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@gerardwayissexah and @shiningstardan
-ShiningStarDan
sometimes i think abt how yin and yang represent opposites, yin among other things is associated w femininity, yang with masculinity so that means that the uchiha (sasuke, madara) are more associated with 'female energy' while the senju/uzumaki (hashirama, naruto) have an association with 'male energy' and then im like cool, sounds good, but then i remember this notion u have in the story abt how the uchiha have no control over their emotions and it feeds into hatred and destructiveness and leads them to go down villaineous paths and how kaguya is the original mega tyrant and madara, as someone who is also said to be afflicted by uncontrollable emotions and 'curse of hatred', ends up doing the same thing that she did and then im like okay, maybe i dont want to think abt this too hard actually. time to think abt smth else
Poor Kakashi
Can we just discuss for a moment how painful and triggering Haku’s death must have been for Kakashi?
From the moment that Haku throws himself in front of Kakashi’s Chidori paralleling the way in which Rin sacrificed herself, the horror is evident upon Kakashi’s face:
And Haku’s final words are that of his comrad Zabuza, just as Rin’s final words were Kakashi.
You can see it all over his face, reminding him all over again the pain and horror of Rin’s death.
Not to mention how protective Kakashi becomes after killing Haku
After which the fight takes on a whole new personal meaning for Kakashi and he straight up backhands Zabuza
And even in the aftermath, you can just see the immensity of the pain that Kakashi is going through
And it just shatters my heart to think about all the pain Kakashi is carrying.
BONUS
Afterwards Naruto asserts that he’ll find a way to be a ninja in his own way, very Obito-like and comforting Kakashi with his words more than he can ever realize.
Okay so I have talked about author's intent before. I am going to expand on that in this post.
Manga is basically a moving picture without the moving in it. It's basically a film with all its features including images, dialogues, narration, sound effects, special effects, and editing.
Just like a film, it also sets up a certain narrative and story with a commensurate pace, mood, context, action (or inaction) and characterisation which then informs its style and visual approach. It's basically a very detailed storyboard of a film. Storyboarding happens at the pre production stage of a film, for ease of the cinematographers, and directors to set up their location and sets accordingly. This is what a storyboard looks like. This is Star Wars btw.
Is Kishi inspired by films? He is a huge fan, it's his favourite hobby. There's a reason his work is considered cinematic by critics.
So for a certain scene or panel to make sense, or for it to stand out, the mangaka will set its background up. And when you look at Naruto manga, the author does everything in his power and uses everything in his skillset to tell this love story. Everything that happens in this manga regarding Naruto and Sasuke's relationship has a certain context behind it, and it's important to notice this, because the information that the author gives you prior to a significant panel or a certain dialogue, or a certain visual, it can be any little thing. But with Naruto, it's everything.
Kishi spares no effort to get his point across. Of course, audience that wants to see it will see it. Those who don't, will prefer their own reading, however lacking, single mindedly ignorant and uninspired.
Anyway.
So this scene here is an important scene. Why? Because it gives us important information about Sasuke's feelings for Naruto. Trying to protect Naruto here was a really pointless move by Sasuke, given it would have only caused a bruise at most. But Sasuke is so in love with this boy, that he can't see him get hurt, even a little bit. We do have precedents, of course, where Sasuke protects Naruto several times even at the cost of his 'life', he also protects Sakura in the forest of death arc, they are his comrades and Sasuke doesn't want them to be hurt. Naturally.
But why is this particular scene important and how does this scene differ from the others? Apart from the fact that it is extraneous and unnecessary, tbf, Sasuke is almost completely out of juice due to the curse seal. So for him to go so out of his way to protect Naruto from hardly even a bruise, emphasizes just how much Sasuke treasures Naruto and wants to protect him.
Does Kishimoto set up context for it? You bet your ass he does. Starts here.
Naruto gets knocked into a tree by a transformed Gaara and Sasuke's watching carefully. He is aware that something is not quite right with Naruto (because Naruto was apprehensive of fighting Gaara given what he had seen of him earlier, which is unlike him). But the point I am making is one has to pay attention to the visuals and context.
Again.
Sasuke's watching while Naruto gets knocked into trees and bushes.
And again.
And again.
And again.
And again. Sigh...
Sasuke's. Watching. Carefully.
So when this finally happens,
It gives the audience a solid context, and brings their attention closer to this panel, and the action that happens in it. It pulls focus to its importance through constant repetition. What does the repetition signify? Author's intent. For emphasis.
Kishi builds up to this moment across three chapters, he is making the audience somehow anticipate some action that would make sense of these repetitive visuals. He is doing everything to make sure that on a subliminal level, the audience knows why this moment is significant and special. And he doesn't stop there. He makes the dog say it out loud.
Pakkun is emphasizing Sasuke's attempt to protect Naruto despite his obvious handicap, as if a thousand visuals were not enough. Yes Kish, we get it. Sasuke loves Naruto, Naruto is his precious, we know. We have known since land of waves arc, you aren't that discreet.
It's really like Kishi doesn't want the audience to be confused as to what's happening, this is in no way being discreet. Like take my word for it, anyone who knows how visual language works, can instantly tell you author's intent here. Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter. Because at an unconscious level, the author has already made you feel that this is an important moment. Whether you consciously realize it or not. That's how visual language works, and this is where author's talent lies.
I know that antis don't see any of it. Or even consider seeing it.
Anyone who ships Sasuke and Naruto, be assured that you caught on the author 's intent, and you were right to trust your instincts. Don't get panicked by whatever the antis say, it doesn't matter, they don't know what they are talking about, just let them be.
And those who say it's all a bait are even sillier. Because at least the others have shipping lenses on, so I get they are affected by their emotional urges. But those who think SNS is unintentional and a total bait are just lying to themselves because they think they are smarter than the whole manga industry, tch, embarrassing.
