S T O R M

The whole summer was inside of us.

Throughout chapter 699 we're presented with a monologue by Sasuke we come to understand is a letter addressed to Naruto. Sasuke not only reflects about the feelings he and Naruto hold for each other but he also defines what it means to be a ninja. Here's the entire text:

We know this monologue is actually a letter thanks to the introductory line "Naruto... at this time I recalled those words you said here once before..." Sasuke is writing from the Valley of the End where he and Naruto fought twice and is now reflecting on the words Naruto told him during the first fight: "how when you're with me you wonder if this is what it's like to have a brother... that feeling of yours... I think I finally get what you meant."

So we go back to VoTE1 to see in which context those words were said and what was the feeling Naruto was trying to convey to Sasuke. In the following panels (left to right, top to bottom; please zoom for better quality) we see Sasuke tell Naruto that he's always been alone therefore there's no way Naruto knows how Sasuke feels, to this Naruto ponders about his relationship with his two most important bonds: Iruka and Sasuke. He tells Sasuke that even though he doesn't have blood-bonds he considers Iruka to be sort of a father figure and wonders if what Sasuke makes him feel is what is like to have a brother.

Both Naruto and Sasuke share these memories of just the two together spending time as a part of Team 7 and they're clearly fond of them and Naruto rationalizes that feeling as "I guess this is what is like to have a brother"

Then Sasuke asks Naruto why is he chasing him and does all that for him. Naruto responds he does what he does because for him Sasuke is one of his first bonds, to which Sasuke remembers the first time he and Naruto saw each other: when they recognized they were both alone in this world and found that they understood each other's loneliness which made them smile, they were not entirely alone.

These words have such a deep impact on Sasuke, he awakens his third tomoe sharingan and as we know, Sharingan are the eyes that reflect the heart of the Uchiha.

In other words, thanks to Naruto's words Sasuke comes to understand that leaving the village would be for Naruto the equivalent of what he felt when Itachi killed their clan and became a rogue ninja. That's why in his letter years later, Sasuke writes "just like how I came to feel father, mother, and my brother Itachi's pain and emotions... I'll now start knowing your pain and feelings too, Naruto."

Sasuke had been feeling Naruto's pain as his own for years before he came to acknowledge it to himself.

The Sharingan being the eyes that reflect the heart through the loss of loved ones is the physical representation of the Uchiha love ethos. Sasuke's sharingan being affected and effected by Naruto show us Sasuke feels that deep love for him.

Sasuke understands love to be pain. When Kakashi speaks on behalf of Sakura's romantic feelings for Sasuke he defends them claiming "she suffers from loving you" doing this Kakashi is defining what romantic love is in the shinobi world. His words also make Sasuke think of his family (Sasuke suffers from loving his family due to losing them during the Uchiha massacre) which as we just saw in his letter he ties Naruto to it.

In other words, Sasuke thinks of Naruto and only Naruto as part of his family besides his mom, dad and brother because they are connected by their shared pain and feelings; which is exactly what Sasuke wrote in his letter, he can now claim Naruto's pain and Naruto can claim his.

This is also of course, why Sasuke only acknowledged Naruto when the latter said he can't leave Sasuke alone because seeing him hurt makes him hurt; Naruto suffers from loving Sasuke.

You see how Kishimoto is tying the overall writing of Naruto's feelings for Sasuke in this letter where Sasuke is coming to understand what Naruto meant with those words at VoTE1? he continues this in Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring spin-off

In chapter 8 of Naruto Gaiden called "The Real Thing", Sarada is under the impression Sakura is not her biological mother and because they don't share a blood bond they don't have a bond at all which upsets Naruto. During this interaction we see Naruto have a flashback to the VoTE1 and the words he had told Sasuke "whenever I'm with you... I imagine maybe that's what's like to have a brother [...] Because for me.. you were the bonds I finally made"

Naruto then tells Sarada that bonds aren't made of blood or history but love, the real thing. This chapter of Gaiden shows us a grown adult Naruto now with the realization of what he felt during VoTE1 and was trying to rationalize and convey to Sasuke at just 12 years old: He meant to tell Sasuke that he loves him. Naruto now understands that feeling.

