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#he seems to actually consider killing sasuke so orochimaru can't use him
etrosgate · 7 months
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i've decided it's time to dump my twitter ramblings about the last time sakura and sasuke interact in part 1, a scene that so many of my oomfs hate but is one i really love. because
1: they're my two favorite naruto characters 2: their dynamic happens to also be my favorite 3: they ARE FRIENDS in part 1. THEY ARE. I STAND BY THIS.
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warning: this gets so long. i did not expect it to get so long. also im begging you to not consider boruto or most of part 2 in reading this, we're NOT talking about all that right now.
in looking back at this scene, i thought to myself "is it just me or is sasuke's face hidden constantly here" so i made a diagram about it, documenting how much of sasuke+sakura's faces you see throughout it. i found the results pretty interesting. (i might've missed or miscategorized a few but not enough to really make a difference imo)
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the way sasuke's eyes are constantly concealed in these panels really reads to me that sasuke playing up the callousness in this scene...being harsher than he actually feels, to create distance. he doesn't really want to seriously fight anyone from konoha.
see, he reacts to naruto with anger and violence because that relationship already has some jealousy and resentment and itachi has thrown gasoline on it, recontextualized their bond in sasuke's mind as something that must be violently severed to achieve sasuke's reason for existing (killing itachi)... his relationship with sakura is different, he cares about her a similar amount but she's not been framed as an adversary in his mind, so instead he freezes her out. faces away from her for most of the conversations, uses brief harsh words to cut off any emotional connection to make this severing as easy as possible.
in contrast, sakura's face+eyes are almost always visible, because she's opening herself up, gushing out anything and everything to attempt connection. at this point she is honestly the only one who realizes just how dire the situation is wrt sasuke going to orochimaru (kakashi knows about it but doesn't seem to realize sasuke's already on his last straw, and naruto doesn't even consider the possibility) and she believes that it will almost certainly result in torment and possession at orochimaru's hands if she can't stop him right then and there. so since she knows she can't beat him physically and he's too driven+self-destructive for logic, she pulls out every single emotional appeal she can think of and prays that something, Anything, will reach him.
it's not a shallow confession of feelings, but a last ditch desperation move to protect him from what she believes to be a fatal decision...
most importantly, this is an attempt sasuke himself appreciates.
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i think people really misinterpret sasuke's "you really are annoying" here by just taking it at face value.
it's a callback to one of their first scenes together, wherein sasuke admonishes her for saying something very cruel about naruto being an orphan (this event is actually something sakura is grateful for, as it forced her to grow as a person and begin to actually try and see not only naruto, but sasuke as well, as people. instead of the flat "hot guy" "annoying guy" archetypes she had reduced them to).
but this time, instead of disgust he says it with a smile, transformed into more of an affectionate phrase (you know, like when people fondly call someone idiot). this is particularly notable re:the emotional distancing i mentioned earlier because at the beginning of the conversation sakura references this event and sasuke says he doesn't remember it. so to me, the fact that it is so explicitly shown that he was lying about that in order to downplay their emotional connection, says to me that it's extremely likely he was lying about/downplaying other aspects of the conversation as well.
because their relationship HAS changed significantly from when that first "you really are annoying" happened.
a lot of that is due to sakura's growth as a character, from someone who represses her own personality and has no goals beyond a shallow pursuit of a crush on a shallow imagining of what she thinks sasuke is and stands back while her teammates protect her, to someone who wants to become strong enough to stand beside her friends as equals and protect them and works hard towards that goal, who remembers that her connection and rivalry with ino goes beyond a stupid love triangle, cares about sasuke for who he actually is, cares about naruto for who he is, and no longer cares about molding herself into some stereotypical form of femininity.
and sasuke does care about her in return! he only ever really disliked her when she wasn't taking being a shinobi seriously, treating him like a weird romantic trophy to be obtained or when she's genuinely in the wrong about something, which she will admit to and grow from (yeah he's mean sometimes, but he's literally mean to everyone lol). since sakura grows past those aspects, by the time of the chunnin exams sakura+sasuke+naruto all truly feel like Friends.
from stuff like complimenting her abilities and smiling proudly about it
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making token complaints without actually trying to stop her from doing something silly like holding his and naruto's hands to drag them along while she sings
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to waking up from his curse seal coma to beat the shit out of whoever hurt her
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when sasuke thinks fondly about team 7, it almost always shows an image of naruto AND sakura (sometimes kakashi too, but he is the one most frequently left out). and that's something that holds true throughout the Entire manga.
a key thing to keep in mind for the end of part 1 (specifically, after itachi returns and tortures him again) is that at this point in time, sasuke believes that he is fundamentally incapable of happiness, of having a life outside of revenge.
he exists to kill itachi and die. he was simply deluding himself to ever even think he could have a future.
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he loves team 7. all of them. he Wants to stay with them. but as far as he's concerned, it's an impossible dream.
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the last thing he says in this scene is a "thank you". we don't know the specifics of why, but regardless... he is grateful that she cares about him. cares enough to try and stop him.
unfortunately, it's just not enough to change his mind.
