#naruto character analysis

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

So interesting to me how even Sakura latches so strongly onto Team 7, tbh, arguably even moreso than Naruto or Sasuke, despite objectively having the least reason to. Like both Naruto and Sasuke are orphans without a family so it makes sense that, at least for a time, they both grow to see their teammates as their most orecious people - but Sakura? Throughout Part 2 she continually repeats that her dream is to see her teammates safe and happy and her team laughing together again. Her catalyst for growth is the desire to be equal to them. So much of Sakura is linked to Team 7 - and she's the only one who made the choice not to leave, even after Naruto went with Jiraiya on his travels.

Like it really does make you wonder about her parents. They're never mentioned at all, even during the War Arc where you'd think they'd be concerned for her. We know more about Team 10s parents than we do Sakura's, more about Team 8s (because we actually see them), more about Kakashi and Kurenai's dads. Yet nothing about the main female protagonists.

[spelunkingsnake]

I'm sorry... WHAT????

I.... Can't even expand on this.

But I will, because wtf.

Making people feel safe and understood? (manipulating and controlling them so they understand him and give him what he wants?)

Empathy and compassion? (only caring about the parts of peoples stories he can relate to? Trying to make it into "you're just like me?" Naruto's "empathy" is narcissistic. Please, do not make me expand on this, so many others before me have tried explaining it to you people(you people just referring to people who defend naruto.))

I'm sorry, these people who write these on this website do not understand a single thing about analyzing characters.

[soskonoha]

﹙✿﹚ ⩋ adoration for ᯇ tobirama ໑

꒰ 💭 ִֶָ b4 read — i don't care if you don't like him, i just want to talk about him !

[ ⁠♡ ] : i apologise for any spelling mistakes, i am dyslexic

꒰୨ 𝘀hort 𝘁houghts ୧꒱

✿ didn't Ino say he made the womens bath houses safe? like, correct me if I am wrong, but to my knowledge he invented a seal just for that, that's pretty fucking neat

✿ this fandom's view is so fanon on him, it's either cold bastard man or racist !! and neither one is true

✿ once saw a theory that he was amazing in leadership but bad in "selling himself"/putting himself out there, and I can't stop thinking of it ever since

✿ he built so much things, that's so sexy of him

✿ i wish he had more screen time, he is such an interesting hokage, and probably worked more than hashirama anyway

✿ i love how orochimaru said the edo tensei isn't hard to learn as if he didn't spend years studying it alongside other forbidden jutsus

✿ the scar vs paint debate will never fade away but i am convinced those red stripes on him are simply just paint, kishimoto draws scars differently

꒰୨ 𝗹ong 𝘁houghts ୧꒱

★ so many people say that him creating the chunnin exams was a horrible idea and completely goes against his wishes/ideologies that children shouldn't die on the battle field... which is incorrect. if you remember children cannot enter the chunin exams without the permission of their master/teacher, who is a jonin. as well as the consent of all three members of their team, and they have to be genin already in order to enter. they have months to prepare - incase their teacher tells them -. the chunnin exams is more of a 'are you sure you want to be a chunin? this is what it takes, it's nothing like being a genin'.. they also have to be approved by the hokage/kage in order to participate. so, these exams are rather to prepare kids on how real missions are like. they can always give up and leave the exams so they don't need to participate. we also cannot be sure how the exams looked like while he and hashirama were the hokages. we can clearly see it's different in boruto as well, so it's safe to assume that these exams change pretty often.

★ i find the theory that kakashi's dad is tobirama's son so interesting and i would love to learn about it if it was canon !! but he probably had no children at all... like we know of all of the hokages family but him.. hashirama had children for sure because we have tsunade, minato has naruto, tsunade didnt have any due to trauma of losing dan, sarutobi had asuma for a son and konohamaru for a grandchild.. tobirama probably worked until he died

★ i hate the idea that he is a cold person.. he is very emotional? he jokes around and is fond of people around him.. his humour is sarcastic and dry, he is passionate about konoha, he made a whole system because he didn't want any child to die the way his seven year old brothers did, he takes care of hashirama, complimented both naruto and minato, he protected sasuke during the war.. which a lot of people seem to forget? there is also more than just one panel of him smiling and showing other emotions... he is logical, but he doesn't push away his emotions, he just doesn't show them the way other characters do.. him being cold is just a very fanon view, he is just more cautious and has more boundaries

★ the view that he is racist is also very fanon.. like, first of all, they are all japanese?- and you can change out the word for clanist, but it still won't be correct. he doesn't really hate the uchihas, he hates madara because he traumatised him, which is fair. that man not only made hashirama almost kill him but also almost convinced him to commit suicide even if they weren't close, even if they were on a battle field. of course he will be nervous of what the sharingan and love can drive uchihas to do. tobirama isn't a perfect character, but he isn't horrible either. he is very interesting if you pay attention to him. i think a lot of hate just comes from uchiha obsessed naruto fans ? idk tho, but he even made the uchiha clan be the police force because not only were they qualified for it but to show respect to them after having a talk with hashirama (this is canon).. when he says 'uchiha evil' he is talking about the sharingan.. which is caused by trauma relating to anger.

