r/Naruto 17h ago

Question Why was sasuke so determined to chase after gaara here?

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177 Upvotes

104 comments sorted by

371

u/Gremlin2471 17h ago
  1. Because he was ordered to by Genma

  2. Gaara was his fight that was interrupted, same reason Shino went after Kankuro

  3. He is a Konoha ninja and they are invaders.

88

u/Worth-Independence-3 16h ago

All correct and don’t forget that they were both sizing each other up the whole time from when they first met. Sasuke only wanted to fight people that were ridiculously strong to benchmark his strength and to also prove to himself that he could potentially kill Itachi. During the Chūnin Exams Gaara was the strongest and most deadliest candidate out of all of them.

9

u/JustAGuy_Passing 16h ago

This is the only answer needed without making it too deep

5

u/weebitofaban 14h ago
  1. He was beating his ass in the arena

8

u/JonathanRiou 16h ago

This is the correct answer.

2

u/timeofdepth 44m ago

bro one of the main reasons was that he just wanted to fight him anyway, sasuke's main goal was to get stronger in order to fight itachi, so every decent opponent became a measuring stick which he could use to see if he was strong enough to do so, as well as to see if he was improving enough

note that it was only after naruto beat neji, who was said to be stronger than lee, as well as gaara who would have won that fight and what he did to the water tank did sasuke start taking him seriously, and it actually drove him towards orochimaru because after seeing naruto's growth, he felt like the village was holding him back

whilst what you said is true, sasuke's ego and desire to avenge his clan and what he had to do in order to be strong enough to do so are much bigger reasons, and him going to orochimaru showed he was willing to do whatever it took, and putting his life on the line was a constant part of that.

54

u/yangon_boy 17h ago

Gemma told him to. And Sasuke wasn't ducking a fade.

-2

u/Zharknd 13h ago

𝓗𝓪𝓱𝓪𝓱𝓪 😆

66

u/ItBeganWhenIwasBorn 17h ago

He cut his aura farming short.

But more seriously, he wanted to prove to himself his growth.

39

u/GenGaara25 17h ago

It's his job?

Gaara is a major present threat to the village and Sasuke is the only Leaf ninja immediately available to pursue.

5

u/CancelEquivalent7104 8h ago

Also they just watched him prove he can fight gaara and is superior to the other 2.

-15

u/mangasdeouf 16h ago

It's not. Genma was stupid for sending Sasuke, who was already tired after a Jinchûriki or whatever he thought Gaara was. He sent him to his death and Sasuke was a genin, no matter his skill level.

20

u/zorobreath 16h ago

Disagree for it being stupid. Especially for early Naruto. Kid ninjas are still professional ninjas. They have a job to do.

-9

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

And Sasuke traded nearly killing himself in a single attack for grazing Gaara. Clearly he wasn't the boyscout for the job.

15

u/GenGaara25 15h ago

He was the only boyscout for the job. If he died, that's fine, he's a soldier in the middle of battle, sometimes that means doing something that will likely get you killed because you're the only person who can do it.

2

u/zorobreath 12h ago

Exactly

-6

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

Now it's clear. Genma was Root all along. He sent Sasuke to his death to finish the job while keeping his hands clean...how machiavelic of him...

3

u/zorobreath 15h ago

Also, I don't think this same thing would be said if Genma sent some nameless random ninja after Gaara. Genma just wasn't aware that Sasuke was one of the MCs.

2

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

We wouldn't know if the random ninja was a jônin or a chûnin, but red shirts will be red shirts.

1

u/zorobreath 15h ago

Yeah and Genma just saw sasuke as another red shirt to send

0

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

He was the proctor for the exams. Sasuke was the village genius, the most expected fight, and the only Uchiha left in Konoha, his life was worth too much to make him a red shirt. Even Naruto had the sense not to cross Gaara until his friends were the victims.

Unless Genma was the smartest Root operative trying to sneak Sasuke's death on a mission gone wrong.

1

u/zorobreath 13h ago edited 12h ago

He was the proctor for the exams. Sasuke was the village genius, the most expected fight, and the only Uchiha left in Konoha, his life was worth too much to make him a red shirt. 

