#naruto Shippuden manga analysis

[team7-headquarter]

Sasuke saying that before —when he activated the Susanoo to shield them from the Tsukuyomi— he only saved Sakura and Kakashi because they were next to Naruto, not because he cares about them or what happens to them (or if they die, by the way). He says after Naruto calls him to save Kakashi and Sakura from falling into the lava and Sasuke tells him to look at what's in front of him instead, 'cause if one of them two gets killed then it's over for everyone.

Of course, Naruto calls it bullshit, implying Sasuke moved to save them without thinking, like when they were genins and Sasuke jumped in front of Naruto to protect him from Haku's attack. Sasuke didn't know what he did it at the moment ('cause he cared, 'cause he didn't want to see them hurt, 'cause they do matter to him).

In the manga we see him summoning a hawk to save himself from the fall, then hearing Naruto's call so Sasuke looks at where Kakashi and Sakura are. I know this 'cause he looks up and to his left / front, while Naruto is lower and to his right side. Then almost immediately he looks the other way and goes to save Naruto. It happens in a flash.

Sakura and Kakashi were in front of them at the time, but almost at the other side of the cave they were in, with Obito being closer to the wall of the cave. Kaguya is to Sasuke and Naruto's left, but to the right of Sakura, Kakashi and nearest to Obito. Since Naruto points later at Sakura and Kakashi with his right hand (not gonna show the panel in here but yeah), we know that he must had turned to Sasuke's direction.

Naruto must have turned again at some point, because he was falling with his belly down and looking at Sasuke, yet when he's caught by the summoning he is facing the other direction, at Kakashi and Sakura, not at Sasuke.

Which means that Sasuke could have made that on purpose so Naruto could see by himself that they were safe.

But the thing is, Sasuke describes what happened to Naruto perfectly, without looking back at them that much. In the blink of an eye Kakashi did all of that, Sasuke looked up and saw Kakashi doing it and turned around, knowing Kakashi got it and he needed to save Naruto (they didn't know yet that Naruto could levitate like Madara lol).

So when Naruto implies to him that he "moved to save them before he could think twice about it", it's because the panel confirms it. Naruto does Kakashi and Sakura the favor of implying it out loud more than he needed to and still leaving it vague enough as to not pressure Sasuke, 'cause neither Sakura or Kakashi were in the fight with Haku, so they wouldn't really know what Naruto is referring to here.

Naruto's smirk is because he knows that Sasuke knows that he knows.

[skykashi]

A reminder that the first thing Kakashi did after getting revived was looking for Naruto

This man here, literally just came back from death, chakra depleted and all and he only had one thought on his mind "finding and helping his kid" and as tired as he ought to be, he carried him on his back all the way to the village

Recalling Naruto's words when they first met, acknowledging and being proud of him that he achieved his dreams and telling him not once.. but twice that he did such a good job.

And still some ppl accuse this man of being a bad sensei!!

Edit: before you think about leaving another negative comment or reblog we already discussed why Kakashi is not a bad Sensei and replied to everything you're probably going to say here.

[srs-deep-dives]

Minato & Kushina: A "Deep Dive" Analysis (Section A, Part III)

Today we will conclude Section A on Minato and Kushina as each other's anchors. (Parts I and II here.)

Picking up where we left off in Gaiden, we have Kushina’s coming-to…

…and the climaxing showdown with Kurama.

(Section A) III. Minato and Kushina as unified anchors

Now it must be emphasized that, as the manga has shown all along, Minato and Kushina rival Kurama together. There is no ‘Minato fights Kurama’ or ‘Minato wins ‘with Kushina’s help,’’ as many fans have misread. The two are a duo, a uniform team; two equal halves of ONE. And ONLY against these two equal halves of one TOGETHER is Kurama overcome. That is how it is here. That is how it is the night they save the village. And that is how it is with Kurama’s redemption (the baby born of their love, half-Minato-half-Kushina, fulfilling their legacy).

To make this abundantly clear, Kishimoto filled the oneshot with notes to Kushina’s prowess. So let us consider the showdown within its proper context.

The chapter opens with Iwa’s two jinchūriki saying to an outmatched Team Jiraiya, “If you really wanna fight us you better bring Nine Tails’ jinchūriki.” Their use of Bijū Bombs tells us they would be rivaled by Kurama’s power. And it tells us Minato is no match for Son and Kokuō’s, who, put together, are weaker than Kurama by himself. Thus Minato by himself (let alone with a Sannin) cannot match two Bombs weaker than one from Kurama. “...you better bring Nine Tails’ jinchūriki.” The very opening line foreshadows Minato and Kushina fighting together.

A few pages later, Kushina meets her keepers, saying she has “sealing jutsu training with Namikaze Minato.” The next page reveals she is teaching Minato Uzumaki fūinjutsu. When Minato augments her seal in his own style, he is adding to and enhancing a jutsu he learned from Kushina. “I promise to go all out again today!” (Kushina has been giving these lessons her all and Minato has more than kept up.) “You pick up things real quick, Minato. And there are still tons of Uzumaki clan sealing jutsu WE haven’t covered yet, so...” (They have been doing this together for quite a while.)

