Hey KnS, sorry for delay in replying. Busy weekend!
*sigh* I don't know why I'm doing this. I prefer to lurk because I am an outsider here, but after reading pages and pages and pages of exhausting angst about the fate of N/S I'm compelled to chip in what I think -- even if some of it has been said many times before.
Tricksie, I also do not believe Sakura's confession was "fake." I believe she meant most of what she said to Naruto, and wanted to mean the rest. Sakura's heart and conscience were convicted by what Sai told her about Naruto's suffering because of her and Sasuke (Sai confirms this), and I believe the action she took was absolutely meant to be in Naruto's best interest, as well as to prove that, regardless of her past feelings or current confusion, Naruto is her priority. Not Sasuke.
And I really agree that Sakura would have come up with a better lie if she were actually lying. I mean, she had just vowed to herself that she didn't want to get things wrong anymore or make any more mistakes. It would certainly have been a big, stupid mistake to march out into the snow and flat out lie to the guy she had just vowed not to hurt anymore, and then proceed to say she loves him and show him physical affection in front of a group of important witnesses. I know some say she didn't expect to ever have to follow through with a relationship with Naruto, or somehow thought she could cruelly weasel out of what she said later, but that makes no sense when she could have avoided the whole thing with a different lie or just gone directly to Sasuke without confronting Naruto at all. So, yeah, I absolutely believe she meant it when she said she loved him, and that she wanted it said in case things went unrecoverably wrong between them or she was killed by Sasuke.
Interesting thought there. We know Sakura functions at a very high reasoning level. So she would certainly
not have gone into that situation unprepared. She would have approached it rationally, weighed all her actions and gone through scenarios over and over again. Even the bit in Sai's flashback shows it was constantly on her mind. So yeah, that helps overturn the idea that she rashly blurted out "I love you" as a last resort or as some sort of spur-of-the-moment change of plans.
And again, you're right: She didn't have to say any of it. She could have lied about something entirely different. All of these choices make reinforce her sincerity.
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It was a mistake though, and I think the worst of it was attempting to manipulate the feelings she knows Naruto has for her (after all, she's "the one that idiot fell for") without truly appreciating just how much Naruto loves her, how deeply he is in love with her, and how much Sasuke's redemption figures into Naruto's hope of experiencing that love or his hope of a future in general. While this is labeled by some as cold / selfish / bitchy, I don't see it that way. In my view Sakura had historically taken Naruto's feelings for granted (which Sai confirms and she more or less admits) because he's always been there for her; the guy is nothing if not consistent. But I don't blame Sakura entirely for this. Naruto is also at fault. (More on this later.)
I see where you're coming from, but I interpreted that line a little differently. When she said "I'm the one the idiot fell for" I took that more as a statement about herself, and not at all about him. Sakura's biggest weakness is self doubt. And here, I didn't think she meant Naruto was an idiot, but that she was not worth as much as he thought. It's a self-deprecating statement, much like after the lover-nin where he says "Whoever you pick must be great" and she reflects back on Sasuke with deep regret (imho). Both situations have Sakura reflecting on herself in a negative light.
She says "I'm the one the idiot fell for" almost in the same breath as she says "I won't make any more mistakes." The latter is not the words of someone who believes in herself. So I just don't think the "idiot" comment is a statement about Naruto, but more like "he's an idiot for falling for someone like me" knowing and feeling deep down that she's made nothing but mistakes. And look how surprised she is about his love! If she was disregarding his love for her, she wouldn't be so surprised! These are the issues people bash Sakura with or use to justify their other ships, and I just don't read it that way. I think Sakura's much more complicated and much more human, driven by introspection, self-reflection and concern, like most teen girls are.
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However, unlike some fans here, Sakura's confession did not sell me on the notion that she is fully aware she is in love with Naruto at this time. I have no doubt she loves him, and loves him more than she loves anyone else. She admires Naruto and respects him, but the head-over-heels romantic element she felt for Sasuke in the past does not seem quite there for Naruto. She's getting closer all the time, but if I look at the evidence (both confession and post-confession) objectively I don't see all aspects of her love unified in Naruto -- yet.
I say this because, again, unlike some on this board I believe Sakura's conversation with Love Letter-nin (#539-540) unfortunately demonstrates that her ideal of romantic love is still associated with Sasuke.
But if the layers of Sakura's feelings during the confession are separated -- the feelings she has for Sasuke and the feelings she has for Naruto and his goals -- I think she was lying to herself too. Loving Naruto? True. Naruto being her priority? True. Knowing Naruto is more worthy of love than Sasuke? True. Really being finished with Sasuke? Untrue. Able to let go of her feelings for Sasuke? Untrue. I believe Naruto instinctively and intuitively found the lines that separate her feelings better than she did, and his reading of her feelings seems persuasively proven accurate by her inability to kill Sasuke, Kakashi's comment that she'd seen she "couldn't handle" what needed to be done regarding Sasuke, and later by the conversation with the Love Letter-nin.
