#but like....naruto suffered at the hands of the systems in power and was very much aware of that and wanted to chagne things

[tora-the-cat]

A happy ending for Sasuke is literally not even POSSIBLE for basically ALL of Naruto like it's not even funny. He really never even had a CHANCE he has of living a decent life, it's not even on the TABLE, by literally no fault of his own (because he's never done anything wrong). I'm going to scream.

0-6? Forces unbelievably outside of his control are organizing, ensuring, and executing an ethnic cleansing of his entire clan at the hands of his favoritest person in the world. Forces including the shattered psyche of said favoritest person, who tortures him until he is too terrified and traumatized to even think about anything else for years.

7-12? enrolled in Child Soilder School, completely isolated socially (not as a pariah but as a prodigy) befret of any support system, still traumatized beyond belief, and left with no outlet for any of his issues besides obsessing over the day, one day in the future, where Itachi will be dead and all this unresolved suffering and guilt and love and anger and fear and fear and FEAR will go away forever. Right? Because it has to. There has to be an end. Right?

12? Government assigned found family give him the support and love and attention and outlet and for the future that he's been craving for so long he didn't even KNOW it's what he needed. Has a soulmate and a bestie that can read his mind and a mentor who actually is willing to meet him where he's at and help him and maybe even love him and is this......Hope? That perhaps he can have a life outside of what Itachi did to- Itachi. Itach- FUCK. ITACHI IS LITERALLY HUNTING NARUTO FOR SPORT WITH ALL HIS WAR CRIMINAL FRIENDS AND SASUKE SHOULDN'T HAVE LET HIS GUARD DOWN BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW STRONG KAKASHI OR EVEN THE WHOLE VILLAGE IS, ITACHI WILL KILL ANYONE SASUKE IS STUPID AND SHORT SIDED AND CRUEL ENOUGH TO CARE ABOUT, HOW DID HE FORGET, HOW DARE HE FORGET, HE NEEDS TO GET STRONGER HE NEEDS TO AVENGE HIS CLAN HE NEEDS TO FUFILL HIS FRATERNAL DUTY HE NEEDS TO LEAVE BEFORE ANYONE ELSE IS MURDERED BY ASSOCIATION-

13-16? He dropped a lit match on his support system behind him him and ran into the cold shadows of obsessive anger that he only stepped out of long enough to loose the ability to ignore the gnawing want for warmth. That's bad enough, not even taking cohabitating with goddamned OROCHIMARU. No further explanation required there.

17? Kills his brother, gets NONE of the 'benefits' he spent his life convincing (begging) himself must be awaiting at the end. Instead everyhting has, in fact, gotten much worse very quickly and now all he has is a list of powerful people and systems that don't work and hurts and kills and tortures the people they've promised to protect that no one except him will oppose because it's basically suicide, and isn't he already so familiar with being on the shit side of this dynamic? Isn't it the normalest thing in the world, to fill the hole where his vengeance used to be with a hunt with near identical goals and intentions of his first vengance, the only real difference being his increasing dissalussion with ever being able to 'go back home', his almost all comsuming doubt that there's a 'home' waiting for him still, if there ever even was? So he dives into another goal before it goes as cold as the love he doesn't dare indulge, accumulating more power and rage then he knows what to do with (where can he put it down? where can he put it down?) and no reason NOT to challange corruption until it's either all gone or it kills him. Naruto, once the only person who looked at him with empathy instead of pity or expectation, thinks he should grit his teeth and bear it and go back to the village, as if that was ever an option for him. Sakura, once the only person who understood him, who followed his every thought process with ease and loved him even when he thought himself a monster, has finally given up on him and tries to kill him. What can he do but laugh as the world burns? It burned him first.

(but if that was true, then why is he still so cold?)

#uchiha sasuke #sasuke uchiha #sasuke #naruto meta #naruto #team 7 #sasuke did nothing wrong #when I say i'm being SO serious about that. EVERY time I say it. THIS is why. #like of course sasuke did nothing wrong. every bad thing he does is out of fear and pain and avoidance of a WORSE one

[leportraitducadavre]

Why are the Uchiha considered a non-oppressed group? Naruto's fandom, specifically pro-Konoha readers, tend to claim that neither Sasuke nor his family was actually oppressed nor discriminated against prior to their killing; furthermore, some tend to state that it's for this supposed reason that the massacre was justified, as not only they perceived no injustice when presented with evidence of their treatment at the hands of those in positions of power (who should've had guaranteed their survival at the very minimum, as that was the reason for the village's creation), but also consider their plan to coup a consequence of their "traitorous" nature; a disservice after everything "Konoha did for them".

Some other fans, not much smarter than the first group, are willing to admit some of the discrimination they suffered; but they are reluctant to see such conduct as a learned animosity, labeling it as a "modern occurrence" (when speaking of Hiruzen's timeframe). According to them, the Uchiha had just begun to be discriminated against, so their reaction was disproportionate; apparently, it's mandatory to wait for such bigotry to be repeated for a few generations before considering it a systematic occurrence rather than an isolated event.

Genocide doesn't happen in a vacuum, it's not an option that is plausibly considered if not after years or decades of cultural and political repression and degradation. It's the growth of a slow but consistent process of dehumanization, to the point where those taught under such a regime of thought truly consider their life, rights, and opinions far more valuable and important than those they degrade.

Arresting or even killing the clan members that actually wanted to coup would've been far more understandable had those in power seen Uchiha humane enough for their lives to be considered, to matter; yet the elders quickly saw mass murder as an enticing option, sending one of the kin they wanted to exterminate to do their dirty job so they wouldn't lose "one of their own" and still look pristine.

They were able to do so and still see themselves as agents of peace because they were taught that they were on the right side of history, as the story was told from their perspective; the handwriting of their mentor shines dark and spotless on the parchments of their national library.

And, as for them, there were no real losses that day, their life continued. And those responsible for the death of dozens kept smiling, kept walking amongst the classmates of the children they sent to murder, telling them to fight for their memory, to give meaning to the pain by growing.

The fandom still believes that their death was requited, necessary, and fair; putting the blame of the genocide at most upon two sets of shoulders (Danzo, Hiruzen) instead of (at least) six (Tobirama, Danzo, Hiruzen, Koharu, Homura and Itachi), because they truly think that such an idea can be created out of thin air and it's not the consequence of an oppressive system that it's constantly demoting a specific group's value; because they truly think that the Council is acting on their own volition and isn't abiding the structure set by those before them. To them, four men and a woman created and taught themselves their own moral, social, and cultural parameters for this specific portion of the story before renouncing them and subscribing once again to their teachers (who somehow are painted as ~agents of peace~).

But alas, let's dissect some of their arguments, perhaps like this some of their brilliance shall illuminate us:

Their doujutsu and overall pride as a clan. The Sharingan is probably the most powerful doujutsu inside the Narutoverse (slightly less so than the Rinnegan but that needs the Sharingan as a base to develop), which for them translates into their clan having a “natural advantage” over others during a battle; thus, if they are so strong, how come they are oppressed? For them, that’s a contradiction because they can only phantom oppression if it’s visible, as in physical: literal submission through physical strength. Yet the Sharingan is canonically expressed to be a rare outcome inside the family, a rarity that just a few members of the clan possessed, so it’s a “natural advantage” that not many Uchiha have nor had at the time of their murder. But the tale hasn't finished, because there's a recurrent joke amongst these antis, for "how come the Sharingan is so powerful yet they were whipped by Itachi in just one night!", they shout, hyena laughter amidst their group; yet they don't talk further as not to attract detractors with quick wit, as they don't take into account (can't take into account) not only the prior point but also Obito’s participation -who was in charge of killing the strongest members of the clan but Fugaku (the later who decided not to fight), and without minding the context in itself as Itachi sneaked into clan members' homes and killed them when their back was turned, as he took advantage of the trust they bestowed upon him.

They were the ones who were “entrusted” by Tobirama to make Konoha’s citizens respect the law -summarizing, they were “given” the Police Force. In this specific regard, the police force inside the Narutoverse is directly compared (and therefore, read) to its real-life counterpart, yet: a- The Uchiha’s job was to be carried inside a military state, most of the citizens inside Konoha have tools at their disposal to either evade or fight back the Uchiha's "authority". It's difficult for them to read such phrases for it shatters their self-insertion; how come Naruto isn't about my self-perceived value inside the country I inhabit? b- The Police Force’s power, influence, and control were directly limited by the Hokage, they couldn’t arrest ANBU members (meaning those who were, one in charge of spying on them, and two a big portion of Konoha’s forces). c- Uchiha couldn’t aspire to be something else but members of the police. The only ones who could work outside that specific force were those individuals that abandoned their identities as clan members and swore allegiance to Konoha. Only Itachi (the perpetrator), Shisui, and Kagami (who were luckily dead before the events of the UCM transpired) were shown outside such a limited sphere. No other clan was shown to need such extreme measures to work in their chosen field. The fact that the prison was constructed to be inside their compound prior to them being moved to the outskirts of the city isn’t enough for them to understand that this specific job was forced upon Uchiha. "It's easier for them to keep an eye on the prisoners," they claim, clicking their tongues, yet won't see what it politically entails, for Uchiha members can never detach themselves from their duty, as it was physically adhered to their lands. "It's a duty they could thrive on," they vomit, and they did, yet no one sees -because it all happens inside their own compound. Not a single clan is shown to “have one specific job” inside Konoha but the Uchiha. d- Nevermind the very real and canonic impact that such work has amongst Konoha citizens, as the lesser members of Konoha's militia grow resentful of those that "control" them; in addition, such position also prevents the Uchiha from properly integrating amongst the general population, as they can't commune completely with those they need to keep tabs on. Was the Police Force ever rebuilt after the UCM? ANBU forces were quick to absorb their duties after the Kyuubi attack, decreasing at a much faster speed their position inside the place they built. The Police Force was dismantled and forgotten after the massacre, further proving the real irrelevance of such duty and the actual hidden purpose in its creation. e- How come the Uchiha "monopolized" a force that was literally and canonically given to them? How did they take over and denied anyone else's presence inside that structure when not only did they not create it but the prison was built by the government itself inside their compound? Someone with fewer brain cells than them will think that it's Konoha's government the one limiting the nature of the members that had to forcefully take care of that task, as clan compounds have restrictions on who can enter; but not them -oh no, ah, the wisdom of these people amazes me...

Their members’ popularity. Specifically, Sasuke and Itachi. What they say while fidgeting in their seats is simple: "how come Itachi (prior to the massacre) and Sasuke (after) were so praised by non-Uchiha if they were discriminated against"? And, ah, we could've finally reached enlightenment; yet their worldview is irrevocably simplistic, as systematic oppression doesn’t always translate into direct discrimination at the hands of other citizens. The Uchiha clan was moved to the outskirts of the city without any other family raising any eyebrows, they don’t have to be spitted on by other shinobi for them to be oppressed, that’s limiting the notion of discrimination/oppression to a single factor -the physical one, without minding the others. To explain it in lesser terms, as we must crouch down to speak to them to be on their level, saying that the Uchiha weren’t discriminated against due to lack of physical aggression, and I guess a genocide isn’t enough aggression for some, it’s like saying a man is a misogynist only if he slaps a woman. That way, monetary, social, cultural, and political domination are left out of the discussion, therefore, it’s limiting sexism to individuals’ actions rather than seeing the system these men were raised on and that it built their resolve to, finally, physically attack a woman. Uchiha were the only ones whose value was tied to their biological nature -no other families inside Konoha found as many restrictions as they did (might I remind you that there was a clan that happily enslaved their members and no one seemed to care?), their biology was enough reason to keep them both away of positions of power (meaning that the laws/decisions that influenced their lifestyle were made for them without a single Uchiha consultant), and restricting their movements inside their village. And I know many of these antis will claim “oh, but name one of the other noble clans (but the Nara’s, of course) that are actually in a place inside the Council, none of them were!” And you see, they miss the point by a mile, because the issue isn’t only the Uchiha not having incidence nor right to (at least) vote inside a village they founded, but specifically them being denied such presence under the premise of a biological predisposition that they have no control of. No other clan, whether they are or not at this point in time inside the Council, is denied a future position under those premises, they either can’t achieve it due to their lack of connections (Minato Namikaze, member of a non-noble clan was made Hokage due to his relationship with Jiraiya) or having not enough rank to participate (Morino Ibiki, also from a clan not specifically important, is the Head of the T&I Department).

