we solve war and heal emotional wounds" is generally a big shrug and "be nice to people". His unintentional method of seeking peace is befriending world leaders one at a time which isn't completely ineffectual. Sasuke's response to "how do we stop people from suffering" is "who cares, fuck you, my pain is more important than yours". Which is even more childish. An interesting theme that doesn't seem utilized is being trapped in one's childhood / not progressing as a person because you choose to hold on to your pain otherwise you feel you'll have nothing. Gaara's character arc towards accepting and giving love after alienation and suffering is way better by comparison. The manga keeps bringing up more mature big questions like the economic value of war but never actually addresses the various viewpoints and keeps skipping back to the interpersonal relationships. Which I mean sure, is important. But since there's no intentionality about it it just ends up feeling muddied.

On to the next...

[brindz]

have not and am not going to watch boruto but what i've gathered so far is that they maul naruto's character give that homosexual sasuke a wife and bulldoze over everything the original series took seven hundred chapters to build. got it

[narhinafan]

Ppl say NH was forced and NS and SS isn’t. Those people are currently doing the same thing with Boruto, saying BSU is forced and BSA isn’t.

How is NH forced but SS and NS isn’t?

NaruHina was never forced those that think so got brainwashed by the anime which the studio was heavily bias towards NaruSaku.

The manga NaruSaku is basically none existent other then when Kishimoto was thinking of making a love triangle.

While with NaruHina yes Naruto thinks she is weird, but also sees her as a kind person. Then he is greatly impressed when she fights Neji and get protective and angry for her sake. In the manga their is a subtle detail of him putting his hand over her when he checks up on her after the Neji fight. Then her whole proud failure speech you can see him blushing and really touched in the manga followed by he likes girls like her then he looks for her after he beats Neji.

You then have the Pain fight the manga version when Naruto loses it he actively avoids Hinata and gets Pain away from her. It even seems like he looked at her before going back to the fight.

SasuSaku does have its moments that imply the ship will happen, but it is toxic and mostly one sided. By the end of the series it was pretty much forced to happen cause they couldn't have Sakura or Sasuke end up alone. More so in Sakura's case as being with Sasuke was her only goal from the start and she would be the only person not to achieve her goal on team 7 if that happened.

[makeste]

Lately I’ve been hearing people talking about BNHA’s editor, but I don’t really understand it? Could you please have a go at explaining it?

okay so first off, just a quick overview on what a manga editor is/does for anyone who’s not aware or has only a vague idea. basically, they more or less oversee the manga, and work with the mangaka to give them feedback on the story and the layout and the pacing and so forth. a good editor will make sure the series stays true to the mangaka’s vision, but will tweak things to make sure the story meets the publisher’s standards, and just generally help keep the story on track. (this is a pretty good video to watch to get a better idea of the weekly manga creation process in general. incidentally that’s one of my favorite Youtube channels and I highly recommend the "day in the life" series if you have any kind of interest in Japan in general; it’s really good and weirdly calming and addictive lol).

different editors have different styles and are good at different things; for instance certain editors may be more hands-on and involved, while others might be more chill and laid-back and pretty much let the mangaka do their own thing. the former might pair well with a mangaka who’s just starting out and needs more guidance, whereas the latter might work better with mangaka who already have a lot of experience and are more sure of themselves. a lot of care goes into making sure the editor and mangaka are a good match, and it’s not unusual for long-running series to have multiple editors as time goes on. a good editor can help elevate a series and filter out bad ideas and really raise the quality of the work; bt on the flip side of the coin, really bad editors can and have been responsible for terrible decisions that have all but ruined stories at times.

anyway, so BnHA has had I think four editors to date. most of what I know about them I gleaned from this interview tbh.

