My theory of Sasuke's position [Manga Spoiler]

[Merco]

This thread is a complete hypothesis on my part, but this is the feeling I get when I see what's going on with Sasuke and Naruto fighting on the lake.

Sasuke is turning completely delusional. Up until this point, I would never have considered Sasuke to be buddy-buddy at all with Naruto. He's always given Naruto the cold shoulder. He considered himself as being superior to Naruto during the fight on the roof.

Sasuke at one point mentioned, (regarding wearing the headband) "I don't need the headband, you won't be able to touch my head".

There was even a point where Kakashi mentioned that while Naruto wants to be acknowledged by Sasuke... it'll never happen, because that would mean that Sasuke would have to acknowledge the fact that Naruto is on his level. There may be a bit of a rivalry, but that doesn't necessarily equate to friendship.

I completely believe that it's the cursed seal that messed with his mind. In his deluded state, he began to see Naruto in a different light, while remembering past memories in a different aspect. The old Sasuke wouldn't have even thought about killing his own friend to further his ambition to kill Itachi... since that's precisely what Itachi did for himself (minus the ambition part), and while Sasuke does want to kill Itachi... he didn't want to become Itachi in the process.

Because of the cursed seal, instead of seeing Naruto has a rival who's always getting in the way... he deluded himself into believing that Naruto is a close friend just to make things more convenient for him to achieve the Mangekyo Sharingan.

So as a conclusion, here's my pseudo-prediction...

In his state of mind, he has no real friends... everybody is merely a means to an end. (hence he would sell his body to Oro if it would make him powerful enough to kill Itachi). It wouldn't matter who he killed, or who he considers his friend. Even if he couldn't kill Naruto and all of a sudden Kakashi shows up... Sasuke would flip around and say, "Kakashi has been my closest friend"... and attempt to kill him.

Even in the event that he does kill someone... it wouldn't be enough to get his Mangekyo Sharingan because while he says soandso is his friend, it isn't really his friend (see first sentence of the previous paragraph). So basically, while Sasuke tapped into some extra chakra... his state of mind is preventing him from getting ahead now.

[Mcdougal]

Sasuke is delusional due to the seal, but him believing Naruto is a friend has nothing to do with that. If not a friend, then at the very least Naruto qualifies as a "precious person", seeing as how he was willing to give up his life twice for Naruto. And considering the relationship he has with other people in the leaf, Naruto is Sasuke's best friend by default, seeing as how the only people he really has any close ties to are Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi.

[Merco]

Originally Posted by Mcdougal

Sasuke is delusional due to the seal, but him believing Naruto is a friend has nothing to do with that. If not a friend, then at the very least Naruto qualifies as a "precious person", seeing as how he was willing to give up his life twice for Naruto. And considering the relationship he has with other people in the leaf, Naruto is Sasuke's best friend by default, seeing as how the only people he really has any close ties to are Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi.

You do have a point about the whole non-friend argument I made in the second part. So to rephrase that part...

Sasuke and Naruto may have been friends to a degree... as shown by the flashbacks, Naruto tried to be Sasuke's friend at the very beginning, but Sasuke either pretended not to care, or didn't realize Naruto was in fact trying to be all friendly. But he did acknowledge how he felt Naruto must feel when Sakura made her brainless comment about Naruto and parents.

That being said... even if he was somewhat amiable with Naruto to a degree before the 2nd level was implemented... It doesn't affect my other point below the second paragraph.

He may have been friendly to a degree... but he was never friendly to the point of inviting Naruto to his wedding (hypothetical situation) sort of thing... and that's the type of friend that Itachi killed. The other Uchiha members almost didn't believe that Itachi would do something like that, but they deduced that much since Itachi was the only other person not at the meeting.

Like my point before... Sasuke subconciously made Naruto the close friend scapegoat as a means to an end. If roles were reversed during the Haku fight... do you think Sasuke would have completely lost his cool if Naruto fell like that? He may have appreciated Naruto, but if he were a real close friend, Sasuke would go nuts when fighting Haku if Naruto fell... and I can't see him going nuts like that.

[A.L.]

I find it hard to believe that Sasuke would not think of Naruto as a close friend. If it were way back in the Haku Arc, maybe it would make more sense since there hasn't been that much time for them to get to know each other.

But with how things are going, Sasuke seems to really have more of a friendly feeling towards Naruto than beofre. This doens't mean that Sasuke thinks of Naruto as a friend. I think that he would have had to remove the jealousy that Naruto gave him when he used the Rasengan before he thought of that. When he was given that power, he saw Naruto more as inferior, again. Due to the loss of jealousy, he seems Naruto in a new light again, the memories with the lvl 2 Seal helps him remember, and thus tries to kill Naruto.