#tw: strong language #anti konoha #anti shinobi system #anti naruto #anti naruto uzumaki #anti danzo #anti danzo shimura #anti hiruzen #anti hiruzen sarutobi #anti itachi #anti itachi uchiha #anti tobirama #anti tobirama senju #anti tobirama fandom #pro uchiha #pro uchiha clan #sasuke #sasuke uchiha #fugaku uchiha #uchiha #uchiha clan #meta #anti will of fire #anti curse of hatred #anti wof #anti coh

[roobylavender]

what would be the perfect ending for sasuke in your opinion?

there are so many things i want him to do genuinely. i like the idea of a naruto post-canon where everything that happens is followed up by the villages taking a stand together against the daimyos and i feel like he would be integral to that as a sort of reverse-pain figure who travels across the land and hears people’s grievances and connects to them through his own trauma that he has extensively suffered at the hands of state violence, but instead of using that collective trauma against unassuming people they use it to strip the daimyos of power by force lmao. like the problem with post-canon is it imposes all of these arbitrary spy duties on him and on him alone rather than recognizes the natural prerogative for everyone after the war is to connect with the other villages on a grand scale and form a coalition to fight back against their economic exploitation. so sasuke is one part of it in that he can recognize and empathize with people who have felt as abandoned and brutalized by the state as he has but there are also other parts like sakura traveling across the land to canvas the physical and mental health impacts of the system, hinata taking strides to destroy the class stratification that defines so much of internal clan hierarchy that is subsequently exploited for power grab purposes by multiple villages, etc. sasuke has to work with other people for there to be any change and portraying him as the lone wolf who comes back on occasion to address the quirky bad guy of the year is not conducive to any of that. put him in a library with some of the girls to learn political and economic theory they can put to use yknow?

other things that are always on my mind: (1) i personally believe there is so much more value in sasuke and sakura adopting than trying to continue the uchiha bloodline or whatever. like first of all their travels to address traumatized populations across the land would totally bring them into contact with orphans they could take under their wing but i also think it would be narratively significant for sasuke to realize he doesn’t have to carry on some legacy or burden himself with being the cornerstone of the family. that’s something that gets me about tsunade too like she’s the only living senju as far as we know but despite the clan’s noble reputation it doesn’t mean much that she’s not bearing children. her legacy is carried on through people like naruto and sakura and that’s what’s impt. and there is also a eugenics element to address imo wherein it’s very clear clans like the hyuugas and uchihas inbred and generally focused on maintaining superior bloodlines for purposes of producing super prodigies but it’s like.. why is that impt in a post-canon landscape? the truth is it isn’t. there is nothing the world would lose without an uchiha by blood bc their transcending quality is love and love is never strictly defined by blood. so. i think he and sakura should adopt ❤️

(2) one of the funniest (derogatory) things about post canon to me is making sakura into the housewife when everything about who she and sasuke are as characters points to the opposite imo.. like she’s a workaholic medical professional and i seriously doubt she is keeping a clean house so long as she lives alone. meanwhile sasuke has been ruled by discipline all of his life and grown up watching a brother who takes part in every aspect of domestic life to the point it formed sasuke’s only solace in a world of strict expectations he had to meet. but even beyond that sasuke needs busy work after everything he’s been through yknow like he’s not in any place to help himself when all he can do is stew. i like the idea of him coming home from trips and busying himself in the basic chores sakura (or even naruto) neglects to do bc her work schedule is not exactly conducive to a consistent home life. let him make the dinners and pick the weeds and go out to help villagers in the flea markets and farms while she plays hospital hero. let productivity displace the horrors in his head and make him feel like he’s working towards building something stable and strong. give the man a tomato farm

#naruto: series about ninja reliant on endless power scaling #me: yeah so forget about all of that #outbox

[ignitification]

Obito and Shigaraki are creator's pets and failures of writing. People call Deku a cuck but Naruto is a bigger one for forgiving his family's murderer

You’re both right and wrong.

Obito and Shigaraki are characters that indeed have been given a lot of relevance, and fairly enough so. They are focal points of the plot, without which the narrative would feel empty and unfocused. It would feel incomplete; and actually, both of them have been written greatly. Shigaraki IS Horikoshi’s best written character, and the most compelling one narrative-wise; Obito is certainly in the top five, because of obvious reasons, as Kishimoto could not top anything after having wringed out a character like Itachi and consequently Kakashi. But the point still stands: the failure you see in writing of them (which I assume comes from the fact that you think the author coddled their characters without letting them suffer through ‘consequences for their actions’), is the evidence that tells us that actually the writing for them was great.

Consider that most narratives, especially in shounen respect both tropes and archetypes which are peculiar and subjective to the manga for sure, but are also part of a general theme that is common to find in this type of writing; one of them is the ‘cuck protagonist’: first, it does not make sense to call Obito the murdered of his parents because he wasn’t (indirectly, sure - but then again, Naruto was also the indirect cause of Kushina, Jiraiya and Neji’s death at the least; so it has very limited significance in a world where power system is made out of chakra and luck), and Midoriya is certainly not one just because he has empathy towards someone in pain. Naruto and Midoriya are similar, but also different in a way that makes their stories different: their values. Naruto has always believed in himself, knowing that at one point he would gain the necessary strength to become Hokage, on the other hand Midoriya has always been taught to look down on himself and that he was inherently weaker than the others, putting him in the position of a martyr, rather than the heroic position played by Naruto. This also reflects then on the role Shigaraki and Obito play: both are reflections of their own counterpart, but where Obito was subconsciously more mature and had no direct responsibility (he choose to help Itachi killing the Uchiha) for the massacre, except for him actuating on it - by playing into Madara’s scheme , and following up on his attempt to create in Obito the fool proof certainty of Tsukki no Mei happening, as his own journey into brainwashing was caused by external factors and Rin’s death (both Madara AND Zetsu), Shigaraki’s beginning journey IS the death of his family and consequent society’s refusal to save him (making him end up in AfO’s hands). And yes, both are similar when one thinks about the paternal, saviour role both Madara and AFO play for Obito and Tomura respectively.

Both stories are trudged and ailing, and the fact that the protagonists developed ounches of empathy for their villain counterparts because it could have been them - is not bad writing, nor coddling nor cuck protagonists-having. It’s the explanation and the criticism to a world that does not like kindness as much as it does not enjoy violence. There is no way to do right by everyone and that is exactly the point.

#:sba #sunn answers #anon #mha #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha 357 #naruto #naruto shippuden #uchiha obito #shigaraki tomura #shimura tenko #midoriya izuku #uzumaki naruto #all for one #uchiha madara #uchiha itachi #Uchiha clan massacre #bnha spoilers

[luna-blood]

It annoys me that there are people who say that Sasuke is a communist or a socialist or a leftist. Communism is a doctrine that only brings misery and destruction to humanity.

In fact, Naruto is the one who always disguises himself as a lamb.

Sasuke is a symbol of fighting against oppressors.

In the Naruto universe, the characters do not know these concepts, they do not exist. However, I can assure you as headcanon that SASUKE WOULD NEVER BE A COMMUNIST. Why? Because he is a symbol of intelligence, self-esteem, effort, frankness, discipline, justice and virtues. He has the radical things about like killing the kage and the bijus, and forever eliminating the konoha system of child soldiers, and end the konoha system that was the origin of all the conflicts that occurred in the Naruto universe. And I don't blame him, sometimes people are so evil that they force you to act with violence as the only way out, because Sasuke is never seen enjoying fighting with Naruto. He only "enjoyed" his revenge on Danzo because he was one of the main ones who destroyed his entire family and clan. But at the same time, it is not that enjoyment that Gaara or Temari had, true psychopaths who enjoyed the suffering of others just because. For Sasuke it was a huge pain, something like "I am satisfied to do justice but I wish the massacre had never happened, the death of that scum will never erase the tears of the innocent". And I wonder why many fans associate this system with capitalism if it has nothing to do with it? Do you think that communist countries do not have soldiers? Naruto ninjas have nothing to do with the armed forces of the countries. It is a completely different system. Do they want their countries insecure against invading dictators from other countries? Hey, I hope we all live in peace, but that's not life, it's very silly to think that all people are good. The only thing left for us is to pursue intelligence and reason together, and try to help countries that fall under totalitarian regimes.

On the other hand, I will clarify it now, I am not a fan of capitalism, I am aware that it is bleeding the planet dry (but communism would do it faster) and extreme consumerism only makes people idiots. And it has created characters like the Kardashians or an insane idolatry of celebrities. It justifies millionaire companies like Pornhub which only create idiotic citizens (it is scientifically proven) who are the same ones who will later vote at the polls, and destroyed the humanity of women. And in the economic and social system of a country, when it is extreme it only creates large social gaps that in the end end up giving too much power to people who can ignore morals and the law. And then there are the political parties, of which the majority always end up in corruption or implementing population control to keep them idiots and meek while they squander the people's money. And at the same time, the people are also responsible for giving power to nefarious people.

I am more in favor of Einstein's socialism, but not so much, since he is not an expert in economics (he said it himself and also criticized communism, Einstein was never a communist) and I don't like the word socialism either, since for me it is the same as communism. I am also a supporter of Adam Smith. In any case, I do not lose faith that in the future intellectuals will emerge who will come up with new theories that can save us all.

#sasuke #sasuke uchiha #anti communism #anti-capitalism #anti naruto fandom

[specialability]

Naruto

In my Naruto reread I've basically hit the point where I stopped reading the manga in its original run. I didn't even make it to the Sasuke vs Itachi fight originally and then speed-read a bunch once it ended so I don't remember it much. Unnecessarily long thoughts follow.

The first story arc, i.e. pre-time-skip, is a bit rough sometimes but is fairly tightly written and fast-paced. It has a set of coherent themes and character arcs. Unfortunately, this is only 27 volumes, ending with Kakashi Gaiden.

There are 72 volumes total so that's only about a third of series. The second post-time-skip arc (Shippuden) starts off okay as it reintroduces all the new characters. Kakashi vs Itachi (and Gai's rescue~) is vol 29. As some variety from going to rescue Sasuke they go to rescue Gaara instead. I appreciate this arc because we get some more Sand Siblings and Team Gai. Most interestingly, Sakura gets her one and only battle victory. As far as battles go, it's a well-written one as Sakura shows off her new skills, intelligence, and determination. She gets a W on the board and we get two women fighting together! Chiyo's relationship to Gaara changing is genuinely touching.

The introduction of the chakra types in Shippuden feels like a very late retcon. Even though Kishimoto may have been using those concepts from the beginning, it really doesn't feel like it, especially when he avoids explaining more how more complex jutsu fit the system. It's impossible not to compare to Hunter x Hunter (although I'm trying) because as Gon and Killua progress through that story and learn more about the magic system of that world you definitely get the feeling that all the battles previously still make sense and a lot of things fall into place for the audience as well the characters. It's a bit like hitting a twist in a mystery. In order for it to feel satisfying you have to be able to look back and say "oh, I see it now". For examples of this not being done well see also: midichlorians

While Togashi is definitely the master of shonen battle manga when it comes to coming up with intentional magic systems, it's Oda who is probably the best at coming up with new powers and plot twists and making it seem like he was planning it all along. Fans call him GOda, but in interviews he's always like "at the last minute I had a sudden inspiration on how to finish this battle!" and then fans find some detail from volume 2 that has come back to pay off in volume 200 or whatever. I'm not sure sometimes how much of it is planned and how much is completely flying by the seat of his pants. If you write a manga for so long, there's no way you can remember every detail the way fans do.

And then back into the story... I cannot overemphasize how boring it is to rehash the same argument over and over again. Yamato and Sai are added to Team 7 in vol 32 and this starts the Pain arc which is... painful. It can't help but feel a bit cheap that after only a few years of training Naruto surpasses basically everybody else including his mentors. Pain apparently seeks to derive world peace from essentially causing equal pain to everyone. Fair enough, people in real life have made that argument. However, Naruto's response inspiring him to revive everyone and also kill himself so Naruto doesn't have to bloody his hands feels even more cheap and childish. I can't help but feel the philosophical questions of why is there war and how to solve cycles of violence is beyond Naruto as a character but also Naruto as a narrative.

This is also what strikes me about Sasuke vs Itachi and his interactions with Tobi afterwards. Naruto's response to "how do we solve war and heal emotional wounds" is generally a big shrug and "be nice to people". His unintentional method of seeking peace is befriending world leaders one at a time which isn't completely ineffectual. Sasuke's response to "how do we stop people from suffering" is "who cares, fuck you, my pain is more important than yours". Which is even more childish. An interesting theme that doesn't seem utilized is being trapped in one's childhood / not progressing as a person because you choose to hold on to your pain otherwise you feel you'll have nothing. Gaara's character arc towards accepting and giving love after alienation and suffering is way better by comparison. The manga keeps bringing up more mature big questions like the economic value of war but never actually addresses the various viewpoints and keeps skipping back to the interpersonal relationships. Which I mean sure, is important. But since there's no intentionality about it it just ends up feeling muddied.

On to the next...