★ tbh i like the idea that tobirama and naruto could be related.. like, it make sense the uzumaki and senju clans are distant cousins and often married between clans.. like, it is not certain wether the two are actually related or not, but it would be pretty cool in my opinion, would also mean tsunade and naruto are related which would make naruto reminding her of kawaki more emotional

★ the amount of things this man invented is so attractive!!! like half of them could definitely murder you but it is still so attractive like imagine how hard he must have worked!!! however i wonder what made him create edo tensei? maybe the loss of his brothers who he just wanted to apologise to? or did he just want advice from someone dead, like sasuke? its canon that hashirama knew of it and was against it, yet he did it anyway, so it really just makes me wonder

★ my favourite thing he invented is probably the academy.. like these kids can just go study for years and decide what the hell they want to be instead of being forced to be a shinobi no matter what thats amazing !! its so cool bc its obvious he and hashirama never had that !!! i also like how he made the idea of genin teams so they aren't just thrown in there to have to figure everything out by themselves... like he is obviously a very emotionally intelligent man/character

★ i once saw someone complain that he doesn't look his age.. but like.. he is a senju isn't he? they are known for looking way younger than their actual age, well aside from their incredible power! what helps me remember this is tsunade.. she uses her own jutsu to look young, but senjus generally look younger.. so he has nice genes not from his father and he could have had his own jutsu? i doubt he did, but if he would have it wouldn't surprise me, he seems to pay attention to his appearance

★ i think a lot of people don't realise that he is an albino? a lot of times I see people debating how he would look like as an uchiha, or to justife senjus being diverse in looks... which is like ok but he is just an albino person, white hair, pale and red eyes.. won't make him any less cool

★ i love his character design so much!!!! its so interesting to me that he generally likes loose comfortable clothing for everyday use (seen from flashbacks) or just long sleeved ones !!.. also !! his fighting/action/mission outfit is so cool too! i love the furr a lot bc it looks really useful !! like it looks amazing but its also great so no one can stab his neck with a kunai in fights.. i wonder if that is on purpose or just coincidental? like ofc it's soft, but no one can suddenly stab your neck if they don't see it

★ love how his fighting style is misleading the enemy !!! like making people think they survived an attack of his but the next thing they know they are being attacked up close.. like, he does it often enough to be a fighting style but never enough to be predictable that is so cool

★ i could talk so much about him but i will end this by saying that he has really pretty eyes,, like y'all see that man? a pretty motherfucker, i love the way his face is drawn a lot, it showcases his personality and aura

[maneeyansf]

Reading about shikatema headcanons and...

Do anyone else feel off about Shikamaru admiring Asuma and his dad ? Not that he should not but he seems to never be conflicted about it. Whereas it is a hero journey cliche to be deceive or critic about your heroes/mentors.

(And nor Shikaku or Asuma takes bad decision in my memories because their are not plot relevant most of the time.)

And did Shikamaru ever express appreciation for his mom or Ino ?

He feels like a guy who notices the good of people he really likes and looks up to and only the bad for people he likes but thinks they're mostly annoying.

[watermelonsloth]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[sassykinzonline]

when people talk about naruto's repression they kind of miss a crucial element which is that it actually makes complete sense.

firstly from the power perspective, simply put, by its very nature he requires repression to function on a most basic level. this is opposite to the sharingan, which thrives on huge displays of emotion. im going to assume that the reason this is missed is because it runs counter to the personality traits each character is known for: the "emotionless, calm and cool" one actually is constantly accessing and expressing the most powerful of emotions, and the "expressive, empathetic and emotionally honest" one is actually warring with letting true emotions come to the surface. comparatively, when you look at starfire and raven from teen titans, you see that their personalities reflect their power. starfire is bright and expressive because thats how she best accesses her powers, and raven is subdued, controlled and calculated in order to control her powers. this means that contrary to popular belief, naruto isnt starfire-- naruto is raven. there are actually a few moments where you are subtly shown just how calculated naruto's displays of emotion are, and how they are reinforced in such a way (context is naruto being saddened that his request for parental affection was rebuffed):