Basically, I'm saying is that the Lvl 2 Seal did get Sasuke to want to kill Naruto, but not in the way you say. It was when he was blinded with jealousy that he refused to acknowledge Naruto as a friendly rival. With how he acted before he left, he really did seem to care about Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. However, the curse seal got him to remember that memory and want him to kill Naruto.

What I'm also saying is that if Sakura or Kakashi were somehow in the same position as Naruto, Sasuke would try killing them instead.

Lastly, I agree that Sasuke would not get the Mangekyo Sharingan by killing Naruto, but only because he might need to feel the full pain of losing a friend because you killed them. Without the psycological feeling, he probably can't awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan with his mind in a delusional state. Hypothetically speaking, if he does kill Naruto, not only does he lose one of his chances to making the Sharingan as strong as possible, he loses his best friend and realizes what happens when you try to take the easy way.

[Mcdougal]

Originally Posted by Merco

You do have a point about the whole non-friend argument I made in the second part. So to rephrase that part...

Sasuke and Naruto may have been friends to a degree... as shown by the flashbacks, Naruto tried to be Sasuke's friend at the very beginning, but Sasuke either pretended not to care, or didn't realize Naruto was in fact trying to be all friendly. But he did acknowledge how he felt Naruto must feel when Sakura made her brainless comment about Naruto and parents.

That being said... even if he was somewhat amiable with Naruto to a degree before the 2nd level was implemented... It doesn't affect my other point below the second paragraph.

He may have been friendly to a degree... but he was never friendly to the point of inviting Naruto to his wedding (hypothetical situation) sort of thing... and that's the type of friend that Itachi killed. The other Uchiha members almost didn't believe that Itachi would do something like that, but they deduced that much since Itachi was the only other person not at the meeting.

Like my point before... Sasuke subconciously made Naruto the close friend scapegoat as a means to an end. If roles were reversed during the Haku fight... do you think Sasuke would have completely lost his cool if Naruto fell like that? He may have appreciated Naruto, but if he were a real close friend, Sasuke would go nuts when fighting Haku if Naruto fell... and I can't see him going nuts like that.

He didn't have to make Naruto into anything, Itachi said that you had to kill your closest friend, not a close friend. And right now, Naruto is the one closest to Sasuke,no matter how ya slice and dice it, and thus, qualifies to be the sacrificial lamb.

And regarding how close friends Sasuke and Naruto really are, you are viewing it from your own perspective, not the characters. For Sasuke, the one who has been a loner since the age of eight, who refuses to open up to other people and to depend on anyone other than himself, the changes have been dramatic, and relativly speaking, Naruto is indeed a close friend, close enough to surrender his dreams and ambitions for his friends well being. That was not a desicion made ligthly, and even if Sasuke himself didn't realise it until recently, Naruto IS a close friend. You can't measure Sasukes actions with the same measuring stick you would use for your own actions, because Sasuke is so different. Just because he wouldn't "invite Naruto to a wedding" (which, coincidently, i believe he would) doesn't mean they aren't friends.
If you look for the obvious signs of friendship that are existent in that of normal people, then no, Naruto and Sasuke are hardly close friends, but if you read the characters and how they interact you will find that they are indeed quite close. Case in point, had Naruto died at the bridge, Sasuke probably wouldn't have flipped, but keep his emotions in check. But make no misstake, he would definatly feel the loss. He would probably become more withdrawn and more depressed than he usually is. Just because Sasuke doesn't display his emotions like Naruto does doesn't mean they aren't there. It just means he's better at concealing them. At the Hokages funeral, the only one who cried was Konohamaru. Does that mean that the only one feeling bad was konohamaru?

[yinstro]

for me and you maybe naruto isnt his closest friend. But for sasuke naruto is his best friend in teh world, there is no one else in his world. his world is like Itachi kakashi sakura naruto enemies and useless people. the little relationship he has with naruto is his closest friend. and his deepest friend relationship

[Scy]

You guys should look back at the older Naruto eps. Despite the fact that the two of them refuses to admit it, there IS quite a bit of friendship between them, especially after the Wave country arc. Look at how Sasuke tells Naruto that he wants to fight him, how Sasuke arrives during the last Chuunin exam and is happy that Naruto won Neji, and how Sasuke tells Naruto to run away against Garaa "cause he doesn't want to lose someone close to him again". As you should be able to see, Sasuke's attitude towards Naruto started to change at around the time that Naruto pwned Garaa; who is someone that Sasuke expected to pwn easily but ended up kicking Sasuke's butt like no other. That was when it became apparent to everyone (not just Sasuke and Naruto, but also the Naruto viewers/readers) that Naruto has become stronger than Sasuke.

