why chapter 415 has always reminded me of naruto saving sakura from Gaara's sand back in the chuunin exams.
Granted, the first last solely for a Chapter while the latter spawns more than five; but I think that the similarities are still worth mentioning and exploring a little more in-depth.
(This is yet another meta/essay that I originally posted in my LJ a year ago as a friends-only entry. But I polished it a bit and included more images to (hopefully) illustrate things better).
Copy-paste no jutsu on the Disclaimer: this focuses on SasuKarin. This post is not about comparing it to another ship but rather, about Kishi’s writing style.
That said, these are the four reasons why both events remind me of each other:
1. The fact that Kishi makes sure that Naruto’s and Sasuke’s efforts to save Sakura and Karin respectively are a “one man’s battle” kind of thing.
When it comes to the fight against Gaara, Sasuke is considerably weakened, which automatically puts him out of the fight. Same wise, Suigetsu is out-cold and Juugo is being logical, so rather than trying to save Karin, he is trying to get Sasuke out of there. In other words, it’s solely up to Naruto and Sasuke respectively to save Sakura and Karin.
Granted, unlike Juugo, Sasuke was actually willing to put his life on the line and buy Naruto enough time to save Sakura; not to mention, he had faith in Naruto being able to save her. However, if one focuses solely on the big picture, fact remains that what Sasuke’s selfless action ultimately lead to was inspiring Naruto to get a power-up. In other words: Kishi kept Sasuke out of the fight until the end when he caught Sakura. Same wise, Kishi has Juugo stay out of it until the end, when Sasuke asks him to get Karin.
TL;DR #1: Despite the differences present in both circumstances and in Sasuke’s (who did want to save both, Sakura and Naruto) and Juugo’s (who believed Karin was done for) respective dispositions, the point remains that Kishi made sure that it was solely Naruto and Sasuke who were actively trying to save and focusing on Sakura and Karin respectively.
That takes me to the second thing that makes both events similar in my eyes:
2. In both cases you can see how Kishi gives a fair amount of focus to Naruto’s and Sasuke’s reactions to Sakura and Karin being in danger. More importantly: they are over and over the only ones to react to it.
Now, someone might point out that Naruto’s fight against Gaara served a thematic purpose and as such, it’s understandable that all of Kishi’s focus went toward Naruto’s struggles against him; Sakura’s plight included. That’s technically a fair point.
I say “technically” because the fight being Naruto focused actually doesn’t mean Kishi never bothered to spare some panels to show us Sasuke reacting to stuff:
He did. And that’s without counting all the panels that went into Sasuke taking notice of, being surprised at, and mulling over Naruto’s surge of power.
In other words: had Kishi wanted to highlight or give any sort of meaningful focus to Sasuke being concerned over Sakura, he would have. But that is something Kishi reserved solely for Naruto:
And the same thing happened with Juugo and Sasuke (except that, as mentioned above, Sasuke did want to try and save Sakura).
Moving on:
From a thematic standpoint, this is probably the most important and meaningful resemblance between the two:
3. Naruto’s and Sasuke’s drive to save Sakura and Karin respectively are so strong, that Kishi uses them as the catalyst to have the boys ‘power-up’.
In Naruto’s case, he is able to summon Gamabunta and actually stay in control; in Sasuke’s, he awakens the ability to shape the Amaterasu to his will. And in both cases, said “power-ups” happen right after they think about the girls in question.
It is also worth mentioning that in both instances, not only were the boys nearly out of chakra and in terrible pain (Naruto plainly states the former, while the latter is obvious in Sasuke’s demeanor), their respective lives were also at risk: Naruto’s due to the sand coffin, and Sasuke’s due to the fact that the flames could reach him and the rest of Taka.
In both cases, however, both single-mindedly remained focused on Sakura and Karin respectively despite the peril their own lives were in. Thus, Naruto manages to pull enough chakra to do a summon because “I will save Sakura-chan, no matter what!” rather than to get out of the sand-coffin. And Sasuke manages to put out the “inextinguishable black-flames” because “Karin!” rather than out of any desire to ensure his own safety (or Suigetsu’s or Juugo’s, for that matter).
Lastly, in my opinion:
4. Due to the aforementioned reason, both events happen to be perfect examples of the following lesson:
Which is one of the important themes of the manga. Granted, by no means do I intend to imply any sort of romantic connotations by bringing up this quote. Iruka and Team 7 are special to Naruto, for example. And it goes without saying that Sasuke and Naruto top each other’s respective lists.
Nonetheless, the reason why all this stood out so much to me is that Kishi handling Sasuke saving Karin in a way that’s even remotely comparable to Naruto’s drive to save Sakura back then is quite something, IMO. Because:
“To save you, that guy risked death…”
Risking death? Checked. Unleashing a new power? Checked. A lot of focus on the girls’ peril? Checked.
And this only becomes even more interesting when one stops to consider that Naruto had a huge crush on Sakura at the time.
