But where they diverge is that Sakura is changed herself. And she had done it for the greater good: for herself and so that she will be a better teammate to the two. She didn't do it hoping that Sasuke would notice her. And she has pulled herself up from her bootstraps to become what everyone says will be more powerful. Without the aid of crazy powers like Sasuke and Naruto, or strong bloodlines like Hinata and Ino.
This ability to change, and then being brave enough to actually push yourself through that transformation, is the quality that defines the hero/heroine.
Hinata, however, has not radically changed herself. She has matured in her powers, but she is still shy and not naturally brave (so no big personal blossoming there like Sakura had, early on with Ino and again with Tsunade). However, the most important hurdle she's not crossed is that of her family. Early on she was picked over her sister as the heir, even though the sister was more talented. Lots of sympathy generated for her position, but there was no resolution.
In the chuunin exam, she fought Neji...more sympathy there. But in the end, the fight was more about Neji's resolving his personal problems with the clan than Hinata finally being accepted by her father. The spotlight even shifts from the 'Hinata and her father' conflict to 'Neji and her father'. The next thing we see is Hinata giving Naruto the cream. Awww, more sympathy. But no resolution, no great sacrifice on her part and no radical change.
So when she comes to the Pain battlefield and spills this confession, we have to take her word for it that she's had some big personal transformation. But there is absolutely not one bit of storyline for it. She shows her matured skills, basically says she did it for him, and is immediately struck down. And we are supposed to applaud her sacrifice for him. But this was an easy sacrifice for her to make.
It would have been harder if she went home, declared to her father that she admired Naruto and was soundly denounced for it. It would have been harder if she went home and declared her love for Naruto, then her father tossed out of the clan. Those would have been actual, active sacrifices.
Instead, she makes the passive sacrifice of taking the bullet for her love. Passive. She speaks of sacrifice and growth, but if you look at it in black-and-white she has done very little compared to Sakura and Naruto (and even Sasuke) for their respective causes.
Which brings me to my point: I don't think Hinata will be paired with anyone outside her clan. To marry outside her clan would involve bucking traditions, going against plans laid out for her. And her life is dictate by those plans: she's the clan princess. She may be strong, she may admire Naruto, she may even believe that she loves/loved him, but she has never once defied her clan or even expressed dissatisfaction with them. Kiba and Shino come from strong clans — and I don't think the Hyuugas would allow their heir to become the wife of a random kid of a lesser clan. And Hinata has shown zero inclination to defy them. I think she's going to be paired with some anonymous sanctioned member of their clan, like the guy who so adamant about saving her at the Pain invasion.
I'd say to hang your Hyuuga hopes on Neji. He's someone I completely expect to defy his clan and marry where he chooses, and his storyline supports that.
Exactly - this is exactly what bothers me about NaruHina. Not only is there no mutuality in the romance aspect of their relationship, Hinata hasn't really done all that much for Naruto. She is supposedly better for Naruto because she
a) loved him and acknowledged him from day one before anyone else
b) had a heart to heart with Naruto before Naruto's fight with Neji that shows how much she understands him
c) Hinata is so incredibly similar to Naruto (using his nindo and everything)
d) she gave that beautiful heartfelt confession and was willing to sacrifice her life for him.
And my response to that is this :
a) that's great, but she never showed him that she loved him or acknowledged him before anyone else. While she was silently admiring him, Naruto was stuck in the "hell of loneliness", feeling as though everyone hated him. Hinata might as well have ignored him and looked down on him silently as so many others did for all the difference it really made to Naruto.
The ones who made the biggest impact on Naruto's life was Team 7 and Iruka - THEY are the ones Naruto recalls in his life and death battle with Gaara. THEY are the ones that Naruto claims are the most important because THEY
SAVED HIM from that hell of loneliness. And this is AFTER all of Naruto's development with Hinata in the chuunin exams (in which his feelings/view of her hasn't been shown to change since aside from learning that she loves him).
Just as Hinata told Naruto that Naruto saved him, Sakura is one of the people who saved Naruto. That fact alone trumps anything Hinata has done for Naruto in tems of its importance and affect to him personally.
b) The log talk was great - Naruto opened up to her, admitted a personal truth that he doesn't often do and Hinata cheered him up. That's great. Only it doesn't show that Hinata has some awesome understanding of Naruto, and I'll never understand why people think that's what it means. All she did was tell Naruto
her opinion of him, how she saw his failures as part of what made him great.
That's not showing understanding, that's simply communicating your views on another.
Also, for all it's positiveness and mutuality, it's never been mentioned again by any party in the manga. It was clearly not terribly important for Naruto in the larger scheme of things.
c) Hinata shares Naruto's nindo - that's great, so does Lee, who I believe inspired a lot of Naruto's nindo.