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hollythemage · 1 year
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Have y'all ever noticed all the parallels between Naruto and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer?
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Like, they both start out with a protagonist that is heavily ostracized for something they have no control over.
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For Rudolph it's his nose.
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For Naruto it's the Nine Tailed Beast sealed inside of him.
There's an authority figure who is renowned as an excellent leader and the protagonist looks up to them. The authority figure is aware of the fact that the protagonist is ostracized by their peers, and yet they seemingly do absolutely nothing to condemn these open acts of discrimination despite arguably being in the best position out of anyone to bring about the changes necessary to make the protagonist's life less miserable.
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For Rudolph, it's Santa Claus.
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For Naruto, it's Hiruzen.
The protagonist meets someone from their same home town who is in a similar position to them. They don't fit in and they don't get along with their peers. They have a set goal in mind, and eventually they come to the conclusion that they would have a better chance of fulfilling that goal if they left their home town behind and ventured out into the world beyond it.
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For Rudolph, this is Hermey the Elf.
Hermey doesn't get along as well with his fellow elves because he isn't all that crazy about making toys.
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No, Hermey has a different goal in mind. He wants to be a dentist.
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When he expresses this desire, the other elves mock him, and his boss even goes so far as to fire him.
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In retaliation, Hermey declared that his boss can't fire him because he has already chosen to quit his job at the toy factory.
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He then leaves the north pole, because he knows that he would never be respected in his desired profession if he stayed there.
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For Naruto, this is Sasuke Uchiha.
Sasuke has difficulties getting along with his peers due to the trauma of losing his entire family after his older brother Itachi slaughtered everyone else in the Uchiha Clan.
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His goal is to avenge his dead family by tracking Itachi down and killing him, but in order to do that, he has to get stronger.
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Orochimaru offers to train Sasuke and teach him the skills he needs to kill his brother in exchange for being allowed to use Sasuke's body as his next vessel.
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Eventually Sasuke leaves Konoha to begin training under Orochimaru.
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Side note: Unlike Naruto, Rudolph actually leaves with his friend Hermey after realizing that his peers don't respect him and that no matter what he does, no one seems to be able to get over his nose. Which is ironic considering that Rudolph actually had parents waiting for him at home, and he still decided to just pack up his shit and leave with his new elf friend on impulse without telling anyone.
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Meanwhile Naruto is an orphan who doesn't have parents. He doesn't even have adoptive parents. He doesn't even seem to have any kind of legal guardian at all. Hell aside from having his basic material and educational needs met through the financial support granted to him by the state, he really doesn't have all that much access to social or emotional support on a regular basis. He lives alone and the few people who tolerate his existence are mostly other kids around his age and his teachers (and Ramen Guy. God bless). And yet he never seems to even consider leaving Konoha.
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On the contrary he seems determined to drag Sasuke's ass back to Konoha even if he has to do so with the Uchiha kicking and screaming all the way there.
Both protagonists go through various trials and tribulations until they eventually gain the chance to prove that they can be useful to their peers and finally earn the basic human decency that they always deserved and that they never should have had to earn in the first place. And they do this by being useful to the same people who have spent the majority of their lives ostracizing and neglecting them.
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At least Rudolph gets somewhat of an apology from Santa before Santa asks him to use his glowing nose to guide the other reindeer pulling his sleigh through the snowstorm, but Naruto doesn't get that same courtesy.
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Up until the moment he saves Konoha from Pain's invasion, there is very little indication that a majority of the people in Konoha who have been neglecting him since he was a child have changed their tune.
And after Naruto saves them, it is openly acknowledged that this change of tune is due almost entirely to the fact that Naruto had finally proved that he could be useful to them. Or at least useful enough for them to make an effort to get on his good side despite barely ever bothering to get to know him personally.
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Unlike Rudolph, Naruto acknowledges the hollow, empty feeling it leaves him with to know that his worth as a person in the eyes of his peers is reducible to the benefits that he can provide to them, rather than any other part of who he is as a person.
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He even acknowledges that he still holds a grudge against the other villagers for not being there for him in the past when he was growing up in Konoha.
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He manages to overcome those inner demons at the waterfall of truth, but I can't help but feel as though this seems empty as well considering that none of his new fans seemed to have bothered apologizing for the shit they put him through when he was little, and even if they did then the apologies would just ring hollow since they only happened after he saved the village and rose to fame. And yet he still forgives them and pledges to move on if that is what it would take to prepare for what was to come.
Finally, a majority of the people responsible for ostracizing, harassing, or neglecting the protagonist are never held accountable for what they did, and there is little to no indication that the people in charge are going to enact any kind of policy against harassment or discrimination in order to prevent these incidents from happening again in the future.
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Neither Santa Claus nor any of the Hokage that were in power during Naruto's life ever mention attempting to use their authority or the resources at their disposal to prevent history from repeating itself.
