As the title suggests I’m going to talk about Sasuke and why everything is broken because of that.
In the past I said that Sasuke was too bipolar and Kishimoto just loves him too much. But I have to admit I was wrong. I finally understood why Sasuke is written the way he is and why everything is broken.
You see the problem is Sasuke. Because after Itachi was dealt with and that part of the story ended, Sasuke didn’t have a reason to exist anymore. After Itachi died, Sasuke ceased to existing as an individual character, as a person in this fictional story. The only thing left was Naruto wanting to bring him back thus turning Sasuke into an object. At that point you can take a ball write Sasuke on it and it could easily replace the real Sasuke and have Naruto chase after that ball and it will have the exact same outcome. And that’s where the problem occurs. Kishimoto needed to find ways to integrate Sasuke in almost everything, even things that have nothing to do with him.
He is not bi-polar. The track and why Sasuke keeps shifting is explained and fairly straight forward. The problem has more to do with believability on all sorts of fronts and not on basic logic on how he goes from point A to point. We know how and we know why. It's just real hard to buy.
The problem is actually much simpler and it's goes far beyond Sasuke. The basic problem is that Kishimoto wants to have it both ways: He wants the dark/tragedy angle without damaging the purity of his message. Not an easy feat (not sure it's a possible one) and the consequence is that believability (on so many fronts and from so many characters) is taken behind the woodshed and gored with a dull axe for most of part 2.
Revenge is bad and it leads you to do bad things. See pretty much all of Sasuke in Part 2. It led him down a "dark path," but going down a "dark" path tends to result in people say bad things and doing bad deeds. Such things have consequences that complicate Kishimoto's core goal because people (audience and characters) have to accept and/or deal with the warts created by such actions. The worse the deeds the harder it is to believe that he'd would or even should be accepted back into the fold.
The primary solution to this problem is seen in Nagato and Obito. Have Naruto "reform" (without killing)them and then let die anyway, but not before a post hoc heroic deed to show that they are "reformed" and that Naruto was right all along. It's sucked the first time, but that it happens every time and is just an awful piece of writing.
It's a total dodge of the issues and complications. It also means Naruto never has to defend his decisions to those who'd have every right to object. He chose his path, but he's never made to answer for it.
Sasuke is pretty much in the same boat, but now rather then have him perform heroic deed and die "reformed" Kishimoto wants a live body that lives in Konoha again. Alright, so what is the solution? I think Kishimoto is totally aware that it's a non-starter with Obito and Nagato because of what they did. Even if execution is hard to forgo (real hard to believe anyway given the rules laid down earlier), I think Kishimoto doesn't think having them die in the slammer is meaningful redemption. At least it appears that way.
So, for Sasuke the solution is two-fold and explains his erratic characterization.
(1) He, for the most part, dances on the edge of darkness rather than going all in like Obito and Nagato. He says things like he wants to kill Naruto and destroy Konoha, but is redirected before he can do it because it would be a problem if he were to be accept back into a village he just razed. Who'd believe that? To the extent he is allowed to be "dark" he never does anything that cannot be undone. Hence, Karin lives and forgives him in less time than it takes to tie my shoes. It is why the only people who he may have (dunno if they died) killed are mooks and those he does kill are giant pieces of crap nobody is sad to see dead (deidara and Danzo). It's also why the K9 and company resistance to Naruto's quest is so pathetic.
(2) He is joining the fight against Madara before the redemption occurs. This will be his good deed (regardless of motivation).
The down side of this is evident: The erratic characterization problem is the small one. The bigger ones are the issue dodging, baffling characterizations (Karin especially), the fact that almost nobody is asking questions when they should, and the ones who do are easily pacified and offer no meaningful resistance (what is a counter argument again?), the fact that Naruto purses a contrarion view without having to defend squat, and finally, the total abdication and merciless destruction of personal accountability and responsibility.
It's real tough to believe. It's sad too because so much depth and development is ditched to avoid obvious complications.
Because if he doesn’t Sasuke stops existing as an individual character and all that’s left is for Naruto to bring back his pet.
You want proof of that? The biggest proof is the current war. Sasuke has absolutely nothing to do with the war. Yet Kishi was forced to find a way to shove Sasuke in it. Everything Kishimoto has done with Sasuke after Itachi’s death wasn’t planned at all. When it comes to Sasuke, Kishi is winging it.
For example if you go back and pay attention you’ll realize that Kishimoto wanted Naruto to be the reincarnation of the Rikudou Sennin or have the same ideals as the Rikudou. However if he would’ve done that, then Sasuke was going to be left out. And again Sasuke becomes an object.
