#the five kages

[enchantingpeachfury]

[nat-but-free]

the five kage are so different and unique I always wanted to draw them together (I got too lazy to do shadows and all that stuff tho:^)

[evilkitten3]

never getting over that this is just. casual naruto canon.

[lira456]

Naruto failure of hokage in every front like his ancestors

Many things needed fair conclusions which were overlooked so what naruto did what kind of reform he enforced regarding clan laws and treatments because of uchiha tragedy, regarding reformation of child soldiers and anbu matters becuase of rin and itachi, regarding reforming continental laws and regulation if invasion of small coutries and villages happening and their rebuilding and reparation because of wrongdoings 5 NATIONS AND KAGE have caused in the past,

also how he gonna bind all shinobi villages and even countries in the mutual trust and common ground so that nothing unlawful conclusion happen like that of shikimaru shinden and who gonna maintain or correct it in future that's why you need solid effective laws that equally and equitably benefit and treat and question everyone( author only just blink of some years bring phone,computer and video games but still maintains feudal sytem does not have international laws we have under UN so that no one can easily go to war even israelis are condemned against by UN but in naruto we don't have any such organization,laws,platform for time to time problem which can connect all shinobi countries and villages on the continent, even villages can not oppose their daimyo's order meaning they have no alternative source of income so naruto did not find another way for complete econmical survival without shinobi missions on 80 percent level such as using chakra and exporting chakra tech not for warfare especially and chakra natures lol feels like he still wants to maintain system in 60 percent ground: pure bad writing to continue boruto),

also what about orphanage system for other villages especially orphan from small villages or destructive land or from remote area like that of ryogi and kabuto and kara children and ame child how did not naruto send no shadow clone or shinobi for such purpose as he always preach about how he understand everyone's pain so called messiah or any welfare like system for poor shinobi from impoverished village shinobi or even his own village especially their widows and orphans did not shown or pension like something for shinobi especially who lost their body parts such as guy or some especial payment for shinobi like kawaki's father and give him alternative employment becuase of being war hero could have saved kawaki feels like villages abandoned many remaining shinobi or why not give them alternative employment because of their past service (just simply dispose of them if they lost value so cruel, just how pain said), by checking all the shinobi they could have but becuase they don't have correct and effective database like system even without tech that's how inaffective their shinobi system is because it's only focus on deciphering stupid message that would do no good for average shinobi and their family, collect tax from people building hiring,build some stupid building, maintain shinobi academy and its doctrination and missions and ranks and secret non transparent scheme meaning they don't have any citizen or shinobi benefit only jonin and upper echelon have that luxury even nothing special fund for orphan that's why ryogi doest not send to kabuto nothing specific, only all connected to glrifying and worshipping their anscestor that's why they don't have effective database maintained because of that after the war they lost track many shinobi and who knows how their family survived not shown not even regarding the other villages saddening, also about their individual desire or dream for that can they stop being shinobi suddenly or leave the village, did not shown regarding such issues especially how they panicked when mitsuki left and send their kids to die really sad.

it seems they even don't have unique trade that could connect all in a way that not one can lie or go to war meaning kakashi did not create any trade system only how they can rebuild and maintain ninja system which was in threat because lack of manpower(losing most of the shinobi in the war) meaning focused mostly making buildings,transportation,long distant upgraded message device and sharing shinobi missions with other villages, so kakashi did not change any political,children curriculam,ideological and law related issues in the village, naruto not even focused on changing of dangerous social struture in kiri village and lack of resources problem in iwa country and village, even we did not see how sand village's lack of resouce problem and how they solved it under gaara, really half baked, so many things overlooked,

so even did not even focus on what law or regulation he would establish to maintain clan's inner environment and conflicts becuase hyuga slavery( ther are maybe no large clans left in konoha anymore because in boruto we never see any clan meeting like that of hyuga or many clan fighting together like sarutobi and akimichi only showed some yamanaka power but not said whether they are members of yamanaka or not that's likely most died in the war, ony maybe at bare minimum members around 20 to 30 and they maintain no more clan positive harmonious tradition like clan meeting and practice just stop the heritage as we are not shown, meaning some cultural genocide, naruto as hokage could have celebrated each clan's power as culture festival making it show in public like we see chinese,european cultures etc. in many carnival and festival, in this way he could have connected and create harmony and pleasure for these lost heritage clans because naruto was suppose to be a hope that connect people it seems he has forgotten his own theme in boruto cooperation through understanding and sharing pain lol he is not doing that kind of effort to maintain harmony,peace and love among village,clan and outsider instead he is busy in collecting more power and benefit from amado and eida and katasuke and even from kawaki, that's strategic why both kawaki and boruto remained in konoha and not in other village, so much for mutual trust lol.

