Raiya

This was exceptionally well written and honestly, I believe you 100%.  I see the reviews to The Last online and my only reaction is, "How can you be satisfied by this in any way as a Naruto fan?"

 

Pairing wars aside I felt like I could honestly relate to Naruto - I was a sad loner growing up myself and for the entirety of the manga I was pulling for Naruto to succeed at all his goals.   The end could not be considered the end, when we look at Naruto's goals: to be respected, to have friends/family, to have Sakura acknowledge his love, to be hokage.  What out of any of this is resolved?  He earned everyones respect after defeating Pain, including Sakura's, but it is all destroyed by the crappy father/husband/drunkard he became.  His great love for sakura was played off as rivalry, even with all the proof in the manga showing otherwise, his 'family' is nowhere to be found - Iruka is MIA, Sasuke left right after 'returning', Sakura is busy playing housewife to a man she hasn't seen in 12 years...

 

and the biggest 'eff you' to the Naruto fandom is the fact that we never get to see Naruto achieve his #1 goal.  We don't even get to see him become hokage, his crowning achievement, his moment of glory and the realization of all his hopes and dreams.  Instead we get to watch Naruto and Hinata be forced together through some contrived and horrendous writing.  Instead of making a kitten movie revolving around a side character they could have at least shown Naruto getting his title and finding a way to introduce the Naruto/Hinata pairing that way.

 

They completely destroyed Naruto and everything he stood for, and I want to bash my head against the wall every time I see a Hinata fan saying 'this was a great movie!'

So many people getting offended over a comic..  I think the comparison was pretty on point.

 

One of the biggest problems in the world today is people getting steamed up over nothing.  Naruto has some pretty dark themes as well and yet mention a real world issue and suddenly everyone's screaming 'triggered'!

Most of the hatred is perpetuated by Hinata fans who saw Sakura as the one actual rival for Naruto's attention.  The only way they can justify Hinata actually being paired with him is by putting the character with development down to make the Hyuga seem better by comparison.  The biggest argument I see is that, 'SHE'S USELESS!' forgetting that Sakura actually killed an akatsuki and saved Naruto's life by massaging his heart/cpr.

 

The one way for Kishi to have saved Sakura's character was to have been faithful to the development he gave her over the span of 15 years.  She was supposed to get over her shallow childhood crush, become powerful and independent, and not need the boys to save her.  Instead she got tossed in with the guy that tried to kill her multiple times and lost out on the main characters love by having her past rewritten (And her role essentially given to Hinata), she transitioned back into that useless, fangirling brat she was at the very beginning.

 

Also, Sakura's 'confession' should have been rewritten, she just came off as a cold liar.  I think if that scenario had been done differently people would have viewed her in a positive light, instead of as a selfish witch.  That, and tying up the lose ends such as her transitioning feelings for Naruto and making her outwardly acknowledge how much he meant in a romantic sense.  The embrace scene after he saved everyone was a brilliant step in the right direction - it was too bad it was all for nothing.

Here's how it should have ended: the only way for Sasuke to fully redeem himself for his past atrocities and abandonment would have been for him to sacrifice himself for Naruto.  THAT is how Sasuke's character could have come full-circle, to acknowledge Naruto as his brother, his better, and as worth saving.  It would have endeared him once again to Konoha, and Naruto would not have failed in his promise to bring the REAL Sasuke back to the village.  A death like that would truly have been memorable.

 

One of the ways it felt like the manga should have ended is for the opposite to happen, for Naruto to have sacrificed himself for Sasuke.  That would have definitely changed Sasuke's feelings about the world and his past behavior, Naruto's death would be the one thing with enough magnitude to truly shake Sasuke to his core.  I could see him stepping up to fix his past mistakes and change him to being the person he was meant to be - I could see Naruto's dying words to Sasuke asking him to look after Konoha, and Sakura, for him.  Either one of those scenarios would have been more fulfilling and emotionally charged than the lackluster, out of character ending we were given.  Naruto's promise would still be fulfilled, and he would have died the loving, selfless boy we always remembered instead of the selfish, terrible parent he turned into.

