Yes, and these are the "love is friendship caught fire" aspects necessary to make a relationship go the distance. I'm pretty sure this is the kind of girl Kushina was wishing for her son.
I agree, and this is personally one of the reasons I like their relationship so much myself on a personal level. Passionate love fades over time - it is the relationships built off strong foundations of friendship that last. This is certainly the kind of relationship Kushina would want for her son - someone who is not afraid to express herself around him, who loves him for who he is, faults and qualities and everything.
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Right. Because Naruto and Hinata don't actually know each other. They have no personality traits in common or that even complement each other, and they have very few shared experiences. By contrast, Sakura and Naruto are so familiar with each other they can communicate volumes using incomplete sentences or no words at all. They have lived together on the road for years, had countless conversations about both silly and important subjects. They have no illusions about each other -- no fantasy impressions -- and yet their relationship has maintained an element of unrealized love and attraction.
There's so much understanding and trust between Naruto and Sakura. They definitely stumbled during her confession, but that's because it was all very personal and there was so much at stake. Both were in denial about Sasuke, although in different ways. That can't and won't last forever.
I find the bolded sentence so incredibly apt, because there is such a disconnect in the Naruto/Hinata and Sasue/Sakura relationships, from how the girls see the guys, and how they really are.
Hinata, I feel, doesn't have the entire picture when it comes to Naruto. She sees a guy who constantly fails, but is able to keep trying and always believes in himself. But she hasn't been with him through any really emotionally trying situations. I am especially struck by her complete apathy in regards to the Sasuke issue; Sasuke has been one of the most influential people in Naruto's life, and the mission to save him is one of the most emotionally taxing for him on a number of levels (because Sasuke is his best friend, because of Sakura's feelings, because everyone keeps telling him to give up, etc.). And yet, Hinata has never tried to comfort him about the issue, nor has she ever offered to help with Sasuke outside of the one mission she was assigned to (the search for Itachi mission). She didn't react at all during the decision to kill Sasuke, she didn't offer to travel to the summit to break the news to him, and she said absolutely nothing in his defense or otherwise when they got back from the summit. Hinata draws strength from watching Naruto, but she almost never is in the position of giving Naruto strength or comfort in return.
Sakura's romantic feelings for Sasuke are very naive, and this is portrayed especially clearly in Road to Ninja, with Sakura acting like her fangirl self with this person who looks like Sasuke, but acts nothing like him. I think especially in part two, Sakura's romantic love is for the memory of a twelve year Sasuke, and she is just now starting to realize and accept how much he has changed, and the person who he really is. It's incredibly difficult to let go of a love for an image of someone you have built up in your head. Reconciling the Sasuke of now with the person he used to be, who she thought he used to be, is going to take time.
There was never that idolization, or fantasy, with Naruto and Sakura though - he got the real her from the very beginning, nothing held back, just as she got to see the real Naruto as well. They definitely stumbled during her confession, but I think its important to show that they can make mistakes and get angry with one another, and still not have their care for one another be negatively impacted by that. It demonstrates the resiliency of the relationship, among other things.
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Hinata is very shy and has little or no confidence in herself as a ninja, but seems unreserved when it comes to expressing her feelings for Naruto. The chance to tell him how she feels was worth her whole life. It strikes me that her thoughts have been so guarded and insulated that she doesn't seem to understand that real love requires reciprocation. She doesn't even seek reciprocation in a normal way. It's as if... her feelings for Naruto are something she's "good at" so she pursues them. Naruto has not given her a single sign to hang her hopes on, and yet she persists. That's an unusual (dark and weird?) paradox if you ask me.
It is weird, I agree. I've always found it incredibly telling that Hinata is so focused on her own feelings, and almost never considers Naruto's feelings. It comes off self-centered, and as though she is in this pursuit mostly for herself and her own benefit. I agree that its most likely a result of naivety and not understanding what an actual relationship is supposed to be like, rather than something she's consciously doing. Regardless, I feel as though she has a bad case of tunnel vision currently, and she's bound to end up getting a bit of a shock when she finally takes her blinders off and takes a good look around her.
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Sakura is not shy and has considerable confidence in herself as a ninja. She was not shy in telling "Sasuke" that she was serious about him and wanted his acknowledgement. She was not shy about expressing her feelings and making an emotional display when trying to stop Sasuke from leaving. But I think it's very telling that she was actually more demure when she asked Naruto what he thought of the changes in her body, and she was a mixture of demure and assertive when telling Naruto she loved him in front of an audience. Of course, the jury's out on the sincerity of certain aspects of her confession, but there's no denying that Sakura did and said it all for Naruto's wellbeing.
