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We have the KN4 incident itself, the event that has "blown" all the other pairings away in terms of "romance". I'd agree that it'd probably had "romance" since the scene illustrates the pain Naruto feels with Sasuke gone, but since we know that Narusasu is a bond of deep brotherhood it isn't romance. "But Sakura ran after him to stop Naruto and promised to save Sasuke for him thus she's given up her feelings for Sasuke", yes it is true when Naruto went KN4 she ran after him and promised to help him save Sasuke and that he wouldn't have to do it anymore, but this doesn't mean she's given up her feelings for Sasuke. Why? The chapter explains her motivation behind trying to stop him, she flashes back to the time she promised that she'd help retrieve Sasuke with him and also to the promise of a lifetime, she believed it was her fault for Naruto being this way, the fact that she wasn't strong enough to retrieve Sasuke on her own, ultimately the theme of being only human plays in Sakura, the fact that she believes she's done so little in the effort to retrieve Sasuke. Ultimately pitying Naruto, something he doesn't want, that he's done so much to get Sasuke back when she's done so little, believing it was her fault that Naruto was like this causing her to foolishly rush in.
However in actuality is this really the truth for Naruto, is he really giving a damn about the promise so much that it's transforming him into a monster. The answer, no, we see what is on Naruto's mind moments before the transformation, it's Sasuke, Naruto feels that he's so out of reach and constantly reaches for him following him. He can't bare Oro's taunts, that it was Sasuke's choice to leave, he refuses to believe it, and with this despair the Kyuubi takes over. Now, with the seperate thoughts of how these two are in the KN4 it shows a lack of understanding, Sakura pities Naruto and believes it's her fault that Naruto is pushing himself so hard to retrieve Sasuke when this is not true. Naruto is pushing himself so hard to find Sasuke not because of the promise but because he himself loves Sasuke, he was the first bond he ever had, the first person to truly acknowledge him, and he refuses to lose him to someone like Oro. For the KN4 scene actually being so "Narusaku" it is so Sasuke centric, so Sasusaku and Sasunaru centric, so team 7 centric, Sakura is pitying Naruto because she believes it is her fault that she's placed a huge burden on him retrieving Sasuke due to her inability to do so and Naruto is falling deeper into the darkness without Sasuke. Kishi showed us in a joking matter how Sasuke's departure effected them but in this scene he's shown just how badly Sasuke's departure has torn at these two, at the bonds that were once team 7. Notice that this scene ultimately had nothing to do with the possible "romance" between Naruto and Sakura but on team 7's bonds.
Ok, so the KN4 scene didn't deliver on the romance for Narusaku so what about Yamato's words on Sakura's feelings for Naruto that has to be love. Yeah it would be.....if it actually made sense in that context. "Don't worry Sakura if Naruto goes KN4 again just smex him with all your luv". I'm sorry but this makes no sense since if Sakura even tried this she'd be killed. What Yamato talked about was something that has always been a main issue for Sakura and her character, her self-confidence. Sakura, like Hinata but somewhat differently, has always had issues with her confidence at first it was her forehead and her physical appearance, but now it's her strength and usefulness to her team. She wants to be useful hence why she trained so hard in the timeskip, she wanted to be useful to her precious people, Sasuke and Naruto. Notice that this theme has been a repeated theme in Naruto, a desire to be useful for your precious ones, a theme that has been replayed with Haku, Naruto, Sasuke, Kimmimaro, and has also been played with Sakura only thing is her's is more deeper than that. With Sakura's desire to be useful come two other things, a theme in constant appearance is the desire for aknowledgement and the other that played in this scene that Lee shares with Sakura is the theme of being only human.
Sakura's is distraught over Naruto's condition and asks if Yamato could teach her the suppression tech and Yamato says she can't so she goes into a short despair saying all she can do are the little things and Yamato says her feelings for Naruto are all that matter. Now many went "OMG SHE LUVS HIM", once again it would be true if this was actually the case in context. What is playing is Sakura's representation of being only human, on how limited we human beings, we can only do so much for the people we care for- note the wanting to be useful for your precious ones playing with this theme as well-that once we humans have finally reached our limit in assistance and yet still desire to do more, like Sakura, we break at the realization of our limitations and fall into despair. What Yamato was addressing was her issue of self-confidence and her theme of humanity, that as long as we've truly given it our all our efforts are not in vain. And with this little lesson Sakura's issue with her self-confidence is patched up for the time being yet this isn't the last time we see this side of Sakura since this inner conflict has yet to be resolved.