which brings me to my second point: socialization. this part is straightforward. from itachi actively causing and incentivizing hatred and anger, to various mentors/people of influence (eg. kakashi) remaining silent at clear expressions of violent anger-- these negative emotions are not punished or discouraged when it come to the context theyre in. why? they are beneficial to the agenda of various characters. the revenge plot only starts being punished when its disadvantageous to the state. remember that there is a monetary value attached to the murder of itachi uchiha, and this is actually a common way to earn money. when you look at naruto, there is never a single instance when naruto is encouraged or even tolerated for having these emotions. the only exception who does this leaves him due to their own parallel struggle (side note: this is why naruto distinctly says the reason for his obsession is that this person accepted him more than anyone else, given this person is the only one who saw naruto's pain and anger and actually blamed his aggressors for it). naruto, raised implicitly to know that everyone seeks to be a tool of the state, and that in his case this is not just a choice but a requirement for his humanity. iruka's acknowledgment of naruto comes with an indication of possession, implying conditionality. people like kakashi, hiruzen, and others in positions of influence witness the abuse he faces, and ignore it or groom him into accepting the idea that he should appeal to his abusers for eventual acceptance. naruto meets gaara, someone with the same condition as him, but with radically different circumstances. whereas naruto's condition symbolically papers over his pain over time, gaara's is self-protective and defensive against his pain. gaara also occupies a position of power as the member of a royal family, and has siblings who are afraid of him but do hold some level of affection towards him. gaara's feelings of loneliness, while rational, come from a different place than naruto's. for gaara, he is surrounded by community that he doesnt know how to access. naruto has no community, he needs to find a way to forge one, but even when he does it is superficial. this dynamic is repeated in his introduction to killer bee, who from an early age is granted family and institutional protection. this isnt to say that the treatment of jinchuriki is ethical or healthy, but that naruto's situation is actually uniquely oppressive. kushina is the closest naruto gets to someone who validates this pain, but she cannot truly relate to him because she is never cripplingly alone (again, not to say her life was not difficult or oppressive or traumatic) and the object of her affections returns those feelings consistently and early on. naruto's trauma is thus compounded over and over by the conflict his need for his specific love interest causes: naruto is only tolerated as a weapon of the state, and in order to be an effective one he needs to love and be loved, but his love interest who allows him these negative emotions is an enemy of the state, leading to further isolation/tension from the state and pushing him towards the love interest.

as such, i actually think naruto does remarkably well at balancing this conflict and tension in a way that keeps him functional. though, obviously and eventually the compounding of his trauma and the repression of his pain is something that needs to be addressed. the only person who is capable of doing this in a way that puts naruto's wellbeing first ("when i saw you in pain...i also felt pain" and the subsequent frequent moments of protection and defence) only reunites with him at the end of the manga, so you never get to see that actually happen.

im assuming the reason why a lot of this is missed is partially because through framing this repression as positive through the majority of the manga (aside from naruto's own personal thoughts), the reader is never really forced to decide how they feel about the concept unlike the inherent conflict of the radical revenge plot. the other part is the grander, underlying allegory in the naruto story which is the varied manifestations AND expressions of trauma. through readers' responses and attention to certain individuals in the naruto story, you can learn how they relate to and look at trauma. to me, naruto himself is actually the example of a trauma victim who shows a brave face and thus isnt recognized. naruto is the woman who puts on makeup to cover the bruises to go to work a day after she is assaulted. who tells herself that she must have some part in it, so it isnt abuse. maybe she grew up in a family where no one answered when she cried, so she learned to keep it moving and stop crying.

lastly, on a greater scale, people also forget a crucial aspect of "yin/yang" is that things with a large properties of one, by nature will also come with a small amount of the opposite. thats what the smaller inner dots represent.

a more surface level example of this is that naruto's face is brash, large, and masculine-- these are yang traits and they are predominant in his appearance. however, looking closely at his rounded cheeks and eyes and the soft nature of his eye colour, there are subtle yin elements. naruto's "positivity" or "optimism" is fueled by a certain level of negative repression.

[evenmorebeetles]

One of the things that always really fascinated me about Sakura's character is how manipulative she is.

I was rewatching the anime with my partner because it was their first time, and when Sakura finds Sasuke to beg him not to go to Orochimaru, my partner said that they were a little disappointed that romance was emphasized in that scene over friendship, and I said, "You know, I think Sakura would have told Sasuke she loved him whether she did or didn't. She knows that he cares about her. I think Sakura would say anything she had to to get him to stay."

And the most obvious example of this is when she does that exact thing to Naruto before the Five Kage Summit, lying about having feelings for him in order to save him, and that scene is what I was referencing when I made the comment, but throughout the course of the anime, there are several other moments where Sakura either outright lies and cons or uses her feelings as a weapon to get her way.

She does it right when Team 7 is formed, when Naruto plays the eraser prank on Kakashi. Her inner monologue shows that she thinks it's hilarious, but instead she puts up this facade. She berates Naruto because she thinks it'll make her appear cooler to Sasuke, and she tells Kakashi that she told Naruto not to do it and that she would never do something like that because she wants to portray herself as not only superior to Naruto but as the good one, the innocent one, the one who can do no wrong.

She does it to Sai, Kiba, and Lee when she knocks them unconscious so that she can go kill Sasuke by herself. She does it when tells Sasuke that she wants to join him so that she can get close to him. She does it again when, at the end of the war, she begs Sasuke one last time. She even does it in Sasuke Retsuden when she cons Penjira at cards and reveals that she's been doing the same to Tsunade for years. And these are just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more.

