WARNING: SPOILERS FOR NARUTO’S FINAL CHAPTERS

The final battle between Naruto and Sasuke saw some of the franchise’s most powerful attacks, but none were as devastating as a line that proved how much the pair understood each other. After 15 years in publication, Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga finally came to an end with an incredibly satisfying and narratively poignant battle between the series’ main characters. While the fight showcased many iconic techniques, including Naruto’s Shadow Clones, Sasuke’s dissection of their significance shook readers and Naruto himself.

As Naruto and Sasuke’s last fight continued to escalate, so did the Uchiha’s frustrations. Both sides decided to stop holding back and unleash their most powerful techniques in chapter #696. To do so, Sasuke absorbed the chakra of the imprisoned Tailed-Beasts into his Susanoo, and Naruto created Shadow Clones of his Ultimate Nine-Tails Chakra form.

As Sasuke continues to try to inflict physical harm on Naruto, he eventually resorts to psychological tactics. After the Shadow Clone user spawned three massive copies of himself, the powered-up Uchiha smirked and said, “That jutsu is a symbol of your weakness. It’s a jutsu that covers up your loneliness.” A statement that shook Naruto and also proved how well he understood the fellow orphan’s pain.

The Lonely Ninja Whose Never Alone

Naruto’s manga written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto

The Shadow Clone jutsu was the main character’s first major technique that worked on several narrative levels. As fans know, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki was raised in the Hidden Leaf Village, where its residents resented him and were not allowed to discuss why. That lack of comfort and years of unexplained animosity caused Naruto an extreme loneliness that would have been an understandable origin story for a villain. Instead, it helped Naruto better cherish the bonds that he’d later create. But everything changed the day he stole a powerful forbidden scroll.

The beginning of Naruto‘s story has better and worse elements than some fans remember. One of those features that stuck with the series was the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It effectively allowed Naruto to create hundreds of physical clones of himself that disappear when hit. The character who suffered from heartbreaking seclusion suddenly had the ability to make copies of himself. This skill may intimidate foes with sheer numbers, but as Sasuke pointed out, the jutsu does little to cure the once-sad orphan of his loneliness.

Shadow Clone Jutsu (aka Art of the Shadow Doppelgänger) splits the user’s chakra into a number of physical clones. Naruto used the technique with significant effect to accomplish things he wouldn’t have been able to do as one person, like tricking foes with brilliant misdirections or performing brutal combos. Still, it was a jutsu that gave Naruto help from others but did not give him more friends.

Naruto’s Final Opponent Knew Him Better Than The Rest

Sasuke was introduced in chapter #3, but he’d formed a bond with Naruto before the series began

Sasuke is one of the story’s most stubborn characters to accept Naruto’s companionship fully. While the Uchiha believed that he had to erase the current establishment and Naruto to force the world into peace with his new overwhelming powers, Naruto believed that forming bonds and helping each other out was best. That belief helped bring the Shinobi Alliance together to accomplish amazing things. Sasuke wanted to rid himself of the connections he thought were holding him back, while Naruto strove to build and maintain the connections important to him.

Sasuke eventually realizes their bond’s importance, but his line proves that he understood his brother-in-arms. After his family was taken from him at such a young age, he believed that Naruto could not understand how he felt because, unlike Sasuke, Naruto never had a family. The two bonded during their younger years at the ninja academy through that shared loneliness. Because of that, the Sharingan user held the unique perspective of being an opponent who knew where Naruto was coming from, helping his quote about the Shadow Clone tech about hiding his loneliness all that more biting.

Careful Planning Went Into Each Of Naruto And Sasuke’s Attacks

A brotherly bond that went beyond blood

Naruto’s reaction to hearing the breakdown of his iconic jutsu was one of shock as if he’d never even considered the symbolism of his Shadow Clone technique. Episode #477 of the Shippuden anime adapted the moment beautifully before the strongest Susanoo in the series quickly appeared behind the Shadow Clones and brutally overpowered the superior numbers. Nearly every attack in the two shinobi’s arsenal held some emotional significance in the story, especially when Sasuke decides to take on Naruto and his clones single-handedly.

The lone Uchiha also learned and developed a lot as a character throughout the series. He’d taken the iconic Spider-Man line about how “with great power comes great responsibility” to the extreme by committing to use his god-like powers to force his idea of world peace onto the shinobi world. He even expressed that there were several ways of attaining immortality to stay in power forever, a goal similar to Madara Uchiha. Thankfully, Naruto was through letting his closest friend take on so much by himself.

Naruto’s Words Still Dealt A Bigger Impact

The manga’s story of Naruto and Sasuke took 15 years and 700 chapters to tell

Naruto‘s ending stands as one of fiction’s most satisfying conclusions to a long-running series thanks to the complex emotions and well-thought-out clash between Naruto and Sasuke. After exhausting each other and even destroying the hands they used for their signature attacks, they both laid next to each other, unable to move. Still, the confrontation that’d been built up for years would end with some of Naruto’s own poignant quotes.

As they both lay on the rubble of their battle, the antagonist of the situation again asked Naruto why he was so diligent in not giving up on him and what friendship meant to him. “When I see you take on stuff and get all messed up it kinda, it hurts inside so much, I can’t just leave it alone,” were the words Naruto said that finally broke through to Sasuke. Now, the lonely Uchiha finally acknowledged that he cherished his bond with Naruto and that they could accomplish more together than either of them could alone, even with Shadow Clones.

While the two characters shared an understandable rivalry that was engaging on a surface level, their clashing ideals helped make their relationship one of anime’s most iconic bonds. Several series have adapted the rival troupe effectively. However, the dynamic between the two main characters made their final fight and Sasuke’s biting commentary feel that much more effective. Masashi Kishimoto and his editors did a great job building the two characters over the manga’s 15 years of publication to provide a gratifying ending to the Naruto series.

• Naruto

  Naruto is a franchise spawned from the manga series penned by Masashi Kishimoto that began in 1999. Generating several tv series, games, movies, and more, Naruto follows the exploits of a young outcast ninja harboring the spirit of a demon fox who seeks to become the Hokage, the leader of his ninja village, to break the stigma against him. Upon the conclusion of the initial series, Naruto expanded into Boruto, following many series protagonists’ children and returning faces.

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  Naruto: Shippuden

  Set two and a half years after the events of Masashi Kishimoto’s original anime, Naruto Shippuden continues the titular hero’s attempts to become the best ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village and bring his former friend Sasuke Uchiha back to the light. The 500-episode series features the return of allies such as Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki’s mentor Jiraiya, as well as the villainous organization Akatsuki.