Kishimoto never meant for Hinata to be seen as Naruto's savior in Pein arc. However, he was also smart enough to be creative about it. By this time, he knew Hinata would be paired off with Naruto, he could have written Hinata with a bit of grace. But Kishi doesn't work like that. To choose to write her confession this way, he showed her to be a silly girl infatuated with the hero, not as a shinobi or someone who cares or thinks of her family or village or anything else. She has been almost invisible prior to this in Shippuden, hardly having any contribution to the narrative or a battle. So this chapter could have served to portray a more well rounded Hinata, but Kishimoto had different plans. Safe plans though. On a surface level, it seems Hinata is doing it out of the force of her love for Naruto, but we get to see how things unravel and it does not show Hinata in a good light.
So while Naruto is battling Pein, it is made clear that Naruto's message has reached the Konohabitants (people of Konoha), and they know what to do, not interfere.
This message has reached Hinata as well.
She is clearly worried, she is sitting there, under the protection of her branch family bodyguard.
We can see that Katsuyu is there with her and her injured slave.
So while Hinata is on this side, on the other side, Inoichi and team have located Pein and need to send teams with chakra sensing type shinobis to look for the exact location.
Well, Hinata is a chakra sensing type.
Right then, to stress on this, Kishi makes Gai's team enter Konoha, and Neji is shown to use Byakugan to recognise Jiraiya's frog, Gamabunta. So we get the impression that a chakra sensing shinobi would have been really able to help.
But then, before anything could happen, we see her doing this.
And then immediately, we see this happening to her.
Hehehe, idc what anyone says, Kishi did it this way for the chuckles, I just know it. You must have seen this happening in cartoons, some foolhardy loser who highly overestimates their abilities would unthinkingly rush in to fight the villian with all the swagger they could muster and get yeeted out in the atmosphere Right Away and then you hear - AAAaaahhhhh... which then slowly fades off into the distance. Always draws chuckles and sniggers, great comic timing. Heh.
Now, just the way Kishi wrote this chapter called 'Hinata's confession', is quite informative of Hinata's feelings for Naruto and Naruto's complete obliviousness of Hinata's existence. We understand that Inoichi has found Pein's location and needs 'chakra sensing type' shinobis in as many teams as possible and they are relaying that message through Katsuyu.
So if Hinata had waited two more seconds, she would have probably been able to contribute to the battle rather than falling on her face with strike one.
Hahaha. Kishi, you genius, you.
He established the whole scene where Shikamaru, Ino, Inoichi, Katsuyu, Shiho etc are planning a smart scheme and following up diligently, actually contributing to the battle. We have already seen Sakura doing her job, helping villagers and the injured (one of her good moments, there are so few and so far apart sigh..), we have seen Konohamaru blast one of the paths of Pein, we have seen Tsunade doing her best saving people, we have already seen Kakashi and team fight Pein intelligently and creatively, and then we see Hinata who is literally just sitting there. How exactly do we see her contribute to anything?
So as we see Kishi developing this battle arc, we have seen how various Konohabitants have contributed to the battle, and we have gotten a strong sense of how absolutely devastatingly strong Pein is, and then we see Hinata charging in like a lunatic, while the others are hatching plans and schemes and actually using their training to somehow defeat Pein.
Yes, Hinata is emotionally driven to protect Naruto and can't think logically but her short sightedness almost got Naruto killed. Some confession. Heh.
If only she had shown some patience and mental acuity, something shinobis are actually trained in. She would have been able to help Naruto and somehow contribute to the battle. But well, that has never been Hinata's strong suit.
Thing is, she admits she is being selfish. She Knows whatever she is doing won't help anyone. She knows she can't hope to defeat or even delay Pein. And she obviously isn't able to help Naruto. She went there to die, she knew she probably would die, so might as well confess to Naruto before either he died at the hands of Pein or her. If she really wanted to help Naruto, she would have used her abilities to hatch a plan of action. Or devised some creative trick. Or something that she knew would have at least a miniscule chance at succeeding. Not what she did.
But well, that's not how Kishi wrote her. Never intended to. He always meant to portray her as a wallflower, someone whose everything revolves around Naruto, who stalks him from a distance, who only shows courage and motivation to fight when Naruto is looking, who does nothing to make her presence felt.
What's even funnier is Kishi establishes this right away. How? With the panel cover of this chapter.
This is Hinata. In a chapter called her Confession.
Sitting there, nervously balled up while not even looking directly at Naruto. Naruto turned away from her, going about his business without even being aware of her existence. How the touch of his distinctly drawn mere passing shadow makes her curl her toes and blush uncontrollably. Like a shy little girl in throes of a high school crush. When Kishimoto said in one of his interviews that Hinata is someone who watches from the shadows, he didn't mean it only figuratively lol. 'Hinata - the shadow girl'. That man cracks me up, the joker.
The visual language says everything you need to know.
He couldn't even be bothered noticing her on his own, is it any wonder that Naruto doesn't respond to her confession?
Hello! i’ve read your last post about the UCM and Sasuke’s belief and wants of revenge. Ive never saw any opinions like this and it kinds of made me think more about it thanks to you and understood more in a new light!!!
I have a question tho, i don’t think you ever talked about it here but i would love to have your insight on Tobirama. i never liked him, i always thought he was a closest racist and wanted to marginalize the Uchiha. Maybe im wrong but its really something that bothered me. The fact that he believed that Uchihas must be controlled bc the Village is more important instead of engaging in an open and honest talk with them to let them feel accepted by the higher ups.
And also!!! the curse of hatred he talked about when Edo Tensei, ive never really understood it clearly either😔 Wasn’t it like some gossip he spread or something?? maybe im biased and i would love your insight on this!! Ty for your hard work ❤️
First of all, Thank you for this ask as a response to this post.... And Thanks for giving a Benefit of Doubt about something you are not sure of instead of going full on Hate for misinterpreted reasons or selective reading.
