#subjective rant

This will, in all likelihood, be the last time I ever write anything bout him because I honestly don't care anymore and I'm quickly losing interest (finally, free from the clutches his claws had on my brain!) But I just had to talk about the flabbergasting phenomenon of actual adult humans who throw actual tantrums whenever a character they don't like gets more merch. And yeah, this is, in fact, about Na*ya Z*n'in and the hordes of people on Twitter who do nothing but complain whenever he gets anything.

He gets figures? They throw a tantrum. He gets keychains? Again, another tantrum. Is he included in posters or promo/official art of any kind? Another tantrum. Does he get a funko pop? Groups of adults crying and whining about a fictional character getting merch. Like, I really don't know how to say this in a delicate way that doesn't offend anyone, but if you're an actual taxes paying adult going on Twitter or any media platform to whine, cry, rage and complain about a fictional chara getting a funko, then I think you're kinda pathetic, tbh. Like, bruh. FICTIONAL CHARACTER.

I think there's way worse things going on in the world that deserve your tears and rage. There's actual genocides and wars, massacres, and actual humans getting kidnapped and killed by ICE and put into legit concentration camps on the daily. The world and its economy are going to shit, yet you still choose to cry about an animated character getting a figurine? How privileged do you have to be for that to even register as a problem for you. If you care about women so much, then how about you help, donate, and support actual women victims of war and genocide in: Palestine, Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, or Ukraine, who get slaughtered by the hundreds, instead of hating on ACTUAL LINES ON A PAGE who has never hurt anyone.

Broh, go touch some grass. How disconnected from the world do you gotta be to do that. Do these people understand that the companies making these figures don't give two straight shits about their tears? The companies don't give a fuck if the characters they're making and producing merch for are morally good or not. They'll just check and see that 'hmm, merch of 'X' character sells well and good, and lots of people seem to buy it. Let's make more merch of 'X' character cause it brings in more money.' That's how capitalism works. Na*ya merch sells well, good, and fast, so producers will obviously be invested in making more stuff for him. They will keep making stuff for him as long as it keeps selling, no matter if there's sensitive, privileged snowflakes crying and throwing a tantrum bout it on social media.

Yeah, so I just wanted to rant about my belief that Na*bito was abusive towards Na*ya. He had to be for the guy to turn out the way he did. I know the general consensus that's generally very agreed upon is that Na*bito was a very good dad to Na*ya as his heir, but I disagree.

First things first, there's nothing there to prove that Na*bito was good to Na*ya. People just like to speculate he had to be good, based on his more 'chill' personality, I suppose? And the one image/scene, where they're posing for a photo? And Na*bito had an arm wrapped around Na*ya's shoulders. This one:

I've already said this once before, but if you look closely, you'll notice various things. 1- Na*bito is clearly drunk (his cheeks are flushed). 2- He's the only smiling person in the picture. 3- Na*ya is literally trying to elbow his dad, or at the very least, lifting his elbow as some kind of shield between them. 4- Na*ya's smile there looks forced, nervous, and not genuine. 5- Let's be honest here, what kind of good parent gets drunk just to take one photo with their favorite child? If you were to take a family picture and you saw your dad alone, of all people, getting drunk before sitting next to you, wouldn't that make you suspicious? Like your dad can't even sit next to you without getting drunk first? It's also the fact that he's very obviously pulling Na*ya into a drunken embrace, even when it's clear that Na*ya didn't want to, so he's already ignoring his son's boundaries. This was a choice. When they made this scene, they could've had Na*bito sober to show he's serious about this. They could've had Na*ya reciprocate his father's embrace. But as it is, this image doesn't look like genuine love to me, imo.

Like, people really tend to believe that Na*bito was just a fun, drunk, grandpa, and not literally head of a dysfunctional family that functioned more like a cult. I've already reblogged once, a post by a mutual of mine, going over the how and why, Na*bito was actually repulsive as a human being, and I'll link it at the end, once I'm done writing this.

