Naruto: Romance, Politics, and the Uchiha Problem - Chapter 54 - Daastan_Go (2024)

This, naturally, produced very interesting results as the village is shown to not only restrict Sasuke physically (as in, he must stay within rigid boundaries as Leaf’s shinobi, do what the law decrees) but also thematically and intellectually (perspective, talent, and progress in regard to ideology, jutsu learning and creation, and improvement). If you look at academics, provided that you can even call it that, then the only jutsu Sasuke learned from Kakashi was Chidori. That’s it. And the reason Kakashi even managed to impart the jutsu to him so quickly (less than a week, which included mastering Lee’s weightless speed; during the rest of the month, he was in a coma) is that Sasuke’s so f*cking prodigious, a fact repeated by Gai, Lee, and Jiraiya: the former stated that, even with the Sharingan, what Sasuke accomplished was impossible; Lee was completely envious as, in just a week, Sasuke surpassed years of his hardwork (not my words); and Jiraiya told Orochimaru when he mocked him that Naruto was a dunce that reminded him of himself, he responded that students like Sasuke were boring, because their intelligence allowed for very little input.I can go on, but you get the gist of it.

So is it that Kakashi’s accomplishment or is it that Sasuke’s so brilliant? All evidence steers to the latter as it’s stated over and over again by many characters, even Kakashi, that Sasuke’s just an absurdly fast learner; furthermore, beyond offering a seemingly “safe environment”, which hinged on absolute obedience on Sasuke’s part, what else did Kakashi offer? Did he stimulate him intellectually, broaden the horizon of his outlook? Expanded his perspective on the dynamics between Leaf and others, including the receivers of their violence? Did he teach him to improve any jutsus? I’m not sure what people keep reading as Kakashi’s handling of Sasuke is obscenely dull; and here in lies the actual distinction between Kakashi and Obito: what would someone with a tunnel vision in regard to Leaf and all that surrounds it, military status-quo, basically, would ever teach a child whose talents require a free hand?

And, you see, that’s this fandom’s problem when it talks about the pitfalls of “tunnel vision” when it comes to Sasuke’s revenge, when it’s anything but that. Sasuke’s perspective during his days with Kakashi is so tiny regarding the ideas of shinobi, villages, and jutsus and what have you when it comes to the gift that’s the military industrial complex, a gift that keeps on giving, that it takes his rebellion from Leaf to even transform him into hebi (snake). He wasn’t even that before; it was, almost literally (due to CS2 and absorption of Orochimaru) and figuratively, his transformation into snake that granted him the ability to slither away, break free from Kakashi and cell 7 and all that Leaf represents, that allowed him the ability to grow as a Shinobi. As a person. He created several jutsus, developed a very rebellious streak, and rejected his association with everything Kakashi stood for, obedience before status quo, a policy he religiously and laughably stood by even after the humiliation his father was put through, one that drove him to taking his own life.

What would you call that if not an absurd tunnel vision that deeply breaches the domain of self-parody? That no matter what happens, who dies, what you come across, your belief in the military “cause” remains unshaken? (His father’s suicide; Obito’s death in war; and the revelation of Uchiha massacre—none made Kakashi falter from his military course; it’s very comical, because he didn’t even mull over any of that for one pain-staking moment.) Nothing deterred Kakashi. This isn't standing steadfast in the face of hardships, which his preachy fandom keeps telling us all; it's standing completely still as the world passes you by, people, too. That is what a tunnel vision is, and that is what he wanted for Sasuke, a domestication of the youth for the express purpose of making him fit his own mould. (I’m using this word a bit loosely as Sasuke’s too young to be referred to as youth at the manga’s start.)

He wanted to transform him into a sheltered shinobi like Sakura, like Naruto who only wanted the public's opinion to change in his favor. These were admirable goals in Kakashi’s eyes. Pursuits he could understand, stand behind. Assimilation, integration, and progression in the domain of status-quo. Again, obscene tunnel-vision, one which Sasuke is relentlessly accused of, when Kakashi has no worth beyond being the purveyor of “shinobi values”, superior ones in case of the Will of Fire; and I say that with as much mockery I can muster. This whole idea, the very foundation of it, is that kitsch, completely tacky as there’s nothing novel about it. It’s cheap. Exceptionally cheap. Sure, it serves its purpose, keeps shinobi in line for ranks and goodies, but it doesn’t allow for any wriggle room within the military's framework to be anything other than grunt yes-men! Heck, any of its facets. What’s there to like about this? It’s like a low-cost sales-pitch that he keeps selling behind the visage of “tortured man”. A "literary quirk", a complete cliché, that's bought very religious by his brigade. A time comes when it simply transforms into parody as it’s got nowhere else to proceed but a dead-end—philosophical or otherwise.(For all the venom people hurl at the "elites play us for fools and take our autonomy away, because we're a slave to their empire" idea, their romanticization, glorification, and pedestrianization of this tepid "trauma p*rnography" of characters like Kakashi proves that they just wish to become the elites and not be at the receiving end of their constraints, because it isn't the constraints that bother them; it's that they themselves exist in them; if it's someone else, it's of little concern to them; and boy is Kakashi the best case-in-point of this curious phenomenon.)

