the year is 2035. the new beauty standard is for women to cut their ears off, as ears are a masculine trait which make the face look too big and hearing isnt necessary as it doesnt align with being demure. evil feminists say perhaps this is unnecessary and ears are natural. women are agressively proclaiming they are cutting their ears off due to sensory issues
deigan masks, noh theatre, and how it applies to sasuke (& itachi) uchiha!
in this official art, sasuke and itachi are holding deigan (泥眼) masks*, which is a traditional japanese noh mask (omote). the deigan mask is a sub-type of onna-men, which are specifically female masks. all actors in noh theatre were men, but would don these female masks to appear as women, as it was believed noh masks held spirital power and aided the transformation, merging their souls. noh masks are carved expressionless, as it is up to the performer to imbue it with life by tilting the mask either upwards (terasu, smiling) or downwards (kumorasu, weeping).
↓ more under the cut!
sasuke being seen as feminine is not a new concept. he has the six path's yin power, which is considered the female aspect of the universe in chinese philosophy. he's mistaken for a girl, he's referred to as a "heroine" in the meigenshu kizuna databook, etc. as for itachi, he has traditionally feminine features as well, long hair, long eyelashes, etc. so it makes sense why they're categorized as such through the lense of noh.
the pose and clothing are important here too. noh actors would wear heavy, obscuring clothing, with their feet covered by white socks. kōken, the stagehands for noh theatres, wore all black (see: itachi's dull colors, black shiratobi, etc). this could be a nod towards how itachi orchestrated sasuke's life regarding the uchiha massacre, his deal with danzo, etc. their knees were to be bent to signify room to grow, and female characters kept their feet close together.
storywise, noh theatre depicts life, death, the supernatural, and illusion. often depicting specifically military heroes (in our case, itachi for example) and the ghosts of those they've killed (the uchiha clan) who haunt them, seeking revenge (sasuke). these plays will normally end based on buddhist world views, in which the wrong-doer must atone for his deeds and be forgiven before being able to move on from this world. sasuke forgives itachi after he kills him, and when he is reanimated by kabuto. sasuke atones for his sins at the end of the series, leaving konoha behind to see the shinobi world for himself with fresh eyes.
deigan masks are characterized by women who belong to an unreal/supernatural world, resenment, jealousy, obsession, and rage (usually towards a man). linking this to sasuke, who's hatred of itachi runs deep, who's jealous of his brother's achievements, who's obsessed with killing him, who's chakra is an reincarnation of indra otsutsuki's, etc. it's the first step in transformation, leading into hannya, signifying a successful transformation into a demon. if the spirit is enraged further, they can transform into jya (蛇) or even shinjya (真蛇), translating to "snake" and "true snake". it signifies a complete loss of humanity as the character faces extreme emotional turmoil.
we can consider orochimaru this final stage, i mean it's pretty obvious with the snake motifs. they are portrayed with tongues sticking out of their mouths, scaled, deep-set mouths, snake-like facial features like snouts, etc. his he's monstrously jealous of the hokage's position, resenting konoha and hiruzen for it. orochimaru's plan is to "paint sasuke in his colors" and groom him to become his next vessel. sasuke holding the deigan mask is perfect grounds for orochimaru to swoop in, exploit his hatred, jealousy and resentment for itachi so that he too can become "shinjya". the color of the noh mask itself is also important. white masks signify restrained negative emotions (though still existing) and nobility, while red masks signify descent into demonic possession (lower birth as well). so orochimaru would be literally "painting him in his colors" lol.
and finally, just something i found sort of funny/ironic, noh masks severely limit/restrict the performers vision, kind of like how the sharingan blinds it's user if overused.
*the artist, Ishizaki Yūko confirmed this in a tweet.
anyways, im obsessed with this art so i went down this rabbit hole, let me know if theres other things i missed? im sure theres a noh play this is in reference to or at least nods towards. and yes i am months late... oops.
