Silent Storm

Edit - Not worth it.

lol it's not even about NaruSaku anymore. The entire ending just leaves me in awe at just how out of place it is to the Naruto world I came to love, so much that I am actually laughing.

Naruto is scolding his son and telling him to suck it up because he's hokage.

Naruto can't even appreciate the same pranks he pulled when he was younger.

For all her hard work and development for Sakura it's all erased and she is illustrated as a housewife.

Sasuke is a deadbeat dad.

Previous hokages look like kitten and bitter.

Kakashi and Guy look like kitten.

Bee looks like kitten.

Ino and Anko look like kitten.

The kids look like kitten.

Chouji and Karui?

TenTen runnin an unsuccessful shop.

Skyscrapers behind Konoha (??????)

No resolution to anything.

Everyone looks bitter.

Taka, Orochimaru and Kabuto disappeared.

Yama-who?

No insight into the world of Naruto after the war.

No scene of Naruto being elected Hokage.

No callbacks to characters that died like Jiraiya, Obito, Minato, Kushina.

All 4 will be turning in their graves now. Kushina and Minato especially.

NaruSaku not happening is one thing but the entire delivery of this chapter and the characters pretty much spoiled the story for me. If anything take solace in the fact that NaruSaku is in no way associated with this epilogue.

Just trying to make sense of the ending is probably whats making how he delivered this ending an even worse pill to swallow.

I mean lol, just looking at it from a non pairing perspective this is just wow.

The Naruto in that chapter isn't the Naruto I came to cherish as a protagonist. It was like a completely different person the way he was treating his son.

Our last images of Sakura in a home after the progress she made since part 2 was like looking at part 1 Sakura, no progression, no change. We should have seen her acting as the head of the medical division or by Naruto's side helping him run the village.

None of the characters were done any proper justice in the ending. The previous kages illustrated in terrible states after being revered for their positions, older character either looking like kitten or just plain miserable while being relegated to "pair the spares" fodder for the sake of this dumb New Era Project. No real insight into the state of the world, the villages and where everyone is now, just panels of hideous kids and a whole lot of nothing happening.

NS not happening is just part of a bigger problem I have with this chapter.

I genuinely loved Naruto / Sakura interactions and to see absolutely nothing happen between them during these past 2 chapters is just unacceptable. What happened to the promise? confession? Not even a thanks from Sakura after he played the part of delivery boy. Once Sasuke is back time to ditch the orange baboon lmfao.

In the end we got miserable characters, ugly kids and lack of real conclusion.

Naruto is hokage but is neglectful and tells his son to suck it up. Was not even given the chance to confess about how he felt about Sakura, couldn't succeed where his godfather who he loved failed and couldn't even fulfill his dead mother's wish and find a girl like her. His dead left with the memory of him finding the girl but having issues and doesn't know in the end he failed.

Sakura is depicted as a housewife detached from her friends and family. Progress wiped away in one panel.

Sasuke is as I suspected a deadbeat that got everything for nothing.

The characters were betrayed. And the acceptance of this terrible execution just cause the OTP happened pisses me off royally pairing preference aside.

It just further drives my point that they never gave a kitten about the characters and because this war happened for a decade became a matter of who was right.

I was 16 when I got into Naruto. Believed NaruHina / SasuSaku was the way to go till I got to part 2 and realised Sasuke was a kittenhead. I am in my mid twenties now and wasted years for a half-baked conclusion.

Man this hurts. Conclusive ending be damned.

The funniest thing about this ending for me is just how inconclusive it was despite Kishi himself coming out and saying he'd end thing conclusively.

See for me I wouldn't really have much of an issue with NH/SS had Kishimoto actually put in the effort into developing those dynamics. With NH we never got an answer to her confession to Naruto nor was Naruto shown to think of her individually or in a romantic light within the entire manga. With SS we have Sasuke disregarding Sakura's life and putting her down as a ninja, only to have all he did reversed within one chapter.

Then there was a lack of word on what Orochimaru, Kabuto, Taka and Yamato are doing, no actual NaruSaku resolution (no talk, no anything) and just in general loose ends still remaining open.

