It was a time of war, it was a time of peace, it was a time of forgetting, it was a time of hope, it was a time of ignorance: Naruto, an anime about a boy trying to defy the odds and become the Hokage, has a deeper meaning behind it (Introduction 6). The path to his goal would ultimately not be easy. Challenges and obstacles would be inevitable. The major challenge that Naruto faced was converting Sasuke, his closest friend and rival, back to the good side. After heavy influence from Orochimaru, one of the leaders in the village who was imprisoned for his wickedness, and the fact that his brother had slaughtered his entire family, he sought vengeance. 

Similarly in Shakespeare’s play “Othello,” Iago says that he will follow Othello to turn on him in the end (Integration 5). This quote from Othello represents Itachi’s betrayal of Sasuke. Itachi was Sasuke’s brother who acted as more. A mentor, a leader, and an inspiration were all characteristics of Itachi to Sasuke. Still, in the end, Itachi backstabbed him by massacring the whole family. Naruto had a choice to make, to go after to save his best friend, or to let him stay in the dark. However, Sasuke was very ignorant at the time and blinded by the truth. Ultimately, it was too late. He had caused too much trouble including starting a Ninja war, killing or attempting to kill many characters, and most importantly, ruining his relationships with his best friends. Sasuke had succeeded in assassinating a major corrupt leader of the Leaf village, the village in which they lived, and attempted to kill his best friend, attempting to kill his teammate, and his attempt on killing the Mizukage, the leader of the hidden mist village.

According to Dante’s Inferno: The Nine Circle of Hell, Sasuke would be in Circle VII: Ring One-Violence, where he would be “submerged in blood (Integration 4).” Following all the troubles that he had started, the end of his terror came after the Fourth Great Ninja War. After defeating Madara and Kaguya, the main villains at the time, peace was restored. However, for Sasuke, it wasn’t. Naruto and Sasuke were to have their final battle in the Valley of the End. Sasuke’s goal was to kill Naruto, his best friend, to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan. At last, the final attack occurred. The two were unable to fight anymore and took a relapse in time to share the memories that they experienced together. Many people who watched the anime do not realize why Naruto persevered to save Sasuke. 

A direct example of this from another perspective was shown in the Mojave Phone Booth podcast. The Podcast states, “After 1 month of continuously calling, he got a busy signal from the phone booth (Integration 2).” With the man calling representing Naruto, and Sasuke representing the phone booth, it shows that Naruto kept persevering even though he got no response until he finally got one from Sasuke. 

Overall, to see if your friend is worth fighting for, you must work through the conflicts and relive the memories that you guys spent together.