I will try to be to the point as much as possible. In case I go a bit off topic, please forgive me for that. Okay Naruto was compared to Kushina by Tsunade and Jiraiya and he is like that, partly(One or two traits that is, or maybe three or four or five but no more!) For now, I will not talk about Sakura-Kushina parallel. If Naruto's like Kushina, do you want to say Hinata is like Minato? If that is so, then you are wrong I afraid. Minato never had self confidance issues, he was never shy, he never needed someone to motivate him everytime and he always stood his ground. You are mistaking being cool and level headed with being shy and timid. Minato was never timid. He never acted without thinking. NEVER! And he used to get angry! Didn't you see he clutched his fists when he shifted Kushina to the house before going to defeat Nine Tails? Didn't you see the look in his eyes when he held Kushina bridal style when he saved her from Nine Tails attack? He gets angry, but he doesn't let that control him. He is a very very cool headed guy(apparently born of icycle XD). He is a highly analytical guy. Tell me when in this series has Hinata been shown as being analytical? And.......I don't remember him stalking Kushina anytime.
Me: Lol, don't you remember the time when he was stalking Kushina fight a genin and watching behind a tree? That sounds like something Hinata would do. And I also try to get as far away from parallels as I can, but if you want me to try to connect Minato to Hinata, I will. Naruto Wikia: While physically resembling Naruto.[33] Minato personality is strong contrast from Naruto's. There, now can we stop with the Minato and Naruto parallel?
And Kushina did describ
Now if you believe that Hinata is not like Minato, then here I go. We did not get two connected parallels which go hand in hand with each other when Jiraiya and Tsunade stated that he is more like Kushina than Minato. They were general statements on what they saw being with him for such a long time. They 'just' stated it. But when you get 'Pick a girl that is like your mother and don't pick a weird one' and after that we get a parallel with straight reference 'This girl kinda reminds of Kushina' there has to be even greater significance than the things which are 'just' stated by merely seeing and experiencing resemblences, right?
Me: Kushina also said, it might not be the first girl you fall in love with... And Im pretty sure when she said that, she didn't mean a girl with all the traits that she hated. Sakura basically posesses all those. And if your going to start with Kushina, plz read my very first post I already covered everything.
I remember you saying that Minato had seen Naruto for barely twenty minutes so how the hell can he know about his love life! I'll put it this way.....if a guy who sees his son for merely twenty minutes and is able to figure out the interaction between his son and a girl then can't you see how obvious the relationship is? Going by your logic, if a guy who has been there for 20 minutes can guess who is Naruto's girlfriend, then it makes the relationship too obvious especially when the one asking the question is Naruto's own father! It shouldn't be hard for you to figure out who Naruto is going with since you are following the manga for years, knowing his past and everything as opposed to guy who is there for 20 mins and knows nothing about his son(according to you)
Me: I felt like you answered your own question. Yeah seriously, how CAN he know about Naruto's love life? No offense or anything, but seeing a simple interaction of a girl healing your son... What type of retard calls that instant love? The thing she said to him was "im going to make you heal faster." To be honest, I'm not even going to actually go against this argument.
Now, Hinata was exhausted and stumbled and that is why she couldn't hel Naruto. May I ask you, why Hinata of all stumbled and was knocked out and why Sakura of all, was the one to be there with Naruto? Why Sakura of all. Kishi could have easily made Tsunade go with Gaara and Naruto but....NO! It was SAKURA of all! And for the record, Sakura was also exhausted and her chakra was also on the brink levels as stated by herself but yet she absolutely refused to give up on Naruto and did everything she could which was in her power. She was ready to sacrifice any damn thing for his sake and to keep him alive! And the rest all....you saw it.
Me: Because Sakura is a medic nin!!!! Thats her job so of course she was there on the scene! And in the manga, Tsunade was out of chakra so thats why Sakura was there. And if your going to say, Kishi did it for Sakura to be there, the purpose was for character development since Sakura is known for being usele-....for NOT being the most useful (I'm not a sakura hater, but you know it...I know it). Her 'resurrecting' the main character did it for her. And about her ready to sacrifice any damn thing for Naruto, the whole Naruto world knows Hinata would do the same. Sakura's chakra was on the brink, but seeing she didn't collapse meant that she still had more chakra to withstand her than Hinata. And Hinata wasn't simply looking at a half dead Naruto and not doing anything, she was running and even crawling to be there by Naruto's sake thinking about him before she fainted. And PLZ don't tell me that you are one of those NS fans who considered the CPR romantic? OH PLZ DON'T! I considered you one of the more reasonable NS fans.
