With life comes conflict. As long as there is one side, another will oppose it. As long as one cursed soul finds salvation, another will still be lingering in the darkness. And if these two sides come to know one another, they will inevitably clash. But it takes much more than mere conflict to achieve resolution.
At the offset, Gaara seems so unlike our main character. He talks to Sasuke as if they are peers in a different world from the rest. Yet he cannot see that he’s much more comparable to Sasuke’s goofy counterpart. It’s because Naruto’s eyes are different, eyes that have found salvation where Gaara had not. Gaara’s salvation, his Iruka, was a facade all along. One fateful night of redemption, another of damnation. Each event only encompasses a fragment of these characters’ lives, yet it shapes their entire everyday existence.
Naruto’s ideology is put to the test in the final exam. Neji’s words hit home with a man like Naruto. A cursed fate, inescapable doom. But it wasn’t fate. It was all always circumstantial, just like how Naruto can grin warmly now, even after experiencing almost identical pain as the man who can only muster a contorted smile. These distinctions arose from one mere night. And Naruto would prove this phenomenon to be true in one mere fight. Neji’s initial observation is wrong. Naruto’s most prominent fate has nothing to do with being a failure but rather a monster. What seemed to damn him long before he even had a chance to fail was what lurked inside. Neji cannot see this. He cannot see the hypocritical nature of his actions when compared to his words. He cannot see Naruto's latent potential that signifies him as far from a failure, and most importantly, he cannot see a bright future for himself. As long as there is a mark on him, his future will continue to be bleak. But Naruto has a similar mark, one that also easily controls fate. Yet, in their confrontation, Naruto fights against that notion, using the power that once defined his cursed fate productively to prove a point. A point about having the ability to change. But this final strike from our knucklehead ninja is not the end.
Naruto ends a combative match with a speech to the fallen. The actual contents of the exam battle have no impact on Naruto's progression. He stays a genin even after this victory. But what he does gain, he gains through his words. He acquires a new ally that would return the favor much later, not because destiny compels him to protect the main family, but because he wanted to protect his cousin, his friend. Naruto wins this battle by taking control of the fate that bound him.
Gaara would lose his battle after letting his power control him. The fear Naruto has when faced with someone so alike yet so different from himself is understandable. Gaara is a mirror of what Naruto could very well be if it weren’t for that singular encounter. But this is all the more reason he should fight. If anyone can reach Gaara, it would surely be one of the only men who can truly understand him. And understand him he does. When both are weakened, incapable of standing, Naruto uses his ultimate weapon once again, his idea of resolution. Gaara would not come back an enemy but an ally of the leaf. And once again as the revered kazekage. And even still, much later, this road of redemption would lead him to discovering closure with his dark past. And all it takes, all it ever took was for someone to look at Gaara, not the monster of the sand.
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