Before that, I’d suggest you to read this post... [Post Link]... about Obito’s version of Uchiha Clan flashbacks’ contradictions & loopholes that led to so many misinterpretations in the Fandom. Because it’s very important to get some context and also I talked about this character, a little bit, over there. This post is just the extension of that post.
Short Answer to your Question:
Tobirama is not a Racist.
Long answer as follows:
When we pick a single panel related to a character and base our opinions on that panel.... Almost every character would appear Detestable. I could easily call Sasuke as a Murderer for ramming Chidori into Naruto's lungs citing he hated Naruto. But when we consider the context, his sub-textual feelings and his Character Journey as a whole.... That would prove he never hated Naruto. We should do the same for every others characters too.
All we have to do is to put the context & subtexts together and see if our opinions were right... And If our opinion doesn't match for more than 3 or 4 panels, then all we have to do is to re-evaluate and re-read the material properly all the while by KEEPING CANON IN MIND... DON’T BRING IN HEADCANON OR PREJUDICED OPINION. This is very important for making sensitive claims like Racist, Homophobe. And this post’s intention is just to present every panels related to him and let the readers judge him for what he is...
MEANING : DON’T IGNORE ANY PANELS & VERIFY IF THE CLAIMS ARE TRUE BY LOOKING FOR MORE PROOFS.
Let me address your issues and then I’ll take it from there.
The Curse of Hatred he talked about when Edo Tensei... Wasn’t it like some gossip he spread or something??
Firstly, He never used the word ‘Curse of Hatred’ at all...
“It’s the Cursed Destiny of Uchiha”
Even the Japanese Raws says the same
呪われた運命 Norowareta unmei Cursed Fate
This is very different from Curse of Hatred
憎しみの呪い Nikushimi no Noroi Curse of Hatred
Well, Whatever Tobirama said may not be very different from the real term... But I just want to clarify on that.
Secondly, The term ‘Curse of Hatred’ was first used by Obito (disguised as Madara). When Obito met Naruto, Kakashi & Yamato to talk about Sasuke’s plans to destroy Konoha.
This scene happens way before the Hokages got resurrected by the Edo Tensei.
And this is the first time the term ‘Curse of Hatred’ was used in the series in Chapter 462... Whereas Tobirama was resurrected only in Chapter 618.
“It was fate... The Uchiha Clan’s blood stained destiny to be consumed with hate... The curse that has plagued our clan since it’s inception...”
And there’s no need for Obito to lie about his own clan’s Curse or Fate or however you describe it. Added to that, Obito is referring to this Curse of Hatred that has been plaguing Uchiha Clan since their Clan’s Inception.... I am pretty sure, Uchiha Clan was found long back before Tobirama was even born....
So, He didn’t invent that term.... The only possibility that he could’ve invented that term is to time travel to Rikkudou Sennin’s time and put that Idea into Indra’s head and it got gradually passed down...
Thirdly, Tobirama never spread such rumour to anyone... If that’s the case, Every villagers would’ve been afraid on the sight of any Uchihas just like how they were afraid of Naruto because he was the source of Greater Power that was sealed inside him and they were afraid that Naruto could go out of control at any time...
Here, Kakashi is revering Uchiha Clan as ‘Elite Ninjas’ but calling out Obito was being ‘Non Elite’ or ‘Dumb’.... And throughout Part 1, I am very sure Sasuke was treated like a Gifted Child... Same with Itachi.... And same with Sasuke’s Father....
This is not the behaviour of how a Cursed Clan should be treated. So, it’s very clear that no one in the Village knew any of this. And Tobirama didn’t spread any of those rumours either.
The fact that he believed that Uchihas must be controlled by the Village is more important instead of engaging in an open and honest talk with them to let them feel accepted by the higher ups.
I really don’t know the source for this claim.... But it was Danzo and the other councilors who marginalized the Uchiha clan after the Kyuubi Incident... They should have been the one who should should have engaged in an Open and Honest talk.... Where did Tobirama come into any of this??? He was long dead by the time Kyuubi Incident had happened anyway...
But still, I am attaching the panels in the EXACT ORDER here... The following panel is from Chapter 399, Page 16.
Here Obito is saying, “Only our Eye Techniques are Capable of controlling the Kyuubi...”
Canonically up until that point, that’s true... Kurama himself told this to Sasuke...
“Unbelievable.... To think you’d even be able to suppress my power...”
And we all know how Naruto struggled to control the power of Kurama until Pain Arc... Whereas Sasuke could easily suppress it...
This is a known fact among Konoha Higher-Ups and hence they suspected Uchiha Clan. Whereas in the very next panel, Obito was blatantly lying that it was a Freak Occurrence, while it’s canonically proved that Obito (an Uchiha) was the one who released it...
Which proves the Konoha Higher Ups’ Suspicion right... Isn’t it???
I am saying, their Suspicion was right but their actions were not... Not one bit... This is where they should have conducted an Honest and Open talk with the Uchiha Clan instead of controlling them by marginalizing them.
And in the same chapter 399, Page 17... the very next page... We get this...
“The Clan’s land was moved to the remote corner of the Village... They had effectively been quarantined...”
This is the page where the words ‘Discrimination’, ‘Quarantined’ appears for the first time... Tobirama had nothing to do with these pages at all... Because he was already dead...
I always thought he was a closet racist and wanted to marginalize the Uchiha.
Again, Like I said... Tobirama had nothing to do with the Marginalization of Uchihas...
Let’s consider, if Uchiha Clan were indeed Ostracized by him... Since they are already in the corner of the Village back from the time of Tobirama, What is the need for Danzo to move their Lands into a Remote corner of the Village???
What’s the need to marginalize an already marginalized clan anyway????
Like it doesn’t make sense at all... Especially there’s no proof for it.
Or, Let’s go back to the situation of Uchiha Clan people before the Kyuubi Incident...