#misc #ruth reads manga #:naruto

[hanarutos]

kinda wanna rewrite my essay on how boruto is the root of all narrative failings in naruto 

#like obviously theres others tuff.......... duh #but i think if boruto didnt exist itd be al ot easier to accept narutos other narrative failings #like.... the story sets up naruto to be a revolutionairy. i think we forget that cuz boruto shows him so clearly not being that that #and also bc his methods are a lot less violent than sasukes #or his. hypothetical methods. we dont see him do anything lol #but like....naruto suffered at the hands of the systems in power and was very much aware of that and wanted to chagne things #thats like the whole conclusion of the pein arc #and also even in the war arc....even when it sucks iirc its about naruto being like word...madaras right shit sucks this just isnt the way #to fix things #dont qutote me on that i barely retain the war arc tho lol #and like 698 has sasuke being like kms and naruto being like no #live with me and we will fix the world together! #naruto is aware of how cruelty affects sasuke and gaara and just denies it towards himself #and like.....ok yes theres some shit like when naruto is down with itachis brainwashing sasuke (????) #but thats post waterfall of truth so *ignores it* my oint is overall naruto still clearly understood #that the shinobi system was evil #minato himself said the root of all suffering is the shinobi system lol #so it makes.........no sense naruto #the first persont o question the system =looong before sasuke in land of the waves #doesnt...do anything. #like all signs point to him doing something #and all early naruto sigsn point to him hating itachi and shit #cuz even if naruto cant accept ppl who hurt him dont deserve forgiveness #he is great at being mad on the behalf of others #so. #if boruto didnt exist and actively show #orochimaru alive #naruto covering up the massacre (??? i think he did get danzou exposed as evil but not the massacre idc about boruto) #and child soldiers still existing.....I WOULDNT HAVE TO HEAR BOOTLICKER NARUTO JOKES!

[trulyhumblenarcissist]

Well... Shit

I've just finished Jujutsu kaisen, both anime and manga, it was a beautiful marathon like the old ones I used to have when my life didn't get in the way of my passions (but that's another story). I must say the experience was incredibly refreshing and I'm glad I've decided to finally give jjk a try. First and foremost, it definitely has its own problems: the power system is not so clear and easy to understand at times (or maybe I'm just dumb) and some characters suffer from a severe case of plot armor that gives them the edge to win fights that should be out of their league. The premise isn't original at all, but I don't think Akutami wanted to create something ground breaking. There are a lot of references to well established shonen mangas, such as Bleach and Naruto (duh). Curses born from humans' bad emotions are definitely similar the hollows that terrorized Karakura in Bleach. I'm not going to point out the obvious resemblance between Gojo and Kakashi because I guess it's already a meme at this point, but Itadori and Naruto are definitely quite similar: sunny types with a demon trapped inside their bodies. With this derivative kind of setting, you would expect jjk to be quite simple and boring, but here's the catch: this manga manages to embrace stereotypical shonen tropes while at the same time painting them in a different light. Let's talk about Itadori and Fushiguro's relationship, for example: they are basically Naruto and Sasuke on a surface level and it would've been so easy writing them as sour rivals, at least in the beginning. The industry loves this type of relationship, but Akutami said "screw that" and actually made these two boys the best of friends. Itadori saved Fushiguro's life and Fushiguro saved Itadori's in return. They are very different people and their ideologies are bound to clash: Fushiguro doesn't want to be a "hero", he's a sorcerer, whose duty is to exorcise curses, not to save every single person he meets. He has a strong moral compass and he judges things on his own, avoiding to be influenced by others if possible. To him, saving lives is not an obligation, it's something he decides to do only if he thinks it's worth it. This may appear extremely selfish and arrogant, but in reality, Fushiguro's choices don't stem from an exaggerated ego. He despises injustices, to him the world is inherently unfair, so there isn't proper way to make things "right". It's impossible saving everyone and it isn't even something worth pursuing, especially because someone's safety could easily become someone else's demise. Fushiguro came to the conclusion that, since fairness really doesn't exist, the only thing that he can do to make the world a better place is basically starting from his own world, helping only the people he really wants to help (a similar concept is expressed by Nobara, who doesn't concern herself with the problems of people she doesn't know or care about, because she understands that doing it would be the fastest way to become miserable). Itadori, on the other hand, finds humanity inherently worthy of salvation, no matter what. That's because he is strong and his strength is definitely his curse, metaphorically speaking. The strong must protect the weak because it is the moral thing to do.

If you're strong, you are gifted with something more in comparison to the average person; since nothing is given for nothing, you must return to the world at least a part of the luck you have received by birth. Things get even more complicated for Itadori the moment he realizes that Sukuna could destroy (and he almost did it) everything he cares about in an instant, forcing him to make amends for crimes he didn't even commit. That's a very tragic situation for our MC and I really, really appreciate the fact that Sukuna isn't just another Kurama, ready to become Itadori's pet friend and help him whenever it fits the plot. To this day, Sukuna intervened in Itadori's fights only when he wanted to, for a whim or because the situation could benefit him. So refreshing! Itadori is definitely cursed from both Sukuna and himself, which is a very interesting plot point and it makes you wonder who will be faster in making Itadori's life a nightmare: Itadori himself or Sukuna?

Itadori's objective to save as much people as possible is also liked to his visceral desire to be accepted and loved, to have people around him even at his death bed. But, unfortunately, his merging with Sukuna definitely suggests he will be soon forced to isolate himself, in some way, basically depriving him of the only thing he really wanted. Besides, his desire to have friends and comrades is probably the byproduct of his upbringing... He wasn't alone, he had his grandpa, but he never met his parents and this is definitely a huge gap in his life, even though he seems to not care.

This rambling is already too long as it is, sorry... The last thing I'd like to point out is that, finally, we have some pretty good female characters! No Sakuras or Hinatas and that's really nice. Nobara, the heroine, is unhinged, badass and also extremely feminine in her passions and desires. She's not the typical tomboy nor the typical girly boy obsessed princess in distress. She can defend herself without sacrificing the softer sides of her personality. She is Kugisaki Nobara and no one can tell she must be different in order to fullfil her role as a shaman woman. I really like her (sobs). Maki makes tingle my little bi heart so I will not say anything about her. I'm not gonna show my simping shameful self, not now at least.

Honorable mentions:

Call me main stream and basic, but I fucking adore Gojo... He's hot, a little sadistic and completely childsh. For once, he is a teacher that doesn't get obscured by his pupils. He is so broken and op that Akutami needed to... Well you know. Another element that gives me a bit of sadness is the fact that Gojo is basically my age... And the fandom calls him a "dilf"... A dilf! He's just 28, don't call me out like that.

Suguru's story was pretty sad, I wish we could've seen more of his descent into madness.

Mahito... Cute, but nothing special. I find him kinda boring sometimes, he doesn't tickle my imagination neither my speculative instinct, while Suguru is definitely more interesting, especially in his relationship with Gojo.

That's it for now, I can't wait this week's chapter.

#jjk #jujustu kaisen #fushiguro megumi #itadori yūji #nobara kugisaki #maki zenin #jjk spoilers

[anti-endings]

I’m fairly sure at this point that Naruto is more or less fascist propaganda. There are so many things that we as a fandom want to turn a blind eye to yet when SNK was called out for being fascist, we had no problem boycotting it because it wasnt an anime that we’d come to love throughout our childhood. Unfortunately Naruto was a lot more subtle and pulled a fast one on us towards the end - 14/15 years after its initial release. 

Theres a lot of intricate reasons as to why I’d call it fascist but I’ll list the general points to be made that everyone can easily recognize. 

• Genocide for the good of the nation. This one is pretty obvious but I thought I’d get it out of the way. Slaughtering possible defectors of the state is apparently an honourable and justified choice. Even if some members of the oppressed minority were completely unaware of their leaders planned coup or had no desire to revolt against the system, each and every single one of them apparently deserved death. 

• Brainwashing children into military violence goes completely unquestioned by the narrative. The only people who challenge this idea are portrayed as “hateful.” The best example of this is how the narrative feels the need to emphasize that Itachi murdering his clan was his own decision. I just find it awfully strange that we’re expected to believe that a 13 year old, who was sent to fight in a bloody war for his country when he was just a toddler and was shown to suffer from severe PTSD, apparently wasnt brainwashed with threats of war on his impressionable child brain when he was already completely numb to the concept of killing people. Itachis history details the story of a brainwashed child soldier yet goes to great efforts to brush it aside and give Itachi the autonomy that he never actually had. On a meta level it’s pretty messed up that Itachis actions as a result of his brainwashing, was praised by Hashirama Senju - the ultimate force of “peace” who founded the village and “the will of fire” that were so expected to admire. 

• Consistent denial of blatant military violence. In the manga, the truth about the Uchiha massacre is covered up by Naruto, Sasuke and eventually Sakura to “maintain honour of the Uchiha.” This makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. How is it more honourable to say that a clan was slaughtered by a rogue criminal of their own (further perpetuating the selfish, bloodthirsty and power-hungry stereotype) when the truth is that an oppressed group of people were slaughtered off by the government? How can an act of genocide be prevented by a future government when the truth is actively censored by the governemnt? Neither Naruto nor Sasuke did anything to implement some sort of bill of human rights, laws or Geneva conventions in honour of Uchiha to prevent more innocent bloodshed at the hands of the state.

• Ultranationalism at every opportunity. The village is literally gated off. No one enters or leaves without permission from authority. The unification of the village under the statist military + the slaughter of any and all potential defectors is pretty telling. Its scary that “the will of fire” and protecting the state is the only honourable and good goal/ideology to have in this series as shown by Sasuke only ever being seen as “not evil” when he is beaten down into conforming to the government.

• Evil is in the genetics of the oppressed. This was pretty unsettling to witness and I’m surprised there havent been more people speaking out about it. Ideologies are inherited not just by fate, but by your genetics. The Senju-Uzumaki obviously have “The will of fire” which is known to be the supreme ideology. It consists of uniting and enduring the hardships of the world under the totalitarian government but NEVER pursuing revolution or change for the better. “The curse of hatred” is its counterpart which has its origins exclusively to the Uchiha. Its explained to be Uchiha culture to some degree. The narrative very desperately tries to paint the pursuit of revolution to prevent more violence as evil, bloodthirsty and selfish. This, in reality, makes no sense. Why are the Uchiha hateful for trying to fix a situation for the better of their family yet somehow the senju arent characterized by hatred despite openly hating the Uchiha? Simply put, the Uchiha are GENETICALLY undesirable and their push for equal rights are characterized as hateful, selfish and lonely. In reality, Madara Uchiha would not become a rogue ninja who decides to attack the entire village including his own family with Kurama because he could not get equal rights for the Uchiha. This doesnt add up with why he was so angry in the first place. Non of the “bloodthirsty” actions of any Uchiha do. They’re a fictional race of people that are only evil by the design of the author to portray oppressed people as selfish and aggressive. Towards the end of the fourth war, the story of Ashura and Indra is told to Naruto and Sasuke. Indra is apparently the original Uchiha who was influenced by some deranged evil spirit to pursue power over unification for completely selfish purposes. This is very unfairly equated to Sasuke and the rest of the Uchiha clan to explain to audience that the Uchiha are inherently evil and selfish detractors. 

• To be a revolutionary is to be lonely. This ties into my last point. Sasuke is constantly referred to as lonely by just about everyone in the cast, Naruto especially. This has always been bothersome because Sasuke wouldnt have been lonely if his entire clan wasnt slaughtered by the very same people that Naruto stands by. This point is incredibly simple yet its overlooked because the anti-uchiha propaganda is so successful in what it sets out to do. To add onto this point, what if Naruto had simply said to Sasuke “I believe you have every right to bring the murderer of your clan to justice and I’ll stand by your right to justice every step of the way” instead of physically fighting him and screaming at him all the time? Sasuke isnt inherently lonely exclusively by his own means, he is alienated by everyone around him. The narrative acknowledges Sasukes emotional unfulfillment, IGNORES the real reason why hes lonely and then states that the only way that Sasuke will find a sense of family through the acceptance of his peers is if he conforms to the government and adopts the hegemonic ideology…. after “repenting” for ever daring to get justice for his clan in the first place. This eerie emotional blackmail is completely normalized and unquestioned by the narrative. It sends a harrowing message to the audience that it’s more desirable and fulfilling to conform to the government despite their poor treatment of your people and should you question otherwise, you must repent for forgiveness. 

• The leader of the village is the most powerful member of the military, who is chosen exclusively through nepotism by a rich man who owns the land instead of the people, and is in power for an indeterminate length of  time. Again with the military obsession! Not even necessarily the best military commander or anyone with experience in any leadership position at all. This is partly fascist due to the fact that theres no limitations on what a Kage can do to their village, they’re selected through nepotism and not democracy and they’re in power for as long as they please no matter how the public feel. The leader is not necessarily someone who is shown to be compassionate, responsible, trustworthy, intelligent or reliable. In fact, you could be a known, unpersecuted war criminal like Danzo and still get the position. 

• To add on to that, war criminals in the Government or Military go completely unpersecuted and often unpunished - as shown by Danzo and the village elders. The village elders are still in the same position during the events of Boruto as they were in over 20 years ago when they conspired to execute the Uchiha massacre. Naruto and Sasuke know of their involvement yet havent held them accountable in any way. 

