#and then later there’s a flashback where Sasuke tells her not to tell Naruto about the curse mark so she doesn’t

[mixelation]

One thing that really gets my goat about how Sakura is written is that she does occasionally start to do something, but the narrative shuts her down. Like this:

Sakura goes to leap into the arena to see Lee after his fight with Gaara. Kakashi shuts her down. Contrast this to the panels that immediately follow this one:

Naruto does the exact same thing and no one bats an eye!

It’s not that I think characters shouldn’t be stopped from doing what they want— it’s just that when it’s a consistent pattern it makes reading about the character really frustrating. When Haku traps Sasuke in his mirror prison thing, Sakura hurls a kunai to help… and Kakashi tells her to guard Tazuna. She does this obediently for the rest of the fight, INCLUDING when she literally thinks Sasuke is dead (Tazuna has to offer to go to Sasuke with her to get her to move). Sakura’s willingness to do this is actually an interesting character trait, but because it’s couched in this weird lack of agency, it makes her seem complacent and cowardly, especially when the take away of a lot of fights seems to be “try no matter what.”

Here’s another example: in the first part of the chunin exam, they’re all told they can pick to answer a final question and risk being banned from promotion, OR they can back out now and take the exam again later. If Sakura were alone, she’d take the question because she’s confident in her abilities.

However, she starts to raise her hand to back out because she wants to protect Naruto.

She backs off when Naruto gives a speech about never giving up, even though her making them all back out is arguably the more mature choice (why would you drag a teammate along on a mission you know they’ll fail?). She also tries to pull them out of the prelim tournament because Sasuke needs urgent medical attention, and he shuts her down AGAIN. Like, looking at this with the wisdom of an adult, Sakura was definitely in the right there.

To be clear, I don’t mind Sakura being a cautious killjoy to Naruto’s “Believe it!” Shonen protag energy. It’s just that whenever she tries to exercise that caution, it gets shut down and that makes it seem like a negative trait to have. (Also: contrast this to Shikamaru being REWARDED for exercising caution and knowing when to back out). I’m not even arguing that the scenes I cited need to be changed, because they do character work for Naruto and Sasuke. I’m just saying that Sakura could have gotten a few more scenes where her choices were plot relevant, and she’d be a more fleshed out character.

[sauntervaguelydown]

Ship Manifesto. Possibly.

since I'm fixated on Might Guy right now I've been thinking a lot about how his relationship to Kakashi is presented at first vs what it's eventually revealed to be.

First of all. His entrance. My GOD what is he doing, why is he posing like that, who is he < an audience member may ask. Well he's Might fucking Guy. We learn from him directly in his first appearance that despite his goofy shit, he's got a match record against Kakashi that is almost even split, with Guy actually one point in the lead. Okay. Then when they're both on screen together for the first time, Kakashi does that thing where he lets Guy deliver a whole impassioned promise about rivalry, the kind of thing you expect from this genre, then hits him with the "Hm? What? I wasn't listening." So it seems like this is really one-sided, and maybe Kakashi doesn't like him that much.

And then you get a little blip of Kakashi's internal monologue, where he compares Sakura and Ino to himself and Kakashi, in the sense that rivalry can make you do some wild things. Intriguing. Ambiguous. Okay.

you're really gonna compare yourself to the homoerotic wonder duo, the girl who just slapped her estranged childhood friend in a thunderdome cage match rather than dare to hurt her. That's interesting. I'm probably reading too much into it.

You see the two of them hanging out as adults, in a flashback--god knows what they were doing, I'd LOVE to know--when Kakashi points Rock Lee out to Guy for the first time. "He reminds me of you." It's a little teasing, obviously fond, and critically, confirms that they knew each other as kids.

Sidebar: Kakashi acts like a remarkably well-adjusted adult ninja in all the first two arcs of the manga. He's hanging out with coworkers who might be friends, chatting, chilling. I have to assume this is Early Installment Weirdness, just like him saying he was made chunin at age 6, which is fucking impossible. However, both things are technically canon. So yeah, Kakashi has work friends.

The next thing you learn about them is that Kakashi knows Guy's forbidden technique, and really does not approve of Guy sharing it with a kid. He gives the most cutting "I'm disappointed in you" delivery. Ironically this tells us something different about their situation--Kakashi has enough respect for Guy that something like this would upset him, and he's willing to say it. He expected better.

(Why does it upset him? Well. It's a suicide technique. We'll find out later how this might be A Sore Spot.)

Guy comes back at him with the "stay in your lane" reply, which is more what you'd expect. But notably, he's saying "you don't know anything about what my student is going through". Hm. Okay. Sore spot? Maybe Kakashi knew him as a kid, but they clearly weren't sharing burdens...

You get a bit more familiar banter in the first mode (patented Kakashi brush off) throughout the next arc, and that's where it seems to sit for a long time. If you look at fanfic from this era, it very much takes the tone of "Guy cares more about their relationship than Kakashi does". It very much characterizes them as another set of Rivals in this setting where we have several other examples--Ino & Sakura, Lee & Neji, Sasuke & Naruto... you get the picture. They are people who work together well, who are competitive and driven by their shared competition, but who are not... warm to each other.

When Kakashi is talking Sasuke out of defecting for revenge (nice try) he says that he's already lost everyone who was important to him, so it would be impossible for Sasuke to kill them. (Luckily, he says, I have had the chance to find new important people. Like you.) That's our first bit of personal information, and interestingly, it seems to exclude Guy. Now maybe he was trying to make a point without getting too into wishywashy details. Maybe he doesn't really like Guy that much after all.

And then. AND THEN. The backstory starts to come out.

So here's the thing. A lot of the content that I genuinely enjoy is anime-only. You can call it filler, but I mean that in a nonjudgemental way. The writers of the tv show seem like they cared about and were fond of Guy, and they gave him some great little character beats--like in the 2nd Chunin Exam arc, where he explains to Lee how manipulating the flow of battle works.

When they were clearly in cost-cutting emergency zone, they still gave Kakashi a spotlight episode (which comes out as almost poetic due to the slow pace) in which we get to see him in school, and there's Guy! He's making proclamations of love eternal destiny! How charming. In another filler episode with more budget, they show Kakashi in the brief period before Rin died and after Obito disappeared, and Guy is there! They're fighting together! Their values clash, because Guy always throws himself at a challenge and Kakashi is terrified of losing people.

I could go on talking about the connection the anime gives them through their dads--that is, Kakashi's lack of (famous, heroic, disgraced) father, and the way that he seems compelled by Guy's relationship to his (living, proud, loser) father. I could talk about Kakashi intervening to rescue Guy from bullies. I could talk about this shit all day. But I won't. We got things to do. The point is, I find the Ino connection especially on point vis a vis "this kid I once had to protect is now my equal".

The anime (I think only the anime) adds this interesting subplot where Guy is actively trying to look out for Kakashi while Kakashi goes through some real lifeshaking bullshit back to back. It's sweet that the writers looked at Kakashi and said "He needs an advocate, let's give him one". Guy is going to bat with the Hokage, trying to get himself into Anbu to support Kakashi, and when that doesn't work, he's trying to get Kakashi out. He's catching Kakashi on the battlefield when a PTSD episode knocks him down and leaves him vulnerable. It's really... it's really moving, how much he cares about this guy who rebuffs his attention 90% of the time. He knows that Kakashi needs help, and no one else is helping him. How can you not be moved by that?

There's a potent episode in the anime where Kakashi (and Itachi!) shadow Guy and his team on a joint mission, as Anbu. Guy and his team sit in the sunlight eating hot pot, while Kakashi & Itachi sit in the tree above eating ration pills. I'm not even sure why I mention this, it's just such a good example of how the filler material can enrich the characters and setting. And it's part of this whole complex of Guy coming to understand and wanting to do something about Kakashi's situation.

The comparison to Sakura and Ino takes on a new resonance when you look at it through the lens of this new information. They were childhood friends. They were estranged. And now, as adults, they are becoming friends again.

This is, to me, what I mean when I say the anime makes it such a compelling, unignorable romance. From the passionate entreaties of a seven year old ("Do you want to spend the springtime of your youth with me?") to the young man bowing on the floor of the hokage tower demanding someone spare his friend's soul, this man is not only a good friend but a devoted one.

So, then there's the manga. I've been having a little trouble parsing what's Kishimono and what's the anime writing team, because of the way it's woven together. When I look at only the stuff I know is in the manga, you get this:

The night of the Nine Tailed Fox, they were walking around together at the festival arguing about challenges. I love that, and what it tells us about their relationship. They're already hanging out as teenagers, while Kakashi is up to normal shit, doing their usual shtick. Kakashi calls himself your rival? Really? Hm. In the period after two Kakashi's of most devastating losses, Guy is around.

The childhood connection there is very... ambiguous. It's a given that Kakashi knew him when he was still struggling--or at least knew of him. When we see what might be Guy's first challenge to Kakashi, he's got his headband on straight, so it's before Obito.

They're not really friends yet, but they're going to be.

Here's what I think.

When adult Kakashi is telling Sasuke about revenge, and loss, and moving forward--in his laconic way--it echoes some of what becomes the core of Kakashi's endgame showdown with Obito. Grief is natural, but you can't stop the world and live inside your grief. You have to allow yourself to love again, even though it hurts, even though you will keep losing people as long as you are alive, because loving is the only cure for grief. Kakashi is a badly adjusted person who finally started healing from his own compound emotional fractures when he allowed himself to care for the people in his life again, despite the risks.

He has found new people to care about. He's pressed forward, whether he likes it or not, and now there are new and wonderful people for him to worry about losing. That's his students, obviously. And I think that might include Guy.

ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING

[thekingofwinterblog]

If we allready talking bout Naruto:

Thoughts on the infamous Itachi retcon? Think it was planned by the time Itachi was shown to be crying? Or that by the Valley of the End flashback Itachi was "a good guy* or still a more interesting villian that snapped in the most horible way that was human deep down even after all that

It was certainly not the plan back when the entire thing was first shown i can tell you that.

There are only two things pre timeskip, where there was suggested to be anything more than what itachi claimed it to be, and it's 1. that ANBU jacket and outfit he's wearing, and 2. that middle panel on the page above, where Itachi looks just slightly perturbed by Sasuke's question, judging by his lips.

I can believe that Kishimoto had some twist in mind, where it was revealed that elements inside the ANBU put Itachi up to this, and that morphed into Danzo's involvement.

I do not believe for a second, that Itachi was planned as any form of good person. Itachi murdered his entire family, men, women, children except for his brother. He butchered babes in their cribs. He was a monster, who regardless of wheter this was entierly his own idea, or he was offered a chance to do what he'd been planing or considering for a while, he made the choice to take it.

Not only is the entire thing a gigantic pile of nonsensical retcons, all for the purpose of making Itachi look better, but it's a sloppy one at that.

This is how Itachi killed his parents according to the retcon.

It was quick, clean stab in the back, and they were facing the same way, on their knees.

This is how they were killed in the original flashback of this scene.

there was clearly a struggle here, with blood all over the floor, and with his parents bodies splayed out in such a way that it suggests his dad was trying to protect his wife.

Unless Itachi speciffically posed them like that, it's impossible for their bodies to have gotten to this position naturally from how he killed them.

The fact is that Kishimoto didnt know where to go with Sasuke once he killed Itachi... So when he realised that, he decided to retcon his entire backstory to let him go into an entierly different direction, rather than exploring Sasuke in a post Itachi world.

And in the process, he completely rewrote Itachi's personality and character, and instead presented him as the second coming of chritst, as a messiah like figure who could do no wrong, and had only the best intentions.

He wasn't the only one who got this treatment in Naruto's later years either.

Gaara's backstory, as it was originally portrayed was a very tragic tale, that encompassed what the Naruto world was actually about.

This is the world of the Shinobi, a world full of tragedies, and personal sacrifices, hate, love, and the broken children it left in it's wake.

the story of Naruto as it was originally presented, and shown before the pain saga ended at one of the worst turning points in manga history, was the story of the broken children this world left behind. Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Pain, Lee, Kakashi, Obito, Zabusa, Hinata, Neji, and on and on and on it went.

This moment, where Gaara's uncle, the one person he thought loved him lays out the truth, is a powerful, tragic moment that showcases the reality of treating children like superpowered nukes.

It destroyed this entire family. It destroyed gaara's mother by taking her life, destroyed his uncle by forcing him to try to love a child he never could, and it destroyed his entire family outside of it, by making the relationship between gaara and his siblings into one fear and hate.

It's very, very poignant. It would be a real shame if it was completely retconned, and his uncle actually only said these things on order from his dad, completely removing the entire point of the scene.

and That is exactly what happened.

I could go on, but the big, big problem with later naruto, is that when confronted with the question of how Naruto would change this brutal, cruel world, rather than have him come up with a real answer, the very fabric of the setting changed.

The 5 hidden villages were united against a cartoonishly evil villain, who used a cartoonish army of cloned henchmen and ressurected zombies. The fact that the problem was always the ninja system itself as it existed, and not the existence of the 5 superpowers and their direct animosity with each other was never adressed, and villains and black and grey figures were suddenly given the white brush, and would make moral heelturns as worst excemplified by Itachi and Orochimaru.

Addmitingly a lot of everything related to the Itachi Retcons started a bit earlier than Pain ressurecting everyone(thus destroying the entire point of the arc, and setting the stage for cheap non deaths from here on), but that only goes to show that while that was the decisive turning point, it began a bit earlier than that.

[utenthy]

ive never so much as watched a five second clip of naruto but your wonderful artstyle and way with words has managed to make me intrigued about this lavender marriage. you have a method of expressing your thoughts that makes me care about whatever youre posting about

OHHH THIS IS SO KIND THANK YOU ❤️❤️❤️❤️ here let me give you a crash course on the actual canon events that inform my feelings on their marriage

1. as children sakura is obsessed with sasuke and he does not return her feelings. sasuke is top of the class and he never fails. sakura hears a rumor that sasuke likes girls with long hair and grows her hair long. when she finds out her best friend is also pursuing him they end their friendship.

2. they are put on the same team in school to sakura’s delight. sasuke ignores her, doesn’t care either way. he doesn’t think very highly of her. she continues to idolize him, follow in his footsteps. she doesn’t like naruto, who is also on their team, and has a crush on her. she makes fun of him and says he must act so strange because he has no family and he wasn’t raised to know how to be normal. sasuke definitely grows to dislike her as a result of this.