This is Obito when he was like 12... The Old Lady was very receptive towards him and indeed gifting him a Candy. If only Obito belonged to a Marginalized Clan... Would she even be this nice to him??? Or do you think If this Old Lady knew about that so called ‘Curse of Hatred’... Would she even walk with him without making suspicious face??? Won’t she be looking at him with a look of terror???
Whereas if it were Naruto... The Old Lady wouldn’t even walk with him... Let alone being nice.
I know some people will say, the Old Lady might have belonged to Uchiha Clan... Lo and Behold, Obito himself says out loud...
“Now that I think about it... I know every old person in Leaf...”
How is it that a boy from a Hate Filled Clan knew every old person from the leaf???? Not to mention he was happy doing that.... Unlike Naruto who was never shown to have a happy times with anyone in that village before Age 12???
What Naruto faced was the real Ostracization or Marginalization....
This is a panel which clearly shows how Killer Bee was treated in his own Village.... I mean, If the Author could show some struggles of Discrimination for a side character... Why didn’t he expend his energy to show something like this for the Uchiha Clan plot which takes 50% of his story???
Also, Let’s say, if Tobirama did indeed marginalized them
This is the panel from Obito’s version of the Flashback where he talked about Tobirama.
“But even that was a means to keep them out of Goverment Affairs.... They were simply being grouped together to make keeping an eye on them easier...”
Why didn’t Obito say anything about Tobirama marginalizing Uchiha here like he did with Hiruzen & Danzo panel, as I attached earlier???? He is saying that the Military Police Force were given to the Uchihas to keep them out of the Government Council and they were being spied upon by the ANBU....
I debunked this claim about How Uchihas were only allowed to become a Cop in my attached post... Obito wanted to become an Hokage, Itachi was in ANBU, Shisui was not a cop, Apart from Shisui and Itachi, there were many Uchiha members in the ANBU team... Kagami wasn’t a cop....
Whereas Orochimaru says something else regarding the reason for the Establishment of Military Police Force...
This Panel!!!
Another panel which gave rise to ‘Tobirama Discriminated Uchihas’ allegations. Well, the sentence “Succeeding in bluntly chasing them away to the outskirts of the Village...” seems like he marginalized Uchiha, Doesn’t it??? Whereas Obito in his Flashback never made any mention about Marginalizing Uchihas... Which one is true anyway???
While we all fail to notice Orochimaru also says.... “The Ones who control crime sometimes tend to be disliked...”.... Well, Canonically Everyone adored Itachi and Sasuke.... The Academy teacher was very interested to speak to Fugaku who is the Head of the Military Police at that time... And there is no canonical evidence in the Manga about anyone disliking Uchihas because they were police... So, where did this claim comes from???
And also, the Same Orochimaru says.... “Moreover, because of their Authority they tend to become conceited (Arrogant).”.... Again... This sentence contradicts what Obito said in his own flashback, Doesn’t it??? Here Orochimaru saying Uchihas became Arrogant because of the Position which gave them the superior Authority... If people becomes Arrogant because of their Job.... It must be really some high level powerful position as opposed to selling Food Products and Flowers.... Whereas Obito was saying that Police Force was a position to keep the Uchihas away from the Government Affairs... That is, the police force is some low level position that was given to the Uchihas to spite them.
Both Obito and Orochimaru’s Claims about Military Police Force contradict each other and doesn’t match up at all. Not one bit....
So,
WHICH ONE IS TRUE, BY THE WAY????
Lo and Behold.... Sasuke himself wants to hear the truth from the Dead Hokages.... before his plan to destroy Konoha....
“The Ones who know Everything”
Meaning, Whatever they say are the Ultimate truth..... Sasuke decided to destroy Konoha because he believed Obito’s Flashback was the Truth. But After meeting with Itachi, Sasuke got doubts... If Uchiha Clan was really discriminated for generations after generations by Konoha, even after knowing that... why would Itachi go so far for this Village??? Why would his Brother’s best friend Shisui went so far to commit Suicide???
To clear all his doubts... He wanted to hear everything from the Hokages. If Sasuke decided to destroy Konoha after hearing Obito’s Flashback... Sasuke’s decision to protect Konoha was based on Hokage’s version of the Truth.
And this whole arc was all about Sasuke (As a voice of Audience) asking a question to the Hokages based on his Opinion and the Respective Hokages gives him their Answers... It’s a Q&A Arc where their Answers should be taken as the Final Truth...
So, Whatever Obito and Orochimaru claimed about the Military Police force should be taken with a Grain of Salt. Because it defeats the Purpose of this entire arc and both of those people were making speculations about the Era they didn’t live in and moreover.... Both of their claims contradict with each other... [[I know people believe their claim as the Gospel... But If their claims was true... Why is it contradicting??? ]]
The real reason for Tobirama to give the Military Police Force to Uchihas was...
“I gave them the positions that they were eminently qualified for! And I believed that even if another Madara were to emerge, He could be dealt with right away!”
Meaning... If someday a person like Madara were to show up attacking the Village, Uchiha Clan with their Military Police Force & their Sharingan can able to deal with that person... [[You may claim... This is a lie he makes up to cover his mistakes... And I have Answer for that as well]]
Oh by the Way.... Usually you see panels where Hashirama was asking, “Tobirama! Haven’t I told you not to persecute the Uchiha?!”
That’s such a wrong meaning...
Now it may seem like, Tobirama treated every Uchiha Clan members were some Future Madara and gave them the position out of Fear of Uchihas and also to watch over themselves as a Fail-Safe measure... Right???
Because Orochimaru also asks the same thing here...
まるでマダラはトラウマのょうですねそんなにうちはが怖いと Marude madara wa torauma no ~youdesune son'nani uchi wa ga kowaito It's seems like Madara is your trauma to frighten you so much about the Uchiha
And this where Tobirama explains about the Uchiha Clan peoples’ Power Mechanism and why he gave that Military Police Force to them...
