Its funny how this chapter, 2 moments with Sakura, one is very clear the other leaves a lot to be speculated. The first few where she sheds a tear, its clear she is supporting both Naruto and Sasuke, happy they are working together like the old days.
However the end page with her left some people confused, what is the purpose of her panel here? Guess its time to dissect this:
1. Sasuke has something in store for Sakura: many people are speculating this simply because of where the panel spacing and dialogue is. Some suspect Sasuke plans to use Sakura in his motives or manipulate her, I just don't see this as a viable thing though, Sasuke has not once ever needed Sakura for anything, even in 632 seeing her power, he is simply surprised at the power she put out but that does not mean he suddenly cares. Sasuke has never been impacted by Sakura, why would he suddenly use it now? Even more, he still never even apologized to Sakura yet since returning. He did apologize to Karin, not Sakura. Also people expected Sakura to fangirl, well Sasuke is back, I don't see any fangirling. She was catious of him when he returned (considering he tried to kill her) and confused over his hokage prospect. Even then, she has been focused on Naruto more than Sasuke, he is the reason she is fighting, not Sasuke, remember she insisted to fight by Naruto, she advocated to him and he understood she could do it. I just don't see Sasuke having a sudden need for Sakura whatever his motives aside from hokage are, if anyone is included in his motives, it has to be Madara, simply because Sasuke has listened to hashirama, but maybe he also needs to see Madara's reasons. Sasuke is going to be the last Uchiha but to make his future, one could conclude he needs to also see the one who was a prime example of what he can become. Next week, most likely Orochimaru will reveal Sasuke's motives considering we have hit the 7th chapter of this volume. But at this point, again it just flows into the old SS setup, Sasuke didn't have a reason for Sakura in part 1, only saw her for a few minutes over 2 periods in part 2 in which he threatened her and Naruto the first time and almost killed her the second. This 3rd meeting, he only gave a smirk to being surprised she could do that, even if he did have a sudden interest in her, that does not just erase everytime he didn't have an interest or just plain tried to kill her 2 times for that matter. Sasuke needing Sakura for his plan, it just does not add up for any real reasons right now.
2. Sakura possibly having listened to Sai and Jugo, she may see something coming and it can be a big impact on her. This is a moderate and reasonable prediction. Sakura could anticipate something with Sasuke going to occur soon, if it does its going to impact her. This is AKA the SS interaction theroy, I myself think this is going to be the thing that ends SS, or rather has Sakura mature over Sasuke, I feel Sasuke's motive is something that may go completely against what Naruto is striving towards, something that goes along with his reasons to be hokages over Naruto's, basically again Sasuke's main motive can be for all the wrong reasons and will only result in the same cycle of hate. This is partly the NS fan of me speaking but its just even with Sasuke's motives, I still don't see anything in the foreseeable future that would actually change the Sakura-Kushina parallel, its a foreshadowing element to come back anytime between the end of this fight to around the Naruto vs Sasuke fight. Its not going to change or be re-attributed, it still has not been undermined or overtaken, its still there and that gateway of NS stuff still remains highly open. Anyways its just this can be an event that sets her apart and just attributes more to her struggle between Naruto and Sasuke (going back on Naruto doing this stuff for her and how he strived to do much for her and she felt she caused him pain vs the pain Sasuke caused her, how she loved him, and the deeds he committed just making things harder on her and specially naruto) its just at this time, I suspect the future event to build on her struggle between them, more or less ultimately maturing and resolving her feelings between them. I still sense a forehead moment in the future from Naruto to Sakura. Really, all I can see Sakura doing is being impacted in some negative way by Sasuke whatever comes up. Even then, from these last few chapters, Sakura is not stupid, she was not fangirling, she will safety never revert back to part 1. She knows that if something is wrong she won't go by assuming or trying it herself. She knows she can't do anything about Sasuke, but she puts her faith in Naruto to, perhaps now she can aid Naruto but its like this, Sakura realized her limits to Sasuke but deeply understands Naruto, if she notices something off with Naruto when it comes to Sasuke, she knows something is amiss. Sakura is smart, at this point i would not expect Kishi to do something again that causes her to fault, its at a time like this she would reside with Naruto in the issues over Sasuke, she may still love him but knows he has issues. This is why Sakura stuck to Naruto in the past few chapters. I just suspect this reason to be a potential shift for Sakura, Sasukes motive may finally push her towards maturing her own feelings.
3. Summoning Katsysu and the exchange of intel about the injured kages and Tsunade. Because of this chapter's ending which will reveal Tsunade's fate, Katsysu can exchange information over a long distance, this is true, happened in the 3 tails filler arc and pain arc for any canon proof. Now we can assume logically and perfectly reasonably why Sakura had this panel, its her reacting to Tsunade's condition by Katsysu and she could be listening in on Orochimaru and taka. If something like his motives are revealed Sakura may get a similar impact from reason 2 but it could also be something she keeps internally and tells Naruto. Sakura is in a spying position right now due to Katsysu, So because the good ol slug can act like a radio, she will be able to tell Sakura what happens (this all depends if about 5 smaller Katsysu slugs were left behind) if anything this will likely end up in the same bin as reason 2 but Sakura could become sad or get some development to the loss of tsunade, maybe even learn Sasuke's motives and again that driving point towards Maturity can arise.
These are the reasons I see, 1 is mostly out of the question but 2 and 3 are viable, Sakura can and most likely will be impacted by these but 2 and 3 have highly viable outcomes. 3 can be very likely. I still believe NS is the endgame but this can just be another development path along the way to see Sasuke's intent and Sakura's maturity, I still see the ending with her going towards Naruto. Sakura-Kushina is still the gateway to many more things NS has not even used. There is so much left to NS its insane, Sakura is still highly focused on Naruto and knows he is the key to team 7 being back in full. After 631, I still cannot understand how anyone can still say they don't understand each other, Naruto and Sakura understand each other perfectly, this is just another big reason why I see NS as the endgame more than ever. Something will impact Sakura in the future, I suspect SS has limited time, but this would be something that again puts her forward into maturity. If it is a sannin deadlock, I suspect that deadlock to be broken by Sakura and turning to Naruto to help him in his goals, I mean remember, Itachi's speech of becoming hokage to Naruto resonated well with Sakuras 630 speech. She has helped him and is not going to abandon him ever, NS is still in the lead and I only expect that it will get better, the climax next week or 2 weeks from now may put the gears forward to drive Sakura's character towards this.
The Gold Saints
