Naruto Theme Dive: The 3 Sannin and Youth, AKA, why Tsunade's arc should've ended.with her taking off her disguise
The 3 Sannin are undoubtedly, to me at least, the most interesting characters in all of Naruto. They fought together, they fought eachother, they've been best friends, worst enemies, they probably fucked at least a few times
But what's most interesting is that they all share the exact same fear, but it and their coping mechanisms for it manifest completely different for each of them; that being the fear of aging
Now, Orochimaru is the most obvious example, so we'll start with them. Orochimaru fears the aging of the body. Orochimaru was always a smart kid, a genius from childhood, and with a child's body, he had the best of both worlds. But aging catches up with everyone. What happens when their aging body starts to fail to keep up with their mind? Their hands signs slower, old injuries catching up, maybe they can't master jutsu as easily as they once could. The ONLY way to avoid this fate is to cling as tightly to youth as they could. Even if it means taking the youth of others
Jiraiya meanwhile, fears the aging of the mind. He can accept his aging body, but he absolutely refuses to actually grow up. Because growing up means responsibility, and he absolutely can't have that. Responsibility means he can't peep on women, or write Smyth, or wander around like a magic hobo. Sure he can TEACH responsibility, but he refuses to be responsible himself
Tsunade, while at a base analysis fears aging like Orochimaru, choosing to appear as a young woman despite being in her 60s(?), actually fears aging of her soul. She doesn't care about actually getting older, she's the greatest medic alive, any complications could be easily dealt with. And she's definitely more mature than Jiraiya, seeing as she can take care of a kid for more than a few years at a time. But growing up means growing past her problems, and that's what she can't stand. She stuck herself at the exact moment she lost everyone important to her
That's why when she should've taken off the jutsu when she accepted her new role as hokage, literally accepting her age and all the responsibility that comes with it for the first time in decades. But of course Kishimoto can't have a main female character be old or ugly, that would be gross
