Yea I know that but lets not forget Naruto is also very blunt and simple minded He's definitely sensitive, caring and insightful to others' pain and struggles and for sure not coy or shy to Sakura but I don't see him as exactly "smooth" or a ladies's man He'd do something more direct and obvious I think maybe he won't wipe her tears but he'll definitely give her a warm embrace or something k'know what speaks his mind fully

Well, he showed in chapter 3 that he was fully capable of being very charming (mushy) in exactly the way Sakura was dreaming of- to the very words she was hoping to hear.
Oh, and reread that chapter today, and realized the anime adaption was again responsible for negatively distorting Sakura's personality. They make it look like she only dislikes Naruto because she is a Sasuke fangirl and kind of gives the impression that she knows Naruto likes her, which irritates her. I remembered the manga gave a very different impression, that she believed Naruto was centering his attention on her to mock her- make her just another object of his pranks, and sure enough it's right there in the chapter "If Naruto had his way, I'd never find love
or happiness he ruins everything,
he enjoys tormenting me!" (then the ironic line, considering what a henged Naruto had just said) "Naruto doesn't understand me at all!" (then again reminding the readers that Sakura thinks she's just an object of a continuing prank of Naruto's) "I can't stand to have him anywhere near me!"
Remember. Sakura had just shown us from her depressed thoughts that she believed she was completely unattractive- with her adolescent figure barely starting to change, and her "giant forehead". She believed she was completely devoid of anything physically attractive to guys. Naruto's constantly addressing her as "Sakura chan" would have come across as a mockery, especially considering all he ever did was pull pranks. Also Sakura had been openly bullied in her early years at the Academy, and the other girls still viewed her as less than them, even though Ino's protection stopped the overt tormenting. Sakura eventually got strong enough that, even when Ino and her friendship grew strained over them both crushing on Sasuke, that overt bullying was now only angry mutters about "who does she think she is".
Remember Naruto sees Sakura's psychological similarity to him as a result of the bench scene and realizes this is why he likes her so much. She craves acknowledgement by others too. She even has scholastic achievements but doesn't appear to have received any acknowledgement of that because Sasuke far outshines her in ninjutsu and taijutsu- putting him at the top of the class. As we see from the Chunnin exams Sakura, mentally far exceeds Sasuke- in fact all her age peers but Shikamaru (when he applies himself). Sakura herself doesn't recognize her achievements- unlike Naruto and Sasuke.
Sakura changes dramatically by the time part 2 starts- Tsunade's training didn't just increase her skills, but gave her confidence in them and her intelligence. We even see Tsunade outright praise Sakura's intelligence. This praise doesn't go to Sakura's head at all, it's a well needed nourishment to a self-esteem that still sometimes falters- every time she believes she's not done enough or failed.
Edited by ciardha, 08 May 2011 - 04:26 AM.
Dream you dream alone is only a dream, but dream we dream together is reality- Yoko Ono 1971
When you go to war, both sides lose totally- Yoko Ono
Remember, our hearts are one. Even when we are at war with each other, our hearts are always beating in unison- Yoko Ono 2009