le rant
In re plot developments over the past month or three, to wit: Itachi.
Ok, fellow Naruto readers: this sort of thing is why I let the series lie for weeks on end. It's easier to get a plot twist like that down in one awkward gulp, rather than little weekly maybe-the-next-bite-won't-be-so-bad nibbles. Having read up to the latest chapter and considered very thoroughly the developments presented since Jiraya disappeared beneath the waves, I have come to the conclusion that Kishimoto is out of his mind.
Itachi is not a good guy. Whatever family angst you had as a child, you do not not traumatize your younger brother and DELIBERATELY set his deepest goal to be your violent destruction. You do not reinforce the message by periodically cornering him and whispering that you don't have enough hatred to stop me yet. You do not make suicide by sibling your ultimate goal -- or fratricide his. If you had to die to keep Teh Ultimate Secret safe, you would spirit your brother away without letting him know it was you, fake his death and your own to keep him off your trail and everyone else off his, hide him with allies where he could never be located, and find an unrelated ninja to do the dirty deed. As it stands now, Itachi's plan FAILED. He didn't destroy Madera; Sasuke learned what Itachi didn't want him to learn; and Konoha is now in danger again. And all because Itachi chose to "shield" his little brother by TORTURING him. And then we get a set of pretty Itachi smile-faces, full of regard and concern for the kid he was leaving behind? And it's supposed to be analagous to Iruka and Naruto, Gai and Lee, Chiyo and Sakura, Tsunade and Nakano, the Hokage and the whole darned village? An attitude of loving self-sacrifice for the good of the one he cares for? After Sasuke's ENTIRE LIFE?? I don't think so.
What disturbs me is that it seems like neither Sasuke or Itachi sees anything skewed in this picture. Itachi (like Snape, but with, dare I say, less premeditation) sacrificed his life to the deception that he hoped would give the people he cared about a chance, and died before his secret was revealed. But were we expected to believe that Snape loved those he left behind, or expected to be honored once the truth was known? No. That's right. My allegience to certain matter on potionssnitches notwithstanding. From a plain reading of the text, his sole loyalties were to the legacies of characters who were already dead. If Itachi went through that whole rigmarole to protect his brother, then his death was futile. Futile!! Did he really have that much faith in Amaratsu? If he thought a trick like that could destroy Madera, why didn't he do it long ago? He nearly fought Sasuke to a standstill; why couldn't they have teamed up and done the job? They could have, if Itachi hadn't been so keen on keeping a secret that had outlived its usefulness -- if he had whispered the truth in his brother's ear after attacking Naruto, instead of trapping him in sharingan paralysis. All right, so he had to drain Sasuke's power to draw Orochimaru's essence out of the curse seal; couldn't that have been done more easily with Sasuke's cooperation? What about, for example, unexpectedly turning Sasuke over to Team Seven, and if Sasuke tried to resist, the same thing would happen -- only fewer people might die? And if Itachi hadn't been so bent on self-destruction he might have thought of something else to do with himself after Madera was dead.
Bottom line: either (a) Madera was a liar and Itachi's tears were in Sasuke's imagination; or (b) Itachi really was stark raving INSANE. His master plan is a mess. It is not logical; it is not psychologically sound. I will take all this back if Kishimoto establishes that the plan really was badly made, borne of Itachi's own trauma during what he was forced to do, and that Itachi, in keeping to it, was blind in more ways than one. A crazy plan hatched by a man whose brain was a mess? That works. "I did it because I loved you and it really does make sense?" Not so much.
Speaking of epic battles: I'd have liked to see Sasuke confront Kakashi instead of Itachi. If I were Kakashi, and my pupil possessed fully activated sharingan, I would have spent the time researching all possible counter-techniques and training with Gai until they were perfected. People forget that Kakashi's a genius too. He's supposed to be able to keep up with the top dogs, even super-elite characters like the Uchihas. Etc.
And another question. How powerful is Madera exactly? Does he measure up to the Sannin? Because the Sannin were, like, totally ultimate before Sas-kay came along.
..I probably missed something. It can't be as ridiculous as all that. There must be something to do with all the history or politics that would make Itachi's Counterplot of D00m a sane thing to do. At the moment, though, I can't see it.
