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He's seven years old when he first spots Sasuke sitting by himself, alone, overlooking the lake and with a shadow of loneliness in those pitch black eyes. They're orphans, the both of them, held apart from the rest of the village in ways he doesn't quite grasp. But the emptiness that surrounds Sasuke... that, Naruto thinks he understands better than anyone else.
He doesn't realize, not yet, that having and losing isn't the same as never having at all.
.
When Jiraiya dies, Naruto thinks perhaps he understands Sasuke just a bit more. He learns what it means to have and lost, what it's like to lose someone precious, someone family. And he feels the pain so strongly he fails to remember that what he has lost, no matter how great, is but one.
He doesn't realize, not yet, that losing one isn't much the same as losing it all.
.
When Naruto arrives to a destroyed village and sees Pein for all this man has done, Naruto thinks, perhaps this time, he finally finally understands Sasuke. All of it. The pain, the hatred, the need for revenge. And as he charges towards this madman who has taken away his beloved home, he whispers to the wind, "Is this how you felt, Sasuke-teme?"
He doesn't realize, not yet, that it's far from the same when the cause of one's pain is all but a stranger.
.
When he meets his dad and then later his mom, Naruto gains a new appreciation for his hatred of Madara. He gets a taste of parental love and a glimpse of what his life could have been like. He thinks of all the possibilities and memories that aren't, and he thinks of all the moments that have been stolen from him. He knows now, and he understands.
He doesn't realize, not yet, that imagining lost possibilities and losing real memories are two very different things.
.
When Sasuke comes back to the village and massacres every last person, all Naruto has left are streets littered with bodies and pavement awash with blood. All he has left is this stranger he calls brother, standing in front of him with eyes spinning and spinning an endless red. He doesn't understand at all.
He doesn't realize, not yet, that perhaps - for once - he truly does understand after all.