Skipping forward (in flashback), Mito remarks that Kushina has “much more lustrous hair” (strength) than her – i.e. Kushina will surpass the woman who sealed the full Nine Tails inside of herself. This flashbacks takes place a few years ago. And we have seen a 24-year-old Kushina give birth, have Kurama extracted, subdue him while at death’s door, and offer to fully seal him back and drag him with her into death all within the same hour. At death’s door. Are we for a moment to assume she didn’t have even a portion of this power as a teenager? Why is this emphasis of Kushina surpassing Mito important? Because it is a mirror parallel: Minato has “a most powerful shinobi ranking alongside First Hokage Hashirama;” Kushina is “a strong child” with “much more lustrous hair than [First Hokage Hashirama’s wife Uzumaki Mito].”

While Minato is creating the Rasengan, Kushina with implied ease binds her ANBU guards (two of the top jōnin in the village) with both unable to break free. One thinks to himself how her binding power is getting stronger with age – implying that it may not be the first time she has done this.

The jutsu common to dying-Kushina, the ANBU-binding, and the present fight against Kurama is her Adamantine Sealing Chains. What do these Chains seal? Chakra. What is Nine Tails? A breathing mass of chakra. Where is she currently sealing him? Inside the seal binding him inside her. He is not at his full fighting capacity.

So we are inside Kushina’s seal by which Kurama is already bound. He has struck and stabbed Minato (we’ll get to Minato’s nerfing in a moment) and is wrestling Kushina for control – i.e. Minato and Kushina are also not at their full fighting capacity. Kurama is forming a Bijū Bomb in his (breaking) binds while Kushina is further binding him with her Chains. Our weakened Minato uses Rasengan against Kurama’s weakened Bijū Bomb and manages to match it enough to fix Kushina’s seal in a double knockout.

Minato is seriously underrated. But let us not forget: so is Kushina. And it is their combined, two-halves-as-one power that defeats Kurama. Just like their final fight which saves Konoha.

Now onto Minato’s nerfing. Kushina is knocked down and he is stabbed in her seven-tailed bijūfication. Kushina screams for him to leave her and save himself, but he refuses. If this isn’t a display of utter, unwavering devotion I don’t know what is. With a literal hole through his stomach, Minato tells her that he will never leave her.

But let us backtrack even further. First, Minato has been training all day. Since he returned from the battlefield. Creating his A-rank jutsu. The training grounds are covered in craters he made, and he promised Jiraiya he would rest. This is no run-of-the-mill practice session. He is exhausted. (Similar, to note, as he is the night of Naruto’s birth. He – excruciatingly – keeps Kushina’s seal together throughout her entire labor.)

Second, the wound Minato has already received – from chakra tail one – was no run-of-the-mill slap. Recall a parallel when Naruto bijūfies and Sakura, trying to call him back, takes a similar hit. It effectively poisons her; Kurama’s chakra seeping through her wound and numbing her body. Even after she heals herself with medical ninjutsu and is later healing Naruto.

Sakura was struck by a manifesting half-Kurama. But Kushina, unlike her son, had the full Kurama inside her. Take the damage that Sakura – the Hokage’s apprentice and a medic-nin more adept than anyone in the whole Sand Village – took, and double it. That is Minato’s blow.

Poisoned (essentially) and stabbed (foreshadowing his future death), our man is facing losing odds. On top of having worked on his jutsu all day, expending a considerable amount of chakra. Yet in his endurance FOR Kushina (inspired BY Kushina's endurance as we noted last post) he realizes a way through. What a man. And thus, we have the climaxing resolution of the vessel motif: Kurama proclaims Kushina as his “pillar” – that, in effect, he has filled her vessel. Minato, sensing his own love inside her, tells him that he is wrong.

Here we play into the ninshū lore of people sharing chakra and emotions. We’ve seen it with the Sage bestowing ninjutsu. We’ve seen it with Naruto and the Allied Shinobi. Here at last, Kushina realizes her vessel full, and Minato, feeling those feelings, projects himself into the seal. This can also be viewed in terms of being a seal itself. Kurama is literally sealed, permanently, within Kushina. The exact same can be said for Minato’s love. Note his language, present tense: “I exist inside Kushina at all times!!”

Finally, persisting in their love and endurance, they muster the mental and physical power to together defeat Kurama.

This parallels Naruto’s overcoming – again right to the angle – where Kushina also uses her Chains and Naruto his father's jutsu. Put together thus, this moment in Gaiden foreshadows Kurama’s defeat – where his arc will shift from vengeful monster to redeemed friend of Konoha. Moreover, it foreshadows the climax of Minato and Kushina’s arcs: their legacy as fulfilled in Naruto, for both Naruto and the village.

So in summary so far, Kushina is Minato’s anchor and Minato is Kushina’s. Each sees the other as the stronger one, while simultaneously strengthening the other. They change each other for the better, and endure, embodying what ‘Hokage’ stands for. Which brings us now to our next section concerning the wider narrative: their dream of Hokage.

Section B, Part I here.

[littlemonstert-blog]

Explaining What I Shouldn't have to...

My Aynalsis

People act like this explanation came out of nowhere when it was literally right in our faces.

Since there only so many panels I can add i might even do a mini part 2

Yes Naruto reasoning for his crush on Sakura was because his rivalry with Sasuke.

Let's started from the beginning where the author set of the dyanmic between team 7.

This is how

Had it from the very beginning

"Sakura a cute girl i like alot" like this is it. So basically from the start from what we know she's cute. That's it

then introduce sasuke already we seen they already know each other.

People tend to "call cap" like there isn't a whole ass chapter explaining the ONLY reason why he even liked her in the first place. Chapter 3

" All I want is for you to acknowledge me." Naruto really took this up as a competion to go out of his way to make Sakura dislike Sasuke.

