Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26567684-20151224015953

I know that it is better to forgive rather than live a life of hate for the people who wronged you or caused you so much pain and chaos, and this plays out throughout Part I and II with Naruto choosing to forgive and forget for the sake of peace. But it is unusual that he and the others are so easily able to forgive the people who caused all the chaos in the series, such as:

1) Obito (for the deaths of Naruto's parents, assisting in the Uchiha Clan massacre, using Kurama to attack Konoha in a plot to destroy the village, manipulating the Akatsuki to kill innocent people and steal the tailed beasts, turning Sasuke against his friends and Konoha by turning him into a murderous maniac, starting the Fourth Ninja War, and killing many of the ninjas who fought to stop him).

2) Sasuke (for betraying his friends and Konoha for power, vowing to kill Naruto numerous times, trying to kill his teammates on three occasions, joining with Orochimaru, briefly joining with the Akatsuki, plotting to destroy the village, attacking the Five Kage Summit, killing those who oppose him and the Sixth Hokage candidate, and considering on killing the five Kage and becoming the world's darkness for the sake of peace).

3) Orochimaru (for betraying Konoha, plotting to destroy the village, being a principle of the cause behind Sasuke's betrayal, causing the Konoha Crush and killing the Third Hokage, and causing the deaths of thousands of people for human experimentations).

4) Kabuto (for betraying Konoha and joining forces with Orochimaru, causing the deaths of thousands of people for human experimentation, and working with Obito against the Allied Forces in the Fourth ninja war by reanimating the previous dead enemies).

Although he was manipulated into doing Madara's work after the latter died, it was largely Obito who caused everything to happen in the series (the part of him declaring war on everyone for the 8 and 9 tailed beasts was Obito's choice rather than Madara's, as was when he had the 9 tails kill Naruto's parents and when Obito offered to help Itachi kill the rest of the Uchiha clan). I wonder how Naruto can forgive Obito for all this after Obito realized he was wrong and offered to help end the very war he started. Naruto even went as far as to describe Obito as awesome while fighting Kaguya and I don't buy Kakashi's reason for forgiveness on the ground that Obito was torn between his Will of Fire and his Curse of Hatred.

I can understand why Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi can forgive Sasuke after he redeemed but I can also understand why the rest of their friends couldn't at first, even when he was pardoned for helping them win the war. Sasuke did a lot of terrible things, from simply betraying the village to being a cold-blooded murderer, to those who risked their lives to save him from darkness and he never gave them a second thought to the point where he was more than interested to see them die. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi almost thought of him as a lost cause but knew he wasn't himself due to his hatred and, once he was able to overcome that, he returned to his old self and was more than willing to make amends to them, which allowed them for to forgive him. I'm sure it took the others a long time to forgive him but his efforts of redemption were enough to allow the rest of the other nations to pardon him for his crimes.

Orochimaru and Kabuto are responsible for more deaths than those above for experimenting and were always wanted criminals. Kabuto helped Obito in fighting against the Allied Forces but switched sides due to Itachi's intervention and made an effort to make amends by saving Sasuke from death. How could that one action alone be enough for Konoha to pardon Kabuto, one of the two main causes for the war, for his crimes and allow him to live in the outskirts of the village so he can run the village orphanage? Orochimaru may have won a bit of Konoha's forgiveness by putting some effort in helping the Allied Forces and saving the five Kage when they were defeated. But the village still didn't trust him because he was still doing experiments and they keep spying on him, but didn't prosecute him for his previous crimes as long as he stopped his human experimenting.

I should add that Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Kabuto were never reprimanded for their crimes; Sasuke was willing to face punishment for his crimes after he redeemed himself and decided to return to Konoha but he and the other two were allowed to go free and lead their own lives. 