Hinata has done so much for Naruto and she is a side character and people shouldn't expect much of her. May I ask when did we get the panels of Hinata giving up something important for Naruto's dream? I don't even hesitate to state that Sakura of all, knows and understands Naruto the best in the whole series and in a much much better way than Hinata. Sakura is always 'I want to do this for Naruto' 'I want to to do that for Naruto' 'I don't care what happens to me, if this eases Naruto's burdens then I am doing it' 'Naruto should be happy' 'I will be the one to always be by his side and will never let him give up on his dream and support him no matter what, no matter the conseuqnces, no matter what happens to me'. Tell me, isn't this selfless as opposed to 'When this war is over, I will be holding his hand and walk by his side forever'. Did she even take Naruto's feelings under consideration? What Naruto feels? Whom does Naruto like? No, right? I agree with you to an extent that Hinata knows about Naruto's dream. But there is a difference between knowing and supporting. No one in the whole of series has sacrificed and done so much for Naruto's sake.
Me: Here's a couple of Hinata quotes, I hope this shows enough selflessness for your expectations.
"I used to always cry and give up… I made many wrong turns… But you… You helped me find the right path… I always chased after you… I wanted to catch up to you… I wanted to walk beside you all the time… I just wanted to be with you… You changed me! Your smile is what saved me! That is why I'm not afraid to die protecting you! Because… I love you…"[10]
She directly stated that she's willing to give her life for him.
"Thank you Shino, but I want to do the best job I can. We're fighting this war to protect Naruto! Failure is not an option!"
She stated here that she's going to do the best she can to protect Naruto.
And as for Hinata supporting him: "In my eyes you're a proud failure! When I look at you, I get an intense feeling in my heart. Because you are not perfect… Because you fail… you have the strength to get back up… Because I believe that's what true strength is…"
This gave him enough support to change his perspective of fighting Neji and give him confidence.
Here's another one for support: (To Naruto) "Neji just said… that your life is not just your own anymore… Do you understand what he meant? Your words and desire to not let your comrades die… Neither of them are lies! What inspired Neji and carried him this far were those very principles! It's not just you, Naruto… we all hold those same words and feelings within our hearts. They're what bind our lives together and make us comrades. If we all give up and discard those words and feelings now, Neji's sacrifice will have been for nothing… Andthat is when your comrades truly die, for you are no longer comrades then. That's how I feel… Therefore… stand up together with me, Naruto… Because never going back on one's word… is my ninja way too!"
You say you don't know the bench scene and yet you claim that Hinata is better than Sakura, may I know....how?
Me: Again with the twisting of my words. I never remembered saying this. I may have said Hinata is better suited for Naruto, I never remember saying that Hinata is just better than Sakura in general.
You say, Sakura would do anything for anybody and not just Naruto. Has she done so much as she did for Naruto for anyone? Her motivation to get stronger was because of Sasuke and I partly agree with you while it was Naruto and Sasuke both, but....I give props for that! During the whoooollleeeee of part 2, her main reason to bring back Sasuke is for Naruto's sake! She knows he causes Naruto pain and right from day 1, she wants to be useful to Naruto and try to ease his burdens as much as possible. And this has been proven time and again that primary reason for Sakura to bring back Sasuke is more for Naruto's sake than her and the secondary being Team 7!
Me: She took consideration of Naruto's feelings in the Land of Iron arc and then she began realizing what all Naruto did for her. Before, she wanted to bring back Sasuke not just for Naruto, I even doubt she was thinking of Naruto while trying to bring back Sasuke. I agree she wants to ease Naruto's burdens, but saying that she JUST wanted to bring back Sasuke for Naruto is a huge LIE!
Honestly speaking, she sounded more of desparate to be with Sasuke as opposed to being in real love with Sasuke, during her confession to him.
Sakura's confession to Naruto.....I can go on and on with that whole ark, but I'll leave it here.
Me: Ummmm, I'm just going to leave that to you and your inferences.
Hinata was ready to give her life for Naruto, okay. I'll accept this for the time being, though I have my reasons but still I won't state them. Sakura has never done anything for him on such a magnitude. Okay, may I know what did Sakura do when she saw Naruto go 4 tails during the start of Part 2? Yamato for that matter was very ery careful while approaching Naruto in that state because he knew Naruto was no more in control of himself and he could get killed. Sakura, as soon as she saw this, she remembered the face of lauging Naruto and immediately flooded off towards him, KNOWING THAT SHE COULD GET KILLED IF SHE APPROACHED NARUTO IN 4 TAILS STATE! Even here, it was all for Naruto and zero for herself!
Me: I acknowledge that, but its part of her impulsive behavior and her care towards Naruto. I'm not going to go into whether care is concern or love, and if this is a romantic indication to you...which I believe it is, remember in Part 1 when Sakura hugged Sasuke in his cursed seal form, knowing he could kill her at anytime?
Naruto being a brother? Character development? I stop here itself! I don't think I feel the need to elaborate more on this part. Though I so want to prove you wrong on this part but I will stop here because it will lead us nowhere...