The only things we know about their bond are that: Na*ya didn't really care when his father died, Na*bito was an alcoholic and never ever mentioned his son or brought him up in any of his appearances, which could be interpreted as neglect, cause let's think about it. When a parent really, really loves their kid, it'd just make sense that they'd talk about them and how proud of them they are. It's the normal thing to do, I suppose. If you love your kid and are proud of them for whatever reason (even if the reasons are toxic), you just can't help yourself talking about them. Mentioning them to anyone willing to listen. For someone who should supposedly love and be proud of his heir, Na*bito sure doesn't act like it. If we were to take his scenes individually from the rest of the series and show them to a complete stranger, they'd never even guess he had a son. It's just.... people don't seem to realize that a parent never talking about or with/to their kids is a sign of neglect, in and of itself.

If you were to ask me, judging from the Z*nin clan in general, Na*bito really gives off the vibes of an authoritarian parent, mixed with permissive, with some sprinkles of uninvolved parenting added in to the mix:

Like, all three of these styles combined together. Which is ironic, given that authoritarian and permissive parenting seem like complete opposite styles, and if you read the part about authoritarian parenting, you'll make the astute observation that it leads to the victims having low self-esteem, which Na*ya famously, does not have. That's where permissive parenting plays a role: Na*bito would, of course, want to discipline his heir and ensure that Na*ya would always and forever remain loyal to the Z*nin clan and their teachings. That he'd never stray away from the lines and limits carefully drawn for him, even before he was born. So, these rules and disciplines would've been beaten into him from childhood. Obviously, as heir to the clan, they can't afford for him to be shy, meek, or have low self-esteem. So, being more permissive, as in, giving him constant praise and never saying no to him, would just work to make sure Na*ya would be more outspoken, outward, and direct about his thoughts. Na*ya thus, would never be scared of saying what he thinks (important trait for an heir) cause he'd be used to the people around him agreeing with him, just as long as his thoughts did not contradict Z*nin clan teachings. But it's just that: he made sure his son would be outspoken and brash and overconfident, without ever bothering to teach him how to properly socialize and interact with others or how to treat other people, a vital skill that was completely skipped over in Na*ya's case. I feel it was kind of 'you do whatever we ask of you and remain loyal to us, and we'll give you whatever you want.' Kind of deal. Something that would, of course, seem like a fair exchange to a young mind: material goods and praise in exchange for obedience. What else could you ask for? Na*ya's physical needs were all met. He had access to the best food, health, clothes, housing, and training, but his emotional needs were neglected cause they weren't as important. Any affection or praise he could've ever received were purely conditional, hanging on to his ability to be obedient and keep providing his elders with satisfying results.

This is why I believe that his abuse was more emotional and verbal than physical. As an example, let's suppose that a wealthy individual (Na*bito in this case) got themselves a very, very expensive, and fancy computer (Na*ya is the computer in this case). A piece of tech that anyone would be terrified of breaking cause it costs a lot. Thus, if the computer ever started to malfunction all of a sudden or it caught a bug or smth (that would be like, Na*ya acting disobedient, ignoring rules, or getting sick), no one would think of hitting it in hopes that it'd work again, cause no one wants to break it! They might scream at the screen and curse a little, turn it on and off a few times, and try to fix things on their own, before finally relenting and calling a professional to get it fixed.

Which is to say, that Na*ya was treated like a very valuable tool that no one wanted to break cause they needed him. That doesn't mean that I think he was definitely never hit physically before. After all, I can imagine whatever training he went through must've been brutal. If Na*bito was most definitely the one in charge of training his son, then I can't imagine him being soft during training. Na*ya definitely got kicked and punched a lot by his own dad in sparring matches, when Na*ya and Na*bito were both younger, all brushed under the rug as 'it's just training to make you stronger after all'. As long as the hits never left any permanent marks or broke anything, then it would've been okay with Na*bito.

I mention that the lack of interactions between father and son is a curious thing cause we have scenes of him interacting with his uncle and cousin, both violent, btw:

Where both J*nichi and O*i quite literally tried to threaten him or, at the very least, incapacitate him in J*nichi's case, and let's not kid ourselves. With T*ji gone and before M*ki's glow-up, J*inichi had to be the physically strongest person in the clan. And he was aiming to hit Na*ya with his full force, a hit that would've most definitely knocked him out if it had landed. Normal people complain from being hit lightly in the arm by someone who's slightly stronger than average. Imagine receiving a hit from a guy built like J*nichi. O*i literally put a blade to his neck, and the detachment with which Na*ya reacted to it was not normal either. How desensitized do you have to be to act so nonchalant about your uncle pressing a katana to your jugular?

