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QUOTE (ciardha @ Mar 6 2011, 11:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It was painful for both Naruto and Sakura but Naruto had to go through it to break not only the illusion he had of Sasuke, but the illusion he had of Sakura as a hopeless unattainable dream. She hasn't been that in reality for a long time, even by part 1's Chunnin exams he'd already wormed his way into her heart to put him on near equal footing with Sasuke, even if she didn't know it was love for Naruto yet.
It was the POAL that changed things for Sakura, at that very moment Sasuke began to recede in her heart and Naruto walk in. By the time Sakura made the promise to Naruto to become stronger the shift is outright conscious- note her words, nothing about any romantic feelings for Sasuke, and what she says to Naruto "Next time we'll do it together", she still didn't know the change in her feelings for Naruto was love, but it more than friendship.
By the time he returns in 245 she's openly accepted she is attracted to him- she openly flirts with him. Naruto, heavily under the illusion he made of her in his mind, misses that completely. Yamato's words in 297 allows Sakura to put it all together- she's in love with Naruto, and what she had felt for Sasuke was nowhere near as real and was hopelessly one sided to boot.
Even the overt sexual attraction vibe Sakura gives off in 343 only breaks through Naruto's wall briefly. Even her romantic embrace of him in front of the whole village in 450 does not. Even Sakura's insistence of her feelings for him in 470 only gets Naruto to the point of believing Sakura is in love with himself and Sasuke, but he still clings to the illusion- but now it's, she loves Sasuke more. It takes an anguished Sai in 474 (painfully realizing Sakura had played no part in what Naruto had done to himself, and realizing he had just hurt Sakura in the very way he had accused her of hurting Naruto) to smash down that wall of illusion for good.
We see Naruto realizes this in both his words and actions when he rescues Sakura from Sasuke, and even more overtly in the mental image he now has of her when he is thinking he wishes his mother could have met his age peers. Naruto sees Sakura looking at him as she is, (not the unattainable 12 year old) with her full attention and with open hearted love for him there.
It was the POAL that changed things for Sakura, at that very moment Sasuke began to recede in her heart and Naruto walk in. By the time Sakura made the promise to Naruto to become stronger the shift is outright conscious- note her words, nothing about any romantic feelings for Sasuke, and what she says to Naruto "Next time we'll do it together", she still didn't know the change in her feelings for Naruto was love, but it more than friendship.
By the time he returns in 245 she's openly accepted she is attracted to him- she openly flirts with him. Naruto, heavily under the illusion he made of her in his mind, misses that completely. Yamato's words in 297 allows Sakura to put it all together- she's in love with Naruto, and what she had felt for Sasuke was nowhere near as real and was hopelessly one sided to boot.
Even the overt sexual attraction vibe Sakura gives off in 343 only breaks through Naruto's wall briefly. Even her romantic embrace of him in front of the whole village in 450 does not. Even Sakura's insistence of her feelings for him in 470 only gets Naruto to the point of believing Sakura is in love with himself and Sasuke, but he still clings to the illusion- but now it's, she loves Sasuke more. It takes an anguished Sai in 474 (painfully realizing Sakura had played no part in what Naruto had done to himself, and realizing he had just hurt Sakura in the very way he had accused her of hurting Naruto) to smash down that wall of illusion for good.
We see Naruto realizes this in both his words and actions when he rescues Sakura from Sasuke, and even more overtly in the mental image he now has of her when he is thinking he wishes his mother could have met his age peers. Naruto sees Sakura looking at him as she is, (not the unattainable 12 year old) with her full attention and with open hearted love for him there.
thats a good point :o