I've chilled out a bit now because honestly it isn't worth trying to make sense and get angry about it. There was really no need to introduce Sakura as someone Naruto had feelings for that stuck for 699 chapters only to disregard them in the end. There was really no need to parallel him with Jiraiya and Obito, who were on teams with similar character dynamics and all failed at getting the girl, only to "foreshadow" Naruto actually achieving where they failed. There was really no need to mold Kushina from Sakura (insecurity, opinion of Minato and similar temper) and then "foreshadow" Naruto getting with her, which ties back to Jiraiya and Obito not getting them. Finally, 631 and 663 were completely unnecessary with Naruto and the girlfriend comment, Minato comparing Sakura to Kushina and the imagery and symbolism with the heart grab and CPR moment. Obito then making a comment about helping him when he stumbles.

The growing care and relationship between those two (which was one that saw the most change) in the end amounted to nothing simply because there was no resolution to it and everything I mentioned above. In both chapters Naruto and Sakura did not even say a word to each other despite what they went through to get Sasuke back which annoys me the most. Not even a thank you from Sakura and no even a confession which was implied would happen had Naruto achieved in getting Sasuke back. The pairing outcome is one thing, but lack of resolution to just about everything is probably what angers me the most about this ending. For a story rich in characters and world, everything was done haphazardly imo.

It would have been better if Naruto had not shown interest in any girl from chapter 3 imo.

I'm back.

Before I begin, I am not in any way claiming NaruSaku being endgame is 100% certainty. It's this kind of overconfidence that can lead to having things blow up in your face and I tend to avoid it. Despite that, people need to consider what this movie is and what they're implying by saying this will seal the deal with NaruHina. They also need to consider the manga structure and the fact that Kishimoto is predictable while Naruto is very cliche in Shonen tropes.

Firstly, I am going to assume, based on the black dress that the main baddie will either try and force Hinata to marry him or use her as a sacrifice, which in some way ties into the "sorrowful fate of the Hyuga". From the trailer we're given clear imagery of Naruto being angry and making Hinata cry, which logically ties into him saying he has something to tell Hinata and that she should wait for him. My guess is the movie will end on a "you can't force someone to love you or something" kind of deal. Hinata will get closure after handing over the scarf or whatever and Naruto apologizing to her for whatever happened. He will appreciate and thank her for her feelings but ultimately deny them.

Had this been a short film independent of the source material then I would understand, but the way I see it, this film has 15 years worth of characterization and storytelling behind it and Kishimoto has come out and said this is connected to the main story, and any way you look it at it it would just be illogical that this would end in NaruHina. The source material stands on it's own and a movie should not be necessary to finish it, and keep in mind that Hinata use in the story ended in 615, and we are close to chapter 700. Usually the main hero and main heroine / love interest stick it out right to the very end, and that, coupled with the fact that Hinata has not been connected to Kushina, who foreshadowed Naruto finding a girl like her, who was then later connected to Sakura by the one person that knew Kushina best, leads me to believe this will be a resolution film. NaruHina still, but not for the reasons people believe.

The fact remains that the dynamic of the relationship between them has not changed since the war so I am finding it hard to imagine this will be the catalyst for NaruHina being endgame. There have been stories where the main hero saves the girl of the movie who had feelings for him but they didn't end up together. Stop focusing on Hinata and look at Naruto as well.

This further drives home the point that nobody gives a kitten about Naruto but just they like Hinata and thus put more weight on her despite being a side character.

Excuse me, but when has Hinata ever been more important to Naruto's story and life?

Kishimoto may be a troll on some things but he's always been consistent and predictable. Take Tobi / Obito for example. We have a character with a mask that has one eye hole, whose name is written similarly to Obito and is mysterious. Obito's body not being recovered, his eye being taken by Kakashi and this mysterious character with a similar eye and name all pointed towards them being the same person, as illogical as it sounded back then I saw Tobi = Obito coming a mile away (especially after his reaction to the edo tensei we conveniently never saw which turned out to be Madara).

