Humble Shinobis: A diligent Hard-worker or a Hidden Genius

Part I

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Naruto's readers are always divided into two clear types: either they're diligent hard-workers or hidden geniuses who were promised a second-hand "win" in the manga, but Sasuke single-handedly robbed them of this delightful experience. There's no in-between. That's the primary reason why you'd see many suggesting (with complete seriousness) that canon began with . . . "hard-work beats/versus genius" trope. No, really. When did that actually happen? Nowhere. It's either that or if I begin to work hard, I'd be a genius; but I'm not, because I'm simply lazy. The "hidden potential" as many would call it. Heck, they use the exact same word in many a throwaway phrase for everything that they didn't like: wasted potential, throw-away potential, unrealised potential, etc., etc., etc. The list is too long, but it's very irritating how it's so intrinsically rooted in the concept of the Fandom's collective projection of their "potential" onto the characters and making something of it.

It's true that we're hard-wired to compare, and we, apparently, find failures more . . . uh, "relatable"? That's the primary reason why Sasuke's supposed "failures" are so delicious to watch: Lee beat him into the ground, an arrogant prodigy who had it all (never mind the context around it, but this Fandom was never known for its critical-thinking skills or thinking in general) but threw it away, unlike the poor, poor Lee who was dealt a "humble man" card (he looks kind of basic, too, so he isn't wetting any pussies anytime soon); so that sets the mind into action that if we work hard enough, we can beat geniuses, mind, beauty, and soul; and become Tik-Tok hotties just like that; and I so want to go into that "boot-straps" rant and how without altering the very landscape of the system, you can't accomplish a thing and clinging onto vicarious living is fucking preposterous as it gets you nowhere in life, but this isn't the time nor the place for that.

Now, this is a prime example of many not only not "getting" the series' primary message but also making stuff up along the way to show their disdain for a piece of writing purely for the reasons that it didn't go their way. The series' main theme, for the lack of a better word, revolves around bonds. That's it. That's the whole theme of Naruto. It's how that theme is portrayed that determines the other thematic forces. (The fractured relationship between Hagoromo and Indra in Sasuke's shape is the primary driver of all themes; all else branches out from it.) It's very easy to determine this when you look back at the manga from the revelation. Then it'd all make sense to you, especially as the climax to the entire build-up to the first Valley of the End (vote) battle is illustrated by Kakashi's statement on the literal and metaphorical schism between Madara and Hashirama. That's the point where Part I ends. Everything before it intimately concerns the facets of conflicts that go deeper than blood. That's the primary reason why "Kekkei-Genkai" is the primary instrument for this theme's realisation. Anyone who isn't located within the boundaries of this theme is automatically excluded from the narrative. I'm sorry Sakura, Lee, and some-other-minor-character-from-Naruto fan, but these characters were never going to grant you the closure in life that you demanded. I know it's tough to brace this frightening reality, but it's the truth.

I've noticed that people get deeply offended when they aren't given their "power fantasies" of an "underdog rising above a genius through hard-work". Their feelings get very hurt over the lack of narratological opportunity to receive a vicarious "win" in life. Don't you people get tired of this well-worn trope? I keep saying this, but how hard is it to understand a manga that's written with a middle-school child's comprehension in mind? It's horrifically difficult from the looks of it.

When the manga began, Naruto let loose Kurama (unintentionally) against Haku, breaking all Ice Mirrors that . . . no Jutsu could break; and that, my simple friends, happened way back in the Waves Arc. That's the first volume that's composed of mere seventeen chapters. How does that associate "hard-work" with Naruto's character, upon whom many poor souls project their misfortunes to feel vindicated, when two geniuses (Sasuke and Kakashi) in the near-vicinity failed? Naruto powered through this via nothing but brute force; and that isn't a precursor to hard-work. That's the exact opposite.