He did in certain ways at time saw sakura a trophy in a competion.

How did people take this seriously. A immature boy who grew up without parental guidance.

Chunnin Exams

Chapter 37

For somebody who as a crush on Sakura he much more worried about Sasuke having the attention then rather Lee who's blowing kissing & asking her out on a date.

"Always Sasuke"

Forest of Death

Chapter 57

Don't even get me started on the forest of death that the real kicker for me.

in the dream sequence we finally get to see how Naruto wants to one up Sasuke & Sakura as the trophy

And when Naruto wakes up not asking about her injuries but... about her hair.

Chapter 74

Ya' know this could been a true moment between the two, but Naruto doesn't really care. Always turns to be comedic relief nothing to take seriously.

(This is how sum up there 'moments" could have been romantic but ends up as a joke because the author never takes them seriously.)

Naruto vs Gaara

Chapter 129

'What are we suppose to do?"... Now, thats not something you say when the girl you like is in danger of dying.

It took Sasuke throughout this chapter to remind him to do something.

In contrast with other characters there's no questioning what to do. Naruto does two things; will get super mad and go berserk if you mess with Sasuke or Hinata regardless of what point you read in the story

After the Tsunade arc

chapter 172

Now, people say he was sad because how Sakura ran up to. No form this panel Naruto sees that Sasuke was at peace that why we get that "sasuke..you..." he's been through then decides to leave.

If naruto was all that upset about it we would have gotten a flashback to the scene. But then here we are again with Naruto & Iruka eating more concered if Sasuke will become a chunin chapter 172

Then went back to see sasuke smiling as if nothing happened

Even after this to prove my statement he still wants to check on Sasuke & his wellbeing chapter 173

The promise

chapter 183

Seen people say Naruto was truly heartbroken during this. Which is not true Naruto always knew Sakura has feelings for Sasuke. If it was that they would have had a flashback to the hospital scene. In truth Naruto understands her too and is hurt because he cares about Sasuke leaving too.

After Pein Arc

In this scene it just shows us how they just incompatible they are. Never being able to console each other ( other then when it comes to sasuke) when it comes down to it. Naruto needs cheering up to & I understand Sakura needs it as well because Tsuande is her teacher.

Naruto never paied attention when Sakura has been feeling down unless it possibly about Sasuke.

If it isn't Team 7 mission related or Sasuke what do they honestly talk about? I've never see them bond about anything else. When it comes down to it there friendship has always been rocky.

The kage summit arc

The Promise

Chapter 457

What we've all been waiting for

Here we have it brought up again the conversation between Naruto & Sai

Couldn't keep his promises... Not only did he not answer the question we have the next time when it's brought up again.

Chapter 470

"Doesn't matter about the promise." I want to save Sasuke for my own sake."

Naruto telling her it doesn't matter if there a promise between them and if he never made he still chase after Sasuke....

Then what the hell is it then? This just tells us that his "feelings" for Sakura are shallow as hell and fading.

After this it's never brought up again. Normally if the girl you love did a fake confession like this be heartbroken & could never see them again.

But, Naruto acted as if this nothing ever happen. It's never brought up again.

If he really wanted Sakura wouldn't he have ask his mother advice/tips on this?

Looking back

Chapter 693

you have Sakura confess again right in front of Naruto & he isn't even fazed nor cares by it.

Chapter 691

At the end Naruto still doesn't even mention her to his father at the end.

At the end of it Naruto still doesn't know a damn thing about romance or girls. Why would he? Honestly an orphan at birth will be ignorant to certain situations. Just look at how long it took for Naruto to understand Sasuke.

but the question is when did Naruto start to grow up & mature?

I'd say it the time Jiraya died that when he truly grew up & matured.

May revise when I feel like it.

[angelsyrip]

im just a simple girl, i see naruto edit, i like it.

[jaguarys]

I think one of the most frustrating things about trying to analyze Naruto in any meaningful way is that in so many different ways... it's entirely unclear what it was even trying to say.

I think the best example is the Hyūga. I truly have no fucking clue what the goal was there. What was the intended message? I don't even know what Kishimoto thought he was saying.

And it makes it impossible to understand! It's worse than if the message was just poorly executed, because at least then it would have been executed at all.

[sklives]

Just a reminder for the haters out there 🤭

[fangxin-guoshi]

The Uchiha actually didn't hold very much power within the village during fugaku's leadership

I've seen some arguments talking Abt how the Uchiha weren't actually oppressed because their clan exclusively ran the police force. While they were in a position of supposed authority, they didn't actually hold very much power within the village.

There's a scene (in Itachi's past arc, somewhere around ep 453-455?? Idk) where the clan heads are in a meeting with the elders concerning the aftermath of the nine tails attack. When danzo proposes the Uchiha to be moved on the outskirts of the village, fugaku says the Uchiha won't be able to effectively act in an emergency. Danzo basically says "that's what the anbu is for blah blah".

Ok. So what's the purpose of the police force if the anbu are the ones who will respond in emergencies? Also, add on the fact that the anbu are ranked higher than the police force, so they can't even arrest an anbu without a warrant. Btw I know the anbu are essentially the cia (as in they handle international conflicts rather than domestic ones within the village), but they still partake in handling emergencies within it as well, so their duties overlap a little with the police force.

