Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Sasuke
I have a goal, a dream, don't I? Then why does it seem that I'm running in circles, always coming back to the same point? My goal is to kill my brother; I know that and I keep moving towards it, but it seems like it's two steps forward, one step back. I want to kill my brother, and why? Not so he doesn't kill again, but for revenge for my family, which brings me back to the beginning, to the past. I'm stuck in the past and I don't know why, I move forward but keep coming back. I can't escape the past, it haunts me and I don't live, I exist, never able to move on. I live in the past, talk to the people that aren't here. I live for them, for no other reason. I live for the past, never changing. The past is carved in stone and cannot be changed, and that is my place. I will never have a place among the living, my only place is with the ghosts of the past that I cannot let go of. Once I have killed my brother, there is no place left for me to go, except the world of memories. I will never be free from the past, I live in the past, and when everything else is gone, I will still have the past. That is best. No one will ever leave me again.
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Sakura
Childish ideas, like marrying Sasuke, are left behind in the past. Dreams never work out, so why bother? Living in the here and now, forgetting about the past and ignoring the future, I can protect myself. I have no regrets, no real tie to the past; and I only had childish dreams that could never happen, I don't need the future. Sasuke left, I can't change it, I don't need him. If he shows up in the future, ok, but then the future will be the present and I can worry about it then. Tomorrow is just another day in my life. Tomorrow never comes, so why worry about it? There's no point in looking forward to it, I'm not always sure I'll live to see tomorrow, let alone achieve dreams. The present is best, the present is safest. The past doesn't haunt me, the future doesn't bother me, I'm content living the way I do. As a shinobi, it's easier not to make goals, they'll only get destroyed; nor focus on the past, it's too painful. At least that's my theory.
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Naruto
I have a dream, I have a goal, and I will achieve it. I have learned from the past, but I'm not obsessed like Sasuke. I don't hold a grudge against the villagers, but I no longer want their approval. At first, I wanted to become Hokage to prove to everyone that I'm not a monster, but now I feel different. I want to become Hokage to protect my precious people, to make a difference. I look forward to tomorrow, because every day is a different experience and is one step closer to my goal. I will never loose sight of my goal and I will see it through to the end, regardless of what anyone else says. I will keep fighting, for tomorrow and what will come. I know the sun will always rise, and that there is always tomorrow. There will always be tomorrow, until the end of time.
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Overview
Many shinobi live in the world of their memories, reliving painful battles or past mistakes make. Even those shinobi who have a goal, if it is based purely on an event in the past, if their goal doesn't evolve as they change, then no matter how into the future or the present they seem, they still live in the past refusing to let go. It's a sign of extreme grief, mourning or obsession.
Other shinobi chose to live only in the moment. Sometimes their dreams have been crushed and they're scared to have another goal, so that they protect themselves from disappointment there. But they know how to block out the past, how to take what they need from it and to put the rest in the backs of there minds. It's a coping mechanism.
However, it takes a very different shinobi to live for tomorrow. In the bleak world of being a shinobi, the murders and the deaths, having a goal and looking forward to tomorrow means that you have come to terms with your past, and that you're confident enough to plan for tomorrow. A shinobi like that can change the world.