Sakura has also been pointed out (by Kakashi) to be similar to Naruto.
So even if similarity to Naruto did make any sort of difference, than Hinata isn't alone in the aspect of bearing similarity to him.
d) Hinata's confession was heartfelt and genuine, without a doubt. It was also self-admittedly selfish and all about Hinata. It was resolution for her, she was doing it for her own benefit (the confession that is).
It and Hinata's genuine and heartfelt feelings have been utterly and completely ignored since chapter 450, and her confession has never been mentioned since. The fact that Hinata herself has not blushed or given any other indications of romantic feelings for Naruto despite being in close proximity to him since indicates to me that Kishimoto has closed that aspect of the story and is no longer going to bother focusing on it again.
Ultimately, NaruHina is all about Hinata. It's about Hinata's "hard work" in getting Naruto to notice her paying off. It's about Hinata getting what "she deserves". There is no manga basis from Naruto's side for a romantic NaruHina relationship. If you tried to argue for the pairing using only Naruto's emotions, actions, and thoughts - there is nothing to indicate feelings beyond friendship, and not even a particularly strong one at that.
Right now I'm kind of hurt because from what i hear Narusaku took a big step backwards, some even say its a nail in the coffin, I'm referring to Chapter 469 sakura's apparent fake confession, actually i dont agree that its fake but it definitely was not sincere or what we expected.
Chapter 469 could be interpreted in a number of ways, plenty of which still can have favorable implications for NaruSaku.
The important manga facts to keep in mind are :
a) Kishimoto reinforced Naruto's love for Sakura directly from him at least twice AFTER Hinata's confession (through his words to Sai and his blush when Sakura confessed to him) and at least once AFTER Hinata's confession (through Sai's confession to Sakura).
b) Sakura learned that Naruto is in love with her (which she confirmed through her own memories)
c) Sakura, despite learning that the rookies had decided that Sasuke needed to die, was only shown thinking of Naruto and how she had hurt him. Sasuke, despite supposedly being in love with him, didn't think of him ONCE.
d) everything Sakura did at the summit, regardless of whether there were additional reasons as well, was for Naruto's benefit in some way. Giving up on Sasuke/trying to break the promise, and confessing her love was done to ease Naruto's burdens, and killing Sasuke was herself was done to atone for saddling Naruto with the promise of a lifetime.
e) Sakura has not ONCE in the entirety of part two said ANYTHING about still being in love with Sasuke, despite multiple opportunities to do so. Instead, she has only defended Naruto's feelings for Sasuke (to Sai and to Sasuke himself at the summit).
f) Sakura has given up on Sasuke twice (at the hospital after VOTE and at the summit) and it was only NARUTO who restored her faith in being able to rescue him (not anything that Sasuke did or any resolve/feeling that she came across on her own).
g) Sakura is the only person of the unrequited sides of the relationships (Naruto ->Sakura, Hinata->Naruto, and Sakura->Sasuke) that has shown any, let alone multiple, signs of having romantic feelings for the requited side of the relationship.
Also, NaruSaku is the most focused on hetero relationship in the entire series.
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And UNFORTUNATELY Naruhina took a step forward with Hinata's confession.
It seems like all the Narusaku fans think it wont happen our way and all the Naruhina fans think we've won.
NaruHina would have taken a big step forward with her confession, only Kishi chose to give us a Sakura -> Naruto moment immediately afterwards with definite romantic overtones (the blushing crowd and the little girl with the classic "how romantic" pose/expression is a big giveaway imo), and chose to completely ignore Hinata's confession and her feelings for Naruto since chapter 450.
I fail to see how that bodes well for a pairing when it's completely ignored for a hundred chapters (and counting) afterwards, and the guy's romantic feelings for someone else are focused/emphasized almost immediately following.
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Narusaku: I see them coming closer and closer and having more of those moments which I love..Proof IMO is...all the undeniable moments, Yammato speech to Sakura, Sakura's hug to Naruto, Naruto's clear love for her throughout the series, Naruto always protecting her...Now stuff that I've HEARD Naruto's Mom saying to love someone more like Sakura...Naruto reconsiders her confession....I'm sure their is more but i cant think or haven't heard of them yet....Also I dont get the point in showing and having so many moments between the two of them, if their not going to end up together.
Exactly - Naruto and Sakura's relationship could have easily been developed without the romantic hints that he kept throwing at us consistently throughout the series. They have so much development in that area that it seems laughable to think he's going to throw the relationship that he's focused and grown so painstakingly gradually over the series in favor of the bond that's ridiculously one sided and received little to no development throughout the series.
