[Essay like rant thing] Uchiha Sasuke
May. 25th, 2006 02:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
brichibi.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
chuunin_archiveToday, after reading chapter 308, I got to thinking about Sasuke. He's always been an o.k. kid, just a bit pissy, just a bit obsessive with his goals. But as I read the chapter I realized something.
I really like Sasuke as a bad guy.
I really like Sasuke as a bad guy.
To me, he seems to fit better as a bad guy. Think about it. Before he was always frustrated, pissy, and he seriously had freak out moments when things happened that he couldn't handle. For example, when he first met Orochimaru and he couldn't move, frozen in fear, and he had to watch Naruto get the crap beat out of him then had to have Sakura yell at him before he made a move. I mean, he talked a lot about Naruto being a big chicken, but the kid seriously would freeze up if he got scared. Now he's all calm and cool and shit, and I like him being Naruto's greatest enemy. It's the best friend rivalry taken to the next level, and let's face it, when Sasuke left I was like, "All right, finally." I expected him to leave, he was just too dedicated to killing Itachi. And sadly, he was right, the village and his bonds with his friends was holding him back, he really is stronger now.
Yes, friendship can make you stronger (it certainly does for Naruto), but Sasuke is different. I mean I still remember when he met Itachi again and it was like, "All right, 80+ episodes of angst, let's go!" Then he was beaten in like 10 seconds. I'm sorry, if I were Sasuke, and that happened to me... I'd be pissed and I would leave too. I'd think to myself, "What the hell have I been doing all this time? What have I gained? I have friends, yes, but that dude just wiped the floor with me. I've gotten nowhere!" He's going about it all the wrong way, yes, but at the same time anime (and media in general) always gives the lesson of revenge being pretty pointless, because what will you do afterwards? I think Sasuke picking the path he did is that lesson taken to the extreme. You want revenge so badly you have left your friends, nearly killed one of them, left your home, abadoned everything to go off with the ultimate evil, then you will get your revenge, then what? You'll be empty, and you'll have no one to go back to (except he'll have Naruto... Naruto will chase him forever -_-)
Sasuke is the kid that doesn't fit in the village, not Naruto. Sasuke is the one who needed to leave, he was too stuck on what he wanted and honestly, he wasn't going to get it from staying at the village. It's ironic, the village praised him but in all honesty he didn't really belong. The village bashed Naruto and he's the kid who fits in the village, the one who loves it and will protect it no matter what.
Is Sasuke really a bad guy? I think of bad guy as like, OROCHIMARU! Sasuke is just getting power, granted, it's not in a good way, but still. And technically, he's not going after Naruto to kill him, Naruto keeps going after Sasuke and won't leave him alone. I mean, at any time has Sasuke turned around, run back to Konoha to kill Naruto? Naruto chases him, Sasuke runs away, Sasuke finally stops and is like, "All right, I'm going to kill you now." I mean, has Sasuke ever stopped in his quest for power and said, "Oh damn, gotta go kill that Naruto kid now?" Naruto chases him, pushes him, backs him into a corner then he's like, "All right... that's it." Two theories about Sasuke wanting to kill Naruto:
1. When you're backed into a corner and you don't want to be, you attack.
2. To get rid of his greatest obsticle: his best friend, the person who is closest to him (yaoi sense or not), because you can only run away for so long. And let's face it, Naruto is the series that is full of kids who, if something gets in their way, they get rid of it, fight it, whatever. Naruto is in Sasuke's way. I am not defending Sasuke wanting to kill Naruto at all, but look at the series, these are shinobi. It would feel weird if Sasuke didn't fight back and I'm sorry, if Naruto gave that friendship speech and Sasuke was like, "O.K.," the series would not be nearly as interesting (we joke about Naruto's Sailor Moon attack, it would actually suck if it did work on Sasuke).
At the same time, interestingly enough, Sasuke is in Naruto's way. Sasuke said it himself, "I thought you had a dream of becoming Hokage." At first I thought Naruto completely abadoned his dream for Sasuke, but I see it differently now. Again, Naruto said it best, "What kind of leader would I be if I couldn't save a friend?" Naruto has to save Sasuke, he has to make things right. In that sense all this chasing makes sense, that's just the type of person Naruto is. And with this chapter this notion hit stronger for me because he rejected Kyubi's powers. Sure, he's used it before, but if he turned to someone else to bring back Sasuke then that kind of cheapens it. He wants to save Sasuke, he, himself, Uzumaki Naruto. And technically, in the Valley of the End, he used Kyubi at the very last possible second (he was nearly dead). And I actually don't want Naruto to use Kyubi, simply because that is always the last resort and it's like, "Come on, you had to had learned something over those 2+ years besides the whole Kyubi thing." I miss the Naruto that used his own tricks and Kyubi was either a) an accident or b) the very last thing left to do, not the first thing to do. Let Sasuke and Naruto fight for real, without Kyubi, without cursed seals (though granted I'm sure it'll get that far later). I want Naruto to be able to show Sasuke that he can take him on.
