Welcome.

As for your post, well, I just want to add this.

Ever notice how Naruto was mostly shocked by what Sakura said and actualy believed her UNTIL she mentioned Sasuke? That was the button push. He only called her a liar after she mentioned Sasuke. Not after she confessed she loved him, not after she said said she wanted him, but after she said she didn;t care about Sasuke anymore.

Naruto's "Goku Button" is Sasuke.



However, DrK does have a point. It is all pointless now since any purpose, if there was one at all, is thrown out because of two very big reasons that people seem to forget.
1) Naruto lied to Sakura first. According to the Last movie, Naruto only "loved" Sakura because of his rivalry with Sasuke and Naruto never understood love...so, yeah, Naruto is a manipulative bastard of a hero who uses people for selfish gain. Unironically, they still blame Sakura for being a horrible person. Meanwhile, ironically, Kishimoto said if Sakura moved on from Sasuke she would be a terrible woman, but apparently they already see Sakura as a terrible woman with or without the confession scene.

2) Retcons....retcons everywhere.

I think Naruto realizing something is wrong with the Sakura's confession, it's not only because, Sasuke is his Goku button, but Sasuke was also Sakura's Goku button to an extent, so Sakura out of the blue saying stuff like she doesn't care about Sasuke anymore and wanting Naruto to stop chasing him is enough for Naruto to know something happened, and makes him distrusts the whole confession.

It's like Naruto face reactions show he is hearing something he can't believe in a good way (Sakura saying she loves him)  followed with something he can't believe in a bad way (Sakura saying she doesn't care about Sasuke anymore). It explains why Naruto thought she was lying to herself.

 

It is ironic really that Naruto that accused Sakura of lying to herself, when he was the one lying to himself all along, so him saying he hates people that lie to themselves is basically self hate in Naruto's case.

but The Last movie was just a giant retcon so technically there is only 1 reason everything seem pointless- retcons

You are right. Kishi the Gutless Fool was unwilling to resolve anything. This interpretation is as likely or unlikely as one where Sakura wanted to die together with Sasuke because he loves him, or some other BS.

I can't help but feel insulted when you compare that absurd interpretation to mine.

The Sakura wanted to die together with Sasuke is just some fan fiction level idea someone got from Romeo and Juliet.

It doesn't have anything in canon that even remotely supports that.

But in my Interpretation  I use logical arguments that each and every one of them I can backup using manga panels. 

It always seemed like that to me. And if you think about it, that gives credence to The Last. Like Sakura wasn't just setting up Naruto and Hinata. It felt like she was making up excuses to push him away as if she was guilty that wasn't good enough for him.

I am glad to know that I"m not the only one that sees it like that, so thanks,, everyone else seem to blame bad writing and not caring if Sakura actions made sense or not considering how things turned out.

@Yyubie

Thanks, it's good to be here! 

 

I am  happy to know that others believe she was not lying about her feelings to Naruto,

I was seeing a lot of hate for Sakura for the confession in reddit and tumblr.

it made me wonder if I am alone in thinking her feelings for Naruto are genuine or It's just my imagination. 

 

You are right Sakura did mess up the confession by bringing up Sasuke too much,

but it wasn't something that couldn't be fixed if Kishimoto would of wanted to make an NS ending.

 

As for killing Sasuke, the part you mentioned is her second attempt which I believe at that point it was a real attempt on his life on her part,

after all he tried to kill her and wants to destroy Konoha not to mention she wanted to help Kakashi by doing the deed herself thinking she was ready like a true shinobi,

but like you said she lost her nerve and couldn't kill someone she cares about, even if he is a dangerous criminal that just tried to kill her. 

