Bail o' Lies

If SasuSaku happens in part 1 or early part 2, then yeah I can imagine NaruSaku wouldn't develop much of a bond. We can see their bond is non-existent post the ending and in Boruto as evidence for that.

Their connection and friendship for much of the series was on getting Sasuke back and as soon as Sasuke was back, they don't act much more than acquaintances. That's why I always thought the brother/sister arguments were weak arguments. I don't see one moment of them acting like best friends or brother/sister in Boruto.

Once you remove any notion of romance for Naruto and Sakura, then there is basically nothing left for their relationship for ikemoto or kishimoto to write about.

That's because executive/editorial mandate made it so they no longer had a bond. As Naruto and Sakura had gotten so close they would come off as more of a couple than the pairings that actually happen. Sakura was no longer a main character and was all but cut out of Team 7. Her only role of importance now is to be the mother of Sarada and she is only important as she is the most likely love interest of Boruto.

Which also weakens the IPs story. As restoring Team 7 was a major plot line in part two of Naruto, if not the most important. Why should anyone care about the story if when they accomplish this goal the bond of team 7 ceases to exist?

It's true that Sasuke didn't give a damn about any fangirl, like Ino.

The conviviality on Team 7 played a key role in making Sakura stand out.

Eventually, Sasuke came to consider her an dear person to him and want to protect her.

Meanwhile, Sasuke made it clear Naruto became his best friend. Sakura's importance to him, however, remained open-ended. Was she just another best friend?

 

I'm not saying Sasuke will ask her out. never.

But it's possible that eventually, he will come to accept her feelings, if she were to grow even more in importance to him.

 

Just like he had no problem accepting her romantically at the end of the manga when he stopped to being obsessed about revenge and let his past go...

What made her stand out from just another fangirl was chapter three; where she disgusted him on a personal level with her comment on orphans. Before that, she was just another girl in his crowd of fangirls.

"Sasuke saw Naruto as his best friend, so he must have saw Sakura as his girlfriend." You are making an assumption and an assertion that is not supported anywhere in the manga.

Let's go to Sasuke leaving the village, where Sakura pours her heart out and Sasuke make it clear how he feels about her.

To sum it up:

Sasuke: "I am leaving the village and abandoning everything for the sake of power. So, I can avenge my clan as that is what's most important to me."

Sakura: "Please stay out of the love you bear for me, remember when you complimented my forehead."

Sasuke: "I don't know what you are talking about, I don't love you, I see you as a teammate, and I am ending that bond here. Bye"

I talked about this last year in comparison to what they did with Nail. So I don't mind explaining it again. "The Tragedy of Sasuke Leaving The Village," is that each of his teammates had their chance to convince him in their own way to stay and could have convince him to remain in the village, but only Naruto was able to reach him at the point he had gone too far to go back.

Sakura did have the chance to convince Sasuke as much as the rest of her teammates but the conversation showed how much the Forehead Compliment while it was preventing NS from happening till it resolved, damaged SS far worse. As Sakura always had a misunderstanding that Sasuke always had feelings towards her. So she never really got to know him or bond with him. So she tried to convince him with a love that wasn't there instead of any friendship that might have formed. Also as shown in 693, Sasuke picked up on the fact that Sakura had always assumed Sasuke had feelings for her when he never gave any indication of that in his mind, leading to a major factor in him disliking her and thinking she was delusional.

If she hadn't just assumed that she was Sasuke's one true love from the start. That all she had to do is just wait for him to feel comfortable with showing it. She may have realized she needed to win his affection and form a bond with him. A bond that could survive him leaving the village, maybe even convince him to stay, and maybe get him to fall in love with her.

I don't think this is relevant. Sakura had several opportunities to ask about this moment, but never brought it up to Sasuke throughout Part 1.

 

When Sasuke left and she tried to stop him, it was the perfect chance to question him about the Forehead scene. But she remembers the later moment when he called her annoying because of her comment about loneliness.

 

When Sasuke returned, Sakura could have questioned him about this moment. But she preferred to ask if she could go with him. This led to the Forehead poke, which ironically, touched at the point of Sakura's insecurity.

 

And again, Sakura didn't relate or even remember the fake Sasuke complimenting her forehead at Chapter 3.

She did bring it up. He said he didn't remember. So she dropped it.

