Naruto Sharingan

People mistake A-personalities with being an Alpha male. An A vs B personality has to do with wanting to be in control or not wanting to control. Alpha dominance, at least in primate studies, has to do with who gains the leadership of the harem/family so there can only be one Alpha - every other male just wants (and usually tries to steal) that position.

The fact is all the Shinobi have leadership skills (and as a part of their missions they take control over a situation) but that is not what makes an A-personality or an Alpha. An Alpha has the skills but also must use them to actually be in a position of dominance. Just because someone wants to be an alpha doesn't make them one, and just because someone doesn't want control doesn't mean circumstances won't force them to take control. It is during their missions and most obviously during their battles that we see who naturally takes (or tries to take) the leader position among leaders, becoming the Alpha of the team. Therefore, there would only be one Alpha per team. This is thrown off a bit by the presence of Jounin (who are the leaders wheather the genin like it or not) so each team has two - the Jounin and the leader when the Jounin isn't around (e.g. the Chunin exams).

Below is my list of personalities and Alphas by team:

Team 10 -
Ino: A-personality, Alpha until Shikumaru became a chunin
Chouji: B-personality, Beta
Shikamaru: B-personality, Alpha after became chunin
Asuma: A-personality, Alpha

Team 8 -
Kiba: A-personality, Alpha
Akamaru: B- personality, Beta
Hinata: B-personality, Beta
Shino: A-personality, Beta
Kurenai: B-personality, Alpha

Team Gai -
Neji: A-personality, Alpha
Lee: B-personality (wants to be an A but just become more B around Gai), Beta
Tenten: A-personality, Beta
Gai: A-personality, AlphaTeam

Sand-Gaara: A-personality, Alpha
Kankuro: A-personality, Beta
Temari: A-personality, Beta
Baki: A-personality, Beta to Gaara too

Team 7-Naruto: A-peronsality, Beta*
Sasuke: B-personality (think Itachi), Alpha
Sakura: B-personality turning into A over time, Beta
Kakashi: A-personality, Alpha

*The one exception to the Alpha rule is Naruto's influence on everyone. This is how the list looked before Naruto used his magical powers of persuassion (for more details see the Naruto Bitches thread - http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?p=2789796#post2789796) and made everyone reevaluate how they treated other people. So now the internal team dynamics are the same (just because Kiba, Neji and Gaara are nicer doesn't mean they are not still Alphas) but within the more external dynamic between all the young shinobi, Naruto has come out from behind to become Alpha over all the other team Alphas. The strangeness of this is that he is not Alpha of his own team. Usually Kakashi is there and he takes the Alpha crown but when he's gone, Sasuke takes control. Yes, Naruto is usually the man with the plan, but Sasuke called the shots during the Haku fight and during the 2nd chunin test. And as much as Naruto wants to be the ultimate Alpha, the Hokage, Naruto respects Sasuke and fights him to be acknowledged, not to steal control of Team 7 from Sasuke. The power struggle is the shallowest component of Sasuke and Naruto's relationship.
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Originally Posted by Sho:

Generally, shonen rivals are usually safe from this phenomenon, at least until towards the end of the series. This is because a rival cannot follow in another rival's footsteps. If that was the case, then they would be a follower. No, rivals may be influenced by each other to push themselves, but they cannot, by definition, put themselves on a position lower than their rival which they would be doing by becoming one's bitch. Then they would cease being rivals. So Sasuke is safe from that for the near (and preferably forever) future.

I highlighted what I thought was the most important sentence. By this definition, to be a bitch involves TOTAL devotion to Naruto's ideals, right? Sasuke has been majorly influenced by his friendship and rivalry with Naruto - key evidence is his Orochimaru fight during the Chunin exam and his leaving Naruto alive at the end of the Valley of the End showdown - in both instances, Sasuke put a more healthy growth in moral strength above a shortcut toward revenge ... and these both occured because of Naruto - but he remains his own person. Sasuke believes in Naruto's ideals (and in his strength!) but still he left because he has his OWN destiny to follow. Sasuke cares for and RESPECTS his former teammates (and I suspect deep down still will even after 2.5 years separated), but he respects them as EQUALS. He avoided bitchdom not because he left (partly for his teammates own good if you remember) or because he is a rival but because he is THE RIVAL and THE BEST FRIEND.

Originally Posted by Sho:

Ironically Naruto is Haku's convert, since Naruto learned that philosophy from him originally.

Naruto believes in more than just "protect important friends" (for example, not giving up) but this does seem to be the key lesson taught to and accepted by all bitches, a kind of binding pact that opens you to all good philosophies in Naruto, we can say. This might be why Hinata and Tsunade are a different breed of Naruto bitch - their lesson was the "not give up" one, not the "protect people" message recieved by everyone else - so they have a bit more freedom of character and motivation.

Originally Posted by Sho:

Also, interesting to note is what Orochimaru represents. Orochimaru is the only other character shown in the manga who actually does the same as Naruto. He
converts and makes followers to his cause and to his way of thinking.

The best literary villians are always the ones that somehow are shadows of the protagonist ... not only so they can act as a counterpoint (usually the same ambissions, yet in the opposite direction), but so then the real fear of the hero is that he will become a villian (think the end of LotR, Harry Potter in OotP, or the last fight in Star Wars).
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Naruto's desire to prove himself to Sasuke IS a manifestation of Sasuke's influence on Naruto. Due to no effort on Sasuke's part, Naruto stuck Sasuke on a pedistal and used him as an example of the kind of Shinobi he wished to be. The fact that Sasuke had no active part in the process does NOT negate the role he's played in Naruto's life. Although the Sasuke in Naruto's mind that he's set up as a rival is perhaps a faulty and solely imagined inspiration - it still has been the main motivation in Naruto's rapid growth so it shouldn't be underestimated. Participation is not a prerequsite for influencialness.

Furthermore, I agree that Naruto has had a greater influence on Sasuke than the other way around but Sasuke has taught Naruto what brotherly love feels like, even if he just played the recipient of that love. By leaving, he unexpectedly gave Naruto for the first time an altruistic nature. Naruto has wanted to protect his important people since Haku but why? Until Sasuke left, even his protective ideals were just off shoots of his ultimate goal to become Hokage and gain recognition. His seeming selfless acts were somewhat geared toward his selffish aims. Now he pursues Sasuke, not because it will make him acknowledged or help him gain his Hokage vision, not because Konoha asks it of him. He does do it because of his promise to Sakura. And he does it because that's the only way left he can help his friend. There is no alterior motive here. Because of the overwhelming need to rescue Sasuke, Naruto has learned to put his goals aside for the good of another.
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