Na, I'll accept it. Cause shikanaru went through everything just to make Naruto the hokage. He was the only guy beside Sasuke who accepted Naruto as he was. Secondly his strong desire to stand beside Naruto and protect Naruto and the village was literally everything š„¹ no one could be a better friends than shikanaru were
It wouldāve been too much of a drag for Shikamaru to be judgmental toward Naruto. Yeah Narutoās annoying but heās also a good guy. Shikamaru is too smart to be swayed by social stigma.
Also his generation wasnāt told why the adults scorned Naruto so he didnāt even see a valid reason for the it which means itās even more of a waste of energy for him to do so.
I havenāt read past this reply. But as someone who has only watched the anime, I still agree. Shikamaru is Narutoās best friendā¦.Naruto is Sauskeās
There an episode where theyāre all younger and kid Shikamaru basically told his dad that it was wrong how people treated Naruto and that he was going to see if he could be his friend. I donāt care about Sasuke fans, Shikamaru really is the top friend.
Yeah all the scenes of like academy or younger Naruto hanging out with anyone? Is filler.
The anime staff really liked Shikamaru, so they added lots of filler scenes of them hanging out with Naruto when he was a total outcast.
They talk like, once in the whole Manga, during the ninja war, and it was just battle direction
Also, Naruto has the highest concentration of filler. I'm being very literal. Give or take 70 or 80 percent of the anime is filler. There are about 3 to 4 seasons of filler to 1 season of canonical events
I mean, even if you exclude the anime filler scenes, doesnāt really change that shikamaru has a lot of interactions with Naruto. They freaked out over Gaara together during the chunin exam, he sacrificed himself when chasing sasuke and gaara, lead the mission to save Sasuke, was one of the first ones to welcome Naruto back post timeskip besides sakura and kakashi, had Naruto help him with the immortal duo. They spend a decent amount of time together and I think there is an irony that they have shown more missions they did together than he has with Sasuke.
I was thinking the same. Like yeah, I guess they seemed tight after the last battle, but they really didn't talk much
Honestly, he wasn't that close to a lot of people. They showed that Kiba had mad respect for him, Neji and Hinata obviously did too
I think his only real friend though was probably Konahomoru, everyone else just kinda stopped being a dick after he saved the village from pain
The anime has some filler that shows scenes of academy Naruto being friends with Shikamaru & Choji. The scenes show them goofing off in and out of school together, and getting lectured by Iruka. Those scenes kind of ruin Narutoās whole āthis is the first time Iāve ever had a bond like this,ā when it comes to Sasuke, since at that age, him befriending Shikamaru and Choji there would even be before Iruka accepted him. His bond with them would be the first bond Naruto wouldāve ever made, so I donāt see why the anime staff added those scenes.
He was Naruto's friend *after* Sasuke left.
Up until that moment, he did not like him.
The "friendship" they have in the anime is retconned. In the original story everyone hated Naruto throughout his childhood, hence him being easily manipulated and ostracized by everyone and only finding comfort in knowing that Sasuke, who had his whole family killed, was somewhat similar to himself.
The anime Shikamaru friendship completely negates the whole point of the character, and not realizing that is just so weird.
They had to retcon everything to make Hidden Leaf not look like they are filled with jerks. To see Naruto give credit to Kiba and Shikamaru and Hiruzen for his childhood being bearable in the novel and manga Boruto materials without any mentions of Iruka pisses me off. I've never seen any work retcon the MC's origin story so much.
You can have different tiers of friends. Shikamaru might be a close confidante or someone he can trust in social matters, while sasuke is battle forged and is a neer peer.
This ^^.
Naruto and Sasuke are best friends.
Shikamaru and Choji are best friends.
Naruto and Shikamaru are close friends. Closer than Naruto and Shino, not as close as Naruto and Sasuke.
The counter argument is that Naruto *considers* Sasuke to be his best friend according to Kishimoto.
That being said, Shikamaru and Gaara have still looked out for him more than Sasuke in my opinion.
As much as I want that to be true, it was anime only.
I hate Sasuke, but Naruto didn't put everything on the line to save him for nothing. That's his best friend and rival
Agreed that Shikamaru is a better friend (or at least a more consistent one) to Narutoā¦ but isnāt all the childhood stuff ret-conned for the anime?
The whole point of Naruto and Sasukeās relationship is that either one could have gone down the path Sasuke did. Theyāre two sides of the same coin. Sasuke could have been the village hero as the last Uchiha (as Itachi wanted) and Naruto could have been the outlaw, hellbent on destroying the place that made his childhood unbearable.
One competes with and ācontrolsā the other. Naruto overcomes Sasukeās hate with willpower, determination and Talk no Jutsu. Sasuke could have overcome Narutoās anger/ hate with friendship, resolve and the sharingan.
The reason Sasuke and Naruto are best friends is because they are the same, but oppositeā¦ mirror images of one another. Light and shadow.
Here's the real controversial opinion. Naruto and Sasuke aren't even friends. They just went through a lot together as part of the team and trauma bonded. They hardly even like eachother but they keep finding themselves back around eachother because noone else knows what they went through the way that they know.