Sasuke doesn't really care about Sakura liking him because he has made it clear he doesn't like her that way.

She did remember the compliment that why she brought up the bench scene or do you really think she was remembering only when he called her annoying?

I believe the NaruSaku relationship would develop much slower or almost become nonexistent in Part 2, just as it was in Part 1 and the post-manga period.

 

What brought Sakura and Naruto closer together was their mutual desire to bring Sasuke back, along with all the drama that surrounded him + POAL. With Sasuke present, this desire that united them and the POAL simply dissipates.

 

Of course, Sakura would continue to support Naruto and his dream of becoming Hokage, as she did during the Chūnin Exam.

However,  things would dramatically change for NaruSaku relationship in Part 2. For example:

• Naruto would not have most of Sakura's attention in Part 2, as he would not be the only member of Team 7 close to her. Sasuke would be present too.
• Sakura would not have doubts about her feelings and would not be sad with a Sasuke who hasn't committed crimes.

Another important question: Would Sakura ever spontaneously confess her feelings to Naruto without the pressure from Sai about the POAL, and Sasuke in the village?

 

Probably not, while she would probably confess her feelings to Sasuke at some point, as she did twice in the canon.

Right, I am going to tell you a basic rule in The Guy Code that you clearly don't know about. "If one of your friends seriously likes a girl, even if she into you, you helped him out to see if can they work together; before you even try to go for her." Assuming guys have ever asked you out. Ever wonder why a hot guy you are crushing on is helping his less hot friend get together with you instead of dating you himself, and whether you date the friend or not; he won't touch you? That's why. Because, if he did, every guy would know he is a jerk that broke The Guy Code.

Men in the Audience! SOUND OUT:

As you said, Naruto is Sasuke best friend, who clearly likes Sakura while he doesn't. Team 7 are slowly growing closer with each other. In Part Two and even in part one, Naruto and Sakura naturally click even as just friends. What is preventing Sasuke from helping his best friend get with a girl who he likes and naturally clicks with? He doesn't like her and the longer they are on a team more chance he will just go. "Sakura maybe you should go on a date with Naruto, instead of keep bugging me for one. As I don't like you as in wanting you as a girlfriend."

You also have Karin that may enter the village due to wanting to be with Sasuke. If she is discovered to be an Uzumaki she is Naruto's relative. While there is a rule, to not date a friend's relative, especially without tell them or they are required to beat the kitten out of you while you take it. Naruto would probably want to help out his only living relative. Which leads to another if you do, you treat them with the utmost respect and seriousness, or suffer a beating far worse than the dating one.

Right. I'm going to address the "SS had a better chance than NS or was stronger than it in part one," argument. NS and SS were the same at the start of part one with an equal likelihood of happening at the start. That is to say none, without growth and development. The two pairings 'mirrored' each other. How Sakura treated Naruto is how Sakura was treated by Sasuke.

Chapter 3: Sakura considered Naruto annoying for never leaving her alone so she could flirt with Sasuke. Sasuke thought Sakura was another annoying fangirl that won't leave him alone so he could train, but considered her personally annoying due to her orphan comments.

Before The Chunin exam. Sakura lectures Naruto that he shouldn't be trying to get a date with her and instead should train. Sasuke lectures Sakura that she should train instead of trying to get a date with him because she has fallen behind Naruto, the dead last of their class. 

Both also have something that prevents their love interest from dating them, The Forehead Compliment and Sasuke's desire for revenge.

The difference between the two is that Naruto trains and slowly improves himself in the eyes of Sakura, Sakura does not.

So by the end of part one, Sakura see Naruto as a teammate and friend she can put her faith in; while Sasuke see Sakura as just a teammate he is more than willing to abandon any bond he has with her for power.

Part Two when Naruto returns to the village it is made very clear he has become quite handsome. To the point, Sakura both flirted with and was swooning over him, till the sexy jutsu improvements were brought up. Sasuke had stop caring about Sakura. So, he doesn't care about how beautiful she had become.

Afterwards, Naruto and Sakura were able to spend time together and bond. The original plan for the story was, for Kakashi during the final battle to ask Sakura to think 'who she really loves.' Then she realize, that she at some point had fallen in love with Naruto. The truth about Forehead Compliment is more to make it plain, Sasuke never had those type of feelings for Sakura. So, she could move on from Sasuke without any lingering feelings.

