Here's what I can't get past.
Let's assume that as NS shippers we totally misinterpreted a number of Sakura's moments as regards Naruto.
+ The fact that Naruto instinctively knew what Sakura wanted to hear about her forehead meant nothing.
+ Although Naruto was nearly killed by Gaara while fighting to save Sakura's life, Gaara found it a life-changing experience but Sakura was left unmoved and unimpressed.
+ Yamato didn't mean that Sakura felt true love for Naruto.
+ Despite her vow to not make anymore mistakes or keep getting things wrong, Sakura's confession to Naruto was nothing more than a manipulative half-truth to coax him out of danger.
+ Sakura wasn't talking about Naruto when she told the Lover-nin that she already had someone.
+ Instead of showing any concern or indication that Naruto was misleading himself thinking she was his girlfriend, Sakura hits him in the head in a comedic way -- even though she knows from Sai and her own observation during the confession that Naruto loved her.
+ The fact that Naruto acknowledged her strength and desire to fight as Team 7 while Sasuke offered nothing, Naruto's support of her achievement didn't really matter to her.
+ Despite Sakura's passionate identification with Naruto and his dream, she did not see herself as part of what he loved or what made him strong.
+ Despite indicating to Sai that she didn't trust Sasuke's motives when he returned, and admitting that her feelings for Sasuke were pathetic, Sakura did not hesitate to abandon Naruto's feelings for her when Sasuke made a sudden reversal at the end.
Okay. So we were wrong about all of that. Got it. Likewise:
+ Although we never knew it, Sasuke was in love with or interested in Sakura all along.
+ When he originally left Konoha, saying she was annoying and then saying "thank you" really meant he loved her.
+ The times Sasuke tried to kill Sakura or was not interested in saving her because he deemed her inconsequential, it really meant that he loved her so much that he preferred she died so he could be hated.
+ When Sasuke was trying to kill Naruto as his "only friend," he wasn't mentioning Sakura because she meant so much more to him than a friend because he was in love with her.
+ At the end, Sasuke instinctively knew to focus his attention on Sakura's forehead after all, and reveal that he always loved her.
So our interpretations of SS were completely wrong the whole time. Okay. I suppose it is technically arguable that all of those moments were misread by NS fans, and actually supported SS and we simply didn't see it because of our shipping blinders.
Okay.
But I submit that NS fans were persuaded by the main theme of the story to view NS as likely to succeed. It wasn't so much that we ignored the possibility of SS, but why on Earth would we expect that at the end of the story Naruto's feelings and nindo would actually not mean anything? That in the end, the hero's reward for his hard work, determination, and selfless love for his friend and girl would be rejection and heartbreak?
Naruto was in love with Sakura for the entire manga. Hinata may have loved him, but he never returned her feelings. He never even thought of her in a potentially romantic light once. We as NS fans weren't blind to Naruto's feelings for Hinata; such feelings were never there.
As I said on the other thread, the existence of this upcoming movie is a cheap, insulting retcon to explain how he falls in love with Hinata. If it's necessary to show him falling in love with Hinata in a movie, it means he was never interested in her in the manga. It means his love for Sakura existed until the last chapter, and was not only rejected in a disgusting manner but was never even addressed again.
I don't accept that NS fans were idiots with poor reading comprehension skills. In a story bearing the hero's name as its title, and the hero therein is consistently characterized by his difficult past, his need to be loved and accepted, his determination, dedication to righteousness, his devotion to saving Sasuke, and his love for Sakura, it wasn't crazy to think Naruto would be the one to succeed in love.
Instead, Naruto is the only one who lost and ends up settling. It makes me sick.