3. they work together because they have to. maybe they’re starting to almost become friends. in the forest of death, orochimaru attacks the two of them. sakura watches sasuke fail for the first time. he is terrified. she tries to encourage him to be brave and follow through. he refuses. orochimaru wins and infects sasuke. sasuke’s body contorts and changes and he becomes very powerful and won’t speak to her. in her defense, he breaks someone’s arms while she begs him to stop. she thinks about how much weaker than her two friends she has become and that she doesn’t want to be left behind. the culmination of this conflict results in sakura cutting her long hair off to escape.

4. sakura tends to sasuke in the hospital. he knocks trays of food and medicine out of her hand. she is having flashbacks from the forest. she wants to tell somebody what she knows but she is too afraid. every time they are together she is remembering this moment with orochimaru. and he is losing more and more of himself.

5. sasuke leaves the village to pursue his revenge. she follows him to edge of town and begs him to stay. he dismisses her until the final moment when he tells her thank you before knocking her out.

6. sakura begs naruto to bring sasuke home. he is not successful. when he returns, wounded, she tells him that in the future, she will catch up to the two of them. and she will help him bring sasuke home.

7. tldr three years pass where they are all separated and sasuke does various criminal acts and becomes a war criminal in the eyes of the village

8. when the village decides they want to execute him, they ask sakura for her blessing. she takes it one step further and says she wants to be the one now to kill him. she prepares to kill him. she tells naruto to let sasuke go. she lies and tells naruto she loves him now, and she wants to be with him so he shouldn’t be worried about sasuke at all. he says he hates people who lie to themselves. he has a panic attack as sakura goes to try and kill sasuke.

9. they try to kill each other. neither succeed

10. sasuke has a new friend who is in love with him and that is karin. sakura meets her during the same conflict that sasuke uses her as a hostage and allows her to be almost killed. when sasuke allows her to be hurt sakura freaks out. sasuke says she doesn’t matter and he doesn’t care. sakura heals her, crying on her face, head hung low. this is what will become of her.

11. they separate again. they see each other again during the war. sakura smiles and says she is happy he is home. sai states that he “knows this smile is false.” they fight together but he continually refuses to acknowledge her. later, he tries to kill her again. she loves him. he says there is no reason for him to love her.

12. the war is over. sasuke is the last of his people. his crimes have not been forgiven. he serves time in jail. when he is released he tells everyone he is going to wander the world in search of redemption. sakura asks to come. he refuses. he taps her on the forehead in the way his family would do with one another as a show of affection.

13. off screen, at some point, sakura and karin travel with him together. during this trip sakura becomes pregnant and karin delivers their baby.

14. in the future, they are married in name. only sakura wears his family crest. he has not been home in many, many, many years. he visits naruto. but sakura has not seen him. his daughter does not know his face. when he sees his daughter for the first time in ten years, he draws his sword, not knowing her. sakura asks him for a kiss. he walks away. his daughter asks if he had ever kissed sakura. she says nothing. she asks what makes the two of them connected. because we have you, is what they say.

[carmenserenity123456]

If Sasuke wasn't home for Sarada how do you explain that Sarada sees her parents holding her hands when she was really small?

You mean this? It is not a memory/flashback because Kishi doesn't draw flashbacks like that and secondly throughout the Gaiden Sarada many times confirms that she never met her father and she doesn't remember him. Here is the panel where she states it

Look how Kishi wrote baby above baby Sarada picture and baby means a very young child, especially one that has not yet begun to talk and walk (Cambridge dictionary). Sarada in her "memory" is 4-5 years old and also a baby can't remember anything so this is not a memory this is her imagination which has everything wrong in it. Apart from Sasuke who doesn't look like Sasuke (he is really big because Sarada saw him on the picture from Akatsuki days where he wears this big ass cloak that makes him bigger), he has his arm and wears Uchiha crest which we know he stopped wearing after final battle with Naruto, Sakura looks exactly the same as in the main plot of Gaiden. She has short hair and Uchiha crest. In one of Sarada's flashbacks where she asks about the kiss and she is 4-5 years old, the same age in her imagined memory, Sakura has really long hair and she doesn't wear Uchiha crest

So we can conclude that Sarada made imagined scene with her parents when she is 12 years old while talking with Naruto about Sasuke. I don't care if SS say Sakura could have short hair because she had it during the Last and novels. Sorry but the movies and novels are not canon. Canon Sakura after the war started to grow her hair and the scene above happens a few years after that. When she has short hair Sarada is much older than here and in her imagined memory. Furthermore, if someone says that Sakura was pregnant during the Hokage meeting or this is the time where Sasuke was at home and cared for his daughter, you are wrong. Sakura wasn't pregnant with Sarada during that time because Naruto became the Hokage when Boruto was 7-8 years old so Sarada was the same age and as I said above Sarada confirmed that Sasuke left when she was a baby and she never met him.

Lastly, here I will give you the canon timeline of what have happened in SS family. Sasuke leaves for his redemption journey alone at age of 17, he doesn't come back for many years, Sakura is done waiting and she chases after Sasuke at age of 20, she gets pregnant and she travels with Sasuke just one year (no wonder she doesn't know anything about him, they spent such a short time with each other and do you think Sasuke is the guy who would want a child instantly without even knowing the other person, I don't think so, something is shady here), she gives birth at Orochimaru (blehh) where she meets Karin, Sakura and Sasuke at age of 21 come back to Konoha but he leaves immediately on who knows what mission because his Kaguya mission was assigned to him later, he doesn't contact his family, Sakura raises Sarada alone for 7-8 years, Sasuke comes back to Konoha to tell about what he has discovered, the Hokage meeting is made during which Sasuke gets Kaguya mission, Sakura goes to this meeting not even bringing Sarada, not telling Sasuke to meet his daughter or not telling Sarada that Sasuke was in the village, Sasuke leaves again for 6-7 years, again he doesn't contact his family, Sarada has enough and wants to meet her dad and there Gaiden begins. I am feeling so much love from Sasuke's side towards Sakura and Sarada, don't you think? 🤣 Btw he always contacted Naruto and now he spends more time with his son than with his child and wife.

[captnjacksparrow]

Imagine if Ino was in team 7. So much better. I know Ino was sometimes bratty but she was a great friend. She was the one to help Sakura, she wanted to be friends with her but selfish Sakura decided that she prefers a boy over Ino because Ino liked Sasuke. I also think that her later crush on Sasuke was just because of Sakura. She wanted her back but Sakura is too stupid to understand that. If Ino was in team 7 she would be supportive, helped Naruto to bring Sasuke, not because he is hot, but to save him. Even Sasuke tolerated her more when she huged him. It shows that Sakura gets on his nerves the most. I am sns shipper but I know Kishi wouldn’t do sns canon so I would rather have Ino and Sasuke to be a thing than Sasuke and Sakura. Ino as an adult is a strong woman and understanding mother, she states her opinions about everything, she can fight and she works. She would be a better match for Sasuke (Naruto is still the best), she could even say sth to him that she doesn’t like and treat her child in a good way.

I don't know. If Ino was in Team 7... We all would've collectively hated Ino but loved Sakura instead. Because Team 7's 3rd member (Girl) was always meant to be an Hated Third Wheel... A Beard, An annoying and irrelevant asshole.... Irrespective of who it is.

I've never seen in any media where one own's Flashback portrayed someone else as Very Nice but the very own person as a Shitty Moron.

I mean, If you ask someone to tell you their story... 99.99% of them would portray themselves as Good and they paint other people as Bad or Neutral. But only in Sakura's flashback, she ended up being an Ass and Ino looked like Goddess. Which shows how the author wanted to show the entire world as good other Sakura...

If Ino was in Team 7, the same pattern would follow...

[justice4sasuke]

Alright I'm going to try to keep it together, but that might be hard because this is the second best page of Naruto and I cry every time.

I think by this point it's clear that every relationship Sasuke has had has been extremely conditional. To the point where everyone around Sasuke treats him more like an object than a person.

I do believe Sasuke's mother and father and clan loved Sasuke for the short time he was with them, I think the issue there is that the affection Sasuke wanted was from his dad and his dad was not good at giving that to him since he was more focused on Itachi.

Naruto always says he understands Sasuke but makes no effort to actually get to know Sasuke or try to sympathize with him. Like all his other relationships Naruto just assumes his feelings onto other people and that's the only way he identifies with others. Naruto cares more about how Sasuke makes him feel than he cares of Sasuke as a person or Sasuke's feelings. He constantly disregards the boundaries Sasuke makes.

Sakura's entire relationship with Sasuke is based on her feelings for him. She does not appear to care about Sasuke's feelings or respect them. She also disregards the boundaries Sasuke tries to set.

Kakashi sees his past self in Sasuke and cannot see Sasuke for who he truly is. He cannot help Sasuke because he's too busy hating himself and being disappointed Sasuke isn't acting how he wants him too. Doesn't acknowledge Sasuke's pain as separate from his own or Sasuke as a different person who experiences the world differently.

His Konoha peers see him as just a popular, smart kid whether that is good or bad in their view. And are quick to be like well guess he has to die when he appears to be "evil" based on what they heard and make it their collective responsibility as his peers to kill him if need be.

Orochimaru just sees Sasuke as a vessel for his own ends, as does Kabuto later. (And later later Orochimaru just wants to see what Sasuke will do???? Because that's just what he's into now??? And the narrative just NEEDED him around for some reason during the war.)

Some will say Karin cares more about Sasuke than say Sakura, but Sakura is upset when Sasuke gets hurt and stuff too. It's just that her moral threshold is different from Sakura's so she's not objecting to things that Sakura would object to. As soon as Sasuke gets too "evil" for her she's the same as Sakura. Also she centers her feelings for Sasuke around herself and doesn't respect Sasuke's boundaries.

Sasuke is just an emotional replacement for Kimimaro for Juugo. So while Juugo acts respectfully toward Sasuke it doesn't seem like any of his actions come from caring for Sasuke as a person in particular.

Suigetsu is feral and doesn't seem to care about anything.

Itachi has the distinction of being someone other than his parents that Sasuke consistently cares about throughout the series. Itachi spends the series not knowing what it means to love someone, much like everyone else on the list of people in Sasuke's life. He is basically forced to traumatize Sasuke, but his solution to the fact he has to do this is to almost prevent Sasuke from healing by giving him the goal of killing him. He spends the rest of his life trying to railroad Sasuke to the path he believes is best for him, not taking into account what he's putting Sasuke through or his feelings or who he is. Itachi thinks the best way to love Sasuke is to direct Sasuke's course based on his own values to the point he would use a genjutsu on him to make him protect the village.

Sasuke probably doesn't even consciously realize it, but he can probably sense the fact that no one cares how he feels and everyone wants him to follow their plans. And Sasuke definitely knows that Itachi, the most important person in his life, is the same way. That part from before the flashback when Sasuke says goodbye like he fully expects nothing from Itachi because that's every relationship he's ever had. Everything is conditional. He has to prove himself to his father, Naruto's relationship with Sasuke is for his own ego, Sakura sees him as a love object, Kakashi just wants Sasuke to not be him. And when he is not those things he gets pushback. Why should Itachi be any different. Especially when Sasuke told him he still wants to destroy Konoha, something Itachi explicitly does not want.

But that's not what happens.

Through this experience with Sasuke Itachi finally sees Sasuke for who he is. Sasuke is his own person who will choose his own path and if Itachi doesn't like it, well he didn't exactly help in that regard. In fact his actions made everything a lot worse. He might as well tell Sasuke the truth and let Sasuke make his own decisions from there. And like Itachi says he doesn't expect or necessarily want forgiveness, but he can impart on Sasuke what he's learn which is what showing love is. Because I think Itachi always loved Sasuke, he just did not know how you show love.

And loving someone means I will love you no matter what you decide for yourself.

This is the first time in Sasuke's life that someone tells him that not only can he decide his own actions, but that they will love him no matter what choice he makes. And that is the most beautiful thing Naruto has ever given us.

Probably the saddest aspect of Naruto is that no one else learns this same thing and though Sasuke gets it from the brother who he loves the most it doesn't really make up for the rest of his life where no one else gives him that.

[fourangers]

Hi Fourangers,

First of all, I love your blog so much. It's like going through a history back when Naruto Manga chapters were released weekly and your reviews were so Golden, Hilarious and spot-on. Am a new fan though (especially an SNS fan), I just got into this fandom only this year. I don't know if you'll answer my ask, but I just wanted to try and ask you few questions and I pray that you might answer me....

1. Since you've written in a post that you were active in the eastern part of the fandom, How was chapter 698 received in Japan? Because this is the chapter I inherently realized they both love each other. Yeah, I was too late but somehow whenever they interact with each other in previous chapters I always find them to be 'Weird' for just to be friends. Chapter 698 is just blatantly obvious that they love each other. Considering Homophobia and Shounen genre, I have no idea how it was perceived over there back then in 2014.

2. Which scene made you to ship SNS?

3. As an SNS'er how do you feel about the ending, where everyone was married off when they were just 19 just to make some shitty sequel??? As a new fan, I felt betrayed and It would've been perfect if they had stopped at chapter 699, leaving an open ending.

4. How do you face with the accusation about Naruto and Sasuke as brothers and we, SNS'ers are Incest shippers??? I don't care about that Indra and Ashura thing. But Naruto himself told he considers Sasuke as his Brother couple of times. And in Chapter 699, Sasuke acknowledged, 'He finally understood what it meant'.... It's the only thing that confuses me and I don't even have an answer!!! Plus, Kishi himself gave an interview that he based Sasuke on his Brother... I really wonder how he gave such an interview when he literally made them wear necklaces with each other's faces.

5. How was Naruto and Sasuke's sexuality perceived in the fandom back then??? Man!! Kishimoto just made lot of comic reliefs on their sexuality by making Sasuke on Sai jutsu, Naruto not interested in Icha Icha but making Reverse Harem no Jutsu, Naruto was angry when Konohamaru made Boy on Boy jutsu whereas he had no problem with him doing it. LOL. And all those homoerotic posters. What do you think about their sexuality, personally??

6. Why did Kishi had to develop their bond as Soulmates with some unintentional or intentional romantic undertones, if he was eventually going to pair them up with girls??? He easily could've gave many such romantic tropes to other girls and keep the bond between N and S as purely friendship or brothers. It still would've made sense.

7. Final one, Was Naruto really Nosebleeding when Kurama made a joke about Sasuke's kiss in Chapter 572???? We had a lot of heated discussion with other shippers where they claim that it was just a splotch of snot.

Sorry for the lengthy ask....... I am so eager to know your answers and I don't want to spam your ask box by sending multiple asks.

Thanks 😊😊😊

Hey yo! Welcome new SNS fan! I'm so glad that you joined us and I'll try to answer as best as I can. I'm not very active here on tumblr (except browsing lol) but your ask was such a delight to read.