With the beginning of the next Arc, the "if we work hard, we could beat all odds, too" trope lovers got their kicks from Sasuke's humiliation at Lee's hands (or gates?); but then they conveniently forget that Lee himself stated that what Sasuke accomplished was literally impossible for someone like him (he even emphasised on this argument). Gai even went so far as to state that even with the Sharingan's power, Sasuke should never have been able to do what he did (he literally invented his own Taijutsu maneuver from Lee's in a single day; if that's not prodigious, I don't know what is); and Gai, last I checked, is an authority on the subject of Taijutsu, not you—yes, you! Lee's lack of importance in the narrative was made crystal clear from the onset: we're talking about the manga's second arc, for Lord's sake!

This wasn't some deeply obscure, hidden message that you couldn't pick up from between the lines. No, all of this was explicitly stated by the Taijutsu expert and his student that Sasuke's genius was able to over-ride years' worth of experience in . . . well, a single day! If that wasn't all, we came to know that Sasuke matched Kimimaro's experience by exerting perfect control over one out of the two best Cursed Seal (CS) marks (Orochimaru ever created) in under an hour or two at best (if the total release time is counted). Sasuke's Seal is the Heaven Seal and Kimimaro's, the Earth Seal; and we came to know from Jūgo, the original CS bearer, that Sasuke's and Kimimaro's seals are exactly like his and that his seal's just Sage Mode; so Sasuke matched Kimimaro's talent and learnt to control Senjutsu in under two hours? Which part of it was made unclear to everyone when Kabuto and Orochimaru both made these explicit statements well before Part I consummated at Vote I (Jūgo's statements come in early Shippūden, but the rest still holds true)?

How did Lee perform? Yet again, Sasuke mastered Kimimaro's CS in under two hours whilst Lee survived simply because Kimimaro was dying and he literally died whilst delivering a death-blow to Gaara and Lee; so thematically, narratively, and metaphorically, Sasuke matched an adversary against whom both Gaara and Lee lost? That and Lee was outshined by Sasuke twice in a row, going so far as to undermine Lee in his own life endeavours that involved years of sweat and tears? Which part of it translates into "hard-work versus talent" to anyone? You see, here's the thing: no matter how many times you exhibit a pettiness in undermining Sasuke's feats and nit-picking the hell out of them, it doesn't change canon; and canon goes quite far to illustrate as to how hyperbolic Sasuke's progress as a boy is; once he picks up something, he puts it to use in combat, and he masters it in a few hours—at most. He puts Itachi to shame on every single front: his Ninjutsu, his strategies, his learning speed—all super-exceed Itachi who was trained by his father and instructor. There's a reason why Sasuke's Indra's Transmigrant, not Itachi; it didn't come out of nowhere—not if you read the manga with both functioning eyes open, but I digress.

Where does Lee fit in all of this? With Itachi, the line "I'm an obstacle in your path to overcome, because that's what big brothers are for" holds true, as Sasuke's meant to narratively fly ahead of Itachi in every single way. (If you count Sasuke's metamorphosis from Hebi, Snake, to Taka, Hawk, that's even more true, as it happens exactly at the point the battle between the siblings reaches its end; his death as a snake occurs there and then, and we're outright shown this through the stray snake's death, who burns to ash from Amaterasu's flame; when Sasuke learns the truth from Obito and develops the Mangekyō Sharingan, a Hawk is shown flying into the sky.) When a boy whose barely seventeen is able to invent, re-invent, and improve Sage-rivalling Jutsus on the battlefield (in mere moments), the fandom's hyperbole around Itachi looks rather . . . stale, desperate, and comical, especially since that's something Kurama stated, not me. Nowhere does Lee fit into all of this. I keep reiterating: whoever isn't associated with Sasuke in the narrative is literally unimportant. There's no other way of putting this. It's just the way it is.