• Child soldiers are sent to die for the government. It seems that only Obito notices this when Rin dies. The second he becomes critical of the fact of this reality is the second he becomes “hateful” and “evil." 

Theres plenty more but I’ve already spent an hour typing this up and checking over every little detail. Generally speaking, much like SNK, the theme of Naruto is to just simply ENDURE hardship, stay loyal to your government at all costs even if they cause the hardship and NEVER revolt. Naruto as a character serves as the purpose of being as reductive as possible to every single character that faces hardship with "I too was lonely and oppressed but I coped by worshipping the government for a sense of emotional validation and you can too!" 

#anti naruto #anti konoha #submission

[britishassistant]

I have 0 idea what Night Raven collage is and what series its from and every time I see the names Ace and Deuce I think Spade Pirates not anyone else and it makes me very confused, so explain... please. I'm tried of not understanding the stuff your writing about, because I want to read more of your stuff... mostly about Mayu but I'm willing to branch out if I understand what the frick is going on.

Night Raven College + Ace and Deuce are part of the Twisted Wonderland fandom!

Disney’s Twisted Wonderland is a Japanese mobile game with rhythm-based gameplay! It has a gacha system to collect and train characters not unlike Fate and Obey Me! Shall we Date? if you’re familiar with either of those! If not, don’t worry because that’s not essential to the enjoyment of the story!

All elements of the story are highly inspired by classical animated Disney villains and movies, with the main influences drawn from Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Snow White, Hercules, and Sleeping Beauty.

Most characters are based off the villains from these stories in some way, even if they’re henchmen or minor characters— Ace Trappola and Deuce Spade are based off of (also referred to as “twisted from”) the card soldiers who paint the roses red in Alice in Wonderland. On the other hand, the characters in the coffins up there, known as the dorm heads, are all based off of the main villains from each of those movies—except for Kalim on the far left. He’s based on the Sultan in Aladdin rather than Jafar for story purposes.

The story is basically as follows: the gender-neutral main character (who’s default name is Yuu or “you”) wakes up in a coffin to a monster cat trying to steal their clothes so he can attend magic school. This leads the main character to discover that they are in this magic school, Night Raven College, in another world, Twisted Wonderland, despite having no magic themselves and now can’t get home to our world. Twisted Wonderland is also odd because our Disney movies appear to be local folklore and legends there, but with a twist— the characters we think of as villains in the above seven movies are revered for being great or heroic beings, to the point where Night Raven College was founded in their name and the students try to emulate their qualities.

The headmaster dumps the main character in an abandoned haunted building on campus, and through a series of shenanigans, discovers that Yuu is really, really good at getting the wizards of this magic school to listen to them and follow their orders. This makes the wizards much more likely to win battles against far more powerful magical opponents than they would otherwise, such as those suffering from Overblot. Overblot is what happens when a wizard uses too much magic too quickly or gets too stressed with no outlet— the waste from magic use/negative feelings becomes an ink-like substance that transforms them into a monster, and they can only be saved by beating them up before that waste consumes them entirely.

The headmaster allows Yuu and their monster cat known as Grim to stay on as one student while he searches for a way to send Yuu home, because Grim has the magic while Yuu has the opposable thumbs. Yuu is given the title of “Prefect” or “Supervisor” because they’re supposed to make sure Grim doesn’t get into too much trouble at school.

From there the story is a series of formulaic episodes based around each of the seven movies: there will be a problem in/because of one of the dorms, Yuu will begin having semi-prophetic dreams about the movie the dorm is based on while trying to fix said problem, the key figure causing the problem who is based on the villain from that movie will have a breakdown and overblot, Yuu directs people to beat them up and save the day by giving them a Naruto-style “be a good guy now” speech. However, the writing and dialogue keep every episode fresh and make it easy to get genuinely invested in the characters and the story each time!

Because “Yuu” is intended to be a blank slate for the player to project onto, there are lots of different readings and versions of the character running around! My version is basically what I think would happen if Yuu themselves were a lot more concerned about how they got to this school and why everyone is turning into super powerful monsters that they can barely survive facing because they have no magic, with a lot of investment in figuring out how to stop the latter so they don’t die to their classmates. I tend to base their character off of traits seen in villainess otome manga and manhwa like Destruction Flag Otome and Beware the Villainess which are my guilty pleasures and which I feel fits the whole “villain” element of the Twisted Wonderland story.

If you’re interested, ShelBB has a translation of the game up on youtube to watch! Thank you for taking an interest and wanting to come along on this journey with me, despite following me for other stuff!!

#ask #era-the-witchy-birdkid #twisted wonderland #twst #disney #disney villains #twisted wonderland grim #twst grim #twisted wonderland yuu #twst yuu #villainous paranoiac yuu #villainess otome #destruction flag otome #hamefura #beware of the villainess!

[crystallized-shadow]

Chapters: 1 Part: 6 of Forces of Natura Rating: T Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara, Senju Hashirama/Uzumaki Mito, Senju Itama/Uchiha Izuna/Uchiha Kagami Word Count: 2059 Summary: As winter draws to an end, Tobirama knows it's only a matter of time before Hashirama shows up.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

“You know Hashirama will search for me,” Tobirama mutters towards the end of his season, “and with his control I won’t be able to hide our magic any longer.”

“I knew they would find us sooner or later,” Madara yawns, cuddling closer to his winter’s side, while he was back to full power now winter had always made him sleepy, “thank you for hiding us this long.”

“Anything for you my summer,” Tobirama chuckles, lightly digging his fingers into Madara’s scalp and getting a rumbling purr from the older god. “How do you want to break the news to them?”

“In the most dramatic way possible, duh.”

Tobirama can’t help but chuckle, it would seem all this time still hadn’t improved Madara’ sense of humor. “And what, pray tell, did you have in mind?”

“Let them think I’m some abusive asshole and see who tries to kill me first?” Madara suggests, shifting in Tobirama’s arms so he can stare into the ruby red eyes of his eternal partner.

“What is it with you fire related gods and trying to kill each other?” Tobirama huffs, the barest hint of a smile ghosting his lips when Madara laughs; it was good to hear his summer sound so free after all he’d been through.

“Battle burns in our blood.”

“Shall we take bets on who strikes first?” Tobirama asks instead of trying to refute that claim, it would be futile and he already knew he’d agree to anything Madara asked. “Hashirama is my choice.”

“Most likely,” Madara agrees before a devious smirk graces his devastatingly handsome face, “unless of course he rallies all the gods, then it will be Izuna the moment he sees the mark on my neck.”

Tobirama has to admit Madara has a valid point, all of the humans who possessed the stolen fire magic had borne Madara’s symbol until he had reclaimed his powers. “You realize they’re going to be pissed once they find out the truth.”

“And?” Madara challenges with a raised eyebrow, “they’re going to be pissed either way, so let’s have some fun!”

“I’m going to regret this, but let's hear it.”

“I’ll just need you to act like a meek little snowflake, scared of my obviously superior magic-”

“I’m going to smother you with a pillow.”

“-and cower in my presence. Maybe bloody you up a bit too, really set the scene.”

“And what’s in it for me if I go along with this ridiculous idea of yours?”

“That should be obvious,” Madara scoffs, ignoring the eyeroll that comment gets, “you’ll get to fuck me in our den until you’re sated.”

Now that was quite the offer, the transition into spring always caused a violent spike in his libido that had Madara limping for the first month of the new season. To offer up his body, without leading Tobirama on a frustrating chase first, was too tempting to pass up. “How can I say no to that offer?”