1. I honestly don't remember. I think I didn't follow the japanese boards until the eventual 699-700 disaster. People were craving for reactions and I was curious about it too lol. And well...it's been years, I doubt I'll be able to find the reactions from that time. Imo, most readers don't care much about pairings, they just wanted to read about power-ups and abilities and the basic Naruto Vs Sasuke. Though there are some backhanded jokes about how gay Naruto is for Sasuke.

2. Hah. It's going to be very anti-climatic but it was when Naruto and Sakura were eating in Ichiraku Ramen. Naruto just used Rasenshuriken against Kakuzu and he busted his arm. Sakura was healing his arm and her attention was focused on Naruto. I used to be a NaruSaku shipper so I thought "Oh hey! This is the moment that Naruto would have a candid romantic moment!" But nope. He talked about Sasuke. And I was already getting suspicious about Sasuke's feelings towards Naruto ya know? And the whole "SASUKE IS MIINEEEEEE" in Orochimaru's lair. It was that moment I thought "you only have Sasuke in your head don't you, Naruto?" and started shipping SNS.

3. Hooo boy was I surprised when it was suddenly revealed that they had the basic heteronormative, boring marriage with bunch of clones of themselves. Everyone thought that it was almost like a bad fanfiction come true and some thought that it was fake. It was a pandemonium lolololol. I also thought that it was too lame to be true and lo and behold, when it came true I was floored. And then whenever Kishimoto threw new material, I got insanely pissed off because S*arada and B*ruto becoming pairing material is ok because they are a girl and a boy, and then they paralleled with Naruto and Sasuke which are only FRIENDS because they are both men. ARGH. Open ending was what Kishimoto planned from the very beginning but wrote a sequel to earn more money.

In that aspect, I made peace with it because of the whole anime/manga industry. I learned that, as a mangaka, you don't earn a lot of money with selling books, but rather with merchandise and profiting with sales right. And that guy have a family to raise, have two kids (which is hilarious about how B*ruto movie is his self-insert story), he needs a steady income. Also, I read reports about how anime studios are so poor and animators don't receive a decent income not to mention they are overstaffed and tired, and B*ruto is a good money cow for them to earn money so they can invest later on other anime they have more passion about it. So even though I hate this story with a strength of thousands suns, they are putting meal on people's tables and making them pay rents. I'm ok.

4. Lemme roll my eyes because in the Last movie they said that Hinata is related to Kaguya and so is the Uzumaki and Uchiha clan so they are all related woo hoo. But in the aspect of brothers because reincarnations bla bla bla, didn't Naruto himself said that he's no longer that brother, he's himself? Hmm...I gotta re-read it. One day. Maybe. lol. But I'm sure that he said "Sasuke is not my brother but I'm sure we'll understand well as friends" so there. Honestly, there are a lot of interviews out there and a lot of them are fake, so I'd always take the interviews with a grain of salt lololol. I do know from artbooks that Kishimoto wanted to create Sasuke as a rival-esque character and that was it. As he was developing Sasuke and Naruto's relationship, since he liked the whole yin-yang concept, whenever he wrote Naruto's story, Sasuke's was developed at the same time as his shadow.

5. I can tell from Naruto Forums (I used to participate back in that day) MOST of the non-shippers thought it was gay as hell, but you know...it was a relic of that time. While they thought it was gay, they didn't put too much thought about you know? Because it was shounen, and we knew that it was a joke that it couldn't be taken seriously. Of course, in the SNS fandom, we did make more analysis and there were a lot of instance when Naruto and Sasuke's sexuality was questioned. Some other non-shippers also thought that Naruto was totes gay for Sasuke (including a IRL friend).

Imo, Naruto is definitely bisexual in my view. Sasuke I think he's asexual or gay. He's attracted to Naruto, but mostly because of his connection to him, not because of his physical attributes, so yeah...asexual. Or Pansexual. Sasuke is more complicated lmao. Imo, Naruto could be pansexual too, come to think about it. Yeah, I guess both being pansexual can be valid.

6. He developed Naruto and Sasuke being soulmates from the very beginning, that was proven in his comments in artbooks and in the manga. He probably created with the intention of making it purely platonic, going beyond physical ties. Then he shot himself on the foot by drawing Naruto thinking about Sasuke on bed, talking about how Sasuke is cool, meanwhile Sasuke waxing poetic about how Naruto saved him. What gives? Lol. Yeah, I think he got too enamored writing their relationship that he didn't have time to write romantic ones. What I noticed that Sakura's popularity never was really high, so I could see some editors putting their fingers all over it and making her less relevant. Also, Kishimoto didn't know how to handle her, so when she got her time to shine was the whole fake confession disaster. Coupled with Kishimoto sexism and, in his words (Kurenai's flashback), women are useful to spout more babies, women was never really relevant in his story, unfortunately. Even Kaguya who was technically the big bad boss, was never really fleshed out in comparison to Madara. So the null het romantic moments it's not because he wanted to elevate SNS moments, it's more about how he's incompetent about it. It's either Hinata slowly elevating to a relevant status because forced interaction (Pain's sacrifice and Neji's death) or Sakura being obligated to be pining over Sasuke because she's a girl. It's even more painful to see that, if we ignore B*ruto, both girls are shown to be just talking with their kids and dusting shelves, basically being housewives, even though thorough the story (especially Sakura) it was implied that both of them have much more potential than being their husband accessories.

7. It was a splotch of snot. I can confirm myself lol. Whenever the chapter is out and fans would scan it to scanlate it, the editor usually would amp up contrast to max. So usually the lines get much more thicker than usual, when you read the official release which gets straight from the source, you can notice how the lines are more delicate.

Oh lol...but then we also have a lot of controversy about translating style. THAT one is a whole new can of worms to open.

Man I had fun answering your questions! Please send more :P

[borat123]

Analysis Pro NH Anti NS

Naruto Manga Part 2

Part 10

Sasuke has fallen into deep darkness and his hatred makes him stronger. He is not the same Sasuke Team 7 knew in Part 1. Sakura wants to kill Sasuke herself because she feels like the burden should be put on her shoulders, because she loves Sasuke. So she uses a sleeping gas on Lee, Kiba and Sai and tries to go kill Sasuke... and fails twice. The second time she had her knife right behind Sasuke’s back but she couldn’t bring herself to stab him. She shouldn’t even have been there the second time since Kakashi told her to heal Karin while he fought Sasuke. But she is so narcissistic and has to kill him herself which causes a lot of problems for Kakashi since he can’t protect her all the time too.

Luckily for them Naruto saves her in the last second. His focus is not on her at all but on Sasuke as they make eye contact. It was expected of Naruto to save her since she’s his teammate and friend, and it’s not romantic in the least, not after that fake confession. Besides Naruto’s focus isn’t on her, it’s on Sasuke, just like it always has been.

Naruto doesn’t even ask her if she’s alright and he ignores her thanking him. His focus is only on Sasuke, the person he wants to save from becoming evil and he ignores Sakura since the more important person is in front of him.

(It feels like Kishi didn’t care about Sakura at all in this arc, he was like ”fuck it, might aswell make Sakura completly detestable.” First she makes that fake confession and we all know how that went, then she puts her teammates to sleep and then she fails to kill Sasuke twice while crying and sobbing and acting like a self-centered bitch, and then she still just gets saved. I mean it’s like really? He doesn’t even try to make her likeable lol).

We skip forward to here, when Naruto was summoned by the Mount Myoboku Toads. They talk about all the times Naruto used Kyuubi’s chakra. He mentions that when Orochimaru taunted him about Sasuke, he willingly let the Kyuubi take control over him.

But when Pain stabbed Hinata, he was so mad and filled with hatred, that his heart automatically connected with the Kyuubi’s will.

This does not only confirm that he only transformed because of Hinata (since he literally just said it himself that Hinata getting stabbed caused him to transform) but it also confirms Naruto’s feelings for Hinata. Seeing her get attacked made him so angry that he transformed without even thinking.

Hinata has always triggered very strong reactions to Naruto. From the blood vow (he was so mad at Neji that he promised on Hinata’s blood that he would defeat him for her)

to then admiting to her that she’s a person he really likes (when he actively tries his hardest to avoid showing people his true emotions)

And also thinking almost only on her when he tried to activate kyuubi’s chakra in his fight with Neji (which requires a large amount of heightend emotion to activate)

and then to almost completly transform into the Kyuubi just from seeing her get hurt.

Why is this you might ask? Well simple really, because Naruto has loved Hinata for years now, without REALIZING that he loved her. And even now he doesn’t realise it yet. He loves her so much that seeing her get attacked drove him to that level of rage.

It’s literally confirmed in the Manga that Naruto was in love with her BEFORE THE LAST.

Naruto later goes to that fountain where he will learn from Killer Bee how to control the Tailed Beast inside of him. There he must first confront his true self deep within his heart, which is Dark Naruto. Naruto mentions that it’s been him (his dark self) and the Kyuubi all along who caused him to transform. Dark Naruto tells Naruto that they hated the villagers for putting him through so much torture and pain and that they cant trust anyone but themselves. Deep down in Naruto’s heart there was a hatred towards the villagers.

So what does this mean regarding some previous interactions between Naruto and Sakura? First of all when Naruto transformed into the four-tail he didn’t hesitate at all to attack her EVEN though he could avoid (even try to protect) hurting Hinata with MORE TAILS and a WEAKER SEAL.

Not only that but when Sakura mentioned she was just like the other villagers during her fake confession, Naruto got so angry that he later told her that he hated her.

The way she treated him in part 1 and in the academy (even in part 2 but not as much as back then) where she actively said that she hated him, physically abused him, degraded him and calls him stupid and an idiot all the time. She was literally representing the villagers hatred for Naruto.

Naruto also wants the villagers acknowledgment just like he wants Sakura’s too. But we learn here that a big part, a dark part of him hated the villagers. And then we see just how similar Sakura is to the villagers and then it kinda hits you. Deep down inside, Naruto HATES Sakura.

Later when Naruto and the Kyuubi argue over if Sasuke can be saved or not, Naruto has a flashback of a time during the academy. Keep in mind that this is NARUTO’S flashback. ”You’ve known it since that day”.

We see here that Naruto doesn’t even know who Sasuke and Sakura are at this point. All the Sasuke fan girls including Sakura and Ino cheer loudly for Sasuke and this annoys Naruto. Sakura even screams out loudly ”KICK HIS BUTT, SASUKE-KUN! HECK YEAH”. Notice that all the other fan girls only cheer for Sasuke while Sakura has to scream out to Sasuke to ”KICK HIS BUTT”. Keep in mind that this is Naruto’s memory so he remembers Sakura being a huge bitch to him specifically. It’s also shown right here that Naruto already had a rivalry towards Sasuke while for Sakura it was unknown (most likely that he doesn’t know her).

Hinata was the only person to acknowledge him that day. And she did acknowledge him openly. Just quietly and not loudly. This is because of her crippling shyness and low self esteem thanks to her abusive clan. She was drowned out by all the other fan girls screming loudly for Sasuke.

But remember that this is Naruto’s flashback, which means that Naruto remembers on his own accord that Hinata was the very first person to acknowledge him. He heard her quietly but openly cheer for him even though she was drowned out by all the Sasuke fan girls. He was nowhere near her to actually hear it, yet he still remembers it since this is his own flashback. Since he remembers her cheering for him quietly yet openly, even though she was drowned out by the other Sasuke fan girls load screams, shows just how strong his feelings for her were. Even though it was deeply buried in his subconsiousness, he still remembered this.

Iruka wasn’t actually the first person to acknowledge him that day, it wasn’t till chapter 1 before he actually acknowledged him. Before that he thought of him as the Nine Tails that killed his parents. Iruka even punched his head in this flashback. I’m just saying that he wasn’t actually the first to acknowledge him atleast that he knew of.

Look at what Kurama said ”REMEMBER NOW”. This also confirms that this was Naruto’s flashback. That will be all for now, here are the other parts if you’re interested in reading them.

Next part: Part 11

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

[lazymilkshakecolor]

Uncharted

Disclaimer: these characters don’t belong to me, they belong to the Naruto series created by Masashi Kishimoto.

(I’m baaacckkkk)

Summary: At 20 years old, Sarada had done everything she ever dreamed of, conquered all her demons, went to hell and back, but there is one more territory that she left uncharted...till now. (Borusara, Sasusaku)

Sarada had fought aliens, she had protected the village singlehandedly from it’s biggest threat yet, she created a jutsu even her dad’s genius have deemed impossible to achieve, she even managed to see what was under Kakashi’s mask, a feat she is proud of but refuses to admit to anyone what was the price. 

Kakashi had already promised to take that secret to his grave, not that she’d ever admit that she was a fan of the Icha Icha series, and possessed a first edition copy of the book that kicked off the series, which she spent three S ranked missions worth of ryo on, only to be traded a few months later with Kakashi.

Totally worth it. Sarada thought

But something as silly as-

Sarada felt her cheeks burn up, not able to even think of what happened without turning completely red.

And now here she is, standing outside her mother’s office for what seemed like hours, attempting to knock for the hundredth time but stopping at the final moment cause she had no idea what to tell her mom.

Sakura had always been Sarada’s best friend, well adult best friend, she always listened to her, giving advice when she asked. To a younger Sarada her mother appeared the wisest, having an answer to everything. Now a 20 year old, Sarada knows that is far from the truth, and that there are many subjects her mother still falters in, nonetheless, she is still a third of the strongest shinobi team ever.

Come on, just do it already, shanaro!

So Sarada took a deep breath and raised her fist to knock, this time determined to do it, until the door flew open in front of her, revealing her mother, with a questioning look on her face.

‘’You’ve been standing outside my door for more than five minutes Sarada.’’ Sakura said, looking at her daughter up and down, accessing for damages, but she couldn’t find anything unusual, other than her reddening face.

‘’I-well I wanted t-to Talk.’’ Sarada stuttered out, mentally berating herself for stuttering like that.

Why do I feel like I've been caught with my hand in a cookie jar?

Confusion was apparent on Sakura’s face as she stepped aside, making way for her red in the neck daughter to pass through before closing the door behind her.

‘’Last time I saw you in this state you asked me if i was pregnant.’’ Sakura said in an attempt to help her daughter relax.

It was 8 years ago when Sarada confronted her parents with the deduction that her mother was pregnant, after noticing that she came home from the hospital early most days, even earlier than the time she arrived home from her daily missions or training sessions and her usually energetic mother was always a bit tired at those times too, her dad changing Boruto’s training schedule to be home at that time didn’t help her assumptions either, thinking he needed that time to take care of her and be by her mother’s side.

