This is a bit rambling...

So...  The latest chapter of Naruto.  I'm honestly not sure what to make of Sasuke anymore.  I originally started as a Sasuke fan, and I loved Sasuke/Sakura ship, but after Sasuke abandoned his village to seek out power I just couldn't help dislike him.  I don't outright hate him, but he's been such an asshole it's close.  Anyway, my point in posting is to discuss some thoughts on the recent developments with Sasuke, and what might come in the future for the series.

So... indulge me for a moment while I review everything that made me especially dislike him in Shippuden...

Naruto and Team Kakashi go in search of Sasuke and Orochimaru.  At this point in time they still have a legitimate concern that Orochimaru will take Sasuke's body over, and their extremely dangerous enemy will become a thousand times more powerful.  They also want to keep their dear friend and comrade from a fate they consider to be equal to death, similar to a friend stopping another friend from driving home drunk.  And Sasuke meets their concern with nothing but contempt.  He even actively tries to kill them.

Lets start with why Sasuke left in the first place.  The ultimate reason we all know, he wants to kill his bastard brother.  But he could have done that and still remained with Team 7.  Konoha ninja are as capable of killing as anyone else, and his brother being a wanted criminal, it's not like Konoha would hold him back from killing him.  His own team would probably have helped him, given the chance.  But Sai expresses Sasuke's true reason for leaving ~



Naruto changes people.  His love, friendship, optimism, and determination inspire others to be better people, gives them a reason to care again, gives them hope.  Sasuke knows this, his face above depicts a mixture of pain, sadness, loss, regret.  He knows that Naruto will help him remember how to live again, how to hope and love and care.  But Sasuke was scarred deeply by Itachi first, and I don't mean just his family's murder.  Itachi instilled in Sasuke the deep belief that only hatred can bring him enough power, and Sasuke ran rather than stay long enough for his scars to heal.

Naruto has the ability to wash away Sasuke's hatred, heal his broken soul, but he does not wish for it.  No one can change unless they want to.  To steal a quote from the Matrix "No one can see past a choice they don't understand."  Sasuke's choice is this - pursue vengeance, or rebuild his life.  Kakashi attempts to explain to him that vengeance will ultimately gain him nothing, but Sasuke cannot imagine a life without it.  He is so stuck in the past that he cannot understand what his future might hold if he left his vengeance behind.  The easier, safer path for Sasuke is to do what he's always done, seek vengeance.  After all, if he abandons every other thing he might have cared about, he doesn't risk losing it again.  It's a very weak, and ultimately cowardly, thing to do, but it's very human.

So, the first thing he does upon seeing Naruto again after three years - swing his blade to kill him.  Sasuke has given up all hope for the future, and "when you lose hope, you begin to lose everything."  His former teammates represent a threat to the blanket of vengeance-filled obsession he has wrapped around himself, because they are probably the only ones that can draw him out of it.



With all this in mind, something occurred to me when I read chapter 342.  Sasuke has finished putting together his new team, but it still nagged at me how stupid he was for abandoning Naruto and Sakura so long ago.  They've gained amazing power on their own, and they didn't have to betray or hate to do it.  Then it occurred to me, perhaps he wasn't abandoning them, but trying to protect them? 

As I said before, I think Naruto and Sakura would have gone with Sasuke without a second thought, if he'd asked them to help him gain his revenge.  But the consequences of them helping him might have been their deaths.  Sasuke has put together a new team of very deadly ninja, all of whom he has no particular attachment to.  His new team is essentially expendable, he can use them up entirely in his quest for vengeance, and never have to face losing someone precious to him in the process.  By leaving Naruto and Sakura behind, he's protecting himself, but perhaps he's also protecting them.  Maybe he doesn't even understand this is what he's doing, and that's why he fought to kill when they met again at Orochimaru's hideout. 

So to where is all this leading in the future?  My gut instinct, honed by many years of anime watching, says that Sasuke is redeemable, but his redemption will come with his death.  But he hasn't gone so far as to kill innocents, he actively refused to kill the soldiers of Orochimaru, and the inmates of Orochimaru's medical experimentation prison (how innocent they are is debatable, but anyway...) which opens up the possibility of his rebuilding his life. 

These are just me speculating out loud about Sasuke's ultimate end ~

*Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura fight Itachi, and Sasuke kills Itachi but dies protecting his friends (from anyone involved in the battle, not just Itachi, but Juugo or Suigetsu, or any member of Akatsuki as well)
*Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura fight and kill Itachi, and Sasuke, revenge accomplished and death avoided, agrees to return to Konoha with them.  I think any scenario involving Sasuke returning to Konoha will involve him giving up being a ninja entirely.  Running off with a known criminal who tried to destroy your village seems to me to be burning a few bridges...
*Naruto and Sakura kill Itachi before Sasuke gets the chance to.  Where that particular thread would go I have NO idea, but it would certainly illustrate all the painful futility of Sasuke's betrayal in search of power.

And that's it I guess, it feels great to get all my thoughts on Sasuke down.  I've been enjoying the latest chapters of Naruto, but I am disappointed/ annoyed with Naruto and Sakura for still wanting to go after Sasuke.  They're reason is still to rescue him, but now he's an adult, and not in danger of giving his body to a dangerous enemy of Konoha.  I guess I just feel like nowadays they need a more compelling reason to go after him than "we want to rescue you from yourself".

I wonder what it is that Karin did to Sasuke so long ago?  Can't wait for the next chapter :D

Thoughts?  Comments?