The monologue in ch. 699 shows us Sasuke's reflecting on those Naruto's words and actions; never cutting him off and instead coming closer to his heart and saving him even at the cost of his own hand (yet another reference to suffering from love). Sasuke ties Naruto's endurance in his chase for him to save him as what it means to be a ninja

Kishimoto has talked about what he wanted ninjas to mean in this universe of his creation in his interview for Da Vinci Magazine (2015)

For Kishimoto ninjas are people who endure. So when Sasuke responds "that feeling of yours... I think I finally get what you meant" he now understands that feeling is love. Sasuke finally gets Naruto tried to tell him that he loved him and that's why he never cut him off and kept on suffering for him. For Sasuke, Naruto endured to save him out of love for him thus it's Naruto's love what makes him, in Sasuke's eyes a true ninja.

"it's kind of like a prayer. To keep enduring until it comes to be, no matter what. And to those whom that task falls on... perhaps that's what it means... to be a ninja"

this is just an expansion of my own old post (rip sasukesun), but panels will be included in this edition. i also took inspiration from my friend @narutouzumakiarchive who so accurately wrote, and i quote, when determining the validity of something in canon you need to look at the internal logic of the world and the values that the author promotes, my post will only show other instances where naruto and sasuke do exactly (to each other) what is established by the manga itself as “love” or “romance” and even “gay”, many of them have already been pointed out by myself or other people in the fandom, but i wanted to put them all together to reinforce how a narrative is built and how an in universe logic is established. sit down cause it’s gonna be long and i will not leave it under a read more because i’m afraid to lose it forever if i do.

haku and zabuza

land of waves is such a well written arc that its presence, ideas, values etc keep showing up for the whole story. it’s the essence of the manga, if i’m being real, and if i were to put all the references here, it would be endless, but for the purpose of this post, i want to point out the implication of romantic feelings in haku and zabuza’s relationship, without any value of judgement whether i find it “problematic”, and how they parallel naruto and sasuke’s.

sasuke sacrificing himself for naruto parallels haku sacrificing himself to zabuza. but it goes beyond it because haku establishes the importance of wanting to protect people who are precious to you, an idea that persists for the entire manga. the same way haku considers zabuza precious to him to the point that he would die to see zabuza’s dream come true, sasuke’s sacrifice implies he feels the same for naruto, sasuke himself implies in his “deathbed” he wants naruto to fulfil his dream. and later in the manga, naruto internalises this thought, he wants to protect sasuke, who is precious to him.

almost 200 chapters later, and we still have land of waves clear references.

and as if that’s not enough, the feeling of acceptance that makes haku so devoted to zabuza is also shared by naruto towards sasuke.

in the arc itself, naruto recognises clearly that what haku felt for zabuza was love, the word he uses denotes feelings of affection, it’s not a mere “care about” the translation here is saying. the devotion, the desire to protect someone who is precious to you, the feelings of acceptance, they all fall under love as a definition, recognised by naruto himself when he calls zabuza out, but it goes beyond that, because kishimoto wrote haku to have romantic feelings for zabuza, something pointed out by many people in this fandom, haku blushes while calling zabuza’s body beautiful. kishimoto draws them in angles where their mouths are aligned. zabuza wishes to go to the same place haku went in the afterlife.

and yet the devotion, the desire to protect someone who is precious to you, the acceptance, all of those aspects that fall under the definition of love in haku and zabuza’s relationship are applied to naruto and sasuke. i guess it’s easy to accept that what they feel for each other is love, but it’s very curious how they parallel two people with implied romantic feelings in every single aspect of their relationship. again, i’m not here to morally judge haku and zabuza’s relationship or kishimoto’s decisions, the age gap isn’t part of naruto and sasuke’s relationship anyway, but i want to follow the internal logic of the manga, it was certainly a choice to add this romantic subtext for zabuza and haku while making naruto and sasuke follow the exact same patterns.