Of course Sarada got the fright of her life when Sakura thought that she was saying she gained weight before she explained her reasons for thinking she was pregnant, in which an amused Sasuke intervened that they just decided to dedicate some time to be spent alone. It wasn’t till a couple years later that Sarada caught on to what they meant.

Sarada shuddered at the thought.

‘’Hey I had sufficient reasons to believe so!’’ Sarada blurted out.

‘’Just like you had sufficient reasons to believe I wasn’t your mother.’’ Sakura responded.

She loved her daughter to bits, but detective work was not her forte.

Sarada had the decency to not respond to that, changing the subject instead.

‘’So...something happened…’’ she started, trailing off.

‘’Hm?’’ Sakura leaned forward in her chair, leaning her head on her hands as she gave a small smile to Sarada, a silent way to remind her that she can tell her anything.

‘’Between Boruto and I…’’ Sarada finally continued, fidgeting her hands and gazing at the floor, but she still took glances at her mom, enough to see her look of confusion turn into one of understanding, and maybe even a bit of smugness.

You sure you and Boruto are just friends…? Sarada could almost hear her mother utter that question again, she used to ask her that as far back as the academy days and Sarada of course vehemently denied.

‘’I see…,’’ Sakura said, raising up from her seat behind the desk to sit in front of Sarada on the guest chairs, ‘’Want to tell me what happened?’’ 

Sarada shook her head, to which Sakura sighed but couldn’t help the small smile that made its way to her lips.

Sometimes she’s just like Sasuke…

‘’Okay then, how do you feel about whatever it is that happened?’’ 

‘’Confused.’’ Sarada answered immediately. Her eyes were not daring to lift from the floor.

‘’Other than that?’’ Sakura prodded, reaching for her daughter's damaged hand before continuing, ‘’happy? Sad? Mad?’’

Sarada took a moment before answering, “ Happy,...and kinda scared and maybe relieved too…”, her gaze lifting only slightly to meet her mom’s comforting green eyes, then moved to their intertwined hands, getting a flashback to a time a month back. She could still feel the burning pain on her arm, Shizune-san was trying her best to heal it, damage it has suffered being extensive, so extensive an ugly burn scar was still apparent across her arm, while Sakura was holding her hand tightly, kinda like she is now.

‘’Yes?’’

‘’I was relieved cause I thought that he feels the same way.’’ Sarada admitted, knowing fully well the weight of what she just admitted for the first time.

Sakura smiled at her daughter’s words, opening her mouth to say something before someone interrupted.

‘’Sakura- Sama!” Sakura’s assistant barged into the office.

‘’How many times to I have to tell you to fucking knock you dumbass!” Sakura yelled, standing up and glaring at him.

Immediately, he took a couple of steps back, sweat trickling down his face as Sakura continued to glare at him.

Sarada almost pitied the poor man, her mother had a glare that would make her dad cower, other than the fact that that same man was subject to her father’s glare the many times he interrupted their time at home for hospital emergencies.

‘’I’m sorry Sakura sama! But the Suna delegate is here to check up on your joint medic training program, he said he came early because it’s predicted a sand storm will come in the coming hours..’’ He said, taking more steps backwards.

Sakura took a deep breath before she shot Sarada an apologetic look.

‘’I’m sorry Sarada, we’ll continue this talk tonight okay?’’ Sakura said, leaning down to plant a kiss on her daughter’s forehead and poking it as she leant away, but not before whispering something in her ear.

Sarada watched as her mother left the office, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

What the hell does follow your heart supposed to mean?! Mom’s as cryptic as always, shanaro!

.

.

.

Sarada got out of her mother’s office then straight to her favorite sweets shop, planning on  mulling over what her mother told her while sipping through a cup of tea along with her fav dango.

But nothing is that easy in Sarada’s life, cause as soon as she stepped into the sweets shop she found her father at the counter.

Great, this is a new level of bad luck, what are the odds that I’d encounter Sasuke fucking Uchiha in a sweets shop.

But nonetheless, Sarada found herself smiling as she walked towards him, feeling the same joy she always felt when she saw him for the first time after a mission.

Of course his missions are a lot shorter, even so he still makes an effort to keep in contact, even using the cellphone Sakura got him all those years ago when he couldn’t send a hawk.

‘’Welcome home Papa.’’ Sarada said, beaming upwards at Sasuke, who offered a faint smile that wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone but her in this shop.

‘’Sarada.’’ He acknowledged, before turning to the lady at the counter and telling her to double his order and add two cups of tea to go, which they took for free.

‘’Anything for our hero.’’ The shop lady said, looking at Sarada fondly, who thanked her awkwardly, it’s been a month and she still hasn’t gotten used to this treatment from the village people.

A month since she felt truly alone on the battlefield, a month since she had felt like she was the only hope for hundreds of people, people which she swore she will protect and love since she was eleven, a month since she almost lost her arm, and a month since she saw the reason for her recent confusion.

As usual, her father doesn’t like to sit in public very much when has an option of going to a quiet place, which is where they were heading after his order was done and passing by an onigiri shop.

When they arrived at their usual destination, the forest in the Uchiha compound where Sasuke had taught Sarada the chidori and many other things, Sarada sat down on the ground and Sasuke followed after taking off his cloak.

This place used to frighten her, as a kid and as a teen, she knew no one will ever dare come here, this place somehow maintained its frightening aura even after being destroyed in pain’s attack, she knew that she shouldn’t be frightened of this place, because if circumstances were different, she would have lived here.

But she learned to feel at ease here, after her father took her to dock where his father taught him fire jutsu, where he taught her it too, then he showed her his childhood home, which somehow remained intact then finally took her to this forest, where he told her all kinds of stories about her uncle.

It wasn’t until she was 16 did she learn the whole truth, no thanks to her parents of course, she couldn’t blame them though, they are her parents, it’s their job to protect her, and the anguish she felt then rivals only the anguish of losing a loved one.

‘’I would have guessed that Boruto would have found you.’’ Sasuke said suddenly, in his usual monotone.

 Sarada’s head snapped up, dango stick she was intently enjoying almost fell from her hand.

‘’Wha-why why would he find me?’’

Sasuke only looked at her with a look bordering on confusion.

‘’Isn’t that what he always does when he gets home from a mission?’’ Sasuke replied, gaze examining his daughter.

Sarada took a moment before she managed to muster a reply.

‘’Oh.’’

She could feel her cheeks turning red.

‘’Do you have a fever?’’He asked, which decreased Sarada’s mortification a bit cause at least her father is too clueless to notice this.

‘’Boruto might be under the weather too, his face was the same color as yours when we arrived home.’’

‘’What!? Really!?’’ Sarada exclaimed, her dango stick layed forgotten on the ground.

‘’I met up with him about a day away from Konoha,said he was on his way home from an important mission.’’ Sasuke said, a smirk still apparent on his face.

‘’Ohh,’’ Again that was all Sarada managed to say before continuing moments later,’’ He had to go on a mission a couple of days after that creep attacked Konoha.’’

Sasuke’s smirk again, this time out of pride rather than amusement, his daughter, the future of the Uchiha clan, stood up to an alien who wanted to destroy Konoha in vengeance of he and Naruto’s previous actions, both of them weren’t there, Sarada being the only thing that stood against them as Boruto went to free them from Kawaki’s seal.

‘’I know, though that doesn’t explain why his face turned to the same shade as yours right now when your name got brought up.’’ Sasuke said in a matter of fact way, almost sounding genuine.

But Sarada knew her father, knew that amused glint in his eyes, the way he smirks when he knows he’s on to something. She used to enjoy it when he was like that with her mother back when she was still getting used to him, but soon after he started teasing her too, even uniting with her mother against her, which often left Sarada a mumbling mess.

Sarada sighed, resigned to the fact that her father knew something was going on, focussing instead on the extent of his knowledge.

‘’Not funny papa.’’Sarada said, in the straightest tone she could manage.

‘’Hm.’’ Sasuke looked at Sarada’s half hearted glare, lips shaped into a pout and arms crossed, and suddenly all he could see was a younger version of Sakura.

She’s just like Sakura. He thought.

‘’You’ve been upset since I saw you.’’ Sasuke remarked, getting straight to the point.

At that Sarada’s shoulder slackened and her gaze went downwards for a few moments, but Sasuke didn’t pressure her, knowing that just like him, she needs time before talking.

A minute later she started to talk.

‘’Before Boruto went after Kawaki and I went to confront that creepy god like thing, we were together, and…,’’ Sarada took a breath before she continued her phrase, ‘’...We had a moment.’’ She admitted.

Sasuke raised his eyebrow slightly in an expression Sarada knows is curiosity, but as usual, he waited for her to continue instead of asking.

Other than the difficulty she faced when talking about this subject, she now has another difficulty in which she doesn’t know how her father would react to this particular thing.

Atleast with Mama I could predict her reaction…

Sasuke cleared his throat to get attention, taking the final bite from his onigiri pack.

Sarada seemed to get a bit of courage and looked at him, her mouth opening to say something but a moment later she reverted to her previous state, which is a blushing mess.

Sasuke sighed.

Definitely takes after her mother…

‘’Do you mean an intimate moment?’’ Sasuke asked, to which Sarada’s eyes widened, but she nodded.

‘’How intimate?’’

‘’Emmm…’’

‘’Sarada.’’ 

‘’He kissed me, and I kissed him back and before he left I poked his forehead like you do to Mama!’’

Sarada finally admitted for the first time since that day.

She could still feel it, still feel  his lips on hers, still feel his skin’s warmth on her fingers, the feeling of pure passion and fire she felt when he looked at her, when he made her promise that she’ll be okay.

That was the last time she saw him, she knew from her mother that he stayed by her bedside the two first days of her unconsciousness, but he had to leave for an important mission, though he wouldn’t leave without making Sakura promise to write him a letter informing him of Sarada’s state.

Sarada woke up a week after he left, two days later, her father went on his mission.

‘’And why are you upset?’’ Her father’s voice took her out of her stupor.

‘’Cause this feels weird, I always knew I loved him, but I don’t know when it progressed to being in love with him, I expected love to be a strong feeling, but not like this, not this scary...not …’’ Sarada struggled for a moment as tears fell from her eyes, ‘’...intense and deep and passionate and-and...I’m scared cause this is the first time I feel like this, I’m scared cause this might ruin us, scared of feeling something so strong but....’’

Sasuke only stared at her, almost knowing what she would say next.

‘’I love him Papa.’’ 

Sasuke’s gaze softened, as he stood up from his seat and went towards his sniffling daughter.

‘’You should go find him.’’ Sasuke said, wiping the tears off of Sarada’s face, he waited till she nodded before he poked her forehead and smiled at her, he then leaned down to pick the dango box.

Sarada knew where to find him, it was nearing evening, and he knew where she would be normally at this time, and he would be waiting for her there, like he always did.

‘’Thank you Papa,’’ Sarada said, before straightening up and taking a step away from her father towards her destination, but she suddenly stopped and looked at Sasuke again, ‘’ Tell Mama I’m sorry, I know she likes her dango warm.’’

Sasuke grunted, clear annoyance at being caught red handed, but he smiled again looking at the Uchiha symbol of his daughter’s back, sheer pride taking over him at what his daughter has become.

.

.

.

As she expected he was there, standing on the hokage mountain, on the empty space near lord seventh, where she would normally spend her evenings.

He sensed her coming, but didn’t turn around till she was about next to him.

‘’Hello hero.’’

‘’Hey Bo.’’

They stood in silence, each sneaking glances at the other before their eyes finally met, they both blushed a deep shade of red and looked onwards again.

Sarada didn’t know what to do, what to say, so she decided to just act like she would normally.

‘’You stink.’’ She remarked.

Boruto almost fell off the edge, he expected anything, anything but this.

‘’Excuse me! I just got back from a month long mission, dattebaseh!’’

‘’Well you could have stopped by your house and took a shower shanaro!.’’ she responded, turning her body so her eyes could meet his.

‘’I’m sorry! I was left  hanging last time I was in the village so kinda wanted to see what was up with that!’’

‘’I would have waited till the end of time, a shower is nothing!.’’ Sarada didn’t realise what she said until she saw Boruto’s expression turn from annoyance to confusion to shyness.

And then he was staring at her again, giving her the same look he gave that day a month ago, and then she felt it again, that intensity, passion, like a fire was burning inside her heart.

From the way he was looking at her, she knew he felt it too.

He took her hand in his, fingers reaching up to trace the scar on her arm, eyes never leaving hers as his other hand caressed her cheek.

‘’I’m sorry I had to go.’’ he muttered finally, in that soft tone he always used with her, just with her and no one else.

‘’It’s okay, you have your hero duties too.’’ she replied, a pure deep sense of satisfaction travelled through her body when his fingers descended from her arm to her hand, extending it, accessing the damage there.

That’s right, it was in bandages last time he saw me…

Sarada suddenly pushed her hand forward and put it over his heart, feeling an immediate sense of comfort at the thumping sensation she felt, his hand was still over hers,  pure blue eyes she loves so much looking deep into her soul, making her feel like they were the only two people in the world, just them, in this frozen moment in time.

In a sudden bout of courage, she circled her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her height, as one of his hands travelled towards her waist, the other still on her cheek, eyes never breaking apart except when their faces were inches apart, and then it happened, their lips met for the second time, time froze for the second time, they were connected for the second time.

A few seconds later they pulled apart, Sarada immediately buried her head in his chest, hiding her blush as he leaned his head on her shoulder.

The wind picked up, small pecks of water descended on them, but they both refused to pull apart, having waited too long for this.

Though a few minutes later they were drenched from head to toe and they had to pull apart.

Stupid rain! Sarada thought.

‘’You kept nagging about me taking a shower and look what happened.’’ Boruto teased, still close to Sarada, closer than he used to stand, his grasping Sarada’s, tangling their fingers together.

‘’Way to ruin the moment baka.’’ Sarada said, tossing him a glare, to which he laughed before looking into her eyes.

‘’I love you Sarada Uchiha.’’ he said, feeling like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders as he has been trying to say these five words since forever.

She looked at him, deep into his eyes, and she couldn’t help keep her sharingan at bay as it appeared out of instinct, upon feeling a strong emotion.

‘’I love you Boruto Uzumaki.’’

.

.

.

Sarada leaned her back against the door of her family home, a smile spreading across her face at what just happened, hands still in the pockets of the jacket he gave her, fingers still tingling from his touch, lips still warm from his, the soft thumps of his heart still in her ears.