Basically I'm saying that everyone should consider themselves lucky that Sakura's on Konoha's side because if she was the one with the villain arc? She'd be ruthless.

[yuwigqi]

I find short tempered, easily angered characters very funny. But if I actually like them, that's on a separate scale, and Sakura and Bakugo are on the opposite ends.

Sakura lashes out when angry when people are being sexist, sexually harassing her, not taking serious matters seriously, blatantly antagonizing her, and taking her friendship and comradeship for granted.

Bakugo lashes out in actually cruel ways over trivial and pretty matters.

Sakura lashes out as a defense mechanism. Bakugo lashes out as an offensive tactic.

There are times when Sakura is lashing out angrily and its completely unjustified and unhealthy. There are times when Bakugo's righteous anger is the most reasonable response.

Its also interesting how their story arcs are nearly mirrored as well. Sakura starts out weaker than her peers, and her story arc is working from the bottom to be equal to, and then stronger than her peers. Bakugo starts out well beyond his peers, and is learning to accept others becoming equally strong and stronger than him. Sakura is learning confidence. Bakugo is learning humility.

Sakura is meant to be unlikable for being bitchy. But she ended up being a power fantasy for kids who've been mistreated.

Bakugo is cautionary tale about a power fantasy gone wrong. But he ends up being a power fantasy for assholes.

[shinoposting]

All I can say is What A Weird Thing To Lie About.

[anishake]

Kakashi being addicted to reading porn makes so much sense for his character.

I'm sure Kishimoto didn't intend anything with it other than making him a 'closeted pervert' but gosh looking from psychological point of view it was a great choice for Kakashi's character. Hear me out - he is a deeply traumatized individual, father died by sui*ide, he watched one friend die before him, while the other literally impaled herself on his hand to commit sui*ide. He grew up lonely, losing most of his closest people along the way. You bet, Kakashi is absolutely averse to intimacy, he is peak avoidant attachment style, like it can't get any worse. So what else is there left to do? He goes and lives the relationships throughout the characters. That's why Kakashi spends so much time reading porn - to have the gratification that otherwise is non-existent in his life. I just love how in-character that one little detail is for Kakashi. Like, yes baby go read your porn, it's the only way for you to feel things because you are too broken for true intimacy but you still crave for it. All hail, the traumatized King Kakashi Hatake, he deserves the best!

[mostly-just-sasuke-blog]

This random but can you tell me about Sasuke character traits, personality, behaviors, and habits.

Sasuke is driven, passionate and intense. He puts his whole soul into whatever he does. He's a character who challenges the main character both physically and morally. He is very perceptive. Sasuke sees the potential of people faster than anyone else. He was the first to see something special in Naruto and like him, not for his abilities, but because of who he was, long before Iruka did. And then later, he is the first to recognize him for his abilities. He was the only member of team 7 who wasn't shocked at how strong Sakura had gotten. Why? It shows how he saw her potential even when others didn't. He saw potential in the members of his team: in Karin, though on the outside she'd appear to others as an Orochimaru loyalist. In Suigetsu, even though he might look like a killing monster. In Juugo, even though he looked like even more of a killing monster. Sasuke saw the potential in them and chose them, even though nobody else would. People often think Sasuke is arrogant, but in truth, while he is fiercely proud of and loyal to his family and where he comes from even though it gets him a lot of trouble and pain, when it comes to himself he displays a surprising humility, often downplaying his own achievements and refusing to take credit for things he doesn't think he deserves. Sasuke represents his clan proudly, but so does every character. I see no difference in the pride Sasuke takes in his clan to anyone else. Lee boasts about his strength he worked hard for. Shino is proud of his clan. Kiba brags about his clan. Naruto boasts about how strong he is. Neji takes pride in his clan. It's normal, but only Sasuke gets attacked for it.

However, unlike the others, Sasuke is burdened by the way society demeans his family for how they died. And in sticking to his identity as an Uchiha, he is bearing their shame as well. Neji is part of a clan that collectively bears the weight of their clan's name, good and bad. But Sasuke must bear all the anger, and hate, and resentment, and expectations, and shame on himself. The burden of his family's name defines him and takes away his freedom. And he also knows whatever he does will define his family. And since Sasuke loves (in the present tense) his family deeply and bears the weight of living while they died, Sasuke takes his position and power over his family's honor and reputation very seriously. He's wouldn't allow himself to consider suicide for example because of the way it would effect how people view his clan. Evey choice he makes, even his food choices are defined by his commitment to his family. And later his new family.

What else? Sasuke is smart, strategic, focused, decisive, skilled, straight-forward, honest and authentic. He's a fighter to his core. Sasuke is the type of fighter who would rather get into an all out brawl than use genjutsu. He can do both of course. But he prefers a straight forward brawl.