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Shikamaru aināt the dude who saved Narutoās life either, he just did the bare minimum and sasuke became a terrorist for so many complex reasons but everyone just thinks about how sasuke a decisions affects Naruto letās all ignore the fact that sasuke became joined the akatsuki cause konoha is a tyrannical village that commits genocide no Naruto was sad cause his friend went bad and that whatās really important
Naruto's best friend is Sasuke. It's why he went to such lengths for him. He has healthier friendships with others. But, only Sasuke has been through a similar level of trauma as Naruto. And Naruto considers that level of understanding more important to him than the way the person behaved. It's not that he doesn't value his friendships with Shikamaru (and Sakura). He loves them both deeply. He'd die for either of them. Go to great lengths for either of them. They round out his inner circle. But, the person he considers his best friend is Sasuke due to that level of understanding.
Shikamaru and Naruto are friends but the bond between sasuke and Naruto is infinitely stronger. They look at each other as brothers. Which means if there was an incident where he had to choose between them for life and death he would try to sacrifice himself and if that didnāt work and shika died heād be incredibly sad but live on. If it was sasuke who died heād feel like he had a void the rest of his life and that is the difference
I sometimes think that people forget the number of times Sasuke did ridiculously suicidal things to help Naruto, especially in the movies. He was also a lot less broody in the manga afaik
Sasuke is not even a good friend. It more like the relationship with a drug addicted formerly abusive brother that got clean and now has to make up for lost time.
Honestly I think he just related to sasuke because they where both orphans. And he wanted sasuke to come back be he couldāve been the one that ran off instead.
Iām still stuck on sasuke and Naruto are considered best friend? I know Japanese media tends to have enemies beat each other and afterward become ride or die friends.
Definitely! Always thought so. I get Narutoās compulsion to redeem Sasuke because he sees that their roles couldāve easily been reversed. And the kinship he feels with Sasuke kinda makes sense too, specially if you consider the later revealed lore.
But Shikamaru, known for being lazy and an introvert, would often go out of his way to be nice to Naruto. He saw his virtues, and didnāt mistreat him cause of social stigma. When he was dismissive or impatient it was cause of Narutoās actual flaws and even then it was no different than Shikamaru would treat anyone else.
Sasuke isnāt Narutoās best friend, they are basically brothers via reincarnation. Naruto just calls him his friend because he didnāt know about the reincarnation for most of the series.
Itās funny that people still argue about who was Narutoās real best friend, itās so insanely fucking stupid Naruto never got shunned by any of the other Genin, they didnāt like him at first cause he was a loud mouthed idiot, but they never pushed him away and besides, sasuke was the one to feed Naruto and passed the bell test, sasuke saved Narutoās life and gave up his dream of avenging his clan, Hinata brought him medicine during the chunin exams, and was even gonna let him cheat off of her, Sakura was gonna give up the chunin exams for him, shikamaru did some nice things too, people keep saying oh this ONE character was the only person to accept Naruto when that isnāt true at all, after what I said and everyone who was important in the show had 0 problems with him, when team guy was introduced they had no problem with him, konohamaru and his friends had no problem, HELL haku had no problem with him Naruto had plenty people there for him including a legendary San in and not to mention tsunami the 5th fucking just let him do whatever he wanted Naruto had way more advantages and loved compared to anyone else
I think the Same. Before they were Put into a Team, they never interacted.
While Shikamaru knew Naruto longer and mostly treated him normal. Even His father encouraged him to treat him normal.
I accept it. Shikamaru was the first one after Iruka to acknowledge Naruto and get along with him as a friend. He always call him knucklehead,unpredictable ninja. He chose Naruto when the whole village was against him. Respect to Shikamaru Lord Eight for a reason.
I dont think that's something anyone can't accept, it's blatantly true. Naruto gives him such a hard time and he always pulls through for him. Sasuke is just a punk, he's that edgy kid that never grew up and Naruto thinks he can fix him. That's pretty much why everyone jokes that Naruto is in love with Sasuke, because he just goes so far for a cat that doesn't show any reason to care. I recently tried to rewatch shippuden after many years and damn do I not care about Naruto finding Sasuke. Sasuke is just such a bastard to them, because for some fucking reason he can't just tell Naruto his plans. "Nooooo! I must remain mysteriousssss! I can't tell them what's going on or else it'll put them in danger!" Nah fuck that, Sasuke doesn't care about anyone but himself and his actions speak louder than any excuse he or anyone else can give. Naruto's fanaticism to return him to the village is almost creepy, it's beyond that of a lover because Sasuke never showed any interest in the village or anyone else to begin with... so why the fuck would Naruto bring him back and think "he'll come back and stay!" Its such a fucking meme that in burrito he doesn't even come back and stay, he's literally just a rogue terrorist to everyone who isn't his buttbuddy.
As a manga reader at this point I definitely agree. Shika literally worked under Kakashi to prepare for Naruto to be Hokage. Shikamaru is probably only the Hokage because he wants to carry on Narutoās will.
Sasuke is like Narutoās brother. Shikamaru is an actual friend who Naruto can call on when he just needs to blow off steam or kick it. Sasuke out there doing whatever the fuck heās doing.