I was following a pairing thread on Twitter and saw several fans mocking  NaruSaku because their relationship blossomed primarily due to Sasuke's absence.

 

Despite many NaruSaku fans hating Sasuke for being an obstacle to the couple and his return definitively crushing NS's chances.

Ironically, Sasuke was the character who helped NaruSaku the most. Not Sai, Yamato or Minato's comment about Kushina.

 

it was only during his absence that Sakura and Naruto started to grow closer, with the goal of bringing him back. The Promise of a Lifetime (POAL) was made, etc.

Along with his entire transformation into a major antagonist force trying to destroy the village, including trying to kill Sakura, which gave the NaruSaku fandom hope that Sakura would eventually abandon her feelings for him and fall for Naruto.

 

However, this wasn't meant to be. Sasuke returned to help during the war, was redeemed, apologized, and Sakura jumped into his arms, effectively ending NaruSaku.

 

Here's the question:

 

In a scenario where Sasuke stayed in the village and continued to develop his bond with Sakura without events like the Uchiha clan massacre, Orochimaru's cursed seal, Itachi's mind raping , or Tobi's revelation about the village and the Uchiha massacre.

Essentially, Part 2 without the drama of saving Sasuke and his descent into Darkness.

 

Would Sakura have still developed some kind of bond with Naruto, with Sasuke closer to her like in Part 1? Or is NaruSaku entirely dependent on Sasuke's absence and actions to change Sakura's feelings?

 

SasuSaku was a very strong couple in Part 1, while NS was almost nonexistent. It was only in Part 2 that NS started to gain traction in the story and by fandom due to Sasuke's absence and crimes.

Well, here is a question you should have been asking: "Why are they mocking a pairing that lost Ten years ago or never existed for Twenty-Five Years?" The answer is the same reason as, why most people will still talk about the Star Wars Prequels but not the Sequels?

The Golden Era of Naruto was when NS was the official pairing is the one people still care about while the nH/SS-Boruto era that has came since is of lower forgettable quality.

NS chances were crushed because outside the story people were convincing Kishimoto to switch the Heroine to Hinata because they thought Sakura was too unpopular. Sasuke had very little to do with it, beyond putting Sakura somewhere once she lost her original status. Sasuke's original purpose, beyond his role as Naruto's rival, was to be a wedge between NS so they didn't get together till the ending. He existed so they would bond without getting together till the end.

...Naruto and Sakura were growing closer since the moment they became team members. Do you really believe there was no development between them at all in part one?! 

Your Question: If the massacre never happened Sasuke would likely want to marry an Uchiha born girl like his Father did and Brother would. To expand on this further. The uchiha before the massacre would married within the clan, when given the option. This was somewhat to keep the Sharingan within the clan. We know of only one half-Uchiha before the massacre, Itachi's fiancé. Obito was an outcast, so they didn't really care about him. Sasuke, if he married outside of the clan; he would only choose a girl worthy of being brought into the clan to impress his parents. He would have written Sakura off long before they became teammates and it would not improve once they did. If she improved later on you have the problem of her already forming a bond with Naruto.

As for any scenarios with Sasuke beyond what I posted above. Sasuke only got together with Sakura because he felt guilty about how he treated her. That only happened after Naruto beat him up. That doesn't happen. No reflection. No getting together with Sakura out of guilt.

Naruto and Sakura were always developing a bond. He went from someone she openly hated, to a friend she put her faith in by the end of Part One. That bond didn't just form the second after Sasuke left.

Right. Let's get to it. Before anything else lets look at how Sasuke and Sakura got together.

He had just lost his arm, reflected on what he had been doing, and admitting defeat. When Sakura appears after some pondering he apologizes to her for how he behaved. Then he leaves for his wandering to find atonement and implies to start a relationship with her.

Sasuke felt sorry for how he treated Sakura, so he got together with her to make up for it. Since, she was in love with him. That doesn't mean he ever fell in love with her.

What happened after they got together? Well, he kept on wandering to the point he spent 12 years going out of his way to not see his wife or daughter. (And as a kindness, I am only considering the manga. Where at least he didn't enter the village during those years; just going to his and Naruto's private tower for their 'rendezvous.' In the anime, even in the first arc, he was constantly in and out of the village and still avoided his family at all cost.)  After he stopped doing that, while he cares for his daughter, he never mentions his wife Sakura. Seriously, after Kodaichi left she cease to exist in the manga.