So what is my point in all of this? I have no idea. I just had to get the rant out of my system. But actually, let me think, here we go I'm about to sound mean with the first one:
1. Part of me doesn't want Naruto to succeed in bringing Sasuke back, at least not so easily. It would be great for Sasuke to return and for things to go back to normal, but let's face it, team 7 has changed and it will not go back to normal again without some serious work. I don't think Sasuke is going to die or anything dramatic like that, but I do think that bringing him back is going to take some serious blood, sweat, and tears. I think Naruto and Sakura (mostly Naruto, see below for my thoughts on Sakura) need to understand that this is not the same Sasuke, that them finding him isn't going to have him turn around and go, "Hey, thanks for coming to get me. Let's go home." Of course he's going to fight back. I was actually quite impressed with Kishimoto for not having Naruto succeed the first time, it's so easy to have the happy go lucky ending of Sasuke learning his lesson, friendship is key, let's go back home, ta da the end.
2. What better person to bring him back than Naruto, who won't give up on him? I also think that Naruto would be one of the few to accept this new Sasuke, because let's face it if Naruto brings him back the village is going to most likely diss the boy. He left, he went to Orochimaru, he turned his back on them. It'll take a while for the village to forgive him. And Sasuke is totally different now, he's not the same Uchiha prodigy, and yaoi sense or not, he'll need Naruto to be that person who doesn't care how much he's changed. Of course, Naruto will have to accept the fact that things have changed, I'm not sure he quite gets it yet. Oh yeah, part of him got it when Sasuke drew that sword, but he still has this great ideal of bringing Sasuke back home and I think, sadly, he's going to have to get the crap beat out of him again to realize that Sasuke isn't going to just follow him back, it'll take a shitload of work.
3. I do think Sakura gets it. I think she understands that this is not the same Sasuke, but I think she had the advantage over Naruto because she did know about the curse and Orochimaru and all that way before Naruto did, so she knew Sasuke was changing. Naruto just kinda found out right when Sasuke left, so of course he still has the fantasy of bringing Sasuke home and it being like old times. He was kept in the dark for like, how many manga chapters/anime episodes? Quite a few people in the village knew about the curse before Naruto (Team 10 saw it when Sasuke snapped in the woods and Sakura hugged him, so did Neji Lee and TenTen. The sand siblings also got to see it when Sasuke fought Gaara in the woods). You know, this is kinda ironic, it took Naruto forever to learn about the curse, just like it took Sasuke forever to realize the Kyubi thing (though how he didn't know is beyond me... but it's like, neither one really knew about their "dark" sides until oh so very late in life).
Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah super long rant over! Jeez!
Yes, friendship can make you stronger (it certainly does for Naruto), but Sasuke is different. I mean I still remember when he met Itachi again and it was like, "All right, 80+ episodes of angst, let's go!" Then he was beaten in like 10 seconds. I'm sorry, if I were Sasuke, and that happened to me... I'd be pissed and I would leave too. I'd think to myself, "What the hell have I been doing all this time? What have I gained? I have friends, yes, but that dude just wiped the floor with me. I've gotten nowhere!" He's going about it all the wrong way, yes, but at the same time anime (and media in general) always gives the lesson of revenge being pretty pointless, because what will you do afterwards? I think Sasuke picking the path he did is that lesson taken to the extreme. You want revenge so badly you have left your friends, nearly killed one of them, left your home, abadoned everything to go off with the ultimate evil, then you will get your revenge, then what? You'll be empty, and you'll have no one to go back to (except he'll have Naruto... Naruto will chase him forever -_-)
Sasuke is the kid that doesn't fit in the village, not Naruto. Sasuke is the one who needed to leave, he was too stuck on what he wanted and honestly, he wasn't going to get it from staying at the village. It's ironic, the village praised him but in all honesty he didn't really belong. The village bashed Naruto and he's the kid who fits in the village, the one who loves it and will protect it no matter what.
