Naruto is a Story About Love

because you're my friend gar says that loneliness is the most painful thing in the world and Haku even earlier on says that accepting that no one wants you and that you are unnecessary is the most painful thing that is one of the core messages that the story of Naruto conveys it's not just loneliness though it's the feeling of not being understood not being given a chance and then being told that you don't deserve to be understood that your life Your Existence truly has no value or weight no one cares about you no one in this world desires to save you you don't deserve to be saved for gara and Haku they were hunted by those around them they had parents who wanted to kill them they were told that in that world they don't deserve to live when gar sees Sasuke's eyes he sees a mirror of of his own he tells the U that he's got eyes that no real isolation and eyes that recognize it as the greatest pain in this world Sasuke's loneliness has been forced on him by Itachi coupled with the fact that he is a naturally more distant more introverted person the pain that he has to carry and the burden of being the Avenger is one that he feels that no one can truly understand Sasuke says that he considered Naruto's desperation to create bonds and his desire to not be alone as a weakness so he trained as if creating those bonds and as if trying to move past or recreate a sense of family and love that he had lost would strip him of his anger and his fuel to gain Revenge which can partly explain why he was so reluctant to open up to anyone but it's this very sentiment that Echoes throughout the Shinobi world this belief that bonds are what makes people weak Shinobi live a lonely life by Design I'll always think to Kakashi who lived the F Shinobi lives in his own life lost his father lost his best friend forced to kill his other teammate and lost his teacher he should be the one ready to abandon all of his remaining friendships and yet he is the very first person to introduce this idea in the series that choosing love over anything else is the correct decision as early as the 12th chapter Kakashi says the line that defines him as a person which is that he will never let his comrades die Haku a few chapters after that would go on to say that when people are protecting something truly precious to them that is when they become strong when Sasuke first introduces himself to the team Theo has big goals and he claims that he won't die until he has a chance at Itachi that nothing would stop him from getting his revenge Sasuke never had anybody precious to protect that was taken away from him by Itachi because he was shunned by The Village he didn't see any worth in having these relationships team seven aside from a moment of Common Ground he never really saw Naruto as anything other than annoy someone who desires acknowledgement can never be strong by their own merits but when he and Naruto are fighting Haku he notices Haku about to deliver a fatal blow to his teammate and suddenly he jumps in front of Naruto's body to protect him from the incoming attack Sasuke takes a fatal blow for Naruto and the U says that his body just moved on its own Sasuke saves Naruto for no real reason he wasn't in Naruto's debt for doing the same earlier he didn't do anything to prove to Sasuke that he deserved to be saved at that moment at this point Naruto was just a teammate nothing more and yet Sasuke was willing to throw all the away his big dreams and goals to save him this is the moment for me that represents the true breakthrough for Sasuke and Naruto the two of them constantly bickered and competed as foes but like the reincarnated Shinobi before them there was a deeper level of understanding that words couldn't do justice the deeper understanding was always loneliness but also love without Sasuke's family and Clan he needed somewhere to place that great love he had for his people he desired someone precious his body chose the one person who understood him greater than anyone else and so they each found a friend who wanted the exact same thing as the other to become strong enough to achieve their goals Haku once asked Naruto that if he had found someone in his life who more than respected him someone who more than acknowledged his existence and even cared for him wouldn't that person ultimately become the most important person in his life Naruto thinks to iruka when he's asked that but Sasuke sacrificing himself for Naruto allows Sasuke to eclipse iruka and anyone else that could possibly be in that position because he finally found someone who could truly understand him someone who was just like him he found someone who was ready to do anything for him this is the moment where Sasuke becomes someone truly precious to Naruto and Naruto's body reacts to sas's heroic act from here onwards Sasuke becomes the number one priority for Naruto above anything else even above becoming Hokage Naruto and Sasuke diverge through the interjections of Orochimaru and Itachi Itachi torturing Sasuke by putting him in atsuku yomi to relive that day for another 24 hours leads Sasuke to believe that he deserves to be lonely because he wasn't strong enough to protect his family so he accepts orochimaru's power and says that he will do whatever it takes even sell himself to the devil if it means gaining the strength to take his brother down in their first battle at the Valley of the end Sasuke claims that two high level sh noi are supposed to be able to understand each other without even speaking yet here Naruto cannot truly understand Sasuke he claims to and he tries to but he doesn't truly understand what it is to know familial love and then lose it he doesn't know what it's like to really know hatred and crave Vengeance like Sasuke does Naruto tries through sheer force to prevent Sasuke from being ruined and falling down this