At the beginning there when Naruto reaffirms his allegiance to the tailed beasts, you can definitely see the revulsion in that closeup panel of Sasuke's eye. But the manner in which his eyelid is almost completely shut, as if he were poring over Naruto's physical expression and posturing to look for any hints of uncertainty, there might have been some disappointment masked beneath the harshness of his stare. Sasuke resents Naruto because of his symbolical image as the counterforce to his ambitions, the one great nag that's always threatened his notions of superiority over everyone else. It's because of his arrogance and spite that I find his expression so odd. He already knows the psyche of his opponent, yet it's possible that some part of him might have been hoping against hope that Naruto would somehow agree with the justifications he's made to his actions; that this battle may not be fought and his once close friend can choose to die a "noble death" for the greater good of Sasuke's revolution. Or maybe this is just looking too deep for a glimmer of ambiguity in Sasuke's warmongering.
The meat and potatoes of this chapter was Sakura's outburst. She's so determined to find goodness, any semblance of goodness in Sasuke, so she can salvage what's left of the bond that they had when they were still together on Team 7 - that in spite of her sensible mind telling her that this personal war of ideas was unavoidable, trying to talk him down was always a fruitless effort on her part. It's tragic, but also necessary for Sakura to better understand that the life she envisioned for herself with Sasuke is a falsehood that never held any truths. Even Sasuke's openly acknowledged this fact, in the most candid way possible, and he's one of the farthest things from love and healthy companionship in this manga besides the simple villains like Hidan, Kakuzu and Gato.
I might despise the insensitive, grating manner of Sasuke's reaction to her pleas (especially when he taunted her with that infamous quote he made in Part 1 which has probably haunted some backdoor area of her mind all this time), but I won't deny that he had a point. There's absolutely no reason for her to still be harbouring the same feelings that she did when she was 12. Her attractions were conceived on a foundation of superficiality and the desire for acknowledgement from someone when she's been ridiculed for her appearance and weaknesses. She already has more recognition for her power than what anyone else will likely ever receive in their lifetime, and I doubt anyone who isn't childish or vain would criticise her for such petty standards like the size of her forehead (RtN Hinata might be petty enough to do that, however).
A lot of people will consider this unloosening of deep-seeded regrets to be just a boring, damaging sequel to Sakura's confession from Part 1, but I argue that it's not quite the same. If you closely examine her words, she's trying to appeal to his better nature, first and foremost. There's some personalisation, true, but the gist of what I read is an effort to prevent Sasuke from committing another crime and extending the laundry list of offences he's made against the world. Oh, and how can we overlook the interesting use of past tense when conversation comes around to the issue of personal feelings.
"But I still lov
ed you!"
"And the only reason was because she lov
ed so much that it hurt!"
It's not a definitive change of feelings. Some of the other quotes that detailed her wish to be by Sasuke's side and readdressing the flawed reasons for her attraction are ambiguous enough that they could be twisted around to mean that her romantic feelings are the same (they could try to draw a comparison with #633 Hinata's quote of wanting to remain next to Naruto). However, Sasuke's lack of empathy for her internal chaos is consistent. Kakashi's intervention is also what sets this moment apart. He challenged him by reinforcing the sincerity of Sakura's wishes. Challenging Sasuke to express a reaction allowed the readers to wangle a deeper meaning to Sasuke's psyche. There's a denial to put himself out there or to embrace emotional attachments of any kind. It parallels what Naruto said in the Kage Summit arc.
What's interesting is Sasuke's mental image of his family after Kakashi made his statement. It's unlikely that he harboured any romantic feelings for his parents or brother. Then during Hagoromo's speech, a visual parallel is made between Sakura and Madara. The love Sasuke and Madara had was platonic in nature. Does this imply that Sakura's interests in Sasuke have devolved into a close-knit bond of friendship only? I would say that there's a part of her that's still romantically driven, but all of the signs are pointing to a shift in her romantic priorities. Hell! Ino's grief when listening to her father's dying message about a positive love is proof enough that Sakura is not the only one with unrequited feelings that continue to linger. This chapter shows that Sasuke has as much love for her as he does for Ino. And what are the odds for SasuIno becoming the OTP?
Feelings aside, I'm amazed at how quick Naruto and Sasuke got to the Valley of the End. Isn't this war taking place in the Land of Lightning? How the hell did they travel across a span of three countries in just a few pages worth of dialogue? And why is Naruto referring to the VotE like it's an old get away location for them whenever they felt like beating each other senseless in good sport? Naruto fought Sasuke at the valley only once before, and it was on rotten terms. Once again, Naruto's fanciful naivety gets the better of him.
Edited by Atheck, 25 September 2014 - 12:22 PM.
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