Despite the Sasuke Retrieval Mission's heartbreaking in Naruto

 Naruto's highly impressive "Sasuke Retrieval" arc was built upon careful planning and jumpstarted the franchise into a new tone, narrative and meaning. At the center of this arc is Sasuke Uchiha's quest for revenge -- which proves to be a defining part of his character and a significant challenge for his closest allies.

Upon building up the traumatic impact of Sasuke's past and his brother Itachi's massacre of their clan, the plot goes from the direction of uniting Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura together to tearing them apart as Sasuke begins to see his motivations are leading him down a different path from his friends. Despite the heartbreaking moment of Naruto failing to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, there are a number of reasons why Sasuke's escape was actually for the best.

Though revenge is a controversial path, Sasuke definitely needed to face Itachi in some way, and only one person was willing to support him without any restrictions. Orochimaru was one of the few people to be straightforward with Sasuke, never lying or manipulating him. Unlike Kakashi and Naruto, Orochimaru didn't put Sasuke down for his intentions or make desperate and empty promises like Sakura. This doesn't make him a good person in any way, but given Sasuke's needs, Orochimaru was the lesser of evils.

As a village, Konoha's focus is more on community, growth and sustaining peace, so there's no guarantee that Sasuke would've been prioritized in hunting down Itachi had he stayed. By defecting, he is essentially free to follow his own path, even if it's controversial. Though the anime poses a clear notion of the cycle of hatred, Sasuke manages to find peace once he sees Itachi die. Chances are that Sasuke would've found new meaning in life away from revenge and hatred if not for Obito, who revealed Konoha used Itachi to massacre their clan to maintain peace for the village. In other words, Sasuke realized he'd been lied to his entire life.

By leaving, Sasuke was opened up to different perspectives he otherwise wouldn't have had access to. While Konoha tried to paint a wholesome image of its government, the truth was far from that. The only main character who learned this is Sasuke, which might not have happened if he'd stayed put. Though Obito's manipulation continued Sasuke's rampage of vengeance, it led him to eventually forgive his brother and find a new kind of peace for himself. This major shift in character left Sasuke questioning the ways of the world. Thanks to his connection to Orochimaru, again, he was able to speak with the former Hokage and come to his own conclusions on how to make the world better.

Granted, this only led to apathetic ideals that force a change onto the world, but at least his hatred was now gone. By the end of the series, Naruto -- the only person who can reach Sasuke -- was faced with a different person from their first bout at the Valley of the End. None of this would have happened if Sasuke was restricted within Konoha. The best situation was for him to escape at the end of the "Retrieval" arc, but he isn't the only one who benefited from the dramatic change of events. Because of the mission's failure, every character involved was forced to learn from their mistakes and grow in strength and resilience.

Though the development of Rock Lee, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji and Choji is limited after this part of Naruto, the likes of Shikamaru, Sakura and especially the titular Naruto were sent down a path that led to significant growth. Shikamaru in particular was shaken to his core that his plans went so awry and blamed himself for the numerous slipups of his first mission as a Chunin.

From this point forward, he changed from a laid-back kid who made excuses for his lethargic personality to an inspiring leader with a balance of a serious and calming nature. Also blaming herself for the mission's failure was Sakura, who stepped up and promised to fight side by side with Naruto the next time they went after Sasuke. From her meek side role, she's driven to take a more active part in the story and serve as support by training under Tsunade to become a powerful medical ninja.

Last but not least, there's a significant challenge for Naruto to keep growing despite his failure to bring Sasuke back home. As someone with immense faith in his abilities and optimism, the setback of losing Sasuke pushes Naruto into a fork in the road; should he give up on his friend or keep believing in him? Naruto's choice to remain optimistic -- and even forgive Sasuke for all his crimes -- makes him stronger and keeps him closely tied to the franchise's main themes.