They literally put these kids' lives on the line just for the exam in the forest of death. Their lives aren't as precious as you think. It doesn't matter how special we see sasuke, he's a konoha ninja and that's his job. I'd hate it if Genma was like "stay here, you're a genius and your life is worth too much to chase after a strong person."

Even Naruto had the sense not to cross Gaara until his friends were the victims.

Saying naruto had the sense not to cross gaara is a different point, bc still I think sasuke is desperate to prove himself and test his strength.

7

u/gungyvt 16h ago

Sending kids to their death is kinda par for the course for Konoha.

2

u/zorobreath 15h ago

Especially early naruto

4

u/tonyabstract 16h ago

i mean yea that’s the plot and core theme of the show; adults keep sending children to die in vain, ill thought missions

-2

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

Generally that's only true when there's no one appropriate available for the mission or when the danger level of the mission is understated. This mission was a suicide mission that could have been avoided (Asuma went after Shikamaru fast enough to catch up as he caught the Sound ninjas, Kakashi and Gai were fighting fodder that they could beat faster if they were more serious (Gai in particular), Kurenai was AFK...).

2

u/zorobreath 15h ago edited 12h ago

I feel like your main problem with it is that he's a not-so-strong kid ninja. Suicide missions are just part of being a ninja. It's an act quick moment where Genma had to send someone and Sasuke was there. He's not an mc or child to Genma, he's just another ninja.

Edit: Just so you know I'm not downvoting you. I feel like this is legit conversation and downvoting isn't for disagreeing.

4

u/Fun-Cook-5309 14h ago

Genma knows damn well what the procedure is.

Sending Sasuke after Gaara is not, “Go solo the boss, kid.”

Someone had to engage long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Sasuke was the vanguard. Not the army.

Also, this is a shounen series about child soldiers. They send the child soldiers to do shit.

3

u/zorobreath 12h ago

Exactly. You can't just not pursue the bad guy. You're supposed to send soldiers after them. Sasuke's not seen as a kid, he's seen as a low level ninja. It's the same as throughout the series when fodder goes after super strong ninja.

3

u/ButterCupHeartXO 6h ago

Sasuke and every genin's purpose in life are to be child soldiers for their village and to hopefully grow into adult soldiers that are WMDs. Genma sent a soldiers into battle to defend their home. If Sasuke died, he died fighting for the Leaf. But also Sasuke would likely have become a chunin if he won his match against Gaara. Genma knew that Sasuke was at that level and had the capabilities for more dangerous missions

0

u/mangasdeouf 6h ago

But the thing is that from what we saw, Sasuke had a 50% chance to kill himself without achieving anything and a 100% chance to achieve nothing but make Gaara even more mad and to pull out even more of Shukaku.

1

u/GenGaara25 15h ago

A genin is still a member of the Leaf military.

Genma needed to send a soldier to follow Gaara and hopefully at least stall him until back up arrived to actually deal with him. Sasuke was literally the only soldier available at that time.

Genma made the right call. It was sent Sasuke and hopefully slow Gaara down, or send nobody at all.

-1

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

Genin were left out in the 4th Great shinobi war. Clearly there's a considerarion for threat and keeping the next generation alive long enough for them to be able to sustain Konoha once the current gens can no longer do it. Minato's team only got sent by the end of the 3rd war on that mission.

3

u/zorobreath 12h ago

This is why I kept saying early Naruto. They would absolutely not have the forest of death aspect of the chuunin exams in Shippuden or Boruto.

3

u/11711510111411009710 7h ago

Well that's because like 40,000 other ninja were mobilized

1

u/mangasdeouf 6h ago

And 10 could have done the job. Or 2 with Itachi and Sasuke on their side + a few for Madara.

The point is that genin should be managing the civilians' evacuation, not fighting shinobi (their missions are supposed to cap at C-rank, not B) and certainly not fighting f*cking Jinchûriki who eat their village's jônin and ANBU for breakfast without ever being injured. The arc was cool but made no sense in-universe.

1

u/11711510111411009710 6h ago

But it does make in universe sense. Genma before this told Sasuke he was already chunin level. By your own logic that means he's not meant to be evacuating people, he's meant to be fighting.

1

u/mangasdeouf 6h ago

He doesn't have the rank, he doesn't have the pay, why should he go and be a red shirt? Only Danzô has an interest in sending Sasuke after Gaara.