He's disciplined, loyal, hard working and determined. He's competent, reliable, independent and decisive, and versatile. He's a natural leader, who can also follow the lead of others, and he can also work alone. He never takes advantage of women using his looks. He never even thinks about his looks, because it's that unimportant to him. He is protective and vigilant. He values self determination and respects free will. In part this is because others are always trying to take his own right to self determination away and others are always trying to use him for their own purposes. He's stoic, which doesn't mean not showing emotions, but bearing ones pain. More than people realize he carries a lot of pain, and grief, and guilt and anger. He'll be suffering so much inside and others will never know. And if you do know, he's already past his breaking point.

He's caring and empathetic. Without him, team 7 doesn't come together or make it past the first test. Without him, Naruto doesn't become Naruto. And Sakura might not have made it as a ninja. Sasuke is the heart of the team and the one who united team 7 together. Sasuke taught Naruto the meaning of self sacrifice. And Sakura the power of self reflection and thinking for herself. Sasuke truly is the most pure character. And a lot of people (in story and out) are jealous of him and hate him because of his choices. In the fandom this hate has been amplified by some really bad fanfictions and worse interpretations of the series that twist the facts to paint Sasuke in a bad light. In story this hate is spread by characters and society that fears and resents him or his clan and project these onto Sasuke. These people miss the point. Sasuke and Naruto are two sides of the same coin. But Naruto got help and support at the key moments he really needed it. Sasuke didn't. And that led them down different paths, but at their heart Sasuke and Naruto are the same.

Sasuke is victimized but he refuses to just be a victim. He is always doing. He is always proactive. He is always seeking freedom from the burden he carries. Others project onto him, but he stays true to his own self. Which is why He's the one who ends the cycle of hatred by forgiving and choosing to bear the weight of his loss.

Sasuke is courageous and kind.

[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.

[fangxin-guoshi]

I love how we get madara's story from 3 drastically different perspectives based on their personal relationship with him. Really helps solidify where he stands in the Narutoverse.

Itachi, as a distant clan member, described Madara as this cold, pure evil man who relentlessly sought power at any cost, even if it meant stealing izuna's eyes. Even though we all know that rumor isn't true, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that Itachi wasn't deliberately lying to Sasuke during their battle and was just telling him genuinely what he thought had happened (considering Itachi didn't even know that tobito wasn't actually Madara, he probably didn't know much abt Madara beyond standard clan rumors and the mangekyou)

Obito tells madara's story in a very.... disconnected(?) way. It feels like he's reading it from a history textbook. He summarizes the events in madara's life without ever going into specific detail (he talks abt the Uchiha and senju signing the ceasefire agreement but doesn't seem to be aware of the whole ultimatum situation that Madara had with hashirama) I would consider this perspective the most neutral.

Hashirama, while telling the story, not only covered the events told by Obito, but also the emotional element and details of what had happened (and also other additional scenes pertaining to their relationship). He emphasizes constantly that Madara is a kind, loving person who had spiraled down toward a path of evil after the most important person in his life (izuna) died. He focuses on the positive parts of Madara and is obviously biased towards him. He's probably both the most biased and accurate out of all three of madara's "storytellers".

What i REALLY want is madara's perspective. Unlike a lot of the villains in Naruto, he doesn't dwell on the things that happened in his past, not monologue Abt them. The closest we ever got was hims stabbing tobirama a bunch as petty revenge for izuna. I would give anything for a oneshot or lightnovel of the events of madara's life from his own perspective especially with his relationship with izuna. I want to know the exact conversation he and izuna had abt the promise he made him to use izuna's eyes to protect their clan. I want to see Madara reunited with izuna after he dies in that weird blue sparkly in-between death place.

This is so unorganized I just love this hedgehog man sm-

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Hm so as I’ve seen many people lump Sakura in with Naruto and Kakashi as ‘bootlickers who ignore all the state’s atrocities in favor of keeping that status quo’, so as both a radical and a Sakura fan I’d like to share why and how I think Sakura could be turned into a radical character.

This isn’t gonna go very deeply into her fighting abilities or any of that, it’s more an analysis of her personality and narrative role than anything.

So I think one of the main points that attracts me to Sakura taking a radical direction is, unlike Naruto and Kakashi, she’s so rarely allowed any agency outside of male character’s desires. Like there’s multiple points where Sakura is about to do something or go fight, especially during Pt 1, where she’s stopped by someone while Naruto, for example, isn’t given any of the same opposition. While her willingness to drop her plan as soon as an authority figure demands it are something I’m going to further address, the fact remains that more often than not Sakura is only allowed agency so much as it benefits the male characters (ex, yelling at Sasuke to spur him out of his fear to fight Orochimaru).

This lack of agency is continued on throughout Shippuden. While Sakura’s delegation to the sidelines isn’t as noticable (as it’s often just that she’s barely there at all or is visible but doesn’t contribute to the plot), Shippuden Sakura is again not allowed her own voice in the narrative. She’s never given vital pieces of information (ex, the truth about the Uchiha massacre) that would allow her to actually position herself within the story the way Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi are able to do so. We don’t really know what Sakura’s reaction to the truth of the world around her would be, unlike Sasuke (fight again the oppressive forces) or Naruto & Kakashi (favor the status quo), because she is never able to find said truth out.