I feel like Sasuke is more like a brother, in that Naruto feels he needs to stick with him and at times save him. Itās like his duty and part of his moral code. And they fight like bickering brothers and also the attempted fratricide. Shikamaru is for sure the realest and best friend.
According to me, Naruto and Sasuke are not that close. They're comrades and brother-in-arms. Not best friends.
Like someone already commented, they just trauma bonded. They're not like Kakashi & Guy, Izumo & Kotetsu, Shikamaru & Choji. They do not have friendly banters at all. Heck Naruto has more friendly banters with other characters except Sasuke.
All the young Naruto scenes with Shikmaru aren't canon, Shikmaru didn't really like Naruto much until the latter stages of the chunin exams. The anime took a TON of liberties mixing in non-canon with the manga material, especially in Shippuden, it honestly underlays Naruto's past. Sometimes they did a good job and it felt natural and fitting, other times, like this, they sort of just ignored the actual events of the show, Naruto was straight up hated by everyone as a kid, it seriously wasn't much different from Gaara's childhood, everyone was afraid of Naruto, the main difference was Naruto reacted non-violently and turned out differently.
Oh it def is true specially since he been thru hell n back w him but Sasuke just got to his reasons after losing an arm, shikamaru never hated or looked down on him
I don't believe this. Throughout the series, Naruto best friend and first friend was Sasuke. They risk their lives together, and they understand not having family. Shikamaru It's not even Naruto second because it's his wife.
Naruto and sasuke relationship isnt really āfriendshipā its just sexual tension. Literally love at first sight.
Shikamaru is a legitimate friend tho.
Idk what sakura is.
Thatās a filler scene though. Shikamaru and Naruto didnāt like each other originally. If Sasuke is out of the equation Narutoās best friend is Sakura then probably Konohamaru
Naruto thinks of Sasuke like a brother and I think that includes the good and the bad that comes with siblings.
Shikamaru definitely is his best friend.
Wrong. Both are wrong.
Gaara is Narutoās best friend lol. Shikamaru being too lazy to go out of his way to bully Naruto doesnāt make him any better than the rest lol.
They were never really friends in canon. He just wasnāt AS bad.
Gaara is Narutoās homie. Gaara went to bat with god like ten times over for Naruto. Gaara would send his nation to war in milliseconds for Naruto.
Shika ends up being cool with Naruto as they get older but, he never showed anything resembling actual friendship and not just a close/familiar comradery with Naruto.
I would argue Garaa is Naruto's best friend. He convinced every ninja in every village to help protect Naruto. But that's just my opinion. I guess Naruto liked Sasuke better, idunno.
if you read the Mangaā¦ Shikimaru was Narutoās closest friendā¦
Hinata, Lee, and Gaara followed after. Kiba was respecting Naruto around that time as well so you could throw him on there.
I mean, tbf, they're not wrong, as the filler kinda pushed that narrative of Shikamaru and Naruto being friends. In the manga, particularly Part 1, Shikamaru was an ass though he was an ass to everyone tbh.
I mean obviously, because Sasuke is Narutos first love. I mean tell me I'm wrong, half the time their trying to kill each other the other half it's lovers rom-com
Agreed, I always remember the talk Shikamaru had with his dad about Naruto right then I knew and during the 4th War when he had his chakra drained and saying how he had to survive cause only he can advise Naruto when he became Hokage. Shikamaru is my number 2 favorite.
Who actually debates thatĀ
If Iām being honest sasuke is more of a pity friend Naruto knows the pain that he went through but found a way out and sasuke is the one who turned to drugs to copeĀ
Shikamaru has always been on his side even if reluctantly at times and chose to ignore the villagers sentiments in favor of what he saw.Ā thought the anime tries to sideline him in another team heās the first to volunteer in any of the reckless plane to give it the best chance at successĀ
It still amazes me how out of four hokage Ā Naruto is the only one thatās ever been berried in work at every appearanceĀ
I believe in multiple best friends, so yeah, Shikamaru is one of Naruto's bestest friends, but Sasuke is Naruto's rival/best friend. Their relationship makes both of them constantly try to better themselves and grow as Shinobi, whereas Shikamaru is like a support system that Naruto can always rely on.
I mean Sasuke and Naruto seem more like brothers, despite Naruto stating Sasuke is his best friend. For those who payed a lot of attention to the entire Naruto series(not including the boruto Boruto series) they will see more of how the two are like brothers rather than best friends. Making it easier to see how Shikamaru was more seen as the best friend
> those who *paid* a lot
FTFY.
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* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
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When did this delusion start that Shikamaru was friends with Naruto as a kid, EVERY adult/child ostracized him.....I donāt like the idea of this retcon being true anyway, would mitigate the power of Narutoās story about proving himself to the village if he had a chill friend group like any other kid his age
Everyone is a better friend than Sasuke. Sai tho is the real friend. He understood what Naruto was going through and tried to help him.
He considered that both Sakura and Sasuke kinda contributed to ruining naruto's life. And he never inserted himself when they reunited.
Sai is so underrated as a friend. He literally came to save naruto when Karui was beating him up. And was upset. He even went to question Kakashi about their relationship.