 

But I have big doubts if it was really her original plan, 

because like you said she is smart and did know what she is doing,

so that poisoned Kunai is strange almost like she deliberately chose a weapon that will give the appearance she wants to kill Sasuke,

only the weapon is actually ineffective against him because of his poison immunity,

There is something I forgot to mention in the original post is that when Sakura draws the weapon the first time,

she is thinking if I stab Sasuke everything will be over, notice her choice of word is stab not kill.

so it gives two options in my opinion either Sakura really thought that poison is gonna work (that's why a stab should do the job)

or she didn't plan to kill Sasuke but intended to provoke him to kill her.

Thinking the poison is going work would go against her expertise on understanding poisons and creating antidotes as quickly as she did to Sasori's poison.

it would also disregard the research she did on Sasuke's drug enhancements made by Orochimaru.

Another argument I can make is Kakashi knew the poisoned kunai isn't gonna work on Sasuke, I see no reason for Sakura not to know that as well.

 

It also reminds me how in Part 1 of Naruto, Haku deliberately used a weapon that has very low probability of killing,

because he didn't want to kill Naruto or Sasuke he actually fought them to protect them, so Zabuza won't kill them.

I see a lot of hate Sakura gets for her actions in this kage summit arc, mostly for the following reasons:

 

1) Lying to Naruto telling him she loves him.

 

2) Trying to kill Sasuke by herself.

 

Despite liking Sakura, I as well thought that her actions did not make much sense, 

I wondered things like why would she even confess to Naruto knowing that he would not change his mind about saving Sasuke,

what was really the point of it if she knew the outcome.

or why would she not take Kiba and Lee (that were very cooperative with her) to help kill Sasuke,

Instead she tried to do it alone.

 

I realized there must be something I"m missing

so I went back and started to analyze her actions and than it hit me,

there is an another interpretation that makes it all make sense.

 

First Sakura didn't plan to kill Sasuke, instead she was planning to sacrifice herself for Naruto's sake and for Konoha.

For Naruto because after Sai told her she causes Naruto pain just as much as Sasuke did,

Sakura really took that to heart she believed she caused Naruto the most pain and to make up for the that burden of always relying on him,

she is willing to free him even at the cost of her life,

as for Konoha, the K11 decided they must kill Sasuke themselves to avoid war with Iwagakure,

and Sakura wasn't as naive as Naruto to think there is any way to realistically save Sasuke,

that is why she figures when she dies by Sasuke's hands,

Naruto and everyone else would not have any more issues if Iwagakure kills Sasuke,

also it means Naruto would in fact stop wanting to save Sasuke, Naruto would not be able to forgive Sasuke for killing Sakura. 

 

So here are my reasons for I believe this to be true:

 

Kakashi knew she is going to get herself killed as she really didn't have any chance to beat Sasuke by herself and Sakura knew that.

Sakura didn't bring Lee and Kiba with her because she didn't want them there as it would be a problem for her plan, she will be just dragging them with her to get killed.

It also explains why Sakura brought a poisoned Kunai, she thought that if she stabs Sasuke with that he would truly believe she was trying to kill him and kill her as an enemy, only "problem" Sasuke wanted to kill her even without that incentive.

Another thing that suggests that Sakura didn't plan to kill Sasuke is Karin telling Sasuke to stop when he was about to kill Sakura, Karin would never tell Sasuke to not kill someone that intends to harm him, but it was clear that Karin realized through Sakura's chakra that she is not a real threat to Sasuke.

There is also the fact that the whole Sakura means to kill Sasuke herself was just Sai guessing and than Kakashi also started to believe that but when Kakashi asked Sakura directly not sure it that really was her plan, Sakura didn't him she just kept quiet.

Perhaps the biggest evidence is The fact that Kakashi knew that the poisoned kunai Sakura made would not work on Sasuke, hmmm strange, why would Sakura plan to kill Sasuke using a lethal weapon that is not lethal to Sasuke and she should know that because of two reasons, the first is her expertise in poisons and making antidotes to them if Sakura really meant to kill Sasuke she would of used something much more lethal frankly her fist at full strength is more lethal than that kunai is to Sasuke,

and second reason is after team 7 first reunion with Sasuke in shippuden Sakura knew how Sasuke's growth is not natural that Orochimaru gave him some enhancing drugs and poison immunity, we even see Sakura studying on this very subject so she definitely knew that Sasuke would be immune to the poison in her kunai.