Now. Lets look at Sasuke's thoughts and behavior around Sakura.

The Bench scene he chewed her out for her rude comment.

Before the Chunin exam, he chewed her out for focusing on trying to get a date with him, instead of training as she had fallen behind Naruto as far as he was concern.

Him leaving the village, he makes it clear, he doesn't have any romantic feelings for her, while he did enjoy the time he spent on team 7, she is not that important to him, and he only cares about revenge and is willing to abandon everything to get it.

After leaving the village he doesn't comment often on his feelings towards Sakura, because as far as he was concerned he made it clear how he felt about her and ended their bond when he left the village. However, both times he meets her, he tries to kill her, and people around them note; he has no hesitation in his attempts. If people didn't stop him, he would have killed her at least three times.

693. Kakashi asks why Sasuke mistreats Sakura so much when she loves him. Sasuke makes it clear he doesn't love her, doesn't understand why she loves him, he himself doesn't understand what she sees in him to make her like him, and thinks she is just delusional.

So Sasuke doesn't hide the fact that he doesn't like Sakura and he thinks she should stop chasing after him. He doesn't say it all the time when they are teammates because its rude, but he will say his peace if he feels prompted. Once he leaves the village, he just stops caring about Sakura seeing her as nothing more than a deranged annoyance.

So how would if Sasuke didn't leave the village go? Well, they were only on an active team for a short amount of time before Sasuke left. The time between Sasuke leaving and the end of the War arc is about 3-4 years. While that may be three to four years to bond and fall in love...That is also, three to four years for Sasuke to get tired of constantly telling her, "leave me alone, I don't like you, and I don't want to date you." Till he finally snaps and ask her why she even likes him. She tells him about the bench scene. He tells her that it was Naruto.

Also Naruto held himself back for all those years due to his promise of a life time. No promise, means he is free to try and win Sakura's love.

The difference between Naruto and Sakura in this scenario. Is that Naruto will continue course of training and growing stronger. Sakura will likely languish as while she has the desire to grow stronger, she only got the drive after seeing Naruto injured trying to fulfill his promise to her. That doesn't happen, she likely won't go to Tsunade for training and languish in mediocrity. Which will keep making her look worse in Sasuke's eyes. Making it less likely for him to grow fond of her, but more disgusted with her.

So the answer is No. NS was suppose to happen but the pairing changed at the last second. Sasuke always disliked Sakura and didn't want together with her till a mandate order them to get together. Leaving or staying wouldn't have changed anything.

Damn, telegraphed since the chapter of "death". So much for so little...

I think that it was an option but wasn't planned and they were forced to add it to give the daughter powers. So she could fight and be a main character. Of course whether I am right or wrong, this is very by the numbers and generic.
 
To make my thoughts on this a bit clearer. "Do you believe they planned to give the daughter Kurama when they killed him?" That would require Ikemoto to care about another Next Generation character Kishimoto made, besides Bolt, enough to want to do a story with them.
 
Part Two has been Ikemoto addressing problems people had with part one to appease his bosses. One of those being that most of the casts' presence in the manga has been nonexistent.
 
For example, remember Neo-team 7 members Cups, Salad, and Konohamaru barely existed in part one and they were suppose to be part of the main cast along with Bolt and Nail. Konohamaru barely existed, even before Nail appeared, that it would be easy to forget, that he is suppose to be the Team Captain and Jonin Sensei. Therefore, the main cast main teacher and adult role model. Now, he may be involved only because Moegi has been absorbed and one of the tree people wants to eat him. Cups pretty much just hanged around Salad and they barely even talked about let alone developed his story with his "Sun" Bolt; until part two. For Salad, they seemed to actively want her to have nothing to do in the story till the very end of part one, where she is now in the lead to be Bolt's love interest. 
 
So going off that. She was at best intended to be Moe's civilian love interest, before the executives had enough.
 

Sorry wasn't sure anyone was going to comment

Honestly, it not much of a problem one could already guess it would happen from last chapter and once you talked about spoilers (which means it was something that either interested or pissed off people enough to talk about.) It was clear what it was. I more just reminding of my policy of not looking at spoilers till the summary so it is an honest reaction and thought at the time. Then edit to fix mistakes. I needed to do something yesterday so I had to cut the ending short and came back to it.

https://myanimelist....514#msg70751514

gotta love how the minato manga brings us ns fans out of the woodwork

...Again, Other because you watched it, you assume Kishimoto must have watched it, and been inspired by it. When there has never been mentioned of it in any interview. 