It wasn’t until a couple of minutes of sitting there did she realise that the lights of the living room were on, which was weird since it was the middle of night, both her parents would be asleep by now, her mother for her morning shift and her father for his early morning report.

She walked quietly towards the lit room, afraid to wake her parents in case they were asleep on the couch again, which till this day she can’t comprehend how two full grown adults fit on their tiny couch.

To her surprise they were both awake and sitting on the couch, tea cups in hand and looking expectantly at her, both sprouting devious grins, Sasuke to a lesser extent of course.

‘’What!?’’ Sarada asked, looking between the two.

‘’Nice jacket.’’ Sakura remarked, grin turning into a full smile.

Sarada blushed and looked at the floor.

‘’Yeah yeah...’’ Sarada said, cheeks turning red fir what must have been the millionth time today before turning her body towards the stairs, but before she was out of sight she said something.

‘’Thank you.’’

[manga2day]

Who is Madara Uchiha?

Madara Uchiha is a fictional antagonist of the anime series and manga Naruto, 📚 he is actually the greatest leader of the Uchiha clan as well as the co-founder of the Hidden Leaf Village, Konoha. After fighting Hashirama for the title of the First Hokage, he is diagnosed dead , but eventually appears later in the series as Tobi. Simply because Obito was posing as Madara uchiwa during the heyday of Akatsuki. ☁️

Madara history

Madara grew up in constant competition with her younger brother, Izuna Uchiha . Both have been recognized as the most talented members of their clan. Their competition led them to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan , 👁️ and with it, they were able to take control of the Uchiha clan. Although members of the Uchiha clan possess a powerful chakra, Madara and her brother's chakra were exceptional. 🌊 Under his leadership, the clan was almost indestructible. During a fight against the Senju clan, the Mangekyō Sharingan of Madara uchiha inflicted severe consequences on his body, due to its excessive use. One of them was losing her eyesight, 🦯 Madara kept her Mangekyō Sharingan active throughout the fight  which caused her to lose her eyesight. He therefore transplanted the eyes of his mortally wounded brother, by the brother of Hashirama, in order to thus obtain the eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.  

The founding of the hidden village of Konoha

Years later, the Uchiha clan faced endlessly against the powerful Senju clan. ⚔️ To end the incessant fighting, the leader of the Senju, Hashirama Senju, approached the Uchiha clan with a proposal for a truce . Although Madara did not desire peace with the Senju, her clan members wanted a ceasefire, 🔥 and Madara had no choice but to accept their decision. The Senju and Uchiha, along with all the clans they had conquered, then united to form the Hidden Leaf Village. Against Madara's will, the villagers chose to elect Hashirama as the first Hokage . 👑 While he was a Konoha ninja, Madara went to Iwagakure and addressed a young man named Ōnoki accompanied by the Tsuchikage of the time and his guardian, where they were informed that despite the alliance that 'he had made a deal with the Senju, his people 🚻 would remain subject to the power of the Senju.

Battle against Hashirama

Madara feared that Hashirama was oppressing the Uchiha people, and tried to rally the Uchiha clan to his cause in an effort to challenge his leadership. However, instead of helping him, the Uchiha turned their backs on him , believing his motives were due only to pride and the desire to gain more power. 💪 Abandoned by his clan, Madara left the village swearing revenge; after returning to challenge Hashirama to battle. They fought in the Valley of the End, and although Madara appealed to Kyubi , 🦊 he was defeated by Hashirama and diagnosed as dead. Despite his defeat in this battle, he managed to survive and obtain some of Hashirama's DNA , 🧬 which he transplanted within his wounds. As he slowly approached a natural death, he suddenly woke up with the Rinnegan. He also acquired the Mokuton and now possessed the DNA of the Uchiha and Senju. By awakening these Dojutsu, he gained the ability to summon the demonic statue from the outer path, which he used as a catalyst to cultivate Hashirama Senju cells. He later transplanted his Rinnegan into a boy named Nagato without his knowing it, and then replaced his left eye with a new Sharingan. 👁️

Madara personality

When Madara was still a child , he was regarded as kind, somewhat temperamental and competitive . He was a sensitive shinobi who cared both for his family and for others. Madara was very emotional and couldn't stand being laughed at. He also tended to cry when Hashirama teased him, because he was unable to ricochet on the river. 🏞️ The very first time we met Madara Uchiha in the Manga, he was described as a power thirsty person eager for revenge. He did not procrastinate when he had to kill his friends or when he tried to recover the hidden village of Konoha. But according to Madara, his sole purpose was actually to protect members of the Uchiha Clan. Throughout the Naruto saga, several ninjas have described Madara Uchiha's personality. When Itachi told Sasuke about him, he told him that he was a dark Shinobi,  🌑  thirsty for power. According to Kyubi, Madara possessed a much softer chakra than hers. It would appear that Madara represents hatred and the dark side of the Naruto saga.

Madara's appearance

Madara uchiha has a fairly fair complexion as well as black hair with a slightly bluish tint. When he was still a teenager, his hair was shoulder-length and his dress code was that of the Uchiha clan ; 🌔 that is, a fairly large shirt and the badge of his clan worn on his back. He also had bandages on his shins and blue pants. Madara also wore a belt that allowed her to hold onto her bag containing her ninja gear.  As time went on, her dress style changed . As he grew older, he wore a belt over his shoulder which served as receptacles for his many swords. ⚔️  Madara Uchiwa has grown into a fairly tall man with long hair. It was so long that it went to the level of his belt. He also began to wear red samurai armor similar to that of his greatest rival, Hashirama, the Hokage of Konoha. The particularity of this armor is that it protected the various vital points of his body! ❤️ After receiving Hashirama's stem cells, Hashirama Senju's head could be seen on his chest.

Madara equipment

Madara is often dressed in red armor which is suitable for the battlefield , she looks very sturdy and perfect for taking a hit. He also has a pair of gloves. 🧤 Within Madara's paraphernalia, there are several weapons he is used to using like the Uchiha fan! A flashback 💡 of the anime, allowed us to see in his lair , just before his death, other weapons such as several large Shurikens, but also a saber and chains . His equipment was borrowed by Tobi to ensure his victory against various ninjas.  

The meeting between Madara and Obito

Madara lived for many years until the end of the Third Great Shinobi War . At the end of her life, Madara possessed a very weak body, and her only chance 🍀 to stay alive was to use the Outer Way Demon statue as a survival system. He therefore connected with the tree possessing Hashirama's genes, so that the statue could constantly provide Madara with chakra, in order to keep her alive and prevent her from instantaneous death. During this war, he found the young Obito Uchiha, and began a seemingly long healing process to save his life using Hashirama 's stem cells. Madara then ordered the white Zetsu to keep Obito alive and help him rehabilitate, so that he could be useful to him in his future awakening. After Obito returned to him as he had predicted, he took him into an illusory world and told him about the 6 powers 📜 of the Rinnegan and the Ten-tailed Beast, Jubi as well as his plan, the Eye of to the moon . He then taught him various Kinjutsu Uchiha, those of the Rinnegan and the Inyoton element. Before dying, Madara also created the Black Zetsu by imbuing her willpower into the White Zetsu. Madara then disconnects from the statue and on his last breath and  tells Obito to "befriend Nagato" so that he can be resurrected one day . ⚰️ While Madara had been dead for years, Obito as "Tobi" took possession of Madara's identity and began to perform actions on his behalf.

Madara skills

Madara was one of the most powerful shinobi of his time and arguably one of the strongest ninjas of all time . 💪 Supreme Leader of Clan Uchiha, no ninja in this world can question his power. Although the Uchiha family possessed a certain talent for combat through their hereditary eye, the Sharinga. Madara tended to always push her own limits . He also possessed enormous natural potential and trained tirelessly. His skills of Katon, 🔥 of Taijutsu and his Dojutsu were of a different level compared to those of his own Clan. Additionally, with the mastery of the Eternal Mangenkyo Sharigan , 👁️ he was able to compete with the Senju Clan, but more specifically with their leader, Hashirama Senju, recognized as the strongest shinobi of his time. Madara Uchiwa is a ninja who is feared by all sane people! It has various peculiarities such as being able to feel an individual's chakra from several kilometers away, it has an extraordinary resistance capable of withstanding deadly attacks without flinching, 🛡️ but it is also able to use seals like the seal of the master puppeteer. Ninjutsu de Madara

Madara Uchiwa has a predisposition for the fire element chakra 🔥 just like the other members of the Uchiha Clan. Thanks to the Rinnegan, he is also able to manipulate the different natures of the chakra. Without forgetting that his Jutsu Katon possesses a devastating power and a great range, if one compares them to the Jutsu of the other geniuses of the Uchiha clan such as Itachi or even Sasuke. This is why it took during the Fourth Great Shinobi War ⚔️ an entire division to be able to counter his Katons with the help of his natural enemy, the Suiton. it gives an idea of ​​the power that Madara is able to develop within the Jutsu of the element of fire. In order to increase his strength, he deliberately implanted himself with stem cells 🧬 of the powerful Hashirama in order to acquire Jutsu: Mokuton. Madara is a genius , we can also see it once again on his use of Mokuton which is incredible! He is able to create large roots of lotus flowers (the scent of which is deadly to breathe) with the "forest of flowering trees" jutsu . 🌳 ( He was able to bend the 5 kage  only with this powerful Jutsu.) Just like Hashirama, he can also create undetectable clones using the Mokuton. He can also for example create up to 25 clones of himself and transform them into a powerful Susano. For reference , a single Susano 👺 clone can face five Kages. Madara is also very good at fighting the Bijû with the help of the Mokuton! For example, it is possible to create, via the Mokuton, a dragon capable of wrapping around the different Bijû and canceling their chakra. 🐉  We can say that his ability to master the Mokuton is similar to that of Hashirama ! After sealing the Divine Tree within her own body, Madara can now manipulate the various Kekkei Genkai like the Ranton, which is a mix between the Suiton and the Raiton. ⚡💦 Taijutsu

Madara's Taijutsu power combined with her Sharingan is splendid ! We can see this when he destroys several lines of the Shinobi Alliance in close combat. He was able for example, in a fraction of a second, to remove a scroll 📜 from a kunai as well as return it to its user! Although he is very strong in Taijutsu, it seems that this is not his only strength in close combat, he also masters with great agility, the sword and other weapons. We had the opportunity to see his strength with a saber during the Fourth Great Shinobi War against the Number 4 Division. There is no other word than "graceful" to describe his fighting style at the body to body ! 🥊 Of course, all this is made possible thanks to his famous Sharingan, which he allows him to dodge as well as to predict the movements of his opponents and therefore reduce the chance of getting hit! Using her sword, Madara sliced ​​up a dozen Ninjas very easily with her "dance" ability . 🩰 He then finally took his Gunbai back from Obito which he kept safe. In using this same Gunbai, Madara can eg absorb very powerful jutsu and then return them to their users. Overall, Madara Uchiwa is versatile and powerful no matter what weapon he uses! We assume that this ease comes from his long life and therefore from his incredible experience on the battlefield. 👴 It is also assumed that Hashirama's stem cells greatly enhance his Taijutsu abilities! Dojutsu Sharingan is the hereditary dojutsu of Clan Uchiha . Madara handles his sharingan like no Uchiha before him! Madara is also considered the greatest genius of the Uchiwa family. His Sharigan 👁️ awoke the very first time during a fight between the Uchiha clan and the Hashirama Senju Clan . He of course excels in mastering his hereditary Dojutsu, the Sharingan. In  using it, he can use powerful genjutsu surpassing ten times more powerful Genjutsu Itachi Uchiha and his brother, Sasuke Uchiha. It can also instantly stop a shinobi from running and therefore immobilize it. 🔓 Madara is also the only ninja of the Uchiha family to have succeeded in taking control of a Bijû, in this case Kurama with the help of his Sharingan. Mangekyô Sharingan  : Madara has used her Sharingan extremely well from a young age, it is also her handling of the sharingan that has enabled her to rise to the top of the Uchiha Clan , 🥇and thus, manage the clan with her younger brother. When he pushed the evolution of his Dojutsu to the rank of Mangekyô Sharingan, he became able to stand up to the champion of the opposing clan, Hashirama Senju. 🏆 And it is precisely this story that propelled his adventures into future generations. Like the other shinobi using the Mangekô Sharingan, Madara Uchiwa uses Amaretsu, Susano as well as the lunar arcana.   The Susano of Madara

Madara's Susano is extremely powerful , single-handedly capable of fighting multiple Kage, or even chopping up a mount easily with his sword. In addition, Madara has the eyes of his brother which allowed him to reach the final evolution of the Sharingan, the Eternal Mangekyô Sharingan . 👁️‍🗨️ Thanks to this evolved form, Madara can abuse her power without suffering consequences! So he cannot go blind using techniques like Susano or Amaretsu. The only flaw of his Dojutsu is that he consumes a huge amount of Chakra . But faced with the power that this dojutsu grants to its user, it is a weak compensation! The Susano summoned by his sharingan can also serve in defense, almost indestructible, 💎 he seems to be far superior to Gaara's defense. To give you an order of how strong the defense his susano grants him, know that he resisted a punch from Raikage A. 👊  Susano's defensive capacity depends on the base power of its user . Within the Fourth Great Shinobi War, we will have the opportunity to see the final form of the Susano of Madara Uchiha, who is a humanoid! He's an incredibly tall Susano, he's over a hundred meters tall 😲 and wears armor that looks like a samurai . Its final version has four arms, 2 of which hold katana! With a blow of his katama, he was able to destroy several mountains demonstrating his gigantic strength. This susano can also be combined with Kyubi 🦊 and by combining it with the abilities of the Rinnegan, it becomes a power monster greater than 9 Bijûs! It gives its user a boost of both offensive and defensive power! Rinnegan, the most powerful of the Genkai Kekkei

Just before dying, Madara Uchiha evolved her Sharingan into its most powerful form, the Rinnegan 🧿 using stem cells from the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju, which  he implanted in his body. Thanks to this power, he can manipulate the 6 powers of Pain, that includes all the techniques, advantages and abilities related to the Rinnegan . And of course, he once again shows that he is able to harness this new power 💣 with disconcerting ease compared to Nagato. During the Fourth Ninja War, he absorbed with disconcerting ease a Rasen Shuriken from Naruto! The Rinnegan coupled with the Edo Tensei

On the battlefield of war, he will tell Mû that the technique of Edo Tensei, allows him to acquire a source of infinite chakra and to be immortal . 🧛‍♂️ Indeed, even if his body were to be destroyed, he would be able to recompose himself. He was also able to attract meteorites close to earth on the battlefield and successfully kill more than half of the shinobi in Kage Gaara's division. This feat was made possible by the Jutsu Chibaku Tensei or by using a similar variant. The Jutsu Chibaku Tensei makes it possible to create a sphere attracting matter, this Jutsu can therefore potentially attract stars. 🪐 His Eternal Mangekyö Sharingan, coupled with Rinnegan and Edo Tensei make him a legendary ninja comparable to a God 😱 on a battlefield. He therefore represents a very great threat to the Shinobi world! So Great that his presence prompted the Great 5 Kage to cooperate during the Fourth Great Shinobi War. Double Rinnegan

When Madara recovered his second Rinnegan, he was able to use Rikudo's various abilities again to a level far exceeding our expectations. Like manipulating meteorites near the earth, using the Chibaku Tensei , 🌠 in a fraction of a second. His 2nd Rinnegan also allowed him to design several invisible shadows using the Rinbo - Hengoku. Read the full article

[kyogre-blue]

Naruto Shippuden, ep463-468

SIGH

463: 

I thought Sasuke could teleport now, but he can’t go between Kaguya’s dimensions, apparently. I don’t get how his new powers work. Or Naruto’s weird healing thing. (I looked it up, but wiki and quora could only tell me that it’s prooobably Yin-Yang Release but who know.) 

