Valley of the End | Part 1 | Emotional Struggle

[Clover]

Seeing how the series is over, it leaves a lot of time and energy to go over the earlier parts of the manga with new eyes and new information. Reading over the first fight between Naruto and Sasuke in the Valley of the End I came to notice something that has been a huge argument within the fanbase for years. Namely if the fight was fair as the common belief is that only one of the two young Shinobi entered the battle with a killing intent. Before you write me off completely, at least read the start part of this thread. So to start it off, we will go to the ending stages of the manga. Spoiler You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images Sasuke states in Chapter 698 that he started to view Naruto as family, and Team 7 as well. However he saw that as a weakness and decided to cut it off, or at least try. He states that he started to feel Naruto's pain whenever he suffered. Sasuke cared so deeply about his team and especially Naruto, that he was willing to throw away his revenge to give his own life to save Naruto's during the fight with Haku. Spoiler You must be registered for see images This is evidence that Sasuke was indeed not lying about his feelings during the ending chapters of the manga, but that he truly felt strongly for Team 7 and Naruto. Sasuke also uses the word "tried" when he talks about cutting all ties to Naruto and Team 7. He never says that he succeed in doing so. Now unto the next part of information, which comes directly from Tobirama Senju himself, and it regards the awakening and development of the Sharingan. Spoiler You must be registered for see images As Tobirama states, when the Uchiha are faced with dramatic events or the loss of deep love or rather when they "suffer", this creates an effect in their eyes and further develop their eyes. We have seen every evolution of Sasuke's Sharingan and each time (excluding the EMS which evolves in a different manner) he has been faced with a overflow of emotions and dramatic events. Spoiler You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images Sasuke first awakens the Sharingan when faced with Itachi after the massacre of his clan and family. It goes without saying that this was a dramatic event for a 7 year old child. Sasuke then evolves his Sharingan into the second stage during the fight with Haku where he comes to the conclusion that he cannot dodge Haku and will die. This was dramatic enough for him to awaken the second stage. The third stage is awaken during the fight with Naruto at the Valley of the End. However, the trigger was not Sasuke's family, not his past or anything of the sort. The trigger was Naruto's words of friendship and the bond that they share. Sasuke became so emotional over the bond between the two that he evolved the Sharingan further. This is proof that Sasuke cared very deeply about the bond and was emotionally torn between it. He saw it as a weakness, and stated that he would sever it, but aside from his words he ha emotional struggles to sever it. This means that even if he stated he would kill of Naruto, he was far from emotionally prepared to do so. By the manga, it is proven that even Sasuke had the killing intent and had decided upon killing Naruto, then he was emotionally unable to do so even when faced with an opportunity to do so. This is shown after the fight is over and Naruto is fast asleep while Sasuke is standing over him. Sasuke had the chance to kill him, but couldn't as he felt to strongly for Naruto as a "brother" and "family". This is evident from his evolution of the Sharingan. What does this prove? It proves that Sasuke had the intention of severing the bond with Naruto and kill him, but was unable to kill him even when he could. Sasuke put his all into fighting Naruto, but had it gone so far that Naruto would have died then Sasuke would have stopped himself. Now unto Naruto, has this thread is also about him and his intent in this battle. Spoiler You must be registered for see images You must be registered for see images As Naruto shows, he has no killing intent at all during this fight. To the point where he even avoids hurting Sasuke in any form, and asks him to "quickly kill him off" as he, himself doesn't want to harm Sasuke. However this all changes at some point during the fight. Namely when Naruto is stabbed by Sasuke and Kurama's leaks out. Naruto goes from asking Sasuke to kill him to stating that he will "break Sasuke's legs and arms" and then bring him back to Konoha. This is a waste change from before. This proves that as a result of Kurama's chakra leaking out, Naruto lost some parts of himself and was overflow with anger and hatred that Kurama carried. However, Naruto was still in control and as a result still showed care for his teammate. However, Naruto didn't have a killing intent, he would have killed Sasuke without meaning to do so. Naruto put his all into fighting Sasuke from this point on and would have killed Sasuke if Sasuke had not done his best to stay alive. Spoiler You must be registered for see images Thanks to Sasuke's Cursed Seal, he was protected from attacks that would otherwise have dealt fatal damage to him. Sasuke even states how he wasn't even hurt. This shows that Naruto would have killed Sasuke without being aware or meaning to do so, as a result of Kurama's hatred and chakra leaking out. Conclusion Sasuke had the killing intent to kill Naruto, but struggled emotionally and as a result was unable to kill Naruto even when faced with a chance to do so. Where as Naruto had no killing intent, but was show taken by emotion and Kurama's chakra that he lost some parts of himself and put his all into stopping Sasuke, even if it meant killing him. All in all, neither would have been able to kill the other, and they both put their all into the fight. ​

 

[Complex]

I agree

 

[NineSNS]

Nice thread, especially the analysis of Sasuke's sharingan development. Most people don't acknowledge that Sasuke got the 3rd tomoe because of the emotional pain of losing his bond with Naruto.