And so with this it seems that KN4 scene never was meant to be interpreted as the Narusaku scene that many seem to have seen, but more of a team 7 and Sakura related scene, and that Yamato was never addressing any "romantic feelings" that Sakura herself isn't aware of in the first place, but the issues that Sakura herself is always conflicted with, her self-confidence and being only human and not a power freak like Sasuke or Naruto.
1) Love isn't limited to age: Ignoring Sakura's feelings
Sakura behaved towards Sasuke in a more gentler manner yet that was chalked up as a crush whereas her behavior [towards Naruto], which really hasn't changed all that much is now love? I just don't see it and no manifesto will change that. Just because Sakura isn't professing her love for Sasuke and isn't building a shrine while he's away doesn't mean her feelings have changed. She has yet to relinquish them at all. Her feelings are considered as childish, yet she's old enough to kill which makes no sense whatsoever. The defense towards Sakura's feelings is more out of fear that it's as deep as Kishi-san has shown and that it's possible that they [her feelings] can become reflected in return by Sasuke in the end - but to get rid of that possibility why not make Sasuke into a emo homosexual or ship him off with some random girl he doesn't even like/knows. If Sakura falls for Naruto, what's going to stop her from not falling for some other guy. In reality, Naruto is no knight in shining armor and his antics drive her up to wall to a point that a punch to the head solves the feeling of annoyance. So if a nice, mellow boy comes along that doesn't anger her, well let's just say someone will be left holding the ramen bowl.
(2) Magnify: Making Naruto's crush into nonexistent love.
Considering no one, not even Naruto, takes his crush seriously should be a big damper on this 'canon'. One would think Kishi-san knows all about his characters feelings since he has yet to make Naruto pursuit Sakura in a serious manner. He asks for dates but they're either declined, Sasuke related, or turned into a comical relief and far from romantic. It's true that Naruto still likes her and it's true Sakura admires Naruto, but she admires other people as well. Admiring someone doesn't always equal love.
(3) Ignoring: The disregard to other character's feelings.
It's not impossible that Sasuke can fall in love. Although the idea that he's homosexual based upon the fact that he's not drooling over girls or trying to smex half his fan club and instead is forming a friendship with Naruto and his teammates while being solely focused upon his main goal - revenge. Or there's the overuse of the term "emo" which now I doubt the real meaning is even understood since Sasuke doesn't even snuggly fit into that category. The boy is confused, vengeful, angry, and emotionally unstable which, considering what happened and how things occurred, is understandable. Sasuke coped how he could, burying all feelings but hatred to a point that when he acted outside of that shell of his, it confused him (Episode 18). For Sasuke to pretend everything was okay and behave like he was before the massacre wouldn't be believable and honestly, a bit disturbing considering how much he loved his family. I find it admirable that he's different from boys his age and that he shows his family and what happened to them is something that truly affected him. He cannot be like Naruto and Sakura because that ability to see the bright side of things, to be able to find it easier to forgive, to be content with how things are, is out of his reach now that everything he once loved was ripped away from him.
Sasuke has proven that he cares for Sakura, just because he doesn't say the words doesn't mean he thinks of her as just any other girl. He treats her differently compared to other females he's come in contact with. He's more open to seeking comfort from her and showing his weak side (Forest of Death), has confided in her (Bell test), bothered that he worried her (Chuunin exams) [and Naruto], wanted Naruto to run as far as he could to save Sakura while he distracted Gaara, had a look of dejection when he recalled telling Sakura Naruto was the one that saved her, and even respected her enough to listen to her instead of just knocking her out from the start (Goodbye scene). Sasuke has come a long way since the start of the series in regards to his teammates. He's more open to trusting, feeling emotions, and even finding amusement. Despite team Hawk witnessing a very emotional time for him, their relationship as teammates have yet to get close like that of team seven. And despite the recent chapter, I don't see Sasuke suddenly falling for some other girl whose fan girling antics have yet to change.