“You can’t.”

~~~

Tobirama senses his brother approaching long before the spring god makes it to the mortal plane; he’s not surprised to feel the other gods with Hashirama either, obviously Mother Nature wanted to make his feelings known. Poking his lip, just to make sure the cut is still bleeding, Tobirama settles more comfortably against his restraints. Madara could claim whatever bullshit reason he wanted, Tobirama knew the summer god just wanted an excuse to chain him up.

“Tobirama!” Hashirama exclaims, bursting into the living room without much grace, making the winter god roll his eyes; Hashirama was going to get hurt one of these days if he kept doing that.

“What are you doing here!?” Tobirama hisses instead, making sure his eyes are wide with fear and his voice trembles just enough that the others will notice.

“We came to rescue you Tobi-nii!” Itama declares, frowning at his brother’s battered form; it was clear the winter god had been suffering and whatever human had dared do this would pay dearly.

“You have to go!” Tobirama shoots back, his eyes darting around like he’s looking for something, “hurry! Before he gets back!”

“Tobira…” Hashirama mutters, his heart breaking at the sight of his precious otouto so broken down.

“What’s all the racket pet?” A voice mutters from further in the house, and none of the gods miss the way Tobirama goes absolutely rigid in terror as a human walks through the door beside him.

“Nothing Master,” Tobirama mutters in a meek voice, biting the inside of his cheek to stop from laughing at the spike of anger in Hashirama’s magic; his anija was still too gullible. He can’t help but mentally roll his eyes at Madara’s outfit of choice, the yukata is draped just loosely enough that his ‘stolen’ mark is clearly visible. Predictably Izuna’s eyes hone in on it instantly.

“Where did you get that!?” He demands, stepping forward and the air around him shimmers, “answer me you bastard!!”

“This thing?” Madara asks, a careless gesture to the bright red sigil on the base of his neck, “it’s proof of my clan's blessing from some ancient god; supposedly my ancestor earned an elemental god’s favor.”

Why don’t you just bluntly declare you killed his brother? Tobirama thinks, ducking his head in apparent fear to hide the unimpressed look he knows is on his face. It was hardly a fair bet when Madara goaded Izuna like that. Sure enough, Izuna’s screech of unadulterated rage shatters the windows as he lunges for Madara.

Madara can’t help but laugh as he dodges the sloppy swipe of fiery claws; it would seem Izuna still let his rage get the better of him. The summer god makes sure to keep his moves within a human’s ability, finally allowing Izuna to grab him by the throat and slam him into the wall.

“You will pay for what your family did to my brother!” Izuna snarls, plunging a fire coated hand into Madara’s stomach so the bastard would die slowly.

Madara just chuckles as he calmly places his hand over Izuna’s core and pushes a hint of his magic into his brother. The effect is instant and Izuna drops to his knees with a startled cry, a hand clutching uselessly at his chest as his system filters out the incompatible magic. While Madara and Izuna drew their power from the sun, the greatest fire source, Madara's had always been more potent and potentially dangerous to Izuna if he did like he’d just done. “I see you haven’t changed Izuna.” Madara comments, smirking as the drought god glares up at him, only for his eyes to widen in shock.

“How do you know my name?” He demands in barely more than a whisper, shock washing away his anger.

Madara just chuckles as the sigil on his neck glows brightly, spreading out into very familiar runes as he lets his human facade fade away.

“Aniki!!” Izuna sobs, tears evaporating as quickly as they fall from his eyes. Madara’s usually hard eyes soften and Izuna can’t stop himself from lunging into his brother’s waiting arms. “You came back!!”

“Of course I did,” Madara scoffs, holding Izuna close as the younger god trembles in his arms, sobs still wracking through his body.

“Oh thank the sage,” Tobirama mutters, easily shattering his supposed bonds as he stands up, his injuries melting away.

“Tobira…?” Hashirama mutters, looking between the two gods, his brain struggling to process the sight of Madara alive and well. “I don’t understand…”

“Madara reincarnated,” Tobirama explains with a shrug, walking over to his brother in an effort not to invade Izuna's reunion with Madara. “I found him before it was time and forced the reawakening sooner.”

“I didn’t realize that was possible,” Mito states, watching Madara sharply as Hashirama yanks his brother into a hug, “but it does appear he’s completely back.”

“Madara?” Kagami mutters, finally venturing forward to his mentor’s side, “you’re back.”

“Of course I am Spitfire,” Madara chuckles, pulling Kagami into the hug as well, “did you really think I would stay away?”

“You died,” Kagami sobs, burying his face in Madara’s chest, “and everything changed!”

“I’m sorry little one,” Madara mutters, running his fingers through Kagami’s hair reassuringly, “I won’t do it again.”

“You better not,” Izuna huffs, clinging closer to his aniki, happy to have the older god back, “I’d have to hurt the snowflake if you did.”

“Be nice Izu,” Kagami scolds, his tone watery, “Tobirama has been training me.”

“Oh?” Madara hums with a raised eyebrow, looking over the young god’s head to meet Tobirama’s eyes.

“He couldn’t control his magic,” Tobirama shrugs, dislodging Hashirama, “and that desert you call a brother was useless, so I took over.”

“Why you-!” Izuna snarls, only to be cut off when Hashirama barrels into them, crushing all three fire gods to his chest.

“Madara!” Hashirama sobs, burying his face in Madara’s wispy hair, “I thought I’d never see you again!!”

“Let go of me you oaf,” Madara grunts, struggling to breath through a face-full of hair and flowers.

“No!” Hashirama protests, clinging harder as Izuna and Kagami manage to slip free of his grasp, “I’m never letting you out of my sight again!”

“Knock it off you plant-brained mother hen!” Madara growls, flaring his magic when vines suddenly start wrapping around him in response to Hashirama’s distress. The vines instantly catch fire, along with the ones in Hashirama’s hair, causing the Spring God to jump back with a yelp.

“Hashi-nii,” Itama sighs, quickly dousing his older brother with a downpour.

“Lets all just calm down,” Mito suggests, “as this is Hashirama’s equinox and I doubt any of us want to deal with that mess.”

Everyone shudders at the thought of what an overly emotional Hashirama could do with perfect control over his powers.

“So, Summer, Winter, care to explain?” Hashirama asks with a frown, not liking that his best friend and his brother have been keeping secrets from him.

“Like I said, Madara reincarnated and I forced the reawakening sooner than it should have happened.”

“You owe us more of an explanation than that Snowflake,” Izuna growls, glaring at the older god.

“Izuna,” Madara sighs, catching Tobirama’s hand in his before his eternal partner can try and attack the drought god. Madara shakes his head before he glances over the gods that had come to ‘rescue’ Tobirama. “The family I was born into, the Uchihas, were the ones that originally trapped me and stole my powers. On Tobirama’s solstice they tried to sacrifice me again, but he ended them.”

“How did you know some random human was Madara?” Kagami asks, knowing he wouldn’t have been able to recognize his shishou as a human.

“I’ve always been very attuned to Madara’s presence, when he came of age for a human, I sensed a spark of his original magic. Knowing it shouldn’t be possible for Madara to have reincarnated yet, I kept an eye on the human and when I found him trying to summon a familiar I made sure he summoned me instead.”

“You changed that sigil!?” Madara demands, glaring at his partner, “and when did you plan on telling me that!?”

“Hush,” Tobirama chuckles, kissing the irate summer god, before he looks at his brother, “you actually tried to kill him not so long ago.”

“I did?” Hashirama mutters, before his eyes widen slightly. He had thought that human looked familiar, but he only just now realized it was the one he’d tried to kill while searching for his brother. “But that was some time ago, why haven’t you two come home?”

“I had to wait for the winter solstice to reclaim my lost powers,” Madara says, glancing away from his oldest friend.

“I nearly lost Madara again,” Tobirama practically growls, “and I didn’t feel like sharing him with you yet.”

“I can see how such an event would drive you to isolate your mate to protect him,” Mito comments, knowing she would have reacted the same way if someone had killed her Spring.

“You just wanted to fuck with us,” Izuna guess, glaring at his brother when Madara smirks.

“It wouldn’t have been any fun to just show up.”

“You’re a bastard Shishou,” Kagami states and the sincerity of the comment makes everyone laugh.

“Let’s go home,” Hashirama says, dragging Madara and Tobirama with him before they can protest.

#crystal writes #forces of nature #modern with magic au #madatobi #hashimito #itamakagaizu #tobirama senju #madara uchiha #hashirama senju #mito uzumaki #itama senju #izuna uchiha #kagami uchiha #no ninjas but they are gods #god of summer madara #god of winter tobirama #god of spring hashirama #goddess of autumn mito #wildfire god kagami #drought god izuna #storm god itama #spring equinox #originally posted on the equinox on ao3 #the other gods know madara is back #as close to happy reunions as Uchiha are capable of

[paininanime]

Naruto Classic Whumplist Seasons 1-5

Naruto Classic Whumplist Seasons 6-9

Characters mentioned:

Naruto

Sasuke

Kakashi

Rock Lee

Neji

Gaara

Kiba

Minor mentions:

Shikamaru

Shino

Choji

Iruka

Kabuto

Itachi

Jiraiya

Kimimaro

Genma and Reido

Kurenai and Asuma

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1x1 | Iruka gets slashed a bit by flying knives (one in the leg) and stabbed in the back protecting young Naruto (+blood drizzle at the mouth and emotional whump) Later in episode he is seen very roughed up and tired (kind of trembling) and pained

1x6 | Naruto stabs himself in the hand to extract venom he obtained during a fight and a scratch (it heals due to kuruma)

1x8 | Naruto and Sasuke get beat up vs. Zabuza

1x9 | Kakashi acts fine, but then passes out due to overuse of his sharingan.

1x15 | Fight against Haku. Sasuke and Naruto get very roughed up, Naruto falls hard many times. In the end they both get pierced by needles thrown by Haku amd scream out in pain.

1x16 | Naruto and Sasuke get pierced multpiple times, they are in a lot of pain, wincing etc. Sasuke fights and protects Naruto despite his injuries. Naruto passes out twice due to pain and overuse if his chakra. Kakashi gets slashed across the chest protecting Sakura and Tanzen from Zabuza (on purpose tho). Sasuke protects Naruto further. He collapses fatally injured into Narutos arms and "dies".

1x22 | Sasuke gets beat by Rock Lee in their first "fight". Sakura has to catch him mid air, otherwise he would have fallen hard.

2x2 | Sasuke and Sakura get overpowered by the sheer bloodlust of a chunen exam competitor. Sasuke trows up, they are shaking violently from the visions. They can barely move. Naruto gets eaten by a snake but is "fine". Sasuke stabs himself in the leg to break free from the trance. He is in a lot of pain and panting. He is very shaken up, as Sakura also points out.

2x3 | Naruto punches Sasuke so hard that blood spatters (he's fine). Naruto gets slammed/crashes through thick branches twice and "passes out". Naruto is very battered and saves Sasuke. "Orochimaru" does something with Narutos seal who then passes out. He gets literally thrown away and would have fallen to the ground if Sakura hadn't secured him with a shuriken. He is completely unconscious.

2x4 | Sasuke "beats" the enemy, but is exhausted and panting heavily. He then gets bitten by Orochimaru, and is screaming in pain and collapses screaming. Sakura cradles the agonized Sasuke in her arms. Naruto is still lights out. Later N and S are seen lying unconscious next to eachother. Sakura mentions how Sasuke seems to be breathing more easily now, but has a fever.

2x5 | Sasuke is seen still uncounscious, breathes difficultly and shivers. Sakura takes care of them. Both N and S are seen with a strained look. Lee fights for Sakura and uses the forbidden Lotus-Jutsu, that strains his muscles a lot. The enemy outsmarts him, and attacks with sound which plays with his already fatigued body and vision.

2x6 | Lee starts bleeding out of his ears because of the sound waves. His vision is blurry, he is in a lot of pain and throws up. He tries to save Sakura again and busts a move but because of the sound messing with his balance it doesnt work. He passes out. He is later on the ground very roughed up and passes out again. 

2x7 | Sasuke collapses on his butt after Sakura makes him change back. He is very shaken up and his hand is shaking violently.

2x10 | Sasuke collapses screaming in Pain from Orochimarus mark whilst using his last chakra for Sharingan. Kabuto gets slashed in the shoulder saving a pain-paralysed Sasuke. Kabuto gets stashed in the leg (knee) saving Naruto from a knive. Kabuto gets slashed over the nosebridge from an attack from behind. Sakura supports Sasuke when arriving at the tower.

CHUNIN EXAMS WHUMP

2x12 | Sasuke fights Yoroi even tho he is weakened by O's mark.

2x13 | Sasukes chakra gets slowly stolen by Yoroi, he can barely move, but gets free. He stumbles a lot. His mark activates itself and he spits some blood. He almost passes out but Kakashi aka mr. Smooth appears behind him and supports him with his knee. A lot of heavy breathing and panting. He grips his shoulder in pain and makes that "ugn" sound. Kakashi later seals the curse in Sasukes shoulder, which is extremely painful (he screams) and then passes out (also from fatigue). + ep.14 Nice shots of passed out Sasuke and emotional past from Shinos enemy Zaku in the exam

2x18 | Naruto gets hit by Kiba's Jutsu and lands hard, he spits out some blood and rolls onto his bloodied face. + 2x19 He gets scratched by Kiba thrice and it bleeds and splatters quite a bit / Kiba carried away by stretcher

2x22 | Lee fights Gaara. One short moment where he does his badass lotus attack against Gaara and utters a pained noise and closes his eyes in pain throwing his head back.

2x23 | As also explained by Kakashi, Lee is in so much pain after the Lotus that he can't evade Gaaras attacks and gets thrown around harddd. Once (in background) he gets slammed with sand and screams.

🩸 2x24 | Lee sacrifces everything to win against Gaara: that includes his body. By opening the chakra doors he exposes his body to enourmous emounts of energy. - after badass fight- He collapses to the ground. Gaara then uses his sand-powers to crush Lees left leg and arm. He screams in agony and loses conciousness, Guy Sensei stepping in just in time. Lees body is completetly destroyed.. but he gets up, unconsciously, out of pure will to prove himself. Bloody arm and leg, dull eyes. Later, when the infirmary gets him, they tell Guy Sensei that Lees body has suffered fatal damage, especially his arm and leg.

2x25 | Sasuke is seen in a hospital bed unconscious and attached to many tubes etc. He is attacked by Kabuto but Kakashi is there.

---

3x3 | Naruto collapses during training after purposely using up his chakra. The still injured Lee collapses after doing 199 pushups.

3x4 | Nice shot of Naruto collapsing backward during Training "again", as Jiraiya says.

3x5 | Naruto passes out and falls down out of fatigue after being thrown around by Gama on his back, to prove he's worthy of being his companion and master. Gama catches him tho and delivers him directly to the hospital. Naruto is like: 😌

3x6 | Cute shot of Naruto sleeping in hospital bed.

3x10 | Naruto gets beat up good by Neji, specifically around the 7 min mark he begins to show much pain, coughing etc. Later there are close ups of his hands and specifically nails which are broken and bleeding from digging a hole to defeat Neji. Neji has taken a lot of damage from Narutos attack and can't move on the ground.

3x11 | Cute shots of roughed up Neji at the hospital.

3x15 | Sasuke gets gripped by Gaaras ghost arm thing in the cockoon and screams and tries to pull out his arm. He holds it in pain. Gaaras shoulder, injured by Sasuke, is bleeding, he is holding it.