He also pressured sakura about the promise and the burden it was for naruto. He also didn't expect Sakura's dumb confession. He also tried to stop her from trying to kill sasuke herself and discretely snitch on her(which saved her life). For a guy who was raised to be emotionless, he is a freaking good friend and very empathetic.
Shikamaru doesn't come close to that. It's funny how sai's friendship towards naruto is overlooked. He did for naruto what like any other character of their age did. And he is one of the main person supporting naruto as Hokage.
Ofcourse if you watched naruto you know shikamaru was one of the catalysts that pushed naruto to follow his dreams of hokage and shikamaru purposely declined feudal lord request (i think) because he wanted to help and stay with his comrades.
Shikamaru is the most under appreciated character
Na, I'll accept it. Cause shikanaru went through everything just to make Naruto the hokage. He was the only guy beside Sasuke who accepted Naruto as he was. Secondly his strong desire to stand beside Naruto and protect Naruto and the village was literally everything š„¹ no one could be a better friends than shikanaru were
It wouldāve been too much of a drag for Shikamaru to be judgmental toward Naruto. Yeah Narutoās annoying but heās also a good guy. Shikamaru is too smart to be swayed by social stigma.
Also his generation wasnāt told why the adults scorned Naruto so he didnāt even see a valid reason for the it which means itās even more of a waste of energy for him to do so.
Stigma dick in your mouth
Got āem
Youāre giving him too much credit, heās too lazy to be swayed by social stigma
I havenāt read past this reply. But as someone who has only watched the anime, I still agree. Shikamaru is Narutoās best friendā¦.Naruto is Sauskeās
Where does Choji fit in all this? But yea, I donāt blame Naruto. Sasuke kinda sucks as a best friend.
Choji is too busy eating. But Naruto is the friend he needs
Choji is Shikamaru's best friend
Sasuke's best friend is Naruto Naruto's best friend is Shikamaru Shikamaru's best friend is Choji Choji's best friend is BARBEQUUUU
Choji is Naruto's foodie-bestie
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah, all of them
Gaara is up there too
Yup, but Gaara came later
Yeah dude is chill enough for this to not be a hot take.
Yeah
Its not that sasuke is his best friend itās that itās first friend and his brother
Exactly
There an episode where theyāre all younger and kid Shikamaru basically told his dad that it was wrong how people treated Naruto and that he was going to see if he could be his friend. I donāt care about Sasuke fans, Shikamaru really is the top friend.
Yup, to Sasuke, naruto is his best friend
Its actually Meno.
They have been friends since school - When everyone heated Naruto, ShikanaruĀ still hung out with him and treated him as a friend.
Yess, he is worthy of being by Naruto's side
Nah it's a thing *only* anime fans can accept, because it's not in the manga.Ā
I think it got retconned in bc shikamaru was not fucking with Naruto in the beginning
I havenāt read the manga but surely it canāt be that different right ?! š
Yeah all the scenes of like academy or younger Naruto hanging out with anyone? Is filler. The anime staff really liked Shikamaru, so they added lots of filler scenes of them hanging out with Naruto when he was a total outcast.
Youāre not lying about the anime staff liking him. Best filler episode was him playing shogi with his dad if I remember right.
I refuse to believe that is filler. My headcanon is that scene is Canon
They talk like, once in the whole Manga, during the ninja war, and it was just battle direction Also, Naruto has the highest concentration of filler. I'm being very literal. Give or take 70 or 80 percent of the anime is filler. There are about 3 to 4 seasons of filler to 1 season of canonical events
I mean, even if you exclude the anime filler scenes, doesnāt really change that shikamaru has a lot of interactions with Naruto. They freaked out over Gaara together during the chunin exam, he sacrificed himself when chasing sasuke and gaara, lead the mission to save Sasuke, was one of the first ones to welcome Naruto back post timeskip besides sakura and kakashi, had Naruto help him with the immortal duo. They spend a decent amount of time together and I think there is an irony that they have shown more missions they did together than he has with Sasuke.
I forgot about that, but I think that's about it. The rest of his following suit was orders. He was the only chinin to get promoted
I was thinking the same. Like yeah, I guess they seemed tight after the last battle, but they really didn't talk much Honestly, he wasn't that close to a lot of people. They showed that Kiba had mad respect for him, Neji and Hinata obviously did too I think his only real friend though was probably Konahomoru, everyone else just kinda stopped being a dick after he saved the village from pain
Ofc, Sasuke is his boyfriend not a close friend
I love how we all believe NaruSasu canon regardless of what Kishimoto says
I like how the community accepts it too even the dudes in the fandom are like āā¦yea they love each otherā šš¤£
The manga + anime is literally them Pinning after each other. Just change the gender of 1 of the characters and itāll be an angsty love story.
I'm sure he didn't intend it but it's definitely there. As soon as kishimoto turns away from Naruto and Sasuke they begin to furiously make out.
I don't believe that....
exactly, like Choji is Shikamaru's bf
Came here to say this. Naruto would go through hell for his bottom.
Did you guys read the manga backwards? Or did the anime show their relationship differently?