Sasuke does have a reason. Even if get rid of "Hokage" there is no promise that Sasuke would be allowed to remain on top. He was never brought in on the true plan and if Madara succeeds, no one is spared. This is never stated though.
I want to imagine if Naruto became Hokage in chapter 300 and in chapter 301 he found the answer to bring peace in order forever. If that would’ve happened then Kishimoto would need to find different ways to keep Naruto relevant until the end of the story. And that’s exactly what happened to Sasuke his part of the story was over when Itachi disappeared. Then only thing left was for Naruto to bring back his lost pet.
I wish I remember who convinced me of this, but Naruto attachment is perfectly understandable in light of his past: he had such a tough time forging bonds that he holds tight to all, but this idea is never explored. It'd have been interesting, too bad.
That’s why Kishi gave us this nonsensical explanation that Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra and Naruto is the reincarnation of Ashura. In order to keep Sasuke as a character and not someone who can be easily replaced by an object. And to level the plain field, Naruto was 10 times more powerful than Sasuke.
That explanation is nonsense because it's totally contrived and takes away from the personal dimensions of the fight. It's meant to show just how monumental and long-standing the conflict is, but personal, specific reasons tend to be more moving than nods to "destiny" and "fate." It's so awful in part because it's so vague and so unnecessary. The Sage's very existence is unnecessary, but it should have stopped with him. We didn't need the info dump we got about him and Kaguya.
power-ups was needed in order to bring him to Naruto’s level. Ironically isn’t it? The guy that was said to be a genius and doesn’t need anyone to help him needs other people to help in order to be on equal ground as the guy who worked his ass off in order to get where he is.
So has Naruto. It was quiet the gem to get a lecture about hard work on Ashura right before handing him free power-ups. Bravo.
As for the Sharingan, it's been clear for some time it's triggers are pyschological. It's never been something portrayed as you simply train to get. Where it flew of track was constantly adding powers (Izangi, Izanami (which makes no sense), perfect Susanoo) and ones that are so out of whack with the powers most people posses. Oh, and the Rinnegan being the melding of the sons chakra...what the hell?
It was cool at the Amaterasu stage. In Part 2, it went to hell.
I am more bothered about so many free powers because he laid down most of the grounds rules about how ninja get their abilities in Part 1 only to take a massive dump on them in Part 2.
Sasuke is the reincarnation of Indra? Yeah right. Indra could do anything on his own; he didn’t need help in order to be become strong. Sasuke on the other hand needed Orochimaru’s help, Itachi’s help, Hashirama’s help, the Rikudou Sennin’s help and even Naruto’s help in order to get where he is now. Everyone gives Sasuke free power-ups.
I can already feel the hate from the Sasuke fanboys.
How is this less believable than Naruto's heritage? A loser? Sure thing, Kishi.
With Naruto, Kishi has been consistent while Sasuke is all over the place. Kishi needs to keep Sasuke relevant. However Kishi is struggling to fit Sasuke in situations where he just doesn’t belong. Like I said Sasuke’s character was over when Itachi died. Now I hate to say this but that part of the story should’ve been dragged out. And the reason I said I hate this is because I hate things that are dragged out in a story.
I used to think so, too. However, at this point, I think part of Sasuke journey is finding out what HE wants because so many people have spent so much time manipulating him and draggin him around. He bears responsibility for doing what he has done, but I'm not sure he has ever really thought for himself when it comes to what he wants out of this. So, I don't think it's all over the place, it's just plagued with holes and disbelief all over the place.
Now here is the real problem what Kishimoto is forced to do with Sasuke also affects everything as well. This is why we have the retcons, the inconsistencies, the asspulls, the overly exaggerated brotherly bond, characters not getting proper development and on and on. These are the prices to pay to keep Sasuke relevant. Everything that’s wrong with this story is because of Sasuke.
Now there are two possibilities why he’s doing this either Kishimoto really loves Sasuke or someone higher than him told him to keep Sasuke relevant because his fans love him. I’m pretty confident it’s the latter because if Kishimoto really loved Sasuke then he would’ve given him proper development.
Remember free power-ups doesn’t mean development.
I don't think he was forced to this by his story. He was forced to do this because because he wants to have his cake and eat it, too.
Correct me if I'm wrong but this is the first time Naruto received a free power-up. So far we saw Naruto training for the things he got. Rasengan, Sage mode, even the Kyuubi a power-up that was technically handed to him.
