i can’t believe i have to make a post like this but… this is called development.
naruto and sasuke shippers don’t deny that naruto called sasuke a brother before, the point is that naruto doesn’t see sasuke as one by the end of the story. the same way naruto comes a long way trying to understand sasuke and his motivations, naruto comes a long way in trying to explain the nature of his relationship with sasuke.
naruto actually calls sasuke his friend more times than he calls him a “brother”, but that somehow doesn’t stick with people who don’t like the ship.
more importantly than naruto changing how he defines his relationship with sasuke, he explicitly denies an idea he had before. to him, he and sasuke aren’t brothers. you can’t cling onto a previous thought if that perspective changes, especially if they are literal opposites, sasuke can’t be his brother and not be at the same time. the valid idea is the last one, because characters and their perspectives change through the story, it’s called development. naruto has wondered if sasuke was like a brother to him before, but by the end of the story, he doesn’t see it that way anymore.
and it doesn’t even stop at the “friend” label.
because sasuke isn’t satisfied with that word alone, he demands an explanation, and we see that naruto has a particular definition when he uses the word “friend” with sasuke, which it is to hurt when the other is hurt. sasuke wasn’t convinced when naruto called him a brother at vote1, he wasn’t convinced when naruto called him a friend at kage summit, and not even when naruto said that again at vote2.
this is when sasuke is satisfied. when naruto’s definition isn’t tied exclusively with notions of friendship, when they are able to say they share the pain of each other’s hearts, this is how intimate they are.
he knew what was it like to have a brother, so he never saw naruto as one.
please let’s drop this discourse once and for all, the story doesn’t leave it open to interpretation.
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