another strong bond that naruto has is gaara, it is not the same as sasuke's but gaanaru's bond is still very inferiorized by people.
I'm not a fan of gaanaru at all, I'm writing it like this to make it easier
It is classified as nothing more than a joke by gaara who is jealous of sasuke for naruto, and I'm not going to lie, I also laugh at this, but if we talk more seriously
Kishimoto really gave us an incredible bond
It all starts with a very injured Gaara, his dark circles are supposed to be because he can't sleep well, he doesn't have a mother and his father hates him because he couldn't be a perfect "tool", gaara has brothers but as shown here they are grounded by him, so it is normal that gaara does not feel any attachment to them
gaara even begins (although he is a child) to see himself as a monster and as punishment he constantly seeks to hurt himself, his only support is his uncle who teaches him a way to love, In fact, throughout the series when talking about love, gaara thinks of his uncle because he was the first to give it to him, but also the first to hurt him with it
so, gaara is alone, he has no one, he is hurt and it is curious that, when he meets naruto for the first time, his thought is that he is equal to sasuke and naruto is left behind for him
and I really like how kishimoto emphasizes how in the end, Gaara is not a sasuke, he is a naruto if he hadn't found some help from others.
we even see Naruto seeing himself in Gaara, Naruto also hated looking in the mirror because he saw a "monster", naruto spends his time reflecting on his childhood and comparing it to Gaara's.
And my favorite part, Naruto making Gaara understand that a person becomes stronger when he has someone to protect.
Gaara's faces hurt me, just look at how much pain and fear he has because Naruto is opening a window to his heart, it could also be because he hurt him I know, but their expressive faces are because by Naruto's words
Naruto makes Gaara start to think then, Gaara finally has someone who cares about him, he has his brothers, who, despite their fears, continued to protect him. and that's why he later apologizes to them, Gaara finds his path of light thanks to Naruto, no wonder he loved him later haha
The best scenes of them in the gaara rescue arc, naruto wanting to know about gaara after his return and when they tell him that gaara was kidnapped by the Akatsuki he gets furious and nervous, We also find him constantly sad because for naruto, gaara did not deserve that life, gaara had already suffered a lot and life still makes him suffer
he seems worried, nervous, even furious with himself because he had not arrived on time, because he couldn't do more for him, even naruto saw how they insulted gaara by sitting on him and playing with his body
naruto's words made the sand village feel the pain that the jinchurikis go through
gaara always remembers his painful childhood, even when he is about to die, who is his light? His savior? naruto
then, the farewell scene, gaara, who due to his commitment as Kazekage, had to address people and show cordiality, and naruto not knowing how to do it, other than communicating his feelings in battles. a pretty nice and "intimate" scene
(how cute naruto looks blushing)
It's a pretty good bond but I feel like Kishimoto left him behind and that's why we see more scenes about gaara's feelings than naruto's, gaara talking to an entire troop of ninjas about naruto and that they must protect him, gaara helping to "revive" naruto, gaara dreaming about naruto when they were both children, even gaara supporting a Hokage naruto when he wanted to adopt a strange and dangerous child lol
I still don't understand why dudebros don't put him as naruto's best friend, he's even better than shikamaru LMAOO