shikaku

shikaku talks about someone rough having a soft spot for the person they love, and shikamaru thinks his father likes to be bossed around by his mother. this is a trope kishimoto is fond of, in his manga mario, he likes that saori is tough but warms up for mario, but inside the naruto manga, the logic is no different in naruto and sasuke’s relationship. sasuke clearly has a soft spot for naruto, naruto is the only one sasuke shows weakness towards, sasuke admits naruto made me him feel at ease, and one of the things that actually got sasuke’s attention in naruto’s behaviour was his prankster gremlin antics, a trait generally rejected by others. when naruto yells at chuunin exams, people think he’s loud and annoying, but sasuke smiles fondly.

naruto also enjoys to be bossed by sasuke, this was shown in war arc, he says sasuke is “pissing him off” for giving orders but he doesn’t really do anything about it, he smiles and agrees on following sasuke’s ideas anyway, like a smitten boyfriend. shikaku says this is love, and again how naruto and sasuke act towards each other fall under what is defined as love by someone else inside the manga.

tayuya

i made a specific post about this one already, but i can’t leave what tayuya says out of this compilation because it’s one of the most interesting ones to me. tayuya doesn’t define love, she defines homosexuality specifically.

in sasuke’s retrieval arc, during tayuya vs shikamaru, tayuya asks if sasuke is that important for them to waste a team for one guy, and says that’s gay, there’s no euphemism or disguise on her words, she says they are homos. shikamaru himself explains at that moment that no, in his case at least, he wants to save sasuke because he is a brother of the leaf and shikamaru trusts his comrades, he doesn’t think he’s wasting his team for one guy, perfectly understandable, but that doesn’t change how tayuya has established a logic inside the narrative: there is a line to cross.

tayuya talks about “wasting a team” for one guy but it’s not the “wasting a team” aspect that is gay, it’s the idea of “going too far” for a guy that’s very important to you, now i wonder who has an entire narrative surrounding this idea, of many people questioning “why would you go that far for one guy?”.

“is that boy sasuke that important to you?” and the answer to naruto is yes, but not because sasuke is a “brother of the leaf”, and then you continue with what tayuya says after… so you are a homo. how naruto acts towards sasuke is established in the narrative of the manga as homosexuality, not only love or romance.

sai and nicknames

when trying to improve his social skills, sai reads a book on the matter. what kishimoto chose to show the readers by the social rules of the naruto universe is that using sufixes like “-kun” expresses distance, an emotional barrier, something that both hinata and sakura use with naruto and sasuke. but using nicknames and terms of endearment help to combat that distance, and it allows you to form an especial and close relationship. sasuke uses a term of endearment with naruto, a special nickname he doesn’t use with anyone else, actually, naruto is the only person to have that with sasuke.

in a flashback, we learn that naruto called sasuke an “usuratonkachi” first, but sasuke kept it and started using it with naruto. through the manga we see that sasuke calls naruto that multiple times, and sometimes it is when naruto is being an “idiot”, but it’s also in endearing moments, the most remarkable one being vote2, after their reconciliation. in the boruto movie, we learn that sasuke has its own definition for usuratonkachi, someone who hates to lose, a very noticeable trait of naruto’s personality, but something endearing to sasuke nonetheless. naruto’s strong will is something sasuke admires.

kishimoto uses a book on social skills to establish another in universe rule, that using nicknames with someone expresses emotional closeness, a special relationship. through the manga, kishimoto portrays sasuke to follow the same rule with naruto, showing that they are close and their relationship is special.

hinata’s confession

hinata confesses her love to naruto during pein’s invasion, in her confession, she explains the reasons for her feelings.

naruto doesn’t say anything about hinata confessing to him, but one arc later he says the same things she said, but to sasuke, basically the same reasons.

