@Outerspec:
I doubt that he'll go scott free. In fact I think he'll die during the battle. Most likely by some means of a heroic sacrifice because that's the only way Kishi can redeem Sasuke in the eyes of as many readers as possible. Plus, I'm preeeeetty sure Naruto won't kill Sasuke.
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I agree with what you are saying here, Naruto definitely isn't going to kill Sasuke. That would pretty much be him becoming no better than the other people that he beat…especially Pein in the sense that he's killing Sasuke as a solution, and not really breaking the chain of hatred.
Although, killing as a solution is basically what the ninja world revolves around...not really sure why peace has to be brought to the ninja world when it is basically war/cinflict that fuels the ninja world..but meh.
A list of crimes…
-Betrayed his village and trained under Orochimaru
-Joined Akatsuki (like his brother)
-Killed a few samurai
-Fought the 5 Kages (setup)
Hell, Itachi did more than that just by helping destroy his own clan and people love Itachi. Yes, obviously because he's more likable to most but he was still redeemable. Anyway, will Sasuke be converted by Talk No Jutsu? Most likely, but that's why I hope he dies so he's not just another one of Naruto's walking converts. I'd rather him be a dead convert.
Now if Sasuke doesn't die and is allowed to go scott free, as if forgiveness is the word of the day, then the hell with that. That makes no sense, there has to be some sort of consequence other than Sasuke's "regret". Oh woe is him.
@Anyone: For Naruto's promise, this has been discussed for years now, but it doesn't necessarily mean Naruto has to physically bring Sasuke back to Konoha and they live happily ever after. Naruto's promise is basically to save Sasuke. Bring him back.
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I prefer the idea of Naruto needing to save Sasuke from himself and bringing him back to the "normal" Sasuke they knew him as before. Before he left Konoha and his hatred for Itachi consumed him. It's already been confirmed multiple times that Sasuke is a completely different person than he was before.
! [qimg]http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7289/85003451.jpg[/qimg]I'm picturing the sacrificial death scene of redemption where he reminisces about all the wrongs he did and how he's so sorry, and Sakura thanks Naruto for "bringing 'Sasuke-kun' back" as Sasuke dies in her…or Naruto's arms. ~_~
Would you rather Sasuke live?
sigh
The last case scenario is Sasuke living and being converted by Naruto, but everyone else has a hard time accepting Sasuke back. He understands and goes off living as a wanderer and doing good deeds for the rest of his life until he dies. The end. I don't know what else Kishi could do but it's up to him.
Well, I've seen this argument a lot of times before (NO offense), that is, Sasuke has done too much in order to be redeemed. Well, there is someone else in the manga that was once a psychopath/killing machine but was redeemed to the point that he gained the respect of his fellow villagers and even became their leader:
Gaara.
When you think about it, Gaara and Sasuke's case are sort of similar. Both of them have suffered from traumatic experiences as children (Sasuke witnessing the Uchiha massacre/ finding out that Konoha forced Itachi to do what he did, Gaara being constantly attacked by assasins sent by his father, and even his uncle, whom he thought loved him).
Both characters as a result of this, were warped psychologically and became killing machines, Gaara had this twisted philosophy that killing others will ensure his existence, and basically killed time and time again to the point that everyone was afraid of him, even his own siblings. Gaara's own father came to the conclusion that Gaara was too dangerous, hence the repeat assassination attempts.
Yet, this guy, after getting the beatdown and the talk from Naruto, was able to redeem himself to the point that he became Kazekage of his village. Note that Gaara killed indiscriminantly in the sense that he didn't care who it was, as long as you threaten his existence you're dead meat. Yet, he was able to get the people of Suna to love him.
The point I'm making is that there is already one guy in the manga that was able to redeem himself even though he committed horrible acts through changing his thoughts and actions, so can't the same be expected of Sasuke?
How is Sasuke any different from Gaara, how come it's okay for Gaara to be given another chance by his own people , but Sasuke who by the way is the result of the higher ups in Konoha screwing him and his clan over has to be sent to hell?
I think that if a nutcase like Gaara can be forgiven by his own people, then Sasuke can be as well, especially given the fact that he is a victim of the mind-orgy that Itachi/Madara/Oro had on him.