They aren't shown passing laws to safeguard individuals from being harassed for something they have no control over, despite knowing that Naruto and Rudolph suffered from those exact problems. And the reason this is so important is because a change in attitude towards the protagonist doesn't automatically equate to a change in attitude towards other people who are discriminated against for similar reasons, especially if the protagonist is treated as a special case and thus an exception to the rule. All it means is that the protagonist's reputation has changed for the better. Whether or not other socially alienated individuals will continue to suffer from discrimination has yet to be seen.
And even if those broader societal attitudes do change, it doesn't necessarily mean that the institutions that allowed such abuses to occur must have changed as well.
As long as the legal and social systems remain the way they are, there is always a possibility that the abuse will occur again and continue to go unpunished. Attitudes against harassment and discrimination can only go so far without a higher power to reinforce them, such as a legal system to penalize people for committing such offenses.
It's also a lot easier for popular opinion to revert back to what it was if there are no rules in place to enshrine those sentiments in public policy, so any changes that the protagonist has managed to make aren't guaranteed to last.
Also, the fact that Naruto seems to think that he'll only see the changes he wants to see in the village if he becomes the Hokage indicates that he assumes he's going to have to do all of those things himself since he can't rely on anyone else to do it for him.
That is sad as hell.
A person shouldn't have to become a world leader in order to draw attention towards a problem as serious and pervasive as systemic neglect and abuse, and they shouldn't have to face the monumental task of addressing those issues all on their own either.
If you feel as though your only recourse for addressing the injustices that have been committed against you is to become your government's head of state then there is something seriously wrong with that government.
It doesn't matter if the Hokage is an elected position because even representatives are elected via the majority vote and that still leaves plenty of room for abuse if that same majority decides to collectively neglect or abuse someone. Also I doubt that kids as young as Naruto have voting rights and if they do then it is never mentioned.
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Oh well, at least he is the Hokage now.
So basically in summary; Rudolph and Naruto spent their whole lives being discriminated against for something they had no control over only for everyone to suddenly change their tune and begin worshipping them as heroes the second that their usefulness was shown to outweigh whatever perceived flaws had caused those same people to despise them throughout their childhoods.
The North Pole and Konoha do not deserve them.
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avengernomore · 10 months
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That's such an interesting idea and I really wish we got to see more examples of it... Kabuto and Yamato are the only ones we've seen Bloodline Limits get transferred to, and even with that, I'm not sure if the blood solution was modified beforehand or not!
It would've been so cool to see ninja like Orochimaru go more in-depth with why they couldn't replicate Kekkei Genkai through blood fusions alone-- especially when his own underling Kabuto managed to do it... seemingly using that exact method.
Like, does your chakra network have it's own specialized immune system in addition to your ol' run-of-the-mill lymphatic system? Does it attack and reject anything that doesn't fit your natural chakra affinity? When you learn new natures, are you forcefully changing the very genes in your chakra pathway system through epigenetics? Is the compatibility of your chakra network in particular what leads to it developing at all? If yes, can't you grow the cells able to accommodate the Limit using stem cells, and implant them in the chakra system? How would that work if the pathway doesn't work properly...
People like Rock Lee can barely use chakra at all, but is that because their pathway cells don't have the receptors capable of turning that energy into something tangible, like say, fire?
Or are the cells in the tenketsu points just not sensitive enough to the chemicals that produce the chakra to begin with, like in Type 2 Diabetes-- keeping most of it locked in the pathway system, unable to leave because the cells are too desensitized?
This so long, and it kinda goes off topic a bit, I hope you don't mind! I also think this concept is super interesting, and I couldn't help yammering about it lol :b
Well, of all of my rambling, I didn’t expect this one to get such a long ask. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, not at all! Just unexpected. Let’s see if I can provide some answers.
I don’t recall Kabuto having a Kekkei Genkai at all, but with Yamato, I think it was being implanted with Hashirama Senju's cells rather than blood. There were a lot of cases of that, it’d be a wonder if any of his corpse is actually left, really. But some did it to try and get Wood Style, some did it to extend their life… somehow… But it would also be a question of whether or not the body would attack those foreign cells and kill them off, or if they have some sort of medical ninjutsu or drugs to suppress their immune system, like a transplant patient.
Again, I do not remember Kabuto having a bloodline limit. He did have a sage mode, which might be what you’re thinking of, especially since Orochimaru does not seem to have a sage mode himself.
There is the way Orochimaru takes over his vessels, which definitely seems to have something to do with chakra, considering Sasuke managed to seal him in his curse mark, and Orochimaru managed to take over Kabuto to an extent through the remains Kabuto implanted into himself. I don’t know if learning new chakra natures is necessarily a huge change, but I am basing that off of Sasuke having learnt a jutsu that didn’t match his natural chakra nature when he was an academy student. In fact, most, if not all, the Jonin in Naruto tend to be able to use two or three chakra natures. So I doubt it's anything as drastic as changing their own genes.
Rock Lee is actually explained, in that he has an underdeveloped chakra circulatory system, which is why he cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu. He does have SOME chakra usage though, he can walk up walls and on water, after all.
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plantb0t · 3 years
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Chapter 88 literally has me going crazy abt kabuto's characterization there it's so interesting im just sitting here like. WHAT DOES IT MEAN
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