The idea that Sakura's love is not yet unified -- that she may mostly love and consciously choose Naruto while still harboring some confused feelings for Sasuke -- is how her confession can be true and untrue at the same time. It's how Naruto can appear to accept some of her confession and not the rest. I strongly believe Sakura will realize that her feelings for Sasuke are those of a teammate and friend, that it's okay to have those feelings, and that they're no longer romantic. But until she does, they stand in the way of a complete love for Naruto.
See here's the thing: I think the idea that Sakura still has unresolved feelings for Sasuke is a ruse put forth by Kishimoto. There has been the same amount of development toward SS as there as been towards NH. Meaning that save for the one image of Sasuke (where he looks evil and she looks sick), there has been no true, intentional development there.
People who say Sakura lied to Naruto in the confession then conveniently forget the absence of such love declarations for her "true love" in the scenes with Sasuke. If she was manipulating the whole thing, then why didn't she completely, whole-heartedly throw her support behind Sasuke. She had nothing left to lose, and telling him she loved him and would follow him to the ends of the earth —when he clearly, immediately needed a medic — would have been appropriate and most likely accepted.
Instead, he preys on his knowledge of her and tells her to kill an innocent, defenseless victim.
So here Sakura goes off to kill Sasuke for Naruto, yet she can't kill someone who's mostly dead to stay with Sasuke? You have two partners and two parallels, and Sakura acts vastly different toward the both of them.
But Kishimoto has been very intentional in his parallels for NS, including and most significantly, when Naruto saves Sakura. He overtly parallels their mutual affection.
From Naruto's side: Naruto saves Sakura, ripping her out of Sasuke's arms and leaving Saskue flailing which parallels the scene where Minato ripped baby Naruto out of Madara's arms, leaving him in the exact same pose. Then Naruto looks back over his shoulder with an I'm-going-to-kill-you look, paralleling Minato's look to Madara.
From Sakura's side: When Naruto saves her, and she is in his arms looking up with surprise, it parallels the scene where Kushina is saved by Minato and she looks up from his arms, saying later that she knew then, at that moment, that she loved him.
I hardly ever hear that mentioned, but to me it is huge! The moment where Kushina says, explicitly, she fell in love with Minato is replayed with Sakura.
So to me, these very outright, overt moments speak much louder than the vague Sasuke moments. And that's why I think Kishimoto is stringing along the SS stuff. I believe it's finished. But Kishimoto isn't going to give it up until the end. There will always be the negative specter of Sasu/Saku and the more overt crush of NH.
But I fully believe in the end it will be revealed, like the bench scene, that Sakura's love was fixed for longer than she even realized.
Because if Sakura's still undecided, at this point, and her love is still developing, then it would end with her saying "Oh I slowly came around. My love was developing the whole way. But I've only just realized it."
It doesn't work for the straight-forward hero's journey plot formula, and it doesn't work with our idea of just-desserts for the hero. For the blazing hot hero, you don't want a lukewarm heroine. You want one that is just as well-suited, just as strong and just as deserving of the hero's affection. And you want one who is certain of her love.
So the Sakura that is still indecisive, at this point, is not the one you want to have in love with Naruto. (Here's where the NS/NH double standard comes in…because obviously that long-suffering love of Hinata's isn't mutual.)
Anyway, all of this is why I tend to think the lingering Sasuke love, though very much a personal belief on the part of the individual reader, is a ruse perpetrated by Kishimoto.
To have her still indecisive goes directly counter to the visual parallels he has presented. So it simply doesn't make sense.
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I have a question, though. Somewhere above you say that Sasuke represents Naruto's deepest bond, but here you say the scene of Naruto rescuing Sakura from Sasuke shows "unequivocally" that Sakura is Naruto's most precious person. I don't disagree, but I've read the above sentences several times and I'm not 100% sure what you're saying about the parallels with Madara and the love of a parent, etc. Could you elaborate?
Sorry, I see where that was confusing.
So, Naruto's bond with Sasuke is his Number One Motivator. Overshadowing his desire to be Hokage and have Sakura, most famously with the "how can I be Hokage if I can't save one friend" and "how can I tell her if I can't keep a single promise."
But when Naruto saves Sakura, paralleling his father saving him, it puts Sakura in a position that is higher than just partner and friend. There are a lot of NH arguments that say Naruto ought to feel the however he does because Sakura is his partner and best friend. However saving Sakura in identical fashion that a parent saves a child puts Sakura without a doubt as his most precious person. He saves Hinata and everyone else as he would a partner, putting his life on the line for them. But with Sakura, it's entirely different. That moment should have wiped away all doubts as to where Sakura stands in his life. And Sakura recognized it, as evidenced by her parallel to Kushina in that moment.
But even with all that, Sasuke still remains Naruto's strongest motivator. Even if NS was confirmed, there was no war, Madara was dead and the villages were at peace, Naruto would still be chasing after Sasuke. So in that respect it remains his strongest bond.
Anyway, good stuff! Thanks for you long response! I love it! Thinking about these things, sorting them out in my head and challenging my previously held beliefs brings me to a better understanding of what's going on!
Brother like.. brother.
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