Posted 29 June 2011 - 02:14 PM
The above post has made very good points regarding the entire situation, but I still disagree about who had it worst.
I will not say that Sasuke's shock was not far greater, because it really was. However, if we compare both childhoods Naruto still had much worse. Sasuke had one big shock along with one big loss, but before that, he had a normal life, and afterwards everyone looked at him with compassion. It was his own choice to not let anyone get close to him, and also his choice to choose vengeance instead of any other path.
Naruto on the other hand never had anyone close to him as he was growing up. He was denied his roots, his history, even the names of his own parents. Those who had sworn to watch over him did nothing on his behalf, but watched from afar because it was the "best for the village" - such a great way to honor Yondaime's sacrifice. Naruto had no friends and was hated by everyone, yet he had no clue why. As I said, Sasuke's shock was far greater, but till he was seven his life was normal, and even after the event, he knew exactly what had happened and who was to blame for his condition. Naruto had to deal with his condition for as long as he can remember, and never knew why he was the target for so much hatred.
Imagine for a moment which is worse, to lose everyone you know and love, or to never have had anyone to know and love you? I agree it is not easy to deal with a loss such as Sasuke's and to say otherwise it would be to greatly understate the meaning of it. It was indeed a fateful blow against Sasuke, yet he knew love and acceptance.
From day one, Naruto has been hated by everyone in the village. Imagine going to the market and being thrown out simply because you are you, no other reason than that. Besides, isn't the main motto of the leaf that they are all one big family, as Sandaime said time after time? Where was this family when Naruto needed it? Even Iruka only approached Naruto because of Sandaime's orders. And worse, even Sandaime only ordered Iruka because Naruto was nearly out of control. Seems to me they were all more concerned about the Kyubi than about Naruto.
Also, one other thing we are forgetting here is about their backgrounds. They are shinobis, not the average suburb family. This point is made several times in the manga. In other words, it is necessary for them to know how to deal with death and loss, it's the shinobi life. I may be asking too much of sasuke here, but remember that Kakashi was Chunnin by the age of six, and Jounin at thirteen. Kakashi's world also feel apart, his father killed himself, after everyone turn their backs on him, and yet, he didn't go evil or anything.
Anyway, perhaps I am ranting at this point, but I still find a lot harder to deal with prejudice for one's entire life, than to deal with loss. The loss is one's own, and no matter how bad it is, it's up to that person to deal with, one way or another. Prejudice is a different matter, you must fight the entire world, and is even harder is you don't know why you are fighting it.