Yet, the author could never give us a mere, single panel of Na*bito and Na*ya together. Or give Na*bito a singular line mentioning his son, which was a conscious decision made by the author. It's a choice that I can only interpret as the author trying to tell us that Na*bito was neglectful. Besides, based on the fact that it's very clear his cousin and uncle seemed to despise Na*ya so much, that only leaves us with two options in regards to Na*bito's reactions to that. 1- Either he didn't know that his brother and nephew hated his son, and that's why he never bothered to do anything about it (which is neglectful). As ignoring such strife and spite going on between members of the main family could reflect on to and affect the clan negatively. Yet, Na*bito never bothered to do his clan head role of mediating and patching up those toxic relationships going on between his most direct relatives, mind you. Or 2- He knew that both O*i and J*nichi didn't like Na*ya much, and that they could be violent to him behind Na*bito's back but once again he ignored it and let it happen. Probably under some dumb excuse like 'growing up surrounded by relatives who hate him could help build character' or some bs, rather than it working to make Na*ya even more violent, when that's the kind of treatment he received from his relatives.

And look, it's justified and understandable for M*ki to hate Na*ya. He had it coming. But what did he do to his uncle and cousin for them to treat him that way? If we look at the panels, for once, Na*ya is not being a pos. He's even asking them to get along. That's not even mentioning the fact that, in the panel where O*i pulled his katana on him, J*nichi was also very clearly standing in the corner watching, and he was also okay with that. Meaning that J*nichi would've done absolutely nothing to stop it, had O*i tried to actually murder Na*ya. These are not individual instances. This is the way they've always treated him, which is why Na*ya was so desensitized to his uncle threatening him with a blade, to the point he had enough forethought to grab his uncle's wrist just in time. Also how he knew to evade J*nichi's fist at the exact moment before the hit landed cause he was already expecting that his cousin would try to attack him. Abuse only breeds more abuse.

My final words, as someone who is still pretty much active in the Naruto fandom, is that I can't help myself from comparing Na*ya to both K*nkuro and T*mari. Ga*ra's siblings. Now, these two also have 0 interactions with their dad, and there's also absolutely nothing in the canon text, pointing out to the 4th Kazekage having been abusive to his elder two kids. Yet, the great majority of sand sibs fans still believe that they were abused and neglected, purely based on the way they turned out. So, if sand sibs fans can write and share opinions about K&T having been neglected by their father, I don't see why I shouldn't do the same with Na*ya, when there's more proof pointing out to him having been neglected and abused, than there's for Kank and Tem in the Nart manga.

If this wasn't so long already, I'd even compare Na*ya and Na*bito's 'bond' to the one between princess Az*la and Oz*i from atla. Oz*i never physically struck Azu. He has never hit her physically, but he psychologically and emotionally manipulated her so that she'd serve him and the fire nation like a perfect obedient little tool who rarely said no and always did what was asked of her for approval, no matter how harsh. Just like Na*bito must've done with Na*ya. That's also not even taking into account that the fire princess did have at least 2 friends, Mai and Ty-Lee, Na*ya had absolutely no one he could trust. Two friends who were kinda scared of her and didn't hesitate to turn against her when the callings got tough (just like Naos' family kept turning against him). There are parallels to be drawn between them, but I haven't watched enough atla to write about them, and anyways, the main difference is that the atla authors did care bout Azu as a character, while Gege never cared about Na*ya.

But yeah, that would be all. Na*bito really do be the kind of dad who dropped by only once per month just to make sure his son was still alive and loyal to the cult before disappearing for another month, imo.

Pd: The source I used about child neglect and parenting styles.

2- The one post about Na*bito being a pos. Who knows? Maybe it could help someone realize the old man was never a good person, cause holy shit there's genuinely people out there who think he's better than Na*ya as a..... human, in general. As if he wasn't the one who raised him, lol.

