Naruto rant.... Why Sasuke backlash? (or just Sasuke) SPOILERS

[naanima]

Here's the bottom line, Sasuke is an avenger, he chose his path, and I truly respect him for his willingness to do anything to reach his goal. So, why the backlash? It isn't his fault that the HOKAGE sent our favourite characters after him, and that they are getting killed.

Sure, having people die for him is hurting me (I love Chouji and rest damn it), and I -really- don't see why Tsunade even bothered sending a team to chase after Sasuke when it should be pretty obvious that -these- children aren't gonna stand a chance.

I don't hate Sasuke, I may be highly annoyed and even angered that some of my fav characters are probably dead, but I don't hate Sasuke. I do, however, think it is not worth the sacrifice going after Sasuke when the boy has already DECIDED to go to Orochimaru.

YES. Decided. Free will. You know, decisions that impact on an individual’s life based on his/her own choices.

So, I don't see why the hate should be coming from the deaths, as for the other reasons... Sasuke is not a whinny little, stupid, snot-nosed kid. Sasuke is an angry, probably at times borderline insane -child- who is trying to fulfill a goal that will likely destroy him. But Sasuke doesn't care, because to Sasuke, his chance at a normal life ended when Itachi decided to massacre their clan.

So, Sasuke has to be strong, and cut all emotions, except the anger, the hate, and the determination to kill Itachi. Except Fate is a bitch and the best-laid plans never survive beyond the planning stage. Instead Sasuke meets his Team, and somewhere along the way realised 'Hey, I have way more emotions than I thought I did.'

And somehow (because Naruto, by existing, changes people, and Sakura loves him unconditionally), somewhere along the way he began to care. Not only that, Sasuke began to hope, to hope that it might be okay to have a life outside of anger and hate, because he has his 'precious people' to protect now. Not saying that Sasuke doesn't want to kill Itachi anymore, it's just that maybe he can become strong at his own pace, try the normal way, learn the chidori, and becoming stronger with Naruto, because hey, Naruto exists for Sasuke to measure against, to be -stronger- against, to protect.

See, this would have been fine except Naruto is the MAIN character, and Naruto is STRONGER than Sasuke now. You know what they say, when it rains it pours. So, Itachi, the cold reality, comes along and completely destroy Sasuke, demolish the little bit of healthy, normal living that Sasuke had began to build, and Sasuke realises.

Our little avenger realises that there was no way in hell that he can beat Itachi the normal way. Never. And really, what the fuck has he being thinking about, why the fuck has he been wasting his time? Reality isn't nice, and Sasuke got a wake up call. Somewhere along the way Naruto became so much more powerful than Sasuke, to the extend that maybe Sasuke can't catch up to anymore, at least not in the normal way, and if Dead Last Naruto, his rival has left him so far behind, and his brother can throw him around like a rag doll, what the hell was one emotionally screwed, psychologically fucked up kid meant to do?

Orochimaru enters stage left. The snake can give everything to Sasuke. Power, power, power. So much power that Sasuke can kill his brother, and hey, who cares what happens afterwards? Sasuke never planned to live beyond Itachi anyway. So Sasuke makes a decision, Sasuke chooses his vengeance over his precious people, Sasuke chooses Itachi over Naruto and Sakura, and seriously people, were any of you surprised?

Comments

[amei.livejournal.com]

Dude, he's a weenie who wears tighty black shorts.

Oh yeah, McDohl could kick his ass to hell and back.

[branchandroot]

I do wonder if part of the problem is that the manga doesn't make it entirely clear that Itachi is still the driving force behind Sasuke's decisions. There's a pretty long stretch, all during the chase/fights, when I, at least, was left with the impression that Sasuke might have chosen this purely to be stronger than Naruto. Which would be horribly childish and brat-like.

It isn't particularly reasonable to assume that Itachi has just up and vanished from Sasuke's calculations, but all the reasoning you cite is left implied rather than stated. And I've noticed that US fans, in particular, seem to have some difficulty catching implications that I suspect the writer thought were obvious.

I did feel a powerful urge to thwap Sasuke for rushing in like that, rather than pausing to ask what's up with this Orochimaru yo-ho, and with Naruto too, but, as you say, that's Sasuke.

And the adults deserve some serious thwapping, too, for not telling him straight up without being asked, once they knew he was targeted.

[koutenken.livejournal.com]

First, why did Tsunade send them to bring Sasuke back? As far as I know, that is the only thing in their mission they were supposed to do. Not change his mind, not teach him a lesson--just bring him back. Why? I think it's alluded many times that the reason is because Sasuke is One Of Them. Is that not reason enough?

Maybe Tsunade is also afraid of what Orochimaru might be capable of if he got hold of Sasuke, not just what would happen to Sasuke. After all, who should know Orochimaru better than Tsunade? These are other motives we do not know of and neither do Shikamaru. He's risking his life and that of his team to bring Sasuke back simply because Sasuke is One Of Them. Is that not reason enough?

Why did Tsunade send the genin? From her own words, she had no one else to send. All the other chuunin and jounin were out of the village. Remember, they suffered heavy casualties too in the last battle. I think Tsunade knows how good these kids are, despite overwhemling odds, and is willing to give them a chance and the credit they're due. After all, look at what they've achieved compared to the other chuunin who stood in the way of the four Sound ninja. Or perhaps, she thought sending the genin after One Of Their Own may stand a better chance of turning Sasuke back.

Now, Sasuke left the village for the sake of his vengeance. When Kakashi warned him not to. When Sakura begged him not to. But, Sasuke is stubborn and refuses to see rhyme or reason. All of this, I can forgive and understand because his vengeance is so strong. All of this, I am not surprised. But, when he's forsaken his people, those who risk life and limb because they considered Sasuke as One Of Them, then, I'm sorry, nothing can forgive Sasuke for that in my eyes.