A Dangerous Affection [I - SasuKarin - Their Development, Part I]

[kanae_88]

I.
SASUKARIN
“Come with me, Karin. I need you.”
“If you reeeeally need me, I’ll go with you.”

Their Development

As you’re all aware, Karin (and in consequence SasuKarin) was introduced when the manga was pretty advanced (10 years and 347 chapters in, to be exact); up to now (Chapter 663) they’ve been present for 316 chapters, and in like 230+ or so of those they actually didn’t show up at all. So the material we have to work with (SasuKarin-wise) is actually from more or less 72 chapters.

Merely 72 chapters. One would think that since that’s such a small number compared to the 660+ chapters that the manga has actually had, then the development we have gotten must be fairly limited.

Alas, that’s not the case. And in those mere 72~ chapters SasuKarin got a remarkable amount of substance.

When this manifesto was first posted (2009) their development was encompassed in a single section. But since a lot has changed since then, I’ve divided it in different stages for greater accuracy.

a) Meet SasuKarin

Everything—really—starts with chapter 348, where Sasuke and Suigetsu make their way towards Karin’s location so that Sasuke can recruit her; because, as he tells Karin, he needs her.

This early on the game, and there’s already something that’s worth of notice: when he recruits Suigetsu, and later when he recruits Juugo, he never, ever tells them that he needs them. Ever. The only one to get such a request—“Come with me, Karin. I need you”—is Karin. That automatically sets her apart from her other two teammates, but actually, it not only singles her out from them but from every girl Sasuke has ever interacted with. Why? Because Sasuke’s acknowledgement is not easy to gain, and much less an acknowledgement that expands from your abilities to your person—yet, Karin has it. Up to this point, she’s the only girl that Sasuke deems as useful to the point of being necessary—which coming from him, is one hell of a compliment—and the only girl that Sasuke truly acknowledges and respects in such a way.

Sasuke’s respect for her is also shown in various instances; like, whenever Karin talks back to him, insults him, questions his logic (or lack of it), scolds him, etc—Sasuke never reacts negatively to her. Instead, he’ll listen to her words and then offer some reasoning of his own; whether it’s to disagree, to explain his own plan of action, etc, he has never told her to “mind her own business”, “be quiet”, or even worse, “if you don’t like it, leave” like he has said to Suigetsu and to many other characters in the manga. This is even though 99.9% of the time she (and not Suigetsu or Juugo) is the one to question him. That much also shows that he respects her input as well; whether he does as she says or not notwithstanding.

Truth is, Sasuke on his own chose and acknowledged Karin; something in her caught his interest, and she ultimately earned his recognition and his respect. Something that also becomes partiality, which I believe is a word that can accurately encompass Sasuke’s side of their bond; he’s partial to Karin (something that will later get confirmed by Tobi, who outright states Karin is Sasuke's "favorite" - but I'll get to that in due time).

This ‘partiality’ I’m alluding to was also reflected back in chapter 352; when Suigetsu teases Karin and makes her angry, Sasuke is annoyed and tells him to “stop messing with Karin. I told you to cooperate with her”. Yet, when Karin is the one to annoy Suigetsu, Suigetsu is the one to get a warning. Two chapters before that, in 350, Karin tricks Suigetsu into going in the wrong direction so that she only has to take Sasuke to Juugo; Sasuke asks her why she did it, and Karin’s answer is that Suigetsu is annoying, and she doesn't like him; what does Sasuke do, then? Nothing. Instead of demanding she go get Suigetsu back and stop fooling around, he doesn’t complain at all. He indulges her and plays her game instead, saying “let me go... I can walk by myself” but doing nothing to pull away as Karin drags him by the wrist to Juugo’s cell.

That’s not the only time Sasuke acts this way, either; one of the biggest examples is chapter 364, in which Suigetsu once again insults Karin who quite literally starts to beat the crap out of him. What does Sasuke do? He watches her do it. He doesn't say a word, even though he actually got splashed on the face due to their ruckus. None of them even notices that Juugo is losing control until it is too late.

