I'm not worried about this chapter. Seriously. Naru/Saku or any ship is not going to be decided until the VERY END. It is Naruto's reward. Just like their not going to pop up and make him Hokage in the middle of the battle. These are set up as the things he has to strive to and succeed in surpassing the previous generation to attain. None of these will be won until the main conflict is resolved.
However, Kishimoto has rounded the bases with this chapter: Sakura, Hinata, pissing and big boobs. Classy.
First off, Sakura's inner thoughts could be taken so many different ways. And it's intentionally portrayed that way. Since I'm firmly in the camp of NaruSaku, I could easily see her thoughts as a reflection of her low self-esteem, poor choices in the past. No different from Naruto thinking he wasn't good enough for Sakura's love because he couldn't keep his promise, Sakura could be feeling like she's not good enough for Naruto's love because of her terrible choices in the past. One way to look at it is this guy thinks she's really something special, but she reflects that if he knew the real Sakura maybe he wouldn't think that way.
Anyway, I think judging from the scene, it's a safe bet that Naruto and Sakura have not resolved their love issues yet. Hooray! I'm hoping for a real-time scene of that, not them resolving it in a flashback and finding out the readers have been duped for 100 chapters.
Hinata.... At least we know for sure that Zetsu has not sucked down her chakra. Still the same ol' Hinata.
And who are the chump shinobi who get whacked while taking a whizz? Bet that's not how they expected to die!
Oh, and the illustrations of Sakura where spectacular. Some of the prettiest yet.
edit: oh yeah...and it killed me,
killed me, not to read the spoilers today. The pages kept going higher and higher in the topic.... So thanks for not spilling the beans too much in other topics. Not everybody reads the spoilers, so I appreciate that it's kept under wraps.
Edited by tricksie, 25 May 2011 - 06:13 PM.