This is why naruto as a hokage and MC is complete bulshite and loser especially kishimoto's false half baked writing surrounding lack of insight of political atmosphere felt so underserving and hypocritical because i felt so much ideological and behavioral difference between zabusa arc naruto and ending &boruto naruto, really dissapointing.

[mochiajclayne]

"If I die, we both die, Sasuke."

Definitely lots of layers going on to which I interpret as:

Naruto knows he doesn't want to exist in a world without Sasuke. His resolve is clear: he'd bear the burden of Sasuke's hatred and die together with him. He doesn't want to die like a loser but he doesn't want to die as the hero that killed his friend to protect the village, either. This is a blatant rejection of what Hashirama did when he fought against Madara. Naruto chooses Sasuke above all else. If Sasuke dies (literally) and Naruto lives, he would spend the rest of his days devoid of his driving force, even the prospect of becoming hokage doesn't fill the empty space which was originally meant for Sasuke--the one who reached out first and saved him from his own darkness. His bond with Sasuke became exponentially bigger than his worldly dreams.

Sasuke, on the other hand, would fall deeper into darkness. Dealing with loss, heartbreak, grief, misery. As much as he takes action on severing his bond with Naruto, when confronted with the idea, he couldn't handle it to the point that he doesn't want to record the memory of Naruto dying with his Sharingan. He knows how far he'd fall and he could never recover from it--he'd end up powerful enough to conquer all but like how Naruto finds irrelevance in a world without him, he'd spend the rest of his days with a resounding emptiness filled with hollow excuses until it runs out and he'd go mad. Perhaps destroy the world because his one and only died in his hands long ago and nothing else matters, be reckless and die in the process.

And both of them are aware of all of this because they were able to see each other's hearts. They would not function without the other. They're connected by wretched fate but their bond goes beyond the organized shinobi system that enabled their burdens and justified their twisted circumstances. At the end of the day, that bond led them to understand one another and they hope it would influence the same system that failed them in ways more than one.

[dazydaisies-jpg]

sasuke passed with an honours degree in cuntology after joining akatsuki

[kage-mochii]

Working on sum a little silly

They're absolutely best friends despite their silly little rivalry

[hollaringmountains]

Just saw Gaara & Sasuke's conversation during the five kage summit arc. Well it's full of double meaning of light == Naruto and oh my goodness that heavily implied talking of Naruto has me go feral!!! Guaranteed fully believes in Naruto and he knows that the light Naruto brings is irresistible to both him and Sasuke gaaahhhhh I'm about to have aneurysm because of Naruto & Sasuke!! What kind of idiots are they!!

Then Sasuke goes and denounces the light saying he's left it behind and all.. THATS THE WORST LIE IVE EVER HEARD !! LIKEEEE HE LOOKS SO FUCKING SAD!! THAT LINE HURT HIM MORE THAN ANYTHINELSE EVER DID😤😤 THAT FORLORN LOOK ON HIS FACE SAYS IT ALL AND GAARA SAW IT AN DKNOWS IT *inhales* THEY ARE SUCH A MESS!! @&!(@%!(!))!

[animedegens]

Madara: Would you like my clones to use susanoo or not?

The Five Kage:

[blkkatsuki]

This was just going to be a quick sketch but ermmm I liked it n colored it

[on-the-edge-of-dune]

[watermelonsloth]

Sakura’s Character Motivations

I want to talk about the obsession/crush/love Sakura has towards Sasuke, specifically why I think it garners as much hate as it does in comparison to the other characters. Yes, other characters, and not just female ones. There are plenty of characters motivated by men in the Naruto series(though not women, but that’s a-whole-nother post). Naruto wants to bring Sasuke back, Sasuke wants to kill Itachi, Hinata wants to be like Naruto, Gaara wants to be like Naruto, all of team Taka is motivated by Sasuke in some way, Shikamaru wanted to kill Hidan then to carry on Asuma’s legacy, Deidara wants to fight Orochimaru and Itachi, etc. The Naruto series is about the bonds between people, so, go figure, a lot of characters are motivated by the relationships they have/had. However, people within the fandom almost exclusively talk about how Sakura is motivated by Sasuke. I’m gonna try answering why.

