Helene-ev - Helene

The fate of Indra and the Uchiha clan is unjustifiable. Imagine just because you possess a special talent due to your genetics (sharingan) your father favors your brother over you and your entire line is labeled with curse of hatred when your anger at an injustice is justifiable. Your talent grows when you experience pain and people label you evil for it without acknowledging your suffering and if you fight back you’re in darkness.

I hate how Kishimoto silences these victims. Why is it wrong to fight for your rights? What did Sasuke do wrong? Fuck that he was in darkness bullshit Naruto didn’t save him Naruto doomed him. Madara is demonized for losing his sanity when psychosis is a condition out of anybody’s control. It reminds me of real life sterilization and executions of mentally ill people it’s despicable. Mental illness is out of these poor people’s control there’s no reason to dehumanize them.

You have the narrative glorifying criminals like Itachi while the antagonists are “evil” and only “redeemed” when they drink Naruto’s fascism kool aid. I will never understand the moral compass of this fandom no one finds anything wrong with a government murdering an entire clan? Just for demanding their rights? Fuck Konoha and anyone who supports it.

It fits so well i'm crying(´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

Really intrigued by Goodbye Cleveland! (even tho i don't watch naruto lol)

"When his father, for the first time in twenty years, sincerely asked if he “would like to become equal to his older brother,” Ashura understood - he has to get out of here, now.

It's not that he didn't want to do it sooner. Tbh - who needs him here? Father's followers, striving to chop off more from the "naive unfortunate boy"? To the father himself? Not even funny. To grown up peers who do not hesitate to recall past beatings and bullying? Indra, whom to reach is like to reach the moon by legs only?

Nii-san at least did not try to pretend being interested.

Ashura, although he was considered a "worthless renegade" - thanks, dad - was not an idiot, and he fully understood that something bad was coming. First, the father's strange behavior, now whispers in the back and sidelong glances... The simpleton's mask usually helped to avoid many problems, but now it only got in the way: the people around smiled condescendingly - "it's too hard for you."

For days and nights, Indra has being disappeared in the library (probably, he also sensed something was going wrong), Ashura - at the training grounds. Even if he never manages to become at least equal - to give up - is to not respect himself.

Well, okay, when nii-san finally comes into the inheritance, it will be possible with a clear conscience to take the share, tearfully say goodbye and dump into the sunset (to other worthless renegades).

But the kami had other plans."

***

Or the story in which Ashura Ootsutsuki, like a real youngest child, who had been oppressed all his childhood, is very tricky, very smartass and very vindictive xd

But being vindictive is not the same as being evil.

OR a story in which they try to force the entire inheritance on the youngest son for some political reasons - and in which Ashura Ootsutsuki simply says "no".

A story in which Indra Ootsutsuki tries to get his younger brother back, because being the only ruler was not as pleasant as he expected, while the younger brother resists intensely xd

A story that turned around 180°.

They're adorablee

They are Anna and Elsa. I like how this will be my first impression. Hi :)

Fanart of Jam and Elizabeth from @moringmark’s ship war au٩( ᐛ )و I love these cinnamon rolls(≧∀≦)

SEE I TOTALLY DON’T JUST DRAW THE SADS! (also from “bury my heart”)

(@blackkatmagic​ has kind of turned hamura into a bit of a troll in my eyes)

I just had to do fanart of cressie by @gravityfying and @paneyneygirl I just loved this girl from the very beginning (*≧∀≦*)

What an amazing and informative analysis! Was wondering about indra's eye makeup for a while, actually

The history in fiction: Parallels between historical Japan and the Narutoverse

Part 1: The era of the Six Paths

Naruto may not be a historical fiction and most people will think that the utmost historical reference in the series is the fact that ninja were a thing in feudal Japan. But what if I told you that there is an insane amount of historical parallels in the series? That we could actually place the events of the main timeline within real periods of Japanese history? In this two-part series, I’ll be explaining the many parallels, references and design inspirations of the main events and generations that shaped the course of the series that we all know and love. I’ll start with the era of the Six Paths (starting from Kaguya and ending with Indra and Ashura), and part 2 will be about the Warring States (dynamic between the Senju and Uchiha). At the end of each part, I’ll add useful links so that you can deepen your investigation and see my sources. Without further ado, let’s start overanalyzing.

Historical references and parallels in character design and dynamics

I’d place this particular era of the Narutoverse in the Heian period of Japan (or at least the most important people, the brothers Indra and Ashura). Considering that we’re spanning 3 generations here, I’ll separate the individuals involved in the following way:

Kaguya: End of Nara period (710 AD - 784 AD)

Hagoromo and Hamura: Early Heian period (794 AD - 1185 AD)

Indra and Ashura: Heian period (794 AD - 1185 AD)

Kaguya

On a side note, I’d like to add that I’m not really considering Tenji in the list above because he’s an anime only character. However, his case caught my eye so I’ll discuss him as well. Let’s start by evaluating Kaguya and Tenji then. Kaguya’s character design is a very classical archetype of Heian beauty standards and clothing. Long, straight hair with flowy kimono and a delicate face. Her unusual eyebrows are no coincidence as well, as in the Heian period the practice of hikimayu was commonplace in noblewomen. 

"Hiki means "pull" and mayu means "eyebrows". Aristocratic women used to pluck or shave their eyebrows and paint new ones using a powdered ink called haizumi, which was made of soot from sesame or rapeseed oils." (source)

Left: Filler anime episode // Right: Manga panel

Above: Hikimayu through the ages of Japan

Another interesting fact that I’d like to point out is that Kaguya is a character with striking similarity to a Japanese folk tale, in this case the Tale of Princess Kaguya (Kaguyahime no monogatari), whose origin we can trace back to Heian Japan. The Tale of Princess Kaguya tells the story of a little baby girl who “fell from the skies” and was found by a couple of old farmers inside of a bamboo. She grew up to be extremely beautiful and was courted by lots of noblemen, but she rejected them all insisting that somebody would come for her, as she looked at the moon. Of course, Naruto provides us with a different ending to the story but this similarity can’t be overlooked.

