@zodd
Amazing. I agree with you.
Naruto is a dramatic battle manga. Sometimes I believe people get fed up with the amount of drama on it. Maybe that's why it still sell well despite the hate it got. I think Japanese love drama.
Anyway, do you read berserk?
Do you think it will with have happy ending or history will repeat itself?
I love Berserk!
As for history repeating itself, I sent you a PM about how I feel about that.
It's better to ask if there will be an ending at all. =)
@Zodd.
Kishimoto also faces the vicissitudes of being translated into other languages and cultures. I'm sure he's deliberately ambiguous when writing romance (not only it, but this part suffers to the point where the other characters have to explain what the heroine implied when speaking about her feelings). And after the grinder of translation the ambiguity hits the ceiling: black turns into white and vice versa.
He's also putting 90% of the romantic development on the heroines' shoulders and so-called witnesses. And the male partners usually fail together with the females leading to the terrific examples like the LOI confession. I always say that Naruto and Sakura are still young (so they make mistakes) and that is why some lapses look quite realistic if we keep in mind their age, but many readers prefer more adult romance and demand as much. Although I don't find SS and NH as something more mature... oh well.
Kishimoto cannot write female characters too well. When Mei, the great Mizukage, went on about wanting to get married I simply rolled my eyes. These powerful female characters tend to be soley romance driven. Or they serve as a verbal reminder about how another MALE character they seem to admire is 'so strong' or 'cool'.
Personally that's a snorefest for me, but in terms of most Shonens...Naruto actually at least gives the female characters a chance. Thus I can tolerate Kishimoto's ignorance because he appears to be oblivious to how he is conveying women in his series.
Yes, many readers do prefer more adult romance. Sadly for them Naruto is a bad place to look for that. Romantic hints are hidden between hundreds of chapters at times and are intensely subtle. SS and NH are something more direct and less ambiguous. It is quite clear how Sakura feels(or felt) about Sasuke, and how Hinata feels about Naruto.
During my time at Narutoforums and debating there literally it came down to people's taste. They preferred the more direct shojo style of things, with the female characters chasing the male character in terms of romance.
Go figure!
This was a really cool reply 
Um... okay. So you're saying that literature is complicated, and sometimes it's not the manga itself that's messing up, but the people who wrongly infer from it? I guess this makes sense in some points. There are some things that appear confusing, but sometimes it really is the fandoms who make assumptions about what will happen. Like how we automatically assumed Sakura completely got over Sasuke because of all those hints, when it was obvious that she wasn't completely over him, and still clearly needs time to come to terms with her feelings. Or when NaruHina fans assume that NaruHina will be canon because they held hands, and because Hinata's crush is sweet and not flawed at all... Or when SasuSaku fans assume that Sakura's love really is "permanent" and "true" and that that devotion will lead Sasuke to Sakura (magically).
I am happy my response caught your attention. Thank you again.
Literature can indeed be very complicated. It's often we may forget certain hints or foreshadowing that the author has laid out. Often people infer things wrongly, or perhaps they do not understand the the author does not want us to instantly come to a definite conclusion. Many authors want us, the readers, to speculate.
The various interactions, with Sakura in terms of Sasuke, as well Hinata with Naruto, is probably intended to stimulate speculation. As for Sakura not completely getting over Sasuke despite their history, that was in my opinion poor writing on Kishimoto's part. He again does that for his male characters as well, since he practically is conveying Naruto as insane chasing after Sasuke the way he does. I believe in an interview he admitted he did not realize this until people told him otherwise!
When I think of NaruHina and SasuSaku (not trying to bash) I really don't understand the logic behind it. And then the question is, which views does Kishi agree with? Sometimes I feel like he's saying Sakura's love for Sasuke is strong and true. Sometimes I feel like he's saying Hinata could get her "happy ending".
There's logic behind both pairings considering they both have at least one participant aspiring to get with the other. Kishimoto is not a fan reading his own manga, he is instead writing his manga for fans. Thus he does not sit there thinking in the straightforward way we tend to think. When writing any thing an author is concerned about engaging the readers, keeping their interest, as well as producing speculation which also helps feed into their interest. By setting up this subplot of a love triangle he appears to be doing this quite successfully.
Sakura's love for Sasuke is true, just as true as Naruto's for Sasuke is too. Depending on which translation you want to read, it is heavily implied she cares for him either like that of a sister or a lover. And he in return, he will hopefully be made to care for her in the sense of a family sort of way. As for Hinata...what about Hinata? She loves Naruto, that is a fact. Throwing her in the mix complicates things doesn't it? Working as intended it seems. As a writer Kishimoto has a few tricks up his sleeve.
And then there's that sometime, where he's saying that Naruto and Sakura clearly have selfless feelings for each other, where they care about each other to a point where they break down, and do what's best for them. When they understand each other, and comfort each other, and flow well with each other. When they blush around each other, smile around each other, be sad around each other... It gets to a point where it's obvious. But when he starts giving in tiny hints (that don't mean anything to us, but probably mean so much to others) on other pairings - it affects the probability of NaruSaku.
This is why Naruto and Sakura is a very likely pairing because of the consistent mutual feelings. Kishimoto attempts to deceive us at times, but he still continues to give reliable hints, parallels, and ...literally Sakura clutched his heart while Hinata fell flat on her face. Also Kishimoto seems more engaged in writing a more subtle love sub-story that involves the evolution of feelings.
Yes they are relationship dynamics. But instead of making us wonder, and making it a crazy contest - couldn't he just be simple with it? He doesn't have to be completely simple - we know NaruSaku ..snip
He could, but it probably would be less rewarding in the end.
What makes something worthwhile in the end is the struggle, after all...
snip...It leads us to believe that Kishi couldn't possibly waste all that away - I don't want to believe he will. But who can tell?
He won't waste it away. If you use foreshadowing, parallels, flashbacks, and more to subtly hint to an outcome of a story, and then all of a sudden do a different twist it will not be shocking. It's bad story writing. Authors do not throw in all that just for the hell of it only to juke their readers in the end.
Perhaps if these literary devices occurred only a few oddball occasions then the notion of Naruto getting with Sakura could be excused, but the plethora of all this hinting as well as some very intense and literal scenes(again, Sakura clutching Naruto's heart. That was simply overkill Kishimoto) should solidify what Kishimoto plans are.
I really enjoyed reading your perspective! It was very thorough, and I really understood what you were saying, and it really got me thinking ^^ Thanks for that!
Thank you again, the feelings are mutual!
