Strange how different my views from Naruto and Jjk are (well, not so if we consider how many years apart, and overall my own age and maturity related to it, watching one as a tween/teenager and the other as an adult), but the latter has helped me understand a different view on the former, far from youthful idealism.
What comes clear now is that being strong comes with a heavy burden, and both systems won't care about individuals but about preserving a status quo.
Whether the system is right or wrong, the higher ups only care about keeping it that way. It might be disguised under the cover of "stability", but goes deeper in privileges, comfort and unwillingness. Even if it's labeled as 'the greater good', that's in fact parcial; while it is good for the higher ups, it's rather mediocre for the rest.
Yes, it keeps a certain stability or balance, in the ways of preserving what's known, but in exchange for the sacrifice of the individuals; their lives, emotional wellbeing, bonds and ultimately their humanity, seeing them as mere tools.
And the strong ones carry the biggest burden. In the likes of Sasuke and Geto, forcing those that feel for the bond and care more about the individuals than the system, to unorthodox methods and eventually being villains; or the likes of Itachi and Gojo, manipulated to willingly let go of their own humanity and become just weapons, taking unto themselves, and only them, the responsibility of saving the day.
Even when Gojo saw the system as it was, he couldn't escape it even after his death.
And then, Sasuke, Geto, Gojo... Those who see the reality of the system and want to change it (not talking about the righteousness of their methods) are labelled as selfish, narcissistic, evil... With Sasuke as the pinnacle of being shamed and guilt tripped into the propaganda via Naruto's TnJ.
While Jjk in their more cynical ways addresses the issue directly (for example, Geto dies clinging to his ideals, so as Gojo does), Naruto disappointingly hides the truth and sells the viewer the system's propaganda, successfully must I add, with Naruto himself embodying the continuity of the system to the extreme; let's not ignore how he forgot about his thousand promises of how he'd change things 'when he's Hokage' and ultimately became what he once criticised, all under the cover of righteousness the series/system sells all along.
So all in all, a new introspection needs to be done for me as a viewer, further than surface. Is it worthy to be 'the strongest'? Does the end justify the means (i.e. utilising humans as tools)?
I think not, I think not.