It's in details like these that it's easy to see this partiality I mentioned earlier, just like it’s easy to notice what might as well be seeds for something else. After all, isn’t it weird that Sasuke demands Suigetsu cooperate with Karin, but never asks Karin to cooperate with Suigetsu? I'd say that it's almost as weird as the fact that he leniently lets her be, even when she yells at him [Sasuke himself] or berates him as she pleases.

Some may try to disregard these details as useless, but this is Sasuke we’re talking about. This is the type of stuff that actually does count.

But there’s more. If there’s something that characterizes SasuKarin it's that the [on-panel] focus they’ve gotten is well-rounded. What do I mean by that? That said focus has been consistent, substantial and continuous; and it’s formed by both, subtle hints (like the ones I just mentioned) and obvious ones, like the ones I’m just about to address.

The biggest and most obvious SasuKarin moments that we got during this stage come in the form of two chapters in the Taka vs Killerbee fight, but the truth is that this fight was filled with SasuKarin moments in various shapes and forms.

So, before discussing the meaning of the aforementioned two chapters, I’m going to address the Taka vs Hachibi fight as a whole, which starts in chapter 410 and finishes in chapter 415. 5 chapters, 2 of which had SasuKarin highlights, and where the remaining 3 had important moments which showcased Sasuke’s trust in her, the way he relies on her, and also the way they care about each other. What's more: said chapters not only have mutual moments between them, but the most meaningful stuff is actually coming from Sasuke. Let that sink in.

The Hachibi fight was there to highlight Taka and help them bond even further so that Sasuke could realize that he’s not alone; however, the bond that was highlighted the most wasn’t Sasuke-Suigetsu or Sasuke-Juugo. It was SasuKarin.

We start with chapter 410, where Sasuke takes his usual approach to things; meaning, he is completely arrogant, underestimating his enemy and believing the fight will be a piece of cake. So he tells them that he will “Capture him [The Hachibi]” and tells Suigetsu to “go right” and Juugo to “go left”. To Karin? To Karin he says, “Karin, you watch my back”.

We’re in the first chapter of the fight, but that already shows two things: One, he trusts her with his blind spot. He trusts that if the situation calls for it, she’ll be able to assist and help save his ass; he knows that he can rely on her and does so. He trusts her capabilities. The second, he would (logically) rather she stay out of the fight and remain as support; which is, in turn, thoughtfulness about her well-being. And it’s interesting to notice the fact that indeed, Karin isn’t the offensive type, and because of this it would be understandable if she were to get in the way. It would be perfectly in-character for Sasuke to consider her a nuisance due to her lack of offensive abilities, but she is in fact the teammate that he relies on the most. He trusts her. It’s no wonder why when despite the fact that she isn’t the offensive type, Karin actually doesn’t get in the way and can fend for herself (and all of them while she’s at it) just fine.

That doesn’t mean Sasuke won’t make sure to guarantee her safety, though; like he showed back in chapter 350, and like he shows in this fight.

Anyways, chapter 410 mostly focuses on other characters that have nothing to do with Taka, but when we get back to them it’s to see that both Juugo and Suigetsu have been defeated. What does Sasuke do? He calmly steps in, not showing any signs of distress, and proceeds to tell them that he’ll deal with the Hachibi. While he’s at it, he also mentions how they “are the ones using Akatsuki. Try to keep that in mind” and we’re shown Taka’s individual reactions; Suigetsu goes “heh” and Juugo goes “of course”, but Karin? Karin’s thoughts are: “Sasuke… you’re the coolest! I knew you’d never stop to being someone else’s errand boy!”

I emphasize that sentence because, quite honestly, that is the part that truly matters. We know Karin thinks that Sasuke is cool. Everyone thinks that, it’s nothing awe-worthy. If anything, it could be detrimental. But the rest of the sentence, more precisely, hers “I knew—” goes to show something quite simple: she knows Sasuke. Right here, she’s not saying that Sasuke is “cool” because he’s good-looking, or because he looks badass, or because he has pulled off a wonderful technique. No, right here Karin is saying that he’s the coolest because of his personality. And it’s not even because of his aloofness, which is the usual thing that girls fawn over him for. It’s because he’s a strong soul who yields to no one. Just like her.