Sexism

To be clear, I’m not actually accusing anyone of anything here. I see a lot of people (on Tumblr) accuse the people who hate Sakura/Hinata as simply being sexist. I don’t know these people’s experiences nor do I know what part of the internet they’re on, but my experience with the male side of the Naruto fandom is them being really into power-scaling. Yes, I’ve come across the occasional objectifying joke, but those are more of the exception than the rule some of these posts may lead you to believe. Of course women can be sexist too, even towards their own gender, but those cases are also the exception. That’s all to say that people’s sexism may be a factor, but it seems to be greatly magnified by certain parts of the fandom.

Now that I’ve checked off my tangent for this post, let’s get to my point.

I think people, primarily women, hate Sakura’s love for Sasuke as a response to past experiences with sexism and poorly written female characters. A lot of women already enter male-directed series with extremely low expectations for the female cast and it trains them to be on the lookout for red flags in the female character writing. So, when the heroine we’re supposed to root for is introduced with her position in the love triangle, followed by her being a vain brat(even if she promises herself to be better), and then it’s revealed she’s motivated by her crush on a boy, a lot of women roll their eyes and pull back. Yes, being motivated by your crush at twelve is realistic. Yes, a lot of male characters in this series are also motivated by men. But the issue is over saturation. When a male character is motivated by a man, it’s just another of the many motivations a male character can have. When a female character is motivated by a man, it is a rehash of a motivation already done to death that is associated with damsel in distress heroines.

Of course many female fans don’t care about Sakura’s subplot with Sasuke, they’re sick of female characters having the men in their lives be the most important part of their character.

Lack of Depth

Something else that makes Sakura’s relationship to Sasuke stand out as easy to hate is it’s noticeable shallowness. Let’s compare it to Sasuke and Naruto’s motivations for a second:

Sasuke’s brother killed their entire clan for seemingly no reason. Because of this, he swears to avenge and restore his clan. So, for the entire series Sasuke is either motivated by killing Itachi or carrying Itachi’s legacy with him(literally represented by Amaterasu). Throughout the series his motivation is given more depth, it changes with Sasuke, it carries him through twists and turns, it asks questions about humanity and society.

Naruto grew up in social isolation that caused him to resent his home village while also craving its attention. Multiple characters are relevant to this part of his character, but Sasuke is the most important. Sasuke was one of the first people to openly acknowledge Naruto and that made him incredibly important to him. Because he’s so important, Naruto doesn’t want to see him get hurt or spiral, so Naruto does his best to prevent both. Throughout the series, this motivation stays mostly stagnant but it stays interesting because Naruto has to change his methods to both fit Sasuke’s changes in motivations and to juggle the other responsibilities he tries to take on. This relationship also asks most of the most thematically relevant questions of the series.

So, how does Sakura’s motivations hold up? What makes Sasuke so important to her? How do her motivations or methods change throughout the story? Uhhhhhh… To put it mildly, they don’t hold up(or at least for the most part, but I’ll get to that). We never get a canon reason for Sakura to “love” Sasuke. No, attraction is not love and it doesn’t explain away the lengths she goes for someone who clearly doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. No, Sasuke being a decent teammate isn’t a reason either. You don’t “fall in love” with every peer that’s decent towards you(are you trying to marry whoever pulls their weight in a group project???).

I’ve heard arguments that her lack of explicit reason is to symbolize “unconditional/pure love.” I’ve also heard that it’s following a Japanese cultural belief that love without reason is pure love. I don’t wanna shit on a whole culture but I also don’t trust SasuSaku fans that say that because 1. SasuSaku fans have lied about Japanese culture in the past to make their ship look better and 2. I have found this idea nowhere else. So I’m just gonna ignore that in this post, but feel free to site a source or explain this to me if I’m wrong.

Not giving reason behind Sakura’s “love” is just plain bad writing. It shoots her motivation in the foot before she goes to run a marathon. By not giving her motivation reason behind it, it limits the amount of people that will get invested in her character, it limits what can be done with her character, and it characterizes her as a shallow person motivated by shallow things. And I can’t imagine that Kishimoto was trying to make her a shallow character because that part of her character is never addressed in the story.