What damns this even more for me is that there are instances of Sakura breaking out of the Shinobi conditioned mindset sometimes!! The clearest is during the Wave arc, where her sobbed uttering of the Shinobi code as she thinks Sasuke is dead is used outright to question the morality of the shinobi system (side note there’s a reason Wave is imo the best arc). Sure, you could chalk it up to her being a wimpy and emotional 12 year old, but her emotions are directly used here to point out the cruelty of the shinobi system. There’s a moment like this again at the end of her fight with Sasori as well, where Sakura demanding the value of life is met by Sasori asking her if “that’s what a shinobi should be saying”. Again, this is proven by Sakura’s hesitance to stab out Obito’s eye - Sakura’s value for life and compassion have, multiple times, been used to question her position in the shinobi system. But we never really get to see this come to fruition because Sakura is not given the agency nor the information to do so.

In fact, I think if given the information like the true cause of the Uchiha Massacre, Sakura would become radical fairly quickly. She’s very good at memorizing and researching huge amounts of information, she’s noted to be observant and good at noticing details, and she’s incredibly stubborn and wouldn’t be put off if the information was hard to find - the qualities that made her an excellent academic student and medic would make her very good and finding out what she needs to. Additionally, Sakura is shown to have very little loyalty to the state at all. She offers to choose her friend/romantic interest/cared person Sasuke over Konoha twice and seems to genuinely mean it, which shows me that the only real reasons she remains loyal to Konoha are a) many of her precious people (ie, Ino, Tsunade, Naruto, Kakashi) are in Konoha, b) she’s grown up there and it’s easiest, and c) she’s been given no real reason to question it. The violence she seems at least a bit uncomfortable with could be a reason, sure, but as far as Sakura’s seen almost everyone partakes in that, even the revolutionaries.

However, I think if given something that forces her to seriously reconsider her worldview of Konoha as, if not the good guys then a lesser evil to be loyal to, something that forces her to choose between her value for life and her care for her precious people and the state, I think she could very well be turned into a revolutionary. Sakura’s not against enacting violence, but she is shown to have a value for life that the shinobi system ordinarily discourages (one that I do believe she had even prior to her apprenticeship under Tsunade). Playing on this as the catalyst and using her academic skill could turn her into a radical character easily.

However, in order for that to happen, her arc would have to confront what I said I’d address earlier: Sakura’s adherence to authority regardless of her personal wishes and lack of faith in herself.

These, I think, play into each other. While there’s speculation about Sakura’s family and abuse, what we do know from canon is that Sakura was both a teacher’s pet and a bullying victim from a young age. Both of these reinforce this part of her personality; the bullying hurt her self esteem and her faith in herself (and if we go by the anime movies, her emotionally abusive parents sure weren’t helping in that regard either), and being a teacher’s pet allowed her to get the validation her broken self esteem craved so long as she did exactly as the authority figure told. I think for a lot of ‘gifted kids’, we either grow up strictly abiding by authority as it’s what got us positive reinforcement growing up, or we go in the complete opposite direction and trust no authority at all when it inevitably fails us.

Is it as exciting a backstory or reasoning for her personality as some of the other characters? No, but it’s what we have. Sakura is one of those kids, with an academic performance that got her validation as long as she was obedient, and her peers (and parents) hurting her self esteem so she couldn’t trust her own opinion anymore. I think this is why she’s so quick to back down whenever someone she sees as more qualified or in a higher position than her demands it. I don’t think this was ever actually addressed in the show or manga, tbh. I think this would be Sakura’s main barrier to radicalization; her arc would need to be her gaining confidence not just in her abilities, but in her own opinions and personality, and learning that authority figures are not to be trusted.

Anyway, I think Sakura is a very interesting character to take a radical route. You just need to understand her character and motivations.

[breithenua]

Probably gonna get some Sakura haters (probably including the misogynist troll variety, kill me now lmao) on this post but... here goes.

Rewatching the episodes where the majority of the Konoha 11 decide to "deal with" Sasuke and the fallout from that. And well, I think people's reaction to Sakura's "confession of love" to Naruto is unfair.

Yes, it was emotionally manipulative of her. Yes, if it had worked it would've resulted in a relationship based upon a lie. Yes, she hurt Naruto with that attempted manipulation. And yes, she's normally smarter than to think that's a good idea.