Koike Hitoshi, who was the editor from June 2013 to June 2014

Monji Kengo, who was the editor from June 2014 to December 2017

Yoritomi Ryosuke, who was editor from December 2017 to September 2020

and most recently Taguchi Hikaru, who took over as editor in September 2020 and is the current editor today

moving on to the actual ask now at last, so when you say “lately I’ve been hearing people talking about BnHA’s editor”, I assume you’re referring to the fact that parts of the fandom aren’t entirely happy with Taguchi’s job as editor thus far. so those complaints mostly seem to be centered around three things:

the pacing (although to be fair I’ve seen complaints about the pacing being both too fast and too slow, so I don’t necessarily put a lot of stock in this one)

the increased focus on action/fighting

and lastly and most specifically, an increase in sensationalized storytelling in the form of each chapter having some new big flashy draw (sexy new characters, dramatic plot twists, fancy new quirks, etc.), and a marked increase in cliffhangers, whether they fit in naturally with the story or not

these are all things that editors have a lot of influence over, so there’s definitely some validity to these complaints. although to be fair, a lot of these are also very subjective, and we also have no way of knowing which decisions have come from Taguchi and which have come from Horikoshi. for a lot of people though, Horikoshi has obviously earned more benefit of the doubt than Taguchi has, especially since the previous series Taguchi edited, Samurai 8, was a pretty big flop. (though from what I’ve heard, I’m inclined to put most of the blame for that elsewhere; Jump was basically hoping lightning would strike twice and that the series would succeed just from having Kishimoto Masashi’s name on the cover, but the reality was that it really just wasn’t a very good manga lol.) there’s just not a lot there to inspire confidence, basically, and so he’s an easy target on top of everything else. and apparently one of his comments in an interview (specifically, that the story was going to get even more exciting from here on out) further reinforced those impressions of him putting too much focus on making the series more dramatic and action-y to attract new readers.

all that said, my opinion on the newer chapters isn’t really that negative, and for each chapter that I have disliked (which is mainly 307 lol), there’s been a 284 and a 285 and a 290 and a 299, 301, 302, 306, 310, 312, etc. etc. etc. which I have very much enjoyed (with several of those actually ranking among my favorite chapters ever). so I would say that overall he’s actually been doing a fairly decent job. and I mean, if we’re going to start rating all of the editors based on the worst chapters they’ve ever overseen, then the same editor who was in charge during my two favorite stretches of the manga (83 through 95, and 116 through 121) would be ranked at the bottom of my list because he also happened to be the guy running things during the worst stretches of the Basement arc. or what about Yoritomi, who oversaw the Pro Hero, MVA, and Endeavor Agency arcs, but also permitted Horikoshi to torture us with that one mushroom chapter?? all I’m saying is that all of these guys have had their various low points, lol.

anyways though, that’s basically the short (or my version of “short”) version of the editor stuff as far as I know. all in all, just like with everything else that’s controversial in this fandom, some of the points are reasonable and some are less so imo. the cliffhanger thing is a bit annoying because it’s hard to unsee once you start paying attention to it. but for the most part I think he’s done a decent job thus far, especially given the huge momentum shifts he’s had to preside over, not to mention the fact that the transition happened in the midst of a pandemic.

all said and done, I’m pretty satisfied, and especially given how long of a tenure the previous two editors had, I think he deserves more time to prove himself before we start making final judgments. I mean, not that our opinions make an iota of difference anyway lol, but still.

[hiems-incaelo]

Welp I made this to prove a point BUT-

FIGHTS SASUKE HAS NOT WON BY DIRECTLY KILLING HIS OPPONENT:

1. Sas vs. Kakashi. Ya know how that ended, bitch got buried alive lmao

2. Sas vs. Haku. Dude almost fucken died but at least we got the sns screentime

3. Sas vs. Lee. Bitch got done dirty

4. Sas vs. Orochimaru. Well yall know how that ended. One vampire bite and a whole lot of uncovered trauma later and he still didnt beat a bitch. Hella cool fight tho

5 . Sas vs. That One Dude In The Preliminaries. so ye he did technically beat the dude but he didn't kill him and also he went into a coma like right after so it doesn't count

6. Sas vs. Gaara p.1. ok. MAYBE he was winning, but rll we'll never know

7. Sas vs. Gaara p.2. This man got beat up so much u won't even believe it.

8. Sas vs. Itachi. Not even gonna elaborate on this one

9. Sas vs. Naruto p.1. The holes in da tanks explain for themselves

10. Sas vs. Sound Four. U know he would blame it on his bare feet and pajamas. U know it rll just was his existential crisis and underestimation issues.