Lee's importance is simply this: he's a stepping-stone to show you as to how fast Sasuke's capable of rising above it all, rising above his obstacles—one of the major themes that define Sasuke's entire characterisation, not Lee's in spite of your highly inventive mind's creations. Remember, Sasuke's a reincarnation (not exactly that, but let's call it that for simplicity's sake) of a man who invented Ninjutsu—something Sasuke does with such perfected ease that he left Kurama in awe, and Sasuke's literally the first and last individual Kurama praised in this manner except the Sage! That's precisely why Lee exists in the narrative. You're more than welcome to invent a million daft statements against it (some of which might involve Lee's supposedly better "characterisation", a laughable statement for sure), but it doesn't change a thing. How do I know this to be that way? The first time Lee's shown, it's when he challenges Sasuke (what did I say about your character literally having no importance if it's not associated with Sasuke?) and Sasuke loses, but he vows to do better; then he barely survives against an opponent, Gaara, who Sasuke not only hurt thrice (not my statement, but Temari's and Gaara's) but he also learnt something Lee had spent years learning in under a day (his first gate speed, which Sasuke hadn't seen, was learnt by him in under two weeks, together with Chidori); then Sasuke matched Lee's opponent's talent in one of the two best CSs in under an hour or two, against whom Lee survived by sheer dumb-luck despite being backed by Gaara. Do you see a pattern here? And all of that happened in Part I, not Shippūden.

(I don't want to go into the whole "Naruto didn't win against Gaara, but rather woke him up" clarification, but the self-inserting disease that plagues his Fandom hurts them to a degree that they're . . . a little sensitive about the buffoon's so-called accomplishments.)

This might hurt your feelings, but it's true: the only reason why Lee was ever introduced in the manga was for Sasuke to overcome him. I'm not inventing this—look above! What's Lee's presence in Shippūden? He's utterly pointless, and he's pointless precisely because Sasuke's no longer required to overcome him—he's something he's left behind in Leaf's shadow! You can cut Lee out of Shippūden and nothing would change; but in Part I, he's intrinsic to Sasuke's journey to where he reached; he's a teeny-tiny part of Sasuke's puzzle—no more, no less; and to experience an emotional response over it is puzzling, to say the least, absurd even, because Lee was never meant to be anything more than another character to gain a bit of importance through his characterisation leeching off Sasuke's; once Sasuke broke free and ran ahead, Lee's importance ended exactly at that point. None of this is that hard to understand. It's plain as day!

Another "hard-worker versus genius" trope's leftover is . . . you guessed it, Sakura! I've stated this so many times that it's turned into a "beating the living shit out of a dead horse's paste" argument, but here it goes: Sakura's "delicate chakra control" is nothing to write home about for anyone who understands middle-school English (she took two months to make a fish wriggle, let alone learn any basic technique, whilst Sasuke learnt Lee's gated speed and Chidori in under two weeks, even though he was still healing from the torture Itachi put him through); it's good when it's compared to the ordinary folks, but compared to prodigies like Sasuke, it's fairly abysmal. I've already talked about it in great detail in the chapter that concerns Sakura, so you can refer to that for the full break-down of her "talents"; but she's another character that . . . merely exists for Sasuke's mono no aware theme to find its realisation in the shape of severing the past relationships. Beyond that, she's got no purpose.

Her fandom weeps over her not "growing up", not "moving on", and not "developing further", but here's the problem: whatever "development" she experienced is precisely because of Sasuke, not in spite of him. That's been true since Part I: she went to Tsunade because she wanted to bring back Sasuke (she's the only member of Team 7 who had to convince one of the Sanin to train her, and Sasuke's the only member who was outright sought out by the best of them; so that creates a naturally vast difference between their talents); she trained further after she failed to subdue Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout; and she kept storing her chakra in regard to Byakugō to catch up to Sasuke and for Sasuke to appreciate her (she failed at both). You take Sasuke out of the equation and Sakura drops out of the Chūnin Examinations, never to be heard from ever again; so to discard this obvious Canon aspect of her is bafflingly ridiculous.

