Naruto is being kind of a self-righteous ass and definitely being a hypocrite. He's lied to himself about Sasuke as well, and convinced Sakura to continue to lie to herself about Sasuke. She has faced the reality about Sasuke far more than Naruto. She is farther from Sasuke than Naruto is, because she has at least intellectually faced the reality. Naruto is still lying to himself intellectually and emotionally about Sasuke, he's lying to himself about not noticing Sakura's feelings- we saw him notice it (more than once! Outright gets hacked off at Sai for interrupting a romantic moment between himself and Sakura in 343) But oh now when he's being Mr. self-righteous hypocrite he pretends like this is some complete sudden 180 from Sakura. Bull! He just chooses to lie to himself because he's got another annoying part 2 development- a martyr's complex when it comes to emotional bonds. It something that could easily slip into Sasuke's or Nagato's attitude about his level of pain being the worse of anyone ever...
Ugh. Gaara, despite having a far worse childhood than Naruto has gone a lot further- no martyr's complex from him. He was equally astounded by his village's embrace of him as a hero, but he's maturely accepted it well, without getting an ego. Gaara was not wanting to kill Sasuke either at first, but Temari made a shorthand version of Shikamaru's words to Sakura and Gaara, like Sakura, understood it was intellectually the truth.
At this point I'm kind of feeling a bit that Naruto needs to get a real rival for Sakura's affections- his deliberate pretending he never noticed her feelings before was really obnxious. then acting like a self righteous hypocrite on top of that.
I'd like to see Gaara step in and gently lecture Naruto about how he's lying to himself by this behavior. Then say to Sakura how her caring nature for others had touched a part of him even when he was crazy with hatred, and that if Naruto chooses to reject her over an action that actually came from her heart, then he is now free to speak his feelings for her.
Heh, Sakura would be so stunned, but wouldn't freak out like when Lee made his confession back in part 1. If Naruto had a real but mature and polite rival, instead the fake rivalry with his illusion of Sasuke it would give him the clue-by-four he needs to actually notice how Sakura isn't the Sasuke fangirl his martyr's complex makes him lie to himself and believe. I'd love to see Sakura respond to Gaara "I'm sorry, but I love Naruto too much to say yes to you."
Bet Gaara would smile gently back and say "I know."
Sorry, but I think you're being way too harsh on Naruto here. He called bullsh** on her confession because half of it looked like bullsh**. The panels where she was talking about her feelings for Naruto were ambiguous, but the panels where she talked about Sasuke was definitely a lie. She plastered fake smiles onto her face and avoided Naruto's questions when he asked her what was wrong and what had happened.
Also, we don't what Naruto is calling her out exactly anyway. For all we know, he could just be calling her out on her feelings for Sasuke, not her feelings for him.
Either way, Naruto isn't doing this because of some self righteous self sacrificing notion of his - one of his main goals was to make Sakura happy, and if he doesn't feel that what she's saying is sincere, he's going to call her on it, because if she's just lying to herself about this, than accepting the lie would only be hurting both of them in the long run.
Just like Sakura isn't doing this just to try and ease any sense of personal guilt on her part.
They both have good intentions, intentions only to protect the other, but are fumbling it badly and hurting each other unintentionally in the process.
Naruto and Sakura are both equally at fault for where they are now, in my opinion.
They've tried too hard to protect each other that they've held back from each other emotionally, and now they are at the point where they need to be honest with each other and with themselves.
Is Naruto being a hypocrite here? Yes, he is. Is he being an ass? No - he's doing what he thinks is best, just like Sakura is. Naruto's no more of an ass for his response than Sakura is a b*tch for this fudged up confession.
I'm not trying to attack your views or anything, I just didn't agree with some of your points on who is at fault in this scenario.
This topic is locked