 

It felt like the boys just shook hands said 'ah well' and all was forgiven.

We have evidence that naruhina was not meant to be canon in the fact that hinata herself did end up being teased as a child.  They had to find out a way for Hinata to take Sakura's place, the actual heroine (The girl who we know WAS teased as a child), and this is the perfect way to establish a relationship way back when.  Hinata is essentially taking Sakura's place now.  But why build up the backstory for Sakura, for her to have done literally everything that Hinata is getting now, if she wasn't meant to end up with naruto?  There is no way naruhina was planned from the beginning, none.
 
It makes zero sense.  I find it sad that Hinata is getting all the limelight and that Sakura's character has been so abused and abandoned.  It was Naruto defending Sakura.  It should be her in the spotlight now.
 
Funny that Sakura would be called 'fickle' if she changed her mind and went with naruto over Sasuke.. But Naruto can freely change his mind and go for hinata.  I constantly ask myself how Naruhina fans can be satisfied with this ending, and how Kishimoto as its author can find this acceptable.


Sakura's forehead has become Hinata's eyes.  how sad.

So.. There's a good reason why the whole 'naruto only loving sakura because of rivalry' thing doesn't work.  If it really was due to rivalry, then there would be NO reason for naruto to engage Sakura while wearing his rival's form.  He complimented her on her forehead, he gave his rival the edge.  It makes absolutely no sense to do something like that, it would only make her like sasuke more.  Planned from the start?  Such BS.

 

I want to know what happened to the promise of a lifetime.

 

I want to know what the hell kakashi is hiding under that mask.

 

I want to know how and when sasuke started having feelings for sakura.. Instead of you know, wanting to murder her.

The sad this is that Sakura wouldn't have let Naruto become such a horrible father..  She would have knocked sense in that boy and made him remember who he really is and why he shouldn't treat his son that way.  I'm guessing their kids just use hinata as a coat rack when naruto's home because she's busy being useless blushing in a corner.

This ending is exactly why they're so bad for each other.

it is utterly horrific to me that Kishimoto is such a bad writer he would forsake fifteen years worth of character and plot development - all within the span of four chapters.  It makes me wonder what his motivations really were, because in the end the pairings came from thin air.

 

No one should hate Sakura's character, they should hate the way she was portrayed in the ending.  We watched Sakura grow from an insecure, useless child into a powerful woman (Who was the unfortunate victim of bad writing).  It saddens me that it only took a handful of chapters to totally destroy everything Kishimoto himself had been building for years and years.  I remember when I first started reading Naruto, when it had first come out, it was a story about a plucky little orphan who was determined to make it in the world and he had so many goals set out for himself.  Sakura was one of those goals.  I know that some people don't understand why Naruto liked Sakura back then, but there was beauty in her fire and determination.  What have we seen since the time skip?  it was like that fire burnt out, that the only reason Sakura even existed anymore was to fill Team 7 and end up with Sasuke.  That said, how Kishimoto could decide that an abusive traitor was worthy of her love and admiration, period, is beyond me.

 

It took 600+ chapters to depict the parallels between Team 7 and the others, as well as between Sakura and Kushina.  For Naruto to call her his girlfriend, for her not to deny, to meet his parents, to be like his mother, to grow, only to end up with the broody emo boy whose presence was barely remarkable since the first half of the manga.  What happened to never giving up?  What happened to chasing the girl of his dreams?  Why all the backstory between naruto and Sakura only to ship them off with two minor characters?