“When a Member of Uchiha Knows Love, it’s as if the feelings they were blocking out arise.... Their Love is too strong... And they can end up running wild..”
My Question is... “Was he wrong to say Uchiha’s love is so strong and they end up running wild???”
Because it’s been canonically proven that they are capable of going out of control.
This is Obito slaughtering Mist Ninjas after seeing Rin’s death.... And what about that Sasuke’s grand stint in Kage summit Arc???? Obito went out of control because of Rin.... Sasuke went out of control because of Itachi....
And then he says this...
“When Uchiha suffer after experiencing the loss of a loved one or despair... Special Chakra sprouts insde their brains, which affects the optic nerve and produces a change in their eyes...”
Again.... Was he wrong about Sharingan????
Obito evolving his Sharingan after the Loss of Rin...
Sasuke evolving his Sharingan after deciding to part away from Naruto...
And then he finally says this...
“The Sharingan aligns with the person’s feelings and quickly makes the person stronger... together with the hatred in their Hearts... Almost all of the ones who experience strong feelings are captured by Darkness and Turn Evil... The Deeper their Darkness becomes, the more powerful their eyes get, and it’s impossible to handle them...”
And this fact was also proven true...
Obito: Susanoo...? It looks completely different from the previous one... Yes... Every step of the way, his Hatred has made him more powerful to the point his body reacts to it...
Karin: Is that really Sasuke?? This feels nothing like his normal Chakra...
Sasuke evolved his Susanoo out of his sheer Hatred.... And later he stabbed Karin which signifies his venture into the Darkness....
So, All of the claims Tobirama made in 2 pages were completely proven true by Obito and Sasuke himself. If these claims were true, then the fact that he gave that position to the Uchihas out of respect and not for Marginalization purpose is also true....
But now you may ask... What is the relation between Sharingan’s power & Military Police Force & Stopping Madara???
Well, Tobirama’s entire claim is that the Uchiha Clan members were one bunch of Extremely Loving people... If they lose their love, they suffer a lot and that sufferings arouse a chakra in their eyes which evolves their Sharingan. And the more the Sharingan evolves, the stronger they become which also gives rise to the Hatred in their Heart.... And almost all those sensitive people were captured by Darkness and turned into Evil....
Meaning... Uchiha Clan people gain power when they protect their loved ones... And unfortunately if they lose their loved ones, they gain even more power which makes them even more stronger... If Someone so powerful like Madara threatens the Village, Someday... In order to protect their Loved Ones who lives inside the Village, Other Uchiha people could protect the village very well as a Police Force who has the authority to deal with the Criminals like Madara...
Just like how Sasuke got stronger when he was trying to protect Naruto from Haku...
Just like how Obito got stronger when he was trying to protect Kakashi from those Stone Ninjas...
Even though Canonically they were proven to succumb into Hatred and going out of Control.... Instead of deeming Uchiha Clan as ‘Hatred’ personified, Instead of deeming everyone of them as Unstable.... Tobirama wanted to channel their Strong Love and the power that comes out of it as a means to protect the Village through the Police Force. And this following panel proves everything...
“I wanted to channel the Uchiha’s power into something that could be of helpful to the Village...”
I seriously don’t understand why this Explanation gave rise to ‘Tobirama is a Racist’ claim.... If he was truly a Racist, The very first thing he should have done was to spread delusional lies about Uchiha Clan to all the Villagers and make them hate Uchiha Clan...
He knew about Uchiha Clan member’s Power Mechanism and yet he didn’t say about these to anyone in the Village... Well, If people come to know these facts, they would definitely be afraid of them just like they were afraid of Naruto going out of control....
“To pull out the Kyuubi Chakra without losing himself...”
Unlike Obito and Orochimaru’s claims about Military Police Force which had no proof or valid panels to support them... Tobirama’s reasoning has a Big Proof inside Canon....
“But you must not lay a hand on the Village and on Uchiha Sasuke”
Itachi wanted to protect his beloved Brother from the Chaos that would have killed him... And He also wanted to protect his Village....
Itachi’s strong Love was what prevented a War and saved the Village. And this strong love was what Tobirama wanted to channel as a whole. Which he explains in this panel...
“But it’s also true that they were very devoted. There were also many, like your Brother and Uchiha Kagami... That surpassed the boundaries of the clan and did a lot for the Village...”
He is basically saying what I’ve said before... “Yes, There are possibilities of people turning into Madara and destroy everything.... But at the same time they are so much capable of Intensely Loving something and that’s why they were very devoted to the village... There were few people like Itachi and Kagami who loved the Village by surpassing the boundaries of the Clan...”
Tobirama trusted their capability to love and gave them a Law Enforcement Position. And that’s why I never considered him as a Racist.
But....
Despite all these panels.... Why do a part of Naruto Fandom consider him as such???
That’s because he speaks Truth in a Blunt way which sometimes ends up being Insensitive (to the readers not to the Characters involved though).
And Also some heavily Mistranslated words.
And also people misinterpreting Brotherly dynamics and Mischaracterization of Hashirama.
Firstly... The translation error....
あれほどうちはをないがしろ にしてはならぬと念を押して! Are hodo uchi wa o naigashiro ni shite wa naranu to nen o oshite! I told you over and over to not neglect/make light of/slight the Uchiha!
The term Naigashiro means Neglect or Slight or Make Light of.... Persecute is nowhere near to the meaning like they put in those translations. Neglect or ‘Make Light of’ makes more sense considering the context...
Like I said above, Hashirama never used the word ‘Persecute’ in his Question... That’s totally a grave translation error...
And then this panel....
Bigotry???? Again a very wrong translation....
そういう言い方はょせと言ったはずだぞ Sōiu iikata wa ~yose to itta hazuda zo I told you not to talk like that
The above one is the right translation.... Such kind of wrong translation with Sensitive words like Bigotry, Persecute carries a different meaning to the western readers.... This is one of the reason he was deemed as a Racist... But in Anime, the translation was accurate, though..
