Says the neutral party.
"All I know is that my gut says maybe"
How shall I break this down....
What has been Naruto's ultimate goals? To be Hokage, to achieve peace, to bring back Sasuke.
Sasuke isn't the only threat the world has and it is not going to be the only threat the world faces. It's not like after he defeats Sasuke does the world all of a sudden play nice. If he were to willingly die for Sasuke, then it is only a temporary solution. Not only that, but he abandons Sakura, Kakashi, and everyone else who not only looks up to him, but want him to be a leader into a new age. He literally would be turning his back on that.
Hashirama didn't want to die because of Madara. He wanted to die to achieve peace once and for all. This is not the case for Naruto. He would die with Sasuke not to achieve peace through two clans, but to prevent Sasuke from doing harm to the village. It's not the same thing.
And like I said, what about all the people that count on Naruto? That's what makes this a hard decision. It;s not just the well being of the village at that particular time, but the well being of the village as a whole through the ages. To keep it strong and forever going through the Will of Fire. If Naruto truly wants to achieve peace, he has to stay alive to see it through.
I'm sorry, I just disagree with this. You are putting too much emphasis on that one sentence and not considering the scene as a whole.
What actually happens..
Naruto and Sasuke attack each other. Naruto later reminds Sasuke of what he had said about high level Shinobi reading each others minds by trading blows in the Final Valley in part 1. Naruto agrees that him and Sasuke had now become high level Shinobi.
Naruto then says -" Can you read my mind? Can you understand that if we fight each other we'll both die?" .
Then he says- "If you attack the leaf village, I'll have no choice but to fight you" .
Then he tries to TnJ Sasuke. He says he hasn't given up on Sasuke and he would definately take Sasuke back to the village. Then he says-" If the worst does happen and we both die we will both be free of our burdens and understand each other in the afterlife".
But Sasuke says he won't change and will kill Naruto. Then Naruto says" Its clear that you still don't respect me at all, we'll fight ".
Then Kakashi says he won't allow Naruto to die and he wanted Naruto to fulfill his dream of being Hokage.
Naruto replies- " I am not worthy of becoming Hokage if I can't even save a friend".
Edited by ns.Believe.It, 31 July 2014 - 11:01 AM.