Do you think itachi’s treatment of sasuke throughout the series before the reveal would make more sense and feel less of a retcon ( the whole itachi was always evil thing ) if it delved more into fugaku? I feel like if it did itachi’s treatment of sasuke could be explained off as something he learned from fugaku. The whole taking him to see the battlefield of the 3rd shinobi war.
i’ll be completely honest and say that i’m not too much of a hater regarding this “retcon,” maybe its because it works well as a twist (although im not big on shock value factor over plot) and i’m too into itachi & sasuke, or its just that i think its one of the less egregious retcons of the series? i’m not sure if i’d die on the hill of it being a retcon, either.
my personal belief is that kishimoto is not that much of a planner (as he’s said himself) and while he did intend for itachi to have some twist, he didn’t have all of the details mapped. there aren't many villains in naruto that are completely terrible, abhorrent individuals to begin with, which sort of lends itself to the idea that regardless of what kishimoto had planned, there was at least something. maybe that’s giving him too much grace with all things considered (uchiha’s coming from the hyuga clan, the village elders, etc), idk.
this post explains why it’s not technically a retcon, it’s an interesting read for sure even if you don’t agree.
BUT, more importantly, to answer your question, regardless if kishimoto didn't truly intend for itachi to be revealed as an anti-hero/anti-villan/insert-your-belief-here or not (which to reiterate, i personally believe he did even though he was a little messy with it), i do think more backstory regarding fugaku (and even mikoto, the village elders, uchiha clan/konoha in general with regards to them) would have helped wonders. not even just with the reveal, but all of their characterizations in general. it’s a difficult balance to maintain between spoiling the reveal vs. showing little information to keep some mystery about it. it's a story after all.
IMO it would have been some good foreshadowing. the post tagged above (thanks to the OP, made this post x10 easier) does discuss some VIZ translation errors and explains why by chapter #119, kishimoto had already decided on him having a twist, and this post gives some insight towards it based on chapter #257.
knowing more information on how fugaku treated itachi would have been interesting. of course we’re going to get it through sasuke’s skewed POV to begin with, he was young and even with how emotionally intelligent he is, he can’t know everything. we do see a little bit of itachi kind of having a fugaku attitude when it comes to training, namely in chapter #580, though this comes after the first reveal, but before the whole truth from itachi. if we had gotten just a little bit more of how fugaku's treatment of itachi as a young boy, i think it would have helped a lot of the fan base's attitude towards itachi.
fugaku taking itachi to the battlefield is a rare moment of (semi-canon? what universe do the novels fall into... there are many problems with them) filler that i think works to the story's adventage; show us him taking itachi to the battlefield, show us how he reacts to itachi's determination to train, etc. not shove it into a novel that half the fanbase won't read lol.
we see how deep sasuke's resentment for konoha goes in chapter #581 when he overhears leaf shinobi discussing itachi. i think one of my favorite parts about itachi & sasuke's relationship is that they don't agree. itachi takes blame for the way sasuke ended up, it is his fault.
he sees his former self in kabuto. i'm not qualified to give good kabuto analysis, but i can give you this:
itachi rejects the ideals that the uchiha’s uphold. he uses them as a mask to convince sasuke (and the reader) that he’s something he’s not, to foster hatred in sasuke. all kabuto ever wanted was for someone to be there for him, and i think itachi sees this. i don't think its a stretch for itachi to agree, either, as fugaku's love for itachi was there but it wasn't at all what a child (especially at the tender age of Four) needed. he needed a protector, and i think he pushes what fugaku couldn't do for him into his relationship with sasuke, albeit wrongly as well (which he admits). neither of them are perfect.
itachi doesn't regret killing his clan, he is uchiha itachi of the hidden leaf. he regrets what he did to sasuke by lying to him. that is SUCH an important distinction when we talk about retconning. if kishimoto had itachi completely suck up to sasuke, it'd be a different story. instead, he sticks with his flawed beliefs directed at konoha. yes, he changes his mind in how he should have treated sasuke, but that itself is not going to change what he actually did. he is still a villain imo, even if he does help sasuke & co. i dont think there is anything that can change that, he committed genocide.