Above: "The Receding Princess" from The Japanese Fairy Book, 1908

Moving on to Tenji, it gets a bit more complicated to place him in an exact historical moment as he has elements of many different periods. His hairstyle resembles the styling of the Jomon period, whereas the entire setting in the filler episodes are more similar to the Nara period with the many small kingdoms fighting for dominance within a vast land, just like pre-unification Japan. Therefore, I place Kaguya and Tenji at the end of the Nara period, because we see how Kaguya takes over Tenji’s rulership and is regarded as a noblewoman after she casts the first Infinite Tsukuyomi. I have to rely on some filler in this case because otherwise I can’t find a logical explanation as to why Hagoromo was so well settled and had a large group of people following his teachings if it wasn’t for Kaguya ruling some land that originally belonged to Tenji. 

Hagoromo and Hamura

Let’s start with the second generation. Following the events of the end of the Nara period I quoted in the previous section, Hagoromo and Hamura would go in the beginning of the Heian period. Their character designs feature long, flowy tunics without a visible belt. Here you have an image of men’s clothes through Japanese history, the third one being a feudal lord of the Heian period. Compare and contrast with these anime and manga images.

Above: “Men’s Japanese clothes” by Glimja

Left: Filler anime episode with both // Right: Hagoromo manga panel

Again, since we get very few manga panels related to Hagoromo and his sons, I’ll refer once again to the filler episodes where he is shown as the ruler of a village. The spot within the Heian period in which I’m placing Hagoromo would be around 100 years after the Taika reforms which established one of the first codes of law in Japan and (Taihō code) and divided the country in provinces ruled by feudal lords. Curiously, around the time where the Taika reforms happened, there was an emperor called Tenji. 

Indra and Ashura

The third generation of the alien-human hybrids is here, and I place them in the Heian period as well. My main reason to consider Indra and Ashura in the Heian period is the fact that this is the exact time period where the samurai originate. A common misconception is that a samurai is a Japanese warrior highly trained in the martial arts and weapons. While this statement holds some truth, the samurai were the military social class of feudal Japan, which means that there were people who were of the samurai class but had never touched a weapon in their lives. Therefore, samurai clans were not entirely composed by warriors but also had a number of people who lived a more “civilian” lifestyle. And you may be wondering, “what do the historical samurai have to do with the ninja that we see in Naruto?”. The answer is: more than you think. Historically speaking, the ninja is a samurai specialised in stealth and sneaking, the only difference with the Naruto universe is that the ninja we know and love from the show possess chakra and perform techniques with that. 

The story of Indra and Ashura is strongly tied to the origin of ninja clans in Naruto, just as the Heian period is the origin of the samurai clans. From this time period I’d like to highlight the myth of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, more commonly known as Minamoto no Raiko. His story says that he slayed demons (yes, really) and saved many maidens from being abused by drunk oni with his great sword, Dojigiri Yasutsuna. The difference between myth and legend is that myths hold some kind of historical fact whereas legends are purely fictional. Minamoto no Raiko has been heavily mythified and his story sounds unbelievable or too much like a fantasy story until you realise that he did exist and that his sword is kept in a museum. Doesn’t this resemble how the origins of ninja in Naruto are almost like fantasy stories up until Hagoromo shows up in the 4th war and explains that everything was real all along? 

Above: Ukiyo-e of Minamoto no Raiko and others fighting the demon Shuten Doji.

Just as Minamoto no Raiko is considered the first samurai, Indra could be considered the first shinobi. He was the first to channel and shape chakra to create jutsu, and he was considered as part of the legends surrounding Hagoromo. Please compare these two panel sequences, one is from earlier in the story and the second one is Hagoromo’s version. 

The brothers’ character design can also be correlated with the Heian period. Indra’s eyebrows seem to be real but resemble the hikimayu design of Kaguya’s eyebrows, however he does add eye makeup. The people who wore makeup in the Heian period were nobles (mostly noblewomen), once again reinforcing my point that this family started out as feudal lords and eventually fused with the warrior class, becoming ninja clans. Although the character design for Indra and Ashura isn’t 100% equal to Heian Japan’s male clothing, the inspiration is subtle yet visible. I’d say that the inspiration is mostly for the plot rather than the appearance of the character. If you’d like to see more real Heian period clothing, this link has recreations of the outfits of the characters in the Tale of Genji, by Murasaki Shikibu.

Sources

These are some useful links that I’ve referred to while writing this post. I’d like to invite you to read them if you’d like to do further research on the beautiful history of Japan.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tenji

https://www.britannica.com/event/Taika-era-reforms

https://www.japanhousela.com/articles/princess-kaguya-a-tale-for-the-ages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikimayu#:~:text=Hiki means "pull" and mayu,from sesame or rapeseed oils.

https://www.thoughtco.com/beauty-in-heian-japan-195557

https://history.hanover.edu/hhr/22/HHR2022miller.pdf

https://www.tumblr.com/heian-collection/30869762024/beauty-ideal-in-heian-japan?source=share

https://thegate12.com/article/264

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for part 2, the Warring States era. Special thanks to @al-hekima-madara-blog for actually motivating me to write all of this down 💜

You missed the mark! (Time Travel)

Extra: Otsutsuki

(they learn Kurama is willingly there)

anndd more sketches to give

Lotor fucking dislocated both of his arms just so he wouldn’t get yelled at by his dad and honestly? Mood