The apparent purpose of the police force is to resolve domestic and minor incidents in the village, which I would argue is a waste of their power (considering they're one of the most powerful clans in the village). However, the actual purpose was to ostracize the Uchiha. Why else would the police force be exclusive to only the Uchiha? I'll give tobs the benefit of the doubt and say he really did have good intentions with creating the police force (even tho it's canon tobirama is prejudiced toward the Uchiha but oh well), but that doesn't change the result of the uchiha being ostracized. Ik he had no way of predicting the circumstances so don't come at me tobirama simps (jk you guys are great)

It's heavily implied that the village doesn't trust the Uchiha in serious cases (nine tails attack), so they stick them with simple tasks and monitor them on cameras (bc thats how you show a clan you trust them ig...). While launching a plan to overthrow the government is probably not the best way to deal with your grievances over the position your clan is in, that doesn't make the Uchiha entirely wrong for it (tho that's up for your personal interpretation). I personally think that it makes sense and they're justified in their way of thinking. They're Shinobi, it's not like every problem can be solved diplomatically.

Kinda got sidetracked but basically I'm saying the Uchiha didn't hold as much power as anti Uchiha lads think they did. Honestly this post was just based on a different post I saw that talked Abt how the Uchiha had a monopoly on village authority and I disagreed so I wrote an essay lol.

[squishyneet]

The strength of Tobirama Senju, the hero of my heart

Tobirama is my hero.

Tobirama, along with Hashirama, Kawarama, and Itama, was abused by Butsuma Senju. But Tobirama stepped up to be the shinobi his father desired. After the grief he had been put through and after losing his child brothers because of his father’s reckless ideals, he ultimately chose to be the mediator between Hashirama and Madara. He chose to be Hashirama’s rock and not let his heartache take him over.

I’m sure he missed them, Kawarama and Itama. Maybe the real reason behind Edo Tensei was his heartfelt need to see them again. Their innocent faces, their arms around him in an attempt to comfort him. He’d wonder what they would say to him now.

He endured the beatings and probably plenty of verbal abuse, too. He lived with the fact that he would never get a real father or his brothers back. He had to try to control the violent and angry tendencies he earned from his father with no help for the rest of his life. There’s a rift between him and Hashirama. As much as he loves him with all his heart, it’s hard. It’s hard to talk to him. It’s easy to jump in and protect someone in the heat of battle, in war. But opening up, relaxing . . . it’s difficult even around his caring big brother.

His grief materializes in endless training and study. He couldn’t find an answer as to why these things happened to him, so he never stopped trying to find an answer to save the future shinobi. This era of war would someday end, and he and his brother would be the progenitors of the era of peace among the shinobi. He never gave up in trying to end the cycle of misery, even if it was hard on him. He taught the shinobi what peace and love was, even though they were never a part of him and his childhood.

He just wants to sleep. Sleep his pain away. Stop training, stop the peace talks, stop thinking. Just take a long, quiet nap with Hashirama in the living room.

He may not be the God of Shinobi, but he was the damn best shinobi he could have been. He is my hero for rising above his suffering for the sake others, especially Hashirama. 

[skykashi]

Hi, what do you think about this "Kakashi sucks because he is loyal to the system that is responsible for everything" at first I was angry with the person who said this but at the same time I thought why is Kakashi loyal to Konoha and never left?

Why would he leave?

Like, what would he possibly achieve by running away from his home and leaving the few friends he has left behind?. Kakashi is not like those characters who are like "I got hurt so everyone should hurt too and feel the same pain I felt" no, Kakashi is the kind of character who is like "I got hurt so I don't want anyone else to ever go through what I went through" so he stayed and did his best to protect his friends and the the innocent ppl that he swore to protect when he decided to be a ninja. So what good would running a way and abandoning all of those people would achieve? Leaving the village won't get him anywhere. Like seriously, what would he do after he leaves? Join the Akatsuki and hurt even more innocent ppl? Or just keep running for the rest of his life without doing anything useful at all?! And he did answer your question in chapter 630. When he said "The hole in one's heart gets filled by others around you. People won't flock to someone who abandons the memory of his friends and gives up on the world just because things don't go the way he wants them to. That won't help fill the hole in your heart. People don't help those who run away and do nothing. As long as you don't give up, there will always be salvation."

And this is the difference between Kakashi and Naruto, and all the other characters that "left". No matter how bad he was hurt, he still had hope for a better future, he still did his best to make a change that would actually count and help someone or protect someone. And he didn't only dream of changing Konoha for the best because it wasn't just Konoha, he dreamed of changing the entire Shinobi world so no one would ever get hurt again the same way he and his team got hurt.

Kakashi is not the kind of person who would act upon his emotions alone, he never does anything that isn't well calculated and that's what makes him the tactical genius he is, even when he failed those students that came before team 7, he didn't fail them because he's depressed or because he was being bitter, he failed them because they weren't ready, because they would have probably been killed if they passed and started to take missions and they themselves thanked him for that

And he's not "loyal to the system" as whoever that person is claimed. Kakashi is not a mindless Shinobi who blindly follows orders either, he disobeyed direct orders from both Hiruzen and Tsunade before, if he thinks that a certain order is wrong he won't do it, no matter who gave it

So by staying he did far more good than he could have ever done if he acted like a rebellious teenager and just left. He saved those kids he failed from getting killed in some mission because they were made Shinobi before they were ready, he protected his friends, students and his ppl countless of times and as a result he became Hokage later and helped even more ppl even beyond his nation, by maintaining the peace that they all fought so hard for by creating the exchange system between the Shinobi world that kept them all needing each other and stopped any possible conflict that might occur, he cleaned the village from the corrupt system and all the damage that was still left by Danzo and his followers as mentioned in Kakashi Retsuden, he even forbade killing, even of enemies, to stop the cycle of hatred and revenge... and so many other things he did as a Hokage that I will leave for another post that didn't just help Konoha but helped the entire world like he once dreamed as a kid. He would have never been able to do any of this if he simply just left the village. Throwing a tantrum then leaving the village and not actually doing anything good to change things isn't what makes a character cool imo, but standing their ground, fighting for their beliefs, helping others and trying to make a change is what makes a character cool and that's one of so many reasons Kakashi is my favorite character.