[devilpim]

I do believe Naruto is Sasuke's closet friend.
This is the fact that even Sasuke didn't want to admit it.
Why?
Because Sasuke is quite a loner who dodesn't have many friend from the start.
His distance to people are quite far.
But between the far distance, naruto is the closet.

It's just something I believe peoople have different level of relationship.
I mean, a "close friend" for you and a "close friend" for me might not be the same.
e.g. your close friend might be someone you tell everything but my close friend might just be someone I care most out of other friends.

I believe, from the past episodes and manga, being friend with Naturo is something Sasuke didn't want to admit. He wanted to view Naturo as a classmate whose skills are lower than his and has nothing to do with his life.
Even so he risked his life to save Naruto twice.
I believe that was something his deep unconcious mind told him to.

And I don't think Sasuke is going to kill Kakashi to obtain the 2nd level sharingen.
But he might, if Kakashi try to stop the fight. *sigh*

And, the point where Naruto has become stronger than Sasuke is the good point.
I also think that Sasuke is way too arrogant to accept that he's weaker than Naruto who was always the worst in the class.
His pride is too high and he couldn't accept it.
He felt ...powerless. I mean, after he has tried so hard training with Kakashi, he still couldn't defeat anyone he hoped to. Neji, Gaara.
And those guys were defeated by Naruto.
That's why he felt his effort was useless.
That's why he started to seek more power..

Damn...I am Sasuke fan. I really wish something turn him back to normal!!
He's too stupid now. Busy with his sutpid revenge and pride.
*sigh*
Just someone stop him before he does something more stupid!

[chamelean75]

Sasuke isn't mad and delusional cause of his mark. He's built up so much anger and hatred after all these years to kill one person and when someone offers him the power to complete that dream, who wouldn't madly chase after it. He knows what he has to do, and he's willing to do anything to kill his brother. It's his goal. Right now, he is one track minded. All he sees is getting the power to kill his brother. At this point, if he does kill naruto, it would be pointless for him to even go to orochimaru. I mean since naruto is the main character, that would never happen but i'm just saying if...

[FearTheMullet]

I think that possibly (this is only one of the things I've thought about. Theres also theories I hold that would contradict this theory.) Sasuke did consider Naruto a friend and so decided it would be a good tihng to leave the Leaf village, to avoid letting the curse seal make him so mad (mad defined as not sane, its proper definition) that he would seek power in killing Naruto, then as the chase progressed and the fight insued as he powered up with the seal then he became mad and decided he would try to grab the power right away. It's not really the theory I believe in full , but its another way to view the running away. I mean it makes sense he would try to stop himself form kiling his friends by running away, he knows the curse seal makes him crazy (When he dislogded the sound-nins arms form his sockets), he might just not be evil.

Then again, I don't really have more then a half assed belief in this half assed theory. We wont tell for sure till next week, when (hopefully) more of the story is revealed.

[CyberPunk]

alot of the people here seem to think sasuke chose the easy way by leaving the village to seek orochimaru's training, but i really think that's the hardest path. i take it that he knew all along that he had to kill a close friend to gain those mangekyou eyes, and that's probably the reason he isolated himself from everyone and chose not to make friends. but now that naruto has brought the fight to sasuke and refuses to let him go, tie that in with the cursed seal, and it's all too much for sasuke to resist anymore.

[SenkoGC017]

People keep saying that if Kakashi or Sakura came Sasuke would try to kill them too to get the Mangekyo. But I don`t see how that could happen.

Kakashi and Sakura are precious people, but I don`t think Sasuke ever considered them as friends. Kakashi has always had a mentor role and Sakura has been the `girl` of the group. Even if Sasuke considered her as a friend, he would hardly try to fight her. It would be the same as Itachi killing him when he was younger. What would be the point? She is so much weaker than him. Sasuke wants to get stronger and he wants to win a fight that proves his strength.

I doubt that to get the Mangekyo was his only reason for fighting Naruto, but like many things, Sasuke had other reasons as well. This fight was bound to happen and Sasuke in his mad state was bound to want to hurt Naruto really bad only now he is willing to kill. Sasuke `wants` to fight Naruto. This isn`t just a neccesity. He wants to fight Naruto and beat him to prove his worth and to prove Naruto wrong. I`m just not sure he ever really wanted to kill Naruto. That seems mad. No matter what one has to be a bit over the edge to do that. I wonder how many days　of loking at an empty house and how many nights of nightmares it took to screw him up this bad. If Sasuke kills Naruto(we know it won`t happen) I could see tears falling down his face and him not understanding why, only that he feels a lost. He is a person who cannot understand the human part of himself that need love and devotion and friendship.