hinata to naruto: i nearly went the wrong way, but you showed me the right one / naruto to sasuke: one misstep and i could’ve ended up like you, but my connection with you helped go the right way.

hinata to naruto: i was always chasing you, wanting to overtake you, i just wanted to talk to you, i wanted to be with you / naruto to sasuke: i wanted to talk to you but i didn’t know how to approach it, you made me feel jealous so i made you my rival, but i wanted to be like you, i was always chasing after you.

on vote2, sasuke’s monologue reveals he feels the same about naruto, it’s a direct response to everything naruto has said, he even remembers that very conversation in kage summit, sasuke also adds the loneliness he and naruto were familiar with, but the same feelings of admiration naruto talked about in kage summit are there.

sasuke to naruto: i saw you growing stronger and i reciprocated the rivalry, when you started growing more, i felt jealous, you had a strength i didn’t, you had always walked in front of me.

hinata doesn’t have the same proximity with naruto as naruto and sasuke have with each other, the way she refers at him (the -kun suffix) expresses distance and an emotional barrier, meanwhile the way sasuke refers to naruto expresses a special relationship and closeness, as we can see by the social rules of this universe, and yet, what hinata says to naruto is defined as love. the way naruto and sasuke speak about each other is indicated in the manga as reasons for someone to romantically love one another, but they have a plus that their relationship is seen by the narrative as special, and what they have is mutual.

omoi and shinjuu

another one that has been pointed out by many people in the fandom, i’m not here to exactly discuss shinjuu and its references outside the manga, even though other tumblr uses have done a pretty good job on this. what i’m about to say has already been explained by @narutouzumakiarchive on the same post i linked at the beginning, i just want to compile all the references together and pay attention to the logic built through the entire story.

at the beginning of kage summit, omoi wonders about shinjuu, he specifically uses that word and frames it as romantic, translations are sometimes watered down because omoi says shinjuu (しんじゅう), the furigana is unmistakable, it means double suicide not merely “can’t let me go”, the text that doesn’t say suicide is omitting relevant information. omoi’s thoughts are basically: what if someone is so in love with him they can’t bear to be apart from him, making them propose a lovers suicide if he and the hypothetical person are to separate? omoi wonders about a romantic situation, it is not framed as anything else but romantic.

everybody knows what happens at the end of kage summit right?

the context of the entire arc shows everybody telling naruto to stop going that far for sasuke, to cut sasuke off, and yet naruto has a panic attack over the thought of sasuke dying. when naruto meets sasuke, he tells him the same things hinata said to him, and after everything, naruto proposes a double suicide with sasuke because he can’t bear the idea of existing without him, with this kind of separation. how exactly does that differ from what omoi imagined?

kishimoto throws a random and seemingly comedic and unrelated information at the beginning of the arc, frames it as romantic, and then not so innocently makes naruto repeat the same behaviour towards sasuke at the end of the very same arc. he could’ve chosen anything for omoi to say, and still, coincidentally, what he says fits naruto and sasuke’s relationship perfectly, please someone warn him the things he be writing accidentally.

kushina and minato

able to piss off even people inside the naruto and sasuke pile of shippers itself, what sasuke says about naruto parallels what kushina says about minato and why she fell for him, there are many many narusasu/minakushi parallels, actually, even more after the minato one shot, and it’s not about their personalities or looks, but rather about roles and themes.

kushina tells naruto that she fell for minato because he saved her, the only one who was able to, and he was capable of changing her heart, if those are reasons to make someone fall for another person, what can we say about sasuke that says naruto saved him, the only one who was able to, and was capable of changing his heart?

kishimoto even gives sasuke and kushina the same role of explaining to their son (k) about their fathers, and what they say about naruto and minato is also similar.

