thgt89

    I wanted Narusaku to happen and thought it was the most natural and had the most development but could have been o.k. with it not happening if it was done right. I don't particularly like Naruhina but can see its merits with Hinata always loving him and Naruto being nice to her. It is not really all that hard to think given time together Naruto could eventually fall for her. The way it had to all be done in a movie and be so over the top with it was unnecessary but whatever. No relationship needs to happen and a person's love doesn't have to be returned. Also even great realtionships where both people really love each other don't always work out for whatever reason. Naruto and Sakura did not have to be in a romantic relationship. They had a strong bond and I do feel they both loved each other even if it did not turn out to be romantic.

    My biggest problem is that Sasusaku happened. While no relationship needs to happen some relationships most certainly should not happen given the course of a series and Sasusaku is one of them. He made her suffer so much throughout the series and she meant so little to him for so long and Sakura simply wasn't that important to him and they had no real chemistry. Also the ending made no sense since he left again and isn't even back by the time NH are married so how did they get together? Sasuke is doing what I always thought he would do which is wander the world. So why also pair him with Sakura. The answer is probably Kishi initially didn't want Sasusaku but  simply wanted Sasuke to have a kid when he decided to make the next series and because of Sasuksaku's popularity simply paired them up. 

    Now if Narusaku didn't end a much better ending would have been to simply have Sakura admit she cares equally for both of them and loves both of them like a family. She could still care for Sasuke and not discard the bond without making herself look pathetic wanting to romantically be with him. They could then truly be a happy team again without having romance hang over there heads. An added bonus would be if at the end of 699 she could have made the new arms instead of Tsunade and given one to both Sasuke and Naruto. That way a part of her would always be with both of them and then they could go their separate ways with Sasuke going on his journey but always care for each other in their hearts. This would have made them all look better and then NH could happen and Sakura could either remain single or end up with someone like Lee or Sai and it would be much better than what happened.

I know you want to have hope but it couldn't get any more obvious that Naruhina and Sasusaku are cannon. Literally the only question about the movie is if it will focus exclusively about Naruhina or if other pairing will get some mention and resolution too.

Let's be real when it comes down to it we really should of kind of known this would happen. Kishi is a highly sexist writer who as a whole has the men do most of the work and get most of the development. The women are always weaker and left on the sidelines and more focused on romance. This means that the one thing he allows the women get in the end is the one they like. The men not named Obito do not take romance as seriously and are able to get over their crush. Since Hinata and Sakura liked Naruto and Sasuke he decided to let them accomplish this even if it means Naruto simply get's over Sakura since he is a guy and doesn't care as much. For Sakura the most incriminating thing pointed toward SasuSaku was the team seven dreams.  Naruto accomplished his to become Hokage, Sasuke killed Itachi, and Kishi figured why not have Sakura also accomplish her's and get with Sasuke. He didn't care if it was merely the childish crush of a little girl with mostly negative development throughout. 

The thing is I do not want narusaku to be cannon if it is done in a bad way. The reason myself and many others shipped narusaku was we like the development and if that goes to hell then what is the point of it becoming cannon. Also destroying the character of one of the two characters in a pairing does not make it likable. Would you be satisfied if after what has happened Naruto comes back and convinces Sasuke to be good and Sakura is like wow you completed your promise he says I love and she is like you know what the one I really love is you with nothing more from Sakura's part?

The worst part about this is this was probably Sakura's last chance to shine and show any development and Kishimoto ends it with the lowest of lows. She was knocked out so she would not interfere with the final bromantic fight. By the time she wakes up the final fight will be over or she won't be able to make it there before it is over. Then everyone will wake up from Infinite Tsukyomi and that's probably it for the manga. She can't show any character development any more. Maybe Naruto does or doesn't confess but either way she can't be made to look good from it. I think I am also disappointed since in the fight with Kaguya I was hoping she could show she is more the just a Tsunade clone. I wanted her to ether show her intelligence by coming up with a plan or showing an ability or technique that Tsunade never used. Instead she is a chakra battery and does a punch and that's it. My disappointment is really a result of too high expectations i suppose of Sakura showing herself being a real heroine. She does not even need to end up with Naruto.