But y'all forget how emotionally broken she was at the time. She'd just gone through witnessing the entire village of Konoha being razed to the ground. People she had been treating at the time probably died in that Shinra Tensei attack (yes they were brought back afterwards but it was still traumatic). Her sensei and the 5th Hokage was in a coma that no one knew if she'd ever come out of. Danzo had just undermined and replaced Tsunade as Hokage, with her still being in a coma and being unable to defend herself from being deposed in any way, and then basically sent out a kill order on Sasuke. Sasuke, the man she's loved since she was a child, that she begged to not leave Konoha, had been directly involved in *two* different missions to bring him back, both failed, one of which was only a few weeks earlier and they had come *this* close to making it to him in time. Sasuke, the man she had only just found out had joined the Akatsuki and "kidnapped" Killer Bee, making Danzo's order all but justified. Sasuke, the man Naruto just willingly got the shit beat out of by Hidden Cloud ninja, in an attempt to appeal to their senses of mercy in regards for Sasuke. She has to be feeling absolutely powerless at this point. Afterall, she wasn't able to do much during Pain's assault (or probably at least perceived herself that way), can't do anything to help her comatose mentor, can't do anything to stop Danzo from taking over her mentor's position, and so far has been unable to bring back Sasuke. She feels powerless.

And then Sai comes up and tells her that she's part of the reason Naruto is in so much pain over Sasuke. That his promise to her to bring back Sasuke is causing Naruto even more pain and his shouldering of that burden is getting ever harder. And mind you, Naruto only recently lost his greatest mentor. And she's told that the rest of the Ninja of her generation (with the exception of her and Naruto obvs) have decided that they'll go and kill Sasuke themselves to avert war with the Hidden Cloud.

Sakura is incredibly fragile at this point in the story. And now she's told that she's causing one of her closest comrades and friends immense pain, and that said comrade's love for her is only intensifying that pain. She's feeling like a failure in *multiple* ways at this point, she's terrified she's going to lose her mentor, and her lifeling love interest, and she's struggling with the fact that her peers in the Konoha 11 *might actually have a point* in thinking everyone would be better off if Sasuke were dead. She's under so much emotional distress from so many sources, feeling guilty for not being able to bring her sensei put of her coma, not being able to stop Danzo from taking over as Hokage, not being able to stop Danzo from issuing an order to hunt down and kill Sasuke, etc etc. And there's nothing she can do about any of it. But she perceives that there is at least *one* thing she can do something about: The pain that Sai just told her she was putting Naruto through. And in her desperation and guilt, she decides she's going to sacrifice her own happiness and aid in killing Sasuke, and is willing to give Naruto what he's wanted from her for a large portion of their childhoods as extra insurance that he'll give up on aaving Sasuke.

No, her and Naruto probably would not have been happy in the long run in a relationship built upon a lie like that. But again, she's not in a stable emotional state right now. She's probably not thinking long-term consequences. She tries to put on an act to convince him of it.

My point being that yes, maybe normally she'd be smarter than that. But there were a lot of extenuating circumstances that affected her emotional stability and judgement in those few episodes.

Not only that, but something I neglected to mention earlier in this post is that *she is a child* at this point. A teenager yes, but still a child. Her emotional maturity (outside of moments of cartoon gag violence, which imo should be given a pass considering the medium and the genre) is incredible for someone of her age at this point, sure, but at the end of the day she is still a child soldier in a world without mental health professionals and therapists. Under the pressure of what she was going through at the time, just about anyone of any age would have likely snapped, much more so someone that's only 16.

I have my issues with how Kishimoto writes Sakura, but this particular incident is not one of them for me.

[watermelonsloth]

Itachi and the Uchiha Massacre

This might be one of the most controversial posts I’ll ever make.

I find myself very undecided about how I feel about Itachi’s role in the Uchiha massacre. It fills me with the same moral indecision and disgust of the trauma olympics (aka the comparing of “who had it worse”). Every time I try to come to a consensus, I immediately doubt my conclusion and question whether I’m giving Itachi too much of the benefit of the doubt or I’m not taking his circumstances into account enough. It’s like asking if him being a child outweighs him killing children. And that makes me uncomfortable.

On the one hand, he did something very very very bad. He killed an entire clan of people, including who knows how many innocent civilians and children. He then proceeded to psychologically torture his seven year old brother with the memories of him doing so. Prior to being met with this specific conundrum, I would’ve said without hesitation that this is a black-and-white situation with Itachi being solidly in the wrong. Even if he wasn’t the only perpetrator, he still would deserve much of the blame for being one of the executors of such an abhorrent act.

I cannot stress enough how terrible the massacre would’ve been in practice.

However, and this is where I might lose a few of you, as more information is revealed, one question nags at my entire fucking central nervous system. How much of a choice did Itachi really have?

To understand the full circumstances, first you have to understand that the context falls under two categories: who Itachi is (and his perspective) and what position he was in when he made the decision he did. First, who he is:

Itachi grew up in a militaristic village that normalizes violence, especially violence being used to solve problems.

This village has also normalized putting the village’s survival over oneself and one’s friends/family.

He was alive to see the very end of the third shinobi war and the nine tails attack, two events that have solidified his belief that war is the worst thing ever and should be prevented at all costs.

