thoughts on sasusaku + sarada and their...family
Will start this out by stating that this is a combination of observation and analysis so take it with a grain of salt.
(If you like sasusaku/ss, this ain't for you so please do yourself a favor and scroll away.)
naruhina + boruto version.
This is definitely the most fucked up thing to ever come in fruition in the sequel and they weren't even justified in Gaiden. LMAO.
Diving into this family's issue at hand, it's pretty much about Sasuke being an absent father and being away from his family for more than a decade--not to mention that Sasuke is able to freaking report to the Hokage but not even pay a visit to his family.
Gaiden was pretty much good at covering the topic already but let's break down how dysfunctional it is:
The lack of evidence signified about Sasuke and Sakura being married. We see pictures of Sakura and Sarada at important moments of her life but not a single wedding photo. Sarada pretty much asking Sakura if she's really Sasuke's wife is valid because she won't doubt from the beginning if there was telltale evidence supporting that information. There isn't.
The "family" photo. Sasuke was roughly seventeen in that photo, not to mention it's next to Sakura who is in her 30s at that point. Isn't it strange? No updated photo since they got married? What's fucked up is that she had to cover up the rest of Taka behind that photo. That raised more questions, specifically, Sarada asking who those people are and who is the one wearing glasses like she does.
And, yeah. The glasses thing. It was a simple yes or no question. Sakura saying that she doesn't know is inane because they had spent time as Team 7 in the past, not to mention the sporadic moment they see each other (Orochimaru's hideout, that bridge where she tried to kill him but failed), and during the war. I don't know where she's looking but Sasuke hasn't worn glasses at all and if she can't answer that simple question, that says more about her. Anyway, that fed the idea that she doesn't know a single thing about her husband at all and Sarada notices this. Naruto who was able to say information about Sasuke unprompted, pretty much what Sarada needed to hear--yeah, I know. Shocker.
Sasuke's first meeting with Sarada. I've seen enough takes about him being an absent father. I'm not disagreeing with that. However, I present another perspective: Sasuke doesn't even know what his daughter looks like even though it's been shown that he was in Konoha at the time that Naruto is already Hokage (which would mean Sarada would be around seven or eight years old) and Sakura is in that same room, too. You're telling me that she couldn't have at least fucking introduce Sarada and Sasuke to each other? It's easy to shift the blame to the absent father because he simply isn't there but when Sakura, who knows the mission and with uncertainties on its duration, couldn't have made the initiative to simply give the kid an assurance that yeah, this is your dad, he exists and to Sasuke, she's Sarada and she's seven and she wears glasses. If making them meet is too much, at least a fucking photo would suffice it. But no. Nothing of the sort coming from Sakura. Why? Because she's okay with Sasuke being absent. She doesn't see any issue with it.
Communication. This is a controversial take and I will keep it simple. If Naruto and Sasuke can communicate and contact each other, what's stopping Sakura from reaching out to Sasuke? Isn't she his wife? She could literally write her own letter and send it alongside Naruto's but no efforts had been made on that. This is the benefit of the doubt but if Sakura at least reached out, then it's up to Sasuke to either intentionally ignore that or respond to her. My point here is initiative--it has been shown time and time again that she can do that, we've seen instances of it in the prequel. Did she stop because she finally got what she wants and is content with whatever crumbs she could hold on to?
Sarada's birth. The sketchiest of them all. Some people wrote excellent analysis on this so please do check them out. My two cents on this is Orochimaru discussing cloning to Naruto and pretty much piquing Sarada's curiosity about the concept (which later on led to DNA testing as courtesy of Suigetsu). Sasuke pretty much reacted this way:
Usually, ellipsis in media is used when the character is pondering/thinking about something. It also represents speechlessness or a pause. Now tell me, if Sarada's birth isn't sketchy and was in some sort of way, normal, why did Sasuke casted that wayward side glance? The entirety of Gaiden as well as this page was meant to make the readers question Sarada's conception. For a backstory, Kishimoto sure left more questions than answers.
Everything is unconventional like Sakura not keeping the umbilical cord and Karin has it instead, no records at Konoha Hospital when Sakura works there and can coordinate with the proper department/s to handle paperworks, traveling while pregnant (ma'am you are a medic-nin, make it make sense), etc. I will leave this as it is, again, it has been discussed extensively by various blogs here.
In conclusion, even in adulthood, Naruto and Sasuke knows each other best. They become expert parents (at least) around each other's kids. In a fucked up way, I think it's a silent cry for help aka look I'm good with your kid and we could've been good parents together but we were forced into these marriages.
Sasusaku ended up canon but it still doesn't change the fact that Sakura knows little to nothing about Sasuke to the point that Sarada picked up on that and even threw it at her face. At the end of the day, Naruto remained as the one and only that knows Sasuke's heart best.
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Child Neglect, NaruSasu/SasuNaru
These two fics are angsty, with the main topic being child neglect and protective Sasuke. But our boys have each other, and they are pulling through. There is a happy ending!
How To Break a Mask by KinomiAkai(@kinomiakai)
An incident at the festival on Oct. 10th reveals that there is a lot that everyone doesn't know about Naruto. Smart!Naruto, SasuNaru/NaruSasu
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This is the first fanfiction I read about child neglect in this fandom. It made so much more sense than how it was sugarcoated in canon.
Protective Uchiha is also there, protecting our small sunshine. It is also refreshing to read about smart Naruto.
Child Neglect | First Kiss | No Smut, but they make out | Protective Sasuke | Smart Naruto | Protective Kyuubi | Fluff
river bank by Bibirikun
"No one was coming. The kids and their parents were home, the grown-ups were probably in restaurants and the trail by the river was empty. It was just Naruto and Sasuke. The little blond lifted his foot to walk away, but as soon as he did, he noticed the surface of the river wrinkling. Naruto stopped for a moment, his breath stuck in his throat and he pressed his lips together as guilt and sadness was spreading into his guts. The young Uchiha was crying."
A short story about how Naruto and Sasuke had been there for each other, even as kids.
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They are orphans, they have no other family, and the only thing they have are these small interactions between each other. Small actions full of care and love. I love this fix-it and how full of warmth this fic is.
Child Neglect | First Kiss | Protective Sasuke | Time Skip | Fluff
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I love how much Narutos approach to reaching out to Sasuke changes with what he knows and what is revealed to him throughout the series. Pre-shippuden he tries to bring Sasuke back because he wants to save Sasuke from the hatred that is consuming him. But later on when he finds out the truth about Itachi and what happened to the Uchiha his first instinct is not only to acknowledge Sasukes pain but to validate it by changing his approach from “I’m gonna keep you from falling down into the path of hatred” to “I will walk alongside you into that darkness and we either emerge from it together or not at all”
He gives Sasuke the choice to decide when to end it. Never in their fight does he try to stop Sasuke. His mission changed from “I’m dragging you back to the village” to “I’ll bear your hatred with you. To the end”
I think one of the best things about Naruto is that he always acknowledges the pain and suffering his opponents and enemies have endured. He never invalidates them. He challenges their conclusion/resolution but he never downplays the agony of their experience. It’s what truly halts them in their place. I wish there are more fics that really explore that aspect of his identity.
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