11. Sas vs. Naruto pt.2. He spent dat whole fight talkin bout how he was gonna kill nart, and he HAD HIM UNCONSCIOUS and the only thing he did was stare at his forehead. Gay little shit

12. Sas vs. Team Kakashi. OK maybe if it wasn't for orochimaru he would have actually killed em but we don't know that do we

13. Sas vs. Orochimaru pt.2. Yes he did kill him but not rll cuz he was still alive in the curse mark wasn't he. Also oro was hella weak and sick so rll it was a bitch move

14. Sas vs. Deidara. Deidara blew himself up. YES I KNOW that Sas lowkey forced dei to do it BUT he didn't hand the killing blow himself SO it does not count

15. Sas vs. Itachi. We all know itachi let him win. If anything, the wall killed him.

16. Sas vs. Killer B. Bitch got done dirty part two

17. Sas vs. Five Kage. Ok I'll say it was impressive that he stayed alive the whole time while fighting the five Kage BUT rll who actually expected him to kill anyone lmao

18. Sas vs. Danzo. Danzo ALSO did a hella weird seal thing. I'll be nice on this one tho and say that Sas is Def the one who defeated him. Killing him tho? Another story.

19. Sas vs sakura. OK we all know sakura would've been dead if it wasn't for Kakashi or Naruto but she's still alive isn't she??

20. Sas vs. Kakashi. I rll wanted to see more if this figth ngl

21. Sas vs Naruto pt.3. Well I won't blame him cuz he DID just fight like the five Kage and Danzo and Kakashi and he's also like halfblind so

22. Sas vs. Kabuto. First of all Kabuto isn't ded second of all rll itachi did all the work and u know it

23. Sas vs. Madara. Bitch fucken died himself lmao

24. Sas vs. Kaguya. She got sealed away, and even if she was killed Sas didn't do it by himself

25. Sas vs. Naruto p.4. Ngl I DID cry when I watched this ep. Hella emotional. also WHAT HAPPENED TO 'FUCK THE GOVERNMENT' WOKE SASUKE I'll never forgive kishimoto for fucking with his character like that

26. Sas vs. Weird girl from his special series. Don't remember her name. Chiro? Shiro? Chinso? Idk well she's still alive and that's what matters

27. Sas vs. Kinshiki. 10/10 amazing fight. Did not kill him tho

28. Sas vs. Momoshiki. Welp 1) it was Sas AND nart and 2) Momoshiki got this karma in boruto or whatever

29. Sas vs. Jigen. Bitch got done dirty part three

Conclusion: Sasuke is amazing and the goat and stuff but he didn't rll kill anyone did he

(might be cuz he literally saw hundreds of corpses when he was seven and so he was obv deeply traumatized and prob disagreed with killing other ppl. This comes back in the Manga too, but the anime unnecessarily makes him kill random characters to make him look colder. Idk)

welp I still love him either way. Hate what boruto did to him tho, he's a bootlicker now smh

[bushcloverprincess]

Let me explain Sai and Ino's love life to everyone who is still saying "I don't know how they ended up together": 💜

People really be jumping to Boruto series without knowing what has happened in the Naruto series after the war arc. So here is Sai and Ino's relationship throughout the entire Naruto canon timeline.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN MANGA

First and foremost, Sai and Ino met in the very early episodes of Naruto Shippuden. Ino immediately had a crush on him because he was handsome, also noting that he looked like Sasuke. That is basically Ino, the flirty girl as we know. Having a crush and falling in love are two very different things.

Sai was introduced as a character with no emotions and feelings whatsoever. The reason why he thought Ino is "ugly" in their first interaction was because he didn't know what a real beauty is. He had no emotions/feelings, how do u expect him to understand beauty? Ironically, despite this, he called the opposite of what he thought at her, "Mrs. Beautiful" - building the foundation of SaiIno (Also Ino being the only person who didnt get insulted by Sai's nicknames.)

So, here Sai thought Ino was ugly and Ino had a crush on Sai solely because he was handsome. Two flaws, alright. Most of the fans know their relationship up to here. But that's not even close to the end of Sai and Ino's relationship before their marriage.