Me: First off....If you stopped here itself, then why did you continue? And if you wanted to prove me wrong, I don't want your opinion and your opinion alone. State facts, evidence, reason, logic! I said this so many times before.
Naruto sees Hinata by his side but so is the case as well for Shikamari, Chouji, Ino, Sakura and all of the Konoha 11. What sets Hinata's 'being there' apart from other Konoha 11. Sakura has proved her 'being there' as a literal stand out from other Konoha 11. What different has Hinata done for Naruto?
Me: I honestly don't know, try asking Naruto. Because in chapter 615, Hinata sure as hell stood out from the rest of Konoha 11. He said : Its because YOU'VE been by my side all this time. You didn't sound like Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, or anyone else in K11 to me.
EXACTLY!!!!! You made a very good point here. Kishimoto as a good manga author won't disregard feelings of a character whom he has been developing for 4 years. If he can't disregard feelings of character he's developing for 4 years, why would he disregard ALREADY THERE feelings of Naruto who he has been developing from the start of manga which started 15 years ago. You know which is bigger among 15 and 4 right? Also....Part 2 started in 2005 or 2006 if I am not wrong. So why would he disregard developing feelings of Sakura which he has been developing for close to 8-9 years? These figures are again greater than 4 and cannot be ignored!
Me: Naruto wasn't developed for Sakura. That's not the reason of his character, but on the other hand Hinata and Sakura's character are basically Naruto and Sasuke. And yeah, why would he disregard Sakura's feelings? And I hope you don't mean Naruto, because never once has she said she loved him in a romantic way, so that would just be making inferences and that isn't actual evidence. Denying Sakura's feelings for Sasuke is like denying Hinata's feelings for Naruto, and I don't see many people doing the latter.
The answers to your first to questions and not the third because I am not a keen Hinata fan
1) Is it necessary for Naruto to state exclusively that he loves Sakura? Can't you see this through his selflessness toward her, caring, the way he looks at her sometimes or his whole attitude regarding her, for that matter? Its not that hard to figure out. I don't remember him doing any of this for Hinata. But still if you want proof, he said it in 631. I suppose you only love your girlfriend in romantic way.
Me: I'm not even going to get into Naruto's answer for 631, but somewhere in my post I mentioned something about Sakura's reaction. Take a look at that if you will. Also, Naruto never got to complete his sentence. This is exactly what I mean by making inferences. Please stop doing that when I'm only asking for actual evidence. If your not going to do that, please don't post. And about Selflessness, that is Naruto's nature. He's shown selflessness by choosing to risk his lofe over and over again to protect these people:
SASUKE!
Kakashi
Tsunade
Iruka
Entire Konoha for crying out loud!
I'm pretty sure the whole selflessness rule doesn't apply only Sakura if that's what your trying to say. It is emphasized because they happen to be on the same team. He also showed selflessness by protecting Sasuke throughtout P1 and P2 more than he showed selflessness to Sakura (examples: Land of Waves arc, Orochimaru thingy, etc, ask me if you want more, I'd be more than glad to show you them.)
And here's a question for you as well! 'When did Naruto exclusively state that he loves Hinata?'
Me: He never did, but he never explicitly stated he loved Sakura as well. We've only received Third POV from Sai, the emotionless outsider of Team 7. But if your going to say that its still a hint nevertheless, then I'll bring in Kiba of all people. He said "Don't go acting all tough just because Hinata's here" and you see Naruto grinning, I mean..
2)That is what exactly remains to be seen. That's a huge mystery which Kishimoto is reserving for the end and he has thrown hints and counter hints. But accordingly the way all his hints make sense, considering Kakashi's words as a base for it is......'She fell out of love for Sasuke, but she herself does not realize that yet and that is why she cannot figure out her feelings for Naruto! Her mind still thinks she loves Sasuke whereas her heart already knows she loves Naruto!'
Me: There are so many translations, and I've heard a different one. And like I said, please stop with the inference making already! You don't know that, because Kishimoto never STATED that. 675 is a very ambiguous chapter that both NS and SS have twisted towards their fandom.
I have said this countless times and I'll say this again, Sakura to me, is a classic case of 'The heart sees what the mind fails to notice'. I think you surely know what this means. Her heart already knows she loves Naruto and what remains for her is to realise consciously that she no longer loves Sasuke but Naruto. With this, I end my LAP saying one last thing that.....her love for Naruto faaarrrr exceeds her love for Sasuke. The only difference between her two loves is the suffixes of 'selfISH' and 'selfLESS'. You know enough to know which is the better one. Make your choice. Thank you.
Me: Your really going to apply an external phrase with a shonen jump manga? I'm pretty sure Kishi doesn't know what that means himself. And again with the inference making! I'm not going to comment on that one because thats purely what you think and what you expect me to believe.