 

Now about the confession itself, first I truly believe Sakura didn't lie to Naruto she did in fact love him,

but Sakura coming there in the middle of nowhere to tell Naruto she loves him suddenly, did feel strange

(I mean she could of waited for him to return to the village to do that)

What was really strange is her bashing Sasuke in her confession,

almost like Sakura is trying to convince herself that there is no way to save Sasuke now

(her plan while different than killing Sasuke is still basically gives up on saving him).

I think Sakura in a way did lie to herself like Naruto said but only when it comes to not caring about Sasuke anymore,

I think that is what Kishimoto truly intended when he called her terrible woman because she basically abandons her shared goal with Naruto to save Sasuke,

which her bond with him like Naruto's is also familial not just about some childhood crash,

Even Yamato (a narusaku shipper at heart) knew that was wrong which caused him to lose his temper.

Sai that guesses Sakura means to kill Sasuke because she loves him and wants to stop him from,going further into darkness was wrong about her motives and her true plan,

Sakura's actions were about about Saving Naruto rather than Sasuke, she truly gave up on Sasuke, she was okay with him being killed but she was not okay with Naruto continuing to suffer anymore because of Sasuke or herself that she couldn't bear.

 

The reasoning I have on why Sakura truly meant her confession to Naruto is because when he tells her she is lying to herself, we can see in her reaction how hurt Sakura is for Naruto not believing her, also instead of admitting or backing out the situation, Sakura was defending her confession by saying only she knows how she feels, and most crucially is that Sakura never needed to go see Naruto to begin with, she could of just gone looking after Sasuke from the start telling Kiba that Naruto would never agree so there is no point in trying to convince him which is true and Sakura knew this, so her showing up to tell Naruto how she felt only served one thing,

For Sakura to say goodbye by telling Naruto how she feels about him. 

How far Sakura was willing to go for Naruto's sake how much it broke her heart learning that he loves her and that she caused him pain,

is also strong indication for how much she loves him.

 

It was only after she learned about Sasuke's plan to destroy Konoha and after Sasuke tried to kill her, plus Kakashi arrival to save her, that is when Sakura had to change the plan she didn't want Kakashi to have to bear the burden of killing Sasuke especially that it's her fault Kakashi is even there, 

That is when  Sakura truly meant to kill Sasuke but realized she couldn't do it she couldn't turn off her emotions and kill someone she used to love and still cares about.

There is also another interesting scene afterwards where Sasuke tells Naruto he can't possibly understand him and calls him an outsider, that is when Sakura snaps at Sasuke for bad mouthing Naruto (Sakura snapping like that at Sasuke only happened once before in the forest of death).  In the chunin exam she was telling Sasuke to get it together, while this time it's only about telling Sasuke off to defend Naruto.

 

Even in the war arc we see Sakura worrying quite a lot about Naruto (Sasuke has already arrived to the war) it's only after a chapter that is called the true end it's when Sakura started to change her behavior and seem to return to focus on Sasuke while stopped worrying about Naruto almost completely like Kishimoto just flipped a switch on her character.

 

As for the ending and the late parts of the war arc, I am pretty sure  Kishimoto just retconned her feelings,he realized he could get away with it because he never clarified Sakura's actions he could just change things enough for everyone to believe Sakura lied to Naruto about loving him and that she truly planned to kill Sasuke herself 

It's similar to how Naruto's feelings toward Sakura were retconned in the last and made to be only Naruto lying to himself just to win against Sasuke.

 

Well there is another explanation for the ending but I will leave that for another post.

 

Please tell me what you think of this interpretation in the comments, or if anyone has a question please do not hesitate to ask.