Naruto does always willing to make sacrifices for the sake of Sasuke, but, based on fans’ observations, they consider it’s more appropriate to call Shikamaru as Naruto’s best friend than Sasuke!

How come? Is it only because Sasuke always tries to avoid Naruto? Apparently, the friendship between Naruto and Shikamaru grew slowly and went unnoticed by many viewers -- or even by Naruto himself! These are four reasons why.

4. One of Naruto's First Friend

Aside from Hinata, who was the first one that befriended Naruto, even before Iruka did according to The Last: Naruto the Movie; Shikamaru and then Choji are peers who have a close relationship with the blonde troublemaker. Furthermore, it was Kiba who started to mingle with them due to their mischievousness.

Naruto himself just formed a relationship with Sasuke when they both stared at each other across a river. Their rivalry was also initially only occurred unilaterally since Naruto has always felt rivaled by him, while Sasuke didn’t even care about him.

3. Understands Naruto’s Suffering

This third point relates quite well with the previous point, as seen in the video above. When he was asking his father why Naruto was shunned not only by adults but also his peers, Shikaku only told Shikamaru to follow his heart. From then on, despite always looking indifferent, it seems that the ninja genius’s heart always tries not to judge someone based on what everybody else was saying, and he ends up having a strong sense of empathy.

Then the two of them also experienced the same feeling of suffering: that they both lost a figure of a teacher and role model. Shikamaru was left by Asuma, who was killed by Hidan while Naruto was left by Jiraiya, who died in Pain’s hands; even their enemies came from Akatsuki!

Sharing the same pain, eventually, the only person who managed to pull Naruto together when he was feeling down was Shikamaru. Based on his own experience and the last words from his teacher, Shikamaru was able to get Naruto back on his feet.

On the contrary, Sasuke, who constantly tried to reject the relationship Naruto was trying to establish. Even Sasuke snapped at Naruto that he didn’t experience his suffering because, from the beginning, Naruto never knew what it was like to have a family, unlike Sasuke, who once felt the affection from his family before it was snatched away from him.

2. Always Supports Naruto

As already discussed in the second point earlier, the most obvious reason why Shikamaru is Naruto’s best friend is that he’s there when needed and vice versa. Shikamaru even personally picked Naruto as a member of his five-person team when chasing Sasuke, who ran away from Konohagakure (leaving Konoha aside, which was indeed lacking personnel to handle the mission at the time).

Then he gave a valuable advice to Naruto and raised his spirits when Jiraiya died. The last one, the clearest example is during the Fourth Shinobi World War. Shikamaru ran out of chakra at that time due to being sucked up by the Ten-Tails Beast and almost died; but then he's aware of Naruto’s dream to become a Hokage, he managed to gather his energy to regain consciousness so that in the future he could act as his assistant, just like the highly-intelligent Tobirama who became an assistant for Hashirama who was too friendly and stubborn.

Sasuke himself had just 'realized his mistakes’ and decided to become a Shadow Hokage after being battered by the unbelievably stubborn Naruto. And unlike Shikamaru, who immediately helped Naruto achieve his goals, Sasuke once even tried to destroy the history of the Kage.

1. Part of Masashi Kishimoto’s Grand Plan

And the last point regarding this friendship actually comes from the ‘grand plan’ from Masashi Kishimoto, the mangaka himself!

Firstly, from what we’ve discussed earlier, Shikamaru had been a part of Naruto’s life from childhood to adulthood without realizing it. Then the close relationship between the two of them passed on to their children: Boruto and Shikadai have been shown as close friends from childhood since the anime Boruto Episode 1. Surely, they both can be very close too, since their parents’ are also close friends.

Naruto and Shikamaru closeness has even illustrated by their respective teacher relationships; Kakashi often caught Asuma and Kurenai, who were dating in secret, similar to Naruto loves to tease Shikamaru when he was alone with Temari.

Well, those were four reasons on why fans consider Shikamaru as Naruto’s best friend that exceeds Sasuke and Naruto’s brotherhood. Do you agree with this opinion? Give your opinion in the comments!

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