 

For NaruHina fans this is a totally hollow, unremarkable victory.  Naruto and hinata thus far have NO relationship whatsoever, we've only seen glances of Hinata in the manga.  Hell, even the filler with the anime was geared towards Naruto and Sakura.  I remember watching the movie where Naruto and Sakura had their roles reversed, where they were both able to peer into each others lives.  It was beautiful, it was emotional, and it showed Sakura exactly why she shouldn't be with sasuke.  he was absolutely fake, a traitor, and unworthy of her time..  And Naruto sacrificed that happiness for her.  Now as fans (Not just of the pairing but the manga itself) we have to wonder why we made this journey in the first place, to have so much resolved in the span of two chapters..  With so much left unanswered.

How Sasuke is able to redeem himself after betraying his village, his team 7 'family', with a simple 'sorry' does not suffice.  It is hollow, it is empty, it is illogical.   There was no resolution to the promise of a lifetime, not even an acknowledgment of it, and we are left wondering why something that played such a big role in the earlier chapters is now completely forgotten.  I have never witnessed writing so atrocious in all the books and manga I've read.  It was rushed and you really feel it.  We all grew along with Naruto, we felt his pain, we felt his triumphs, when Sakura thanked him in front of the villagers we felt his elation and victory.  Now what are we left with?  We feel betrayed, just like Naruto and Sakura SHOULD have.  But no promise of a lifetime will bring back the wasted years, the wasted potential that this manga had.  All to be dashed on the rocks with two chapters.

Naruto's feelings for Sakura - ones that played an IMMENSE part in the manga itself for years and years has conveniently been forgotten.  Swept under the rug.  Naruhina fans got what they wanted - but at what cost?  They've successfully backed a pairing with no interaction whatsoever, with a girl that we have barely seen except in passing glances.  Congratulations to them - the main character is paired with one of the most poorly developed love interests I've ever seen, whose sole contribution to the manga is watching Naruto from afar and blushing.

The fact that they need a movie to put the two of them together is telling of how poorly developed their relationship is and the fact that there is no viable reason for them to even end up together for the time being.  To see Sakura reduced to a housewife dusting bookshelves is ridiculous and sad, so much for growing up and proving she was strong.

I'll hand it to Kishimoto, he is the troll master.  I certainly won't be supporting any of his future works and will definitely NOT be watching the next movie or reading part 3.  To me, the OVA is the real ending.  When I think of the end I'll imagine it was Naruto reaching up to Sakura's face, and her crying out with happiness and leaning down to embrace him.  That was the way it should have ended, all said and done it was the only ending that made sense.

What an interesting turn of events.  To be honest I'm rather surprised at how this ended - Kishimoto is certainly a master storyteller. /sarcasm

 

I said long long ago (Maybe even a year ago) that if NH/SS were to end up as being canon then it's nothing more than bad storytelling.  Seeing the trailer for the new movie somewhat confirms it, though I do find it odd that there is only one black and white picture picture released with those scans from 699, why not more?

 

The behavior of NH/SS fans absolutely sickens me, though I cannot say it comes as a shock considering it was their community that resorted to death threats over a manga pairing.  That they could copy and paste responses from our NS family and insult people for their reactions proves how juvenile and immature fans can be.  It is not enough for them to have the victory.

 

That said, NH/SS still makes absolutely no sense to me.  All the interactions between Naruto and Sakura, the development of their bond (One even deeper than naruto/sasuke's, considering how much time they spent together) to end up being all for naught is ludicrous.  That's just bad writing.  The parallels, the sudden shift in romance, none of it makes any modicum of sense.  What purpose did Karin end up serving?  More importantly, where did Sasuke's feelings for Sakura manifest from?  Because Naruto punched off his arm he suddenly realizes, "Hey I shouldn't kill this chick - she's gonna be my babymomma!".  Not to mention Sakura as a housewife?  To work so hard to prove herself as a warrior only to end up dusting bookshelves and changing nappies?  I'm still desperately clinging to the hope that the scans are fakes, otherwise I may just laugh myself into an early grave.

And to those hating on Sakura's character for relentlessly pursuing Sasuke and shunning Naruto - Naruto did the exact same thing for Sakura (Shunning hinata).  The only difference it appears is, Sakura didn't give up.  Maybe Sakura should have been the hero after all.