Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26006790-20140725193452/@comment-28861328-20140726065147

Eric Burrell wrote: Anyone is foolish to believe that they can withstand the trauma of losing someone back to back to back to back.. not done yet. To back to back, I still shouldn't be done yet because Sasuke lost a lot of people in one night. It's one way to lose a loved one to natural causes or even a accident. But to have that person murdered, by your role model and beloved brother.. well jeez. But I'm sure there are people who can withstand that. And if you didn't notice I was being sarcastic on the previous line. Again, I apologize if I come off as a jerk. If I cross the line, just let me know.

There are people who can and have withstood that without becoming what Sasuke is. And it is fans who use this argument who make people hate Sasuke even more. There is absolutely zero justification for what he did. I don't give a damn if the entire village was wiped out before his eyes. He had a choice. The same choice that Naruto acknowledged was set before him.

Do I take what has happened to me and fight to keep it from happening to others? Or do I, instead, take vengeance on the world around me for the pain it caused me?

Naruto acknowledged that their roles could have very easily been reversed. But what makes them different? Naruto decided to take the tragedy of growing up alone and reviled by the village and make the village acknowledge him. At first, he did this by pulling pranks, but later decided that he'd make them see him by becoming their hero.

Sasuke had the same choice put in front of him. Its not like he was rejected by the village. He was surrounded by people who adored him, loved him, and would've done anything for him. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura namely. But there were others. He could've grown up in the village and taken out Itachi (per Itachi's dying wish to be judged by a fellow Uchiha) as a hero of the Leaf. But was that enough for Sasuke?

No.

He was consumed by lust. A lust for power. Orochimaru saw this and preyed on him for it and Sasuke fell right into that trap. Yes, at first he didn't kill innocents, but by the time of the Kage Summit even Suigetsu noted that he was killing people who didn't have a chance against him. People who wouldn't have been able to get in his way, much less actually stop him. Sasuke did tell Naruto he would kill every last man, woman, and child in Konoha, along with elders and anyone else, because he found their happiness to be revolting in light of the fact that Itachi was dead, despite having acknowledged to Obito (then Tobi) that Itachi would've never wanted him to do such a thing.

He then tried twice to murder Sakura, killed a head of state (Danzo), attempted to kill his mentor, and not only attempted to kill Naruto, but told him that he would eventually find a way to kill Naruto anyways. His reason for getting Itachi's eyes for his EMS were to "crush everything that Naruto is", in Sasuke's own words. Nearly killing a hostage in Karin? Him too, so you can add that to his list of douchebag moves. By the time he headed out for the battlefield, before meeting Itachi again, he was actually smiling at the thought of killing Naruto (did so after he killed all of the White Zetsu).

So forgive me if I'm not so easy to excuse Sasuke. Kakashi also had a bad life and look what became of him. Naruto is a good example too. Everyone has choices in life. No matter how bad your life is, you still have the choice to be a better person for it. Sasuke made his choice, which is why I have a low tolerance for people who try to use the stupid, bleeding heart shit, "Put yourself in his shoes!" argument. In his shoes, I would've chosen to help orphaned children whom are also suffering from having lost their families in the shinobi wars. I would've wanted to protect my village, where my friends, who cared for me, called home. I'd want to show my family's murderer (in Sasuke's case, he didn't know Itachi's intentions, but even more the reason) that I wasn't going to do what he wanted me to do.

That's what I would've done.

Not run off and become a murdering psychopath. Don't come at me, or anyone else, with that lame argument again and instead try to explain why you are justifying (you say that you're not, but you absolutely are) Sasuke's murderous desires because he had an (agreeably) harsh childhood. There aren't words in the human vocabulary that can excuse him neither in the eyes of the law (even Naruto's world considers him a terrorist), the eyes of morality, and certainly not in the eyes of those of us who would've done differently because it would be the right thing to do.