Kaguya “merged with nature”. In her artificially created dimension. OK. 

Obito’s resolution and side switching is so bad. I can’t take it every time we’re reminded of it. ALSO him just going “I’m going to die to help you now :)” is a mess too, even if they try to frame it as him being as good as dead anyway. How... convenient.  

464: 

I also don’t understand how this whole Indra/Ashura reincarnation thing works. On the one hand, it can’t be actual souls reincarnating, since we have Madara and Hashirama running around at the same time as Sasuke and Naruto (and we know Edo Tensei needs souls specifically, since it couldn’t be used on those whose souls got eaten by the Shinigami). So we all assumed it had to do with chakra. BUT now Hagoromo is specifically referring to souls??

Zetsu “possessed” Madara, according to Hagoromo. OK. 

It’s repeated that Hagoromo created the bijuu directly after his battle with Kaguya. Except that he told Naruto previously that he got the idea to create them out of the Juubi’s chakra after seeing something about Ashura. These flashbacks are especially inconsistent, even by Naruto standards. I don’t know why the studio didn’t make the effort to tweak Hagoromo’s dialogue earlier, if they were going to do this. The episodes aren’t that far apart. 

Gamamura had a prophetic dream about Naruto, a blue-eyed boy who would amuse himself with the names of the bijuu. So Naruto stars in two separate prophecies, just to be really clear that it is, in fact, destiny. 

Everyone back in the old days was awfully calm about this horned dude. 

A lot of the civilians back in the day wore normal shoes, not sandals. Also, I didn’t note this before, but their clothing was at times very similar to Susano’o. 

Hagoromo apparently passed on chakra to people only individually? This is really weird, because I figured he did all of humanity at once, but then he specifically gives chakra to Futami. So like... was there a fairly long period where some humans had chakra and some didn’t? Is it possible that there are people even in modern day Naruto world that don’t have chakra at all?? 

Hagoromo’s disciples split up and went their separate ways, so Ninshu probably had a lot of branches. 

Very dubious framing that makes it look as if only Tobi/Akatsuki and Madara mistreated the bijuu, when the biggest offender is Hashirama. 

Indra and Ashura’s mom died in childbirth. Fun fact: When I first watched the Indra and Ashura flashbacks, I didn’t notice that Futami has a male voice and legit thought he was their mom. But that would give a female character too much of a role. 

465:

Taizo, dog Shiro, Gasuka, Edashi, Kana

Indra created hand signs and ninjutsu at age 10. He was rather worried about the direction this would take Ninshu, but Hagoromo was very chill and just said that it’ll go how it’ll go. 

I appreciate that, for as much as I complain about Hagoromo, he freely admits that he was partially to blame for not noticing that an evil slime was radicalizing his kid from childhood. 

Zetsu could seemingly merge with trees, or maybe with matter in general. 

Indra looked so scared of Zetsu as a kid. He got prissy as a teen though. 

466: 

"Power maintains order.” “Why do we have laws? What is the purpose of Ninshu?” You know, I still don’t understand Indra’s mindset and values. He’s given this emphasis on order, but in the end he’s just “might makes right.” Not sure what they’re going for. 

The Sharingan “doesn’t work” on Ashura, according to Hagoromo. It reminds him of Kaguya’s eyes... but she never had one herself. I need to complain later about how the Sharingan is treated in the story, it’s really stupid. 

Ashura says the same thing as Hashirama, that Indra used to be kind. Both of them fixate on this past version of the other person, but don’t acknowledge that they’ve change, or try to understand how or why. 

Both power and love are necessary, according to Hagoromo. 

After Ashura covered his escape, Taizo had to live out in a shack since he was, you know, a criminal. But his mom got medicine somehow anyway. 

He’s willing to go with Ashura an learn Ninshu because a man’s obligation comes before his mom’s hate of Ninshu. But turning to crime and lying to his friend instead of just asking to help treat her was fine. OK.

467: 

It’s been ONLY 20 years since Kaguya was sealed? HOW? Even if you politely accept that Indra and Ashura are only 15 or something, that leaves only 5 years for Hagoromo’s big journey across the world! 

Ninshu had a bad reputation because of its connection to the destruction from Kaguya and Hagoromo’s battle. 

I already complained about the test, so I won’t say anything else. 

Ninshu really liked this practice of sitting in a circle and holding hands to circulate chakra between everyone. 

468: 

"Ashura understands people’s pain.” I really don’t dig this fixation on pain. And furthermore, I don’t see how Ashura understands anything particularly. He certainly doesn’t share anyone’s pain, since his life was quite peaceful, and he doesn’t show any specific cases on empathy as a whole, though he’s certainly a nice enough person. 

If we’re going to talk about understanding the struggles of others, I think it’s notable that no one ever tries to understand Indra’s struggles. It’s just not considered relevant, as if being a genius makes him immune to emotional challenges. 

The way Naruto portrays cooperation is just bad. It really ruins the entire theme about small individual powers coming together to achieve something, since that, uh, doesn’t happen. Or if it does, it feels deeply contrived. The series turns into biggest explosion stuff, with a power scale that completely excludes anyone not in the top tier. 

Hagoromo does some kind of... energy arm to transfer chakra from everyone else to Indra. 

Hagoromo goes on about how chakra “can link many hearts” but this literally never happens. There are cases on individuals linking to each other (Naruto and Sasuke, Naruto and Obito), but that’s it. The only way large-scale linking happens is through the Yamanaka telepathy. 

Indra switched from “watashi” to “ore” after leaving. 

I’m.... I don’t even know what to say about this entire push for some kind of reincarnation battle. “Love vs power” is not an ideological conflict. What does that even mean...

[migila]

Fic time! Christmas special!

Fandom: Naruto

Timeline: When Naruto’s around 8-9

Christmas

“I wonder what I’ll get this year…”

“I’m sure my mom’s knitting socks for me again”

“I get chocolate every year”

“I bet I’ll get something cool; dad said so since I’m an academy student now!”

Naruto listened to his classmates with a small frown on his face. Who cared about something like Christmas? It was stupid; everyone was home, so no one came out to play! He hated Christmas!

…Maybe it’d be nice if he got some presents, too.

Not that he needed any.                                                                                          XXXXX

“It’s Christmas again already… what would you do if you were here?” Kakashi wondered as he stood in front of a grave “Rin… Obito…”

He sighed, adjusting his headband as he walked away. There was no use in thinking about it. They were gone, and that’s that… but if they weren’t, the three of them would probably be spending the Christmas together. All of them had lost their families after all.

“I should’ve paid more attention back then…”

Flashback

“Why do we need to invite Kakashi too?”

The young chuunin’s attention was caught when he heard his name. Looking down from the tree, he saw his teammates, Obito and Rin, walking down the path.

“Because he’s our teammate” Rin answered “We can’t just leave him alone during Christmas!”

“Can’t he spend it with his family or something…” it was really faint, but Kakashi did hear Obito’s muttering.

“He has no family, Obito” Rin tells the boy, who looks at her in surprise “That’s why it’s up to us to cheer him up during Christmas.”

Kakashi appreciated the thought, he supposed, but it was unnecessary. He didn’t care about Christmas.

…But if he didn’t go, Rin would be stuck alone with that idiot Obito. Rin was a good person and a decent comrade; it wasn’t a fate he’d wish on her.

Decision made, he jumped down, right behind the two.

“You called?” he asked, making Obito jump a foot in the air, while Rin was only mildly startled “Kakashi!”

And that’s how he had ended up spending Christmas with his teammates. And Guy. And Kurenai. And Genma. Asuma snuck in at some point, too. In fact, most of their classmates from the academy were there.

He wouldn’t have been needed after all.

And all this was made worse by all the hyacinths around. He hated those so much.

He was allergic.

Guy and Obito had a blast once they realized it.

They didn’t bother him the whole night though, and once they lost interest, Kakashi had just sat down in a corner, reading his book, hoping that this wouldn’t be repeated next year.

Flashback

“And it wasn’t”

Today, he’d give everything to make things so that it wasn’t the case.

But the past couldn’t be changed.

As he walks down the street, Kakashi doesn’t pay any mind to the children rushing home, no doubt looking forward to Christmas meals and spending time with their families. He’d been like that too once, a long time ago. Very long time ago.

“Well, this is a relatively peaceful era; maybe their innocence lasts longer” he thinks, trying to be optimistic.

“Christmas is stupid!”

…Or not. Looking behind him, he sees a blond child sulking with his hands in his pockets, slowly walking ahead. It takes him a few seconds, but eventually, Kakashi recognizes the boy: Minato-sensei’s orphaned son.

“Guess the kid has no one to celebrate with” he thinks before turning to continue on his way.

“Who needs presents anyway?”

“…” Kakashi almost, almost went and told the kid that he wasn’t fooling anyone. But he didn’t; it wasn’t any of his business. It wasn’t any of his business, so he should just keep walking and forget about it.

“…” too late. If he did nothing, he’d just end up feeling bad, now. Sighing, he began to tail the kid. After figuring out where he lived, the shinobi made up his mind. He’d get the boy a Christmas present. Just something small to lift the child’s spirits, no big deal.

Now he just had to figure out what the child would like.

XXXXX

Itachi watched his sleeping little brother, wishing that things were different. If only he could stay to spend the Christmas with him…

“I’ve already chosen my path” the Uchiha reminds himself, shaking his head “There’s no going back.”

Even so, it didn’t hurt to leave a present on Sasuke’s bedside table. The boy would never know it was him.

XXXXX

Kakashi sighs, thankful that he had finally been able to pick a gift and get it wrapped. Not that he was sure at all if the kid would like it or not, but could you blame him? He was an old soul, as some people called him, and had never really been much of a kid himself, so how would he know what a child would want for Christmas?

Eventually, he’d settled on a stuffed toy, hoping that it would work. Kids liked stuffed animals, right? Or was the boy too old for those?

“Well, sink or swim” Kakashi thought as he snuck in to the sleeping boy’s home “It’s not like I even had to do this in the first place.”

And yet, he really hoped the child would like it.

XXXXX

“What were you doing there?” Obito asks as Itachi sneaks out of the village. The other Uchiha barely looks at him before saying: “Personal business.”

“Went to see your brother, didn’t you?” the older one of the two asks, not waiting for an answer “Were you seen?”

“Of course no- “Itachi starts, but is interrupted by his own sneeze.

Raising an eyebrow under his mask, the man asks: “Did you catch a cold?”

“I don’t think so” Itachi says “Must be the season and all the hyacinths; I’m allergic.”

“Ah” is all Obito says before patting his cloak a few times “That’s pretty common.”

The two leave the village alone, but before leaving, Itachi can’t help but look over his shoulder one last time.

XXXXX

Sasuke stared at the present on the table with a frown on his young face, wondering where it had come from. Had the Hokage snuck in during the night? Creepy, but he couldn’t think of who else it could be from. Not that it’d be any less creepy had it been someone else.

“Tsk, I’m not a little kid anymore; I don’t need presents” the boy thought with a scowl, turning his back to the present and heading for the kitchen. And yet, he came back only a few seconds later “It’d be a waste to not at least see what it was.”

XXXXX

Naruto walked to his kitchen half asleep, rubbing his tired eyes. He could’ve slept longer, but he was hungry. It was time for some morning ramen.

“Huh?” the boy blinked sleepily, thinking that he was seeing things. There, on his kitchen table, sat a box neatly wrapped in red paper, finished with a white ribbon on top. It was a Christmas present. He blinked again, still not sure if it was really there, before smiling widely as he came to the conclusion that it really was there. Excited, he ran over, picking the thing up far more carefully that he ever held anything. He didn’t know what was in it and in case it was something that broke easily, he didn’t want that to happen. Carefully, he sat on the floor, putting the present down between his legs before pulling the ribbon off and starting to peel off the paper. When it was gone, he hesitated for a small moment before taking a hold of the box’s lid, lifting it and peeking inside, where a pillow sized stuffed animal, a dog, lay. Smiling widely, he took it out, no longer as careful as before since he’d realized it wasn’t something that would break easily. It was all white, and really fluffy. What kind of dog it was supposed to be, he didn’t know, but maybe he could ask his classmate Kiba about it? He seemed to know a lot about dogs. Not that it mattered; he liked it anyway.

Hugging the toy to his chest, Naruto got up from the floor, realizing that he was still hungry. It was time to eat.

It would only be later that he’d start to wonder where the present had come from.

XXXXX

Laying on his futon, Kakashi woke up to an itchy nose. He sneezed. He hated sneezing; it messed up his mask. Had he caught a cold? No, it didn’t feel like it; his eyes were a little watery. This felt more like an allergic reaction.

“I’m only allergic to one thing” he thought as he sat up, blinking after he did. Why exactly was his place filled with hyacinths, the only freaking thing in the world that he was allergic to? Sure, hyacinth was a Christmas flower, so getting some during Christmas time wasn’t suspicious at all, but who’d bother to sneak in to his home in the middle of the night to bring them, not to mention so many of them?

“There’s a small chance that Asuma might, but he knows I’m allergic and so wouldn’t take such a health risk. Who would?”

….

That wasn’t much of a question, really.

“Guy better watch out.”