Secondly, In the above panel, he asked....
“An Uchiha, eh? No wonder you are with the enemy...”
I am asking.... Was he factually wrong to say that???
At this point, We have seen 4 Uchihas inside the story... Sasuke, Itachi, Obito and Madara.... Madara was an enemy, Obito was an enemy too... Itachi was not an enemy but posed himself as one by joining Akatsuki... Sasuke was an enemy because he also joined Obito and kidnapped Killer Bee, And on top of that he was standing right next to Orochimaru who once resurrected these very Hokages and used them to destroy the Village...
Actually Sasuke was proving his assumptions right....
But still.... Let’s just say Tobirama was wrong to say like that....
Then what about this???
悪に憑かれた一族だ Aku ni tsuka reta ichizokuda It's a Clan possessed by Evil
Another Blunt remark from Tobirama about the Uchiha Clan.... To which Sasuke was asking, “What is it about the Uchiha Clan??? What do you know?!”
Well, people are making a great deal out of this sentence “It’s a clan possessed by Evil”.... Like it’s some racist remark about Uchiha Clan and all that.... While I agree that this comment is definitely Insensitive especially Sasuke is just a Child. But is it not weird that.... Sasuke was asking about his own clan to Tobirama, out of all people, even though he made a hard-hitting claim about his own clan????. If he was written as a racist, Narratively his opinion will always be biased against Uchihas... Because Racist always spout wrong things... But Sasuke was specifically asking him....
But is it a Racist remark???
If that’s the case... What do you say about this following panel...???
Here Sasuke specifically asking, “What do you mean about The Uchiha being possessed by Evil?!”
To Which Hashirama was giving off a GUILTIFUL, KNOWING & ACCEPTING LOOK in the highlighted panel to the Bottom Right .... Like he knows the fact about that topic but he doesn’t want to talk about it out loud.... So, Hashirama knows about the fact that the Uchiha Clan being possessed by Evil or Hatred... But if someone openly points out the fact... Hashirama will get mad... Which is totally a biased behaviour, Don’t you think???
And this is not the only time...
“The Stronger their hate, the greater their ocular powers... That’s the secret of the Sharingan...”
Here Tobirama talks about the Hatred being the source of the Sharingan.... And immediately Hashirama reprimands his Brother just like he did before by saying, “Quit saying such things... Tobirama!!!”...
Whereas here, Again Tobirama talks about the Sharingan and the hatred infront of Sasuke.... And here, Hashi agrees with it... “Madara really loved his little Brother... Probably even more than your Brother”
And this thing happened yet again....
Here Tobirama is saying, “However... If they ended up destroying themselves for the sake of the Village, that cannot be helped...”
People take these lines as if Tobirama was happy to see Uchihas self-destructed each other... But in reality, he was just indifferent....
And in the next panel, Hashirama gets emotional by saying the same line, “Would you stop talking like that....?”....... To which Tobi says, “What’s important is the Village... The Village is the Cornerstone...”
Whereas Few pages later... Hashi says this,
“Anyway... You had a really Great Brother, Sasuke.... He’s a Better Shinobi than me...”
Isn’t this what Tobirama said about Uchiha Clan with an indifferent tone in the above panel??? Hashi is praising Itachi for saving the Village here... So, Can we take Hashirama was also gleefully happy to see Uchiha self-destructed themselves, according to the Racist logic????
Added to that....
“I still believe... that protecting the village is the best way to protect people, Shinobi and Children...!”
Again, isn’t this what Tobirama talked about earlier that Village is the Important thing...????
In all the above instances, Be it when he said, “A Clan possessed by Evil” or “Hatred is the Source of Sharingan” or “Village is important”, Every fact was accepted by Hashirama himself... It’s just that he was too enamoured with the Uchiha Clan by pulling the punches knowing full well about everything but doesn’t want to talk about it straight forwardly....
Am not saying Hashirama was wrong... It’s just that he was being extremely Idealistic by believing Everything will be alright... Whereas Tobirama was addressing the real issues of Uchiha Clan by being Practical....
Hashi was being Soft Spoken and Tobirama was being Blunt...
Hashi says ‘This is not Good’ while Tobi says ‘This is bad’.... This is their Brotherly Dynamics....
But people think Hashirama was calling out his brother for being a ‘Racist’ or ‘Bigot’ (a translation error)... While not realizing, Hashirama also agrees with him about everything...
Which is backed up by this Panel...
“My brother was too soft.... And Madara was too Dangerous.... My Role as Second Hokage was to mediate between them while protecting and reinforcing the Village”
Tobirama said, “An Uchiha, eh? No wonder you are with the enemy...”
Well, It’s that same person who said this following as well....
“Your Brother wasn’t the only one... One of my subordinates was Uchiha Kagami, A man a lot like your brother...”
He calls A spade A spade... Give compliments where it’s necessary... If he was a racist, he shouldn’t have said this at all...
Which even surprised Sasuke to the point of asking, “I thought you hated the Uchiha?”
And he clearly gives his reason here in this panel.... “That’s not true... I simply treated every clan who would pose danger to the Village with extreme caution... Uchiha Clan just happened to be particularly disposed to be considered such... But it’s also true that they could feel such deep love.... Just like your Brother and Kagami who transcended the Framework of Clan and devoted themselves to the village...”
He is calling Naruto & his Brother as a Fool...
At the same time he is praising Naruto as a person who gives Hope just like his Brother...
He called Minato as this comedian...
At the same time, He praised Minato as the one who saved the Shinobi World...
He called Uchiha Clan as A Clan Possessed by Evil.... At the same time he also called them as The Most Lovable clan....
But somehow, Pointing out Uchiha Clan’s instability is called as Racism, huh??? I feel this is super-hypocritic...