That's a good point - those two instances were some of the few instances Sakura has been demure with Naruto - she was putting herself out there, and you can tell that Naruto's response mattered to her in both instances. It was definitely a different feel than when she was confessing to Sasuke - it was almost as if Sasuke's response didn't matter to her, she just wanted him to not leave her regardless of anything else. Just as with Hinata, in that instance, it was Sakura's own feelings that were taking precedence, not Sasuke's.
In contrast, at the summit, Naruto's feelings and well-being were clearly at the forefront of Sakura's mind.
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Sasuke is not shy, he's just a cold fish. He displayed confidence during Sakura's confession because he believed she was into him and could easily accept it (then dismiss it) at face value. Beyond Naruto (and I don't mean this in a yaoi way) the only real interpersonal bond Sasuke has shown with anyone is Karin. It may be for entirely selfish reasons, but the way he would bite her for energy and healing is an intimate act -- creepy, maybe, but intimate because Sasuke knew how Karin felt about him and he depended on her.
Agreed - I never felt that Sasuke and Sakura were ever all that close, especially in comparison to his relationship with Naruto. This was made clear at the last reunion, where Sakura got nothing but Sasuke's apathy, and Naruto actually reached him on an emotional level.
His relationship with Karin, as you said, had other indications of intimacy. He respected and acknowledged her abilities, chose her for his team personally, and was dependent on her for both healing and keeping him informed via her sensor abilities. Sasuke was never dependent on Sakura in the same way.
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Then there's Naruto. He generally brims with confidence, especially as a ninja -- even when it hasn't made sense for him to be confident. He's not shy. Despite knowing that Sakura has feelings for Sasuke, keeping his heart to himself, and doing everything he could to make Sakura happy, it's not as if Naruto has given up on his own feelings or suffered a lack of confidence. It's not as if he thinks he's an unworthy suitor with no chance, he's just doing what he feels is right for Sakura. If she wants Sasuke, he has wanted to do what he could to grant her that happiness even if it costs him his own. That's the ultimate confidence, isn't it?
Naruto is definitely clear in regards to his course of action with Sakura - he has his priorities set with her, and follows them unflinchingly and without fail. Protecting Sakura's happiness has continually been stressed as something incredibly important to Naruto, even being equated with his desire to save Sasuke during his discussion with Yamato after he hurt Sakura in KN4 mode.
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Naruto and Hinata are not on the same page. He understood her when she was being judged and held down, but because of the unfairness of it. It was something he had experienced himself. But Naruto doesn't seem to connect with Hinata's lack of confidence in a personal way; I think that's why he always slips into coaching mode with her. And her lack of confidence is the only thing she has ever publicly projected -- other than her feelings for him, which he has not indicated he accepts or returns. So what foundation exists for a relationship? I don't see one.
There isn't a foundation for a relationship there - as I said earlier, I can barely see them having a casual conversation, much less being intimate with one another on a regular basis. Coaching mode is definitely a good way to describe how Naruto typically is around her; its not a relationship of equals by any stretch.
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By contrast, Naruto and Sakura are very much alike in the confidence department, and in the willingness to be selfless for each other. They are both bound to Sasuke, individually and together, but I really think that eventually they're going to realize that what they feel and have gone through for each other is greater.
I couldn't agree more. Hinata finally wants to walk by Naruto's side after nearly 600 chapters, but Sakura is already there. She's been there a long time, doing her best to actively support him and let him know that he is not alone.
And as for Sasuke, they will never stop loving him, but he can never really understand what they've been through together in his absence, both in regards to their quest to save him, and to their other struggles (with Naruto's status as Jinchuuriki, loosing Chiyo, the destruction of Konoha, etc.).
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Sorry this is tl;dr. I'm on call and had to stay up while co-workers were completing a full cluster disaster recover failover drill, so I wrote this to help me stay awake.
Haha, not at all. I love reading good NaruSaku LAPs.
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Well, considering that in the very first chapter in which Sakura appears Kishimoto (1) established that Naruto loves her; (2) established that Naruto instinctively knew exactly what Sakura wanted to hear from her imagined Mr. Right; and (3) established that Sakura's affection was misdirected toward Sasuke, a guy who didn't care about her or understand her, I think it's safe to say yes. Kishimoto was planning Naruto/Sakura from the beginning. At least from chapter #3.
My thoughts exactly - I really think that Kishi had his end game pairing(s) set from the get-go. Whether or not he had the route to get there planned from the start, I don't know, but certainly the end result.
Only naruto and sakura gets canon the rest is leave to fanfiction's work, he wont make a lot of pairings canon because this is not shoujo.
I agree that he's not going to pair up everyone, but on the same token, I don't think its outside the realm of possibility to see more than one end pairing. He's included plenty of other romances along the way after all (Yahiko and Konan, Obito and Rin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, Jiraiya and Dan, Asuma and Kurenai, Minato and Kushina). I just don't think that he'll really devleop them all that much (as in, he may just show them together at the end with a kid or something).