Hinata is yet another obstacle in NaruSaku. It's no secret to everyone, well Naruto is the exception, that she has feelings for a certain knucklehead ninja. Like Sakura, Hinata grew because of her feelings and tried to change herself as a ninja steadily but surely partly due to Naruto's nindo and her own inner desires. She wishes for acknowledgment, like lots of the characters in the series, from Naruto. Her feelings have gotten stronger considering her response to Naruto since the time jump. I hardly consider that a coincidence and it also supports the idea of Sakura's feelings transcending time as well considering her response to Sasuke when they first meet after nearly three years.
(3) He said, She said: Unreliable characters and misinterpreting text
Yamato. Yamato. Yamato. Until recently I never knew how infamous he was for his 'love advice' with the "in reality" speech. In reality, it's BS. He was not talking about Sakura and Naruto in a romantic sense, in fact, he was giving her more of a cheering up talk, not trying to set two ninjas up in a relationship. Honestly, why would he care? There's no sexual tension that's blocking their concentration to begin with. Sakura was bothered by the fact that even with her new strength she still felt useless to Naruto and keeping their promise. Then there's Dr. Tsunade, who was allegedly talking about Sakura not making her mistake and to 'hook up' with Naruto. Why is Dan suddenly a mistake when she loved him so deeply? If it's because of the sake, then one may as well blame her brother and everything else tragically that happens as a ninja. Again, NS bull. Another is Jirayai, who is become infamous like Jirayai since Naruto must 'succeed' where he failed in love. Jirayai was not even speaking about that, but because he talked about his unrequited relationship with Tsunade it was again assumed - and you know what they say about assuming, right? Yet it's funny how she's supposedly supporting NaruSaku, yet she makes no effort to put them together even in moments of grief. The fact is Sakura cannot understand Naruto's sense of lost nor can he understand her feelings of love towards Sasuke since he wasn't there that night.
(4) Complete: They're perfectly fine as friends, never a couple!
Why does Naruto need to have Sakura? He doesn't need her to breathe nor does she need him for that either. Just because Naruto is a main character, yeah the series may be named after him but he shares the limelight these days, doesn't mean he deserves Sakura. He doesn't deserve her, no one deserves anyone because people are not prizes to be won. Sure, he's had a bad childhood, but he's not the only one. If love was given out for accomplishes to the underdogs or just to anyone for that matter, it would be chaos since more than one person has liked Sakura and have not had an easy childhood (Lee, Naruto).
Try as Sakura might, she simply cannot change Naruto and being with him as his girlfriend/lover/wife would do nothing for her character and would just be plain cruel to both of them. There's no love. Naruto has yet to confess any feelings of love or anything past kinship, friendship, and a crush. He admits he finds her attractive and wishes to date her, but that's it. Hell, his official profile has yet to change yet it's supposedly love. Even in his data books, she's not considered anything more than a friend and at most a crush, yet with Sakura there's details in regards to her deep affections and love for Sasuke right up until their farewell.
However in actuality is this really the truth for Naruto, is he really giving a damn about the promise so much that it's transforming him into a monster. The answer, no, we see what is on Naruto's mind moments before the transformation, it's Sasuke, Naruto feels that he's so out of reach and constantly reaches for him following him. He can't bare Oro's taunts, that it was Sasuke's choice to leave, he refuses to believe it, and with this despair the Kyuubi takes over. Now, with the seperate thoughts of how these two are in the KN4 it shows a lack of understanding, Sakura pities Naruto and believes it's her fault that Naruto is pushing himself so hard to retrieve Sasuke when this is not true. Naruto is pushing himself so hard to find Sasuke not because of the promise but because he himself loves Sasuke, he was the first bond he ever had, the first person to truly acknowledge him, and he refuses to lose him to someone like Oro. For the KN4 scene actually being so "Narusaku" it is so Sasuke centric, so Sasusaku and Sasunaru centric, so team 7 centric, Sakura is pitying Naruto because she believes it is her fault that she's placed a huge burden on him retrieving Sasuke due to her inability to do so and Naruto is falling deeper into the darkness without Sasuke. Kishi showed us in a joking matter how Sasuke's departure effected them but in this scene he's shown just how badly Sasuke's departure has torn at these two, at the bonds that were once team 7. Notice that this scene ultimately had nothing to do with the possible "romance" between Naruto and Sakura but on team 7's bonds.