Still.... If all these explanation doesn’t help... I just want an answer to these following panels....
Which racist would want to make Peace Agreement with the enemy...????
This scene happens right after their brother Kawarama’s death who was killed by the Uchihas. Instead of getting angry at the Uchiha clan, he is speaking rationally without getting into emotional rage of going for Revenge...
If he were a racist, shouldn’t he be pushing towards the Revenge by making an Hate Speech against them??? Am not saying anyone who pursue Revenge are racists... What I am trying to say is that If a child, even after suffering a loss could able to think rationally and find a solution about how to stop the problem.... Then that person could no way be a Racist...
Which racist would put his Young Team Members’ lives first, which also includes an Uchiha and makes himself to become a sacrificial piece???
This is a flashback of Team Tobirama where their deadly situation forces someone to act as a decoy... The Person the Bottom left is Kagami Uchiha...
Uchiha Kagami was also a member of his Team.... If he was a Racist, shouldn’t he send Kagami as a decoy??? Or Why would he keep an Uchiha in his own team, in the first place???
Also, if Kagami stepped into volunteer as a Decoy, he would’ve become an Hokage... But Hiruzen, A Sarutobi clan member volunteered for it and he became the Third Hokage...
Racists are people who think their Race are the Best.... Why didn’t Tobirama didn’t have any Senju Clan member in his Team, I wonder????
Which racist would try to ask Madara to not kill Sasuke, an Uchiha?
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Which racist would try to Yell at Madara for killing Sasuke, an Uchiha?
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Which racist would want to desperately save Sasuke, an Uchiha with his own forbidden Jutsu?
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Which racist would advise Kabuto on how to save Sasuke, an Uchiha?
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Which racist would help Sasuke to Teleport to wherever he want to???
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Which racist would be glad to leave the Shinobi world in the hands of the Young Generation (Naruto and Sasuke who is also an Uchiha)???
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I don’t know, Man.... Why is he desperate to save Sasuke at all costs??? Like he doesn’t owe him anything... He won’t gain anything either... Shouldn’t a racist supposed to leave him to die????
And to further prove this....
Madara’s perception about Uchiha’s Eye Power & Abusing another person (Sasuke) from his own clan
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Madara claiming Hatred is the only thing that can be passed down...
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Itachi claiming his clan as Pathetic
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Obito (As Fake Madara) claiming that the Uchiha Clan is doomed to eternally seek Revenge...
“The Uchiha Clan is cursed to Eternally seek revenge... Sasuke has taken the full burden of our clan’s hatred... And intends to afflict the Entire world with it’s curse...”
Am Sorry, This Curse of Hatred information was passed down through that Uchiha Stone Tablet.... And only very few Uchiha members knew about this.... Namely, Obito and Madara.... Because only people with Mangekyo Sharingan can read a part of the Tablet.... It’s not something Tobirama invented and spread it as rumour... This bad information was started by Tumblr Uchiha Apologists...
But I never seen any Apologists blaming neither Obito nor Madara for this Curse of Hatred thing...
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Rikkudou Sennin claiming he expected someone would abuse the Power of Rinnegan... From Indra’s descendants... That is the Uchiha Clan...
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Whereas Tobirama was the only person to say
Madara, Obito and including Rikkudou Sennin, judges Uchiha Clan as this Power hungry, Hate filled and Revenge seeking people.... Whereas he was the only person to say, “No other clan treasured Love as much as Uchiha...”
I don’t know... I see him as a Pro-Uchiha Figure here....
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To conclude this,
Tobirama is a rational and practical person who speaks in a cutting and blunt manner without any bias towards anyone. Be it the ‘God of Shinobi’ Hashirama or Naruto or Minato.... He called them Dumb and at the same time he won’t hesitate to praise them as well...
He uses the same approach with the Uchiha Clan as well.... He called them out as a Clan possessed by Evil and at the same time he called them as the most Love filled Clan....
He hated Madara but also loved his Team member Kagami and praised Itachi, desperately tried to save Sasuke multiple times....
When everyone was deeming and judging Uchiha Clan as a Hatred, Revenge and Power Hungry people (Canonically it’s proven true as well... So, it’s not entirely wrong to call them as such.... Madara and Obito and Sasuke were the great example of it....) but Tobirama was the only one to dig deep behind their problem and found the real solution behind their instability and deemed them that they are capable of Loving so much and that their Hatred comes from their deep Love.... (This was also canonically proven true.... But no one knows this side of Uchiha Clan.... Not even their own clan members... Sasuke deeply loved Itachi & Naruto, Obito loved Rin, Madara loved Hashirama).
Somehow, he became a Racist because of what??? He spoke the truth???
Yes, Hashirama was seen reprimanding his Brother when someone is accusing him... But at the end of the day, he agrees with Tobirama completely. Hashirama is just soft-spoken whereas Tobirama was blunt. But Fandom taking Hashirama’s criticism as the One Single Truth screams Lack of Visual and Reading Comprehension.
And While he was a cautious man when it comes to protecting the Village, he was also the most trusting person by giving a Powerful position to the Uchiha Clan, invented Edo Tensei that would protect the Village.... But somehow Orochimaru misused this Jutsu on his whim and Uchiha Clan misused the Police Force power that was given to them.... And Blaming him back for everything???? Seriously???
And, Yes, Again for the Nth time I am saying that, It was Danzo who ostracized the Uchiha Clan and Hiruzen didn’t make it in time even though he was against it. And this is the Fact he himself agrees in this panel....
“I could not maintain Lord Second’s village building well...”
So, Whatever Orochimaru and Obito talked about the Military Police Force should be taken with a grain of salt because they both never knew about what happened in that Era, they were just speculating, their claims have no further consolidated panel proof and both of their claims contradicts each other.... And also believing their words defeats the purpose of the Entire Arc... Since Hokages words were the Final One True Source....
