Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-12509038-20141124214040/@comment-26023629-20150125003406

I can explain in better detail why I don't like the idea of Sasuke having a personal connection to his family's killer. I was going to save this for later, once Kirin had laid out his perspectives on Sasuke, but I may not remember this by that time, so I'm going to just throw some of it out there.

I don't really view Itachi as being all that huge a problem in Sasuke's story; but I do feel that it makes Sasuke's story more about the Uchihas and his relationship with Itachi. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's bad that they developed those things about Sasuke's past, but by making Itachi this Darth Vader figure that tells Sasuke to fill himself with hate, the story distances Sasuke from the inherent problem that I feel he is supposed to represent.

Naruto is a story about war. It's about the hatred that senseless violence breeds, and the seemingly endless cycle of war and hate that follows. And, of course, it's about love, acceptance, and hard work overcoming that hatred. Because of that, I feel that Naruto is best when it presents war and the issues surrounding war in a true- to- life fashion (well, as true- to- life as you can be in a fantastical setting).

Having Sasuke possess a personal relationship with the person responsible for the deaths of his clan makes it feel like a soap opera, rather than a real tragedy. It's why Sasuke shouting "Brotheeeeeeeer!" in a fit of angst is so often the target of parody and satire about Naruto.

Further, after part II's revelation on Itachi's motivations Itachi becomes the sole guiding factor in everything Sasuke does after that. Yeah, he's pissed that Konoha killed his clan, but he's mostly pissed for what they did to Itachi.

Not to mention that the idea of the curse of hatred turns his whole family into a bunch of murderous cardboard cutouts and significantly lessens the tragedy. Even more so when they make the claim that Black Zetsu was manipulating them the whole time. Yeah, your family's dead Sasuke, but to be fair they were a bunch of a-holes who were gonna stage a coup.

I think the story really missed out on having a "revenge is empty" moment with Sasuke. Like, even after he killed the killers, he still felt unsatisfied and angry with something that he couldn't identify. They sorta had it, after Itachi dies, and then again after Danzo does, but it was more Obito's BS that they focused on at those points.

I just feel that Sasuke would be better characterized as the victim of random violence. That's how wars and long- standing feuds play out. It seems pointless and unmotivated, and you forget why you even hate each other, but you still can't throw off that hate. And in the end that makes the horrible things that happen all the more frustrating for it. Having Itachi ultimately prove to be almost saint- like in the story's later portrayals of him just confuses the issue even more and moves it further and further from the message it was clearly intended to send.

It would be much stronger, I feel, if the story created parallels between Sasuke and his clan's killer. Maybe we learn that this mystery killer's own hatred comes from the loss of their loved ones long ago. Setting Sasuke up to become what he most hated would be a perfect analogy for the cycle of hatred Naruto is so determined to bring down.

Again, I don't think it really is all that much of flaw compared to a lot of the other stuff in the story, I just think that Sasuke's character and his place in the story suffer due to the way the Itachi dynamic was written.

While I'm at it, may I just say: Black Zetsu being behind everything is possibly the worst thing in the entire story.

Scratch that. It just is the worst thing.