So right there, Karin showed that the thing that she admires about him - what truly makes her think that he’s “the coolest” isn't even Sasuke being a 'genius' or something equally as general, but rather personality traits that make him, him. And this is actually backed up by the only other times in which Karin marveled over Sasuke in such a fashion; the first happens as Sasuke was making it clear to Suigetsu and Juugo that he was in charge there, and the second as Sasuke singlehandedly acquires the information they were looking for and leads the team to their objective. As you can notice, both instances happen to be displays of him being an independent person who yields to no one. So Karin is, above all, attracted to his personality; being physically attracted to him is just a plus. In fact, the only time she has been shown thinking that he’s good-looking was back in chapter 363, when it came to her almost as an afterthought: “Sasuke injured looks cool, too"—which goes to show that even though he’s tattered and bloodied, a complete mess who barely came out alive from the fight, she still likes him just fine.

Back to the chapters at hand, in what’s remaining of chapter 411 Sasuke proceeds to get his ass handed to him—Karin showing concern for his well-being while he’s at it. Now, we have arrived to chapter 412; the moment that took many readers aback.

Chapter 412 begins with Sasuke falling thanks to the attack of the Hachibi, Karin yelling his name, and Juugo running towards the scene; with the help of Juugo and Suigetsu who team up to attack the Hachibi, Karin is able to get close herself and singlehandedly pulls Sasuke away from harms’s way. She takes him to a safe area where she proceeds to extract all the swords impaled on him, never once losing her clear mind even though it was obvious she was worried because of the state Sasuke was in. Then, comes the moment.

Karin pulls up her sleeve, revealing that she’s got bite-marks along her whole arm; marks that she’s been hiding under those long-sleeves, which suggests that she’s not happy with them, and neither does she consider them pretty. Alas, what must be done must be done, and Sasuke’s life is at stake; so she doesn’t hesitate and asks him to bite her arm. They look into each other’s eyes, and then Sasuke proceeds to bite her. Without any hesitation or second-thought.

This, I found interesting. Sasuke’s lack of surprise meant that he had either seen those before (which in turn makes one wonder when and how) or that he simply trusts her that much, as to not even inquire why the hell should he bite her. Or perhaps, it’s a mixture of the two.

Of course, as Sasuke sucks on her chakra, Karin has a positive reaction to it in a way that makes it look as if she were having an orgasm; as if the whole “bite me” thing wasn’t sexual enough. However, it's worth noting that the act of biting Karin itself is not meant to be perceived sexually; the scene is only written in such a fashion when it is Sasuke biting her, and Karin herself states in chapter 635 that she "doesn't like anyone other than Sasuke biting her".

But for me, the most remarkable aspect of this whole chapter doesn’t come until immediately afterwards. After Sasuke’s wounds have closed, he sits and tells her “You saved me, Karin” and she replies with an “aa” which more or less means “yeah”.

That is extremely relevant, becausewhen has Sasuke readily acknowledged anyone’s help in the way he acknowledged hers? Even going as far as to tell her that she saved him? Not even a nonchalant “Thanks, Karin”. No, he gives her complete acknowledgement and gratitude for her help. And Karin, instead of flushing or trying to act tsundere about it, replies with a simple “Yeah…”. If you ask me, it is a tender moment; one where Sasuke is not only receiving and accepting, but giving, too.

Afterwards, the two of them stay like that, sitting together, as Karin regains her breath.

Then comes chapter 413, and right from the start we see Sasuke reacting differently to his surroundings. Suigetsu, Juugo and him have decided to attack together this time like the team they are, and Sasuke is finally taking the Hachibi seriously. Alas, what I truly meant when I said that he was ‘reacting differently’ was actually this. If you remember, just a few paragraphs ago I mentioned how when Suigetsu and Juugo got beaten at the start of the battle, Sasuke merely entered the fray as if nothing had happened at all.

This time, though? Karin is in danger for the first time. And it just so happens that this time, Sasuke is shown to be clearly concerned for his teammate’s well-being, and he actually hurries and makes his way towards them to inquire whether they were alright or not. Is it a coincidence that the first time that Karin's directly involved is also the first time that Sasuke shows obvious concern for Taka's well-being? Up to you to decide, but I don't think so. And I actually believe that there are facts backing up that conclusion; facts that I’ll mention in the following paragraphs.