The problem with both of these characters is that they're seen as the go-to power fantasies of people who're, very clearly, not exceptional in any manner; so they want to see themselves become exceptional through Lee and through Sakura, if only vicariously, against people who're exceptional like Sasuke. Whilst this is as easy an explanation that can be offered, it doesn't detract from it being very silly. In this regard "winning versus failing" becomes a seemingly logical off-shoot of "hard-work versus talent": you fail at life if you don't overcome the prodigy; and you win, if you do.

Lee's seen as a failure because he didn't get anything out of beating Sasuke (yes, your 'Lee made Sasuke weep' memes don't mean anything; because as I said, no matter what you perpetuate to feel vicariously good about yourself, the canon's still there, and Lee's the one who's very, very sad about the situation); and Sakura, too, is seen as one because she didn't detach herself from Sasuke. Never mind the fact that not winning against Sasuke doesn't mean that Lee has magically lost his gates or that Sakura's lost her abilities as a Medic; but as both of them are forever stuck in Sasuke's shadow, it makes these readers very upset; but here's a thing: how can something exist in spite of Sasuke's shadow when it was created from it? It's a writing choice that you'd just have to learn to deal with, and making Sasuke "pay" for your second-hand fictional heart-aches, which you experienced through Lee or Sakura, don't mean much of anything.

What would Lee accomplish by beating Sasuke? Does it automatically make him become a genocide victim, a receiver of state-sponsored terrorism, a sufferer of state oppression? Does it draw a dissident, a revolutionary, a singular force of justice from him? How would you make Lee matter by forcing him into taking Sasuke's place? You'd just have to turn Lee into . . . Sasuke. What would Sakura accomplish by besting Sasuke? Does it make her look at the Shinobi world's heinousness, its oppressive policies, its exploitation when she hasn't experienced any of that herself? You'd just have to turn Sakura into . . . Sasuke. You see where I'm going with this? Because the moment you take something from Sasuke's theme that's quite literally a singular force that permeates every facet of the manga from top to bottom, you're just desperately trying to turn these two into Sasuke, and that's why it's parodical. (And if it isn't that, her crazed wankers simply swear by the "she punches harder" philosophy—literally and metaphorically; so much so, that they turn her into a psychopathic jingoist who simply exists to crush Sasuke, the only lasting force of dissidence, reformation, and revolution in the manga against a hegemonic status quo that purely exists to create profit from exploitation, pilling, and mass-slaughters—never mind the underlying obvious implications of a vile imperialism-loving bend of mind, but hey, who am I to judge whatever fascistic neoliberal politics you get off on?)

Lee's purpose is complete: he existed as an obstacle for Sasuke to overcome; Sakura's purpose is complete (though she hilariously over-stayed her welcome): she existed for Sasuke to leave behind as she represents an extension of Leaf that's a character that stands in opposition to Sasuke and his off-shoots, of which Nagato and Madara are a part, and that's what the entirety of Canon is built from—a conflict, not the mundane nature of middle-class issues that plague your life. (Yes, Leaf's very much a character; and, believe it or not, Konoha-maru personifies it.) Making Lee and Sakura into extensions of everymen who'd succeed against prodigies and make something of themselves in the Shinobi world, get married, and pop out five unpleasant bastards (akin to an average Disney magic-making affair that you've coveted since your standard childhood) just reeks of a middle-class mindset that's got nothing to do with canon's themes. That's exactly why you'd see countless Fan-Fictions written (mostly) by women who desperately try to tear apart Sasuke's themes, grant them to Sakura, and fix her cheap matrimonial issues—Lee's less so, but he's "paired up" with Sakura to fix her life that's, apparently, in shambles. You'd have to laugh at all this as the endless spinning of these five tropes is supposed to make canon so much "better" (heck, even their trite critiques aimed at the manga stink to the heavens' heights that make God's divine arse of this same-y murder of rationality); and here's a thing: people fail; that's all there's to it. Sakura and Lee are meant to fail for Sasuke to rise in their place, and their win is not your win at life. Food for thought. Frankly, you'd have to be emotionally a rotting corpse as to not find any of these Pavlovian antics side-splittingly funny. I know I do!

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