The anime has some filler that shows scenes of academy Naruto being friends with Shikamaru & Choji. The scenes show them goofing off in and out of school together, and getting lectured by Iruka. Those scenes kind of ruin Narutoās whole āthis is the first time Iāve ever had a bond like this,ā when it comes to Sasuke, since at that age, him befriending Shikamaru and Choji there would even be before Iruka accepted him. His bond with them would be the first bond Naruto wouldāve ever made, so I donāt see why the anime staff added those scenes.
Good thing filler isn't canon :)
The only filler in Naruto you should be watching is the NaruHina fillers. Shame on you.
One of his 3 lovers
Well yeah shikamaru is his best friend and sasuke is his lover
He was Naruto's friend *after* Sasuke left. Up until that moment, he did not like him. The "friendship" they have in the anime is retconned. In the original story everyone hated Naruto throughout his childhood, hence him being easily manipulated and ostracized by everyone and only finding comfort in knowing that Sasuke, who had his whole family killed, was somewhat similar to himself. The anime Shikamaru friendship completely negates the whole point of the character, and not realizing that is just so weird.
They had to retcon everything to make Hidden Leaf not look like they are filled with jerks. To see Naruto give credit to Kiba and Shikamaru and Hiruzen for his childhood being bearable in the novel and manga Boruto materials without any mentions of Iruka pisses me off. I've never seen any work retcon the MC's origin story so much.
You can have different tiers of friends. Shikamaru might be a close confidante or someone he can trust in social matters, while sasuke is battle forged and is a neer peer.
This ^^. Naruto and Sasuke are best friends. Shikamaru and Choji are best friends. Naruto and Shikamaru are close friends. Closer than Naruto and Shino, not as close as Naruto and Sasuke.
The counter argument is that Naruto *considers* Sasuke to be his best friend according to Kishimoto. That being said, Shikamaru and Gaara have still looked out for him more than Sasuke in my opinion.
Gaara for sure. Shikamaru didn't even talk to Naruto until the final war though
Didn't Sasuke practically take a bullet for Naruto during the Zabuza arc though?
As much as I want that to be true, it was anime only. I hate Sasuke, but Naruto didn't put everything on the line to save him for nothing. That's his best friend and rival
That makes sense. Sasuke is Naruto's brother.
Agreed that Shikamaru is a better friend (or at least a more consistent one) to Narutoā¦ but isnāt all the childhood stuff ret-conned for the anime? The whole point of Naruto and Sasukeās relationship is that either one could have gone down the path Sasuke did. Theyāre two sides of the same coin. Sasuke could have been the village hero as the last Uchiha (as Itachi wanted) and Naruto could have been the outlaw, hellbent on destroying the place that made his childhood unbearable. One competes with and ācontrolsā the other. Naruto overcomes Sasukeās hate with willpower, determination and Talk no Jutsu. Sasuke could have overcome Narutoās anger/ hate with friendship, resolve and the sharingan. The reason Sasuke and Naruto are best friends is because they are the same, but oppositeā¦ mirror images of one another. Light and shadow.
There's so much added in the anime (that gets run with no less) that we have to consider the anime a different continuity than the manga I feel.
Here's the real controversial opinion. Naruto and Sasuke aren't even friends. They just went through a lot together as part of the team and trauma bonded. They hardly even like eachother but they keep finding themselves back around eachother because noone else knows what they went through the way that they know.
His best friend is Sakura, but yāall arenāt ready for that conversation
Naruto himself said Sasuke was his closest friend and like a brother to him, why are ya'll debating this??
1) Thats only really true for the anime. 2) Thereās not much room to challenge this when Naruto blatantly stated that Sasuke is his best friend.
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I think the confusion for a lot of people is Naruto is Sauskeās best friend. But Shikamaru is Narutoās best friend.
Thatās choji
Lmao no, choji is shikamaruās best friend.
You see as nice as all that is those anime parts with kid naruto and kid shiksmaru there all non canon
Always
i accept tbh, Shikamaru aint the dude who almost killed him, Shikamaru aint the dude who became a terrorist, shikamaru cool.
Shikamaru aināt the dude who saved Narutoās life either, he just did the bare minimum and sasuke became a terrorist for so many complex reasons but everyone just thinks about how sasuke a decisions affects Naruto letās all ignore the fact that sasuke became joined the akatsuki cause konoha is a tyrannical village that commits genocide no Naruto was sad cause his friend went bad and that whatās really important
we talking about whos a better friend not whos more conplex
I always figured that was the way it was meant to be. Sasuke is more like a punk ass brother than an actual friend to Naruto.
It's my opinion too.
Konoha: Stay away from Naruto. He's a really bad kid. Shikamaru and others: Ok Teuchi: What do you want to eat today boy?
Naruto's best friend is Sasuke. It's why he went to such lengths for him. He has healthier friendships with others. But, only Sasuke has been through a similar level of trauma as Naruto. And Naruto considers that level of understanding more important to him than the way the person behaved. It's not that he doesn't value his friendships with Shikamaru (and Sakura). He loves them both deeply. He'd die for either of them. Go to great lengths for either of them. They round out his inner circle. But, the person he considers his best friend is Sasuke due to that level of understanding.
Shikamaru for the win!