Then we have Minato = Naruto's father. Here we have a character that is being compared to the fourth Hokage, looks like him, has other characters compare Naruto to him. So while not outright stated, it's reasonable to make the connection that Naruto is related by blood in some way to Minato. Was not outright stated, but was something everyone saw coming a mile away.

What I am trying to get at is that Kishimoto, while his plans have changed somewhat to extend the manga, has always stuck to some original design and line of consistency which shows as in the end just about every obvious event that was foreshadowed and hinted at happened. Tobi was Obito, Minato was Naruto's father, Naruto vs Sasuke, Naruto and Sasuke teaming up against the bad guy, team 7 playing an important role in the final enemy etc, so when you have characters foreshadowing Naruto succeeding where they failed such as Jiraiya saying he will save his friend and win the girl he's interested in, then it's reasonable to assume that will happen. When you have a character who is compared to Naruto and has a similar team dynamic with Kakashi and Rin, then it's reasonable to assume he'll get the girl and become hokage. Finally, when you develop a relationship that has arguably seen the most change in character dynamics in the manga, and is then foreshadowed by his god damn mother that he should seek out a girl like him, and then the comparison to the girl he was interested in is made by his father, it's reasonable to assume that Kishimoto will follow through and make NaruSaku canon, no matter how sloppy and quick it'll be.

The fact remains that Naruto / Hinata and Sasuke / Sakura dynamic has at best stagnated or at worst deteriorated it. Kishimoto put effort into these dynamics (no matter how sloppy they were) and demonstrated a relationship where one character was violent towards another and different (Sasuke / Sakura) and where one character's bond with the other never progressed beyond that of friendship (Naruto / Hinata). He layed the tracks for NaruHina but never followed up on them, and when done he took Hinata off the battlefield and then paired her dream to be with Naruto along with other dreams that are impossible to achieve. The dynamics have not changed in the movie so it's madness to assume it'll do a 180 when Kishimoto has remained consistent to some degree with these dynamics.

And lets remember that Naruto has not given a single thought to Hinata in any other way than that of a precious friend nor does the trailers and information released so far leads anyone to believe that Naruto, a character that has had an established love interested paralleled to his mother and foreshadowed to get with, would drop all of this and fall in love with Hinata. The main theme also being based on friendships and bonds rather than a love song also leads me to believe this is unlikely.

The movie has been in production for 2 years. In those two years Kishimoto had ample opportunities to shift the dynamics between Naruto / Hinata towards that of a romantic relationship and then make the comparison between her and Kushina. He did not do that and instead decided to develop the dynamic between Naruto / Sakura AND then make the comparison between her and Kushina. Before that we see Sakura's increasing worry in Naruto and Naruto's lack of shift of romantic interest. This is then foreshadowed by Yamato implying that Sakura is falling in love with Naruto which was cut off, Sai making comments about her gentleness towards him and other comments being cut off (which ties back to Shikaku's comment about even the roughest woman being tender with the man she loves) and the famous hug scene. 662 I think was symbolic in that Hinata despite her efforts was not the right person to be by Naruto's side, and then couple all that with the fact that she's been largely Naruto centric with no other qualities and shown no indication that she supports his dreams, makes a NaruHina endgame even more unlikely.

And other pairings cannot claim that NaruSaku would be badly written because every pairing is in the same position as NaruSaku when it comes to asspulling only they don't have the luxury of the relationship being the most changed in the entire manga and the foreshadowing and various 3rd party comments.

That is why I am finding it hard to believe a NaruHina end in this movie based on the source material and 15 years worth of characterizations not supporting either end. This is not like Dragon Ball where it was done out of convenience to introduce saiyans, Kishimoto has put in effort into these character dynamics and has remained consistent throughout and I would be upset that he'd throw that all away at the finish line it just wouldn't be right.

Could I be wrong? Possibly. I could be terribly wrong in all of this as more information comes out but based on what I've been shown I am finding it hard to imagine Kishimoto would do this. Unlike the other side I don't downplay moments they share, but what they lack is ample development, mutual interest and consistent bond being built between them. The dynamics haven't changed at best or has worsened over time. The moments are one thing, but frequency is something else entirely.