whether or not kishimoto agrees... ? i can't tell you that. it's a flawed story beat that kishimoto repeats, especially considering the fumble of the war arc -> ending. not every villain can be forgiven. i think if kishimoto hadn't done it to others, it wouldn't have been recieved so poorly. by this time in the story, fans were (at least i was) tired of the rinse and repeat of it. like i said, i actually liked this though.
sasuke does forgive itachi! that's important! but itachi doesn't forgive HIMSELF.
this is a great post about it that summarizes my feelings about it.
sasuke does not resent itachi (and whether or not the reader thinks he should is up to them). i understand both sides to be frank, what itachi does to sasuke is arguably the worst thing he could have possibly done, but i believe that it is just sasuke's character to forgive him. he is kind. he is emotionally intelligent. itachi is his beloved brother. their story arcs revolve around each other. even as an older teen he still craves the affection from his brother and his lost childhood. maybe there could have been a universe where sasuke doesn't forgive him, but i like that he does. i think it would've been a bit boring if he stayed hating itachi forever.
sasuke does question him a ton when he's reanimated. the question of why is burning a hole through him. but when he finds out that their time together is limited, and that this is it for real, his last chance with his brother, he stops being so insistent. he still wants to know, but i think it speaks to sasuke's character that he accepts it. he's kind of had to his entire life, itachi's forced it into him.
if you're wondering why i like sasuke forgiving itachi but not konoha, itachi is his brother. konoha is a fascist state, i think if you're reading this you can probably assume i do not fw konoha and i'd hope you could realize why lol. i do not have time in this post to go into depth, plus others already have. we taught this chimpanzee to analyze the naruto ending + boruto and he hanged himself.
i would have loved to see sasuke ruminate over itachi during his departure from the village. it's kind of one of my biggest biased gripes about the ending. sasuke leaves the village to atone for his sins, and there's absolutely no way that he doesn't take itachi's actions into consideration when weighing his own. he's doing what itachi couldn't. itachi doesn't force sasuke to forgive him either, which i think is important. it's sasuke's choice. itachi being dead informs a lot about sasuke's feelings towards him.
kishimoto is a flawed writer, i am not denying that (i would literally never). but i think this case isn't as bad as some people think. there are worse ones, and it at the very least, gives a semi-agreeable end to itachi's character. i like that he's flawed, although i think partially some of his flaws might be born from kishimoto's own beliefs. & sasuke is a different story.
TLDR; yes, i think more backstory for the uchiha's would've made things feel less like a retcon, even if i myself don't hate the way this specific plot turned out. sorry i went on an tangent, i hope this makes sense, forgive me for any typos or nonsensical sentences, i am sick :/
Love your post about itachi and parentification. Always wished kishimoto delve more into the uchiha brothers relationship with fugaku because yeah even before the massacre there were already issues. A lot of itachi and Sasuke's faults and problems can be traced back to Fugaku's parenting
heavyyyy agree. thats honestly my biggest complaint about the series is that even though the manga is so long (really, it’s so bloated) i STILL feel like we’re missing character information for a lot of the main cast. not to sound greedy but we could have definitely gotten more information on itachi & sasuke, kakashi’s upbringing, minato & kushina, SAKURA’S ENTIRE LIFE. but whatever. im not bitter.
and thanks! hopefully i’ll have the drive to make a part two. i have a lot of thoughts about the way their brains works regarding each other.
This has been on my mind for a while and considering the semi-recent discourse surrounding it + my talks with friends I wanna talk about Itachi & Sasuke regarding parentification. this is part 1!
note: i am not an expert or a psychologist! just a nerd who likes to research! i don't often write meta/analysis either, so bare with me. trigger warnings for discussions of child neglect.
Parentification is generally defined as when children are forced to assume the inappropriate role(s) of their parents or guardians, taking on the adult responsibilities. They become the pseudo-parent of the household, which does not just effect the parentified child, but the surrounding members as well, namely siblings.