Moving on. As Sai and Ino are both side characters, they had almost no interactions on-screen afterwards in the manga, until the Fourth Shinobi War Arc. In the war, both Ino and Sai had each other in their Infinite Tsukyomi dreams. Ino dreamed of Sasuke and Sai fighting over her and Sai dreamed of Ino, along with his other close friends acknowledging his smile. (Sai's dream was in anime-only).

This proves that both have had interactions off-screen to the point that they were already very close friends before the war began. Morever, their Inifinte Tsukuyomi dreams reveal that by the war arc, Ino likes Sai as much as Sasuke (as she did not choose Sasuke over Sai in her ideal life/dream), and Sai likes Ino complimenting him.

During the long timeskip after the war Ino and Sai eventually starts dating. This was revealed in a spin-off manga chapter written in Akamaru's point of view by Kishimoto, where he spotted Sai and Ino together on a date and described them as "A couple totally on fire".

Around a decade later, in the very last chapter of the Naruto Shippuden manga (Chapter 700), they were shown married with a son together.

That's the end of Naruto manga contents for Sai and Ino's relationship, as expected not much because Naruto manga is NOT a romance manga.

BLANK PERIOD

Now, for those who wanted to know more about Sai and Ino's romance and the ship's further build up during the timeskip between the end of war and Boruto (Blank Period), there was a Novel series called Hiden. (Note: All Blank Period Hiden Novels are approved canon, illustrated and proof-read by Masashi Kishimoto, the author of the Manga himself). The Blank period is a part of the official canon timeline.

As mentioned above Novels are the stories of all the important events that took place during this blank period, including the romance between the characters. Get ready to hear one of the cutest love stories of Naruto series.

1- SHIKAMARU HIDEN NOVEL

Ino lost her crush on Sasuke long back and is pretty much not into any relationship. This was until in Shikamaru Hiden events, Ino read a letter which describes Sai's tragic life. Since then Ino wanted to know even more about him than she already does. Ino was sent on a mission with her fellow ninjas to help Shikamaru and save Sai, who has been caught in a very strong enslaving genjutsu by some enemies. Her top priority after reading the letter was nothing but to save Sai.

As they confronted the genjutsu-controlled Sai, for some reason Ino believed that she is the only person who could save Sai. Ino risked her life and used her Mind Transfer Jutsu on Sai, in other words, Ino's soul entered Sai's body. Ino dived deep into his mind but all she could see was darkness. She didn't give up and tried to find his soul by diving even deeper into his mind despite the fact that it could be a threat to her own soul too. Ino finally found Sai's soul crying deep inside, covered with his memories and darkness. Ino learnt about him (in the novel it says "She knew all about him so much that it hurt her"). Ino called out for him and showed his soul the path out of the darkness. Ino cleared his mind hence saving him from the genjutsu, also giving colors to his colorless soul. Ino's soul then hugged Sai's soul with a heartfelt smile ~ A hug between two souls.

This is the point where both of them fell deeply in love. The point Sai achieved his dream, the point where he got his emotions and feelings completely back. This is the first time he felt this much kindness from someone and learned what a true beauty is. When Sai is successfully saved by her, the two wake from Ino's jutsu and Sai finds himself resting on Ino's laps. Sai instinctively reaches for Ino's hands and he expresses his gratefulness to her, as her eyes begin to tear up, by affectionately calling her "Thankyou, Miss Beautiful". This time, he truly meaning this unlike the first time he called her beautiful. "Idiot" - replied Ino. And this time, Ino fell in love with Sai, not because he resembles Sasuke unlike the first time they met. This interaction was the complete opposite of the first time they met. This is how their love story began ladies and gentlemen. *Tears because how beautiful this is*

2- SAKURA HIDEN NOVEL

Later, while Ino and Sakura was on their way to Sand village to participate in an international Medical Ninja Conference, Ino reveals her love for Sai to Sakura after what happened. She was thinking of confessing her love to him properly but was unsure which flower to give him: Flower Dogwood or Lavender. Ino, the botanist explains that in Flower language, Dogwood means "Accept my feelings" while Lavender means "I'm waiting". Sakura tells that Ino was more of Flower Dogwood type, as she wants a direct answer from Sai. Whilst for Sakura herself, Lavender will be the best because she is willing to wait for Sasuke.