What has been mentioned is Slam Dunk, (and how it inspired the Naruto-Sakura-Sasuke dynamic,) which I assume you haven't read/watch.

Other there is a difference between speculating that Kishimoto may have been inspired by something and declaring it to be true. There is no evidence of him being inspired by that dragon quest anime, there is of him being inspired by Slam Dunk.

Crimson Fox, the assistant is Ikemoto that "volunteered" to work on the Boruto manga, which is a massive failure. However he has been dealing with a burden that should have been Kishi's for the past ten years. To openly stab him in the back would pretty much blacklist him from the industry as no one would be able to trust working for him. If there is to be a rewrite of the ending it has to be handled carefully. Granted I get the increasing feeling that the various companies are tired of Boruto's poor performance.

For stories it always best to go for a simple answer only going more elaborate when the simple doesn't fit.

No matter what it quite clear that Kishimoto didn't really look into his fanbase, more than he was told by others, till after the ending.

Just so everyone understands Slam Dunk is considered THE SHOUNEN SPORTS MANGA. The one that set the standard that all sports manga follow after. It also still one of the most profitable manga ever and I think still in the top ten. It was huge in the 90s.

Phantom/Kagomaru, people don't like the rug pull out from under them. If they get invested in a story they want a satisfying pay off. Part of that for romance if a manga spend years building up a couple they expect them to get together. That not happening greatly annoys the sexually frustrated Japanese.

Other, Kishimoto has never mentioned the Dragon Quest anime you watched as his primary inspiration for Naruto in any interview. He has mentioned that the NartuoXSasukeXSakura dynamics were based off of Slam Dunk. Which I assume you have not watch/read. Hanamichi Sakuragi was a dumb punk that falls in love with Haruko Akagi an avid basketball fan that has a crush on the ace's of her high school's basketball team the gifted Kaeda Rukawa. To win her affection Sakuragi joins the team and is rivals with Rukawa. In Slam Dunk, none of them end up together at the end. Rukawa was never interested in Akagi, and Sakuragi eventually became more interested in focusing on basketball. So if Haruko got together with Sakuragi, She would have been Haruko Sakuragi. Haruko Sakuragi. Haruno, Sakura. Sakura Haruno.

Crimson Fox, it is clear that you have given a lot of time to thinking deeply into why the ending happen, and you hope that Kishimoto's reasonings were just as deep to justify your contemplations.

The simple truth is this. Kishimoto did not have any long term story with tons of intricacies. His story is quite simple. For most of the characters of Naruto, unless they managed to hold his interest, their initial story was all they were going to get. 

For Sakura that means, near the end of the manga she would discover that Naruto was the one that gave her the forehead comment and fall in love with him. Of course plans change, as there was a change in how girls are portrayed in shounen, going from rarely fighting and mainly just hit the main character comically, to can and will fight while still hitting the main character comically, but that meant Kishimoto never really knew what to do with her beyond that. As he never fully understood the change nor embraced it.

Yahagi was Kishimoto's editor until right before the Pein arc. He was his editor for about 10 years when the average is 2. After Yahagi, Kishimoto went through 14 different editors in 5 years. Rumors have it that after Yahagi his next editor was a big fan of Hinata even wanting her to become the love interest/heroine and was the one pushing her to have the scenes she got in the Pein arc.

You seem to think that just because they didn't get together after the Rescue Gaara arc that Kishimoto abandoned it right then and there. When again, it was more him wanting them to get together at the end of the manga. If they did end the pairing at that arc. Why did Sakura have the moment when Naruto was in 4-tails? Why did she try to feed him ramen after the Shikamaru arc? Why she hug him after Pein? Why did she keep having scenes like that till near the end of the manga? The answer is again, they were suppose to get together until Kishimoto was 'convinced' to change it at the last minute.

Sakura is Kishimoto's type. He married a woman that everyone says is very like Sakura.

Kishimoto has said multiple times he does not get the appeal of Hinata, but went with her because he was told she was what the fans wanted. He understand why people like SS and thinks it's cliche. That might have changed after seeing how far Naruto-Boruto has fallen, but he can't do anything right now without it look like he is stabbing his former assistant in the back.

