BukkakeNoJutsu

Thanks!

I wasn't aiming for Sasuke-bashing in this story. At its core, I was aiming for another Naruto-centric character piece, and not really centered about the conflict building up at the end. It's about Naruto putting away childhood things and learning what it truly means to be a Hokage, tragedies and all, but without losing all the things that make him likable as a character.

As for Naruto's lack of emotion towards Sasuke the way I see it, Naruto is pretty numb and emotionally taxed at this point. On account of the rescue effort, he has days or even weeks worth of memories of pulling dead and dying civilians up from the wreckage of Konoha. That means men, women, and even children.

He's essentially suffering from something like a case of caregiver burnout, maybe even ptsd. He's handled hundreds of dead bodies at this point.

Naruto's damning himself for not being fast enough to prevent Pein's attack, and cursing the Akatsuki for targeting Konoha itself and not him.

Who is Naruto going to identify with more at this point? The innocent civilians losing their lives as collateral damage or a former friend-turned-village traitor who's had multiple chances to redeem himself and is now threatening wholesale slaughter?

Another factor is his usage of Sage Mode during the fight, Naruto is fighting with an expanded consciousness that allows him to put things in a unique perspective.

I also wanted to suggest that by his ruthless actions during the confrontation with Team Hawk, Naruto, because of the trauma, comes awfully close to becoming the perfect unfeeling weapon that Danzo envisioned, only to forever cast this role aside by sparing Karin's life.

Anyway, that's how I see things, and what I was hoping to convey. Whether or not I was successful in doing so is another story.

Ouch, can't win 'em all, I guess.

I appreciate everyone's honest imput though.

Thanks!

The timeline is a never explicitly stated, but this takes place post-time skip (during Naruto's Rasengan training) with Naruto reminiscing about different parts of his life outside of strict chronological order.

That's why we get bits of his early civilian life, his rookie genin career, and his current state now.

I hope it makes more sense now.