But maybe this isn’t a Sakura thing, maybe it’s a female character thing. After all, Naruto is one chapter away from being known for the bad writing of its female characters. Except the other female characters do have more complex motivations. Hinata wants to be like Naruto because she wants to overcome her inferiority complex caused by years of abuse by her family. Tsunade carries the legacy of her dead loved ones because of the expectations placed on her by the village and years of grief. Konan wants to achieve Yahiko’s dream of world peace because she grew up in an active war zone and watched him die and Nagato lose his mind trying to save her.

Sakura has no reason to have this simple of a relationship with Sasuke, especially when she’s supposed to marry him at the end.

Lack of Other Things Going On

Sakura is a main character, but she doesn’t have anything going on outside of her male teammates(at least in regards to motivations). Naruto wants to become Hokage, Sasuke wants to restore his clan, Sai is trying to understand his identity and others, Yamato is trying to build a life of his own. Sakura wants to become strong enough to not be a liability for her male teammates(a goal that is also debatable in how well it was achieved). Sure, Kakashi also doesn’t have much of anything going on outside of his teams(he wants to help Naruto achieve his goals and to move on from the tragedy of Team Minato). Except, both of his goals have depth while Sakura’s goal related to Sasuke doesn’t and her goal related to strength isn’t given enough time or attention to grow(ha ha, get it). If both, or even one with how low the bar is, did get the depth they deserve, I’m sure she’d be treated much more similarly to Kakashi by the fandom.

Failed Potential

If there was one way to describe Sakura’s character writing, it would be with “failed potential.” There’s a lot of things set up for Sakura’s character(genjutsu, Inner Sakura, her rivalry with Ino, getting bullied in the past, parallels to Kakashi’s teammate that killed herself and the Fifth Hokage who’s motivated by her grief, etc.), but most of it doesn’t get any proper pay off. Her motivations could be interesting, but they’re never given the chance to. Case and point: the Five Kage Summit arc.

Although I have a past of loathing the Five Kage Summit arc, I now find it to be one of the most interesting arcs of the Naruto series. In this arc Sakura is forced to face the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke are spirally and, despite her want to help, she hasn’t been able to do much of anything for them, just like she feared. On top of that, Sasuke now officially has a kill order on him, meaning that she now has to choose between her feelings for him and her loyalty to her village. And what makes it more interesting: she chooses the village! Since the bell test, the series has been building up the idea of prioritizing friends over orders and Kakashi was trying to ingrain that in his students and Sakura subverts that expectation! And it’s not because she’s insensitive, it’s because she’s empathetic. She asks the question that should’ve been asked a long time ago: “What right does she and Naruto have to prioritize Sasuke over everyone else?” She realizes that Sasuke has moved on to hurting people other than herself and Naruto and those people didn’t choose to take on that pain like them. In the Five Kage Summit arc almost all of team 7 fuck up in some major way, but it’s Naruto who’s being the selfish one in this regard. He’s choosing Sasuke’s life over justice for his victims and he’s making that decision without treating it with the nuance it deserves(yes he’s trying to stop the cycle of pain but he isn’t taking the need for justice into account). But Sakura is taking the needs of the victims into account and she’s trying to prevent Sasuke from hurting himself and others any more.

Then, when she tries to go through with it, she chokes. People shit on her for this, but it’s realistic. Since the Land of Waves arc, the series has been trying to say that shinobi aren’t tools, they’re human beings. And human beings can’t just shut off their feelings for others even when they think it’s the right thing to do.

Sakura is acting more in character than ever before and she hasn’t been this interesting since the Chunin Exams! This is the Sakura we could’ve have gotten! This is the Sakura Kishimoto is capable of writing!

This is why I and at least a few others have such mixed feelings towards Sakura. We like what we see when we get glimpses of what she could’ve been, but we know that’s not what she is.

[rinoks17]

Naruto Ep 430 Naruto Shippuden Ep 210

[cosmicrhetoric]

dragged my ass back to naruto after a prolonged one piece tolerance break only to learn that the next filler arc i have to get through is 20 episodes of naruto and co on a boat visiting various islands and battling various jumbo sea creatures. life is a cosmic joke

[every-sasuke-uchiha]

[queensknight87]