[srs-deep-dives]

Minato & Kushina: A "Deep Dive" Analysis (Section A, Part I)

Greetings and welcome to a deep-dive into this masterpiece of a love story, where we will be analyzing Minato and Kushina as characters and examine their bond on the personal and plot level. We'll have five overlapping sections as follows, considering Minato and Kushina:

A. as each other’s anchors;

B. as drivers in the world narrative;

C. as cogs in the Konoha narrative;

D. as perfect compliments; and

E. as foils/parallels to other characters.

Due to the image-limit per post, I have split each section into smaller, more digestible parts. A link at the end of each part will take you to the masterlist. Now let us commence.

(Spoilers for the manga, anime canon and occasional spin-off. You've been warned.)

(Section A) Minato and Kushina as each other’s anchors

Let us start with some brief yet profoundly meaningful etymology. "Minato" (ミナト, 港) is the Japanese word for harbor, a safe haven for ships. "Namikaze" (波風) translates wave wind(s) – or wind wave(s) – and "Uzumaki" (渦巻き) whirlpool. Put together semantically, Minato is Kushina’s ‘harbor amid winds and waves;’ the anchorage point that keeps her from drowning in the turmoil of being Kurama’s jinchūriki.

Kushina’s strength meanwhile, as we shall see, is the reason Minato fell in love with her, and she he humbly ascribes as his pillar and constant in all spheres of life:

In this first section we will explore how these anchorages were reached. Seeing the first reveal of their bond traces all the way back to geninhood, let us start at the event pinnacle to Naruto’s question:

(A) I. Kushina as Minato's anchor

Long before he declares it in the oneshot, Naruto Gaiden: The Whorl Within the Spiral, Minato’s attraction to Kushina’s strength is inferred in metaphor. After saving her from the Cloud ninja, he says he noticed her hair right away. This manga chapter, in fact, is named after it: My Ma’s Red Hair.

The anime’s expansion (episode: The Orange Spark) draws a subtle link between Kushina’s hair and strength – which Gaiden goes on, as we’ll shortly see, to stress as directly synonymous. The rescue infers two things about Minato’s feelings. First, his “right away” noticing of Kushina’s hair was because of its beauty. Him noticing the trail is not a singular event; he had been noticing her beautiful hair ever since they’d met at the Academy.

Second is the more subtle inference – that it was Kushina’s hair specifically which drew Minato to her. In symbolic terms, Minato was drawn to her strength:

Minato’s noticing of Kushina’s strength is weaved through her recount of their childhood. We are shown it in the classroom when she catches him laughing as she takes on her bullies. We are shown it again when she spots him in the sakura tree after her scuffle with a genin. Where the rescue reveals this implicit link, however, Mito in Gaiden states the explicit. Assuring Kushina in her fears of hosting Kurama, Mito ascribes their hair to strength:

Every fullblood Uzumaki in the series (bar Ashina) has a different shade of red hair. Nagato’s is darker, like the aged Mito’s, while Karin’s is very light. Kushina’s hair, like Mito’s in her prime, is as “lustrous” as you can get – designating her “particularly powerful chakra” among the rest of her clanfolk.

But Mito is not simply referring to Kushina’s chakra reserves. And we are shown this through the declaration of Minato’s love occuring in a paradox.

Severely wounded when Kushina’s seal breaks (her strength failing), and supporting her by augmenting it (being the strength for the both of them), Minato declares with unwavering resolve that Kushina is “stronger than [him].”

Minato believes, with every ounce of his being, in Kushina’s mental fortitude, and he will risk his life to fight for her, facing Kurama himself. It is in these lines that we find the central theme of the entire series, with both characters serving to embody it:

Kushina has, in her short life, endured a tremendous amount of suffering. She was brought to Konoha to host the most powerful and hateful of all the bijū. She was bullied by her classmates and had no friends, teased and shunned as an outsider. Her clan was massacred. Her home village was destroyed. Kurama tormented her in her sleep. She was under permanent surveillance by faceless guards, to have her every move watched in a barrier circumferencing just a corner of the village.

Her endurance throughout it all, first and foremost, is this “strength” that won Minato’s heart. And this strength plays a monumental – if not the center role – in him becoming Hokage. (We will focus on Hokage in Section B, but this is summed in our starting panel and the anime screen below: “Kushina… you’re the one. It was you that made me the Fourth Hokage.”) If a ninja is “one who endures,” then the Hokage is the ninja who walks in endurance before all the village. How awesome that Minato’s inspirational drive is his number one supporter and other half.

Now it baffles me how many readers/watchers miss just how strong (mentally and physically) Kushina is. So let us elaborate with the starkest display: the night Naruto is born.