3x16 | Gaara collapses to his knees grunting in pain and grasping his head.

3x18 | Cute visuals of a worn out Shikamaru. Still drained after his battle with Temari and extra annoyed.

(Gaara and Naruto battle whump)

4x2 | Kakashi vs. Itachi. @7:58, Kakashi takes a nice, pained breath. Itachi captures him in an allusion and tortures him for three days (multiple stabbings), while irl, only a moment passes. Kakashi is in a lot of pain, falls to the ground. Dark eye bags, strained face. Kakashi passes out and collapses, sinking into the water. MG lifts him out and over his shoulder.

4x4 | Sasukes arm gets broken by Itachi.

4x5 | Sasuke gets kicked by Itachi into a wall. He gets kneed in the face by his brother and again slams into the wall. He gets beaten up badly, and relives his traumatic past with Itachis Jutsu. His screams are heartwrenching and he is completely unable to fight back. He passes out whilst in chokehold... luckily. ;( Post fight Sasuke is seen slumped against the wall, eyes dull, completely unresponsive. According to Jiraiya, he has suffered from terrible psychological trauma, has two broken arms and a few broken ribs. Guy sensei mentions how Kakashi is still unconscious from the same visual jutsu, and they don't know when he will wake up again. Itachi is strained and exhausted after using Amaterasu to escape.

4x6 | Netflix's words: "Deeply hurt mentally and physically, Sasuke is taken back to [Konoha](...)". Cute visual of an unconscious Sasuke on Guy's back.

4x7 | Narutos hands are shaky after weeks of practicing Rasengan. Cute scene of him shivering in his sleep with "bandaged" hands. He has dark eye bags and mentions the pain he is in. (All minor whump)

4x11/12 | Naruto trains very hard. He is roughed up and shaky. Naruto collapses onto one knee and is later seen on the ground, exhausted. Around the 10:30 mark he is seen in his bed, sleeping, his right hand bandaged. Tsunade says he is exhausted and his hand burned by chakra, and will not wake up soon.

4x12 | Jiraiya gets drugged by Tsunade and falls of a chair in the Stew restaurant harddd. (lol) He is later seen sweaty and weak-ish.

4x13 | Jiraiya stumbles due to the drug still in his system when trying to stop Naruto from attacking Kabuto. Naruto gets blood splattered in his eyes by Kabuto.

🩸 4x14 | Naruto gets eaten by a snake but gets out, but, according to Kabuto, has hurt his leg in the process. He gets beat up by Kabuto very badly and is in a lot of pain, but gets up everytime he is on the ground. He also gets stabbed through the hand.

🩸 4x15 | Netflix's words: "Naruto is seriously injured by Kabuto and hovers on the verge of death". Naruto used his Rasengan, but his body was already messed up. Kabuto has cut his heartmuscle.. He spits blood and passes out (beautifully, I might add) backwards. He is seen on the ground unconscious wincing and shivering, blood in the corners if his mouth and dirty. Tsunade notices his irregular puls.

4x16 | Everyone is pretty injured. Jiraiya winces and says his ribs and feet are injured.

4x25 | Sasuke gets angry at Aoi and attacks him in a surge of rage. He gets electrocuted by the thundersword and gets thrown onto the broken bridge, where he stays down, unconscious.

5x3 | Sasuke gets beat up good by Orochimarus gang. He is quite roughed up.

5x5 | Genma and Reido come across Orochimarus gang, but get beaten in battle. They are both critically injured and Genma speaks weakily (coughing).

5x6 | The bois get stuck in a Kekkai. They are all roughed up. Also, Shikamaru looking drained af: (6:54, 9:30, 10:46, 12:57). Their chakra is being drained, so all of them are a bit.. down.

5x8 | Choji is comepletely exhausted and heavily injured after his fight with Jirobo, also due to him consuming those three pills. He stumbles through the woods, vision blurry, and finally collapses against the tree with the markings from Shikamaru and co. He passes out.

5x10 | Neji vs Kidomaru. Neji does very well until he is slashed in the shoulder and then stabbed in the back by three kunais. He collapses face down. He gets back up, but after a final blow gets stabbed again multiple times, collapses again. Gets up a third time. Heavy breathing. He kind of just stands there, breathing, looking at nothing.

🩸5x11 | Neji is completely out of breath. The arrow from Kidomaru went, luckily, through his shoulder. The wound is extremely painful and smoking, and see-through. Blood comes pouring down his arm. He agains collapses face first. He is extremely weak and in a lot pf pain. His chakra is quickly draining due to the barrier he has created around him. He starts running, ripping put the kunais from his back and pressing on his shoulder wound. The next arrow hits his cheeck and slices it. The last arrow goes straight through his abdomen. He starts one last attack, runs, holding his abdominal wound. In the end Neji is on the ground and finally succumbs to the darkness. ;(

5x14 | Kiba stabs himself in the gut (20:40) in order not to be merged with Ukon.

5x15 | Kiba bleeds a lot and screams out in pain. Heavy breathing and sweating. He stabs himself a second time and doesn't look okay ;( He shivers and has blood at both his mouthcorners. We can see him bleeding excessively. (18:00) He tries to get up, but falls back down, admitting that he is dizzy because of the pain and bloodloss, he can't move. He looks very ill.

5x16 | Netflix's words: "An injured Kiba and Akamaru barely escape from Sakon and Ukon." Shikamaru breaks the tip of his finger to break out of a hallucination.

5x17 | Netflix's words: "Kiba tends to Akamaru and his own wounds." 2:19, Shimakarus broken finger is being pulled by his shadow, it makes cracking noises and he utters a pained "ughn >:[]". (3:10 strained, Roughed up S)(12:00 Genma sitting awake but weak-ish in Hospital bed.)

5x18 | 6:15, Kiba gets put of the water and holds his bleeding wound. 16:55, he is leaning against a tree, unable to move out of exhaustion, scared out of his mind. Lee gets slashed in multiple locations by Kimimaros bones, 18:20, saved by Gaara, Shikamaru is getting tired.

5x19 | 18:09, Shikamaru fixes his finger a bit, the bones crackle and he utters an "ittee".

5x20 | Gaara saves a hurt Lee, who runs to fight, but after Gaara stops him winces in pain.

5x21 | Lee gets hit by Kimimaro, and flies. He lands hard and realizes that his body is not in the ideal shape. Kimimaro coughs blood thrice. 17:35, Gaara is exhausted by his use of chakra, he stems his hand on his sand and says that he is done. Sweaty.

5x22 | Naruto vs. Sasuke 2: Sasuke punches Naruto hard in the ribs, he spits blood, you can hear bones crunching. Also hard kick in the face.

5x24 | Netflix's words: "Naruto is brought down by Sasukes fireball jutsu."

5x25 | Naruto is again punched hard in the gut, bones crunching, slams into water below. He sinks and does that nice "drowning breath out" thing. 19:07, Naruto laying at the bottom of the river. Comes up, coughs.

5x26 | Naruto sinking. Sasuke "empales" Naruto through the shoulder with his chidori. Nice blood dripping of shoulder scene. It heals tho.

5x27 | Naruto gets his head slammed into the ground by Sasuke. Later, Naruto punches Sasuke in the face hard in his fox form, and Sasuke is in a lot of pain, holding his nose. He recovers quickly tho.

5x28 | Both Sasuke and Naruto’s bodies are feeling the consequences of their transformation, Naruto mentioning that his arm feels numb and it just kinda hangs there. Later, their Chakra blast leaves Naruto unconscious. (N+S rain scene). Kakashi later finds him and picks up the completely limp boy, bridal style. Later we get a short scene of a half conscious Naruto on Kakashis back, opening his eyes a little. Sasuke is also very injured by his mark and the fight, he slowly walks through the rain with that blank look on his face.

5x29 | Naruto awakens on Kakashis back, but he is only half-conscious. He asks with dim eyes where Sasuke is. Passes out again.

-Choji unconscious and attached to many devices etc.

-Cute, Bandaged, Worried Kiba scenes. Flinches in pain. In hospital bed.

-Neji in intense operation, they are closing his gaping shoulder wound. He moves in pain, but doesn't scream. Unconscious.

-Shikamaru crying ;(

-Naruto awake in hospital bed, bandaged from head to toe, dim eyed.

Many cute "mummy-Naruto" scenes.

Naruto Classic Whumplist Season 6-9

#naruto #classic #naruto classic #whumplist #anime whump #shikamaru #neji #rock lee #sasuke #gaara #kiba #injured #pain #blood #chakra #naruto shippuden #anime #whump list #whump

[drifting-mindspace]

Things we deserved to get from the Naruto manga and anime that we never got -

• JONIN NARUTO -

We followed him around as the lovable Genin knucklehead. Now it goes without saying that him being a Jonin is just a rank and honestly doesnt mean much. Rescuing Gaara, going after Kakuzo, Mount Miyaboku were all A & S-rank missions.

But I would liked to have seen him doing missions post war in a slightly more mature yet typically knuckleheaded manner instead of the passing phrase he made tonShikamaru about being too busy doing missions for the next 6 months.

We grew up with Naruto and now that he's older and stronger we dont get to see him in action.

• A Happily Married Kakashi & Shizune- 

Hatake Kakashi has led a deeply traumatic life. His mother died when he was very young, his father committed suicide when he was 6 causing him to distance himself from everyone around him. The first person he opened up to and formed a bond with died moments later protecting him, the girl he deeply cared for and probably harbored feelings for which he was too afraid to confront died at his hands as he desperately tried to protect her, a year later his sensei died protecting the village. When he became a sensei to Team 7 he felt he was on a path to finding inner peace by ensuring these children avoid his traumas but his prized pupil went rogue shattering that hope. After all this I’d hoped he would’ve finally found a happy ending.

Why Shizune? Well I considered him and Kurenai getting together and him helping raise Mirai but Shizune has always felt like the only Kunoichi in Konoha who has her shit together. She is perfectly at peace with where she is in life. She is incredibly mature and level headed as she helps run the village with Tsunade. Someone who is at peace with herself and her aspirations is the perfect anchor for a man with a whirpool of trauma brewing in him.

Alas it seems like the showrunners have no intention of a romantic arc for Kakashi and the Hatake name will die with Kakashi.

• The Uzumaki Clan

Within a span of 3 months Naruto meets 3 Uzumaki clan members. Nagato, Karin and his own mother. While speaking with Kushina he finds out about the dark fate of the Uzumaki clan. How they were blessed with unimaginably high chakra reserves and were gifted in Sealing Jutsus, longevity and how it led to them being targeted by those who feared them leading to their village being wiped out and scattered across the shinobi world.

Instead of turning the Naruto saga into the Uchiha Chronicles Id have preferred a deep dive into the Uzumaki clan. Maybe even have a Sasuke-like venegeful figure who wants Konoha to suffer because they failed to provide aid to the village they called their strong allies in their greatest hour of need.

Like Sasuke this villain would’ve witnessed his fellow clansmen cut down, unlike Sasuke however he wouldn’t have had the likes of Naruto, Itachi or Kakashi to anchor him in the light leaving room for redemption.

This could have been the one villain that was so far gone in his pain and hatred that no amount of 'talk no jutsu' could have changed his mind and would've pushed Naruto to the very brink until he finally had to choose between killing his clansman or protecting his village.

Naruto would make the ultimate sacrifice for Konoha and this would all the more set his resolve to pulling Sasuke back from the darkness or dying with him.

An Uzumaki villain gifted in Fuijutsu and the use of the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai, the Adamantine Chains along with massive chakra reserves would be the perfect power scaled villain for Post Pain Arc Naruto.

Instead we got Uchiha chronicles where everyone did whatever the fuck they thought of doing and chakra limits were all but history. This one really disappointed me. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

• Naruto Killing a Villain

Now I know it seems like an odd hang up. Naruto? Kill? But he is so fixated on redemption. That is exactly why I wanted this to happen. The series has gone out of its way to make sure Naruto hasn’t killed a character. The worst of it was against Kakuzu. The kind of attack unleashed upon Kakuzu SHOULD by all means have killed him. Yet somehow he was left in a ‘dying state’ and Kakashi was the one who did the deed. 

Naruto being forced to kill a villain as a last resort and making a choice between saving someone dear to him or tainting his hands with blood was the ultimate moral conundrum for a shinobi whose biggest goal was rescuing his best friend from the dark. It would take him back to Itachi’s words where he asked Naruto what he would if Sasuke decided to destroy the village.

Instead we saw Rasen Shuriken and Rasengan getting scaled down to a point where they always injure and opponent but not kill him. For an S-rank jutsu, Rasen Shuriken happens to be quite lenient.

• Neji beoming the head of the Hyuuga Clan

This pisses me off the most. Neji was supposed to be to the Hyuuga was Naruto was to Konoha. I always expected Neji to overcome all the obstacles and get recognized by Hiashin who would then redeem himself and disband the branch system once and for all. Hiashin as a character was never redeemed. Here was a man who let his brother get executed to avoid punishment (albeit he was against it but it did happen), constantly abused his kind daughter and belittled her for being too soft and put her down to a point her personality was underdeveloped and she had deep seethed confidence issues.

Disbanding the branch system and making Neji the leader would redeem him in the eyes of the readers/ viewers and would clean up the Hyuuga clan.

Instead Neji was scrapped aside to give Naruto and Hinata a bonding moment. They had a bonding moment, it was when she almost died saving his life. Neji didn’t have to die for them to get together ffs. What a wasted potential.

• NaruSaku

Now I’m not a fanatic shipper. In fact when I read and watched the original series I absolutely HATED Sakura. My hatred for her reached it’s peak during the Zabuza arc when Naruto ran at the S-rank villain, got kicked away and got up to show he went in for his forehead protector. “What do you think you’re doing Naruto? Even Sasuke-kun wasn’t a match for him.” I just wanted Naruto to turn around and tell her to stfu in that moment. As the series approached the time skip I was well and truly content with NaruHina.

But Shippuden changed things. The hints towards Sakura’s changed feelings were sprinkled all over the series. One moment that stands out for me was the Clone Training arc where Sai tests her by abusing Naruto and she goes on a rage rant about how great he is. Let’s not forget that in her darkest hour, as she saw a ruined and destroyed village the only person she thought of and cried out to was Naruto. Not because she felt he could save the village (she was as shocked as Shikamaru as she found out he was facing pain alone) but because when things when bad for her the only person who she felt comfort around was indeed Naruto and that is indisputable.

She goes as far as ruining her friendship with Naruto, a bond she truly cherished as it was all she had left after Sasuke abandoned the village, and confessed her feelings to manipulate him. Yes manipulative, scheming and downright a bitch of a thing to do. But it was all she could think of to make Naruto stop chasing after Sasuke. She, more than anyone wanted to see Naruto become a Hokage and realize his dreams and dying while rescuing Sasuke was a risk she couldn’t take and she decided she’d have him hate her than die. Wrong yes. But oddly noble.

This combined with all the blatant attempts to establish her being like Kushina and Kushina saying she wants Naruto to find someone like her changed my mind from NaruHina. I still adore Hinata. She is a wonderful character. But organic plot progression is far more important to me than my ships being canon.

A Naruto-Sakura family would’ve been incredibly entertaining and the dynamics would be perfect. We’d see a Minato-Kushina couple on screen for the next series. Which brings me to my next disappointment.