Is Sasuke really a bad guy? I think of bad guy as like, OROCHIMARU! Sasuke is just getting power, granted, it's not in a good way, but still. And technically, he's not going after Naruto to kill him, Naruto keeps going after Sasuke and won't leave him alone. I mean, at any time has Sasuke turned around, run back to Konoha to kill Naruto? Naruto chases him, Sasuke runs away, Sasuke finally stops and is like, "All right, I'm going to kill you now." I mean, has Sasuke ever stopped in his quest for power and said, "Oh damn, gotta go kill that Naruto kid now?" Naruto chases him, pushes him, backs him into a corner then he's like, "All right... that's it." Two theories about Sasuke wanting to kill Naruto:
1. When you're backed into a corner and you don't want to be, you attack.
2. To get rid of his greatest obsticle: his best friend, the person who is closest to him (yaoi sense or not), because you can only run away for so long. And let's face it, Naruto is the series that is full of kids who, if something gets in their way, they get rid of it, fight it, whatever. Naruto is in Sasuke's way. I am not defending Sasuke wanting to kill Naruto at all, but look at the series, these are shinobi. It would feel weird if Sasuke didn't fight back and I'm sorry, if Naruto gave that friendship speech and Sasuke was like, "O.K.," the series would not be nearly as interesting (we joke about Naruto's Sailor Moon attack, it would actually suck if it did work on Sasuke).
At the same time, interestingly enough, Sasuke is in Naruto's way. Sasuke said it himself, "I thought you had a dream of becoming Hokage." At first I thought Naruto completely abadoned his dream for Sasuke, but I see it differently now. Again, Naruto said it best, "What kind of leader would I be if I couldn't save a friend?" Naruto has to save Sasuke, he has to make things right. In that sense all this chasing makes sense, that's just the type of person Naruto is. And with this chapter this notion hit stronger for me because he rejected Kyubi's powers. Sure, he's used it before, but if he turned to someone else to bring back Sasuke then that kind of cheapens it. He wants to save Sasuke, he, himself, Uzumaki Naruto. And technically, in the Valley of the End, he used Kyubi at the very last possible second (he was nearly dead). And I actually don't want Naruto to use Kyubi, simply because that is always the last resort and it's like, "Come on, you had to had learned something over those 2+ years besides the whole Kyubi thing." I miss the Naruto that used his own tricks and Kyubi was either a) an accident or b) the very last thing left to do, not the first thing to do. Let Sasuke and Naruto fight for real, without Kyubi, without cursed seals (though granted I'm sure it'll get that far later). I want Naruto to be able to show Sasuke that he can take him on.
So what is my point in all of this? I have no idea. I just had to get the rant out of my system. But actually, let me think, here we go I'm about to sound mean with the first one:
1. Part of me doesn't want Naruto to succeed in bringing Sasuke back, at least not so easily. It would be great for Sasuke to return and for things to go back to normal, but let's face it, team 7 has changed and it will not go back to normal again without some serious work. I don't think Sasuke is going to die or anything dramatic like that, but I do think that bringing him back is going to take some serious blood, sweat, and tears. I think Naruto and Sakura (mostly Naruto, see below for my thoughts on Sakura) need to understand that this is not the same Sasuke, that them finding him isn't going to have him turn around and go, "Hey, thanks for coming to get me. Let's go home." Of course he's going to fight back. I was actually quite impressed with Kishimoto for not having Naruto succeed the first time, it's so easy to have the happy go lucky ending of Sasuke learning his lesson, friendship is key, let's go back home, ta da the end.
2. What better person to bring him back than Naruto, who won't give up on him? I also think that Naruto would be one of the few to accept this new Sasuke, because let's face it if Naruto brings him back the village is going to most likely diss the boy. He left, he went to Orochimaru, he turned his back on them. It'll take a while for the village to forgive him. And Sasuke is totally different now, he's not the same Uchiha prodigy, and yaoi sense or not, he'll need Naruto to be that person who doesn't care how much he's changed. Of course, Naruto will have to accept the fact that things have changed, I'm not sure he quite gets it yet. Oh yeah, part of him got it when Sasuke drew that sword, but he still has this great ideal of bringing Sasuke back home and I think, sadly, he's going to have to get the crap beat out of him again to realize that Sasuke isn't going to just follow him back, it'll take a shitload of work.
3. I do think Sakura gets it. I think she understands that this is not the same Sasuke, but I think she had the advantage over Naruto because she did know about the curse and Orochimaru and all that way before Naruto did, so she knew Sasuke was changing. Naruto just kinda found out right when Sasuke left, so of course he still has the fantasy of bringing Sasuke home and it being like old times. He was kept in the dark for like, how many manga chapters/anime episodes? Quite a few people in the village knew about the curse before Naruto (Team 10 saw it when Sasuke snapped in the woods and Sakura hugged him, so did Neji Lee and TenTen. The sand siblings also got to see it when Sasuke fought Gaara in the woods). You know, this is kinda ironic, it took Naruto forever to learn about the curse, just like it took Sasuke forever to realize the Kyubi thing (though how he didn't know is beyond me... but it's like, neither one really knew about their "dark" sides until oh so very late in life).
Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah super long rant over! Jeez!
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