WhenNaruto Shippudenhad started fast approaching its biggest arc at the time and the approaching Fourth Great Ninja War became a very real threat to every Ninja nation, one of the many subplots and important character progression episodes happened to surround the Waterfalls of Truth. Many are familiar with Naruto’s trial against his darker self, something the community has aptly called Dark Naruto. While many of us are familiar with Naruto’s confrontation and eventually his acceptance of his dark emotions, the Waterfalls of Truth haven’t been used ever since and especially have not been mentioned afterward. With its purpose to reveal darker aspects of the individuals psyche, many characters could either have had interesting reactions or perhaps a better perspective if they had to face themselves. One notable example could be Sasuke Uchiha, and understanding his darker emotions as well as finding out more about the truth of why his clan and the world had to be in pain.
Sasuke, much like Naruto in the beginning of their story, has his own inner demons and darker emotions that he either embraced, tempered, or let it flow and consume him as the story goes on. His desire for revenge eventually became all-consuming, but even after finding out the truth surrounding Itachi and his clan, Sasuke changed in perspective and motivation. As a result, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to say that Sasuke’conflicting and at-odds motivationand connections with his former allies would be an avenue that the story could have explained if Sasuke had experienced the Waterfalls of Truth. After all, Sasuke’s character needs the most development and is the biggest goal of Naruto’s journey, and witnessing his inner demons and darkness would be an interesting episode to witness. However, would this change much of Sasuke’s decision-making in the future, or would it be a fruitless endeavor from the very start?
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Understanding The Waterfalls of Truth
Of course, an important thing to discuss first is the mechanics of the Waterfalls of Truth, as well as the purpose it was used. Located on the Island Turtle, these Waterfalls were used by Killer Bee at first as a step into controlling the Eight-Tailed beast inside of him. Despite it being used for the purpose to control and communicate with the tailed beast, one merely needs to sit in the stone pedestal and concentrate to be transported into their mind wherethey must face a reflectionof their true selves and succeed in either pacifying them or accepting yourself. Naruto had to go through the same ritual and pass it to be able to control the Nine-Tailed Beast that had been plaguing him for the entire series, and this resulted in the young Shinobi in succeeding to understand and accept his own inner anger and bitterness he always had since he was a child.
The purpose of the Waterfalls of Truth overall is to test the individual’s understanding of themselves and their willingness to accept themselves for who they really are. This wouldn’t be much different for Sasuke, although the motivation ofwhat he needs to acceptabout himself wouldn’t be the anger or the revenge he seeks. He already had enough anger, and being told the truth behind his clan, Itachi, and Danzo only further intensified that. However, if Sasuke were to face the reflection of himself, this ‘Dark Sasuke’ wouldn’t be a representation of his anger, but rather his unwillingness to move forward or accept the truth of what he threw away in order to get his revenge. Sasuke not only would have to face these parts of himself, he’d have to face the truth that his search for power had unknowingly made him a puppet to be used.
The Greater Possible Change
If Sasuke were to face his darker self and understand and accept all of what he had, as well as the fact that he has no idea how to move forwards, then Sasuke’s actions moving forward would most likely have benefited the Great Ninja Alliance despite being not of their same mind or understanding. The reason for this being that Sasuke would understand that his motivations have been exploited by Obito, Madara Uchiha, and even Orochimaru before all this; Sasuke wouldnot allow himself to be a puppetanymore once he was made intricately aware of the possible ramifications of his decisions. The fans would most likely have witnessed a different Sasuke who worked towards his redemption and even a different motivation that didn’t rely solely on being destructive or self-destructive. Even so, there is understandable precedence that it wouldn’t be too easy to talk to him because of his actions before this hypothetical scenario in the Waterfalls of Truth.
Still, whether the fans would take positively to this possible change or not is a different question altogether. After all, if Naruto took the time to struggle in understanding his dark self, then who is to say that Sasuke won’t take longer to do the same? The fans by that point in the story have been used to hearing from Sasuke as an emotionless, if somewhat infuriating character at the moment. Thebiggest problem at the timewould have to be surrounding the reception to Sasuke facing his darkness and whether it would feel earned or like a cop-out.Naruto Shippudencould have used a character arc for Sasuke that kick-started by the Waterfalls of Truth. If that had happened, perhaps things could have been very different for Sasuke and many others.
