Well again, my issue with it is as with "Sakura' feelings", Sasuke and Naruto never showed to have emotionally bonded over anything. Sure you can argue that they understand each other deep down and never had to say anything but that is hardly called a friendship. Again, told not shown. A better example of friends and rivals at the same time would be Madara and Hashirama before the the former went "loonie". sure theirs was more casual before they found themselves on opposite sides of the war, BUT THEY TALKED TO EACH OTHER. Hashirama actually told Madara when he was crying and was broken down that one of his brothers was killed and Madara in turn admitted he had 4 brothers before and most of them were dead, so he had one left alive at the time. Now this may happen later on in the story so it may be invalidated in your opinion, but the fact still remains that Kishi wrote that kind of relationship for those two legendary historical figures but he couldn't write his two main characters that way? And sure there is hardly panel time with Iruka in that regard too but you can at least see that he emotionally supports Naruto and is there for him when in distress. That can't be said for Sasuke.
Again the context of the writing for that is different. Ino and Sakura's friendship is healthier than what Naruto and Sasuke call their dynamic because again the two girls may fight, they may call each other "rivals" in love and as kunoichi, but they are open to each other with their problems. Naruto and Sasuke? they act like stuck up "tsunderes" around each other and in flash backs if they see the other alone, silently moping in their loneliness and misery they just shrug their shoulders and walk away. there is no communication between them when it counts so I can't say that what they have is friendship.
Just apply that situation to yourself. If you acted like that towards someone you call "friend", are you really friends with them? You avoid each other, don't talk about anything, and are just always envious that they show you up or are better than you at something? When the chips are down and you need some one there for you "emotionally", it's not them that is there? Not to mention all those bottled up negative attitudes towards the other sprang out and they were actually using Rasengan and Chidori (which can easily kill might I add) on each other in the hospital. That is NOT a friendly spar. Also, Naruto shows comfort and confidence in his other friends on top of having their backs in the battlefield but with Sasuke there is nothing to that except watching each other's back in a fight. That reminds me more of Yugi and Kaiba. They may respect each other, they may work together when push comes to shove, but they are not buddy-buddy. Even Naruto admitted it. They never talked to each other in childhood and hat that is one of the things he regrets the most. Ultimately the two may call themselves friends, but their behaviour and interactions does not have me convinced even back then, personally.
Edited by Phantom_999, 17 December 2019 - 06:22 PM.