There are different classes of parentification (these are not mutually exclusive), as well as different roles depending. Emotional parentification & instrumental parentification are both prevalent in Itachi & Sasuke's stories. Itachi can be considered a case of sibling-focused parentification, in which he assumes the roles of (in this case, both) his parents to care for his younger brother. Fugaku is the more glaring example, though there are a few things to be said regarding Mikoto's role, which i will delve into as well.
Let's start with emotional parentification. The name itself is fairly self-explanatory. Emotional parentification occurs when a child takes on a chronic positional reversal due to the parent's inability to care for own and child's emotional needs, leading to severe insufficient care. Parentification can be adaptive for the child if in a time-limited manner, and although this is not the case with Itachi, it does force him into learning how to be independent, amongst other things, such as political skills.
This class of parentification is where you see adults saying things like, "you're so mature for your age," or "you're so responsible, an old soul."
We see this very plainly with Itachi, who's told that at age seven, he's got the mind of the Hokage. The teachers at the academy don't really *need* to take care of him, he does it himself. Fugaku considers him the backbone of their family and tries to force him into the position that he sees fit. He's entrusted with high-level ANBU missions, the village secrets, everything. This of course, stems from him being an prodigy, and more importantly, Fugaku's refusal to see him as a child. Although not explicitly manga canon iirc (show-canon & light novels afaik), Fugaku takes Itachi to a battlefield at the tender age of four to show him the dark realities of war. The first few years of his life are marked with violence, he's raised amidst the third shinobi war, he's even given the name "Itachi".
^ I could discuss further the meaning of Itachi's name, but this is not too important and others have done it before me, so I will be brief. His name translates to "weasel" which is seen as a bad omen/curse. However, historically, especially in times of war and unrest, Japanese parents would give their children purposefully bad names to trick spirits into thinking that their child was worthless. This is specifically a practice of the indigenous Ainu culture, but I believe the idea has occurred over many cultures throughout history.
Anyways, his upbringing is not a kind one. He never is afforded the option to be a child. Crises & war are known as a source of parentification. He does not come out unscathed, instead insurmountably traumatized, and reacts to what he sees by deciding to become a strong ninja, to prevent wars. This is the base of everything, war is one of his greatest fears, and is what drives his nature to protect. Fugaku has failed to protect Itachi, instead directly exposing him, so Itachi takes it upon himself to push Sasuke away, and protect him from the horrors that lie within the truth.
Ultimately, Sasuke is what is important to Itachi. His hope for their clan is completely lost when he realizes that a bad outcome is imminent, and peace is no longer an option. It’s an ultimatum. When Sasuke intervenes, childishly and out of confusion for his brother’s actions, Itachi finally stops, formally apologizing for his actions. He didn’t care about the threats of being arrested, of embarrassing his father and the Uchiha clan, of anything but Sasuke. This is Fugaku’s biggest shortcoming in Itachi’s eyes.
Fugaku goes on to excuse his son's actions, and claims to look after his son with "full authority". But where is that? He cannot arrest him as he's ANBU, he even admits this. He cannot pull the cards or do anything to stop Itachi from doing what he's going to do. His excuses for his son are among the lines that he's overwhelmed with the ANBU, he's tired and he's just not thinking straight. He's showing clear signs of the negative results of parentification: aggressive behavior, depression, stress, etc. Brain development is negatively effected by these things, which isn't to say that Itachi isn't smart or a genius; he is, he's just also a cornered child, used as a weapon. Fugaku does not offer support for these problems, instead commanding him into the house, choosing to accept these seemingly failures as terms to the Uchiha cause.
It’s Itachi that threatens his father’s position as head of the house/clan by making him rightfully aware of his responsibilities and failures as a father. Sasuke is a naive child who wants to make his father proud, no matter how hard it is for him to achieve, no matter what he has to do. He loves his family, there's no doubt about that. But because of his naivety, he doesn't realize that the cracks are there and have been there since before his birth. This could not be more obvious, when they're walking outside of the police HQ, Sasuke quite literally does not comment on how dilapidated the exterior is, instead focusing on how great Fugaku is. He's excited for his father to watch him grow into the man that'll achieve his dreams.