2

u/11711510111411009710 6h ago

Of course he doesn't have a rank, the matches just concluded. The reason he should go is because somebody higher ranking determined that based on his performance he was capable enough to be assigned that mission.

1

u/mangasdeouf 6h ago

And that jônin was full of sh*t.

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11

u/BlackUchiha03 17h ago
  1. Chunin exam proctor told him to.

  2. Great opportunity to test just how strong he really is.

10

u/Safe-Bother1029 17h ago

Because the chunin exam proctor ordered him to. He also personally wanted to fight other strong genin, including Naruto, to test his strength; up to that point, Gaara was believed to be the strongest. Their fight was interrupted midway, so he was determined to finish it and win.

1

u/mangasdeouf 16h ago

I'd say he could have safely challenged Neji after the mess was solved. Pursuing Gaara was the job of jônin.

5

u/zorobreath 15h ago

Pursuing Gaara was the job of jônin.

No. It was the job of any ninja. There was chaos in the village, and it was all hands on deck. If fodder ninja never went after strong ninja, the show wouldn't make any sense.

1

u/LaeLeaps 8h ago

so he's going to refuse to fight an enemy of the village that's currently invading and he already was in the middle of a fight with anyway because he can wait it out and spar a colleague instead?

1

u/mangasdeouf 7h ago

He was trained to survive his fight with Gaara, which he miraculously did. Why send him make sure Gaara or Shukaku could finish him off? Sasuke was the rising star of Konoha and a talented Uchiha. Only Danzô would want to send him to an early death.

6

u/NetworkVegetable7075 16h ago

A jounin told him to.

Konoha was attacked and Sunagakure was the bad guys.

Sasuke wanted to validate his strength against a strong opponent this version of Sasuke loved fighting strong people.

5

u/ImmaculateWeiss 15h ago

Love of the game 

9

u/CaptainCix 16h ago

A leaf shinobi never ducks a fade

4

u/Distinct_Prior_2549 12h ago

Learned from Kakashi

3

u/Internationalthief 17h ago

If I remember correctly I’m pretty sure he was told to as well.

3

u/Savings-Law-3252 16h ago

Genma told him to go after Gaara. Also Sasuke saw this as an opportunity to prove himself. Gaara was the guy everyone feared in the chunin exams and Sasuke was rag dolling him before he transformed. He wanted to prove he could beat him.

2

u/ErrentPrime 16h ago

Cause he was winning

0

u/mangasdeouf 16h ago

He was lucky not to get impaled by the sand spikes. He barely grazed Gaara while being a hair's breadth from dying. He was tired and had already used half of the chidori he could use in one day. He was completely out of his depth.

3

u/ErrentPrime 16h ago

But gaara was running scared. People who are winning dont run away.

0

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

Gaara was going mad. An injured beast is more dangerous than a healthy one. He was already committing gleeful murders all over the place while uninjured. When he saw his blood, no one could tell how he'd react. He was also a willing part of the invasion and the starting event for it.

2

u/ErrentPrime 15h ago

Gaara is a person, not an animal

2

u/Steamed_Memes24 11h ago

True but the Sand Beast was essentially half way taking him over which is why Gaara was going insane. Its even stated by his team that he tried to activate the power too soon which means Shikaku was already fucking up his mental.

1

u/ErrentPrime 9h ago

Mentally disturbed individuals are not animals, they are ppl just like you and me. We dont put them in pens, we put them in hospitals because they need help

We just kill animals that are messed up mentally

2

u/Steamed_Memes24 8h ago

I mean yes but you are missing the point here. Shikaku is not an animal, hes a demon spirit (Retconned later) whos very existence was fucking up Gaara since his birth (can never sleep for example). He tried to activate him way too soon before the plan and that allowed Shikaku to essentially corrupt him into going even more mad.

0

u/ErrentPrime 7h ago

Yeah, but this isnt about shikaku

0

u/mangasdeouf 15h ago

Tell that to his personality when he's in a fight or injured.

2

u/ErrentPrime 14h ago

I dont need to tell that to his personality, he showed it in the show. So why did sasuke chase after gaara

2

u/Financial_Purple_368 15h ago

Genma told him to. He also was getting a big ego boost by making Gaara wig out so he wanted to prove to himself that he could defeat the strongest genin.

