I know I shouldn't be stunned and appalled at how bad this mini-series was but there it is. All these questions and of course none of them are answered in a good manner. Kishi chickening out in making Karin Sarada's mother, if he had kept that, I would have gained a little respect back for him since it would have been interesting to see how he would explain it. But of course not, he can't have his main character, Sasuke, look bad even though Sasuke is an absentee father, who one could argue didn't even know he had a child until this Gaiden came out. He has completely demolished both Naruto and Sakura's characters from their high points in Pein Arc (Naruto) and Saving Gaara Arc (Sakura), while making the second half of Shippuden all about Sasuke and how the Uchiha Clan is all mighty and the end all be all.
I got into Naruto because of the idea of the underdog, a kid who is treated poorly, pretty much despised by his entire home, earning the respect and admiration of that home and the entire world through hard work and determination. It spoke to me because it gave hope that it didn't matter what your last name was, as long as you worked hard and never gave up, you could accomplish your dreams. But of course, Kishi had to squish that love of Naruto into utter revulsion with how he turned Naruto into a self-absorbed jerk, only concerned about beating his rival and keeping his image clean.
I'm done with Naruto, except for fan fiction because honestly, a lot of the fan fiction that I've read is better than this Gaiden piece of trash, and I'm not even talking about the pairings.