[thedancingpetal]

[Dr. Stone Analysis] The smooth ‘change of narrator’ in between the end of prologue and beginning of main story

I’m totally fascinated by the storytelling of Riichiro Inagaki. I have taken note of his writing style since his previous work, Eyeshield 21, and that’s also why I decided to read Dr. Stone—however, the later series has brought me to another level of fangirling. I especially love the transition in between the end of prologue and the beginning of main story. In my opinion, it is simply fantastic.

[The part I am talking about takes place on chapter 12 to 13, in which is equal to anime episode 5 to 6]

What makes me fancy that part is there’s a change of narrator in addition to the change of arc. Prior to the changes, the story is fully narrated by Taiju. Short summary to the chain of events: when he wants to confess to the girl he likes, a sudden mysterious beam appears and petrifies him, as well as everyone else in the world. By the time his stone cracks, thousands years have passed.

[The rest of story is available on streaming site, or manga, I don’t want to spoil. Not because I’m lazy, really. Oh okay, I’m lazy indeed..]

Taiju’s narration during this periode is important for reasons. Set aside his immense physical fitness, Taiju is rather an ordinary person. He is just high school boy who can’t read between lines, thinks everyone is good person, and his best answer to ‘the most important thing we need for a technological civilization’ is …

… smartphone.

[But who can blame him? Even Senku wants one too]

Taiju represents those modern folks who live all their life with technology within reach of hand—or, in simpler word, us. Through his point of view, we can see how petrification event affects normal people; how normal people likely reacts to it. This is the first importance of Taiju’s narration.

The second one is balanced introductory to Senku, the protagonist, and Tsukasa, the antagonist.

[… also known as the ‘husbando’ and the ‘boyfriendo’]

The conflict between Senku and Tsukasa is clash of ideology. In order to make us (reader/audience) engaged to the conflict, it is important to make both side of arguments come across to us impartially. Through Taiju as third party, we can fully understand where Senku and Tsukasa’s conflict comes from, as well as see Senku and Tsukasa as equally awesome characters.

[Taiju the third wheel, I mean, third party]

Taiju’s narration ends with the Taiju trying to revive Senku from his (temporary) death. This also marks the end of prologue. From this scene onward, the main story begins and the narrator button is passed down to Senku.

Here we are brought back to the day Senku is freed from petrification. Senku has been freed half a year before Taiju. So, during the entire prologue, he is already experienced with basic survival skills and acting as helpful NPC to Taiju. Only after this flashback did we get to know that Senku isn’t as overpowered with cheat knowledge as we initially thought. The way he survives through the disastrous event is amazing, but he isn’t without struggles. After all, he is alone in the world that has no civilization.

[In fact, Senku has to start his career from rock bottom]

We also get to know that Senku can get emotional too. He desperately shouts to petrified Taiju, asking him to be awaken. Coincidentally, by the string of fate pulled by Inagaki-kamisama, Taiju in the present time is just as desperate and saying similar thing in front of unconscious Senku.

As I stated previously, this is the part where I am so awed by Inagaki-sensei’s storytelling. I like how Inagaki-sensei cut the prologue off, then reboot the narration by doing a flashback, then put the flashback and the present time as mirror to each other. This transition is very smooth, very emotional, very engaging, very well-built. I can’t put my feeling into words.

[Other anime: nakama poweer!!]

[Dr. Stone: now we will show you how it should be done]

To be honest, during the prologue, I got confused. Senku is visually flashier than Taiju, but why is he a side character? I think I’m not alone in this. There are several people I read in forums that drop this series early, because they think Taiju is the main character and they are uninterested in him. I’m just lucky not dropping this due to my faith on Inagaki-sensei.

I also got confused when the story suddenly did a flashback. Like, why do we need to go back to Day-1 again?

Only after the flashback ended, it finally sank down to me that Senku is the real main character and the flashback is his side of story that’s previously unseen. When I first figured this out, I feel enlightened.

[But not this kind of enlightment]

That marks the time when I realize the true awesomeness of Inagaki-sensei. His story telling is very unique, hands down. I often find the change of narrator in novel, from first person to third person, or one character’s to another, but I rarely find such case happens in manga.

(I occasionally do, though. The most memorable one is from my another favorite series, Naruto, when Sasuke does narration in chapter 699 to conclude the main story of Naruto.

In other manga I have read so far, the change of narrator might have happened only for one or two sub-events. For example, when a side character is brought to spotlight, he/she will do a narration, either telling back story or his/her allotted arc. That’s usually not something that affects the major plot line as in Dr. Stone and Naruto, so I barely have recollection of them.)

Those reasons I stated above are already enough to make Inagaki-sensei one of my favorite shounen writer of all time. I believe there are many good points of his writing style that I haven’t talk about yet, such as his sense of humor (which totally much to my liking), or his cleverness in incorporating real life knowledge into manga story without boring exposition like discovery channel certain tv program. I may write about those things in the future if I can think of interesting theme.

Thank you for reading.

(Although I don’t think anyone will be interested in reading this.)

[captnjacksparrow]

Why do I ship SNS?

It is a known fact that when people experience a good media, they like to discuss various things they liked, hated, interpret what the creator trying to say and get something from what they have consumed. Eventually people end up in a shipping war if there are multiple possibilities. 

I started watching Naruto on a whim, hoping to see some ninjas in action with some revenge as a background (after all when you have power, there will always be a revenge). Am a sucker for revenge, btw. I am a person who hates romance in media. Because, every movie, book, novel, series has this same recycled romance plastered into every story even though the story don’t need at all. So, I am very tired of it. Every media portrays romance as something inevitable, necessary and something we can’t live without. That’s wrong. 

Usually, romance goes like this... Person A sees Person B... they hate each other and add some possessiveness, jealousy... they magically gets attracted through some shared experiences eventually... they kiss and make babies. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s just very tiring as I’ve seen million forms of this same repeated trope. I always cringe and yell “Can you give us something different? Grrr.....”.

And also, my motto is that love can happen with any person. It can’t be restrained into certain boundaries. So, I don’t like to put some relationship under an umbrella called Gay, Lesbian, Straight or whatever. Of course, illicit relationships and incest are not normal and am not okay with it.

With all that being said...

My experience after watching the Shippuden series until episode 478 was “Wait, do they love each other?”. I know am very late to realize this, but I have never even viewed them with any romantic lens throughout. 

On my first watch, I was always under the impression that “They are friends”... But there are certain moments I felt “Wait, why are they doing like this which could’ve been handled in a different way!!” I will get to this later in this post. But those moments were overlooked by me because of my curiosity of “What happens next ??”. 

And on my rewatch, it only confirmed my view. 

The other popular ships like SS and NH put forth many points to invalidate what SNS represents. The most common being “They are reincarnated brothers” or  “They are best friends”. Am just going to debunk them from my point of view. 

Naruto and Sasuke are like brothers.....

Nope. 

The best brotherhood title, in this series, should officially go to Itachi and Sasuke. 

You can argue as much as you want that Itachi mindfucked Sasuke and killed his parents....yaada yaada.... 

It is repeatedly shown why Itachi put a curtain on his own clan. The reason is, Uchiha clan decided to forcefully take over the village. No matter how much innocent you are, you cannot take over something with force. Dot. I will write about this in a separate post.

In short, Sasuke realised how his clan members were wrong after hearing the story from the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. That’s why he openly proclaimed “I am going to protect Konoha and become Hokage”. 

Back to the topic, Itachi and Sasuke are blood brothers. If I ship them both, then what you claim is very valid. 

The above gif says, “Sasuke, I know, I made a mistake by filling you with hatred. But whatever you decide to do from now on, I will love you always”. Meaning, He stopped treating Sasuke as a kid and accepts that Sasuke has his own path to walk.

This is exactly how brothers behave. I would do the same to my kid sister. You can see a fraternal instinct from Itachi’s eyes realizing that this is their last time together.

Another thing, Brothers trope always has this hierarchy.... Protect the younger sibling no matter what. It is evident from Madara/Izuna and Hashirama/Tobirama.

Not convinced?

If you pull the Indra and Ashura bullshit, let me tell you one thing. Indra and Ashura were separated and formed their own clan long ago. They eventually branched off into Uchiha and Senju clans. No way you can relate a century old blood relation as brothers. It’s just their chakra got reincarnated over and over. 

Don’t pull up an incest angle between Naruto and Sasuke. Because they never shared a womb. Dot. 

Naruto and Sasuke are Best Friends only.

You know what, you are almost right. I thought that for a very long time. Remember I never wore any shipping goggles ON. 

There are two types of best friend categories. Best Friends without a reason and Best Friends through rivalry. 

Best Friends without a reason in Narutoverse are: Shikamaru/Choji. 

They just became friends and became BFF. They won’t fight or hurt each other. But when you have something to share...you would go to that person and share everything honestly.

Best Friends through Rivalry: Kakashi/Obito, Hashirama/Madara, Naruto/Sasuke

I really cannot provide more proof for the first two pairings as Best Friends as it is not the scope of this post. Although the latter two also qualifies for shipping category. Why?

Because, the common thing among them is that all the three Uchihas awakened/reawakened their Sharingan for their best friend. But Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke are the only pairings to awaken or evolve Sharingan when trying to break their bonds with each other. 

Special Brownie points for Madara. He had 4 brothers and lost 3 but still couldn’t awaken his Sharingan but when trying to break up with Hashirama, his eyes were brimming red. 

Sasuke’s Sharingan matures in the first Valley of The End.

That’s why I excluded Hashirama/Madara and Naruto/Sasuke from this Best Friends list.

Because to the both Uchihas, the other person meant something special which cannot be comprehended into a mere term called ‘Best Friends’.

Which is exactly why Kakashi/Obito would perfectly fall into this category.

The way they quarrel, fight with each other, protect each other are perfect scores for a friendship. What makes them best friends is when Obito decided to give his Sharingan despite Kakashi was always putting a cold air around him and most importantly asked him to protect his love ‘Rin’. Also Kakashi carried his friend’s will to his heart and passed on to Team 7.

It all falls under ‘In the memory of my Best Friend’ trope.

Obito may be a trash but he is a good friend. Because after Rin was killed, he massacred everyone around him except for Kakashi. He could have killed him. Understandable. Or he could have plucked his Sharingan back (because he literally plucked most of the Sharingans from the Uchiha clan massacre and kept those eyes as a reserve). This could have enabled him to use Susanoo. I believe Susanoo can only be used with Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes. But for some reason, he didn’t. 

So what makes me think Naruto and Sasuke love each other, not as a brother and not as a friend but something beyond which I can’t term?

My way of shipping is not about marriage, sex and rearing babies. Because literally everyone does this as an obligation. 

So, I don’t ship them in terms of living together in my headcanon and having sex daily. Nope. But it is not wrong though if you ship in that sense.

In this Narutoverse, Women are just some stow away pieces whose sole existence is to fawn over their dreamboy and cry for them. (Usually literally nothing useful comes out of them). Me being a girl, as much as I hate this setup but I have come to terms with whatever it is and have accepted it. If you are a girl looking for a strong female character...... this is not the place. Watch something else. 

But I draw inspiration from male characters who are characterized deeply for which I have to applaud the creator. Reason being, the very first character which I connected with was Itachi. It was when Sasuke thinks about his past with his family in the flashback before the first VotE battle in part I. I will be writing a separate post about Itachi in this week. 

In short, If you are a person who wants inspiration, draw it from male characters. Not in a single moment, you stoop so low for characters like Hinata and Sakura. That’s not how I envision myself or any woman. Dot.

With all this being said, I ship them as a couple who necessarily don’t have to get married or have sex... But they each other has some special allowance towards each other in their hearts which no one can touch, not even their wives or children. 

This doesn’t mean I accept what came after episode 478 as they are literally something they made for $$$$$. 

There are some basic traits which are absolutely necessary for a ship to sail successfully. They are Acknowledgement, Reason, No Hierarchy, Influence, Owning each others rights and Privilege. (All these reasons should come from both the sides for the ship to be worthy)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement, I mean here, is to accept and acknowledge what they are to each other.

They both agree that they are Bonded/Friends verbally as well as emotionally.

To me, this is essential in any relationship especially for the ones you are trying to ship. I didn’t see this in any other ships like SS or NH where it is always one sided. Sakura confessed before the village entrance to which Sasuke said “You really are annoying!!”. Hinata proposed in Pain arc. Naruto didn’t even acknowledge her confession. He went on to beg for pardon for Sasuke. Again she proposed in the War at the expense of Love Cupid “Neji”. Naruto went on to joke with Minato that Sakura is his Girl Friend. 

If I were in both of these girls place, I would literally be mad and drop this shit right away.

Wheras in SNS, I saw both the people I am trying to ship were asking “What am I to you?”, to which they reply “You are my friend”. To me this is very important.

Reason

To those who are saying “Love is blind”, “Love is Madness”, “Love needs no reason”, you all need self-evaluation. This is not some K Drama situation where you don’t need any reason. You should know why you love someone and why you need the other’s presence.

Naruto’s reason is very simple.

I could provide many reasons. But here, Sasuke, without any reservations... knowing full well of the consequence if he feed Naruto but still extended the helping hand to someone who was always hostile. It is just like what Iruka did. And many incidents which happened during Land of the Waves arc are evident.

He wanted to be friends with this lonely Uchiha boy way back when he was around 7 or 8 for a simple reason that he understands his pain more than anyone. But he really became friends when they were grouped together for Team 7.  

Sasuke’s reason goes even way beyond when Naruto series started.

“Because he felt relief”.

Imagine a young boy who witnessed a massacre before his eyes and lost everyone he loved. But somehow another young boy of his age made him feel relieved. This explains why Sasuke went all out of his way to make friendship with Naruto despite being aloof. 

Isn’t this what we want from someone we love?  

Rather than being completely insensitive about an orphan life or just stalking from the distance and never offered any support, I would prefer someone who understands my pain from their heart and try to reach me. Sasuke reached out to him by offering the lunch and Naruto reached out to him by making him his rival and bug him.

NO HIERARCHY

This is pretty self-explanatory. Unlike blood brothers, there should be no hierarchy in a relationship I want to ship. 

We saw Naruto yells at Sasuke many times absolutely for no reason, despite Sasuke bearing this cold attitude. Probably he is the only person who can call him by such variety of names. 

Sasuke always calls him by his trademark ‘Usuratonkachi’. Sometimes he calls him fool just like everyone. But was never insulting or mean towards Naruto. Except for that time in the final battle, he made fun of his Shadow Clone jutsu citing his loneliness. 

In short, be it a physical fight or verbal offense.... neither of them wilts like a flower. They equally give back. 

The only other person who can verbally assault Sasuke is Karin and probably the only girl who never addresses him as “Sasuke-Kun”. 