So, I was planning on writing a whole post on the little hints that led me to believe that Na*bito was not a good parent to Na*ya, touching on various facts, such as: the fact that he never talked about him or mentioned him in any of his appearances, the fact he's an alcoholic, the fact he never bothered to fix Na*ya's toxic behavior and increasingly violent conduct as he grew up, he apparently did not care that his whole family seemed to hate his son (which yeah, completely justified, except for O*i and J*nichi. They're not justified in disliking Na*ya when they're as bad as him if not worse, and they are, in all likelihood, two people/models that Na*ya picked up his behavior from). But as a supposedly 'good parent' Na*bito would be expected to care about these tense relationships between his son and the rest of his family, and then do smth about it as clan head, yet he didn't. The normal thing to do as a parent if you notice various family members not getting along with your son is to inquire and try and suggest a solution (especially as the highest ranked person with utter authority in the clan). But Na*bito simply never did any of that cause he likely didn't care that his son was a pos and almost everyone else unanimously hated him. Neglect in its purest form.

Moving to the fact that he never bothered to tell Na*ya about his plans to potentially buy off Megs to potentially replace him, and he must've known how that would shatter Na*ya. Finally, the fact that Na*ya never showed any sadness for his dads' death, which I heavily attribute to him having gone through some kinda effed up emotional training growing up, just to kill his empathy and ability to feel for others. Empathy is not something that you lose like that. For a person to lose their empathy, their brains must've been heavily conditioned and brainwashed to reach such a stage of human depravity. Na*bito must've definitely put Na*ya through some sketchy training to ensure he could be cruel with no flinching or hesitation.

From this source:

But then, I realized that there's actually no need for any of that because Na*bito is canonically an alcoholic and that fact alone would impaire any kind of bond between him and Na*ya:

There's plenty of negative effects to growing up with an alcoholic parent that we can't deny. You can read about them here:

Like, it has both immediate and long-term effects, and Na*ya does show some of them:

Mainly, the anger issues and emotional reactions part. Now, Na*ya's self-esteem isn't low, but his ego is certainly very frail because he grew up knowing that as the heir, he was always one misstep away from being replaced by someone better than him. That's why he was so dramatic with all his posturing and constantly putting down others because he knew that if he didn't act all confident and uncaring, then the words of others could get to him, and if he let that happen, then it could lead to him failing to meet the clan's standards and getting the boot. He has seen the effects of failure in T*ji and in his own brothers who were all born insufficient to meet these standards, and as such, were treated as less, due to their lack of 'power' in the eyes of the clan, the main indicative of a humans' worth in the eyes of the Z*n'in. So, he'd always have it present at the back of his mind that he has value as long as he keeps being powerful enough to meet the clan's standards and prove he's worthy enough of the position of heir, the main reason he was birthed to begin with.

His high self-esteem is but a facade. Also born from constant praise, but if we think about it, from that one flashback we have of him going to see T*ji. Na*ya was told that he was a genius at like 6-7 years old, and that's absolute bullocks cause there's no way he really was a genius at such a young age. Furthermore, he follows that statement by saying: "they say I'm a genius and I'm going to be next clan head." Already tying his worth and any skill he showed at that age to his position in the clan hierarchy. They lied to him and told him that he'd become clan head cause he was supposedly a 'genius'. So, if he ever stopped being one or showed any less promise, he'd be quickly discarded. The only reason Na*ya was even chosen was because all his brothers were weak and not fit for the role. He just got lucky to inherit his dad's technique, which put him higher on the pyramid. All due to his power and how that power could benefit the clan, thus treating him like a tool. And we know his power was not enough and could never be, because while projection sorcery is cool and all, it's not the deal breaker ability that the clan wanted. What Na*bito and the other Z*n'in wanted was the 10 shadows technique, cause as far as I know, that's the only one capable of standing on equal footing with the G*Jo's 6 eyes and limitless abilities (I think that's what they were called). Ultimately, the Z*n'in wanted someone who could let them compete with G*jo S*toru and Na*ya simply was not it. So yeah, he was the best they had, but still insufficient by their standards.