Ok, so the KN4 scene didn't deliver on the romance for Narusaku so what about Yamato's words on Sakura's feelings for Naruto that has to be love. Yeah it would be.....if it actually made sense in that context. "Don't worry Sakura if Naruto goes KN4 again just smex him with all your luv". I'm sorry but this makes no sense since if Sakura even tried this she'd be killed. What Yamato talked about was something that has always been a main issue for Sakura and her character, her self-confidence. Sakura, like Hinata but somewhat differently, has always had issues with her confidence at first it was her forehead and her physical appearance, but now it's her strength and usefulness to her team. She wants to be useful hence why she trained so hard in the timeskip, she wanted to be useful to her precious people, Sasuke and Naruto. Notice that this theme has been a repeated theme in Naruto, a desire to be useful for your precious ones, a theme that has been replayed with Haku, Naruto, Sasuke, Kimmimaro, and has also been played with Sakura only thing is her's is more deeper than that. With Sakura's desire to be useful come two other things, a theme in constant appearance is the desire for aknowledgement and the other that played in this scene that Lee shares with Sakura is the theme of being only human.
Sakura's is distraught over Naruto's condition and asks if Yamato could teach her the suppression tech and Yamato says she can't so she goes into a short despair saying all she can do are the little things and Yamato says her feelings for Naruto are all that matter. Now many went "OMG SHE LUVS HIM", once again it would be true if this was actually the case in context. What is playing is Sakura's representation of being only human, on how limited we human beings, we can only do so much for the people we care for- note the wanting to be useful for your precious ones playing with this theme as well-that once we humans have finally reached our limit in assistance and yet still desire to do more, like Sakura, we break at the realization of our limitations and fall into despair. What Yamato was addressing was her issue of self-confidence and her theme of humanity, that as long as we've truly given it our all our efforts are not in vain. And with this little lesson Sakura's issue with her self-confidence is patched up for the time being yet this isn't the last time we see this side of Sakura since this inner conflict has yet to be resolved.
And so with this it seems that KN4 scene never was meant to be interpreted as the Narusaku scene that many seem to have seen, but more of a team 7 and Sakura related scene, and that Yamato was never addressing any "romantic feelings" that Sakura herself isn't aware of in the first place, but the issues that Sakura herself is always conflicted with, her self-confidence and being only human and not a power freak like Sasuke or Naruto.
1) Love isn't limited to age: Ignoring Sakura's feelings
Sakura behaved towards Sasuke in a more gentler manner yet that was chalked up as a crush whereas her behavior [towards Naruto], which really hasn't changed all that much is now love? I just don't see it and no manifesto will change that. Just because Sakura isn't professing her love for Sasuke and isn't building a shrine while he's away doesn't mean her feelings have changed. She has yet to relinquish them at all. Her feelings are considered as childish, yet she's old enough to kill which makes no sense whatsoever. The defense towards Sakura's feelings is more out of fear that it's as deep as Kishi-san has shown and that it's possible that they [her feelings] can become reflected in return by Sasuke in the end - but to get rid of that possibility why not make Sasuke into a emo homosexual or ship him off with some random girl he doesn't even like/knows. If Sakura falls for Naruto, what's going to stop her from not falling for some other guy. In reality, Naruto is no knight in shining armor and his antics drive her up to wall to a point that a punch to the head solves the feeling of annoyance. So if a nice, mellow boy comes along that doesn't anger her, well let's just say someone will be left holding the ramen bowl.
(2) Magnify: Making Naruto's crush into nonexistent love.
Considering no one, not even Naruto, takes his crush seriously should be a big damper on this 'canon'. One would think Kishi-san knows all about his characters feelings since he has yet to make Naruto pursuit Sakura in a serious manner. He asks for dates but they're either declined, Sasuke related, or turned into a comical relief and far from romantic. It's true that Naruto still likes her and it's true Sakura admires Naruto, but she admires other people as well. Admiring someone doesn't always equal love.
(3) Ignoring: The disregard to other character's feelings.
It's not impossible that Sasuke can fall in love. Although the idea that he's homosexual based upon the fact that he's not drooling over girls or trying to smex half his fan club and instead is forming a friendship with Naruto and his teammates while being solely focused upon his main goal - revenge. Or there's the overuse of the term "emo" which now I doubt the real meaning is even understood since Sasuke doesn't even snuggly fit into that category. The boy is confused, vengeful, angry, and emotionally unstable which, considering what happened and how things occurred, is understandable. Sasuke coped how he could, burying all feelings but hatred to a point that when he acted outside of that shell of his, it confused him (Episode 18). For Sasuke to pretend everything was okay and behave like he was before the massacre wouldn't be believable and honestly, a bit disturbing considering how much he loved his family. I find it admirable that he's different from boys his age and that he shows his family and what happened to them is something that truly affected him. He cannot be like Naruto and Sakura because that ability to see the bright side of things, to be able to find it easier to forgive, to be content with how things are, is out of his reach now that everything he once loved was ripped away from him.