There is no denying his writing has been sloppy due to adding in too many elements etc, but one thing he's always executed is tying up major loose ends and following through on foreshadowing.

What I want to know about all this is if NaruHina is really intended to be endgame, isn't this advertisement and "teasing" making it a bit too obvious when the manga officially ends in 2 weeks?

I mean sure we already know that Hinata loves Naruto, but the fact remains that her character and relevance doesn't tie into Naruto's story or life in any meaningful and significant way. Rather than Kishimoto force Hinata to be in situations with Naruto, his life and journey on a regular basis, in a more involving and significant way (like with the Kyuubi, Uzumaki clan and Sasuke pursuit, he instead decided to create Yamato and involve Sakura with the Kyuubi aspect, and then introduce Sai and involve Sakura again with the Sasuke pursuit arc. Spin it however you want but Hinata's relevance and importance to Naruto and his goals / dreams has been infrequent and minimal. Instead, we have a main character who has had an established love interest since chapter 3 and has shown no signs of moving on yet.

Not once have we seen a scene where Hinata thought about or cared about Naruto's dreams, feelings or current goals. Rather, she's been used as a plot device with lack of proper development and once used quickly thrown into the background. She really is a side character right down to the core.

Not that I am denying NaruHina's chances but this advertising, if NaruHina is endgame, is odd and making things a bit too obvious considering the way the source material has set up relationships and the fact that it hasn't finished yet. It really doesn't sound like Naruto has feelings for Hinata at the start of the movie as well. At best, development is one-sided, infrequent and fragmented and at worst lacks the interaction and substance of NaruSaku on a platonic level. Why if Hinata was meant to be Naruto's love interest wasn't she given the same level of importance, comparison, screentime and development as Sakura and why was it that at the last minute Sakura as a love interest was dumped and the honour given to a side character to be resolved in a movie reeks of terrible writing any way you look at it.

Oh well. Just going to assume it's NaruHina and drop everything. Tired of this.

Another great post by KnS.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried/anxious about how things will play out in the next 2 chapters. It's entirely possible Kishimoto would just end up pairing Sakura off with Sasuke and Hinata off with Naruto, which would ruin the entire series for me as he built up a relationship only to throw it all away at the finish line, but after piecing together all the developments and interactions, something inside of me just can't see that being the case.

All 3 pairings are riddled with missed opportunities imo, but SasuSaku and NaruHina suffer from missed opportunities more than NaruSaku does, as that had consistent positive development throughout part 2. It rubs me the wrong way that Kishimoto would go with those two pairings when he built up the NaruSaku dynamic throughout the manga. At worst SasuSaku deteriorated while NaruHina never really progressed to the point of hinted mutual attraction. NaruSaku on the other hand saw the biggest change in character dynamics, with Sakura hating Naruto to eventually caring for him deeply.

I guess the real worry is if he really intended for NaruSaku to be endgame, and if so would it be written decently, because 693, regardless of what he intended to do with that chapter, really damaged to perception of both SasuSaku and NaruSaku.

What I think anti's don't seem to get about NaruSaku and their preferred ships is words and feelings can only take a pairing so far till it eventually stagnates / remains in the same position it's been since the start. This is precisely the issue I see with SasuSaku when it comes to Sakura's feelings towards Sasuke.

Sakura still loving Sasuke keeps the ship afloat but when you have a character who has no romantic ties / feelings for the former (or anyone for that matter) continually reject and trample on said feelings then maybe it's time to reevaluate just where the ship stands in the story. It's been 690+ chapters and Sasuke's feelings towards Sakura and their overall relationship has devolved into constant negativity / hostility among one another, lack of faith one can be redeemed and general lack of trust.

