User blog comment:Zetarion/Worst Anime Characters/Mary Sue Reviews/@comment-24384232-20150313013739/@comment-4666155-20150313022335

That simply means Sasuke was easily forgiven, Per. And he wasn't easily forgiven by everyone, Per, just his close friends. Only Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura were ready to forgive him; Kishi quite realistically portrayed the rest of Konoha "WTF"ing when Sasuke arrived, and I doubt anyone else ever truly forgave him. Naruto only did because he felt Sasuke was his family; the brother he never had, and someone he desperately wanted to save. Of course he would forgive Sasuke when Sasuke came back; they were two peas of a pod, and they understood each other perfectly. It was because Naruto understood Sasuke that he sympathized with him.

Sakura is far more difficult to explain. She loved Sasuke, and I'm going to call it 'love', rather than 'obsession', because the sheer level of devotion she showed Sasuke (none of which he exactly deserved, mind you) was staggering, pitiable yet commendable, and utterly insane. I don't know what she saw him in - neither did Sasuke - but she saw something shining beneath that shroud of darkness. Whatever it was, she stuck by Sasuke through and through, and when he returned, she was more than ready to forgive him if it mean the could stay.

Kakashi, as Sasuke's teacher, saw something of himself in that boy. It's why he taught him the Chidori, and seeing Sasuke fall as far as he did pained Kakashi. It got to the point that Kakashi brought back the fairly accurate Hiruzen-Orochimaru parallel for the sake of comparing himself and his fallen student. Kakashi was relieved his student finally found his way back, even if it took far too long.

I don't hate that Sasuke got off scott-free. Kishi, I don't think, ever saw Sasuke as a villain, merely a misguided soul who needed proper guidance, which is what Sasuke was. Itachi said it best: "Right now, Sasuke is a blank canvas that can be dyed any colour." Sasuke was highly impressionable, easily influenced, and happened to fall in with the wrong people far too often.