She gives birth – not an ordinary birth, note (already an exhausting ordeal). But a long, agonized labor with Kurama wresting to break out of her. Then Kurama is forcibly extracted – an event which thanks to her “particularly powerful chakra” elongates her death, leaving her body in a slow, taxing battle for its draining life. Minato saves her from Kurama’s strike and she tells him to save the village, thinking of everyone else as soon as she learns their baby is safe.

The now-dying Kushina spends the short duration of Kurama’s rampage with her newborn son. She should be resting. She should be healing. She should be in her husband’s arms. Instead, with no alternative for the village’s sake, she is brought with Naruto to the battlefield.

Kushina – on death’s doorstep – pins Kurama with her Adamantine Sealing Chains, projecting a barrier to stop him escaping AND keep the villagers OUT. A jutsu that leaves her coughing up blood as she expends her fading chakra. A barrier so strong that Hiruzen, hailed the “God of Shinobi,” cannot get through it.

While she holds Kurama down (and Hiruzen out), she tells Minato she’ll take Kurama with her – i.e. she will reseal THE ENTIRE Nine Tails back inside herself and drag him with her into death. She has just pushed her baby into the world, had Kurama ripped from her body, and is, with her lifeforce draining away, prepared and able to seal him back.

Kushina keeps Kurama pinned while under the greatest mental anguish a wife and mother could experience: her husband plans to sacrifice himself, leaving their baby an orphan, and make their baby – THEIR NEWBORN BABY – the next JINCHŪRIKI. She argues but accepts Minato’s decision even though it crushes her. Then when Kurama strikes to kill Naruto she also moves in to shield him. Kurama’s claw through her belly, Kushina still keeps him chained, buying Minato the rest of the time he needs to finish the seal.

Her nindo, lived out here, can be summed by her favorite phrase, which according to the databook is: 最後まで諦めない (“Don’t give up until the very end”).

This is the mental fortitude that Minato is talking about. And when he says “stronger than me” you can bet he means that in every definition of the phrase. (Now please don’t misunderstand: I am not at all saying Kushina could best Minato in battle. I am saying that when it comes to sheer endurance and resolve, Minato views her as his stronger half. Never does this take from the other side either – Minato being Kushina’s stronger half. As we’ll discuss particularly in Section D, they are perfect compliments.)

Kushina being Minato’s pillar carries through even after their deaths. When Minato is resurrected with Edo Tensei, he fights at Naruto’s side, facing their odds with the following inner monologue:

Later, again, as Naruto carries out his strategy, we get:

So Kushina is Minato’s inspiration, drive and rock, embodying the theme of endurance. We will return to this theme in terms of Hokageship, but let’s next look at the other side of the coin: Minato as Kushina’s 'harbor' and how his love enables her to overcome Kurama.

Section A, Part II here.

[happypanda101]

Apologies for yet another Naruto rant, I’ve just been overthinking about things lately lol.

The fact that people continue to argue that Sasusaku got no development at all or came out of nowhere honestly boggles my mind? Granted, I know a lot of people watched the anime rather than read the manga. But looking at the manga, it’s made more obvious that Sasuke had a crush or at least had soft spot for Sakura in part 1. Things get more complicated in shippuden, but they are also able to have their moments too.

Now, am I saying it’s the best developed ship ever? Heck no. I, like a lot of people in the fandom, wish they could have gotten more development. Also maybe an explanation as to why they had feelings for each other. A lot of people like to say that Sakura’s love was shallow becasue she only liked him because of his looks, but when you actually look over everything, looks are never mentioned by Sakura at all. She’s either worried about her own or commenting on Sasuke’s skills.

Also, despite what some fans like to say, Sasuke never out right rejected Sakura’s feelings. When he knocks her out and plays the “I have no reason to love her or be loved by her” line, he’s talking to Kakashi. Sasuke is a very traumatized character, he’s not going to openly admit he loves someone.

However, what really has to irrates me is when people try to argue that NaruHina got more development, which like? Bro, a whole ass movie had to be made to get them together. And as much as a soft spot I have for the Last, it wasn’t even that good! They had to bring the space aliens in again! I like NaruHina, but it’s obvious that the simps over at SP had a role to play in why the ship actually became canon.

Anyway, you don’t have to like the pairing. I know I don’t like a few ships that ended up becoming canon. However, it would be nice that whenever a Sasusaku fan tries to explain why they ship them an anti doesn’t comment: “lol Sasuke never liked her he hated her she sucks.” The amount of times I’ve seen these fuckers on a good Sasusaku analysis is tiring.

Just leave people alone. The worlds not gonna end over people shipping a ship you don’t like.

[leportraitducadavre]

Naruto re-read XXX

Chapters covered: 245 - 254 Twentyeight Volume of the manga / 1rst Volume Naruto Shippuden

Site used: https://manga4life.com/manga/Naruto (VIZ translation of the manga)

Disclaimer: This is intended as a list and simple observations of the topics that particularly interested me in the aforementioned chapters, in that sense, do not expect a linear -or totally deep- analysis.

Tumblr’s update doesn’t allow me to attach more than 10 pictures, therefore, all of them will be LINKED. Apologies.

634) A little more than two years passed, not yet the three ones Akatsuki said it needed to “clear all of its assignments” (x). It’s unclear what those assignments were as they didn’t seem to start collecting Bijuus until after Naruto returns to Konoha.

635) The look on Naruto’s face when he sees Sakura after two-plus years (x). Her stance is somewhat strange, was she flirting or fishing for compliments? Perhaps both. By her last expression, she does seem glad to see him.

