#sasuke seems to be someone who doesn't necessarily label

[jupiterdolll]

people who stopped liking naruto (the character and show both) due to naruto's focus on sasuke just make me laugh. they think that this somehow diminishes naruto's character, since his dream of becoming hokage is no longer priority.

you can't view naruto as this unchanging entity. yes he's the main character and yes it was ingrained into our brains in the first chapters and arcs that he wants to become hokage. that was his way of saying he wants to be acknowledged and respected. as a child, he seen that the hokage received these things, so naturally that's what set the example. "hokage" was the title of what he desired. but most of all... unbeknownst to him, being understood and loved was his real desire. the actual genuine kind.

the opening arc that sets the tone for the entire story is the land of waves. we immediately get the parallel between haku/zabuza and naruto/sasuke. haku made naruto think more deeply, telling him that beyond acknowledgement and respect there is something so much more valuable. to be understood, loved, and cared for. and within that same arc that is what sasuke shows and gives to naruto. sasuke himself seemingly unaware of his own feelings, his body 'just moved on it's own'.. his instinct made him protect what was precious to him. dreams, future, none of that matters, it dissipates entirely from your mind when you are trying to protect and save what is most precious to you. and for sasuke, that most precious person is naruto.

upon reading/watching this for the first time, the narrative does not let you understand why sasuke came to love naruto this much until later down the line of the story. but right off the bat, kishimoto immediately makes you know that there is something there he feels for naruto so strongly, to the point that it would make a character like sasuke (very goal focused, revenge based, nonchalant about mostly everything else) give up his life for him, disregarding what he shows in the majority of the plot to be his biggest dream: killing itachi.

as the story goes on, again and again naruto witnesses sasuke having these deep emotions for him, for his comrades. love and protection. he learns more about love because of sasuke.. he learns more about his own emotions through sasuke.

sasuke tells naruto that he doesn't understand what losing or having family ties feels like, as naruto never had a family. this is why naruto's desire to be acknowledged and respected at the beginning was more shallow than he had realized. yes, hokage would give you those things, but genuine understanding and love only comes from real connection.

so naruto slowly starts to realize that what actually fulfills him is not becoming hokage, but sasuke. his dream becomes sasuke. sasuke is who understands him, sasuke is who acknowledges him as a person, acknowledges his efforts and courage amongst how lonely he knows naruto feels. naruto now knows that the love and acknowledgment he would get from becoming hokage does not compare to the specific, intimate, personal bond he has with sasuke. he knows that nothing and nobody else can make him feel how sasuke does.

this realization impacts naruto so greatly that he spends the rest of the time chasing sasuke. because sasuke is the first one to open his heart, the first to make him feel comfort upon just being himself. why wouldn't sasuke become his dream? it was destined from the beginning.