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Sasuke & Sakura: An Analysis

Chapter 21

Sasuke Chooses Revenge

Kakashi's talk with Sasuke forced him to an ultimatum: either choose his life as a Konoha shinobi or choose his life as an avenger, but he couldn't have both.

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When Sasuke thinks about whether to choose revenge or abandon revenge, there are only two things holding him back from revenge: Naruto and Sakura.

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When Sasuke deliberated what he should do, only three things were weighed on the scale of his decision: his desire for revenge (Itachi) on one side, and Naruto and Sakura on the other. I really don't know how Kishimoto could make it any clearer that Naruto and Sakura were the only two (not singular since they both appear in his thoughts) forces holding Sasuke back from revenge, since they were the only people he cared about in his life at that time. Kishimoto could have easily omitted Sakura from Sasuke's thoughts (and saved himself some drawing time, lol), but he didn't, because in Kishimoto's story, Sasuke cares about Sakura (and Naruto). They're shown to be the only people Sasuke cares about since they're the only ones who make his decision to leave Konoha difficult.

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Considering how anguished and conflicted Sasuke was, he clearly doesn't want to leave his teammates. Over their time spent on the same team together, Naruto and Sakura wormed their way into his heart and forever found a place there, even if Sasuke later tries to deny it. Sasuke is conflicted because he's scared to trade his purpose for happiness. His survivor's guilt is telling him that he doesn't deserve happiness but that he deserved to die with the rest of his clanmates. Now all he can do in their memory is kill their killer. Can he really be so selfish as to pursue happiness and leave his fallen clanmates forgotten, their killer free and unpunished? Sasuke would be allowing more people to be killed and to suffer the same cruel fate at Itachi's hands that Sasuke's kin had.

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Sasuke carefully weighed Sakura/Naruto vs. revenge, and his expression shows the decision was not an easy one. In fact it was a near impossible one. Ironic, since earlier Sasuke had confidently told Sakura that "not even she" could stop him from revenge. Yet here, faced with the choice of friends vs revenge, Sasuke isn't nearly so assured in his goal.

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