636) Considering the title of “sensei” was often disputed during their time as Team 7, this statement is awkward (x). It seems that Kakashi and Sakura haven’t trained nor seen each other much during the two years either (x).

637) “Attack as though you meant to kill or you’ll never stand a chance!" (x) versus closing his eyes so he wouldn’t be spoiled about his favorite novel (x). Was he truly taking this whole thing seriously or nah? He claimed to “make more serious of an effort” (x) but he completely disregarded the seriousness when he decided spoilers were more important than combat.

638) I’ve said it countless times before, Sakura isn’t using her “raw strength” but rather the Cherry’s blossom impact; it’s a diversification of her medical ninjutsu: rather than simply enhancing her strength with chakra (as Tsunade likely does), she gathers chakra in her fists and releases it upon impact. Kakashi states it himself, “to rapidly manipulate maximum chakra and instantly concentrate it into one’s fist (...) Sakura was always adept at genjutsu… but if this display of skill is any indication… she might just end up a greater kunoichi than even Lady Fifth!” (x).

He even acknowledged her “capacity” for genjutsu (which was regular at best for what we saw) and decided that the route she chose was far better suited for her as it gave her more room to become of the likes of Tsunade. So all this time that her fandom complained about Kishimoto not giving her Genjutsu skills? It was acknowledged and the decision was explained. Furthermore, why do you want her to have Genjutsu skills when no matter what she could do with them, it was no match for the Sharingan? Her stans can’t stop shouting about how she was robbed of genjutsu when Kishimoto gave her a technique that no other member of Team 7 was even trying to attempt to give her something to excel in.

Kakashi’s appreciation of Sakura’s skills is rudimentary at best, I’ve already shown how her genjutsu skills were basic at most: She fell for Kakashi’s genjutsu on the bell test, had to wait for Sasuke’s reassurance that an illusion was in place in the chünin exams, fell for Orochimaru’s genjutsu in FoD, and was fooled by a henge twice in the same chapter and once by non-other than Naruto who pretended to be Sasuke. She had four encounters with the genjutsu technique (and two with the henge, which while not a genjutsu still relies on deceiving the enemy), and three out of the four times she fell for it, and still, some of you held Kakashi’s words as “proof of her wasted potential” when he’s the same man who couldn’t care less if she dropped out of the exam. (source)

639) Naruto’s “Kakashi is more adept at Sharingan than Sasuke…” (x) is hilarious because he’s comparing a 31-year-old man (who admits the Sharingan drains his stamina incredibly fast) with a twelve-year-old as that was the last time he saw him… Sakura admits she can’t keep up with Kakashi’s sign-weaving speed. She’s admitting to not having enough reflexes, this will come back with her fight against Sasori.

640) Kakashi states he “invented this amazing new jutsu…” I’ll wait for the resolution of this sentence but I’m guessing he’s speaking of the MS’s technique… which isn’t his (x).

641) Naruto invites Sakura out on a date… Sakura doesn’t reject the idea but the context implies she accepts because then it means Naruto has to pay for it (x).

642) Each village seems to have its version of the medical corps (x), they seem to also be able to erect a shield around the village. Sand also seems to have “puppet corps” (x) created by Sasori.

643) Deidara’s strategy is impeccable (x).

644) Inner Sakura is still alive it seems… (x). Also, why is Tsunade sending Team 7 (the jinchuuriki of the nine tails included) to Suna? Was she not informed about Akatsuki targeting jinchuurikis (she seems to be)? Was she not concerned about the possibility of its members attacking the vessel of Kurama? Why send just one team? (and later on, just two). If it was to save their numbers and avoid sacrificing members of their militia, why send their most powerful “tool” at their disposal? Why isn’t Jiraiya going with them? Makes no sense whatsoever. Just love the fact that Kishimoto didn’t know how to justify the whole decision so he just… didn’t. 

645) Deidara’s assignment was the one-tail (x), Sasori’s target is unknown, it’s inside a jinchuriki tho.

646) It takes three days for the poison to kill Kankuro (x) and it takes Team 7 + Temari two and a half days to reach Suna. Sakura, using medical ninjutsu, can extract most of the poison from Kankuro’s body (x), giving her more time to work. It’s established that Tsunade is a better expert at poisons than Chiyo (x), and she seems to have taught Sakura and Shizune different types of antidotes. There's no mention of Sakura coming up with a new type of antidote on her own, she seems to have combined three of them to save Kankuro. Edit: The translation in this last point seems to be off. She might have meant she could do three doses of the antidote with the ingredients avaiable, using one in Kankuro.

Shizune also uses Dokugiri and Shikomishindan, two forms of attack that have poison as their primary element.

647) Sakura knows about Naruto’s condition as a vessel, he wasn’t the one who told her, she secretly read Tsunade’s reports; that’s likely a crime. That way she learned about Naruto’s nature, Itachi’s existence, Sasuke’s target, and Orochimaru’s condition; nothing was confided in her, so she forced herself into the mixture (x). It was likely out of concern and to collect information to help Sasuke (x) but, strangely, such behavior goes unpunished, meanwhile, Naruto was persecuted when he sought the knowledge of the scroll during the first chapters of the manga.

648) Chiyo wasn’t interested in intervening with Gaara’s kidnapping until they told her Sasori was involved (x).

(previous post) - (next post)

[jaguarys]

I think what makes writing Sai so interesting (and especially his interactions with other characters) is not knowing what things he does are his and what's something he's been taught to do (and in the end, if it's something he chooses, does it matter?).