When they returned back to Konoha after the conference, Ino finds out Kakashi has sent Sai alone on a dangerous mission. Ino gets worried and questions his safety, and is angry that Kakashi let him go alone. After Sai returned and Sakura got kidnapped, Ino ran to Sai's place to inform him about Sakura's disappearance. When she arrives, she becomes flustered to see Sai only in his underwear, as he was taking a shower right before she came.

Following the crisis, Sai and Ino together goes on a mission alone to save Sakura upon Hokage's orders. They are the only couple besides Sakura and Sasuke who did a mission together alone in canon. Sai and Ino flew on a Choju Giga Bird, and Sai comforted Ino as she was afraid flying and had a difficulty maintaining the balance, causing her to feel a sweet warm sensation well up within her heart. They both together infiltrated a hideout. The Saiino duo's teamwork was amazing and flawless.

After Sakura is saved, they had to fight the enemies. Ino, who has been usually positioned near the back lines during close ranged combat situations was now instead supporting Sai with her taijutsu and healing Sai's injuries with her medical ninjutsu. Sai and Ino confronted a very powerful enemy, Magire who was drugged with Tailed Beast chakra, but their flawless teamwork and bond strength lead to their victory. Sakura, and Sai himself compliments Ino on how well she works together as a duo with Sai, getting Ino blush even more. Later Sakura prompted Ino and Sai to have a date dinner together, where Ino possibly confessed him with flower Dogwood and that is when they started dating.

3- KONOHA HIDEN NOVEL

As usual, Sakura and Ino keeps on fighting and competing, and now Ino takes a lot of pride with her blossoming relationship with Sai, claiming she has better love life than Sakura and that she will get married before her, much to Sakura's infuriation. After some days, Sai and Ino attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding ceremony as a dating couple holding hands, with everyone around them admiring their relationship. (Bonus: SaiIno is the only couple that was featured in The last opening of Naruto, Opening 20 (Karano Koroko).)

4- SASUKE SHINDEN: BOOK OF SUNRISE NOVEL

Later, after Ino was hospitalized due to the injuries she had after stopping an invasion, Sai was with her at the hospital all the time. Shikamaru and Chōji decide to visit Ino at the hospital and find that Sai is watching over her whilst she sleeps as he sketches a flower that Ino's mother brought her. Shikamaru and Chōji asks Sai to come with them for some investigation, but Sai remains, claiming that he will leave as soon as he has completed his drawing, however, Shikamaru notices several of Sai's already near-completed sketches in the trash as he exits. Sai intentionally made many half-complete drawings and discarded them before completion because he doesn't want to leave Ino. Shikamaru and Chōji realize that Sai did not want to leave Ino's side and begin discussing how much he has changed from the emotionless man he used to be after he met Ino.

Ino and Sai then got married, and had a wonderful wedding ceremony where Shikamaru and Choji were both so happy for Ino that they cried and wished their sensei, Asuma was there to see Ino. Sai and Ino's wedding ceremony is the only ceremony to have been mentioned after Hinata and Naruto's wedding. Well, that's the end of their relationship's details in the Blank Period Novels. Sweet, right?

NEW ERA: BORUTO ANIME, MANGA AND NOVELS

Sai, now married to Ino is the only male known to have taken his spouse's surname upon marriage, being now a part of the great Yamanaka Clan, finally having a family of his own. This family confronted gossips and prejudice from the villagers, and Ino's relationship with Sai was not well received by the Yamanaka Clan, all due to Sai's dark past in the currently disbanded Anbu Root. Despite all this, they managed to be as happy as ever. It is when he married to Ino and got to hold Inojin in his arms, Sai finally felt free and got control over his own life after years of being a puppet to Danzo.

