In life, we all need goals to strive for. Yet what happens when one of your goals suddenly shifts. Do you let your mindset shift or do you decide to keep going in the direction you wanted? What if your original direction brought harm?

In Chapter 627 of Naruto, Sasuke Uchiha makes arguably the biggest decision in his young life so far. When confronting the previous four Hokages of Konoha Village, he learns about the true origins of how Konoha was formed. Sasuke then decides to go from being a criminal of Konoha to becoming one of its protectors. His decision and also the past behavior of Madara Uchiha makes you think how much emphasis there needs to be made on developing teenagers with critical thinking skills.



As you may have noticed, we are living in a world where critical thinking is slowly dying. Many young people know what’s happening out there, but they do not understand why things happen. A majority of media outlets that provide information tend to be very biased. The worst part is how parents tend to spoil their children, which leads them unable to be self-sufficient and to think for themselves as they get older. After all, adults are the ones who are supposed to shape children for the better.

You can arguably say that Madara Uchiha had the behavior of a child who couldn’t handle facing himself. He constantly believed that whatever he thinks is right, despite the wishes of his former friend and fellow Konoha Village co-founder, Hashirama Senju. It’s funny how Madara used to preach peace and love with Hashimara until the Uchiha Clan decided to attack the Senju Clan. You could say that he was a coward who had no courage to try and set things right for the better. Sure, activating the Sharingan does make you look cool, but outside appearances don’t always get you by. For critical thinking to happen at times, that person needs to be taught not to fear the unknown and learn to how to handle it. Imagine if Madara took the time to look himself in the mirror after Hashirama and Tobirama Senju voiced their concerns about him being the 2nd Hokage.

For Sasuke, he was very fortunate to have a brother who took it all in to try and protect the things he cared about. Imagine if you went through what Itachi Uchiha did for Sasuke. You could break at any moment. His epic final speech towards Sasuke caused him to walk out of a path of revenge and onto a path of redemption. Which leads to an interesting question: can emotions help with critical thinking? It can be the case with regards to emotional intelligence. Developing a good amount of emotional intelligence leads to a better understanding of yourself and better relationships with people. Facing a zombified Itachi was an emotional necessity as it forced Sasuke to look at his character as a whole. Emotions do unlock new realizations that may positively impact your future, which it did for Sasuke.

What it comes down to is this - if you want the younger generation to make something of themselves, take the responsibility to teach them that life isn’t defined in absolutes or they’ll be absolute zeroes.

No youth with potential deserves a real-life Infinite Tsukuyomi, right?

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