Naruto 20 themes: 'cause you will hate yourself in the end

Bonus theme 5. Mindfuck

The shadows swirl against the ceiling, behind Kimimaro’s closed eyelids, across Kabuto's face as he observes Kimimaro, clinical as a dissection. There are the drugs and there is death and Kimimaro is never sure which is responsible for the heaviness that pins him to the sheets; sometimes Kabuto rests his hand on Kimimaro’s chest and his fingers feel strong enough to reach between the whispering of his ribs and find what passes for his heart, and other times they are nothing, ghosts across skin that barely notices. Else he is an echo from a dream. Kimimaro waits to wake up.




17. Once in a lifetime

In the end, Orochimaru thinks, he will win. Time is on his side. ( This is not the same as time winning, which Orochimaru will not allow to happen. ) Konoha may talk of once-in-a-lifetime battles and heroes and epic showdowns, but Orochimaru is not as myopic, and the phrase means nothing to him. The kyuubi’s container, like everyone else, is only mortal.

Kabuto is foolish in his pretence at indispensability, Sasuke in his appraisal of his own importance. Sasuke is this lifetime’s chance, as Orochimaru’s offer is Sasuke’s once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; the difference is that Orochimaru has lifetimes enough at his disposal.




11. Despite love

Sakura fingers the petals of a wilting zinnia. Ino says, “You can take it, it won’t last long anyway.”

“I thought you were supposed to treat your flowers with love,” Sakura says, laughing. “Not let them die like this.”

Visits like this are rare. Sakura has been busy with her training, and her belief and strength have grown, each supporting the other; Ino knows that she still thinks they can bring Sasuke back. She wishes she could show Sakura how conviction isn’t always enough, how flowers can die even when cared for; how, despite love, some things cannot be saved.




18. After the rain

Things are not the same, after. Kankurou would expect no less, but does not expect this much. Crows feed on aftermaths and Kankurou has seen enough deserted battlefields to know that this is different, that this change is not like the inexorable and endless movement of the sands.

The Konoha chapter may never be closed; it is as though the rains have come and will not leave, and all their lives are changed for that, a turning point like the tipping of an hour glass. Kankurou watches his brother as he always has, waiting; but now, sometimes, Gaara looks back.




20. Flew too high

Kakashi lies back on the roof while it is still pleasantly warm rather than uncomfortably hot, and watches a flock of crows. Crows don’t have much ambition, he thinks absently. In Konoha they feed more often on scraps than on warm flesh, but are content enough to stay.

He tells himself that he is not thinking of anything in particular, is not wasting the morning with regret. The crows circle low and lazily over the village. Kakashi holds one hand up against the sun, watches the light slip through his curled fingers and scorch the edges of the silhouetted cage.