As for the Japanese fanbase...what has happened to Star Wars is a good analogue. Naruto's manga average sale was 3.47 million. Boruto averages out at around 100k. The SS manga got about 50K. Most of the Japanese fanbase either understand that the ending was a move to appease the Western Fanbase, or just assume it was his intention. Either way most have moved on with only nH and SS really staying around, with SS being the larger one by far.

@Bail I know it wasn't the first one, but it's the first one that I've heard about actually being liked by people.

 

That is true the quality in the west as I said really took a massive nosedive that even something mediocre is viewed as good.

 

Imagine people liking a woman for looking like a woman, and not a man. What a world we live in.

 

The Naruto movie I just find it too late and not what we or "Naruto" needed. It just feels like once again them reading the room wrong and not bothering to listen.

 

The last part, I don't even know what to say dude. In a world of DEI and ESG what you said fits like a glove. And it's likely.

 

 

@Blue So it does look like they actually did something well. Again I've only heard from people who didn't follow the manga and also got tired of the decline in stories in these past years in entertainment.

Just making sure. It is the only one they have done that hasn't bombed.

The problem is that the decline is somewhat intentional and somewhat going too far by accident.

BlackRock and Vanguard are two major investment companies. One of their owners has said multiple times that he wants to control the media people view, so he can change their world views; into what he wants it to be. Western Media Companies go along with it because by this point they are full of useless risk-averse executives without an ounce of creativity, and the investment companies are offering guaranteed money for any project they agree with. They hire non-straight white male people regardless of skill, talent, or experience maybe worse in spite of a lack of it; to produce media for "the modern audience." Of course they are informed they have only been hired because they are not straight white males, and just to produce anything. So they barely put any effort into it or lack the talent, skill, or experience to make anything good. Often times this so call "modern audience" is just themselves. 

In short. The investment company just gives them the money, the company spends the money while not bothering with any quality control, and the staff half ass it. So they produce products no one wants beyond themselves. This 'worked' for awhile, when the economy was good, but now its collapsing and the investment company can't give the media companies enough money to say afloat.

The thing is just because they produce something to lower the standards of the customers. Doesn't mean everyone lowers their standards and blindly consume their product. The customer may just refuse to buy and take their money elsewhere. While also being happy when another comes along and respect them by giving them what they want.

For an example. One of the things they want to change is the standards of beauty. They think the current media makes women too unrealistically beautiful and wants to make them more "realistic." How the West goes about it in video games is taking a model based on a real woman and make the character deliberately ugly. People are able to both question & criticize this by just finding a photo of the model they uglified. When they were just suppose to accept the character as what someone actually looks like, and suppose to consider beautiful.

One of the hot games coming out is Stellar Blade. Which has an attractive woman in a tight cyber-suit. People including Western game developers accuse it of being sexist and the female character being obviously fake. The Korean developers show that the model is mostly one to one between the real life model and the character model.

Now onto Naruto. This Lionsgate movie was 'started' ten years ago. Nothing happened till now, because of the collapse of Naruto's popularity after the ending; until One Piece LA happened. Then likely the narrative of, "hey, One Piece was this obscure anime no one knew about and look how successful it adaptation was. What if we do a live action of Naruto the King of International sales for anime?" Nos, you said most of the people you know that keep talking about One Piece weren't fans of the anime or manga. Why can't the same happen for Naruto? Now will it work?...who knows.

Looks like with have an actual update on the live action naruto movie in that the guy who did shang chi is do it https://www.google.c...1235833511/amp/

...So the guy that did that Marvel movie that was a love letter to China, which was largely considered average/mediocre and forgettable. Well, the cast might actually be/have Asians, instead of vaguely ethnic brown people. So will awkwafina be playing Sakura or Hinata? Since, she is the young Asian actress/singer/comedian they keep shoving into everything.

Since, I know nothing else about the guy. I assume Naruto will be remade, "for modern audiences," and it will at best be average and forgettable.

I think you need some deaths in for some suspense otherwise the conflict wouldn't look threatening. Heck it could even just be some recurring minor characters like those minor leaf chunin or jonin we see, some of the relatives like hiashi dying to protect neji and hinata or at least maybe knowing because he is old. As for the case with guy would of served the mentor death for Lee to grow and frankly naruto nre healing power made sakura look irrelevant for alot of people.

