That's something i had a conjecture on.Same. I don't believe Sakura doesn't love Sasuke any more, but I do believe that she thinks her feelings for him are stronger than they actually are. In that regard, she's still stuck in similar rut like Naruto. It's to different degrees, but they both think back to the way things were in Part I (For Naruto, believing Sakura doesn't love him. For Sakura, still having love for Sasuke). It's exaggerated and they're almost in their own delusion because they can't really see things changed so much. I think that might be partially why Sakura doesn't know she loves Naruto.
However, I give Sakura way more credit than Naruto. Even if she still has feelings, she's the one between her and Naruto most aware of the changing relationship. And she's the one that's ashamed of her leftover feelings for Sasuke. On top of that, she's the one that is he most willing to know what her relationship with Naruto is. Whatever she feels for Sasuke, the confession did prove Sakura believes it's possible she could love him and might have feelings for him. That's what makes her the one most likely to confront Naruto at some point about their relationship.
Let's face it. If Naruto had it his way, he would cling on to Sai's explanation about her confession, still believe she loves Sasuke, and then never bring up the actual confession to her again. Avoiding something like that is pretty much what Naruto's best at. There's no way he would say anything on it first, even if some part of him desperately wanted to hear why she did it from her.
Naruto's opinion on Sakura loving him and how he lets those insecurities get to him so much bugs the hell out of me. It's ridiculous how much he thinks Sakura just loves Sasuke, all in those Part I flashbacks. Is he that dense or does he just not want to get his hopes up? It's ironic to me how the only thing Naruto doesn't have confidence in is Sakura liking him back. I blame the PoaL.
When the confession is brought up and if Naruto tries to tell Sakura again that she doesn't love him and loves Sasuke (which I really see him doing tbh), I picture Sakura getting extremely angry. He's entirely oblivious on things like that and Sakura knows this. She wouldn't like him trying to tell her how she feels, just like she didn't in the confession.
Many say naruto responded to Sakura's confession as a means to protect her from the disappointment or moral suppression,
I mean it's one part naruto doesn't want her to force herself but in another, sakura was honest that she was concerned for narutos safety. Just to keep in mind this all occurred right before sakura saw how messed up Sasuke was as naruto did as well.
Really there's the aspect of naruto wants to confess but not have sakura force herself when he knows there was conflict. Really the thing to say is,both naruto and sakura had some heavy emotional toll that arc. Yet naruto isn't over sakura as far as 631 and 663 are otherwise hinting ns.
I mean one thing I speculate on is yes sakura possibly subconiously loves naruto, but doesn't realize it, it takes gradual moments to bring it out. This past event may have brought a bit more forward. But another deal is, one thing that's occurred a few times is the aspect of to shared pain, I mean naruto didn't know sasukes motives until he faced pain and understood wanting revenge. Sakura otherwise didn't realize the toll of what had come onto naruto and is now otherwise supporting him however she can. I said long ago, the whole lying to herself line, it may impact her more than you think, not that she cannot force herself to love naruto, she should only love him for reasons she really feels for, but rather just on the aspect of does sakura realize the difference between real love and ideal love? That's a theme I suspect is developed on her and given what's happened in the manga, did she ever really love Sasuke for who he was or just what he was able to do? That's why I think it's that sakura cannot force herself to love naruto, she cannot love him or accept her own feelings until she gets past this issue with Sasuke. In other words, is she cannot just love naruto,but does she also really love Sasuke despite all the stuff he did even trying to kill her? She doesn't trust him as we last saw and this pained her. She doesn't have these issues with naruto, only Sasuke. While narutos want to confess to her is something he feels he must accomplish the stuff with Sasuke before this. Sakura's issue is internal to her, does she really love the guy who has made a whole mess of things, or does she not love the guy who has actually stood by her and basically acted like the guy she dreamed of? Keep in mind, it's a bit of luck that kishis input over this event was actually commented on, I mean as he says she was honest, a girl who though stubborn means well, it's best taken as a hint of truth was thrown in there, she was honest about wanting naruto to go back, not put himself in danger, not just something to end ns no questions asked, I mean seriously if Kishi did end ns there, this love subplot just became more complicated than it needed to be with the Kushina foreshadow falling on ns, and nh still going nowhere and SS remaining antagonistic and like a cockroach that won't end.
The deal I suspect is that sakura is coming to love naruto but isn't aware yet. She cannot just love him, she needs to see that she loves him and have her inner resolution in her mixed feelings with Sasuke. Because there is one thing that sakura has unlike either naruto or Sasuke, she is the character stuck between the aspect of who she likes and who she "loves" and how naruto has gone through a lot, some just for her against what she feels for Sasuke who has caused all sorts of crap every which way. It's the aspect of their final battle and dying that will come back to have an impact on her. Because this event has been expanded on though, the fight for hokage, it's no suprise sakura would support naruto I mean unlike the others, in events like the Chunin exams and recently with 663 how many others have been given the notion of wanting him to become hokage? Where in the Chunin exams it was simple kindness, that deal on sakura has gone to the point, well she wants him to live just so his dream doesn't die. She wants him to be hokage now more than ever, unlike any other character in the series, that single aspect just defines her care for naruto. It still puzzles me why people even argue with her not caring or being mean to naruto when she wants him to live and achieve his dream. What way says someone cares better than supporting their goals? In the whole mess of this love triangle, least some clarity exists among the ns stuff.
Edited by Inferno180, 11 April 2014 - 02:37 AM.
that reminds me of this tumblr post