path but what this fight also says is that when it comes to our loved ones it's not enough to meet them on our terms love is not only that intense desire that Naruto has to protect his friend but love is to understand to fundamentally understand the person you're dealing with and what they've been through to meet them on their terms and to understand why they feel the way they do and to understand what factors have influenced their choices this fight opens Sasuke up as a character for someone whose world is ruled by hatred love love ripples throughout his character of course he is someone who loves so intensely that when he has love ripped away from him it fuels his hatred to burn that much stronger this entire battle is him trying to prove that his hate is enough that his hate can move mountains that he has enough hate to do what needs to be done and yet he's unable to kill Naruto the love that he has for his closest friend outweighs the hate he has for Itachi but of course the young U ultimately leaves the village by the time their second battle comes around over 230 chapters and 3 years have passed Naruto has now learned about the curse of hatred he gained a father figure in jiah over the past few years and lost him he lost Kakashi in the village temporarily he lost gar temporarily he mourned all of these people even if some of their deaths weren't permanent he's matured but back at orochimaru's hideout he tried once again to appeal to his best friend but Sasuke seems so distant one thing this series does so well is to offer a sense of perspective it is so tiring to see Naruto repeatedly go through the same Journey trying to get Sask back when it seems as though the uch really is a lost cause coming out of the five Kake Summit what felt like the entire world was clamoring for someone to kill Sasuke and Naruto had a panic attack because of it Sasuke had essentially become a terrorist in their world attacking Killer B and the cloud attacking gar the rag and invading the five KAG Summit then killing danzo Waging War on the leaf even the konoha 11 were ready to take their former teammate down after his very first fight with Sasuke jiah beg Naruto to leave Sasuke behind it is the tragic path of self-righteous fools he said history is against him his own DNA is against him in this fight it is the nature of the Shinobi world for bonds to be severed Shinobi are tools to be used by their Nations it is the very nature of the Shinobi world for individuals to be alone that's what these tools signed up for right the very threads of Fate are against him hashirama and M also quarrel hashirama was once like Naruto unwavering in his belief that MRA was actually a good person that he was someone worth keeping alive because like Sasuke madra understood hashirama on a level that couldn't really be explained or understood by anyone else mad and hashirama were able to reconcile and defy the Fate that their Clans Were Meant to follow for a time until toi Rama and other factors were able to get into his ear and he slowly and systematically severed that relationship through the systems of the Shinobi World madra astutely noted that hashirama had changed fundamentally he notes that his friend was not the kind l Kate he used to be there was a time where hashirama recognized the faults in the Shinobi World a time where he would never give up on his friend and the First Hokage explicitly States how he believed that the village was more important than his friend hashirama sju explicitly chose the Shinobi world and its Creed over love jariah is another example of someone who gave up on a friend back in part one of Naruto he tells the jiriki that Sasuke is exact L like Orochimaru that he will turn out just like him that he was a fool for chasing his friend jiah chose to sever that Bond Obito because of the Shinobi lifestyle is disillusioned by the Shinobi world and he directs his anger towards relationships believing that it is because these Bonds were formed that he feels the pain that he does so he advises against love against friendship saying that it only brings pain and suffering Itachi of course though manipulated chose the village the system over his clan but nar's stubbornness and more specifically his desire to understand are his two most incredible gifts his rare empathy in a world that doesn't think twice about the opponents in front of them is such a stark contrast to so many others even after killing jiah Naruto listens to nagato's point of view now here against Sasuke the jiri changes his approach to dealing with his best friend instead of trying to pull him out the darkness to forcibly take him back he now understands Sasuke's rage and desire for vengeance he had the same feelings when he fought Nago Naruto can now see how much the U loved his brother and how much his clan meant to him he can understand what it means to bring honor back to his family more than that he understands the events that led up to this point he empathizes with his friend acknowledging that he very well could have been Del Sasuke's hand in his own life so instead of of trying to force Sasuke to return He instead tells Sasuke that he wants to share his burden of hate throw it all to me only I can fulfill that Duty that battle with Haku is really what set this all In Motion Sasuke's sacrifice started it all for Naruto Sasuke already proved himself as someone who would do whatever to save a friend now this is Naruto returning the favor when Naruto says that it hurts him when he sees Sasuke h hurting that is where it all began there is a level of humanity that Naruto as a series aspires to translate and its obsession with bonds and choosing love over the system is ultimately what seeps through the only way to stop this cycle of hatred and violence is through love herez in hashirama and so many other Shinobi state that their goals are to