(this collage is maoam’s btw, you can check their posts, they also point out a lot of stuff i’m talking about).

kushina about minato: he looked like a sissy and unreliable, he said he wanted to be hokage but there was no way i believed in that / sasuke about naruto: he was always talking about becoming hokage but he was a loser, full of weaknesses, a good for nothing.

kushina about minato: i looked down on him, but i was wrong, he saved me and became a slpendid ninja (and later hokage) / sasuke about naruto: he pulled himself with his own strength and became hokage.

my point here is not even to show how their relationships parallel one another, but rather to talk about how the way naruto and sasuke act towards each other is framed as reasons why people fall in love in this universe, it can be seen as platonic for a reader’s standard, but for the naruto world’s rules, it isn’t, it is romantic.

not giving up

when kakashi wrongly claims that sakura has never given up on sasuke and that she’s only wanted to save him, he associates those feelings with love. this is not the first time kakashi’s judgement on sakura is objectively wrong, in kage summit, sakura was shown to be the same as any other konoha ninja when it comes to sasuke, well any other konoha ninja but one.

sasuke himself acknowledges that naruto was the only one who has never given up on him, not only that but it was naruto who saved him, that’s solely on naruto, nobody else mentioned. despite kakashi being wrong about the person, he also has a definition on love, one that was already used with kushina and minato. saving someone and not giving up on them is framed as love, and it comes out of sasuke’s mouth that only naruto did that for him.

i’ve only talked about the content itself, but in some of those instances kishimoto also uses visual language to get the message through, though that would be for another occasion, i guess.

i’ve only talked about the content itself, but in some of those instances kishimoto also uses visual language to get the message through,

I take the freedom to add how Kishimoto also has Naruto & Hinata share similarities in the way they think and talk about their loved one

Naruto thinking about Sasuke's smile and Hinata thinking about Naruto's smile, and I mean the panels are arranged in the exact same way, there's no chance you miss it.

But also the way Hinata talks to Pain about not letting him lay another finger on Naruto-kun. It's just like Naruto saying he won't let Danzo lay a finger on Sasuke after being informed Danzo planned to dispose of Sasuke.

But in your post you also mentioned Hinata's love confession and how it basically mirrors Naruto's words to Sasuke during their reunion at the bridge.

hinata confesses her love to naruto during pein’s invasion, in her confession, she explains the reasons for her feelings. naruto doesn’t say anything about hinata confessing to him, but one arc later he says the same things she said, but to sasuke, basically the same reasons.

And to this I want to make the connection to the other point you bring up of Sai and nicknames:

what kishimoto chose to show the readers by the social rules of the naruto universe is that using sufixes like “-kun” expresses distance, an emotional barrier, something that both hinata and sakura use with naruto and sasuke. but using nicknames and terms of endearment help to combat that distance, and it allows you to form an especial and close relationship. sasuke uses a term of endearment with naruto

Hinata's actual confession in Japanese is incredibly impersonal, she only ever addresses Naruto as "Naruto-kun" and is actually written in very basic Japanese. Although Kishimoto definitely makes her confession and Naruto's own words to Sasuke intentionally similar, he still marks the distance that exists between Hinata and Naruto that doesn't exist between Naruto and Sasuke.

I highlighted the words that represent a similar feeling/emotion

As you can see ViZ changed the tone of Hinata's confession by changing all the "Naruto-kuns" into a you, in the Japanese version she straight up sounds like a stalker (hence why the only memory she could recall of her and Naruto during her confession was her literally stalking him from afar). On the other hand there's this intimacy and depth in Naruto's words, it's definitely more heartfelt compared to the other one.

But is like you point out, Kishimoto asking his readership: "If Hinata, who we know is in love with Naruto thinks and says this about him, and Naruto thinks and says those same things about Sasuke, then what does that say about Naruto's feelings for Sasuke?"

I'd also like to add how Sai mentioned how he learned from his books that a person smiles all the time when you're around someone you love, he attributes this instantly to Naruto being in love with Sakura. But in this same arc we see Naruto smile his biggest and brightest to Sasuke during their reunion.

We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy.