NaruSaku since it's the healthier of the two pairings. Naruto would have been just as happy with Sakura as he was with it Hinata and at least he showed that he cared for her unlike Sasuke. Seriously, the 180 Sasuke pulled at the VERY end was complete and utter BS and IMO a cop-out on Kishi's part. He was just trying to tie everything up regardless of whether it made sense or not.
Hinata DESPERATELY needed some panel time with Naruto or at the very least, the chance to grow beyond her crush. That's my biggest gripe with her character, that she is literally nothing without Naruto. Her character does not extend beyond him which is sad because she has potential. The story would have benefited from an arc that had Naruto teaming up with Squad 8, her team. That's the ONLY team Naruto is NEVER partnered with and I always wondered why that was.
If you want Hinata to be seen as a heroine, give her the opportunity. A scene here and one 100+ chapters later is honestly not enough. The two interact in less than 50 pages out of the ENTIRE manga which is well over 14000 pages. That isn't enough. The Last screwed up by trying to do what was essentially the manga's job to do, flesh out the pairing. I didn't like how they added to Naruto's backstory with he and Hinata as kids and the scarf from his mom which was used as a plot device to make Hinata jealous. I also don't like how they cheapened his feelings for Sakura. Rumor has it that his voice actress, Junko Takeuchi refused to say certain lines at the part where he and Sakura are talking in the film because she felt they were too OOC. OF course this is just a rumor so take with a grain of salt.
Anyways, the pairing should have been in the oven prior to the film, not just being made. So what we end up with is a love story that is horribly rushed and told in a way that isn't romantic in the least. It comes across as overly contrived and forced. I don't hate Hinata by any means, but a movie was NOT the best way to develop her because honestly, she doesn't really change, everyone around her changes to fit the scenario.
Considering the gaiden, she's working herself to the point of exhaustion, so much so she collapsed. All the while he's off wondering around the world, doing a job that the Anbu could most likely do. Yeah, great husband >_>. Also, I think you're mistaking passiveness for understanding. Sakura doesn't seem capable of standing up to or challenging Sasuke as much as she would with Naruto. We see this a lot throughout the series in her inability to defend herself against his abuse.
And honestly, when it comes to understanding Naruto, I think Sakura is the best. Not only have they been on the same team for years, but they've shared the same goal as well, saving their friend. No one else other than Sakura knew the full extent to which Naruto was suffering in order to fulfill that goal. So much so that she tried to free him from it through the infamous fake confession.
She had to UNDERSTAND that he was suffering to want to alleviate it. And if you're going to use the whole "I hate people who lie to themselves" angle, the Last practically states that Naruto had been lying to himself for years in regards to his feelings for Sakura. What he claimed to be love being nothing more than a sense of rivalry, told to him by Sakura no less.
I don't believe either of them was in a position to preach to the other, so I don't place much stock on either claim. Naruto's claim that Sakura was "lying to herself" and Sakura's claim that Naruto "never really loved her". Because if Sakura didn't love Naruto in some shape or form, why go that far? There was some love there though clearly not as strong as her love for Sasuke but love nonetheless. A love born from her understanding Naruto as a teammate, fellow shinobi, and friend.
Her crying showed that she already understood, she just didn't want to admit that she was partly responsible for it. Having someone else say out it out loud just drove it home. We know this because part of the reason Sakura became stronger was to help Naruto to bring Sasuke back, thus easing some of his burden. A burden she believed she had inadvertently placed upon him.
SasukeXSakura makes sense ? think again She put her own photo over the actual photo, over the face of the person who delivered her baby, the one who gave her daughter her glasses, her supposed new best friend. I'm sure some really pathetic people crop out such people in their lives to present misleading photos of themselves next to their "husband"(If you can really call someone like Sasuke that) picture, but its still some pathetic behavior of which you'd come to expect of a submissive person. Especially when they were apparently so unable to get a more current version of their husband as an adult when the two last met. Couldn't even get a marriage photo. I wonder how long the two actually even banged if they didn't even have time for a photo. Only a Stepford wife would put up with that.