If he were any kind of a Racist be it closeted or open, why didn’t he massacre the Uchiha Clan right after he became the Hokage???
Why did he have to research about the clan he sincerely hates???
And I am Sorry.... None of the claims from this Fandom about Tobirama being Racist or Marginalized or Hated Uchihas makes sense.... Especially there is no panel evidence or subtexts which proves their claim as right.... He hated Madara for sure and for a very good reason... But not the Uchihas as a whole....
I’ve brought in All the panels related to this character and presented my insights in this post. And I never thought he was a Racist. It’s only after I ventured into the fandom, I realized the existence of these claims. I went through the Manga again to verify if these claims were true in the hopes that I might have missed something but all I found was nothing
But I’ll let the readers judge whether he is one or not.
What is your opinion about Konoha being a fascist government and the Will of Fire being a fascist propaganda?
Usually Uchiha apologists comes up with this claim and are salty about Sasuke finally sucking up to Konoha.
It's hilariously ignorant of them and their claims are blatantly untrue. I've seen some of these people's 'arguments' and it all boils down to "Konoha authoritarianism so fascist! Please clap! Me intelligent!"
Fascism is equally authoritarian as a monarchy, an oligarchy, or even a theocracy. Further proving that these pseudo-intellectuals don't know what it is when in their small brains "authoritarianism = facism".
The villages are all authoritarian dictatorships, to some extent. While fascism is a type of authoritarian dictatorship, it is classified by its anti intellectualism, cult like ruling caste, strict abhorrence of foreigners and anything deemed "unusual", and hyper religious zealots. While Oto and old Kiri/Mist could accurately be called fascist, Konoha hardly qualifies as one.
Even with Kishimoto's sketchy and vague world building of Naruto's politics, the facts are there: There are at least two councils in Konoha (Elders and Jounin committee) which can limit the Hokage and prevent him from being an absolute dictator, there is Daimyo/Feudal lord who seems to share the power and has some authority over the village. Foreigners aren't demonised. The cult dogma typical of fascist governments isn't there. Literally nothing is there to back Uchiha apologists' 'arguments'.
I've also seen how Will of Fire is supposedly the aforementioned missing cult dogma...and excuse me, what?! Cult dogma consists of rejecting reality because you don't like the implications (what actual states use to brainwash the population), Will of Fire is literally the generic Shounen shtick about compassion and power of friendship and all that jazz. It's quite simply about being a good person. Plus, Danzo doesn't even believe in Will of Fire and he's supposed to be the super 'fascist' in this scenario.
Moreover, Naruto's world is clearly a Feudal Japan copycat. Are these silly Uchiha apologists gonna go back and call all the old civilisation fascist states?! They might as well be doing that since they clearly have no idea what fascism means.
The fact this is coming from Uchiha apologists who literally support Uchiha's coup (AKA subjugating everyone else) is highly ironic. It's quite more likely that Uchiha would have made a fascist state out of Konoha had their coup been a success.
Plus, the one of the actual facism governments in Naruto's world is Bloody Mist. Aaand it was helped established by two Uchiha over the decades (Madara and Obito).
I have to say the fact there are some people who throw words like "facism" so casually is disheartening, much less for a generic shounen whose author was so distressed and pressurised, he flat out admits he barely thought his plot through or planned anything ahead. And being so casual with facism makes the word lose its weight and is, quite frankly, offensive and insensitive toward real-life victims of facism.
I'm not saying to not analyse your favourite media. Overanalyse it for all I care but you can always be intelligent and sensitive about it instead of pulling bs out of your behinds. Use canon not your bad fanfiction.
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As for Sasuke, I don't see him as a state bootlicker. He was an international criminal, got pardoned and now goes where he wants in a world that pardoned criminals are under massive surveillance and scrutiny and Shinobi have to be in their villages as much as possible. I never saw Sasuke's loyalty toward Konoha but rather toward people he cares about, namely Naruto. This is my take on Sasuke's character.
Thanks for the ask.
Hot take: the real reason the 3rd hokage teamed up Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi is so Sasuke would master his sharingan and take control of Kurama.
There was never any expectation for Naruto to control the nine tails chakra, or they would have spent some time training or preparing him before Naruto (by sheer coincidence and through his own insistance, cause his teacher was prioritizing Sasuke) stumbled onto Jiraiya.
- Naruto only finding out he's a Jinchuriki by complete accident, cause the Hokage forbade anyone to tell him
- Naruto finding out in a totally unforseen event by his father that Kurama being placed in him was supposed to make him a hero, and not as a curse or punishment like he was always lead to believe
Naruto was only ever meant to be the vessel. Should he lose the reigns on Kurama or not cooperate with the leaf, then Sasuke can just take over.
Kakashi was the only one who could teach Sasuke how to use the sharingan, which is why he was specifically assigned to this team.
Even hotter take: Itachi explicitly instructed Sasuke to kill his best friend in order to activate the mangekyou sharingan and face him. Which would have inevitably been one of Sasuke's teammates, as this boy was left with nothing else.
The third hokage (Danzo and the elders by proxy, cause the old man can't make a decision by himself clearly) definitely knows this. He definitely knows how the sharingan works and how it elevates through extreme emotion, more often by killing a loved one.
Naruto was set up like a pig for slaughter. If it wasn't for Sasuke himself refusing to follow in his brother's footsteps and removing himself from the influence of the leaf village, that would have been the path we ended up facing. If it wasn't for Jiraiya, Naruto would never have begun to access his or Kurama's chakra and just ended up swallowed up by it when he inevitably and unknowingly lost control like with Haku. If it wasn't for Tsunade banging on desks and vouching for Naruto, he would've been locked inside the leaf out of 'protection' from the Akatsuki. If it wasn't for Naruto proving his worth and proving himself indispensible it absolutely would've been Danzo taking over Sasuke's place in controling the nine-tails as soon as his eyes opened.