leave the world a better place for the Next Generation but that was never looked at through a lens of care because shobi are fundamentally opposed to these ideas the White Fang took his own life because of how he was treated after he chose his comrades over the mission so why would anyone else do the same time and again Kishimoto suggests that loneliness deprives us of our Humanity it robs us of the greatest joy the greatest aspect of our Humanity which is the ability to love the ability to love others and form connections and meaningful relationships these bonds give meaning to our lives and to our existence the characters who choose against that don't succeed and some characters even come back to recognize their failures in that department what brings Obito back to himself back to the person that he was isn't the acceptance of solitude no it's his connection with rain it's in living up to what she expected him to become living up to the type of person she would approve of saucery of the akatski is someone who turned out the way he did because of the loneliness he felt but in his parents's arms while he died this was the only time he was able to find peace Ma's ultimate goal is the infinite sugomi the dream world which he achieves temporarily but where M finds true peace and happiness is in reuniting with hashirama forgiving the very man who took him down because that connection they had was greater than anything on the other side hashirama was happy is dying alongside his best friend dreaming about having a dream drink with his War buddy what Naruto fears the most is this very loneliness he calls being alone hell he knows firsthand what that place feels like and there are tons of other people who can validate and Echo his sentiments the one thing he will absolutely not fail in is allowing his best friend to face that hell once again he will not allow Sasuke to Bear the world's hatred and darkness alone and even if he dies he will make sure that Sasuke dies so that they will have each other in the afterlife at least in death and past it he'll still be by his best friend side that statement in itself is so powerful and it's just another Testament to how much Sasuke means to him and how far he is willing to go for him they both see self-sacrifice in this series as the ultimate form of love and Naruto here is just trying to return the favor from so many years ago Sasuke wanted to defeat Naruto to sever his final Bond because the love he had for his friend was too great too debilitating Naruto is not the only one who chooses Love Sasuke does so much out of love when he finds out the truth about his brother he is able to put aside all of the torture Itachi put him through to choose to love him again because of how much Itachi meant to him how much he dreamt of being like his brother in the final battle Naruto represents love as an unrelenting UNC compromising Force his entire character builds up to this moment both inside and outside of battle the immense chakra reserves all of his abilities the stubborn yet empathetic friend that he's always been the maturity of his emotions all of that makes for an individual who no matter what Sasuke throws at him he won't lose and he isn't trying to win either he's not trying to take his friend out the way Naruto fights here is to Simply block him like one big bear hug letting Sask know that no matter what he will always be there he will never be alone and for Sasuke this Revelation says a lot that despite everyone he's lost despite all that he's been through he's been able to sever every single Bond but for some reason his love for Naruto remains as the final attachment the final barrier between him and complete darkness all this time Naruto's warmth his Radiance his presence still lingered on in Sasuke and he could not understand why as their battle reaches its conclusion Sasuke asks Naruto why why does he keep involving himself with Sasuke why is he so insistent on saving him and to me this panel parallels what Sasuke said the day he risked his life for Naruto because Here Naruto says that he doesn't really understand it and it's not like he can control it either it's just that when he sees Sasuke alone take on such burdens and suffer it hurts him as well and back then Sasuke said that he doesn't know why but his body moved for him and after they discuss this there is a look of relief on Sasuke's face it made me think of M's last moment of Happiness when hashirama visits him at the end a look that says despite it all he is happy to be with his friend for a kid that's been through what he has been through this is what it took for him to realize that he does not need to carry that burden anymore Sasuke has accepted that he isn't alone anymore he has finally acknowledged that he wanted to be friends with Naruto and to be just like him all along he was glad that there was someone just like him that he was chasing after him this whole time that look on his face when Naruto says that he feels Sasuke's pain says it all that's a look of realization an epiphany Sasuke finally takes the time to reflect and to process his own emotions now I can admit I lost he says we can finally admit that he lost the internal battle that he's been fighting he can accept that he is indeed worthy of being loved he can accept that it is okay for him to love he knows now that bonds are the mark of the truly strong that's what made him strong loving others forming friendships these are the quintessential human experiences and that is what makes life worth living above everything else Naruto has always been a story [Music] about [Music] [Music]

Channel: Sage's Rain

Views: 125,603

Keywords: anime, tv, naruto, sasuke, uchiha, naruto uzumaki, sasuke uchiha, itachi uchiha, jiraiya, kakashi

Id: TVNM7rINGpM

Length: 19min 49sec (1189 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 16 2023