#and naruto's generation is even further removed from the history than obito was; so they just have no idea

[panharmonium]

the other thing that i keep thinking about, especially now that i’ve been knee-deep in conversation about kakashi’s father for the last couple days, is the amount of politically/socially-charged context kakashi must be constantly navigating as a leaf shinobi, even though we don’t get to see much of it.  

the transformation of the hidden leaf village is obviously still a work in progress, and society never changes overnight.  we’ve heard at various points in shippuden about the still-present divide between hardliners like danzo and the (somewhat) more moderate senju line, and it’s clear that there are still plenty of reactionary/conservative forces at work in the shinobi world, which means there are absolutely still segments of the population who would view the kind of challenge that kakashi and his students pose to traditional shinobi values as a threat.  and back when kakashi first chose to reaffirm his father’s principles, i’m sure it was much worse - the way minato tells it, the entire village and the land of fire turned on sakumo, and it’s not like all those people just disappeared when kakashi finally allowed himself to recognize that all of them were doing something wrong.  they were still there.  they were his neighbors.  they were his colleagues.  he had to live with them.  he had to work with them - he had to work FOR them, even.  to this day, he still does.

like.  i am FASCINATED by the complexities of this situation, even though we barely see any of it.  just...thinking about thirteen year-old kakashi being a member of the Jonin Assembly alongside all of these grown adults who persecuted his father until the “great man who everyone looked up to” couldn’t survive it any longer.  thinking about teenage kakashi lost and “waiting to die” in the anbu black ops, but still breaking every rule to rescue little tenzo from a hardline conservative who tried to have kakashi assassinated.  thinking about adult kakashi, still a member of that same Jonin Assembly, still working alongside people he can clearly remember harassing and attacking his father for saving their lives, being asked to serve as a clandestine hokage under danzo’s nose, because foreign nations trust kakashi where they don’t trust the actual nominee, and then being nominated for real when danzo turns up dead (and having his nomination approved, i might add, by the land of fire, whose government officially blamed kakashi’s father for the damage that resulted from that abandoned mission years before).

we only get hints about the lingering controversy surrounding kakashi and his family via danzo and, occasionally, the village elders, but like.  kakashi occupies such a complex place in the hidden leaf village, because he’s become incredibly respected and renowned by many (if not most) of its residents, but he also spends every day of his life moving within a community where many (if not most) of the older people around him participated in a campaign of vicious harassment against his father, one that ultimately led to his death.  some of them may have had changes of heart after sakumo’s suicide - that seems like the kind of thing that might have shocked some people into reevaluating their positions, particularly given how respected sakumo was prior to that time - and some of them probably died later in the war, but we know there’s still a conservative faction active in the hidden leaf village, and some of those people are always going to be who they are.  and even the people who aren’t - even the ones who regret how they acted - it’s still so complicated!  how do you continue to live and work in that environment?  how do you navigate a history of being harmed in that way, when you still have to collaborate with and/or serve the same people who did the harming, some of whom likely view you with the exact same disdain they had for your father?

kakashi manages it, somehow, though i’ll bet he has complicated feelings about it, even if he keeps them to himself.  and that’s yet another reason why (if i can just take these thoughts on a slight detour to the present) i think kakashi’s relationship with sasuke is so vitally important, especially moving forward.  sasuke’s family was wronged by the village too, in horrific, unforgivable ways - the shinobi system swallowed itachi whole and sacrificed the entire uchiha clan on the altar of a mission, in exactly the kind of evil, inhuman decision-making process that sakumo and obito and kakashi said could never be justified.  the uchiha were victims of the same shinobi system that drove kakashi’s father to his death - the one that said “everything is acceptable as long as the task at hand is accomplished.  people are disposable in service to a mission.”  both sasuke and kakashi’s families fell to a cultural context that refused to acknowledge that it is never okay to sacrifice your comrades for a mission, a cultural context that embraced this belief to the point where even literal genocide became excusable.

if sasuke is ever going to really and truly Come Home, he’s going to need to learn how to navigate this situation.  not to excuse the wrong that was done, and certainly not to give up on getting justice for himself and his clan, but also to figure out, in conjunction with these important tasks, how to continue existing in an environment where so much officially-sanctioned harm was done to his person, and where so many people around him have at least a little bit of history of being suspicious of or uncharitable towards the uchiha clan, even though they obviously didn’t know about the impending coup or danzo’s extermination order.  