In being a blank slate, everything he does is both deliberate and learned. And yet, is it simply something he's learned in order to appeal to the others? Is it genuine? Does it matter? What is his own personality and what is simply copied, and what traits has he simply pasted over himself? Does it matter, if he's chosen them as his?

[sklives]

Well well well...

An account I follow on Instagram make this parallel and I just realized where they took all this history about the rivality between Sasuke and Naruto and how it's linked with Naruto's fellings for Sakura...

All the drama and rivality that involves Sakura and Ino history is about they fellings for Sasuke, even the will to become stronger it's about him and it all started with Sakura when she found out that Ino had a crush on Sasuke.

Well, it's this. 💁🏻‍♀️

[t1sunfortunate]

the unfortunate reality is that sns just isn’t that good.

sure, it could have been good if this or if that or the other thing, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not, and the main reason it isn’t is actually touted by a lot of sns fans as one of the central pillars of the relationship.

when kishimoto retconned naruto and sasuke’s relationship to state that they always understood each other, he undermined an entire series where the central conflict was about the two of them not understanding each other. to read from the beginning with this interpretation requires you to cast a ridiculous, needlessly complicated filter over all their interactions, giving them the character of a pair of chessmasters, rather than young boys. naruto and sasuke, if you throw out the retcon, read as a perfectly comprehensible narrative about two children who (realistically!) can’t see past the intricacies of their sociopolitical situations to understand that they have a lot in common. over time, their emotional maturity grows, allowing them to begin to realise this.

this is why the “i’ll bear the burden of your hatred and die with you” scene is so weighty; naruto is acknowledging that it is the realities of their circumstances that keep them apart, and he wants to meet again in another life where none of that exists. this scene is the canary in the coal mine, letting us know this relationship is going to end in tragedy; they��ve chosen separate ways, paths which are inevitably fated to cross, and the only way for them to meet again as friends is in death. he’s finally come to understand, but it’s too late. when faced with the choice of sasuke or konoha, naruto chose the village. that’s a huge choice that should, realistically, come with a consequence. even if this ends, somehow, with the both of them alive, the memory of that choice, and the circumstances that created it, remains. because naruto (the manga) is an immature narrative, however, there are no realistic, interesting consequences. sasuke is made to give up and magically let go of his grudge against an institution which murdered his family and destroyed his life, of his pursuit of justice, which, from the very start, defined him as a character, so naruto can have both his friend and the admiration of said institution. the end of the series is the death of sasuke’s character, and i could go into an in-depth analysis of chapter 699 and how i think kishimoto knows this on some level, hence why sasuke never truly returned to konoha (ergo, to naruto, since, in becoming hokage, naruto becomes synonymous with konoha). sns is depressing. i see the tongue-in-cheek posts about the sns affair, the sns divorce arc, and all i can think of is how bleak an ending this is for sasuke, and how out of character it is. what i wouldn’t have given for him to hear “i know your heart, and you mine” and lash out with a resounding “no you don’t”.

but the late series, and shippuden as a whole, more and more as it drags on, is synonymous with predetermination superseding free will. i don’t think it’s a coincidence that i don’t see many sns fans talking about the first part of the series, where naruto and sasuke are actually forging this relationship. sns would be nothing without the story pre-timeskip, but people tend to focus on shippuden-era sns, which, to some extent, i understand. this is the era most fraught with emotional tension (and where naruto spends the entire time with a thought bubble that says “sasuke”, because he lost all of his depth as a character from part 1 in favour of that, but i digress), but when it comes to looking for the core of their bond, to the actual raison d’être, the entirety of part 1 gets far less press than the scenes of them as young children in the academy – scenes which were introduced extremely late in the series as brief flashbacks. kishimoto’s fixation with destiny invalidates the themes of part 1 on all levels, and the sns relationship is in no way exempt.

so could sns have been good? yes, as a tragic relationship, disregarding the retcon. except, from what i see, people who like sns seem to really, really like it. they take the overly-complex retcon interpretation and use it in support of a “naruto and sasuke always loved one another” or “naruto and sasuke had their positive feelings for each other twisted by their martial society” reading. it’s not even that these are inherently bad takes, in a literary sense, it’s simply that they don’t hold up to the rest of the manga. asserting in the very late series that these two characters have been watching each other for some time doesn’t hold up with the reality of the story, which begins on naruto and sasuke having no thoughts or opinions of one another beyond their surface-level feelings towards a classmate they don’t particularly like or understand. the growth of this into their genuine bond is much more meaningful, because it occurs textually. it is a true show of increasing mental and emotional maturity, rather than a frustrating wait for the characters to stop dancing around the conclusion of their emotional journey, which they already know, for some reason, from the beginning. that’s the core of it, really: the retcon puts the end at the beginning, making the entire story a pointless exercise in futility. destiny is wholeheartedly embraced as romantic and self-evident, rather than the death of narrative and interpersonal complexity, and the fundamental truth that love is a choice – the continual, conscious decision to choose each other, day after day – and we already know what naruto’s choice was.

(you might say, well, I think X or Y should have changed; naruto should have learned about the destruction of uzushiogakure and understood he and sasuke came from a very similar situation,  – which, itself, rests on another late-series destiny boner retcon – naruto should never have become loyal to the village after the way he was treated, naruto should have joined with sasuke to tear down konoha – but that’s not the way it was written, and if this is your justification, you admit it is a relationship as flawed in its narrative as the ones it is so often purported to be so much better than.)