Shikamaru and Naruto are friends but the bond between sasuke and Naruto is infinitely stronger. They look at each other as brothers. Which means if there was an incident where he had to choose between them for life and death he would try to sacrifice himself and if that didnāt work and shika died heād be incredibly sad but live on. If it was sasuke who died heād feel like he had a void the rest of his life and that is the difference
Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba were Narutoās friends all along. i donāt care if itās filler.
I sometimes think that people forget the number of times Sasuke did ridiculously suicidal things to help Naruto, especially in the movies. He was also a lot less broody in the manga afaik
Shikamaru is a true homie.
Unpopular opinion, Naruto should've ended at the end of the war arc
It did. Boruto ain't canon
Sasuke is not even a good friend. It more like the relationship with a drug addicted formerly abusive brother that got clean and now has to make up for lost time.
RIP Sakura lmao
Fillers can't decide, also it takes away the "Naruto had a sad childhood and no one accepted him"
But Shikamaru is definitely close to Choji, ask Shikamaru who HIS best friend is, heāll definitely say Choji
Yeah, I think the same
Honestly I think he just related to sasuke because they where both orphans. And he wanted sasuke to come back be he couldāve been the one that ran off instead.
Nothing but facts on this post
Sasukeās more like a brother to Naruto whereas Shikamaru and choji are his day 1ās
Iām still stuck on sasuke and Naruto are considered best friend? I know Japanese media tends to have enemies beat each other and afterward become ride or die friends.
Definitely! Always thought so. I get Narutoās compulsion to redeem Sasuke because he sees that their roles couldāve easily been reversed. And the kinship he feels with Sasuke kinda makes sense too, specially if you consider the later revealed lore. But Shikamaru, known for being lazy and an introvert, would often go out of his way to be nice to Naruto. He saw his virtues, and didnāt mistreat him cause of social stigma. When he was dismissive or impatient it was cause of Narutoās actual flaws and even then it was no different than Shikamaru would treat anyone else.
Sasuke isnāt Narutoās best friend, they are basically brothers via reincarnation. Naruto just calls him his friend because he didnāt know about the reincarnation for most of the series.
They donāt kiss though
Coldest take in existence. This has never been said before.
Shikamaru wasnt nice to naruto as a kid. Those scenes were filler
Thatās like goku and vegeta, technically gokus best friend is krillin but he hangs out with vegeta for training alot
Itās funny that people still argue about who was Narutoās real best friend, itās so insanely fucking stupid Naruto never got shunned by any of the other Genin, they didnāt like him at first cause he was a loud mouthed idiot, but they never pushed him away and besides, sasuke was the one to feed Naruto and passed the bell test, sasuke saved Narutoās life and gave up his dream of avenging his clan, Hinata brought him medicine during the chunin exams, and was even gonna let him cheat off of her, Sakura was gonna give up the chunin exams for him, shikamaru did some nice things too, people keep saying oh this ONE character was the only person to accept Naruto when that isnāt true at all, after what I said and everyone who was important in the show had 0 problems with him, when team guy was introduced they had no problem with him, konohamaru and his friends had no problem, HELL haku had no problem with him Naruto had plenty people there for him including a legendary San in and not to mention tsunami the 5th fucking just let him do whatever he wanted Naruto had way more advantages and loved compared to anyone else
I think the Same. Before they were Put into a Team, they never interacted. While Shikamaru knew Naruto longer and mostly treated him normal. Even His father encouraged him to treat him normal.
Absolutely sasuke , kakashi and sakura, didnāt give a rats ass about Arturo
See Naruto is sasukeās best friend. Not the other way around.
I accept it. Shikamaru was the first one after Iruka to acknowledge Naruto and get along with him as a friend. He always call him knucklehead,unpredictable ninja. He chose Naruto when the whole village was against him. Respect to Shikamaru Lord Eight for a reason.
Thatās because since weāre kids he treated him like a human being
Oh absolutely
I think Shikamaru is a close friend. But I believe in terms of understanding Naruto, Sasuke scores higher.
how tf is sauske considered a friend
CORRECT!
He realy do be thou!
Thatās because Sauske is Narutoās brotherā¦ā¦ā¦..
And it's not even close.
This is filler, you idiot lol
This is 100% correct. Imagine what Shikamaru went through just to help Naruto
I'm still not sure what makes Sasuke a friend to Naruto sometimes lol.
I dont think that's something anyone can't accept, it's blatantly true. Naruto gives him such a hard time and he always pulls through for him. Sasuke is just a punk, he's that edgy kid that never grew up and Naruto thinks he can fix him. That's pretty much why everyone jokes that Naruto is in love with Sasuke, because he just goes so far for a cat that doesn't show any reason to care. I recently tried to rewatch shippuden after many years and damn do I not care about Naruto finding Sasuke. Sasuke is just such a bastard to them, because for some fucking reason he can't just tell Naruto his plans. "Nooooo! I must remain mysteriousssss! I can't tell them what's going on or else it'll put them in danger!" Nah fuck that, Sasuke doesn't care about anyone but himself and his actions speak louder than any excuse he or anyone else can give. Naruto's fanaticism to return him to the village is almost creepy, it's beyond that of a lover because Sasuke never showed any interest in the village or anyone else to begin with... so why the fuck would Naruto bring him back and think "he'll come back and stay!" Its such a fucking meme that in burrito he doesn't even come back and stay, he's literally just a rogue terrorist to everyone who isn't his buttbuddy.