The relationships Kishimoto himself has promoted lack all the elements and dynamics SasuSaku has. SasuSaku on a platonic and romantic level has (especially since 181) remained fairly consistent throughout the manga and lacks the solid foundations to work. Sakura loving Sasuke is one thing, but what that love does to her mentally and physically is something else entirely. For her affection and care for Sasuke, he has demonstrated that he is not someone that want that from Sakura. While he did appreciate it in part 1 (hence the thank you rejection), it's not something he wants or needs, especially in the world he wants to create. We have absolutely nothing in the manga to suggest that Sasuke doesn't know how he really feels towards Sakura or we can't take his feelings at face value.

NaruSaku on the other hand has copious amounts of positive interaction, both on the battlefield and downtime, as well as selfless acts at the cost of ones own feelings. They have confidence in their abilities and trust each other on the battlefield, where one will instinctively defend the other if they were in danger. Had NaruSaku stagnated in both Part 1 and 2, then the argument that Sakura might harbor romantic feelings towards Naruto would not exist, but Kishimoto on top of showing the user the interaction between  Simply put, NaruSaku has the foundation for a romantic relationship to blossom due to their similar personalities, close bond and feelings towards one another.

You see, when I look at SasuSaku, what I see is hostility, insecurity, indifference and stagnation. What it lacks is mutual friendship, genuine care for one another and positive interaction, and that kind of relationship has no place in shounen.

Trying to disregard Naruto's feelings towards Sakura because Sakura simply because it's not in our face as much is not fair because his feelings can't be held to the same standard as Sakura's love for Sasuke. His acts of love are selfless, whereas Sakura's love for Sasuke, while has good intentions behind her actions, are selfish, which was demonstrated in the confession in part 1 and her plea in part 2.

Personally I think you guys are wasting you're time with this guy, but as I said before:

Understand that SP are Hinata fans and will use her appearance in the movie as promotional material. It does not necessarily imply or mean NaruHina will be canon in the movie. The cover is done by SP, not Kishimoto.

Understand that this is a movie about Hyugas, so with Hinata being the most recognizable Hyuga still alive and the fact that it's her damn sister that has been kidnapped, it makes sense that she would get more promotion than most other characters when you also remember that SP are Hinata fans.

Soundtrack covers do not necessarily tell you the full picture of what will happen in the movie. Sure they may look together, but until you get a movie summary or general idea of the plot and interactions don't jump to ridiculous conclusions.

I believe is Kishimoto intended for NaruHina to be canon he wouldn't have had it be canon in the IT along with other dreams that are unlikely to happen. Doing that means he spoiled the end pair before the manga ended.

So until something confirms your worries about your ship, stop jumping to ridiculous conclusions.

It's all about viewing the manga as a whole, not treating each and every moment individually and independent from the story but seeing the progress and journey of the relationship of two people, their similarities and experiences.

In this case, Naruto has comparatively spent more time with Sakura than he has with Hinata, both on the battlefield and during mission downtime. On Sakura's end we've seen her dislike for him gradually change to that of great concern for his wellbeing, with hints that her feelings might be that of a romantic nature. Meanwhile, with Hinata, we have a character who has appeared too infrequently and her character does tie in Naruto's in any important / significant way. For her to be his new love interest at this late in the manga, Kishimoto has failed at these things:

-Properly developing and showing Hinata's increasing importance to Naruto.

-Show the viewers that Naruto's feelings for Sakura have disappeared on a romantic level.

I mean, Kishimoto apparently had the ending planned for some time now, how it will go down, and has purposely placed Sakura in moments where Hinata could have easily fit. By establishing the love interest early on and keeping it consistent right until the end of the manga, are we really trying to believe Kishimoto would at the very last chapter throw away all he's done when it comes to something as serious as Naruto's love life due to fan pressure and marketing/money?

I mean I can get the anxiety, I can feel it to and it sucks, but it's a fact that NaruHina (and SasuSaku) are more popular than NaruSaku (in the west atleast) and have been for years now, so if you're going to imply that NaruHina will be canon due to popularity or w/e, then it begs the question that why didn't Kishimoto decide to capitalize on this and give further importance to Hinata's character when it came to Naruto? Despite the popularity of both ships, why is it that SasuSaku's relationship has stagnated since part 1, at worst only to further deteriorate during the Sasuke Pursuit Arc, Kage Summit and 4th Ninja War arc? SasuSaku being a popular ship has frankly been treated terribly by Kishimoto despite it's popularity.