it’s an incredibly complicated situation, and even if kakashi doesn’t have all the answers, he can at least understand what it feels like to be in that kind of position.  he’s been navigating something like this for many, many years.  he’s the precedent, someone who can help sasuke wrestle with the perhaps unanswerable questions of how am i supposed to dedicate myself to a place that wronged me like this?  why should i protect people who hurt me so badly?  is there even a way for me to move forward here, if i can’t forgive the ones who took my family away from me?  can this actually be my home again, when i know what it did to my people?

kakashi has obviously managed to come up with answers to these questions that enable him to stay integrated in his community and keep building a future he believes in, though I doubt any of his answers are simple, and i’m sure there are some things that he’s just had to accept will never be fully settled in his heart.  it’s like what he says to obito in an episode i watched recently: “i don’t know anything for sure, either...i’ve thought that this world is hell, too...but...”  it’s the but that matters.  even in the face of confusion and complexity, kakashi has found a way to keep moving.  he’s learned to co-exist with the uncertainty and discomfort surrounding him, and to make his own meaning out of this life, regardless of how complicated his internal relationship with the village might be.  he’s found a way to keep his eyes trained on the light, whatever that light might look like for him, and even if said light is only, as gaara says, “the faintest glimmer.”  he has so much to teach someone like sasuke, who up until recently was responding to that same plea of gaara’s with a fatalistic “i shut my eyes a long time ago.  the things i seek now lie only in the darkness.” 

anyway.  i am just having Many Thoughts currently about the intricacies of the political and social context that kakashi is always navigating, even though he never says a word about it.  and i’m curious whether this family history will ever come up again in the last fifth of this show.  if i were going on instinct alone, i’d suspect that we weren’t quite done with sakumo yet - i feel like we barely even started with him, to be honest (and also - whatever happened to kakashi’s mother???) - but i should know better at this point than to try and predict what this show is going to do, so i’ll just wait and see.

#naruto #meta #pan watches naruto #i got lost on the path of life #this is something i've always kind of wondered about in the back of my mind #but i started really focusing on it recently because of the conversations i've been having with dreamersscape about shikamaru and kakashi #because the other thing i think about in conjunction with this topic is how the kids have absolutely zero clue about any of this #sakumo's story seems to be - at least from what i've seen so far - #something that the entire leaf village just decided to never discuss again immediately after it reached its horrifying conclusion #whether out of shame or whatever else #it's buried history #even in the immediate aftermath - obito only knows the white fang as 'that hero who died protecting the village' #the rest of the story seems to have become That Of Which We Do Not Speak #and naruto's generation is even further removed from the history than obito was; so they just have no idea #like - naruto once asked kakashi who lady chio meant by 'the white fang'; and when kakashi uncomfortably answered 'my father' #naruto was so shocked by the concept of kakashi having parents that he never even asked any follow-up questions XD XD XD #so anyway i'm just thinking about how much the younger kids are going to start learning after they come home and start climbing the ranks #eg shikamaru shadowing kakashi in jonin circles and starting to pick up on dynamics he hasn't been exposed to before #bc i'm sure kakashi's philosophy for preparing jonin aspirants will be just as stubbornly renegade as his process for genin #and i can imagine there are certain tasks he'll set or standards he'll outline that might stir up some muttering #at least among the old guard #anyway. i think about this stuff a lot #the kids starting to learn all of the things that everybody else already knows about kakashi but nobody ever talks about #including kakashi himself #sasuke got the cliffsnotes version the day he left the leaf village; but there is still SO MUCH he and the other kids aren't aware of #they know nothing about kakashi's history with obito or rin or yamato or itachi; or what happened to his father; or how he got his sharingan #or that he was targeted for assassination by danzo as a teenager #they have no idea what his life was like AT ALL; and honestly i think kakashi wanted it to be that way #but that bubble has to pop eventually; and i can only imagine the kids' faces when they start to discover just how much they never knew.

[seraphinathinks]

Thoughts on certain Characters in Naruto.

So I’ve been rewatching Naruto for nostalgia's sake. Right now, I’m at the end of the Shinobi War Arc and I found myself feeling very mixed about the arc in general. I like many of the characters and I disliked a few others. There were many plotholes and plot convenience. You have a hyped villain be suddenly replaced with a low tier villain that only loses because she is uncoordinated. 

Here are my thoughts on certain characters.  