Sasuke's dream is to become a strong shinobi, one even stronger than Itachi. He'll join the police force and be an honorable and proud Uchiha. This is something that was born from Fugaku's comparisons of the two. He needs to be better than Itachi, he needs to be his father's boy, his father's son. (Sasuke admits to himself that this bred contempt between the two.)
When they return to the Uchiha compound, Fugaku doesn't understand where they've been and why they're late. This is what defines Fugaku's character for me & is a really telling, short scene. He loves his children, but he simply doesn’t understand them (even if he says he does, like, cmon. he understands that they make choices and are their own people, but he absolutely does not understand them on a deeper level). Regardless of what Fugaku feels, we know that he never says it. Mikoto tells him that Fugaku only talks to her about Sasuke, but to be honest, this is pretty vague and although it provides comfort for Sasuke, we don't really know much else. This failure drives a rift in the family dynamic. A quick look would tell you that they were out together, spending time with one another, whether they were training or not. That itself is enough reason to be late. They're children, the responsibilities of missions and politics shouldn't be placed upon their shoulders.
Fugaku's language here is important. He starts with praise, using the phrase "That's my boy", the phrase that Sasuke has been longing to hear for ages, directly in front of him.
Fugaku is so focused on his son being a spy for the Uchiha and using him for greater means, even going so far as to threaten him with the sharingan, he in turn neglects Sasuke, causing Itachi to be the one to have to step up. He notices Sasuke's expectant looks, he hears Sasuke's plea for their father to not forget him.
Itachi threatens Fugaku with going to Sasuke’s graduation in his stead, forcing him to choose between fulfilling his position as a father, or risking his son’s position as a puppet for the Uchiha in the ANBU. This then would allow for Itachi to take control, and it’s only then that he concedes. He has to be forced into a corner by his thirteen year old son to show up for Sasuke.
This forcing of an ultimatum gives to the way Fugaku raised them, he's doing Fugaku what Fugaku has done onto them. He sees these things as necessities, he has to carry out the coup, he has to use his prodigal son as leverage. Sasuke's emotional needs are always secondary.
Every moment he's around Fugaku, he's being compared to his brother. This causes Sasuke to train harder and harder, until he's isolating himself from the other children at the academy, forced out of his own childhood in Itachi's image. Socialization, play, and other activities with other children are majorly important milestones, that Sasuke has completely missed out on due to this. It's no wonder that he's so isolated when he meets Team 7, why he's so inexplicably... weird around other children, for lack of better term. (Yes, the massacre is to blame, but his de-socialization began before.) It's partially why he searches out Orochimaru (which i could do a whole other post on...). It's harder for parentified children (and although I am mainly discussing Itachi as the parentified child, these effects 100% ripple onto Sasuke) to form relationships, especially those that come with intimacy. This is very obvious in his relationship with Naruto & Sakura, but alas this post is already extremely long. Maybe next time.
We see this isolation with Itachi too.
To put it plainly, Sasuke feels that it isn't fair. Itachi gets his father's love and praise, he gets to be in the ANBU, he gets to be strong and do whatever he wants. All while he's still stuck at the Academy, lagging behind the prodigal son. It's not that he's worthless, he's right on track for his age, but Itachi's outpaced him and set the curve.
There are more panels I could put here, but at that point, I'd just be putting the entirety of chapters 220-223. Moving on!
Self-sacrifice is a huge part of the Uchiha's upbringing. To them, its strength, a final act of love, suffering for the betterment of society even if it doesn't work/isn't beneficial.
Pushing Sasuke away so adamantly is emotional self-sacrifice. This is another big indicator in parentification too, wherein the parentified child will downplay or ignore problems that arise within the family to save the parents and/or siblings from stress or worry. Itachi will take every action he can to shield Sasuke against the horrors he endured that Fugaku did not protect him from, even if it means hurting him further.