*goes back to Sherlock Holmes*
Ok, fellow Naruto readers: this sort of thing is why I let the series lie for weeks on end. It's easier to get a plot twist like that down in one awkward gulp, rather than little weekly maybe-the-next-bite-won't-be-so-bad nibbles. Having read up to the latest chapter and considered very thoroughly the developments presented since Jiraya disappeared beneath the waves, I have come to the conclusion that Kishimoto is out of his mind.
Itachi is not a good guy. Whatever family angst you had as a child, you do not not traumatize your younger brother and DELIBERATELY set his deepest goal to be your violent destruction. You do not reinforce the message by periodically cornering him and whispering that you don't have enough hatred to stop me yet. You do not make suicide by sibling your ultimate goal -- or fratricide his. If you had to die to keep Teh Ultimate Secret safe, you would spirit your brother away without letting him know it was you, fake his death and your own to keep him off your trail and everyone else off his, hide him with allies where he could never be located, and find an unrelated ninja to do the dirty deed. As it stands now, Itachi's plan FAILED. He didn't destroy Madera; Sasuke learned what Itachi didn't want him to learn; and Konoha is now in danger again. And all because Itachi chose to "shield" his little brother by TORTURING him. And then we get a set of pretty Itachi smile-faces, full of regard and concern for the kid he was leaving behind? And it's supposed to be analagous to Iruka and Naruto, Gai and Lee, Chiyo and Sakura, Tsunade and Nakano, the Hokage and the whole darned village? An attitude of loving self-sacrifice for the good of the one he cares for? After Sasuke's ENTIRE LIFE?? I don't think so.
What disturbs me is that it seems like neither Sasuke or Itachi sees anything skewed in this picture. Itachi (like Snape, but with, dare I say, less premeditation) sacrificed his life to the deception that he hoped would give the people he cared about a chance, and died before his secret was revealed. But were we expected to believe that Snape loved those he left behind, or expected to be honored once the truth was known? No. That's right. My allegience to certain matter on potionssnitches notwithstanding. From a plain reading of the text, his sole loyalties were to the legacies of characters who were already dead. If Itachi went through that whole rigmarole to protect his brother, then his death was futile. Futile!! Did he really have that much faith in Amaratsu? If he thought a trick like that could destroy Madera, why didn't he do it long ago? He nearly fought Sasuke to a standstill; why couldn't they have teamed up and done the job? They could have, if Itachi hadn't been so keen on keeping a secret that had outlived its usefulness -- if he had whispered the truth in his brother's ear after attacking Naruto, instead of trapping him in sharingan paralysis. All right, so he had to drain Sasuke's power to draw Orochimaru's essence out of the curse seal; couldn't that have been done more easily with Sasuke's cooperation? What about, for example, unexpectedly turning Sasuke over to Team Seven, and if Sasuke tried to resist, the same thing would happen -- only fewer people might die? And if Itachi hadn't been so bent on self-destruction he might have thought of something else to do with himself after Madera was dead.
Bottom line: either (a) Madera was a liar and Itachi's tears were in Sasuke's imagination; or (b) Itachi really was stark raving INSANE. His master plan is a mess. It is not logical; it is not psychologically sound. I will take all this back if Kishimoto establishes that the plan really was badly made, borne of Itachi's own trauma during what he was forced to do, and that Itachi, in keeping to it, was blind in more ways than one. A crazy plan hatched by a man whose brain was a mess? That works. "I did it because I loved you and it really does make sense?" Not so much.
Speaking of epic battles: I'd have liked to see Sasuke confront Kakashi instead of Itachi. If I were Kakashi, and my pupil possessed fully activated sharingan, I would have spent the time researching all possible counter-techniques and training with Gai until they were perfected. People forget that Kakashi's a genius too. He's supposed to be able to keep up with the top dogs, even super-elite characters like the Uchihas. Etc.
And another question. How powerful is Madera exactly? Does he measure up to the Sannin? Because the Sannin were, like, totally ultimate before Sas-kay came along.
..I probably missed something. It can't be as ridiculous as all that. There must be something to do with all the history or politics that would make Itachi's Counterplot of D00m a sane thing to do. At the moment, though, I can't see it.
*goes back to Sherlock Holmes*