 I found him very compelling and interesting. Madara was the perfect foil for Naruto and Sasuke. I personally like villains with compelling philosophies like Pain for example. Madara had an interesting philosophy that made his actions seem like the actions of an anti-villain, rather than a villain. Unlike Pain, though, Madara was aware or his hypocrisy about IT because it will remove the free will to create peace. When the Hashirama and Madara filler arc came out, I found myself captivated by both characters. The arc took a refreshing take and fleshed out Madara's character. He went from an idealistic child born in a warring period to a ruthless, pessimistic cynic. I also liked Madara and Hashirama's friendship because it felt genuine, unlike Sasuke and Naruto's relationship that was very conflicted and unbalanced until the end.

Madara's foreshadowing was what made Madara compelling to me. For 7 years, Madara was foreshadowed. Tobi pretended to be him for a good chunk of the anime and manga. Madara was closely tied to the history of the anime's world. He influenced so many events indirectly and directly. Then when he's finally revealed, Madara shows how awesome and badass he was immediate. He stole the show for me.

Now I will admit Madara was OP to the max, especially when he used Susanoo with no eyes. But I read that Kishi wanted to make Madara an invincible villain so the stakes seem higher. But then again, I think the series got retconned, so I may be wrong.

So when he went out, I was like WTF? You hype this bastard up for 7 years and he gets taken out by a Mama boy? He didn't even get a final fight with Sasuke and Naruto. I hated after BZ betrays Madara, everyone forgets about him. Madara just disappeared from the show so everyone can focus on a boring alien.  

I was honestly expecting a redemption arc for Madara, considering how flippant the show is about villains. The core message of the show is that no one is born evil, so I never understood how OBITO, a mass-murdering terrorist who killed thousands and started a war can get a redemption arc and go be with Rin, but Madara doesn't get a redemption arc. (You could argue that him being forgiven by Hashirama could be considered redemption, but it's not like Madara was begging for Hashirama’s forgiveness.) How evil does a character have to be to do irredeemable in the anime? Because Obito caused way more stuff directly than Madara. (The Uchiha massacre, the Nine tails attack, the Akatsuki, and the war.) Madara had a sympathetic backstory just like Obito, honestly, his backstory was better than Obito. A child desperate for peace, forced to cut off and battle his best friend, loses his family to war, loses his brother, be distrusted his own clan, and be killed by his best friend. Obito was an orphan, despite having a Grandmother in the anime, he was the underdog, he had an unrequited crush on Rin, he was jealous of Kakashi, he gets crushed by a boulder, and Rin dies. That's his story. He lost one person awhile Madara lost his entire family and his clan and his best friend.

Anyway, I'm getting off track, I love the arc and I'm definitely going to find myself rewatching the episodes again.

But Madara was done dirty.

Obito: Considering my rant in the Madara's description, it's obvious I am not a fan of the redeemed murderous, delusional psychopath.

Obito as Tobi, I loved. I liked his quirky personality because it completely contrasted with the brooding nature of the Akatsuki. I found his power very interesting because I love intangibility.

Then when he revealed himself to be "Madara," I loved him even more. His English voice was just awesome to listen to. It just sounded badass. I have to give credit to Neil, because he made Madara's voice very memorable compared to the other voice acting. Tobi was cool and badass, his declaration to the 5 Kages was so chilling and was my favorite part of the 5 Kage summit.

Then when the mask fell off, good lord. He became this annoying, whiny manchild that enjoyed murdering innocent soldiers and loves tormenting Naruto. Obito is the sole reason why Naruto became an orphan with the Nine tail fox sealed inside of him. He killed Kushina and Minato and caused the deaths of thousands of villagers. (Maybe even his own Grandmother and Rin's parents.) He even indirectly caused the Uchiha massacre to occur, then he actively participated in the massacre with Itachi. At least Itachi was following orders from the government to stop a coup. Obito had no reason to kill his own clan.

Obito was just unbearable. I felt no sympathy for him at all. I know he claimed he didn't do all of this because Rin died, but Obito continuously talked about Rin as if she was the reason. Rin didn't even seem to like Obito back, she was interested in Kakashi.  Then after 16-20 years of murdering innocence and other corruption acts, Obito suddenly rethinks his entire life choices. Why? Because he saw himself in Naruto? You know the NEWBORN BABY he was seconds away from murdering and the baby who he orphaned? 

