#og naruto

I love them 👀

In my point of view, Sasuke has always been a self-sacrificing even borderline suicidal character. Many fans see him as the opposite, but from the very beginning of the series until now, I’ve always viewed him as someone willing to sacrifice himself to protect others.

Take the early arcs, for example during the fight with Haku, Sasuke instinctively threw himself in front of Naruto, taking the hit meant for him. Later, when he left the village, it wasn’t because he wanted to betray his teammates or chase power out of greed. He chose isolation, loneliness, and pain just so he could avenge his murdered family and clan people who were already gone. If he were truly selfish, he would’ve stayed in the village, forgotten about revenge, and lived a normal life with his friends. But instead, he was ready to risk everything, even his body and soul, to bring justice to those who couldn’t speak for themselves.

Even when he became what the world saw as the “final villain,” his motive wasn’t destruction it was protection. Sasuke wanted to make himself the common enemy of all the villages, so they’d stay united and never fight each other again. His methods were wrong, yes but his intentions weren’t. He was once again willing to bear all the hatred in the world, alone, if it meant peace for everyone else. Naruto understood that better than anyone.

when the final battle came, and he admitted he lost . He accepted Naruto’s heart, and in that moment, you can see he had already given up on himself. Once again, his instinct was to surrender his life ready to die, ready to give up his eyes if they could be useful to others. That’s just who Sasuke is someone who never truly lived for himself.

And what’s truly sad? Most of the fandom ignores this. Even many SNS fans who claim to love both Naruto and Sasuke often reduce his character to the “cold, cruel” one, focusing more on the ship than on who he actually is. But if you look at Sasuke with empathy instead of bias, you’ll see him for what he really is: a boy who grew up without love, carried unbearable trauma, and still chose to protect the world that abandoned him.

Yes, he’s made countless mistakes. But if we viewed the story through his eyes, everything would look different. The people we see as heroes the village we admire might look like villains to him. And in a way, that’s the tragedy of Sasuke Uchiha! he’s not evil he’s broken, burdened, and endlessly willing to destroy himself for the sake of others.

If you look closely, throughout his entire life, Sasuke never did a single thing purely for his own happiness. He never had a normal childhood. His teenage years were spent in isolation, forced to be strong, with no friends and no one to lean on. When his family was slaughtered, he had no adult to comfort him, no one to help him escape that loneliness. He grew up reliving that trauma again and again through nightmares, through genjutsu, through guilt.

When he finally killed Itachi, he was alone again carrying a pain no one helped him bear. And when he learned the truth, when his whole world collapsed in panic and grief, there was still no emotional support. Sasuke practically raised himself guided only by anger, sorrow, and a warped sense of justice. Every decision he made came from that lonely place.

although, despite Iruka having terrible thoughts or discomfort, he continued to be with naruto, even inviting him to eat to pass the time because naruto didn't have anyone at home to wait for him

through mizuki and those women we see that the villagers really don't like him, mizuki even uses him for his plans causing people to hate him more for his "theft"

after those scenes my favorite scene happens; the first person to protect naruto in fact, iruka, is the only adult who apologizes to naruto for thinking in a terrible way about him

hiruzen can talk about how much people hate naruto but does nothing to change things, even though he has the power to make people change their thoughts. We also see that he doesn't care if naruto eats and drinks well, sleeps in a set place, etc.

All this despite the fact that kushina, naruto's mother, has asked him to take care of her son, it would be a favor for everything minato gave her the village, but hiruzen really isn't interested in this at all.

then there is kakashi who knows how naruto lives, he knows that he doesn't eat well, that people hate him, he even talks about it to Inari to calm he sadness

which is funny that he knows and doesn't do anything, isn't naruto his sensei's son? well, he doesn't really care because he's focused on following sasuke and leaving Naruto with a sensei who hates him

he loves naruto so much that he chooses not to train him (despite being his sensei) to continue with sasuke and leaves him with a man who despises him.

could we talk about how he also abandoned sakura? In another post.

and we conclude with Jiraiya, this guy refused to train naruto, despite almost killing the sensei

chooses to train him after naruto sexualizes himself, turning into a young, naked girl. *disgusted*

and those scientific ninja tools that fire unlimited, absorption-proof jutsu. and that point, they're not shinobi. these tool things highlight the moral dilemma of the peace-era. there's no excessive necessity for human shinobi, like in naruto (where even in peace-time, things like the wave arc happened), basically just having an existential crisis for the ninja world.

even as far as the plot goes, like with villains, all those aliens replacing human motivations. the end of shippuden had kaguya, but boruto made the otsutsuki alien clan the central focus. just these totally evil other-worldly beings that're definitely villains. and all those ninjas with deeply philosophical and emotional motivations, like pain and obito are replaced by them. there's no good turned evil from the harsh reality of the world with wars and the suffering of shinobi life. i do understand tho that boruto did that to explore those themes of divinity, parasitism, and the "true" cosmic history behind chakra itself.