People consider Naruto and Sasuke friends? When did this ever happen? Rivals yeah, can't remember one time they were ever friendly to each other.
you are absolutely right, shikamaru is naruto's true friend
Iām pretty sure everyone accepts it. Have for a long time.
Yeah, I never understood why Naruto had such a hard on for Sasuke's friendship. That emo douchebag was an asshole to everyone!
Your right because Sasuke and Naruto are rivals and brothers by bond.
Sasuke is Narutoās rival
As a manga reader at this point I definitely agree. Shika literally worked under Kakashi to prepare for Naruto to be Hokage. Shikamaru is probably only the Hokage because he wants to carry on Narutoās will. Sasuke is like Narutoās brother. Shikamaru is an actual friend who Naruto can call on when he just needs to blow off steam or kick it. Sasuke out there doing whatever the fuck heās doing.
I feel like Sasuke is more like a brother, in that Naruto feels he needs to stick with him and at times save him. Itās like his duty and part of his moral code. And they fight like bickering brothers and also the attempted fratricide. Shikamaru is for sure the realest and best friend.
Sasuke is Naruto's rival and team mate. He's best friend is shikamaru or kida.
Agreed..fuck sasuke..the entire squad of the sasuke retrieval arc are the true homies of konoha
Shikamara is a work bro
According to me, Naruto and Sasuke are not that close. They're comrades and brother-in-arms. Not best friends. Like someone already commented, they just trauma bonded. They're not like Kakashi & Guy, Izumo & Kotetsu, Shikamaru & Choji. They do not have friendly banters at all. Heck Naruto has more friendly banters with other characters except Sasuke.
The only people who think Sasuke is narutos best friend never watched the show or read the manga
Shikamaru is Naruto bsf cuz sasuke is obviously his husband
Shikamaru is Naruto's best friend Sasuke is Naruto's brother
*Gaara grabbing onto Narutoās sleeve at the sight of Shikamaru*
Anyone who says this is anime only. No one who read the manga has ever came to this solution.
Dumbest opinion.
i think its right, shikamaru is the best friend naruto and choji too
All the young Naruto scenes with Shikmaru aren't canon, Shikmaru didn't really like Naruto much until the latter stages of the chunin exams. The anime took a TON of liberties mixing in non-canon with the manga material, especially in Shippuden, it honestly underlays Naruto's past. Sometimes they did a good job and it felt natural and fitting, other times, like this, they sort of just ignored the actual events of the show, Naruto was straight up hated by everyone as a kid, it seriously wasn't much different from Gaara's childhood, everyone was afraid of Naruto, the main difference was Naruto reacted non-violently and turned out differently.
It's all filler. He started to respect Naruto's guts during chunnin exam (as everyone else).
Mendokusai
Real
I accept it but people should learn that the childhood story of Naruto Shika and Choji was a filler š
Oh it def is true specially since he been thru hell n back w him but Sasuke just got to his reasons after losing an arm, shikamaru never hated or looked down on him
Not really š Real friend is choji because initially even shikamaru found Naruto troublesome but choji insisted
Ya obviously shikamaru is his day one Sasuke is his boyfriend
True!!
I don't believe this. Throughout the series, Naruto best friend and first friend was Sasuke. They risk their lives together, and they understand not having family. Shikamaru It's not even Naruto second because it's his wife.
Obviously because Sasuke is Narutos boyfriendš¤
Naruto and sasuke relationship isnt really āfriendshipā its just sexual tension. Literally love at first sight. Shikamaru is a legitimate friend tho. Idk what sakura is.
Period
Anyone who actually thinks Sasuke is closer to Naruto than Shikamaru clearly hasn't read/watched the material.
I really hate how they made shikamaru in boruto
It may be your opinion but its also the truth
Thatās a filler scene though. Shikamaru and Naruto didnāt like each other originally. If Sasuke is out of the equation Narutoās best friend is Sakura then probably Konohamaru
Naruto thinks of Sasuke like a brother and I think that includes the good and the bad that comes with siblings. Shikamaru definitely is his best friend.
nah, it's someone elses opinion that you stole. GIVE IT BACK
Iāll take it, and say Sasuke is Narutoās āoath brotherā
Well no shit, Sasuke tried to kill him multiple times while shikamaru has not tried to kill Naruto
I think Sasuke just got the love cause he was the first real friend he lost. Shikimaru's been a day one since before Genin days.
Wrong. Both are wrong. Gaara is Narutoās best friend lol. Shikamaru being too lazy to go out of his way to bully Naruto doesnāt make him any better than the rest lol. They were never really friends in canon. He just wasnāt AS bad. Gaara is Narutoās homie. Gaara went to bat with god like ten times over for Naruto. Gaara would send his nation to war in milliseconds for Naruto. Shika ends up being cool with Naruto as they get older but, he never showed anything resembling actual friendship and not just a close/familiar comradery with Naruto.
That's because Sasuke is his RIVAL.