Even his excuse for why he was evil didn't make me sympathize with him, because he experienced ONE traumatic event and deemed the world a hell. He was a teenager, so he wasn't mature enough. Madara on the other hand lived through the warring period experienced hardships, tried to live peacefully, but couldn't and developed his cynical philosophy over time. Obito developed his in a few seconds when he was still a child.

Obito should have remained a villian and died as a villain. Not as some redeemed, misunderstood martyr.

Hashirama- Hashirama is a very compelling character that I found myself enjoying very much. His easy going personality was fun, his sudden depression spells were quirky, I just liked how silly he is, despite being a God of Shinobi.

But my main problem with Hashirama is that he was too idealistic. Which is why he needed Tobirama to guide him. He was really ready to kill himself because of Madara's ultimatum. Granted he did it for peace, but if he died, no one would have been able to stop Madara from wiping out the Senju. Also I'm sure the Senju and maybe the defecting Uchiha would rebel against Madara, causing more conflict because again, Madara was basically unstoppable. It would be a mess if Hashirmara died at that moment. I love his friendship with Madara, but I was pretty baffled when Hashirama was easily convinced not to elect Madara for Hokage. (Honestly the village should have had a council because that would balance things a bit.) This is the same man who was ready to off himself to gain Madara's trust. Hashirama didn't even argue or defend his friend, it was out of character.

But anyway I really liked Hashirama because of his personality, his powers, and his character.

Gai: Awesome character. Gai should have died after using the DEATH gate. It would have so much depth and impact if he did. He died fighting Madara in his prime and Madara declared him to be the strongest. Wasted opportunity.

The 5 Kages as a whole:

I liked all of their personalities and their powers. But they should have been murdered by Madara. Madara was summoning meteors and creating destructive susanoos, throwing out a flamethrower, creating dozens of wooden clones that can all use Susanoo, and he can't kill FIVE people? He even sliced Tsunade in half, but yet she survived. Any of the Kages that had no further role in the War arc should have died. So Mei, A, and Ohnoki should have died.

Keep Tsunade and Gaara. Keep Tsunade alive so she could pull a Chiyo on a dying Naruto and keep Gaara so he can save Naruto. Ohnoki at the very least should have died.

That’s just my opinion. I’m a huge Naruto fan. 

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Seventy-Three: Childless ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

Before leaving Konoha behind, Sasuke had had every intention of bringing the Uchiha back to glory. Rebuilding his clan from the ground up. He would kill Itachi to ensure he’d never take another Uchiha life...and then return home to foster the next generation.

And though he’d known some of the more...technical aspects of what such a plan entailed, the more intricate details eluded him. Like how many children he would need to even attempt such a thing. The diluting of blood.

In reality, there was little chance to actually revive a bloodline from the brink with the children of just one man.

And at that time, he’d had a rather...complicated relationship with girls. Most repulsed him due to their pining after him: especially those like Sakura or Ino who ignored who he was, too hung up on his image and the what.

...then his mind began to change. The further embroiled in darkness Sasuke became, the more that dream - of family, of a clan - felt...hollow. Unnecessary. Perhaps part of him was content with being the last. Letting a family so soaked in blood - even from their very beginnings - fade into history may have been for the best. To be childless might be a great mercy.

...but that was before he learned that, soon enough - despite his brother’s passing - he would not be the last. Itachi may have been a genius...but he’d made one critical mistake. As much as he’d tried to kill his heart to fulfill his duty, it hadn’t died completely.

And now, half of him would be reborn to the one Itachi had entrusted his brother to - however indirectly.

...that news, given to him by the false Madara, changed everything. His brother’s legacy - thought smothered - still carried on in a spark.

...a spark currently held by Konoha. A village he’d called home...but had learned played every part in Itachi’s decision, and his clan’s eradication.

He would not stand for that.

But Madara had plans. And so long as they aligned with his own, Sasuke would follow them. So long as it got justice for the Uchiha, and would free Itachi’s last shreds from the grip of the village that drove them all to ruin.

Starting that very moment, that was all that mattered.

Of course, things did not progress easily. They nearly had her after the battle against Danzō, but yet again, Konoha interfered. From there, things progressed too quickly with the war to try again. The war, however, turned out to be far more ultimate a thing than Sasuke had guessed. It was either prevail...or perish in Madara - and Obito’s - world of dreams.

A world that would be pillaged by Kaguya.