Adding onto that, during Naruto and Sasuke's darkest hour, why did Kishimoto instead decide to place Naruto's love interest by his side to keep him alive, even going as far as to give him CPR and grab his heart? The CPR was completely unnecessary as well.

Simply put, despite my fears and anxiety (especially coming from 693) something inside me is trying to wrap my head around why despite the steps Kishimoto personally took to develop Naruto and Sakura's relationship even though SasuSaku and NaruHina are more popular, he decided at the very end of the manga to disregard all he's built up and pair Naruto off with Hinata, despite Naruto  showing no romantic feelings or interest for her throughout the entire manga. He had 699 chapters to do it, but instead opted for Sakura, so why? The quality of quantity doesn't make sense when you factor in Naruto's lack of romantic interest for anyone apart from Sakura, and lack of follow ups to key NaruHina moments. He could have easily written them into the manga, so why didn't he do it?

Sakura loves Sasuke is a fact everyone accepted, and despite none of us liking it, her still holding onto those feelings and wanting him saved is necessary for closure and progression of NaruSaku (should it happen), because Sasuke has always been a constant roadblock there to curb NaruSaku whenever it reached a certain point.

If Naruto and Sakura are as similar as we believe, then Sasuke needs to be redeemed in some way before they can move on and  their relationship can progress. I won't tell anyone to trust Kishimoto's writing skills (I still don't to some extent), but what was the point of Sakura pleading with Sasuke again only for him to trample on her feelings and knock her out with an unnecessarily cruel genjutsu, only for Naruto to bring up the promise to Sakura to saving Sasuke? Sasuke re-confirmed his lack in romantic interest in Sakura late into the manga and throughout this fight has not thought of or made any mention of her. Kakashi corrects Sasuke by saying her only wish is to save him from darkness and not to continually chase some fairy tale love fantasy. Sasuke is aware of her feelings but has not during the time away thought of her as an individual nor has there been any hints that he would reciprocate any romantic feelings to any girl.

At the end of the day, you have to piece together every chapter to form a bigger picture of the entire story, only then can you argue what is likely to happen, and from the where I am standing, NaruSaku is more likely to happen simply because they're the only relationship that has been consistently developed on a platonic (and romantic)  level. Despite SasuSaku's and NaruHina's popularity, he took Sasuke out of the village and didn't develop Sakura's character to be of any significant importance to him (his clan, Itachi and Naruto are all that matters to him) and we have a character who's relevance and importance to Naruto is on the same level as Shikamaru and Shino. At best Naruto has newfound respect (but no romantic interest) in Hinata and if SasuSaku hasn't gotten worse it's stagnated since 181, and something inside me doesn't believe Kishimoto would throw that development away and suddenly pair him off with Hinata, despite the latter not complimenting Naruto at all.

Understand that Hinata is a marketing tool, an SP are Hinata fans more than they are NaruHina fans. They are not advertising / promoting NaruHina, they are advertising / promoting Hinata. Until something in the manga confirms our doubts about NaruHina, don't use promotional material to erase development between Naruto and Sakura. If both ships live and die by Hinata and Sakura, then NaruSaku dies when Naruto gives up on Sakura.

I mean it's something everyone should have seen coming, that Kishimoto would drag her feelings and this dumb pairing war right to the very end of the manga, but that still doesn't mean the execution was right, because all it did was:

- Give the perception that Sakura will always love Sasuke romantically forever, despite there being no logical basis or reason for her feeling the way she does.

- Needlessly sacrificing Sakura's character just for fueling pairing drama. For all the progress she's made, Kishimoto decides to reduce all of that to ashes because he loves fueling pairing wars. Progress be damned.

We all know what her intentions were in that chapter, but that's not how that chapter came across, because it still looks like she loves him romantically. Whatever happens in the next two weeks, at the end of the day all 3 ships were handled terribly and the focus on Sasuke and the Uchihas brought the quality of this manga down.