Leaving all that rant aside, the long-term effects of alcoholic parents:

The last sentence there states: 'controlling behavior all of which can strain friendships and romantic relationships.' Na*ya is certainly impulsive (which is why I have a hard time believing he was ever a genius. That was definitely just Na*bito grooming him into a loyal dog via filling his head with bs). And he is controlling. I imagine that difficulty interpreting social cues would also be more than likely, given his upbringing and environment he grew up in. He grew up in a place where healthy human relations were a rarity, and all his interactions with those beneath him were inherently shaped by fear, distaste, and resentment. Na*ya would naturally struggle interacting normally with others because he just wasn't allowed to experience what that is supposed to feel like.

Lastly, if we move to coping mechanisms:

Yeah, the first point about perfectionism is literally a descriptor of Na*ya. He strives for perfection and a need to be validated just to ensure his position in the clan. To reassure himself that he hasn't dropped down to the point of being discarded and replaced cause he's aware that his position in the rankings is wholly reliant on his strength and skill with his technique. Deep down, he knows, and they all know that he's nowhere near strong enough to compete or compare with the likes of T*ji and S*t*ru, so as I've said, he is insufficient. Ultimately, being better than his brothers doesn't mean good enough. That all would lead him to overcompensate through cruelty, detachment, and putting others down.

Emotional guarding and secrecy are a little bit harder to discern. Of course, as heir of Z*n'in, he would be expected to keep most clan matters a secret, so these secrets can't be used by other clans against them. But I can imagine that he'd find it difficult to open up and trust others since that is..... something he could never do. Let's think about it: his dad was an alcoholic, his mom was in all likelihood dead, he didn't have friends, his uncle didn't like him, and his subordinates mostly thought he was trash. He literally never had anyone he could trust, so it makes sense he'd be kinda socially impaired.

Today, I bring a revolutionary concept:

1- Imagine little, tiny child Na*ya. Like, 5 years old or less.

2- Take out the tiny child Na*ya away from the scorpion nest, viper pit that is the Z*n'in cult. Clan.

3- Raise the tiny child Na*ya in a normal family and environment, away from Z*n'in toxicity and bs expectations and brainwashing.

4- Teach the little child Na*ya what concepts like love, empathy, morality and mercy are from childhood.

5- Keep the little child as safe as possible from any toxic behavior.

6- Surprisingly, watch as tiny kid Na*ya grows up to become an actual decent human being.

7- Realize that no one is born inherently evil. It's just toxic, abusive environments and families that ruin the minds of children to the point of no return.

I truly believe that it's growing up in a place as horrid as the Z*nin clan, in a position as precarious as the future heir, with relatives as horrid as Na*bito, O*i, and J*nichi, and with no friends to boot, that made him who he is. If he'd been born in literally any other family, he wouldn't be like that. We can't deny the facts that, 1- no one is born inherently evil. Evil toddlers do not exist. And 2- families play a vital role in how kids will turn out as adults, as they're the ones who set up the bases and main building blocks of an individual's personality and beliefs. If you read anything about early child socialization, you'd know it's true.

Even if we were to look at, say, child killers, or children who've committed crimes/killed other people (or what society would describe as 'evil kids'), most, if not all of them came from abusive households. I really doubt any of those child killers would've done any of that if they'd grown in a more stable environment with actual loving and supporting families.

Now, yeah, you could bring up M*ki as a counter example. She did have a horrid childhood with an abusive family, yet she didn't turn out anywhere near how Na*ya is. To that I would reply with various points:

1- M*ki was never truly alone in her childhood? She always had her twin sister with her, her constant motivation, pushing her to be good, brave, kind, and stand up for the both of them. Some people truly do not realize the huge impact that having 1 good sibling you get along with in an abusive family has.

Na*ya had absolutely fucking no one. As far as we know, he didn't even get along with his brothers, and I just wanna assume that all of them being Na*bito's kids meant they were despicable people, too. Having 0 positive bonds would just leave the individual more open and vulnerable to being brainwashed.

2- As horrid as their mom was to them, (from what I know, M&M's mom didn't even do anything when they tried killing her daughters?) She still loved them, deep down, and M*ki loved her mom, too. At the end of the day, let's not forget, their mom was as much a victim as they were. What could she have done, realistically, to protect them? I wanna assume that they must've still had some moments of respite, growing up, where their mother was allowed to love them, like a normal mom would. Few and far in between, but the maternal love, was still existent.