U-SU-RA-TON-KA-CHI..... Why do Sasuke spend such an effort to call someone with a 6 syllabic word, instead NA-RU-TO, a 3 syllabic word which is way more convenient to call?? I always wonder.

POSITIVE INFLUENCE

I don’t have to spell out anything here. There are many obvious examples but will try to keep it short. 

Naruto became strong because of Sasuke. He trained hard for 3 years with Jiraiya , a month with Kakashi developing Rasen Shuriken and controlled Kurama’s power with Killer Bee. Except for Sage Mode jutsu everything he learnt was all for bringing Sasuke back. 

In short, Sasuke is Naruto’s predominant strength. 

Though Naruto was not the source of strength for Sasuke, but he brings out many vibrant emotions in Sasuke which he really needed for his traumatic mind otherwise he would always be that cold angry brooding doll without any emotions and I am sure Sasuke enjoys to banter with Naruto.

LOL!!! I don’t know why Sasuke feels competitve here. It’s pretty childish even for Sasuke.

Friendly tease :-) I think he also protected Sakura in this scene. He can also ask her the same, isn’t it? I mean as a friend. 

The best one is yet to come

It’s incredibly hilarious to see how Sasuke pouts when he was with Naruto. Sakura!!!! You third wheeling joker :-D :-D

Throughout Shippuden, Sasuke never shows his emotions with anyone. He either looks very cold or angry.

Reminiscing his Team 7 days, for a split second. 

Probably the only positive emotion is this, in all of the Shippuden. I mean not counting Episode 478.

I don’t think Sakura brought any kind emotions in Sasuke except annoyance when they were together in Team 7. Or Hinata too. These girls just moan “Sasuke-Kun”, “Naruto-Kun” but brings nothing to the table. Total wastrels!!!!!

OWNING EACH OTHER’S RIGHTS

This section is exactly where SNS moves on to a whole different level.

Sasuke wanted to inflict his pain over everyone who lives in peaceful Konoha for what it did to Itachi. (though I don’t really accept with Sasuke here since he never even bothered to question about his clan’s history, but what he was doing is understandable. Just like Naruto tells him).

But the context here is Sasuke is on a murder rampage. Starting from the Kage Summit, killing Danzo, unnecessarily hurting Karin and almost reached a point where he could not be stopped anymore. Then Ms.Annoying appears. She literally have no fucking clue what Sasuke is going through. So started to spout nonsense that she wanted to go with Sasuke-Kun with an ulterior motive to kill him without a strong resolve. 

The interesting SS dynamics here is Sasuke asks Sakura “Do you know what I want?” and to which she gives a carefree-shitty-pathetic answer “I don’t care. I will do whatever you want”. Geez!!!

If I were Sasuke, I would think, “This person standing before me don’t even care about what I want but coming with an intent to kill me and not only that... she is a kunoichi from Konoha where I planned to inflict my pain by slaughtering them.. I better ram my Chidori and be done with it”... He doesn’t see her as his former Teammate. He just want to kill that person.

However, Kakashi deflects the attack and saves Ms.Useless. 

( Me : I am a Sasuke fan through and through. But, Sakura..... You always says you will do this, do that.... But you never succeed at anything... Why is that? Why are you even continue being a ninja? No one asked you to kill Sasuke, you decided to. But why don’t you kill him. Probably you would’ve earned my begrudging respect... Pffft” ****sighs with a heavy second hand embarassment)

Anyways, Sasuke becomes an unstoppable maniac at this point because he was very irritated on seeing Kakashi and Sakura spouting some unreachable nonsense. So he started to attack Kakashi as he is even more irritated on seeing his Sharingan.

Again, Ms.Idiot wants to kill Sasuke when he is at his weakest point due to chakra exhaustion and that too from behind his back. (You!!! Gutless wrench). Sasuke sensed this and attempted to kill her again... (Naruto!!! You idiot. Why did you save her...)

However, Naruto appears and saves her. Naruto and Sasuke’s eyes meet each other.

But somehow Sasuke calmed down and hears out Naruto for what he has to say. He says, “Whatever you are doing until now, it’s understandable”. 

Kakashi wanted to kill him and Sasuke got riled up and prepare his Chidori. Anyways, Naruto intervenes and they go to some meta physical plane and talks privately. And Naruto comes up with his idea and announces as below:

Me: Naruto!!!! Sweety..... Do you realize that you have a big dream of becoming a Hokage which you have been shouting from Day 1? But still you want to overthrow everything for that one person who is in unbearable pain. It’s alright. But you don’t want to go alone or send him alone. No Best friend would go this far. And to those Sakura shippers.... Why didn’t Sakura try to bear the burden? Why didn’t she come up with this Idea? Afterall, you spout nonsense like ‘Sakura saved Sasuke from Darkness, isn’t it?’ And, Naruto.... Who gave you the right to take his hatred and shoulder the burden? And what makes you think you are that only person to do it??? Sasuke, might have other special person in those 3 years. How can you decide on Sasuke’s behalf??? Aren’t you going overboard ?

The answer to all the above is simple, Naruto can risk anything for Sasuke. And he clearly knew that Sasuke’s only living bond is him.

And what happened next was almost unbelievable and for the first time I thought ‘What is it with these two guys?’. 

Sasuke agrees with Naruto’s proposition to not destroy Konoha before fighting with Naruto. 

Me: Sasuke!!!! You have every right to reject his proposition. Since, he was not in your life for the past 3 years, your side of bond with Naruto should have been cut-off long back, right? Sasuke??? Well, at this point he was just your former Team 7 member. You don’t need to honor your proposition. You can attack Konoha anytime. Why did you accept?

Also Me: Sweety!!! Why do you always question Naruto ‘Who am I to you’? Why do you need his opinion always? There is an annoying princess standing behind Naruto vying for your attention. And yet you didn’t even ask her this question at any time. But before Naruto, you completely calmed down from your rampage and willing to wait for what he has to say plus asking for his validation. After all you don’t care about anything, why just Naruto???

And the reason being, Naruto is still his closest bond which he couldn’t cut off despite trying very hard. After all, Many years ago, Sasuke was the one, who readily jumped in to protect Naruto knowing full well that it’s a trap. He was ready to throw away his revenge for this boy back then. Sasuke is afraid that he will give in to this bond once more and Naruto is his weakness which he wants to eliminate so badly.

This is definitely not any Best Friend would do..... Fix that in your mind.

The purpose of these GIFs is not show how protective Sasuke is..... Well, I can talk about it all day. Let’s save it.

Me: Yo!!!! Sasuke..... You wanted to kill Naruto.... You said so yourself under the bridge. Meaning, He is the only person standing between your goal and your resolve and Naruto is always known to weaken your resolve. And yet why are you protecting him here? There is absolutely no need. Because, if there is a situation like Kaguya where both of you are must needed to save this world , then there is a reason to save him. But why now? Plus do you know, if Naruto dies, then Madara’s plan may not succeed because if a Jinchuriki dies, tailed beast also dies. It is perfect for your Revolution, isn’t it? Who gave you the right to own his life? Obito has his reason to kill Naruto, why not let him?Why is it that you want to personally remove him from your life? If he is dead by an external factor, you can carry on your path without any interference and pain. Why go so far to protect him ?

The answer is Sasuke values Naruto’s life more than his own even during his Team 7 days. He has this high esteem for Naruto and almost consider it to be a shame if some worthless fool takes his life. And Sasuke never hated Naruto. He once hated Itachi and his resolve to kill was real and intense. But when Orochimaru asked him to kill 1000 people for practice, Sasuke never killed anyone. He even implemented no kill policy for his team “Hebi”. So, someone like Sasuke who never liked to kill random innocent people, how could he let some trash take away a life, he considers dearly to the same level of Itachi? That’s why in this situation, his body moved on his own to protect something special for him. He may not agree it, but he always shows it.

But some other ship wankers try to say Sasuke may have said “You are annoying” but inside he deeply loved her which is why he was smiling. If so, Why didn’t Sasuke never showed his care not even once? He not only tried to kill her twice when she was defenseless but also let her die twice or didn’t bother at all during the war. Or show me where these soul level connection happened between SS or NH

In short, Sasuke and Naruto own each other’s rights unconsciously. Because they are the only ones who can understand each other’s soul which nobody can reach.

Me: Oh, by the way Sasuke, I think Susanoo should be used like this. You really don’t need your hand to protect Naruto. Susanoo can do it’s work for you. Minato would be proud though!!!!

PRIVILEGE

Most of the points I written above are in and of itself is a privilege they give for each other and not for anyone else. Privilege is essential in a ship. Because it shows how different a loved one is from normal people. 

For Naruto, 

I originally want to put how he begs for forgiveness on Sasuke’s behalf before Raikage and weeps immeasurably before hyperventilating. But this one trumps the other. Naruto literally broadcasted everyone how important Sasuke is to him and how he regretted not offering his friendship at that time and how he couldn’t stop Sasuke from reaching Orochimaru. 

If you want to inspire Alliance shinobi forces, you should have shown how you worked so hard from the bottom to top. Projecting Sasuke as your regret and inspiring people shows how deeply you prioritize this person which affects you after so many years and hence, you don’t want any more regrets. 

It’s very unconventionally romantic which passes the shipping category in flying colours. 

For Sasuke,

The following is the Land of the waves arc which was novelized in the name of Innocent Heart, Demonic Blood released in 2006. 99.9% of the material is exactly as it happens in Manga/Anime. 

This is the privilege Sasuke provides for Naruto. “ But coming from Sasuke, It almost counted as a hug”... 

BROWNIE POINTS:

Now, the following are the scenes which add a mysterious flavour to this ship. I sincerely don’t understand why Kishimoto put this. I mean I am absolutely happy with it, but why? What was he thinking while drawing these scenes? 

It’s also strange that, whenever they clash a Chidori with Rasengan..... They always gets repelled to their own sides and fall with a loud thump. But Naruto’s posture looks very perfect, I mean it looks like someone carried him and laid him down. Anyways, What’s Sasuke doing on Naruto’s side?? He should have fell on the opposite side. Why didn’t he walk away? There is absolutely no reason for Sasuke to come over to Naruto’s side and have an intense meaningful gaze. 

This is another mysterious plus intense scene. I am still wondering, Is this really Sasuke? He is a person who avoids casual touches with anyone other than his brother. I’ve seen so many times Sasuke rejecting hugs from Sakura. I can’t even imagine what Kishimoto was thinking. 

If you people pass these scenes off as Brotherhood or Best Friend chemistry... Then you lack basic human emotions. That’s all. 

Me: Well, Sasuke, If you really want to kill him, you should have shovelled your sword right through Naruto’s vital point when you made that exuberant landing. There is literally no need for you to draw a long sword in close quarters. And what about the Personal Space??? With your speed, you can land without leaning on Naruto’s shoulders... 

Also Me: Yo, Naruto... You were panicking when Sai does the same....but you don’t even flinch when Sasuke invades your personal space????

Anyways, it’s funny that both the intense scenes I have mentioned here were initiated by Sasuke. Quite strange and thrilling.

So, to conclude.... All these scenes I have mentioned  made me unconsciously ship them as a pair. With all these being said, I believe all the ingredients for a good romance were laid perfectly. A moment of impulsive tension or affection, say a hug, between them after a difficult battle could mess with both and make a romance happen. And I don’t think either of them will deny especially Sasuke. 

I don’t see any of this aspect in other popular ships such as SS and NH. If I am Sakura or Hinata in this universe, I will not be okay with my pair doing all these things with other person. I intentionally left scenes from Episode 478 as it is so intense and require a separate post. I am happy that even without Episode 478, SNS ship sails high. So, I believe both Sakura and Hinata are still fourth wheeling their respective pairs in Boruto universe also, I guess. 

P.S: I don’t watch Boruto

Final memento:

No way a friend will look this mesmerized on seeing the other one. 

[dalekofchaos]

Confused. I thought by your "how I would change the Naruto ending" post meant you weren't a fan of Sasusaku, but you reblooged a shit ton of fan art? So you ship Sasusaku, Narusaku, Sasukarin and Naruhina?

I ship all 4. I just think the way Kishimoto went about making Naruhina and Sasusaku in the ending was horrible. So this is how I would’ve handled Sasusaku and Naruhina

My reasons for liking Narusaku and Sasukarin remain the same.

Sasuke, someone who wanted to rebuild his clan, just leaves his family. Yes I know the reasons, but they were terrible reasons. What they could’ve done is after Sasuke’s path to right his wrongs, he could’ve returned and stayed in the village and fully flesh out his relationship with Sakura. And Sasuke trully grows to love Sakura. And they build a family and slowly but surely restores the Uchiha Clan. Sarada is their daughter, but I think Sasuke should’ve had a son too….or you know just give them 2-5 children. I’ve seen fan artists show Sasuke and Sakura have a big family and I think they should have a big family but still show that they are battle couple goals and ya know….let Sasuke keep his hair to how we all see him and don’t give him Snape hair :P As for aside from rebuilding his clan and having a happy family life, I can see Sasuke and Kakashi working together to killing and destroying Root and rebuilding the Uchiha Police Force and being Naruto’s right hand man. But Sasuke would get justice for his family first. He cannot actively kill them, but Koharu and Homura would be put on trial for war crimes against the Uchiha clan and be jailed for going along with Danzo’s schemes. Sasuke clears Itachi’s name and achieved peace for what happened to his clan.   

As for Naruhina, I always liked them together, but we didn’t need a magical flashback to convince Naruto he liked Hinata, we needed Naruto to naturally grow feelings for Hinata. Naruto realizes she was there for him when no one else and would return feelings for her and save Hanabi together. But Naruto needed to change the Ninja world and the Hyuga with Hinata by his side. As for family, I’m okay with two kids as they are, but Boruto didn’t need to be the worse lol. Naruto actually spends time with his children and gives them a great childhood.

Also this is how Hokage Naruto should’ve looked like tbh

Naruto’s Hokage council could’ve been Shikimaru, Tsunade, Sasuke and Kakashi

I believe Naruto should’ve ended with everyone achieving a happy ending. And also this.Naruto visits Jiraya’s grave. Has flashbacks to their memories, in tears telling pervy sage that he’s finally done it and leaves. He is later on the roof, looking at Minato’s face on the Hokage Rock telling his father he’ll finish where he left off and looks at the sky telling his mother her little boy has grown up to be what she’s always wanted. Sasuke and Sakura soon join him on the roof, Sakura recalls all of Team 7’s memories together. Then it suddenly flashes back to Team 7 introducing themselves to showing them now.

that’s how I would end things and how I would handle Sasusaku and Naruhina.