The problem with the War arc isn't a lack of death, its the lack of meaning. Who cares if a character lives or dies if they do not matter in the story?

From what I recall didn't the manga say like 50,000 ninja died during the war. Did those deaths make the story more meaningful, threatening, realistic, and so on? No? That is because, those death's didn't matter. A big problem in Naruto is a lot of the characters (even fan favorites) do not matter. You can kill off 99% of the cast if you want and it won't affect the story that much because they are just that unimportant.

So If I were to change something about the war arc, it wouldn't be to have more characters die. Its to do what I posted above; to have the cast have their final trials to show their growth and what they are going to do after the story is over.

So no deaths in the war, including might guy?

Yes. For Guy he lived to show off Naruto's new power he got from the sage. OK.

Now what you are suggesting. Instead he died. OK. Its doesn't change that much in the story. Even the sequel. I guess people will call it deep meaningful realistic some other buzz word, that he died after giving his all fighting Madara but he was done either way in his involvement in the story. So his life and death is an unimportant coin flip by that point.

The problem with the War arc isn't the lack of death; its that it is largely pointless filler fights. The war again should have been the final trial for the cast; strengthens their resolve to do whatever they are going to to after the story. The problem is the cast is so underutilized and underdeveloped it didn't happen, but it also doesn't matter if they lived or die because they don't have much of an impact on the story either way.

Neji's death matters because was one of the few characters with a story and his death allowed his intended fiancé to latch on to the only other story she had; her feelings towards the main character.

I meant who should have died in the war in general, not only among the k11

And again for a third time, none. They all should had an individual reform that they wanted to work on to change the ninja system. Kishimoto didn't develop them, so most never really had any reforms they wanted to work on. So the ending and the sequel had to scramble to give some for them to do. But that failure doesn't mean the cast needs to die.

A character journey's end does not only mean the only path is their death. It can just be the completion of a goal.

Again, as Nos said. The thing is the none of the K11 should have died during the war arc. The war arc should have been the cast final challenge that strengthen their resolve to go about their individual reforms. The problem is they are so underdeveloped and underutilized that it doesn't happen. So, the War arc is largely filler to pad out the manga's length.

Here is an obvious example of what should have happen with Neji. Hinata's and Neji's fathers fight it out. Hinata's father loses to his brother due to some reason. Neji and Hinata step in. Neji shows off moves that are only taught to the clan's heir. His father realizes that his brother is grooming his son to be the next clan head by marrying Hinata. After he is defeated and is being seal away. His brother, son and future daughter in law all show their resolve to reform the clan. Yes, it makes clear by this point Hinata should have moved on from Naruto. He thanks and forgives his brother, apologizes to Hinata, and gives some fatherly advice to Neji; all the while lamenting he won't be able to go to their wedding but he will be watching and always be with them.

Here is one for Sakura. She fights Naurto's grandmother, that as a joke looks exactly like a mature version of his sexy jutsu minus the whiskers marks. This leads into two jokes during the fight one, Sakura constantly thinking about how she will never let Naruto use that jutsu again because it will embarrass their...I mean his daughters and two, how there is no way she is Naruto's grandmother as that would make the Fourth his father and Naruto would have told her about something that big. Grandma Namikaze didn't approve of Minato and Kushina and hopes they didn't get together before she died young; when Sakura finally just asks if Minato knew any girl from the Uzumaki clan. Which annoys Sakura, causing her to fight harder to defend her man...wait not man; she meant friend, just friends. When she is defeated and being sealed away Naruto comes in, she instantly realizes that he is her grandson, and through some quick banter between him and Sakura realizes she is her future granddaughter in law even if Sakura won't admit it yet.

What Nos said. Anyways, its not like most of them are that involved enough in the manga story to add anything beyond shock value; beside Shikamaru.

Who would care if Kiba or Shino died?

Hinata's death would mainly just be to end "her story." So, her obsessive fans working in the anime staff can no longer keep trying to make her the core of the story.

Chouji? Kishimoto already killed Asuma for Shikamaru's growth.

Lee was pretty much replace by Gai in part two; so why bother.

Tenten is not that important; besides the Lee Spin off manga.

I guess Ino the only one because her death would affect Sakura.