Sasuke has proven that he cares for Sakura, just because he doesn't say the words doesn't mean he thinks of her as just any other girl. He treats her differently compared to other females he's come in contact with. He's more open to seeking comfort from her and showing his weak side (Forest of Death), has confided in her (Bell test), bothered that he worried her (Chuunin exams) [and Naruto], wanted Naruto to run as far as he could to save Sakura while he distracted Gaara, had a look of dejection when he recalled telling Sakura Naruto was the one that saved her, and even respected her enough to listen to her instead of just knocking her out from the start (Goodbye scene). Sasuke has come a long way since the start of the series in regards to his teammates. He's more open to trusting, feeling emotions, and even finding amusement. Despite team Hawk witnessing a very emotional time for him, their relationship as teammates have yet to get close like that of team seven. And despite the recent chapter, I don't see Sasuke suddenly falling for some other girl whose fan girling antics have yet to change.
Hinata is yet another obstacle in NaruSaku. It's no secret to everyone, well Naruto is the exception, that she has feelings for a certain knucklehead ninja. Like Sakura, Hinata grew because of her feelings and tried to change herself as a ninja steadily but surely partly due to Naruto's nindo and her own inner desires. She wishes for acknowledgment, like lots of the characters in the series, from Naruto. Her feelings have gotten stronger considering her response to Naruto since the time jump. I hardly consider that a coincidence and it also supports the idea of Sakura's feelings transcending time as well considering her response to Sasuke when they first meet after nearly three years.
(3) He said, She said: Unreliable characters and misinterpreting text
Yamato. Yamato. Yamato. Until recently I never knew how infamous he was for his 'love advice' with the "in reality" speech. In reality, it's BS. He was not talking about Sakura and Naruto in a romantic sense, in fact, he was giving her more of a cheering up talk, not trying to set two ninjas up in a relationship. Honestly, why would he care? There's no sexual tension that's blocking their concentration to begin with. Sakura was bothered by the fact that even with her new strength she still felt useless to Naruto and keeping their promise. Then there's Dr. Tsunade, who was allegedly talking about Sakura not making her mistake and to 'hook up' with Naruto. Why is Dan suddenly a mistake when she loved him so deeply? If it's because of the sake, then one may as well blame her brother and everything else tragically that happens as a ninja. Again, NS bull. Another is Jirayai, who is become infamous like Jirayai since Naruto must 'succeed' where he failed in love. Jirayai was not even speaking about that, but because he talked about his unrequited relationship with Tsunade it was again assumed - and you know what they say about assuming, right? Yet it's funny how she's supposedly supporting NaruSaku, yet she makes no effort to put them together even in moments of grief. The fact is Sakura cannot understand Naruto's sense of lost nor can he understand her feelings of love towards Sasuke since he wasn't there that night.
(4) Complete: They're perfectly fine as friends, never a couple!
Why does Naruto need to have Sakura? He doesn't need her to breathe nor does she need him for that either. Just because Naruto is a main character, yeah the series may be named after him but he shares the limelight these days, doesn't mean he deserves Sakura. He doesn't deserve her, no one deserves anyone because people are not prizes to be won. Sure, he's had a bad childhood, but he's not the only one. If love was given out for accomplishes to the underdogs or just to anyone for that matter, it would be chaos since more than one person has liked Sakura and have not had an easy childhood (Lee, Naruto).
Try as Sakura might, she simply cannot change Naruto and being with him as his girlfriend/lover/wife would do nothing for her character and would just be plain cruel to both of them. There's no love. Naruto has yet to confess any feelings of love or anything past kinship, friendship, and a crush. He admits he finds her attractive and wishes to date her, but that's it. Hell, his official profile has yet to change yet it's supposedly love. Even in his data books, she's not considered anything more than a friend and at most a crush, yet with Sakura there's details in regards to her deep affections and love for Sasuke right up until their farewell.
Stolen from NF~