If SasuSaku is the kind of relationship he wants to promote, then that's on him at the end of the day. Personally I think it's disgusting and degrading, but Kishi probably sees it differently, as Sakura is still hung up on him.

Can't exactly blame NS shippers for their lack of faith when Kishimoto himself has handled the entire subplot and Naruto / Sakura's character terribly.

Everyone believed that Sakura was over Sasuke romantically after the rejection (which seemed like the next logical step in her character development) till chapters like 693, the "fake" confession and the entire Kage Summit happened. All of these all reeked of poor execution and hurt the perception and credibility of NaruSaku, regardless of whether the other ships were any better.

Then there is Naruto (to the audience) looking like he stopped loving / chasing Sakura romantically. While him stopping the chase for other things is somewhat true, we should have absolutely no reason to believe Naruto would change that aspect of his character and stop loving her. One of his goals is to win her over and this all goes back to how Kishimoto has mishandled the entire romantic subplot and Naruto's own feelings. We've had Hinata's and Sakura's feelings shoved down our throats endlessly while Naruto's feelings were deliberately pushed down as well as his goal of saving Sasuke becoming the central focus. So it isn't unreasonable to think some people think Kishimot made it so Naruto doesn't love her romantically anymore and will just ship him off with Hinata, even if it goes against Naruto's own themes and characters.

With SasuSaku, in the end all it will say is Sasuke was better than Naruto in Sakura's eyes and after all that he gained nothing in end. We were given no reason why Sakura even liked him that way and despite all that he gets her after all the development nad bonding she had with Naruto. It's terrible writing to the core and we know the manga can't support it but with how Kishi has handled things it's not totally ruled out (in their eyes atleast).

What do you feel about this new music cover?

Probably nothing but the level of teasing Hinata / NaruHina is getting is really disappointing tbh. I would understand if her character was just as important as in the manga but she isn't and is still getting more exposure than she deserves.

There are two things to consider. One that NaruHina for whatever reason ends up canon in a movie despite NaruSaku getting the main focus in the manga, which would ruin the entire story for me and Kishimoto as a writer. On the other hand this could also be SP simply teasing to rile up the Hinata base but in the end Kishimoto still goes with NaruSaku in the end. Hinata has a central focus but it doesn't necessarily mean she'll be the main heroine and pair up with Naruto.

Yeah...I mean it's not exactly great for NaruSaku when it comes to marketing/exposure but what I am saying is people shouldn't jump to ridiculous conclusions like this confirming NaruHina when we don't know the story of this scene, why they together and have those sad looks on their faces or anything. There can multiple reasons why this is the case but wait till the end of the manga or till more information comes out before panicking.

Take for instance The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya's OST cover. At first glance one would assume it is pairing related, yet if you actually watch the movie you'll come to the conclusion that it is in fact not pairing related or intimate between the two depicted on the OST, instead that movie is mainly centered around the main hero and heroine.

This is what I am saying when you guys need to relax and stop making a big deal out of everything. Wait for the manga to conclude or wait for more information before embarrassing yourself with needless panic and anxiety over a CD cover. Adding to that you have a source material where the female of this supposed canon pairing has had very little interaction with the main hero compared to the main heroine, who was established early on as his love interest and has remained his love interest (until Kishimoto shows us in the manga he's over her assume he isn't) since chapter 3, so why suddenly is it that NaruHina, the pairing which comparatively lacks the wealth of development that NaruSaku has is canon because those two were illustrated (not even by Kishimoto) on a CD cover about a love song where we don't even know the full story?

It's this kind of anxiety that is contagious and spoils the forum and this series for me. I am tired of people losing their kitten over the smallest things. Can't discuss anything without it devolving into a panic session, whereas other shipping communities which are in similar or worse shape than NaruSaku all remain positive.

This manga needs to end soon so I can put this behind me. Never getting involved with shipping ever again and I wish I didn't get involved with shipping for Naruto.

If anything the cover reminds me of the "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya" OST cover with similar imagery (minus the nature in the background).