As far as we know, Na*ya doesn't have a mom, which, yeah..... pretty devastating for a kid's development, especially when that means that Na*bito had to be his main 'parental figure'. So, while M&M did get to know what maternal love feels like, Na*ya was, in all likelihood, not even allowed that.

3- M*ki had enough courage to leave her toxic household as a young teenager (I assume) and move on to a more healthy environment that actually supported her needs. From what I know, G*jo himself scouted her for Tokyo High School? The school that they all go to when he noted her potential. M*i would be sent to Kyoto, the other school. I assume that in those school environments, they would've made friends and formed actual healthy bonds that would've aided with all their family trauma. I've heard talk that M*ki and N*Bara are friends, and she was in a team/trio? with In*Maki and the frigging Panda, who are all good, caring people, I think. As little as it was, having people who care about you helps when you're that traumatized.

Na*ya was once again, never allowed any of that. Never allowed a chance to seek friendships outside the toxicity of his family because, at one point, he must've become so brainwashed with Z*nin propaganda that he didn't even seek it. Mind, this is a toxic environment, where absolutely nobody loved him, and everyone wanted him dead, even as a kid, I assume.

I just wonder, how many times do we think O*i has tried to kill Na*ya or get him killed, growing up? Imagine growing up with no mom, no friends, an alcoholic dad, terrible brothers, and an uncle and cousin who both hate your guts and want you dead. Great healthy environment for a kid to thrive in, and have great mental health, amirite?!

That's the reason I can never bring myself to hate this pos (affectionate) no matter how hard I try. I know that if we look at the Z*nin without hater glasses, to analyze that toxic mess, we'd see that, like, 90% of everything that Na*ya is, is Na*bito's fault.

Thinking about it all, it doesn't make me hate him. It makes me wanna wish I could travel back in time, to rescue little Na*ya while he was still a kid, before his family ruined him, and raised him in an actual healthy environment, that's all.

I needed to get this out of my system, but I actually find it so funny. I've been criticized a few times for my anti T*mari analyses, where I point out her canon flaws from the canon text. Just for saying that her main role in the narrative is to be a love interest (literally canon fact, btw). When I say that, I'm the bad guy.

But then you go to the blogs of any of her fans, and you'll see that 90% of the content made about her that they reblog is Shikat*ma content about her being Shikamaru's girlfriend, or his wife, or the mother of his kid. That's the content made by her fans who love her. I'm pretty certain that more than half of the T*mari content created on the Internet is of her kissing Shikamaru, having sex with him, flirting with him, or the infamous haters to lovers trope. When it's not that it's content sexualizig her body cause, of course, we need to be reminded how hot she is with all the fanart of her with inhumanely large breasts. Thousands amongst thousands amongst thousands of fanarts, fics, gifs, headcanons, and everything else you can imagine, of T*mari kissing and fucking Shikamaru and being his 'dommy mommy'. All made by her fans, I must emphasize. On Ao3, most of the T*mari centric fics are all different variations, and Aus of her falling in love with Shikamaru.

I'm not saying that's a bad thing, per se. You do you! Artists and writers are amazing and deserve all the recognition! It's just crazy that they'll make all this content about her, specifically being a love interest and nothing else, yet when I grab the mic on my own blog to say the bold declaration that 'Sabaku no T*mari is but a bland love interest' people get angry. Bro, you admitted that yourselves! The fact that most of the content of her out there is in regards to Shikamaru is a pretty clear confession! She has more content about her with her husband and son than with her brothers! If that's not a massive confession that her own fans also just view her as a love interest, idk what is.

Also, how her fans sometimes say that they could rant about her development, appeal, and complexity for hours, but then, they never do. It's always a 'T*mari is so complex I could write whole meta about her character', and you look through the entirety of their T*mari tag, and there's 0 actual analyses or meta, but 50 different fanarts of her and Maru making out, and maybe, just 10 fanarts of her with her brothers. I wonder why that is. Why her fans always state they could rant bout her as a mere hypothetical idea without ever actually going through with it. Food for thought, really.