Naruto Character Analysis - Tumblr Posts

Sakura's love Interests

Let's get something straight. Lee and Naruto are not better options for Sakura. This isn't a story about good average joes vs the hot bad boy meanie. Firstly because Lee and Naruto are "nice guys". Not good guys at the start. They both treat Sakura as a love interest to win. They used flattery and coddled her. Lee didn't try to get to know her, he just liked her looks and put her on a pedestal. Naruto put her on a pedestal, and yet wasn't above manipulating her by pretending to be Sasuke. They weren't good guys, they were "nice guys". But because every expected that to be the story, everyone projects onto them as being the good underdogs competing against Sasuke the privileged stuck up jock. Because people had already decided who the characters were, and what the story was going to be about before the story even happened based on their own stereotypes. People "saw" it because that's what they expected to see. And this is literally one of the main themes the show is tackling: Misunderstandings between people based on their illusions vs actual an understanding based on empathy and connection. Naruto and Lee are not good love interests for Sakura. They have good qualities, yes, but to borrow a phrase, "The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters." And this is especially true in the message of Naruto, where even the most evil and narcissistic characters like Danzo are still acknowledged as human. And even heroic characters like Lee and Naruto have flaws and both needed to mature and grow before they were ready for a relationship.

In reality Sasuke isn't, as Lee and Naruto see him, a stuck up privileged jock. He's got talent and good looks, and he is blessed with a kekkei genkai. All true. But he's also an orphan, and alone, who lost all of his relationships very suddenly, and learned that no one can be trusted, and is trying to single handedly restore his clan's honor, and knows his psychotic brother will come back to kill him at some unknown point, and is in general, just dealing with a lot of his own crap. And on top of all this, Sasuke also secretly supports Naruto and cares about him, even if Naruto treats him like crap. Sasuke's life is terrible. His life is so terrible Sasuke would literally choose to die rather than watch Naruto die... and it's not even a question he has to think about.

Sakura is literally the only person who cares about Sasuke as a human being first, not just because he is a good fighter. And from Sasuke's side, unlike Lee and Naruto, Sasuke didn't try to coddle Sakura or manipulate her. He treated her as a person and as a ninja, and he pushed her to be better. He called her out on her privilege of having parents and judgemental attitude of Naruto. He told her she needed to focus more on training. He also did notice her skills and abilities and complimented her on them. And he quickly comes to care about her. And he also would've died to protect her, as he did for Naruto. Sasuke did NOT have platonic feelings for her. He liked her-- but how could he act on his feelings when every time he turned around a new psychopath was trying to kill him? And putting everyone around him in danger? Itachi and Orochimaru and Gaara, and the sound ninjas and Kabuto… Sasuke told her when he left that he did imagine having that life with her, but he couldn't have it. Caring about her meant Sasuke could NOT start a relationship with her because Sasuke is a good person.

But it took Sasuke having a psychotic break and leaving all the best things in his life behind to go to Orochimaru for Naruto to start to realize, "Oh hey, maybe Sasuke has problems too. Maybe he doesn't just exist to be a receptacle for my projections of my fears and insecurities. Maybe he doesn't exist just to be the rival character in MY story. Maybe he has a life and problems of his own. Maybe it was actually just my fear of rejection that led me to create this narrative in my head because it was safer to view Sasuke as an enemy than to try to be friends......" Hmmm.

The fact that people think that the real reason Sasuke "won" Sakura is because of Sasuke's looks means they missed the whole point of the story. Naruto and Lee aren't better love interest because they're unattractive. They don't have to be attractive, they just failed in their own ways. And Sasuke isn't evil just because they are intimidated by him. Naruto and Lee, like many readers, are actually the ones who judged Sasuke without even knowing him. Ironically they're guilty of doing the very things that accuse Sasuke of doing. That's projection. And Sasuke was designed to be a character that others would project on.