I completely agree that Sakura probably has feelings for both Naruto and Sasuke at this point. The only question is, is she aware of her feelings for Naruto specifically? Right now, I'd have to say no, or if she is somewhat aware, she does not reflect on it in the same way she reflects on her feelings for Sasuke.
In other words, we know that as of Lover-nin talking to her, she still considered Sasuke as the obvious person she had feelings for. Now, that isn't to say she doesn't have some feelings for Naruto (like I said, I believe she does), it is just that she is unaware or is unresponsive to them at the moment. That being said, I don't think it is right to call her confession (the 'I love you') as true even if she had some hidden feelings for Naruto at that point. For me to consider her 'I love you' true, it would have to mean she had no lingering feelings for Sasuke (but that is what I simply would define a confession to be, the moment where you are positive you are in love with one person). Once again, that doesn't mean she doesn't have feelings for Naruto. It is just that her feelings were not at a place where she could honestly confess them. Because of this, Naruto's statement of not wanting her to lie to herself could also be tied in with this point. The major impact he was making, though, was of course her denial about caring about Sasuke. But, with it being canon that Naruto considers Sakura still as desperately in love with him as she always has, it would make sense that his statement also included her confession.
I guess my personal stance on Sakura's feelings is that she's at least somewhat aware of the fact that she's developing feelings for Naruto, but her feelings for Sasuke are currently eclipsing them, at least on some level. I think it's because her bond with Sasuke is in greater jeopardy than her bond with Naruto that she thinks of Sasuke after the lover-nin's comment. On top of that, his comment about the one she loves being 'a great guy' was sort of what made her think of Sasuke, since, even in real life, negative thoughts always seem to weigh more heavily than positive ones. But, of course, my personal stance is that it's just much easier for Kishi to reiterate a previously established side of the love triangle than throw a wrench in it, at least at this point.
As for her confession, I guess it boils down to how you would personally define a love confession in a manga like this, but I agree that her confession probably wasn't legitimate. At the same time though, I don't think she was lying about it either. It could be Kishi being a bad writer, but Sakura's reaction to Naruto's 'lying to yourself' comment was drawn very differently to her initial confession. I guess, if she was acting the whole time, I don't understand why her acting ability suddenly just got better after Naruto 'rejected her'. I guess I took it as an honest confession of existing feelings mixed with some attempted deception conducted at a very poor time with an ulterior motive. If that makes sense.
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So, why is NS still the strongest pairing? It seems obvious that Kishi will not allow Sakura to just 'get over' Sasuke over time or from watching Naruto alone. While I had thought this might be what lead to NS being made canon, it is clear that this isn't the case. I'm guessing then that Kishi intends Sakura to reflect on her feelings for Sasuke with said person present. Whatever reason she has for loving him needs to be addressed (could be acknowledgement, could be guilt, could be a lot of reasons). It simply won't be as easy as her looking at how amazing Naruto is. And I don't mind that, because it allows Sakura a clean slate with Naruto (romantically), I think. If she resolves her feelings for Sasuke completely, she can then give more consideration to what Naruto means to her. Otherwise, wrestling with two people at once seems sort of messy. Sasuke has always sort of bogged her down and it would nice for her to finally have a clear vision. It also gives Naruto the chance to see a Sakura who is not being hurt because of her feelings.
Unfortunately, that seems like it's going to be the case. So I guess
tricksie might be right on the money that we'll have one more Sasu/Saku 'scare' in this fandom before the end, if it requires a final meeting with Sasuke in order to resolve Sakura's feelings.
On the other hand though, I don't think it's too unlikely for Naruto's forehead comment to be brought up again, especially with the parallels drawn in the last arc with Kushina. I'm not sure if that would be enough to help Sakura resolve her feelings on her own, but it would help her put things in perspective, if she still doesn't know it was Naruto who complimented her forehead back then.
Though I think it could be the case that the final/next Naruto vs. Sasuke confrontation will be the final step for Sakura to resolve her feelings for Sasuke. Like I said earlier, her bond with Sasuke is the one in jeapordy, and so if Naruto was the one in jeopardy, I have to wonder how this would affect her. Especially if it was Sasuke who threatened that bond. Would she continue to focus on her feelings for Sasuke, or would her bond with Naruto take precedence? We already saw how she reacted when Naruto and Sasuke charged at each other in the Iron Country Arc (yelling Naruto's name), so another scene could be what it takes to resolve that part of her character. I'm personally rooting for a scenario like the OVA that came out at the beginning of the year, but we'll see what happens.
Edited by Boom...Winning, 20 October 2011 - 01:06 AM.
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