I don't blame you, Paptala. I said this before, whenever Naruto and Hinata talks to each other, it's for development. They hardly, if not never, have a normal conversation with each other. They don't have all those beginning of an arc segments starring Naruto and Sakura (recap and see) with guest stars. You would assume they would after Pain Invasion Arc, but no, we have more Naruto and Sakura's conversation. I also don't blame you that you can't vision Naruto and Hinata doing what Sakura doing in the latest filler arc. She will either keep stuttering and the chemistry will be pretty quiet. Naruto has nothing to say more to her because Hinata won't have anything to say but mainly about him being strong. Sakura can talk about pretty much anything of Naruto that revolves on his life.
Yep, hit the nail on the head. You'd definitely think that if Hinata's confession was meant to segue into a romantic relationship between them, that they'd start having, you know, an actual relationship. One where they actually talk on a regular basis. But no, its still just Hinata revolving around her feelings for Naruto, and having minimal interaction with him where he shows nothing but friendship for her.
@swagosaurus: Excellent post - as I stated before, I definitely do think that he's been planning NaruSaku from the beginning, that Hinata's feelings for Naruto and Sakura's feeling for Sasuke were for the girls' character development, plot devices, and to add suspense to the romance subplot. I think that for the exact reasons you listed - the fact that Naruto and Sakura has been developed and focused on mutually from both sides, that there have been multiple serious hints (from Sakura herself and from third party comments) that Sakura has romantic feelings for Naruto, the parallels that only exist for NaruSaku, the pattern that you mentioned with NH/SS moments being followed up with NS moments.
Well, if chapter 540 is anything to go by then I think Kishi meant "loves", as in present.
But if he meant her to be honest with her confession to Naruto then it really becomes tricky. Maybe the issue is that Sakura believes she still loves Sasuke romantically and the whole point is for her to realize that what she feels for Sasuke is different than her new found feelings for Naruto.
I think that at the very least Sakura is aware that she feels something beyond friendship for Naruto, but she's trying to associate her love for Naruto to what she feels for Sasuke. That's why she kept comparing Naruto and Sasuke during her confession while making Naruto look like the better option and even said that she just switched from Sasuke to Naruto. The fact is the feelings she has for each guy is different, but until she realizes that what she feels for Naruto is what true genuine love is then she'll still associate those feelings to Sasuke.
I don't know that Sakura is aware that she feels something beyond friendship for Naruto, but I definitely do think that she is comparing what she feels for Sasuke to what she feels for Naruto and that that is the issue here. Because I don't think that what Sakura feels for Sasuke is true romantic love, but Sakura thinks that it is. And since what she feels for Naruto is different, stronger and more genuine, than what she feels for Sasuke (imo), I think that may be why she hasn't recognized that her feelings for Naruto are romantic love.
That theory seems to tie everything together pretty well. It would explain why she didn't think of Naruto in 540 (because she doesn't recognize her feelings for Naruto as romantic yet), and how she acted during her confession (she was lying on some level because she hadn't consciously realized she loves Naruto yet, but it still came off as more believable because the feelings for Naruto were there and influencing her actions).
Because I have a lot of difficulty in believing that all of those moments hinting that Sakura feels something beyond friendship from Naruto were just red herrings so that NaruHina/SasuSaku (pairings with pretty much no mutual hints and far less development) could become canon. Red herrings are meant to distract the readers attention away from something, and there was nothing NH/SS related to distract from during those times.
"The Naruto Shippuden anime has been on a streak of fillers since October. The current arc, titled Power has been airing since November. Due to the holidays, Naruto Shippuden will be seeing a few breaks, extending the filler arc until January 2013. After that, Saiyan Island is hopeful canon episodes will return as the Naruto manga is 68 chapters ahead of the anime, but no official word has been released at this time.
December 06, 2012
Naruto Shippuden Episode 292: Power Episode 3
December 13, 2012
Naruto Shippuden Episode 293: Power Episode 4
December 20, 2012
Naruto Shippuden Episode 294: Power Episode 5
December 27, 2012
BREAK, NO EPISODE
January 03, 2013
BREAK, NO EPISODE
January 10, 2013
Naruto Shippuden Episode 295: Power Episode Final
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December 27, 2012
BREAK, NO EPISODE
January 03, 2013
BREAK, NO EPISODE
January 10, 2013
Naruto Shippuden Episode 295: Power Episode Final
What the hell is this now? The one time I actually like a filler and am eager to see where its going, and they take a huge break right before the finale. Anime team, I am disappoint.
Thanks for providing the info though.
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