In chapter 413, Sasuke gets hurt for the second time. By running towards them, he wasn’t careful and left an opening; the Hachibi was too fast for any of them, and Sasuke got his torso blown off. Juugo catches him in midair, and Karin proceeds to hurriedly make her way towards him. Once again, she shows obvious worry and shock as she sees the state he was in—worse that he has been. Ever. But again, she doesn’t waste any time and doesn’t lose her clear head, quickly proceeding to pull down the top of her shirt only to reveal yet more biting marks covering her torso. It’s obvious she had the intention to heal Sasuke, even if that meant losing all her chakra and ending up completely exhausted; but Juugo reassures that he’d take care of it.

He does just that and by chapter 414 Sasuke is already awake. Karin wastes no time. Regardless of the fact that she again shows genuine care for his well-being as she thinks to herself “thank God, you’re okay ♡”, she tells him instead “Are you awake, Sasuke? Come on, get a grip!” and makes sure that he knows the gravity of the situation, also helping him and supporting his body as they make a run for it. In the following two pages, we’re shown Sasuke’s response as both Juugo and Suigetsu risk their lives for him. Juugo, who saved him just like Karin did two chapters ago, got a “Juugo…” and the same thing was given to Suigetsu as he risks himself to give the other three time to escape. See the difference?

By the end of chapter 414, comes the moment as far as Team development goes. As Karin tells him that “We won’t get away… what do we do!?” Sasuke proceeds to stare at his fallen teammates one at a time. First Suigetsu, who is completely liquefied. Then Juugo, who now looks like a kid. And lastly is Karin, who is completely torn up. So basically, he goes from: Karin, Suigetsu, Juugo and back to Karin again, and then come the flashbacks in chronological order. So, first comes Karin’s, then Juugo’s and lastly Suigetsu’s.

After this, Sasuke closes his eyes, recalls Team 7 for the first and only time in Part II as a whole (so far), and then he opens his eyes and uses Amaterasu. The sidetext illustrates it pretty well, “he remembers that he isn’t alone. Sasuke puts everything he has in Amaterasu!”

Basically, the guy is doing it to protect Taka just like they protected him; right then he acknowledged their bonds, and reacted to them.

“Who will survive the clash…?! Next issue, 'SASUKE’S DECISION'!”

And lastly, we get Chapter 415. The SasuKarin chapter by excellence (of this segment) for reasons that are pretty obvious and straight-forward.

As the Hachibi falls and starts being consumed by Amaterasu, Sasuke feels a surge of pain in his eye; he’s in no condition to run, Juugo is helping Suigetsu, and the only one who notices the danger and acts is Karin. So Karin grabs Sasuke and Juugo (who is carrying Suigetsu), and makes a run for it. Holding all of them. But then the Hachibi falls and the strength of it is enough to send them jumping in the air, and while Karin manages to get them out of danger's way, she’s not so lucky herself.

And that’s when Sasuke reacts. He raises his head, only to witness how a huge tentacle was just about to fall over Karin, which would completely crush her. Look at the lines drawn around him; not even Karin, who is the one with one foot on the grave, has them. Plus, the way they’re drawn was a nice detail; there she is, seconds away from being crushed, and their eyes meet. It’s then that Sasuke cuts the tentacle, pulling chakra out of God knows where, succeeding in saving Karin. Or so he thought.

Sasuke is, again, quick to notice that Karin’s life is in danger once more, as a tentacle burning with the black flames is about to hit her from behind. Sasuke screams “Karin, run!”, but there was no way to avoid it and Karin is hit.

Sasuke’s reaction is raw and immediate. Take a look at the way every panel in the page is drawn with motion lines around. Since there’s barely any movement, there’s no other point to them but to emphasize the urgency of the situation; the desperation, the shock, everything.

Look at the frame in the top-right corner. Look at Sasuke, the guy is actually freaking out. His first instinct seems to be trying to reach for her, but Juugo stops him and tries to forcefully pull him away (sfx: grabbing). Juugo tells him things like they are:

“Forget her! We need to run before the fire consumes us, too!”
“Wait, Juugo!”
“No!”
- raw here, where you can observe Sasuke's yell is bolded, unlike Juugo's.

Sasuke irrationally refuses to leave her behind. Even though he knew that it’s impossible to turn off those flames; even though he knows that Juugo is right: if they stay, they die; the three of them. But Sasuke wouldn’t listen. He risks all their lives in the offhand chance that there might actually be a way to save Karin.

His drive is so strong, his determination and will so unwavering, that as he looks at her and desperately calls her name in his mind “Karin!” (in nice bold, at that), he manages to unleash a new power. A new ability of his sharingan, which we would later find out is called Enton: Kagutsuchi. All of it, to save Karin.

And he manages to put those flames out, contrary to what any probability would’ve suggested (notice even Juugo is shocked speechless). He’s then assaulted by a new pain in his eye, but yet again that doesn’t deter him from being the first to notice the fact that Karin was, again, in danger; “Juugo, get Karin! Now!” he yells, once again showing raw emotion and urgency out of open concern, something very rare in him.

But he does it in this chapter over and over again, and solely thanks to one girl: Karin.

desperate sasuke is a sight to behold

One thing I found quite telling about all this, is that honestly it’d have fit a lot better if Juugo was the one in Karin’s place. Why? Because physically he’s the strongest one out of the bunch. Sure thing he was turning into a child, but he showed pretty clearly that he was still strong as he got a hold of Karin and brought her to where they were, so he’d have been perfectly capable of getting Sasuke, Karin and Suigetsu out of harm’s way. Besides, the way he was so ready to leave Karin behind despite being the kindest of the bunch would’ve been more befitting of Karin, who will always keep a level-head and stay pragmatic regardless of her feelings.

Alas, Kishimoto drew Sasuke reacting that strongly over Karin. And that is pretty meaningful on its own, even without looking at how huge that chapter is for SasuKarin. But interestingly enough, five years and 200 chapters later, Chapter 619 seems to put just how meaningful it is into words—but I'll get to that later, in order to respect the Manifesto's chronological order.


After all this, Taka didn’t really show up much; in fact they went on a hiatus for like 30 chapters. But when they did show up again, for those of us who keep an eye out for it, it was easy to notice that one thing hadn’t changed: Kishimoto was still highlighting Sasuke and Karin among Taka, focusing on their reactions and thought processes over Suigetsu's and Juugo's.

For example, we have chapter 453. In this chapter, there are two things that I thought were worth pointing out; after Sasuke attacks Tobi and lands on the branch directly opposite of Karin, Tobi mentions that something happened to Konoha and Sasuke has a visible reaction. Still, he remains silent. So, who’s the one to inquire about Konoha for him? That’s right, Karin. Who doesn’t give a damn about Konoha and doesn’t have any reasons to do so, but she still asks directly after Sasuke’s reaction was shown. And this is not the only time such a thing happens in the chapter.

Later, after Suigetsu suggests that they should go directly to the place where the Hokage’s meeting is being held, Karin says nothing. But when Sasuke is shown being all “…” Karin does react, and turns towards Suigetsu to give him a reproaching look. In the following panel, Sasuke confirms that he has indeed accepted Suigetsu’s suggestion, and Karin is shown thinking that “Ugh… things just got a whole lot more complicated” which confirms that she had, indeed, read his expression and anticipated what he would do, since otherwise she’d have glared at Suigetsu from the start. I point this out because it is another display of a very simple fact: Karin knows Sasuke.

I also think it’s interesting to note how Karin seems to be the only one who isn’t happy at all with them going to the Kage Summit. I believe that this might come to play a role later, though of course, this is purely speculation from my part.

Manifesto Update: ^ that did indeed turn out to be Kishimoto’s foreshadowing at his finest. So let’s take a look at what happened during the Kage Summit and what it ultimately lead to, shall we?

But before doing that, do not lose sight of the things we learned about SasuKarin during this 1st segment. All the traits that Kishimoto established about their dynamic throughout these chapters will coincidentally come to play a very important role later.

That said, let's get the update started; while this manifesto originally covered up to Chapter 457, the following section (Sasuke's Downfall) will take it from there up to Chapter 489. Lastly, the 3rd section will cover SasuKarin from Chapter 567 onward.

Their Development: b) Sasuke's Downfall

Or, Return to the Index (comments go here as well).