The previous Hokage granted him insight. Clarity. But it did not excuse all Konoha had done. All the Kage had done. Once the war was over, he would clean the slate. Remove the poison of previous generations to truly start anew.

He would give them a future.

...but, as usual...Naruto got in his way, without any true plan of how to really address the problem.

So Sasuke would do it himself. Just...in quieter, subtler ways.

His brother’s revival was a shock too great to name...and almost cost another life. But he wouldn’t deny having his brother back. Then, with Danzō gone and the council ousted, another missing life was free to rejoin them. One thought lost...but in truth only hidden: Shisui, hiding a body too greatly prized to risk losing, emerged at last.

...it hadn’t been an easy truth to swallow. Had Itachi known he’d lived...maybe, just maybe...they would have been saved.

But there’s no room in this new world for what-ifs.

All Sasuke knew was that now, he was not the last. A brother, a cousin, a niece and a nephew. More than he at twelve ever dreamed or hoped to have.

...and yet...something was still missing.

His bonds within Konoha were shattered. He’d given up on his teammates...but they hadn’t given up on him. But blindly. Possessively. Even after learning his truth, they offered no help. No justice. No peace. Only that same narrow goal of dragging him back to the grounds of his clan’s genocide...and then what? They had no plans for bringing the crimes to light.

If it hadn’t been for him...there’d have been nothing done at all.

...so, he distanced himself from them. He insisted his family was all that he needed. Sasuke had no time for those who thought only of themselves, and what he owed them.

And though he hated to admit it...it was lonely.

His brother gently urged him to reconnect. Start somewhere. Don’t forget, but...try to forgive. And yet, only if they made sincere efforts to amend for what they’d done. So, slowly...he’d dipped his toes back into his agemates’ social circle. Most treated him like a tag ready to explode...and he couldn’t blame them.

...all but one.

Due to her bond with the twins’ mother, she’d been one of the earliest privy to the truth. It had been her efforts that sparked union among the clans to help bring down the council without threat of civil war. And in many ways...she knew best how to sympathize with him.

Hyūga Hinata.

They’d been strangers when he left. As were most of his classmates beyond his team. But in a way...that helped. He had no ill feelings toward her. No animosity. And her gentle understanding, and respect for his struggles, meant a feeling of...relief. Welcome. Something no one else in their year seemed to comprehend. At least, not at first.

And as Naruto and Sakura moved on - moved...together - Hinata and Sasuke were left in the wake. While Sasuke couldn’t care less, he could see her somber acceptance. In a way, that only served to drive them closer together.

Then she offered help with his next dream: to resurrect the police force. Use it - alongside his brother’s ANBU - to help keep darkness at bay in the village he was determined to cleanse. Hyūga and Uchiha came together to keep watchful eyes - the perfect symbolism - trained on Konoha.

They became partners. Which led to becoming friends as they only continued to mesh.

And then, as if only natural, they became...something more.

Just over two years since returning to Konoha, Sasuke married.

Three years after that...he was no longer childless. Together, he and Hinata welcomed their son into the world. A world he’d saved, and would not abandon to falling back into its darkness.

And with that firstborn, the last missing piece seemed to settle into place. For the first time since he was seven years old, Sasuke felt...whole. He had his family. A wife. A child, and plans for more.

What else could he ask for? Finally...he was at peace.

...at least...for a moment.

     Well, this is another more narrative piece. I just...wasn't sure how to make anything else out of the prompt. I had a busier day than I intended so, not as much time to plot as I'd've liked. But hopefully it's passable? ^^;      I can see Sasuke eventually wondering if simply letting his line die out would be for the best, given all he learns about it. But in ALAS...it gets a bit trickier than that. And of course, in the end, he meets a woman that changes his mind about...a lot of things. One of which being his doubts about kids.      Because the Sasuke I write also has MAJOR fears about hurting his children by accident given his traumas and the adaptations he's built because of them (which I know I've touched on in other pieces, but...I'm too tired to find them, aha). So Hinata has to coax him out of that fear, hence taking time to have kids. (That and there really isn't (to my knowledge) any info about how young / old Nart's generation is when they have their kids? So that was my best guess lol)      AAANYWAY, I'm...honestly wore out, so that's all for now (after all that rambling xD) - as always, thanks for reading, and I'll be back tomorrow!

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #uchiha itachi #uchiha shisui #a light amongst shadows [ canon verse ] #365daysofsasuhina