So...I've been reading the manga over (or skimming it should I say) and making note of all the important things (because I no longer have the impatience that I had to just see Sakura do something really significant after team 7's first failure with Sasuke blinding me). And...I just thought of something in connection with the Last. I haven't changed my mind about disliking the fact that I have to watch a movie to get certain explanations about the manga, at least pairing wise, and I also still have to skim through the final chapters still to get a full and slightly new perspective on the manga (not necessarily a positive one either).
Despite that, something occurred to me while reading through Sakura's confession for the umpteenth time, because there was always a few things that threw me off about it even with the Kishi's explanation and seeing what others had to say about it. Opinion were always given along the lines of Sakura either completely lying, being honest about her feelings for Naruto but lying about her feelings for Sasuke (opinion I had for a while), lying while using her best friend's feelings for her etc. And none of them, even the one I had for a while, never really clicked with me. But this one, with consideration of what happened in the Last does and basically goes like this (and feel free to disagree or share your thoughts about it because it's nothing I can really debate about):
So, Sakura in the Last at some point says to Naruto that his love for her was basically because of his rivalry with Sasuke, or something along that line, and it always struck me as weird that Naruto hadn't really said anything in defense of that. And then it suddenly occurred to me, while reading over Sakura's confession and the chapters leading up to it, of course, that this explanation given in the Last might help to explain that line of Naruto's that consistently threw me off.
"Why would you come all this way just to say that?"
I used to assume that this line was just him showing his suspicions about Sakura's intentions, but then Sakura's reactions to it, and to the line about her hating herself (and her reactions in general) seem to be extremely genuine. Essentially, she genuinely seems upset, and possibly a little confused, that he's rejecting her feelings for him. However, it wasn't until Sai secretly meeting up with Naruto after that I really understood what I was reading.
"It might have been my fault a little here why Sakura did what she did" (Not the exact line but the gist of it)
Remember what Sai's exact words to Sakura were and then before that the flashback with Naruto and him? In the flashback, Sai had asked Naruto if he liked Sakura. But when confronting Sakura, he basically told her that Naruto really loves her! Like really really loves her! And then Sakura, of course, believes him and decides that she no longer wishes to cause him any pain anymore with the promise. Additionally, I think it may have helped her realize what were the strong feelings that Yamato was talking about after Naruto had lost control of the Kyuubi the first time. So, now, she goes to confess these honest feelings, but with a stubborn (in terms of her insisting that she no longer feels anything for Sasuke because he was a criminal) expression. Now, it was established back in part 1 through flashbacks during the POAL that Naruto actually does, in fact, have a good understanding of Sakura's feelings for Sasuke. So, from the minute she says that there's nothing between her and Sasuke anymore, is where his shocked expression turns into one of suspicion because:
1. He's already surprised that she would come all the way out here just to say that she loves him (like he loves ramen/a friend). Like really, you came all this way just to tell me that? ( this thought process follows from the idea of him not really understanding even Hinata's confession to him. It doesn't make sense to me that for her he wouldn't understand what love she meant while for Sakura, the girl he only really had small feelings for because of Sasuke, he would. This also helps explains why Kishi called it a love triangle since it would be the case that both girls love Naruto but he's just...all around confused).
2. It wouldn't be hard for him to understand what Sakura means by her moving on from Sasuke since he's been seeing her feelings for him since the beginning. This also happens to be separated from her huge "I love you panel" and where she basically goes off trying to convince herself stubbornly that she should be over Sasuke. Naruto's question of "how" and "why" and the fact that she must be telling a joke is basically directed to this as well, not her I love you confession (since it doesn't mean anything special to him). This is especially so as Sakura answers him focusing on the idea of her growing up and no longer being in love with a fugitive. Basically, she came to her senses.
3. Under the assumption that Naruto really loves her, his promise to her being the biggest proof and pain caused to him, it's easy for her to go from her confession to the promise since she honestly loves him and wants the pain of the promise he made to her to go away. It's especially telling that Kakashi even has a realization of his own once she hugs him.
4. However, Naruto is still confused as to why she suddenly wants him to forget the promise and that she no longer loves Sasuke. He thinks it's some kind of joke and that for some reason she's just trying to be all stubborn and lie to herself about her feelings for Sasuke.
5. But Sakura, of course, takes it to mean that maybe he doesn't like her that much. And she's just straight up offended not only by the way he refers to her honest confession of her feelings as "something like that" but he makes it seem like it would be easy to say what she did (since he's under the impression that she's talking about a different love when referring to him).
And the rest I think is self-explanatory since she goes back to focusing on the promise he made to her and less about her feelings for him (pretty sure she realizes at this point that his love for her isn't what Sai made it seem to be). But...this is just an idea. I could end up changing my mind :) But it would be interesting to see what you guys have to say about it. Feel free to disagree and tear it apart even 
I must say though that if this is the way I was supposed to read the confession then that basically means that NS either died all the way in back in part 1- or at least Naruto's serious pursuit of Sakura in his competition with Sasuke ended all the way then- or it was never really alive, to begin with. At least not from Naruto's perspective. This view also makes him look kind of scummy but..idk it makes sense to me right now when I consider everything. Perhaps there's something I missed though?
Edited by Qia, 16 August 2017 - 02:27 AM.
) that Naruto begins getting skeptical and behaving in the fashion you point out. Naruto is able to recall what Sakura has said in the past and is able to immediately pinpoint deception. And it's the result of what he knows about Sakura (specifically, that she loves Sasuke, a feeling he fully and completely understands) that he's able to determine that she's not telling the truth.