Kishimoto got invested enough in Naruto x Hinata that he wanted it followed through ? keyword "Invested," he sure fooled me then cause in these past 15 years the two have BARELY interacted in the story, she was HARDLY ever present in the story, and she knew next to NOTHING about Naruto beyond him being lonely as a child. That's some REAL good investment there. >_> No, what he and the anime studio invested in was the ridiculously large number of NaruHina fans who would eat this **** up no matter how forced, contrived, or nonsensical it was.
Hinata Her understanding of Naruto ended after part 1. In part 2, Naruto is no longer a lonely outcast, he's popular and has friends while she's still hiding behind trees watching him from afar. The issues he had in part 2 , she played no role in aiding him with. Hell, she nearly got him killed at one point.
Sakura should've been with someone who actually cared about her (Naruto). Sasuke's change of heart at the end of the series was BS. Truly he's a "rare prodigy" who was saved by more plot convenient ass pulls than anyone else in the series. As for the "debt" to Sakura, you're right he doesn't owe her a thing. Except for maybe the fact that she could have poisoned him with the kunai but chose not to. She had a PRIME opportunity to do so. Or perhaps for her continuing to believe that there was still some good deep down inside that cold heart of his.
Whatever the case, his behavior towards Sakura was completely unacceptable and she SHOULD have given up on his ass. Her "love" for him caused her more pain than anything else. He deserved to be alone, or to be with a girl even more clingy than Sakura, Karin. Though IMO, they're BOTH too good for him.
Yeah, NaruHina and SasuSaku in a nutshell. Just pair the guys up with their respective fangirls. Also, claiming that Naruto was "competing" with Sasuke for Sakura would imply that Sasuke had feelings for her. Feelings that he made abundantly clear on several occasions he did not have. Not much of a competition when only one guy is actively pursuing the girl, Naruto.
"Fictional claims" lol. It's a fact that Sakura could have stabbed Sasuke if she wanted to. She stopped herself at the last possible moment. He was completely oblivious to her presence long enough for her to have scratched him at the very least. And furthermore, you want to blame Sakura for "trying" to kill him despite the fact that during that encounter, he tried to kill her first, while she was tending to Karin. No excuses, Sasuke was dead wrong to do what he did, yet later on he comes back with his crappy little "I'm sorry" 180 personality change and both girls forgive him, please. >_>
You chose to be blind to all the kittenish actions Sasuke took. Justifying them with honestly pitiful excuses seeing as it was Sasuke who chose to ignore his brother's wishes and walk a path of darkness. Apparently he can do no wrong in your eyes but I'll call a spade a spade and an ass an ass. That darkness had always been a part of Sasuke and the truth about his brother just brought it to the surface. Even before then, we could see some of this when he and Naruto first fought in the Final Valley in part 1. Sakura and Karin we oblivious to that side of him because they had never seen it, but he was most definitely being himself. It's just that after his final bout with Naruto, he set about changing himself to something a bit less dark.
I'm just stating why I think this "investment" Kishimoto "planned" for NaruHina was complete and utter BS that dirtied the story, I don't see how her interactions with Naruto were more important than others. She did confess to loving him but that gets thrown out and is never touched on again. She did encourage him after Neji's death yet, shortly after he calls Sakura his GF accompanied with the obligatory SakuShina parallel. Two of her best moments, completely disregarded.
Naruto as a character is defined by his bonds to others because that's all he has, his bond with Sasuke being the most important and the driving force behind many of his actions. Hinata not being able to understand that bond severely hampered her ability to understand Naruto and his goals, at least IMO. She is in the background for so long how anyone can claim that she knows him better than the people that actually stand by his side is beyond me. Hell, Sai probably understood him better than HInata and that's saying something.
Edited by BestSasuHinaSupporter, 23 June 2016 - 12:25 AM.