Now for Sakura in this chapter I can't express how disappointed I was. When the one page was showing shots of her looking at Sasuke you were expecting her to say something and  the last panel of her crying but also having a angry look on her face made you think she was finally going to lay into Sasuke for all the kitten he has said and show she has changed from where she was in part one. Instead she simply continues to cry and simply reenacts her part one confession begging him to stay and hoping her love for him would be enough. It crushed any character development and considering the stage in the manga there is no excause for that. There is simply not enough time left in the manga for her to redeem herself anymore. This late in the game she should at least have been able to stand up for herself and called Sasuke out for all that he has done.  

 

She does not seem to understand Sasuke does not care about small scale thing like one girls love. He believes the whole world is wrong and wants to change it is his extreme but own way and she somehow thinks that her love he has never cared about can change it. Why doesn't she call him out for how stupid of an idea that is.

I would say Obito would kamui sakura out to save her but if kishi stays consistent with the plot then madara's attacks are faster than the jump speed of a single kamui. Maybe sakura gets stabbed and thrown out of the way and madara thinking she is dead ignores her. He says the final words to Obito and then takes his rinnegan back and leaves thinking Obito is dead too. Then sakura who is not dead crawls over too obito's almost dead body while injured and tries to heal him and then maybe a rin flashback or something. What I don't want to happen is sakura just be teleported back by obito before the attack lands because then she would no longer have use in the plot and obito would die alone in the kamui dimension.

I like Narusaku because I think it is the most likely final pairing and has the most buildup throughout the series. I like how they have developed throughout the series especially the beginning of part two which I believe was the best time for Narusaku.  Still I have been rather disappointed lately in it. It just does not seem to matter anymore. We just had the perfect event for a Narusaku moment with Naruto dying and Sakura there and we did not get anything significant. Yes we got CPR and Sakura wanting to save Naruto but no interaction.

 

Recently I hardly get any indication Naruto thinks of Sakura any different than the rest of his friends (yes we get the girlfriend comment but that was sort of a joke initiated by someone else and besides that we never see Naruto thinking about Sakura.). The thing is Naruto and Sakura hardly interact anymore. The reason I like this pairing more than any other in this series is they had the most development through mutual interaction. I don't really care about the other pairings but the lack of interaction recently is glaring.

 

Sakura recently starting healing Naruto when he was unconscious and as soon as he waked up he left without so much as acknowledging her much less having meaningful interaction. All recent Narusaku moments have been Sakura thinking about Naruto but not the other way around. This is getting annoying because without them ever interacting it is hard to really feel anything for this pairing anymore so I really hope eventually Kishi let's them actually have meaningful interaction.

I initially get why this theory got traction with the slugs being a third of the sannin trinity of snake, toad, and slug. Since the other two summons had sage mode associated with them it made sense for the slugs to have it too. I just had doubts that it would ever be shown since Tsunade had plenty of time to show it if she had it and Sakura had no time to train to get it.

 

While I still doubt how likely this is there is a convenient way right now for Sakura to acquire sage mode without much effort. If you remember Obito stole some of Hashirami's sage energy from Madara when he also stole part of the one tail and 8 tails chakra. Kishi made Obito do that for a reason to power up Naruto and may have made him steal the sage energy for a reason too.

 

 Obito is about to die/ have black zetsu take over and does not need the sage energy but could transfer it to Sakura. It has already been speculated about the connection between Hashirami's sage mode and slug sage mode so maybe once the sage energy is transferred it will interact with the seal and then bam sage mode. I still consider this a long shot but this is the only possible way I see Sakura getting sage mode or any power up for the matter.