Hiruzen, Danzo, Kakashi, and Shisui encourage his belief that war should be avoided at any and all costs. Three of them are authority figures (see the Milgram experiment for why that’s relevant) and one of them is his first and only best friend.

He is a very introverted and closed off person. He’s so closed off that not even his immediate family can read him. Because of this, his inner circle is very small (meaning he has a very small support network).

He grew up with a strict, authoritarian father and entered the anbu at a young age, meaning he grew up being expected/pressured to obey those in positions of power without asking questions.

He’s an introvert who’s scared of conflict and keeps his head down.

Second, his actual position when he was told to kill his clan (I might be missing some, so feel free to add any others you remember.):

He was thirteen. That is a child in grade 8. That is the age of most genin.

Tensions between his family and village are implied to have been rising for a while and are now at the point that, for whatever reason, negotiation is deemed impossible.

Tensions are so high that if the village doesn’t act soon, the Uchiha’s coup will spark an all out civil war.

The Uchiha clan has little to no chance of winning the conflict and will likely have most (if not all) of its members killed in it. Plus, the conflict would’ve also resulted in many casualties on Konoha’s side as well, including civilians, children, and shinobi who had nothing to do with what was happening.

Tensions between him and his father are extremely high as well with the two of them being implied to regularly argue.

His best friend, possibly only friend, died by jumping off of a cliff in front of him after giving him one of his eyes and left the responsibility of handling the entire situation to him.

He’s being suspected for the murder of said best friend (and was flat out accused of it in front of his younger brother by three adult police officers) and is suspected as being more loyal to the village than to his clan, making him even more of an outcast to his clan.

He's aware that his best friend was attacked and mutilated by Danzo, one of the village leaders and his superior. If he wants any action taken against Danzo, he’ll have to fight a solo, uphill battle against all of the village leaders and risk losing all sway over the Uchiha situation (which would still be a ticking time bomb) in the process.

If he doesn’t want to fight a two sided war or lose what little power he has in the situation, his safest option is to follow orders while pushing for a plan where casualties are minimized.

Did Itachi have other options? Yes, I’m not gonna pretend that genocide was Itachi’s only choice. But a lot of people seem to forget how difficult or flawed a lot of his alternatives would have actually been in practice.

For example, I’ve seen a lot of people throw around the idea of Itachi just grabbing Sasuke and leaving the village. First of all, the massacre still would’ve happened, Itachi and Sasuke just wouldn’t have been there for it. Second, Itachi would’ve had to remove Sasuke from the village without being caught by the village or the Uchiha clan when he was under the scrutiny of both. Itachi is a good shinobi, but I don’t know if he’s that good. Third, how would he even get Sasuke to go along with him? Itachi may not have been close to his clan, but Sasuke loved his clan. Yes, Sasuke also loved Itachi, but it’s a pretty big stretch to say that seven-year-old Sasuke would’ve just gone along with it, especially when he wouldn’t have been able to understand the true scale of the situation. (Itachi would pretty much have to kidnap Sasuke for this plan to work.) Fourth (and similarly), people don’t tend to like uprooting their entire lives to leave the home they grew up in, even in emergency situations or when it’s the objectively better/safer option. Itachi and Sasuke, who were both raised to be “lay down their lives” loyal to their home, would’ve been especially averse to this idea. Fifth, even if they got over all of that and got out of the village, Itachi would have to raise his younger brother alone at thirteen years old while being on the run from a world power with no protection in a world where they’re at risk of being killed or getting the attention of creeps like Orochimaru simply for having kekkei genkai. It’s not like Itachi had outside contacts (beside Obito but Obito would not have helped them even if Itachi trusted him enough to trust Sasuke’s life to him) or there was a benevolent nation to take them in. Even if they managed to one day settle into a peaceful life, it would’ve taken years of fighting to survive before they’d have gotten there. Cool fanfic idea, but making Itachi slightly more innocent isn’t a solution.

The idea that Itachi should’ve just told the Uchiha clan what was going on and got help from them is similarly short sighted. The Uchiha clan were the victims in this situation, but they weren’t perfect angels either. Itachi was not close to, or particularly well liked by, his clan. Save for Shisui (who is theoretically dead in this scenario) and Sasuke, he had no emotional connection to the clan, only vague respect and a waning sense of responsibility towards it. And even if he did go to them, Itachi telling them what was happening would’ve just sparked a civil war, the one thing Itachi was desperate to avoid and the thing that would’ve gotten them all killed.

So…

What was the point of all this?

I’ll admit that I hoped typing out my thoughts would somehow end in me settling on an opinion, but right now I’m still just as undecided and significantly more depressed. Because, like, it’s just a depressing, shitty situation where there were victims and perpetrators and Itachi who just so happened to be both. Maybe trying to ask if Itachi is either “good” or “evil” is asking the wrong question. Maybe the entire discussion about how moral Itachi is as a person or all of the other choices he could’ve made is missing the point.