Thank you for the response.
On this note I would like to build upon the discussion. I titled the thread as Naruto and Sasuke both win as a reference to the end of their stories. As I stated earlier, NARUTO the manga series was actually two stories in one that overlapped through the interactions of the main characters of each individual story. Naruto's story was a shonen story, and as such the story formula followed that he had to "win" in the end. And win Naruto did, as he both survived, and his goal survived. Naruto's goal was to be hokage, and he explicitly gave himself the stipulation that "if I can't save my one friend Sasuke, I can't become hokage." By Sasuke not killing himself, Naruto's goal as a shonen hero was more or less complete.
On the other hand, Sasuke's story was NOT a shonen manga story, but rather following the plot of a ninja genre plot. Consider all depictions of ninja stories that we have here in Japan across all mediums. From the movies (for example, the shinobi no mono films), to the games ( tenchu, shinobi, ryuuken den, etc.), to the novels (kouga ninpouchou for example), ninja stories are not tales of inspiration or adventure, but rather of tragedy. Shinobi tales depict not only the supernatural darkness, but the darkness of the human situation. Very often the tragedy aspect of shinobi is that their tales often take place and end in the darkness, and often the main characters die (with the world carrying on nonchalantly despite the character's struggle, hence the tragedy.) This background, mixed with Sasuke's tale, meant that EVEN IF SASUKE DIED in the end, him being the main character in a ninja story meant that this was acceptable. However Sasuke did NOT die. Because he broke from the mold of the ninja genre by surviving, he won as a character.
I will cut off at this point. What do you think?