This brings us into instrumental parentification. Instrumental parentification is when the parentified child is forced into responsibilities that revolve around the household, such as child care, finances, etc. I already have discussed a little bit about this (as i mentioned before, they are not mutually exclusive and often happen together), but Itachi's physical care for Sasuke, as well as being the "backbone of the family" (being in the ANBU, serving as the Uchiha spy, Itachi is to be head of the clan after Fugaku, etc) are examples of this.
When Itachi is five years old and Sasuke is three-months old (three months?? wtf), Fugaku and Mikoto leave Sasuke alone in his care. It's important to note that this is before the nine-tails attacks. A few chapters later, we get the scene of Iruka's parents death. Here, Iruka's father says: "parents are supposed to protect their children". Even with how nationalist Konoha is, you know with their child-soldiers and what not, parents know their duties.
It's not unreasonable to believe that this isn't a one off occurrence. After all, Itachi is the prodigy, he successfully protected him from the attack. Itachi says himself that he "doesn't have time to look after Sasuke." When he injures himself while training, it's Itachi that asks after him even if it might seem scolding, specifically in front of Fugaku.
It's important to note that Mikoto does worry for Sasuke's physical being. Itachi does not completely take her place as a mother role as he does with their father, though this does not mean he is not parentified. We see that she does agree with Fugaku, at least to some extent, so we can assume that she is at least partially to blame as well considering that Itachi does not view her as an innocent (though not nearly as egregious as Fugaku. This is almost definitely due to Kishimoto's refusal to write women as people). There is a lot of filler and anime-canon only episodes that demonstrate their relationship as such, which is interesting. I personally don't find these fillers to be that out of character for Itachi, and they seem to be popular among the fandom (Itachi cooking for Sasuke in an apron from the Sunny Side! OVA, etc.), so I think there is something worth noting there as well.
As previously discussed, it’s Itachi that trains with Sasuke. We don't see him train with his father, and when Itachi suggests that he does, he refuses and claims that Itachi is better. Where Fugaku is failing emotionally, Sasuke is filling in with Itachi (at least temporarily). Fugaku is generally unaware of his children’s abilities and progress as people outside of their status as Uchiha & ANBU. He doesn’t know what Itachi is really up to outside of his own narrow view.
The only time we see him spend time with Sasuke, who’s desperate for the attention that he believes is being used on Itachi, is to check his progress as an "adult Uchiha" even though he's only seven. Uchiha’s are seemingly only considered "true" members when they’ve mastered the fire jutsu. This alienates Sasuke even further. His brother had mastered it before his age (in turn, become an adult in the eyes of their father). What can he do? He's a child, this is his family, and his father is standing here telling him that he's not ready to wear his crest. So, he does what's been seared into him; overwork, overwork, overwork, until he can force himself into that role.
I think Fugaku is aware of his failures as well. He's awkward around his children, and his demeanor screams it. When Itachi commits the massacre, his final wish is for him to take care of Sasuke. It's the final mission that Itachi needs to execute. So he does, in his own way at least. He was doing it already, but the stakes are higher now. There will be no extra support, he's on his own. Fugaku's prepped him for this, albeit partially accidentally.
The Uchiha are a deeply prideful clan, which is exactly what Itachi rejects. He became a spy, pretending to be everything he hates for Sasuke’s sake. He goes from a child soldier, serving a nationalist system, to concealing himself so deeply in the mask of a ruthless, cold killer, forcing Sasuke to believe it, that he's never had the chance to just be himself.
Both of the Uchiha brothers lacked the freedom that someone like Naruto wraps himself in. They bottle it up, let their fears and insecurities run rampant, ruminate on it, twist it, pick at their wounds until they've destroyed something larger.
This post is way too long, so I'll make another part some other time. It's been a while since I've read the manga in full, so I'll have to re-read some bits. uhh anyways enjoy? idk ive never actually posted meta, so if i get crucified for this...well.