•HinaShino

I don’t know if that’s the official name for the pairing but I always felt these 2 would make a great couple.They are both people of a few words and are both incredibly intuitive and understanding individuals. Shino would accept Hinata for who she was and vice versa. Being with someone who was happy with the person they were would go miles in helping them come out of their shells.

Altho this isn’t a massive disappointment for me. I’m happy that Hinata ended up with Naruto. But like I said organic plot progression matters to me and if Naruto ended up with Sakura I’d prefer Hinata to end up with Shino.

•Hiraishin No Jutsu

Sadly as the series progressed Naruto had become so OP that not letting him master his father’s improved version of Tobirama’s jutsu was a great decision. It would’ve just made him senselessly OP. 

However instead of giving him all those God Tier power ups which he just gains in single training sessions I’d have preferred him working hard to master the Hirashin. Instead of sending him off to an island and treating him like a fucking idiot and asking him to survey animals I’d have preferred if Tsunade gave him an impossible task.

“You can’t fight in the battle. But I will only allow it if you can master your father’s jutsu.”

It was a period of 6 months between Danzo’s death and the start of the shinobi war. Ample time to show him training hard to learn a jutsu that for once required him to study. Hiraishin deals not just in physical acts of speed but also mastering seals.  Seeing his friends go off to fight in the war as he was left behind would have only added to his frustration and motivated him more.

Showing Naruto training hard like they showed him training for Rasen Shuriken would’ve only made us cheer all the more harder when he’d make a badass entry on the battle field as Tobi came close to killing Kakashi and a three pronged Kunai swished between the two, an orange flash appeared and Naruto kicked Tobi away.

Sadly this was swapped for Pokemon evolutions where arc after arc Naruto levels up just like that. The show’s entire premise was based on hard work and guts.

Sasuke was the genius who gained his power through natural ability. Sure he trained hard but his strength came to him with ease. Naruto had to slog. He manged to make the Rasengan after nearly 15 episodes of training and even then he had to get stabbed to be able to use it. It wasn’t until another 10 episodes that he properly used it. His training for the Rasenshuriken took an entire season to yield results and even then he didn’t learn to throw it until he trained for another 3 seasons till the Pain arc.

Post pain all this is tossed aside. He sits at the waterfall twice and beats the darkness. He sits in the room once and tames Kurama. Later Kakashi and Guy are in trouble, he has an inner dialogue with Kurama and suddenly he mastered the two man team with no prior training. Rikkodu Sennin touches him once and suddenly he’s learnt how to grow eyes, stop death and fly just like that.

The series stopped being the Naruto series we grew up with post Danzo and it saddens me.

• Naruto Sensei - 

And finally my last and greatest disappointment of all. Not seeing Naruto as a sensei. We’ve seen glimpses of his nurturing side in his interactions with Konohamaru but I’d have loved to have seen 40-50 episodes of him leading his own squad of genins. A perfect combination of Kakashi and Guy as he’d wow them with his brilliance and equally embarrass them in day to day interactions with his goofy tomfoolery. His genins would be in awe of him. Naruto Sensei - the hero of the war. 

His students could have an arrogant son/daughter of a feudal lord who insisted he be trained by the war hero, Naruto and Kakashi had to cave in for diplomatic reasons. Naruto refuses to take anyone who doesn’t work hard to get where they are but after the bell test sees potential in the child. A child with no ninja background. His parents were farmers outside of Konoha who were very poor. His sole aim is to be a ninja so strong that he’s always assigned big missions that will help him ease his family’s financial burdens. A genin from the Inuzuka clan (or any other clan, maybe even Hanabi if the show wanted to push more Naruto-Hinata interactions) who thinks he’s better than the other 2 because of his family background but is taught humility by Naruto.

Sadly another development in Naruto’s life we were denied.

Well that’s my rant essay. I know a lot of people won’t agree with what I had to say but I wanted to get it off my best anyway. Why? 

Because I wanted to dattebayo!

#naruto #naruto uzumaki #naruto shippuden #jonin #jonin naruto #kakashizu #kakashi hatake #shizune #uzumaki #uzumaki clan #nagato #nagato uzumaki #karin #karin uzumaki #kushina #kushina uzumaki #badass naruto #killer naruto #hyuuga clan #neji hyuuga #neji #hinata hyuuga #hanabi hyuuga #hiashi hyuuga #byakugan #narusaku #sakura #sakura haruno #haruno sakura #otp

[solena2]

Hey y’all so I watched a YouTube video that I think was wrong, and as you know it’s illegal to be wrong on the internet, so I wrote a response!

Video is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8LF_KkrCJs

Spoilers for BNHA, in both the video and my response (which I wanted to put in the comments on the video, but apparently YouTube gets pissy about copypasting? Anyway)

Also, probably watch the video before reading this, since a lot of this is a direct response to the points they brought up.

—

I’d like to preface this by saying that you’ve made some valid comments, and that I understand where you’re coming from here.

My Hero Academia is, overall, a story about amazing people with amazing powers doing amazing things, and it’s difficult to see where someone with no power at all might fit in to this, which is the main emotional conflict Izuku faces throughout his childhood, that fundamental dichotomy between his wanting to save people, and his (assumed) inability to do so without a quirk.

But My Hero Academia is also a story that likes to repeatedly assert that anyone can be a hero. From Aizawa with his non-physical quirk, who primarily uses support gear to defeat enemies many times stronger than him, to Shinsou, whose quirk is seen as villainous, who would likely have to fight against other heroes as often as he would villains thanks to the prejudice that’s positively dripping from BNHA’s world.

So I’d like to explain why I disagree.

First, you begin the video by talking about the people who claim that Izuku’s getting a quirk ruins the story. I would like to make it clear, right off the bat, that I don’t hold this view. I believe that while Izuku having a quirk weakens the impact of the story and cheapens a lot of its messages, there is still undoubtedly a story there to be told, and one that is worth telling.

The reason I believe that Izuku receiving One For All weakens the story is because BNHA is all about the consequences of the kind of society wide prejudice that exists within its world. Every villain the characters face and every problem they overcome is one spawned by the very status quo they’ve spent their childhoods dreaming of upholding- the hero system.

Stain exists because heroes are held in awe by the general population without truly being worthy of it, treated as saviors despite being little more than glorified cops, which spawns anger and resentment from people intelligent enough to see past their facades.

Dabi exists because pro heroes are allowed to get away with just about anything so long as they’re covert about it, and in fact might have grown up to be a hero himself if Endeavor had been held to a higher moral standard by those around him, or had been appropriately punished for his behavior.

All For One exists because “strong” quirks are revered, and those who hold them are taught early to take what they want by force.

Shigaraki exists because those with “unpleasant” quirks are reviled and held in disgust by the general population, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation by outside forces due to their lacking support systems.

I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.

In my opinion, BNHA has always been centered around the society quirks have created and the consequences therein. I dare you to find a major character arc that doesn’t intersect with the universe’s social issues in some way.

Thus, I believe the message that BNHA attempts to convey would be significantly stronger I’d Izuku had remained quirkless, demonstrating once and for all that quirks and heroism aren’t so intertwined as it might seem.

Instead, it shoots itself in the foot, saying repeatedly that it’s not a quirk that makes a hero, but rather their spirit, while at the same time leaving it implied that the most important character of all would never have been able to help people if not for being given All Might’s power. (Again, it doesn’t ruin the story, but it does hamstring the core message somewhat.)

You say here that Izuku getting saved by All Might is the only reason he became a hero at all, being “saved from his fate of irrelevance”.

This is… Not something I agree with, to state it politely.

Izuku was planning to attend UA’s entrance exam long before he met All Might. Given that he is, you know, Izuku, I don’t think any amount of shittiness from Katsuki would have deterred him from trying. In fact, trying despite the odds against him making it seem idiotic to do so is one the largest parts of his character.

The way you speak of needing to give him a “resilient streak” for him to keep trying despite All Might’s discouragement implies that he doesn’t already have one wide enough to suffer through 14 years of being told he’d never make it as a hero. With how much he’s already pushed through by the time the story even starts, I really doubt All Might would succeed again breaking his will any more than anyone else has.

You say that Izuku’s arc is all about facing the guilt of having reached his goals purely through chance while so many others remain downtrodden.

That’s valid, and I agree.

You also say that this is not a character arc he could have had without One For All, which is not.

Merely being the first quirkless person to make it into UA would likely start this, as he would definitely still have to get through the exam on rescue points, which could feel unearned to him, what with his massive case of imposter syndrome.

Thus, it would still be entirely possible to give him the same overall character arc he has in canon, and it might in fact end up even more pronounced, due to all the discrimination he’d face from the general public.

You say that for this Izuku to continue, even despite All Might’s rejection, he would already have to have the sense of self worth such a character arc eventually gives him.

This is not the case. There are many instances in real life of people pushing past impossible odds and still not feeling as if they deserve to have made it to the other side. In fact, what would likely happen is that he’d try to be a hero anyway and then feel guilty for attempting it even after being discouraged by his hero.

So no, he’s not Naruto, because the personality changes you propose wouldn’t actually be necessary to give him a fighting chance as a hero without a quirk.

The next big point you make is that it would be difficult to give Izuku the standard shounen power crawl without a cool quirk.

You’re correct that technology would have a difficult time stacking up to One For All without feeling like an asspull, making him a Mary Sue, or needing to give him a seemingly infinite array of gadgets, a la Batman.

Notice I said difficult, NOT impossible. While it can be much harder to turn technology into a realistic way to fight superpowered villains, it CAN be done.

Not to mention, there is already a character in BNHA who does it and does it well.

Aizawa doesn’t have a combat oriented quirk, instead fighting almost exclusively with the use of his capture scarf, using which he is shown to be able to take out upwards of ten villains, depending on where you want to pull from. I really don’t think it would be so unrealistic to give a quirkless Izuku something along these lines.

Not that we even need to. We can have Izuku beating villains without the use of any technology he couldn’t buy for himself. (At least in a place with lax safety laws, which I imagine his world likely is due to how pointless it would be to heavily restrict the purchase of things like guns when there are people running around who can shoot glaciers from their hands)

Ninety percent of villains are as vulnerable to getting shot as a normal human. If that’s too violent and bloody for the tone of the show, there are dozens of ways to beat the villains with things like hairspray flamethrowers, slingshots, and traditional weapons (just look at Stain). While quirks certainly are powerful, they aren’t perfect and every ability has a counter, even if it’s not always immediately obvious.

This eliminates the problem of him needing to get his tech from somewhere entirely. (Which is almost a con, because Mei needs more screentime, man)

Actually your point of possibly making Izuku a “super genius” reminds me of something else. Izuku has an almost supernatural ability to identify and counter quirks. Gee, I wonder how that could be useful in a possible plot line where he’s unable to rely on being able to smash his way through problems…

You say that if Izuku getting a quirk is an issue for BNHA, giving him overpowered tech would be a problem as well. Though I already solved this problem by proposing less tech heavy solutions, I’ve decided not to skip over this point because it seems like the right place for me to bring up a piece of context you may be missing for why some people are so against Izuku being given a quirk.

Let’s talk about the disability angle.

Now, as someone with mental disabilities myself, I’m not exactly unbiased here. I’m not going to deny that I have a knee jerk reaction to any story that gives a character a disability (or something analogous within the setting to a disability, like quirklessness) and then “cures” it while implying that they never would have gotten anywhere if their disability had persisted. This is actually why I took so long to get into the BNHA fandom, since I saw a loose outline of the plot and immediately went “oh hell no”.

I did end up joining the fandom in the end, simply because I’m almost certain that this parallel was unintentional.

Anyway, the reason why giving him an overpowered quirk and giving him overpowered tech are so different from a lot of people’s perspectives is that giving him tech doesn’t erase his “disability”. If you give a quirkless Izuku powerful tech, he’ll still be quirkless, with all the hurdles and challenges that implies. (Especially the discrimination related ones) Meanwhile, giving Izuku a quirk removes the disability entirely, as well as most associated difficulties.

I’m sure you can see why one seems so ableist, from a disabled perspective.

You say that you would likely run out of ways to meaningfully progress his tech, in a series as long as BNHA likely will be by its conclusion, but I’d like to point out that this is just as much of a problem with superpowered media. It’s very common in shounen for power progression to feel like more and more of an asspull as the story progresses. Thus, you solve the problem in the same way, by relying more on clever use of what the hero already possesses than you do on creating a new application or ability in every fight.

And no, I can think of several ways to beat both Dabi and Shigaraki without “science magic”. Obviously, neither of them are immune to bullets, though again, that’s probably a bit too quick for this show. You could take down Shigaraki if you could numb his hands somehow, or if you protected yourself with something made of many interlocking parts, like chain mail. You could beat Dabi if you used something like a taser, if you could get close enough to use it. You could also just find a way to outlast him, since he’s not immune to his own fire. Maybe bring some gasoline?

I’m going to skip over the points you make while talking about setting, since I don’t believe you’d have to alter the setting to make a quirkless Izuku feasible.

I will talk acknowledge one point you make while discussing setting simply so I can say: inequality and societal imbalance do not require much, or even any, actual disparity in ability to both exist and be prevalent enough to disenfranchise huge chunks of a population. Just look at how autistic and ADHD people are treated for that. (Or gay people, or women, or the Poors(™)...)