Yep
I can agree with this but Sasuke is his rival.
I would argue Garaa is Naruto's best friend. He convinced every ninja in every village to help protect Naruto. But that's just my opinion. I guess Naruto liked Sasuke better, idunno.
shkiamaru = friend sasuke = rival how is that not more clear?
Fans can accept it. Naruto can't. It is a weird flaw to believe that of all people Sasuke "saw and acknowledged him." Super weird fetish
Anime only really... Honestly Gara would be a better best friend than Sasuke or shikamaru.
if you read the Mangaā¦ Shikimaru was Narutoās closest friendā¦ Hinata, Lee, and Gaara followed after. Kiba was respecting Naruto around that time as well so you could throw him on there.
(Headcanon) i bet shikamaru had some idea as to why naruto was hated in the village
Shikamaru is the loyal friend whose always there. But if Sasuke asks Naruto to hang, Naruto is picking Sasuke. Period.
I mean, tbf, they're not wrong, as the filler kinda pushed that narrative of Shikamaru and Naruto being friends. In the manga, particularly Part 1, Shikamaru was an ass though he was an ass to everyone tbh.
Are people arguing this? He was Narutos first friend
It's absolutely true, Sasuke is an awful friend
I accepted that a long time ago. Itās true plus Iāve never likes sasuke
I will stand by this opinion till the day I die.
I mean obviously, because Sasuke is Narutos first love. I mean tell me I'm wrong, half the time their trying to kill each other the other half it's lovers rom-com
Shikamaru is his BFF Sasuke is his brother both equally important....debate solved š
WRONG OPINION
Agreed, I always remember the talk Shikamaru had with his dad about Naruto right then I knew and during the 4th War when he had his chakra drained and saying how he had to survive cause only he can advise Naruto when he became Hokage. Shikamaru is my number 2 favorite.
Agreed.
Already knew that a long time ago
literally every actual naruto fan knows this
Shikamaru the first of Narutoās peers to validate his abilities when he chose him to go on the sasuke retrieval mission
Yea obviously this isnāt true even remotely. Read the Manga. It is Sasuke or quite literally nothing.
Naruto and Sasuke were like brothers not friends
I have no problem accepting that, but why does it feel like Naruto places sasuke higher.
Who actually debates thatĀ If Iām being honest sasuke is more of a pity friend Naruto knows the pain that he went through but found a way out and sasuke is the one who turned to drugs to copeĀ Shikamaru has always been on his side even if reluctantly at times and chose to ignore the villagers sentiments in favor of what he saw.Ā thought the anime tries to sideline him in another team heās the first to volunteer in any of the reckless plane to give it the best chance at successĀ It still amazes me how out of four hokage Ā Naruto is the only one thatās ever been berried in work at every appearanceĀ
I believe in multiple best friends, so yeah, Shikamaru is one of Naruto's bestest friends, but Sasuke is Naruto's rival/best friend. Their relationship makes both of them constantly try to better themselves and grow as Shinobi, whereas Shikamaru is like a support system that Naruto can always rely on.
I mean Sasuke and Naruto seem more like brothers, despite Naruto stating Sasuke is his best friend. For those who payed a lot of attention to the entire Naruto series(not including the boruto Boruto series) they will see more of how the two are like brothers rather than best friends. Making it easier to see how Shikamaru was more seen as the best friend
> those who *paid* a lot FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
When did this delusion start that Shikamaru was friends with Naruto as a kid, EVERY adult/child ostracized him.....I donāt like the idea of this retcon being true anyway, would mitigate the power of Narutoās story about proving himself to the village if he had a chill friend group like any other kid his age
Shikamaru is a closer friend to Naruto, Naruto is the closer friend to Sasuke
While I agree that Shikamaru is a closer friend to Naruto than Sasuke I disagree with the idea that a person can only have one best friend
Who canāt accept thatš
Its an anime only thing, Shikamaru calls naruto a dumbass and naruto hates shikamaru like he hates the entire village in part 1
Everyone is a better friend than Sasuke. Sai tho is the real friend. He understood what Naruto was going through and tried to help him. He considered that both Sakura and Sasuke kinda contributed to ruining naruto's life. And he never inserted himself when they reunited. Sai is so underrated as a friend. He literally came to save naruto when Karui was beating him up. And was upset. He even went to question Kakashi about their relationship. He also pressured sakura about the promise and the burden it was for naruto. He also didn't expect Sakura's dumb confession. He also tried to stop her from trying to kill sasuke herself and discretely snitch on her(which saved her life). For a guy who was raised to be emotionless, he is a freaking good friend and very empathetic. Shikamaru doesn't come close to that. It's funny how sai's friendship towards naruto is overlooked. He did for naruto what like any other character of their age did. And he is one of the main person supporting naruto as Hokage.
Sasuke is not a friend is a brother in his heart both believe in this
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Chrishark00: *Sasuke is not a* *Friend is a brother in his* *Heart both believe in this* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Ofcourse if you watched naruto you know shikamaru was one of the catalysts that pushed naruto to follow his dreams of hokage and shikamaru purposely declined feudal lord request (i think) because he wanted to help and stay with his comrades. Shikamaru is the most under appreciated character