The manga, too, remained at standstill, like some bargain between the dullard sales manager that wouldn't go away no matter how many times you shoo him and the naïve buyer that didn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t until sasuke's rejection of this domestication that the narrative found shape, some course to proceed onwards and forwards, a sure antagonism that arose from this rejection. First it was the snake. Yes, it slithered and had a limited perspective (it comes with the territory), but it had the freedom to go about, discover, learn more than the tight boundaries Kakashi and his Leaf denizens could ever allow. Yes, the discovery of freedom was fraught with dangers, but it allowed the expansion of Sasuke’s boundaries, one which only Obito took to its zenith. It was through Obito that Sasuke turned from Hebi to Taka (hawk); and immediately, an immense expansion of his vision occurred. Well, the hawk is a bird, so that’s a natural conclusion to reach; however, Obito completely took away any fetters attached to Sasuke. He had just one rule: as long as Sasuke did not betray a borderless, free, and spirited organization like Akatsuki, he could do whatever he wished. Granted, Obito’s goal was to attach Sasuke to the Mazo and bring about a dreamworld, but even in that regard, every man would have the ability to choose his own dreams. Very literally.So what was it that Kakashi was selling that anyone would buy? There's no temptation there. (At least, Obito had that angle, which swayed Sasuke quickly.) It's routine, a familiar world that he sells. Not everyone's obliged to buy it, and that makes him...curiously feeble. Even intellectually. It's like a brand, a known one; you know what you're going to get.

Obito, on the other hand, opened the door for Sasuke to question, learn, rebel fully. Perks that were altogether absent in Kakashi’s world. These are the sacrileges that aren't allowed to any Shinobi, and fools like Kakashi make sure that it stays that way. Obito did as freedom just isn’t physical; it’s also intellectual, spiritual, ideological. It sounds simple because it is. That’s all what freedom is, an ability to choose. It’s through him that Sasuke formed his own ideology: shinobi were bad business, and the only way to be free, to reform, and begin anew as people was neither in illusion nor in village’s absolution, but it was without either one. Boldly, Sasuke even formed his own ethical framework. You may not agree with it, but it's his, separate from the "kill the village's targets and make bank" ones that he was asked to espouse. His "shinobi code" is the euphemism for his agency. How many are allowed that? Yes, Obito never intended for Sasuke to run that far, but he did plant the seed in Sasuke to question—well, everything! “Things are not what they seem” is how Obito won Sasuke over during the heart to heart between them on the Uchiha Massacre. That, surely, wasn’t going to stop there, now, was it? You plant one idea in someone’s head, especially a child's and children are like sponges, and it’s bound to flourish later; and that’s exactly what happened as Sasuke first questioned everything regarding Itachi and the messy Uchiha business and then he questioned Obito and left him behind. You can’t call this tunnel vision, can you? You can’t be that thick!

Did Leaf ever allow that? No village offered even the illusion of free-will like IT. Like Obito did. With Obito, Sasuke was allowed a free-will, an agency to expand his horizons. You can disagree with their decisions, and that’s another topic altogether; but you can’t deny that Obito, when he took Sasuke from Kakashi and Leaf (Itachi, its extension) and from Orochimaru, he gave Sasuke the freedom to chart his own course; and, naturally, as a child he blundered in places as many would—adults would falter more, believe it or not, as nothing is more obscene than a self-assured adult that can only be seen in the likes of Kakashi; but you can’t deny that, for the first time in his life, he could do as he wished. Attack whom he wished. Direct his anger at whom he wished. Discard whom he wished. Without any censure. Expectations. Punishments. What more can a child ask for? What more can anyone ask for? Obito took off the tight hold on Sasuke and allowed him to let loose; yes, he made sure that he wouldn’t go too far in a way that’d injure his life, render him incapacitated for his Grand IT Plan; but Sasuke was…without boundaries and expectations that surrounded a deeply constrained system that’s, for the lack of the better word, the ugliest version of patriarchy.