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Naruhina: I hate even writing this, but IMO UNFORTUNATELY I think this will happen I say that because I find it strange that they would make another character like the main loser character.
Sakura was stated to be like Naruto by Kakashi. Lee is also a "loser" character who worked hard to get where he is. Naruto has a point of commonality with almost all of the characters in the series. It's because one of his strongest traits is his ability to empathize with others who share a similar experience/hardship.
His basis for relating to Hinata is exactly the same as his basis for relating to Lee.
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Another reason is that they got the confession out of hinata and never went back to it so they wanna keep it "pure" and Naruto will always know that hinata likes him so that they could always go back to it at the end of the series. Also apparently sakura knows about the confession and other ppl know hinata like naruto so maybe one day on a leisure day someone will be like "oh why don't u ask out hinata"
Only Naruto has never shown any inclination of having romantic feelings for Hinata, and no one seems interested in pushing Naruto and Hinata together.
Sakura doesn't have any idea about the confession - all she knows is that Hinata got injured badly trying to protect Naruto, and she realizes that this is because Hinata loves Naruto. Strangely (or maybe not so strangely), Kishi very deliberately shows that Sakura is bothered by the idea that Hinata loves Naruto. She is not worried about Hinata's feelings or health, as she is picturing Naruto in her mind.
So Naruto is clearly shown to be hurt by SS, Sakura is clearly shown to be bothered by NH, Sasuke could care less about Naruto and Sakura's relationship (though he was almost encouraging Sakura to recognize Naruto for his worth before he defected), and Hinata was clearly shown being content with NS.
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Also after sakura confessed they made it so that Naruto looks like the one who turned down sakura, so we could blame him as its a decision he makes....He also says "he hates people that lie to themselves" And it seems pretty evident that Sakura still has feelings for saskue, but I will get to this later. Also ppl who say that sakura is becoming sisterly/ or friendly might have a point,but its hard to draw the line.
Naruto clearly doesn't hate Sakura - he was frustrated because he was finally hearing something that he had always wanted to hear and he couldn't make/let himself believe it because of what she was saying about Sasuke.
If someone tells you something that is hard to believe ("I love you Naruto,") and then couple it with something that is obviously false ("Nothing happened" "I don't care about Sasuke anymore,") then it's definitely going to cast the shocking thing in a worse light by association.
Though Sakura's angry and vehement reaction after Naruto told her she was lying to herself seemed to have gotten through to Naruto - he later says when talking with Sai, "I knew something didn't feel right," "So she was hiding something," Notice he didn't say, "I knew she was lying," or "So she was lying," - "hiding something" has a vastly different implication that "lying" does.
Naruto and Sakura's interactions with each other since her confession seems to show that there is no hard feelings or grudges left about what happened at the summit - Naruto realizes that Sakura was doing it for his benefit, and Sakura seems to have let go of the guilt she felt upon hearing Naruto loved her and that she was causing him to suffer.
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Everyone ends up alone/Nobody gets Anyone/Stupid picture at the end that "hints" to couples: I feel like these are all very likely to happen, it is more kid-oriented anime.
It's oriented towards teenage males, actually. The thing that makes me doubt a no-pairings ending is the fact that Kishimoto said in one of his interviews that he wanted to make at least one of the romances requited, and that he wanted to emphasize romance in part two where he couldn't in part one.
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Naruhina and Sakura is either alone or with some dude or saskue: This could happen if saskue comes back a changed man, hopefully not. Also i can see her being alone, because if the confession to naruto was the nail in the coffin and he ends up with hinata i can see her being alone and just being his friend.
I can see Sakura being with someone else, but definitely not Sasuke. Her love for him has almost always been portrayed as a negative aspect to her character, something that holds her back. There's also been nothing on Sasuke's side to suggest that he has any romantic interest in her, now or ever.
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Also i was curious about one thing if someone could help me out, after Chapter 469 is there anymore Narusaku moments? Cause i hear that naruto is pissed at her and that he's changed so maybe it is the nail in the coffiin, I hope not.
I hope Naruto and Sakura fall in Love.
Narusaku<3333
Here are the NarSaku "moments"/interactions since her confession that I can recall off the top of my head - some minor, some less than minor :
http://www.mangaread...hapter-484.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-487.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-487.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-488.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-488.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-488.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-488.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-489.htmlhttp://www.mangaread...hapter-489.htmlAnd then of course Kushina's infamous words to Naruto about getting a girlfriend (bottom left panel) that could be seen as a hint for NaruSaku.
http://www.mangaread...hapter-504.html
Edited by Paptala, 26 April 2011 - 01:46 AM.
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