What do you think about Naruto telling Sasuke, 'When I am with you, I feel like if this is how it feels like to have a brother' and to Itachi, 'That's because I consider him as a brother more than you ever could'....???
Literally these are the two panels that are used against SNS fandom everywhere to invalidate us. How do you view this?? Because there are some non-shipping fans who claims, Sasuke loved Naruto in a non-brotherly way for the most part of the series. But Naruto views him only as a Brother. And Sasuke agrees with him in Chapter 699 by saying, 'I finally understand the feeling you were talking about...'
Sorry, I would have answered this ask sooner but my Tumblr was malfunctioning until very recently.
I am going to take this opportunity to look at their dynamic through the lens of film references.
I have heard this argument several times from antis who use these moments to support their claim that Sasuke and Naruto are brothers, or that Naruto considers Sasuke a brother. The truth is that these moments are actually significant because they give us a clear insight into Naruto’s feelings for Sasuke. A lot of fans misinterpret these moments because they are unable to see the story as a whole and pick and choose moments without context. Because either they don’t have a frame of reference because of their lack of exposure to media/life or homophobia, mostly both. The antis are not really proving a point in their own favor by giving this argument, if anything, they are proving ours. Let me expand.
I am not an expert on shounen but from what I have observed, and as a lot of more seasoned SNS fans would agree, Sasuke and Naruto’s relationship is different from all the other rival/brother/friend dynamic portrayed in shounen.
From what I could see, their relationship doesn’t have a match even in Naruto verse. Even within the framework of the story itself, I don’t see any other dynamic that is even close to theirs. We have seen brother dynamic with Sasuke/Itachi, Raikage/Bee, Tobirama/Hashirama, all complex, but still essentially very different from Sasuke/Naruto. Why?
Because Kishi wrote those characters as brothers. The characters know they are brothers, so they act like brothers. Naruto and Sasuke don’t.
I can see Sasuke was always more in tune with how he felt. You can’t understand emotions unless you have the language to verbalize it, even if to acknowledge it to yourself. Sasuke had a brother, he knew what it felt like, he had it verbalized in his head. I surmise that he knew what he felt for Naruto was different from what he feels for Itachi. Sasuke never had to meditate about the nature of his feelings for Naruto. Naruto however did. Because he had to, he had no frame of reference to understand these feelings. Naruto’s entire monologue from valley of the end battle, is a meditation, his attempt to understand his feelings despite a lack of frame of reference. So he considers Iruka, who takes care of him like how Naruto imagines most parents treat their children, a father figure. Right before those lines where Naruto wonders if Sasuke is like a brother, this is the panel and we see.
Now, there’s no reason for Naruto to believe that friends or teammates can’t act like this. But Naruto’s motivation had always been a deeply seated need for family, so this is part of his wish fulfilment. Iruka and Sasuke are the only two people he feels close enough to be his family. He thinks this must be what having a brother would feel like. People ignore the sentiment, the meditation, the mental struggle behind Naruto’s specifically chosen way of expressing this feeling. He ‘wonders’. To himself. This is clearly an act of meditation and introspection.
Naruto, throughout the manga went through stages of defining his feelings for Sasuke. Everytime when they meet, Sasuke constantly insists that Naruto define his feelings. This action of ‘defining’ itself proves that there’s more to their relationship. Brotherly relationships in any media never require this ‘defining’.
This trope of confusing or misinterpreting a romantic feeling for brotherhood is very common in gay cinema. Case in point :
Above screenshots are from a Chinese film called “Farewell, My Concubine’ with similar themes. Two orphans who grow up in very difficult circumstances but still stick to each other, love each other but don’t end up together because of convention and moral strictures. Beautifully haunting film, btw, it will totally break your heart. Interestingly, the titular character, the actor who plays the concubine, Leslie Cheung, in real life had a string of failed relationships with women until he finally proposed to his childhood friend, a man, and they were together in a long term relationship until his death.
The following screenshots are from a French film called ‘Un Frere’, literally meaning a brother.
A lot of gay cinema with male protagonist has similar themes.
The following screenshots are from another French film called ‘Like a brother’ which is a story about two best friends who are close like brothers, but love each other romantically. They also struggle with giving their feelings a name. Which they eventually realize were not brotherly to start with.
The beauty of Sasuke and Naruto’s story is that it is grand yet realistic, it’s about star crossed love but its also touchingly human. Kishimoto paid attention in order to make their story nuanced. These nuances are unfortunately missed upon by a great many fans because of the reasons I mentioned above and what a shame.
These are just a few examples, there are many such examples in gay cinema where you see similar tropes and themes. The rival dynamic. The best friends to lovers dynamic. The ‘gravitating towards each other without realizing it’, the need to be close to each other, the homoerotic violence. So many films such as ‘Heartstone’, film makers such as Xavier Dolan, Marco Berger, Greg Arakki, Pedro Almodovar (Watch Bad Education), portray similar themes.
Now, Naruto says the same thing to Itachi, in his trademark righteous manner.
Well, Naruto is still far from properly understanding his feelings towards Sasuke at this point. But the next time he meets Sasuke, at the bridge, he still calls him his friend, not brother.
There is one thing that becomes clear that Naruto is still not able to give a proper name to his feelings for Sasuke. Isn’t this what leads to Sasuke asking this question again finally at VOTE 2?
This constant going back and forth between friends/rivals/comrades/brothers, this is actually a very realistic portrayal of a closeted boy struggling to understand his own emotions, which is a common enough trope.
Isolating a moment and putting it under microscope will not bring any understanding.
Naruto and Sasuke constantly drive and propel each other not only to become physically stronger, but also to become more emotionally intelligent. Sasuke drives Naruto to understand his own feelings towards him, to understand his pain, which Naruto does. Naruto drives him to understand that there there are alternative paths to resolution that won’t drown him in darkness, to accept love. They grow together.
The understanding of this to and fro is critical to understanding their dynamic. Selective viewing is anathema to understanding media.
In Gaiden, Naruto clearly calls his feelings towards Sasuke ‘Love’. He doesn’t define it further, but we get it. We know the context.
As for Sasuke saying that he understands what Naruto meant when he wondered if Sasuke was like his brother, he is simply acknowledging the fact that he understands Naruto’s need for bonds/family, and that, that’s what he was talking about. Sasuke, during Vote 1, was focused entirely on himself, despite Naruto trying to make him understand his pov. But later, Sasuke relents.
Sasuke is acknowledging Naruto’s confusion about his feelings, he knows Naruto loves him as well but didn’t have the words to say it. He ‘finally’ understands which means he must have been confused about Naruto’s statement before. But now he knows where Naruto was coming from.
In any case, no one ever understood Naruto better than Sasuke. Sasuke understood Naruto’s inherent reason for choosing to steal the scroll for kage bunshin jutsu, his loneliness. Of course, Sasuke will understand what Naruto meant. This is, by no means, him accepting their relationship as brotherhood. Just that he understands.
The reason why I consider it a bold and brave move for Kishimoto to have told their story in this shounen piece, is that he portrayed a very realistic, believable, and layered approach to their obviously romantic relationship. He told a love story that happens to be gay in shounen. And he told it very cleverly, given the mode and accepted restrictions of this genre.
Had they been brothers, he would never have needed to do it in the first place. No one would have.