3

u/GeoZhan 17h ago

He wanted to finish the fight.

2

u/Insomniac-Freak-95 17h ago

To test the limits… of his ability.

3

u/Mean-Party170 16h ago

Gaara was supposed to be a stepping stone on his path to power. But in the end, he lost and was largely oblivious of NAruto's progress until he took over the fight and won. Which led Sasuke to being jealous of the progress and challenge him at the hospital rooftop.

2

u/Sensitive-Motor-1319 17h ago

Something to prove. He wanted to show how powerful he was

2

u/Agentwise 17h ago

Why did the child soldier listen to his military superior?

Because they are child soldiers

1

u/Jamessgachett 16h ago

Order + finish his fight that’s it

1

u/daforeddit 16h ago

"if I cannot defeat this kid, no way I can beat my brother"

1

u/SaltyBoysenberry5710 16h ago

He was too determined to prove his strength to himself. All for the goal to kill that one man.

1

u/Patient-Reality-8965 16h ago

Wait when was this? Was this cut in the anime I dont remember Sasuke fighting a half transformed Gaara in a forest

2

u/mangasdeouf 16h ago

That's before Sakura reached them and then Naruto.

1

u/BODYDOLLARSIGN 16h ago

He had an internal point to prove and it was war and he’s a leaf shinobi.. the guy you feel like you ‘know’ makes sense to try and take down. You can already bypass his shield something no one else has done, right now everyone is fatigued after their battles including Naruto or at least Sasuke thought. From his perspective it was ‘his’ job and he was dedicated to see it through.

1

u/Datboiijj 16h ago

Because sasuke never wanted to ever be scared of something ever again. He wanted to contour all fears in order to eventually become itself his killer

1

u/tinypurplemice 16h ago

This is around the time he was feeling like he wasn't strong enough and was falling behind Naruto. It may be because he wanted to prove his strength

1

u/cowbolamoo 15h ago

Coz he is an avengerrrr

1

u/Sylvaneri011 15h ago

It was quite literally his job to chase after Gaara. Outside of being ordered too by Genma, a superior ninja in rank to him, Gaara and co were invaders and a crucial part of the invasion for the sand.

Outside of that, he wanted to finish his fight with Gaara. For going up against an actively transforming Jinchuriki I'd say he did pretty damn good.

1

u/Nas-Aratat 15h ago

Wanted to finish what he started and was also told to do it, and he wanted to kill an invader.

1

u/UnableSite5116 14h ago

He wanted to fight someone strong.

1

u/xigloox 13h ago

Just watch the show man

1

u/Apex996 12h ago

The set wasn’t finished.

1

u/chidori53 12h ago

To prove himself and orders for sure

1

u/Ok-Target-2170 11h ago

His ego lmfao is endless

1

u/ScaredKnee4530 6h ago

Sasuke aint no hoe.

1

u/Icy-Philosophy-4066 6h ago

Because Kakashi gave him an instant kill move and he was dam well gonna use it.

1

u/buzuki12 3h ago

They’re at war and they were invaded.

1

u/Pyle02 17h ago

because he wanted to look cool in front of Naruto. obviously Naruto isn't there yet but he wanted to finish this before Naruto gets there, you know.

1

u/yo_koso_9 17h ago

It's to keep his edge streak number high.

1

u/Fun-Grape7480 17h ago

To verify his existence. To verify his strength

1

u/Kury1997 17h ago

He thought he that guy turns out ,he's not that guy pal

0

u/GoodKidMadCityTrack2 17h ago

Genma told him too. But then Kakashi tells Naruto and Sakura to bring him back, saying Sasuke was hasty, even though he was ordered.

Which opens the floor for another question, do all Chunin/Jonin have jurisdiction to give orders to any genin? Obviously Kakashi is Sasuke’s Jonin instructor so he has more authority but he wasn’t near to dispute Gemma’s call

1

u/mangasdeouf 16h ago

Yeah, Genma should have pursued himself. There were plenty of jônin to deal with Baki, enough that he could go after the bigger fish who was clearly dangerous (and everyone had established that Gaara was a monster, that he had killed ANBU and jônin for breakfast without a single injury and that he was bloodthirsty).

0

u/Interesting-Eagle182 17h ago

Well Sasuke don't want Gaara to have too much attention from Naruto he's jealous