I have to say I’m genuinely shocked at fandom’s perception of sasuke, sasuke and Naruto’s relationship, and the way people managed to take a ship that is village sweetheart x anti-establishment criminal and turn it into this like…cringey, sasuke is apparently a fragile mentally unstable mess that naruto needs to take care of shit, based entirely off of them being yin/yang? Which ftr does not mean submissive/dominant.
Here’s a few tropes that pop up repeatedly that i dont understand, frankly:
- “sasuke is shy” he’s really not. He’s quiet and self contained, but he has no trouble speaking his mind and needs no one’s validation except itachi’s (and i could write paragraphs on that abusive fucked up relationship) and sometimes Naruto’s - the person he is basically unofficially canonically in love with. Case in point, he announces he’s going to be hokage with zero fucks given as to what the Konoha 11 have to say about it, in contrast to naruto whose baseline motivation for 90% of the series, basically until he meets Nagato, is to win love and acknowledgement from essentially everyone
- “naruto is forward, sasuke is not” wrong. Sasuke actually does not deny their bond, and grows out of his tsundere phase much faster than naruto. He acknowledges their bond at the valley of the end. He even acknowledges it at their final battle. He says ‘quit your yapping, i know your feelings, you know mine’.’ Naruto’s brain short circuits because he doesn’t understand how sasuke can admit to his feelings easily, but still want to fight him based on their differing ideologies/the threat naruto poses to his worldview, because unfortunately he never really grows out of his ‘every conflict is the result of misunderstanding/loneliness/lack of love’ mentality
- related to the last point: naruto actually is clearly slower on the uptake of ‘this is not a normal friendship bond’ than sasuke is, considering sasuke is the one who keeps questioning him and even asks eventually, so what tf do you mean by ‘you’re my friend’
- “sasuke was in the darkness and needed to be saved by naruto” this is what the show pushes, and it’s true to an extent. Sasuke was in a lot of pain and the only person who saw past his ruthlessness and coldness, who tried to empathize and offered affection when everyone else turned their backs, was naruto. In that way, naruto does save him
But this is frequently exaggerated in fandom to the point where sasuke comes off as a complete basket case while naruto is his stable, loving boyfriend who has his shit together, and it’s so obnoxious
Sasuke was right on multiple points, despite the series ceaseless efforts at depicting him as irrational. The Kages are responsible for their current shit circumstances, and are all either enabling the system or directly responsible for it. Bijuu are demons that have slaughtered countless people - they really dont need to exist, and it’s insane that naruto wants them alive because they are his ‘friends’.
Sasuke is right that the elders are not the only ones responsible for the Uchiha massacre, and that the average Konoha civilian who bought into prejudice contributed, even if he takes this too far in his rage and grief. He is right that being a leader isn’t about just being acknowledged - it’s also about being someone who is willing to endure hatred and sacrifice reputation in order to maintain peace.
The most natural conclusion to both their arcs would be a compromise, tbh. But sadly this was a shounen anime to its core, and despite his uniqueness as an anime rival in many ways, sasuke still had to ‘lose’ in some way to solidify naruto as a hero.
Tldr; version of this is that portraying naruto as more dominant, more correct, more solid, more reliable, more emotionally honest party actually misses nuances in both their characters, is ooc, and honestly makes it an entirely different ship. Theirs is a relationship of give and take.
Side note, I’m glad sasuke never returned to Konoha. It would really mean the death of his character if he decided to stay after all, it’s the last bit of agency his character was allowed and a much better conclusion than naruto, who is trapped in an obviously loveless marriage and hates his life lmao
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