abandoning ship?
LOL
OH.MY.GOD. I knew it!
But seriously, are people here really giving up on NS after last chapter? Really? I actually thought that Kiba's comment felt more threatening than last chapter, and that was just Kiba acting like his usual self.
Whenever I see people doubting I can't help but remember how so many people refused to believe that Tobi could possibly be Obito, and then comes 599.
Whether Sakura truly falls in love by the end with Naruto or not, I just can't imagine for the life of me the possibility of Naruto not loving Sakura anymore. Sakura is the only one that has been shown to possibly change who she loves. Naruto's love for Sakura has been such an instrumental part of his character that I don't feel like he would be Naruto anymore if he didn't love her. Sakura's care for Naruto always brings out her more tender side while her love for Sasuke makes her suppress her outgoing personality.
I sometimes wonder, if Sakura wasn't in love with Sasuke do you think we would perceive these NH moments the same way we do now? If Sakura was just confused about her feelings for Naruto, no influence from Sasuke, would we still perceive Hinata as a threat?
Many a manga have that shy girl character that's in love with the hero, and even if the hero never loves her back she get inspired by his bravery which in turn motivates her to stand up for herself. That's how I've always seen Hinata.
Maybe the true worry of Hinata comes from the fear that Sakura will never love Naruto back. If Sakura doesn't love him back he still must be paired with someone and the obvious choice is, of course, Hinata. Since we doubt Sakura will have a change of heart then now we perceive every interaction between Naruto and Hinata as their obvious build up toward being together.
The problem is that regardless of the panel time they have shared there's not even one indication of romantic feelings from Naruto. Even other mangas have bothered in making the hero think the shy girl is pretty or looks cute (even if the hero doesn't actually love her), but we've never even gotten anything close to that impression from Naruto.
Kishi already said that the ending was planned from the very beginning, the problem was figuring out the detail of how to get there. I'm pretty sure that knowing the ending would partially mean knowing who would be the girl in Naruto's life. Don't you think that if it was gonna be Hinata we would've gotten something... more?
Do you guys really think that was Kishi's plan?
- Make Naruto love Sakura in the most pure selfless way possible.
- Make him got through lengths to see her smile.
- Make it so that Sakura loving him back became one of the most difficult things he could manage, then take into consideration that everything Naruto gets has to be earned through a lot of hard work, determination and not giving up.
- Make it known that even if Sakura still loves Sasuke that Naruto has not let go of his feelings for Sakura so far.
- Make it so that Naruto and Hinata don't have to much interaction in the story. While it's always more focused on Hinata's character progressing than Naruto's.
- Make it so that Naruto never shows even the slight amount attraction or interest towards Hinata.
- Make it so that Sakura slowly starts seeing Naruto in a different light as he progresses to the point that she feels confused as to how she feels about him.
BUT
- Then in the end make Naruto suddenly not feel that deep love he has for Sakura while suddenly giving it towards Hinata with no particular indications throughout the story that he could possibly feel this way.
- Have Sakura drop all possibilities that she could ever love Naruto back, even if the story was building up towards it happening.
- And most important of all: Have Sasuke suddenly develop feelings for Sakura that he never possessed or was even hinted at developing. Which would be particularly difficult considering that Sasuke has never thought of Sakura individually at any moment in Part 2. And also because given that Sakura (and Kakashi) have entrusted Sasuke to Naruto that there's not much that could happen between them before the end.
I just don't see Kishi building Naruto and Sakura only for it not to happen in the end. And I'm pretty sure that whatever path Kishi decided as he began the story he's gonna stick to it. He can change some detail here and there, but it's a very different story to change the final love interest from one person to another. And I'm pretty sure Kishi is not someone that would do anything he doesn't want to. He likes to take advice, but if it goes completely against his vision then I don't think he would do it.
In many manga the hero gets a good amount of interaction and development with the shy secondary character (more so than what Naruto has with Hinata), but that never meant that they would get together. It was always done for the sake of the story's plot, nothing more. But I guess the doubts of Sakura ever falling in love with Naruto amplifies the perception we have of Hinata's actions as foreshadowing of them being together. This is all because we believe that if it looks like Sakura might not love Naruto by the end then each of Hinata's actions must be an indicator of her and Naruto getting together since Naruto must have a girl by the end.
I heard that Air Gear had a similar problem with confusing people as to who the hero would be with in the end. I've never read the series but from what I heard in the end it was the obvious hero/tsundere pair. I also heard that people are still complaining about that outcome so I guess it wouldn't be any different when it happens with Naruto. But what makes it tricky in Naruto is that since the girl the hero loves has feelings for someone else it takes the intrigue to a higher level. So even if it looks obvious that Naruto and Sakura should be together, with her having feelings for Sasuke it keeps you on edge thinking as to how that can be resolved.
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