As Boruto series is the story of the new generation, it's main focus from the Yamanaka Family is obviously Ino and Sai's son, Inojin Yamanaka. (Trivia: It is believed that Inojin's name is a mixture of Yamanaka Clan's customary name prefix "Ino" and the suffix "jin" is reference to Sai's late brother Shin). Sai has already told his son Inojin how his mother, Ino saved him with her shintenshin and how they fell in love, and Sai uses the same method (a hug or an affection) to calm Ino down when she gets upset or angry now. Boruto notes that Sai's only weakness is when it comes to Aunt Ino. According to Ino, Sai has never forgotten their anniversary throughout more than a decade they have been together. Although Ino remains as boisterous as ever, Sai is the sole person that gets Ino to fluster despite how angry or upset she is since beginning and even now.

According to Kakashi, Sai and Ino is the most beautiful couple he could imagine, and they both are so close that it seems they are glued to each other, noting that they are like a peculiar picture. Sai and Ino also often gets teased by their friends because how close and affectionate they are even in the public. Ino takes pride in Sai's ninja abilities and Sai takes pride and is proud of Ino's abilities. Ino is thankful that she moved on from Sasuke (Her childhood crush), because according to Boruto Manga, Ino now she feels bad for Sakura, whose husband, Sasuke visits her only very rarely, noting that she has been living such a perfect love-life that she cannot even imagine having a husband who is hardly at home. She is thankful for Sai, so is Sai for Ino. In one of the Boruto Novel it is stated about Ino:

"Because her husband was the one she knew was the best in the world" ~ 💜

SO,

I do not think this much of content, especially for a side-couple is less at all. It's more than enough, It's explained perfectly well. Only people who aren't having an idea on Naruto complete series will question or doubt SaiIno's relationship. So "Random couple", "Ino likes Sasuke because he looks like Sasuke", "Sai is a Sasuke rebound", "Ino lost to Sakura in love-life becuase she couldn't marry Sasuke" arguments are all total crap ~ 💕

AND FOR THOSE WHO SAYS SAI AND INO DOESN'T HAVE CHEMISTRY...

Sai was an emotionless and socially awkward boy who worked for the Root Section, meanwhile Ino was an emotional and lively sociable girl who works at a flower Shop, what else do you see other than the raging chemistry between this root and flower? The flower that baths in sunlight and the roots that grow in the dark! It has everything. They perfectly fits into the Yin (Sai) and Yang (Ino) philosophy Kishimoto seems to have considered when making the couples and friendships. As mentioned above Sai is the only man who can make Ino blush since beginning and even now! Ino had no problem with glomping on Sasuke and hugging him, but Sai calling her "Beautiful" makes her blush - See the difference? They both are perfect for each other. Ino gave colours to Sai's black & white life. Ino was a rainbow when Sai was colour blind. Not to mention they both wear crop-tops with exposed midriff. In addition Sai and Ino is the most affectionate couple who has shown most PDA (Public Display of Affection) content and closest moments together so far. I'd argue they have the most chemistry and couple symbolisms.

There, its done.

I hope its clear how they ended up together now 💕 So again, saying SaiIno is forced or random / Calling Sai a Sasuke Rebound / Saying Ino settled for Sai because she didn't get Sasuke as a plan B / Ino lost to Sakura in love life / Sai and Ino don't have chemistry- is making yourself a huge 🤡, actually an entire 🎪

Thankyou 💜

[justice4sasuke]

So I'm not supposed to hate Itachi for how he was in regards to Sasuke because he eventually admits he was wrong and changes? Even tho he literally abused and traumatized Sasuke for life? I'm sorry but admitting to your wrong doings and saying you're sorry is not enough and does not make up for fucking up someone's life. Itachi fucked Sasuke up so he could manipulate him onto a path of revenge because he felt like he should die by Sasuke's hands. He was selfish in doing so and didn't think how it would affect Sasuke. I'm sorry, Itachi did not give the other members of the Uchiha clan the chance to choose how they wish to die, he made that choice for them, so how come he thinks he has the right to decide how he should die? He should've died slowly eaten away by his illness. Itachi not only fucked up Sasuke as a person, but Sasuke as a character. What is Adult Sasuke if not a slightly altered version of Itachi? What was Sasuke's idea of a Hokage if not a person who emulated Itachi? I think Itachi is one of Kishimoto's biggest fuck ups, if not the biggest.

