L'art pour l'art

Naruto is nearly eaten by Manda and then has his leg crushed; Kabuto actually observes that his femur must be broken. Nevertheless, Naruto goes on to protect Tsunade.

Chapter 167

In one of the most badass moves in manga history, Naruto stops Kabuto's kunai.

Chapter 168

Naruto very nearly dies. And that's bad enough, but I want to bring that around to my previous points.

During the Tsunade Retrieval arc, Jiraiya was allowed to take Naruto out of the village. Fair enough, considering Jiraiya is pretty strong and generally able to protect Naruto, and obviously Kakashi has been allowed to take him out on missions as well.

However, by this point, Jiraiya knows that there are people actively after the kyuubi. He knows Orochimaru is out there, who was formerly affiliated with the Akatsuki, and that he is looking for an ally in Tsunade. So this battle very well could have been Jiraiya and Naruto against Orochimaru, Kabuto and Tsunade (and potentially even Shizune, if her loyalty to Tsunade proved that great).

We've already seen that Jiraiya doesn't take watching over Naruto particularly seriously. So it's not a real surprise that he had no issues with bringing Naruto to this battle (and admitteldy Jiraiya himself was poisoned at this point and knew he needed back-up). And yes, Jiraiya has faith in Naruto's abilities and his potential, yadda yadda.

But still, Naruto almost died. The jinchuuriki almost died. Is that something that would be reported later? Did the council get wind of it? It sounds like a pretty big deal. After all, post-timeskip, they did restrict Naruto's movements. But still, Jiraiya was allowed to take Naruto on the road for him for over two years. And sure, whatever, there's intel that the Akatsuki won't make a move during that time, but it nevertheless seems like a poor idea. The way that Naruto is treated - as a jinchuuriki, as a genin, as a child, as son of the Yondaime - is just so frustrating because there is no rhyme or reason to it.

Chapter 171

Presumably, this is the very first kiss Naruto has knowingly received (if we don't count the incident with Sasuke). Like sure, Iruka and even the Sandaime may have been affectionate with him, but I don't see either of them ever doling out forehead kisses.

Chapter 172

Tsunade is about to be made Hokage, aka something Naruto made a big show of being upset about. However, instead of moping more, his first course of action is to remind everyone that she needs to heal Sasuke and Kakashi.

Naruto wants to show off his Rasengan. Jiraiya violently tells him that shinobi do not show off their moves. Then what the hell were the chuunin exams about?? Wasn't the whole point that potential clients could get to see how strong the village is?

Plus, Shikamaru is a fellow Konoha shinobi. There is a high chance that he and Naruto will go on missions together in the future where they will see each other's moves anyway. Not to mention that Shikamaru is a strategist and - now as a chuunin - a unit leader. He SHOULD know his comrades' abilities in order to utilize their effectiveness to the highest degree.

When Sasuke wakes, Naruto does not gloat about being the one who brought Tsunade back to Konoha. He does not get upset about Sakura hugging Sasuke. He doesn't even insert himself into this emotional moment at all, but just quietly leaves. On the one hand, like Tsunade observes, that shows how considerate he is being. However, he also is yet again putting himself second here and consciously excizing himself from what should be a team moment.

Chapter 174

While Naruto was obviously not expecting any sort of gratitude, the first thing Sasuke does upon noticing him is level him with an absolutely murderous glare.

Granted, at this point Sasuke is obviously totally out of it and traumatized beyond belief, and he also has no idea that Naruto's heroic actions are what ultimately let to his recovery.

However, Konoha in general is extremely blasé about psychological repercussions and trauma responses and the like, so we can't really expect 12 year old Naruto to understand Sasuke's mindset here.

Basically, from Naruto's point of view, he nearly sacrificed his life to find a medic who could heal Sasuke, and Sasuke's response is to try and murder him lol.

Chapter 175

Sasuke, due to his own feelings of inadequacies, is heavily projecting onto Naruto and claiming that they aren't equals. This is only a handful of days after Kabuto asserted as much. Not to mention a lifetime of the two being pitted against each other in various ways and of Naruto constantly being disparaged in general.

In the context of Naruto's upbringing, being acknowledged as Sasuke's equal is intrinsically tied to his self-worth. "I've always been as good as you" sounds less like a comparison of their fighting abilities and more like a desperate attempt to assert his right to live.

This is later further cemented by Naruto trying to bring Sasuke back. If he is strong enough to do so, i.e. strong enough to defeat Sasuke and make him change his mind, then Naruto himself will be seen as good and worthy.

Chapter 176

Sasuke uses a Chidori big enough to kill Naruto, with full intent.

Meanwhile, Naruto uses Rasengan, though it is unclear whether he fully understands how devastating that jutsu is. After all, the times he has previously seen it used (drunk Jiraiya against some ruffians) and used it himself (against self-healing Kabuto), the injuries were not lethal. So Naruto could have accidentally killed Sasuke without meaning to.

Kakashi, oh the irony, admonishes Jiraiya for teaching Rasengan in the first place, claiming that using it even against the Akatsuki would be overboard.

Uh?? Twelve-year-old kid who literally knows one other jutsu being pursued by a secret organization of S-class missing nin from assorted villages who mean to extract his bijuu for world-ending purposes, and he shouldn't use Rasengan?? What else is he supposed to do? Blast them with Oiroke no Jutsu and hope they nosebleed to death??

God, genuinely starting to understand why Sasuke leaves for Orochimaru. He learns sooo many things there, within such a short amount of time, while Konoha (or at least Kakashi and Jiraiya) teach their students one move max (unless that student's name is Sakura. Then it's zero moves.)