#tf54 thoughts

[tigerfire54]

Kawasara moments in TBV so far

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The conflict from TBV Chapter 4 where Kawaki promises to off himself after defeating Boruto and Sarada vows to prevent him from sacrificing either of them. The only thing we know is that Sarada doesn't like this plan of Kawaki killing Boruto: The reason is not explicitly stated by Ikemoto still and as readers, we are filling the blanks for Ikemoto.

2. Not really a kawasara crumb but that Kawaki (again) comments on Boruto's appearance asking if he has been adopted by the Uchiha Clan (Ch 3 TBV.) I guess you do take note of the appearance of someone you seeing after 3 years but a fangirl can dream lmao.

3. Sarada's injury in Ch13 after Jura leaves with Hidari's Soul Bulb. Kawaki is focusing on her and the injury. Honestly over here, its that Kawaki was behind Sarada while Konohamaru checked the damage on her, he glances behind from the corner of his eye when Boruto regains consciousness. Which means before Boruto came to, his focus was entirely on Sarada. Even based on the tilt of his head, you can guess that he was fully facing Sarada's back.

He humors Sarada too with her incessant demands, "yeah yeah, I know. I'll save him too, don't worry." Like he knows that Boruto needs to die and honestly if he wanted, he could have let him die and get what he want. But he's probably following Shikamaru's protocols, and needs Boruto for more information. We get a crumb here though with Kawaki acknowledging Sarada's demands again <3 He listens to her, your honour.

4. Kawaki's reaction to when Sarada collapses and Boruto reaches to save her. Kawaki on the ground looking bewildered in chapter 32. Kawaki was stunned when it happened. He asks what happened to Sarada; Boruto tells him she is unconscious and not responding. That's also when Kawaki grimaces and ups his output level way beyond what Amado would have recommended. Honestly, he didn't need to, I agree. Staying calm and composed and taking over Sarada's role instead with Daemon would have been sufficient and he would have done exactly that if he didn't care about what happened to Sarada. He would have reacted the way he shrunk the clawmarks on one of the jounins outside Konoha. He didn't. Kawaki (king of idgaf and indifference) lets his emotions get better of him, ups his output, firing almost blindly and overheats in the process.

5. Kawaki telling Hima he's okay to instead check on Sarada who's bleeding from her eyes (chapter 33). In the first panel the location of everyone is revealed. Kawaki is to the bottom right; ShikaCho to the middle right, Himawari in between of ShikaCho and Kawaki and running towards Kawaki; Sarada is to the bottom left.

Himawari runs when Kawaki collapses but Kawaki tells instead to care about Sarada. Even judging from his head tilt, when Himawari approaches him, he is not looking at her, who would be arriving from his right, he is looking a little to his left at Sarada, where Boruto brought her down.

I personally like how the panels are arranged in the below photo: while Kawaki is actually looking to his right at the hoards of Mamushi heading towards Eida with Konohamaru and Himawari looking in the same direction as him, and focus on Sarada's circumstance. The arrangement of the panels are in such a way that it feels like Kawaki is looking at Sarada's face from afar with Konohamaru and Himawari by her side but far away from him. Kinda poetic with a dash of angst. The way he tries to keep far away from both Hima and Sarada, by pushing Himawari away, and standing behind Sarada in the second example, away from their viewpoint. Not exactly ship moment, but can be seen as a crumb: a look into what Kawaki does to adjust to becoming the Hokage's real son.

All these moments being initiated by Kawaki makes it more special as Ootsutsuki are immune to both Omnipotence and Charm, so Kawaki being caring towards Sarada in his own idgaf tsundere way, is charming in a sense. (I don't believe Sarada is immune but I will explain that theory in another post)

One of the most popular takes with regards to KawaSara is that both of them hate each other post omnipotence and Kawaki killing Sarada in one of the other timelines that we managed to avoid. While many fans believe as a result that there's no salvaging for this relationship, Kawaki's limitless patience and concern towards Sarada in the above examples cannot be ignored and still speaks of potential for this pairing.

Will update via reblogs as we get more and more kawasara moments.

[tigerfire54]

Sarada can you please give me something more than "strength and power to protect Boruto" to be the basis of your "liking" for Boruto? Chocho literally offered the "hottie" term and you shut it down. Do you even like the guy, or are you just obsessed with making him get justice only?

Till you actually give me a proper reason you like the individual, (something like I love how pretty and blue his eyes are, bluer than the Seventh's) I cannot ship you with someone you don't seem to like in that sense. The ball is in YOUR court girl, yours and your mangaka's court.

Because to me it sounds like you are more bent on getting justice for him over loving him.

[tigerfire54]

How Borusara can become CANON (compared to Borusumi)

As of now, Borusara has only begun. There arent many two sided moments for them as shown above, neither is there much for Sumire. Its all one sided from Sarada's and Sumire's end but like Sumire, Sarada now has to commit completely to him in order to move their romance (and success) forward.

She has realised that love that which she thought was a hindrance, is not so, and that's a start. But I still feel she has to come to terms with her liking him. I would akin her to the Anime-only Academy level Sumire after she realised (whenever she did) that she liked Boruto. Her confession both to Sumire and to Yodo both revolved around the permission to be Hokage more than Boruto (regretably) Sarada first will have to tackle her confessing skills (T^T) and make her confession more romantic than goal-oriented.

Sarada has confessed her thoughts to Sumire, her rival. It is a start but she has to show the love that she has towards him the way Sumire has shown in the story. Sumire hasn't used words, nor directly addressed Boruto, but indirectly everything she did was to help him out.

from NNG, till TBV, here's a list of things Sumire has done. Sarada will have to do something like this but on her level, as her true self. Sumire is more of the supportive background ally who has had her share of contributions.

Sumire reveals to Sarada she likes Boruto

Amado defection arc: realises Boruto will be fed to the God Tree after completely becoming an ootsutsuki

Meets Kawaki in the lab at Konoha when Amado fixes his arm. Reveals her goals to help him in order to get closer to Boruto. Kawaki catches on that she likes Boruto.

Sumire catches on that Amado wants to restore Kawaki's karma for some nefarious reason

Learns of Kawaki killing Boruto (that scene is repeated again and again in the manga, idk if its Kawaki or Sumire remembering it, but its always in relation between the two, mostly Kawaki realising that there are people who will suffer if Boruto does not die)

Eida arc: draws Sarada's attention to her lack of captivation with Eida

Omnipotence arc: contacts Sarada and asks her well being and explains her theory of Eida's shinjutsu, realising which Sarada asks Sasuke to save Boruto

With Sarada, explained to Shikamaru about omnipotence and Kawaki and Boruto getting switched. But it falls on deaf ears.

Inquired with Amado about Boruto (the traitor) returning to Konoha and learnt Amado is questioning omnipotence.

She handled the awkwardness between Boruto and Sarada after that hug

Asks Himawari to heal Boruto.

Manuveurs Eida's accusation of being immune and then their love talks that makes Sarada uncomfortable

Listens and accepts Sarada's confession.

She made the sword for Boruto (that was his request yeah but), she moved her romantic further by asking him to call her by name.

She draws Boruto's attention to what he can answer about Sarada in the Mamushi arc such as her physical condition, over a generalised is she okay, which he was not in a position to answer confidently.

And she has done all of this strategically. Most of her actions moved the plot further. Not much yet on the overt romance end, except for the asking Boruto to call her by name. (But as we see, she is asking Sarada and Chocho too to call her by name) On the romantic end she is only two steps ahead of Sarada:

Acknowledging her crush on Boruto

Taking a romantic (?) step forward.

However Sarada, has a lot to cover up plot wise. She is kept in the dark about a lot of things:

Requirement of Kawaki or Boruto being fed to the God Tree.

The whole Ootsutsuki lore (which explains why Sarada was pissed off at Amado calling Ninjutsu a )

The reason WHY Kawaki killed Boruto.

Threat of Momoshiki (which is weird because she was terrified when she saw Momoshiki in the Chuunin exams)

While it is frustrating that Sarada has been kept away from this vital information (as the de facto leader of Team 7 at that too) I believe it is so, because she really gets the plot moving in an unexpected direction, she preventing Kawaki from killing Boruto and then even sent Sasuke to protect Boruto. I think she'll learn of the above truth when the plot suddenly needs redirecting without prior predictions.

Sarada is not Sumire, and that's her strength and unique point. How she will contribute to the plot is different.

More than the technical and supportive help Sumire offers, Sarada is better suited on ground in the battlefield. If Sumire contributes via information gathering, Sarada acts on that information. I see her better suited to use her occular Jutsu to turn Konoha's tides in their favour. But some ways she can do so hereon that will benefit Boruto as well are:

Learn more about handling her Mangekyou Sharingan

Try learning about her clan history (she knows about her father's history but idk how much in depth but she needs to learn more)

Figure out how to get her EMS, (contact orochimaru, Uchiha Shin, idk how, but she has to get her EMS or she cant use the powers of MS that Koji said was paramount to their fight against the Shinju and the Ootsutsuki.)

Improve her chakra capacity and utilisation, so a lot of training she missed on out.

The on field advantages Sarada has over Sumire would be:

She has fought against Hidari once + has experienced the JuraSnipe ™️Her battle experience against the shinju will come in Handy.

Her Chidori was able to pierce Hidari and that will be a very strategic play on her part. Ohirume took down Ryuu.

Her colleagues and fellow Chuunin and Jounin already recognise her prowess in ninjutsu, even going as far as to protect her from becoming treefied. So in spite of the attitude the village has to her father, Sarada is well respected and admired in the village.

After her confession in Suna, I feel she has a lot more potential to fight and win against Shinju.

Her potential moreso lies in learning of her clan's past and writing a different future for everyone. As a future Hokage is it important she knows of the past she must not repeat.

Her conflict with Kawaki is also another place where she can contribute to the plot. If Sumire is the one who ups Boruto's skills, Sarada's conflict with Kawaki will get him off Boruto's back and double down on his irrational desire to take Boruto down to protect Naruto. Both Boruto and Kawaki are the good Ootsutsuki who do not wish to raise the God Tree and beget the Chakra fruit. Their survival is essential and their cooperation WILL be what protects Naruto from harm. Sarada is probably the one who will get this into Kawaki's head (with Boruto)

If anything, the girls are a two pronged attack, with Sarada fighting back externally and visibly, while Sumire attacks internally with invisible cuts and wounds. Both the girls' strategy is needed for Boruto to win in his fight against the Ootsutsuki clan. But who wins his heart in the end is left to Ikemoto and his writing.

[tigerfire54]

I wish there was a way to see if Sarada's jacket's logo can be seen somewhere. I also want to see the original sleeves of Kawaki's jacket too, if it has the coloured bands at the wrist. While the length of the two jackets are clearly not the same, they got the same coloured one, with really good contrast of teal and red, our off-shoulder fashionist icon duo.

Edit: Kawaki's logo in the above pic is similar to Boruto's in the below pic so I think all their jackets are from the same brand but different models (Kawaki's long coat vs Boruto's double coloured sleeve, vs Sarada's monocoloured jacket matching her dress)

[tigerfire54]

KawaSara: the HATE and the TOXICITY

Firstly, that deserves an eyeroll.

A few disclaimers:

First and foremost, Ikemoto is writing the story, not you, not me, not our shipping delusions. Man has a story he wanna write and he is writing whatever he wants to.

Secondly, the series is still ongoing, so there's a possibility of ANY ship being canon. Main ships, side ships, crack ships, all of it. Why? because point 1.

Thirdly, before you entered the fandom (if you are new here) fandoms in general tend to have a unwritten policy called SHIP AND LET SHIP. It means you enjoy your ship , and we enjoy ours. We talking about our ship does not erase how you think of it, and vice versa. Why? Cuz point number 1.

Shipping preferences of a fan ARE subject to change, but not through force. For an example related to this post, I used to be a KSa shipper solely, but now have warmed up to the idea of BSa, though I find its execution questionable and in need of improvement. I could warm up to the idea of BSa because I was not forced into changing my shipping preferences.

Now that I've expressed my feelings and disclaimers, let's get into it.

Calling Kawasara a hate or toxic is SUCH a surface level interpretation of the story. When too many people believe in it, it ends up being a common and loud interpretation, not necessarily, an accurate interpretation. So Imma defend the interpretations of KSa shippers as of TBV chapter 35.

1. Hating each other in TBV (Ch4):

Canonically, it is just that they don't see eye-to-eye on the Boruto issue.

Kawaki has mentioned it clearly and multiple times that he has to kill Boruto and that he would off himself afterwards with no hesitation. Its Sarada, who doesn't want anyone dying.

Not Kawaki, not Boruto.

She said that she won't let Kawaki have his way in Konoha, which includes two things, the plan to kill Boruto AND the Kawaki's plan to kill himself.

Personally, the fact that she is still going head to head with him after what happened in the NNG Ch78 shows that she actually cares MORE for the fact that he is trying to kill Boruto than the fact that he tried killing her once. Kawaki himself says "Do I have to explain this again?" which means they have butted heads over the Boruto point MULTIPLE TIMES. The truth is, if he was trying to kill her, one, he would have succeeded a long time ago AND two if she was his target, its likely she wouldn't appearand show such hostility again and again in front of him that would risk her safety and wellbeing.

[unrelated side point: THE HANDS IN THE POCKETS <3 WHY TF DO THEY MIRROR EACH OTHER SO MUCH!]

'The KSa hate is mutual/not mutual' atp is merely a reader interpretation in the story. And the choice to not ship them because you do not like your pairing trying to kill each other off, is your preference. Fair enough. Remember, ship and let ship.

2. Toxic, cuz he tried killing her (and succeeded in that one Koji timeline): (NNG Ch78)

In the timeline that did occur in the manga NNG chapter 78, Kawaki gave her a chance to back off and told it was her only chance. Because she still stood against him, he raised the blade. Boruto saved her but lost an eye. Kawaki still gave her a SECOND chance, but by then the Konoha shinobi caught up to them and Boruto and Sarada were saved.

Prior to the KSa interaction above, Boruto had already tried reasoning with him, "Stop this! Everyone will be here any second. Things might go (wrong) "

And Kawaki said, "There's no going back for me." Kawaki knew what he was doing from the time he confessed to Naruto about his intentions. He knew it was wrong to kill a brother AND was ready to face the full consequences of his actions, of killing 'Naruto', Boruto and Sarada (if she continued interfering).

It also explains the reason Boruto too tells Sarada not to interfere. He had already tried reasoning with him, and it didn't work. Sarada would be needlessly putting herself in harm's way for no good reason.

Thankfully for Sarada, Kawaki killing Boruto was the bigger priority to him. Kawaki knew it was wrong to involve someone unrelated to his plan, that is why he gave her yet another chance to back off, overriding his first warning, "I'm saying this only once, don't butt in if you don't wanna die."

The thing is ALSO that we don't know the details of how they died in Koji's alternate timeline.

Was Sarada's death an unintentional accident? What were the the factors that led to it? Did Kawaki successfully kill them after the first warning? After the second warning? Did Sumire or Shikamaru hold Sarada back? Was she delayed in reaching Boruto? Was Boruto already dead when Sarada came by? Did she die after Boruto died? Was it before him? Were the Konoha shinobi not on time?

Any of the above factors could have allowed Kawaki to succeed in killing them both, we just don't know how exactly it unfolded and what changed that they did not die in the timeline that did occur. Like Koji said, it is a battle royale of destinies influenced by the decisions of the participants in the said battle.

This is what we know canonically in the text. How we choose to interpret it is on us, you can interpret it in a negative way, or interpret that there's more to it. No correct interpretation of the story exists, just multiples of them.

But you, the reader have to be aware that it is your interpretation of the story that gives the story the meaning, and as there are mutiple readers, it means there are multiple meanings and interpretations of the same story.

[tigerfire54]

Sarada and Kawaki uttering the same lines: similarities and differences

1. "Is Eida stupid?"

BNNG Chapter 76 Sarada and BNNG Chapter 73 Kawaki

In these panels both Kawaki and Sarada comment on the stupidity of Eida being in love, while the reasons they do is different. More than Eida's beliefs, Sarada looks at it in the context of her own life. Sarada believes something like romantic love and obsessing over it would interfere with her dream to be Hokage. Its a sense of responsibility and the belief that to a Hokage, everyone in the village is Family. Which is also the reason she withholds her personal emotions of jealousy towards Kawaki being trained by Naruto, and Boruto being trained by Sasuke. She wants that attention from the people she respects and idolises, but she feels she cannot do so because it would mean prioritising herself over the other, herself over Boruto or Kawaki and that would not be altruistic of her. Also remember that in the Momoshiki-Chuunin Exams arc, she witnesses Boruto hoping that if Sarada becomes Hokage, she not have a family to trouble. That also may have influenced her thoughts, even if she thinks Boruto is blessed for having a good family and the Hokage as his father. Her feelings are challenged in chapter 20-21 of TBV where she is forced to acknowledge the consequences of this misconception.

On the other hand, Kawaki does not believe in the luxury of romantic love. His goal is to defeat all the Ootsutsuki in the universe with his Ootsutsuki powers in order to protect Naruto and Konoha. Here he has, in a sense, similar beliefs to Sasuke of the 4th Great Shinobi War -- "You suggest I have a little romance with Sakura? I have no requirement to love her or be loved by her." Sasuke did not think he had the luxury. He was still hard on his goals to protect Konoha and then become its Hokage to end all the strife and suffering caused by the decisions of the former Hokage. Both Kawaki and Sarada do not believe in the luxury of love though their reason varied and Sarada has already faced the consequences of her decision, while Kawaki is yet to face them.

2. "I am powerless! I can't even protect what's important to me!"

BNNG Chapter 79 Kawaki and TBV Chapter 21 Sarada

Both Kawaki and Sarada acknowledge their powerlessness here to protect the ones that they love. But what they do after the acknowledgement is different and shows the two choices one has when facing a dilemma.

Eida uses Kawaki's desire, of being able to take down Boruto for the danger that he is to the village and Naruto, to cast omnipotence on everyone as a solution. Kawaki did not have to do anything himself, but the environment shifts to suit his needs, as a result of the "love" that he thought was stupid.

Sarada instead, does not change her environment. In the situation where Ryu almost overpowers them in the Sand Arc, Sarada draws from the power sleeping within her. Unlike Kawaki, she had the opportunity to realise that the powerlessness she looked away from cost lives. As a result she chose to "accept her powerlessness' and in doing so acknowledge all the feelings of inadequacy with regards to her dream of being Hokage and her feelings towards Boruto.

If anything while both berate their powerlessness, one faces the consequences and chooses differently, while the consequences for the other, disappears. Kawaki's cold approach resembles what Shippuden Era Sasuke might have chosen, while Sarada represents Naruto's approach of realising that getting stronger to protect the people you love is not bad, and is in fact necessary. Like how Sasuke recommended that Chuunin Exam!Boruto learn who Naruto became rather than who he is now, its high time that Sarada too attend that lecture and realise that the father figures she idolises started from a similar place as she did.

[tigerfire54]

Eida's Charm VS the Logical Tacticians of Konoha

in Chapter 76 of BNNG, Sarada meets Eida for the first time. Shikamaru invites Eida to Konoha to spend more time closely with Kawaki, her crush. Having only heard the basic information from Shikamaru, Sarada does not grasp fully the context about Eida's Charm at the time and thinks naively that to evade Eida's gaze is sufficient. She is shown to look away when talking about a subject like love that she is both inexperienced and uncomfortable with.

Eida does not need to ask Sumire whatever she asks Sarada as when she sees through her Senrigan, she would have seen the moment where Sumire asks Sarada what she thinks of Boruto (flashback shown in TBV Ch25), and knew already of Sumire feelings towards Boruto. Looking into that moment. Eida questions Sarada about what she thinks of both love and Boruto.

When Eida broaches the topic of Sarada's opinion about love first, Sarada is taken aback and turns away to hide her face. The shock of the question erases her disbelief and embarassment at Eida's prior love talk. Sarada tries to escape the interrogation but is at a loss on what to say that will get Eida off her back. She instead looks in the other direction away from her, then turns her head back straight, tries to glance at Eida through the corner of her eye and finds herself meeting her eyes when she had turned her head.

When their eyes meet, Sarada grunts and thinks how overwhelming and forceful Eida's gaze is. And later when she realises she is not captivated or infatuated with Eida, "relaxes the tension" in her body. Sarada experienced one of the symptoms of Eida's Enchantment i.e. stiffened muscles from extreme tension. Now why would that be a symptom of being affected by Charm? And why Sarada?

Amado has mentioned that only simpletons such as Delta are an infatuated mess when it comes to Eida. As shown the first panel above, Infatuation and Captivation are just a few of the possible reactions to Eida's Charm. He draws attention to different physical and emotional symptoms in different people, notably "stiffened muscles from extreme tension" as is seen in Sarada's case. Examples are seen throughout NNG and TBV in Eida's interactions with various characters. Code confessing his love to her, Bug's obsession with her and his hatred towards Daemon for existing, Mamushi's obsession in TBV. The Jonins who come to escort her at the station as well as Sai and later on, the General Public of Konoha blush upon seeing her, Konohamaru's face combusts when he sees her inside the house, while Mitsuki who never experienced romantic love in his life, talks of a new sensation that he feels within himself.

Sarada realises she is NOT infatuated with Eida thanks to Sumire drawing attention to it. It is elimination of possiblility of captivation or infatuation. This sudden realisation relaxes her tensed up body. "Muscle stiffness due to a tensed up body" is a symptom Amado mentioned as being due to Eida's Charm. The only thing we know is that Sarada is not captivated by Eida or show symptoms like Shikadai, Konohamaru or Delta. She isn't infatuated with Eida the way they are.

The symptoms Sarada shows around Eida are similar to Shikamaru (Chapter 69) and Sasuke (Chapter 80). What Sarada, or Shikamaru or even Amado experiences is not the typical symptoms of infatuation associated with Charm or Eida's omnipotence. Amado is stunned, while Shikamaru is in analytical mode trying to make sense of the physical sensation he is feeling. Sasuke does not react excessively to either Daemon or Eida (Chapter 80) merely takes note of them and stays alert.

But why do these people show atypical symptoms to Eida's Charm?

The complexity of the mind's thinking seems to influence the level and kind of Omnipotence one may find themselves susceptible or resistant to. Highly tactical and logical shinobi like Amado, Shikamaru and Sasuke for example reacted differently to Charm, as their mind reverts to understanding and analysing with logic. The said tacticians of Konoha and Amado have never blushed because of Eida but both would be impacted by omnipotence later on. Shows that not being captivated by Eida does not necessarily mean one is immune to Omnipotence (on the level of an Ootsutsuki or Daemon.)

Moving onto Sarada now. Why she comes under the uncaptivated with the three logical tacticians mentioned above: Sarada is a logical tactician herself. In the manga, with Kawaki's input she located Boro's core with her sharingan, and completed the task in a calm and composed manner in a split second with a Jutsu she had never used before in battle. Without needing Shikamaru's input, she correctly analysed and concluded that the role of the non-Ootsutsuki members of Team 7 was surveillance. He himself acknowledged Sarada's analytical thinking. Not to mention she was someone who does not let emotions cloud her judgement, explaining why Shikamaru sees Kawaki as a threat and diffusing the situation.

The logical tacticians of the Borutoverse such as Amado, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sarada and Sumire* are not infatuated with Eida. (Sumire's case is special as I hypothesise she is entirely immune to omnipotence, even more so than Sarada.) But that's a post for another day.

Sarada not being captivated by Eida does not need to directly translate to "Immunity from Omnipotence" as is seen with the other tacticians of Konoha falling victim to Omnipotence. And the proof is hidden in plain sight in the manga.