In conclusion, your opinion is valid but I think you lack knowledge of where most of this criticism is actually coming from, which isn’t something you should be ashamed of.

I think the reason mine and your opinions are so fundamentally different here is that we’re coming from very different places, and our thoughts on a piece of media like this are always going to be shaped by our environment.

Thank you for reading.

#my hero academia #boku no hero academia #Izuku #Midoriya #midoriya izuku #Deku #BNHA #BNHA meta #mha meta #my writing #I really feel like it’s important to discuss why different people have different opinions on this kind of thing! #also I’d just like to make it clear that I do like bnha #I just feel like it. like any piece of media (except Undertale lol). had some flaws and issues which should be addressed #consume media critically! #long post #sorry about your dashes I made this post on mobile so no cut #and apparently tumblr has decided that it’s illegal to edit posts made on mobile from a computer #>:( #sol writes

[linkspooky]

Your analysis on shigaraki's worldview is 😍😍😍. Who's your fav bnha character btw, and what kind of manga are you into? (i mean as in genre, but my phrasing is terrible at times so idk how to put it all in the last sentence)

My favorite manga in the whole world are the manga that run in Weekly Shonen Jump. I read almost everything that runs in the magazine from week to week. I know that’s not technically a genre, but let’s not arguen semantics. 

And now because no one asked for it, my opinion on all of the manga currently running through Jump that I read. 

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba usually manga in shonen jump slowly get worse over time as they try to stretch their stories out, but Kimetsu no Yaiba is a story that continues to develop on itself and improve the longer it runs. 

The art is phenomenal and has a good balance of when to be silly and when to be drop dead gorgeous. It’s more of an ensemble piece tied together by a big brother trying to save his little sister, and because of that almost every character Tanjirou interacts with is fun and really immediately attention grabbing. 

It’s also a pretty heavy story that deals with death, grief and loss and trying to find life beyond a world that has suffering like that. I’m actually planning to make some meta of it soon, especially with the interactions between Domi and Shinobu. My only real complaint is that it’s deep but not too deep. Usually the demons are always bad and the demon slayers are always good in the end, even if sympathy is expressed for some of the demons. Once again though it does so well in the technical aspects of telling the story it wants to tell. 

My Hero Academia it’s pretty obvious that I like it. The biggest draws for me are the art style and the characters, specifically the villains. Also the idea of a reverse X men world where what are basically the mutants now outnumber normal people and dominate society is a fantastic idea for world building with a lot of options. 

I’ve actually followed Horikoshi’s work for a long time. His two previous works, Oumagodoki Zoo and Barrage both ran in Shonen Jump for a short time before they were cancelled which I find really unfortanate because they both had a lot of potential as well. 

I love both the hero kids and the villains, though sometimes I feel like the villains are more connected to the central conflict of the story than the heroes. It would be nice to see Deku evolve a more radical philosophy then just wanting to save people right in front of him, or protecting the status quo. The heroes should ideally act in response to the villains to create a better world and resolve a problem the villains brought up, but if say the League of Villains were wiped out now another League would be created later because the central problem of the story has not been dealt with. 

Dr. Stone this is a series that almost got cancelled, but was saved by a main character switch. Senku is really likable and unique as a character, kind of a mad scientist archetype who turns out to be the good guy and the hero of the story.

He reminds me a lot of Yoichi from the writers previous work, Eyeshield 21. In that they’re both laughing mad eccentrics who seem like they have little scruples for how they use and treat other people, and yet are surrounded by friends and act as the leaders of their team. They also both have a tendency for strategy over brute strength and like to outwit their opponents. 

The only thing I can say about Dr. Stone is that while the characters are a fun little group of oddballs, they rarely get any deeper than that. The most interesting thing is still figuring out the central mystery of the world and what happened to turn everybody to stone, which is why having Senku as a main character was a really smart move on the series part. 

Yozakura Family This is a new series that I actually really like and hope beats canellation at the two week mark. It’s kind of your basic romantic comedy characters get married in the first chapter promise, but also there’s some really strong character writing with the older brother. He’s one of the few examples of the obsessive and overprotective brother type that was portrayed as actually abusive and damaging for seeing his younger sister that way. 

The premise also reminds me a lot of Katekyo Hitman Reborn, just suddenly getting sucked into the underworld of spies and crimminals when you’re an unlucky loser with no social skills. If the character writing is as strong as it is for the brother I can definitely see a lot of improvement and staying power. 

The Promised Neverland the smartest written series in Shonen Jump write now with the best ideas. The Promised Neverland is all about theme, theme, theme, theme, which is why someone like me who devours stories for their nutritious value and content loves it. 

While there are only about three major characters with arcs that matter to the plot, Norman, Ray, and Emma they are some of the deepest characters in shonen jump currently and the complexity of their relationship and the way they all foil each other is superb.

It’s a story about children trying to escape a neverland where they can never grow up, and live in a world that never wanted them alive. Not only is it just about them though, it’s also about adults who are still inside the system and gave up at one point or another and decided to just live in the evil world rather than change it. It’s a deep story but it’s also undeniably shonen jump, the central theme is about not giving up even in a world that is determined to deny your existence. 

Act Age If you’ve read Chihayafuru this manga has a lot in common with that, because both of them are about very singleminded girls with complex emotions that they themselves don’t understand, finding themselves completely enveloped in a niche hobby to the point of obsession. 

Act-Age is a story that’s primarily about storytelling and the nature of stories themselves, with each arc focusing on an adaptation of either a movie made up for the sake of the story or a pre-written play ie, Journey to the West, Night on the Galactic Railroad. However, it’s also bout the nature of stories, as understood by the perspectie of an actor. 

There are only a few major characters but they all get intensely developed in their arcs. My absolute favorite relationship is that of the main character, quiet on the surface but with deep emotions that she uses for her acting talent with her rival an actress that’s much more like a pop star or idol. Rather than having deep talent she instead uses her ability to read people to appeal to them. She is cheerful and lively on the surface, but empty inside. The way they envy each other and learn to grow from each other because each of them has what the other one desires. 

Jujutsu Kaisen reminds me of really early bleach that was just Ichigo and his teenage friends fighting Hollows. This is one of the manga I definitely reccomend, because it’s one of the lesser known manga in jump currently. The art style has this scratchy look about it which really adds well to the horror aspect of the series. It’s a demon fighting anime with some of the best demon designs, more attention is put on making them look grotesque and scary then in series like KNY where the demons for the most part are pretty good looking still. 

The main trio is very solid, a reckless idiot who swallowed a cursed finger in the first chapter and is continually dealing with the consequences of that, the shadowy, quiet type cool headed one who almost never talks about his past or his true feelings on the matter, and between them the cheerful girl whose a tad on the merciless side. 

Not only are the characters good, but it’s one of the few series where the fights and lore are super interesting. Rather than dealing with demons directly Kimetsu no Yaiba style we deal with curses, which are generated from the human subconscious. 

For exmaple one of the villains Mahito is the embodiment of the fear humans have for other humans, that is the anxieties of life, and the fear and suppressed feelings that go hand in hand with humanity. Because that he’s much like a child curse quickly learning and progressing with a human intelligence. 

The fights, the powers of characters, they’re all used to further develop a really interesting world of curses and the people who live dealing with them that it feels like we’re only scratching the surface of right now and desperately makes you want to figure out the system they have in place for this entire world. 

Yui Kamio Lets Loose - I find it to be a really sweet romantic comedy about a stuck up boy obsessed with appearances and what other people think of him falling in love with two sides of a girl, the uncontrollable Yui that beat him up and constantly gets into fights and trouble, and the perfect demure girl who can only ever be helpless and kind and needs to be protected. It has a feel of a lot of classic 80s high school romantic comedies. The only real problem is that it needs to acquire a plot fast, because it’s at risk for cancellation which makes it hard for me to get invested in a series that might end soon. 

Double Taisei - One of those shonen manga that had a really interesting beginning chapter, but then failed to do anything with it. I think it would work well as a character piece between two personalities who act like brothers in the same body, but the characters aren’t strong enough quite yet to work that way. I do like the character design… 

Tokyo Shinobi Squad - It looked like a ripoff at first but the main character is actually fairly different from Naruto, and the manga itself is uniquely its own thing. I just hope it learns to utilize it’s cyberpunk setting better, because ninjas fighting in a cyberpunk dystopia is a very tropey premise and the story needs to utilize those tropes in order to work. I do like the fact that the main character starts out pretty powerful so it’s not a typical shonen formula about a main character slowly learning to gain power, instead it’s him taking in and being responsible for a kid. 

Manga I don’t read - One piece, Yuuna of the Haunted Hotsprings, Chainsawman, Samurai 8 the tale of Hachimaru, Beast Children, Miitama Security Busters. 

#anime-freakchow #weekly shonen jump #shonen manga #my hero academia #dr. stone #jujutsu kaisen #act-age #the promised neverland #act age #black clover #we never learn #kimetsu no yaiba #spooky speaks #askspookies

[babyybitchhh]

Side note regarding the last ask I answered. I just want to say that Kishimoto’s character priorities strike me as very ... odd. It’s strange to me that characters like Hiashi, Orochimaru and Sasuke - who have done arguably terrible things to the people around them - can not only live through all these trials but even go on to be welcomed back into polite society while characters like Asuma, Neji, Shikaku and Jiraiya were slaughtered for the sake of plot progression. From a storytelling standpoint, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the “good” people are punished while the “bad” guys get off without so much as a slap to the wrist. It sends mixed signals.

And I know Kishimoto has this thing about how seeking revenge/atonement for someone’s actions against you is no way to live, and while I generally agree, it doesn’t exactly add up in the narrative. Kakashi told Sasuke that killing in the name of revenge is harmful to yourself (and he was right about that) but then he turned around and helped Shikamaru exact revenge on Hidan. The situations were slightly different, yes, but it doesn’t seem like Kakashi knew about Itachi’s real motivations so the contradictory way he acted in those instances feels off. What’s more, I find it hard to believe that Naruto would allow Orochimaru to walk away AND welcome his abomination offspring into the village after he was the cause of Sasuke turning his back on both team 7 and Konoha as a whole, started him on the path of “darkness”, maximized the overall suffering of all characters involved, almost killed his other friends on multiple occasions, committed acts against humanity for the sake of “progression” and also gave Sasuke the means with which to fall directly into the Akatsuki’s hands. Like, considering how far up Sasuke’s ass he is, Orochimaru should’ve been the last person Naruto forgave when all was said and done. How am I expected to believe that the laundry list of crimes Orochimaru has under his belt is somehow justifiable? That anyone could look at what he’s done and write it off?

Even if Kishimoto was making an argument for “forgive and forget”, Orochimaru never should’ve been eligible for that sort of leniency to begin with. What he did should’ve been so far past the point of acceptability that mercy was never an option. It’s not so much that the characters I liked had to die, but that they died while actual villains were permitted to lead happy lives after they eventually got the evil out of their systems. It REALLY grinds my gears that Jiraiya was cut down the way he was while Orochimaru got to play mad scientist with no regard for human life and then be allowed to run free, have a son and pretty much do whatever the fuck he wants. It doesn’t make any sense??

Same with Sasuke. Not only should he have been so far gone with the mental trauma of losing his entire family, killing his own brother, trying to destroy his entire village and everyone in it, attempting to KILL Sakura on two separate occasions and being manipulated by a long dead relative that rehabilitation of any kind was entirely out of the question but also why forgive him for those crimes in the first place? Why let him wander about however he sees fit when you KNOW he has a history of going off the goddamn rails? How is it that he isn’t punished in some way and, perhaps most inexplicably, Sakura still wants to be with him? Is the narrative Kishimoto feeding me REALLY supposed to be that any act of violence and hatred is forgivable if you try to see it from that persons perspective hard enough? It’s inconceivable!

And imma be honest with you even though it’s not going to make me any friends. Gaara is the exact same as Sasuke. He got off scot free despite killing who knows how many unnamed people and also reveling in the death and destruction he wrought. The guy had no business taking a position of power in Suna no matter how much Naruto’s healing magic of friendship changed him. Like, to be completely honest, it would’ve made ten times more sense for Temari to take that role but we can’t go around having women in leadership positions now can we?

: p

Good people die and that’s okay. That’s life. Asuma’s death played a big role in Shikamaru’s character arc and Jiraiya died like a hero. That is not my issue with Kishimoto’s inane drama. But it feels very ... hollow to me, knowing that the people who did legitimately terrible things were not suitably punished for it in some way because it sets a really bad precedent for forgiving genuinely terrible actions. Genocide and abuse. Human experimentation. The list goes on! And if anything they all got the better end of the deal - Sasuke, Orochimaru, Gaara and Hiashi - they all came out the other side living their best lives while Neji and Shikaku get to rot. That is, quite frankly, fucked up.

#naruto #inane rambling