he doesn't look a thing like jesus
Damn it, Kishimoto has to insert just enough badass!Sakura to make me actually want to sit up and pay attention to the current story arc. Sadly, I am 99.9% certain that it's going to end in a cockblock, especially since Sai just told Jesus what Sakura's going to do. But seriously, Sakura haring off to go kill Sasuke on her own is my favorite, fucked up, twisted Sakura/Sasuke fate in that I think it's one of the most realistic ways to handle the pairing, and seeing it hit canon like that is great. I like that Kakashi knew it right off the bat, and I like Sai's guilt over causing Sakura to make this decision. It's all very enjoyable, but so delicate in the fact that Kishimoto seems to enjoy giving us these glimpses of what the female characters could be...and then shattering our dreams by giving us another cockblock or by letting them hit the dirt bigtime.
for christmas, santa, i want a sakura shining moment of awesome...
Meanwhile, I think I've pinpointed what it is about Naruto that really peeves me off, aside from the fact that he's shining Jesus. He doesn't actually have to make hard decisions or sacrifice much for his goals. Yes. Strangely, it's the same thing that turned me off on Aang. I'm not saying that the boy hasn't been through a hard time, but as far as life goals go, he practically glides through things. He learns with insane ease, and every time the ninja world shows him its dark, ugly underbelly, he doesn't get his hands dirty. He's Naruto. He makes it through with shining love and brotherhood. We've never doubted that he'll somehow make the ninja world happy and sunshiney somehow, because he's Jesus and all the people of the world love him for reasons that they themselves don't know. He's just that saintly.
And I suppose that's all well and good in it's own way, but forgive me if I would like just a little more conflict than that. I'd like to see him come to terms somehow that, hey, you're a killer for hire, your village kills people for money, and none of you are on moral high grounds. (At least let him face an opposing viewpoint that is equally valid and have him acknowledge it as equally valid. I mean, even with Nagato, he was still all: "No, you're wrong, I'm Jesus, here is the Way.") All of these problems most likely stem from that fact that it's aimed at a young audience. It's the Disney problem. We can't give the kids moral grey areas or ethical dilemmas, it'll make their heads explode.
But then again, Naruto has seemed more than willing to probe those grey ethics in the side characters. We see a world rife with bloodshed, and politics, and betrayal, and I think it's only natural for me to expect those elements to play a greater part in the narrative- but they don't. In a way, it's like we're supposed to think that all of those issues only happen to the bad guys. Or rather, it's the bad guys that let it get to them. Itachi was ordered by his village to murder his family, Sasuke was a victim of the massacre and eventually turned against the system that allowed it to happen, Pain, Konan, and Nagato were royally fucked over by Konoha, and Gaara was given a monster to live with and treated like a pariah. That's not even getting into Lee, Hinata, and Neji. Good god, it's a clusterfuck of issues. Still, we routinely see the Konoha-folk pull through and live life ISSUE FREE, while the shadowy bad guys are the ones who dwell on their misfortune. It almost smacks of victim-blaming and the idea that victims have no right to be resentful or angry- they should just get on with their lives.
Naruto is just the shining epitome of that, and it grinds on my nerves. Can we get some resentfulness out of this guy? Some justifiable anger? Can he get his hands dirty just once, please? All I'm saying is that the heroes need to take a turn being in the wrong- and when I say heroes, I mean Naruto.
And when I say that, I don't mean by having Sasuke kill off Sakura and then Naruto kills Sasuke in a fit of rage. Please no.