I think the one thing I want to say out the gate is no, I don’t think admitting wrong and saying you’re sorry is enough. I think all good apologies require follow through, unless of course like Itachi they die (or...die again? go back into the ether? whatever Itachi’s case is). Itachi had to go. He was already dead and he couldn’t just stick around with all the other dead characters to continue doing actionable things to show Sasuke he was sorry. I don’t think not being able BE THERE to follow through on making up for you wrong doings means your apology doesn’t count though. I just want to project more kindness onto the world than that would allow. 

Next I feel like this anon is falling into two common traps: 1. of not viewing Itachi as a character also shaped by his own experiences and trauma. Itachi didn’t come out of the womb and massacre the clan, his views and experiences in life led him to that point. 2. that Sasuke, the victim of most of Itachi’s mistakes, forgives him. 

Good characters are complicated, because people are extremely complicated. And abuse and trauma just makes people even more complicated. I think Itachi was traumatized by a war that doesn’t go well explained or detailed by Kishimoto, but I don’t think that takes away from the intended effects of it on Itachi’s character. Itachi is a person like so many others in the Naruto universe who fell for the nationalism of the world he lives in. Itachi was a teenager surrounded by adults that used him for their own ends. The Uchiha clan was right to want better, but to do that they used a teenager as a spy for their ends. The Konoha government used a teenager’s loyalty and trauma to convince him he was in a zero-sum game of peace in the village with the Uchiha clan secretly taken care of or an all out war with the Uchiha clan that would put the village in danger. An adult threatens Sasuke’s well-being to assure Itachi makes a decision to side with Konoha. 

I think Itachi was wrong about everything, some are his own fault and some things aren’t. I think feeling forced into these situations made Itachi angry at the Uchiha clan and it would make sense for him to also be angry at Konoha, but Kishimoto wanted to hit the brakes on making Konoha look bad so what would have been a wonderful moment of Itachi realizing he was conned and wronged by Konoha doesn’t happen. I think Itachi thought he was doing the right thing when he wasn’t and hated himself and suffered for years because of it, thinking the entire time that Sasuke would kill him and it would be what he deserved, too young and naïve to consider the privilege of choosing how to die that he took from others and I think he died when he was just 21-ish thinking he did the best he could.

I think Itachi did everything wrong and got what he deserved for it, now Sasuke wants to destroy Konoha which is the opposite of what Itachi wanted because Itachi was wrong and fucked up. I think Itachi getting confronted with who Sasuke actually is as a person makes him realize that his version of “loving” and protecting Sasuke was wrong, and he cannot fix it or expect forgiveness but he can convey what he learned and that is that Sasuke will make his own decisions and Itachi will love him no matter what which is the true meaning of loving someone. Would if have been better if Kishimoto took that additional step and made Itachi realize Konoha was wrong and he was wrong to take part in the genocide? Hell yes, it would have been amazing, but I’m not about to not recognize the things that go right just because everything wasn’t done right.

And the thing about abuse that I don’t think gets discussed enough is that you don’t have to forgive your abuser, but you can if you want. Abusive people aren’t spit out of a pit from hell, they are probably someone who was also abused who fell into perpetuating that cycle and if we can’t recognize someone’s humanity and help them out of that cycle if they try then we as a society aren’t going to get better. That’s just my feelings on the topic. In relation to Naruto, I think despite some issues we could discuss like Sasuke’s need to glorify and martyr Itachi in his head, there is an element of forgiveness too. Sasuke does have anger towards Itachi too and recognizes of course how Itachi hurt him and confronts Itachi on his inabilities, but ultimately he can forgive that. Whether an outsider thinks it is forgivable or right doesn’t really matter in that regard. Also I think it’s important to recognize how Itachi gives Sasuke one thing he really needs that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE ELSE will ever give him. 

So yeah, in the grand scheme of Itachi as a character I think it is missing the point and you are doing yourself a disservice to hate Itachi specifically for his treatment of Sasuke. It is probably the only character arc aspect of the series I find complete. Get into it. 

Also adult Sasuke? From like Boruto or something? I don’t read/watch Boruto and I have an About for this blog that clearly states that I’m only discussing the Naruto manga, those 700 chapters, so anything outside that doesn’t count for my purposes. I want to stick to only talking about Kishimoto’s intentions for the series as he chose to wrote them in that main series.