DrK

 

I really don't feel the scene will have impact, and feelings turning over a compliment runs the risk of making this love shallow in the first place

This is the only point I'm going to respond to because otherwise we're going to be here all day and the fanfiction already exists anyway. The fact that you thought that this was at all a good argument says so much about you. You're assuming that Sakura has permanently friendzoned Naruto and only loves Sasuke because that is what you think for whatever reason. That isn't what most people who like Naruto and Sakura think. So you see it as the bench scene creating a sudden 180 turnaround wow I love Naruto now. No.

Sakura in the story is very, very close to Naruto. He is her most precious person. If you want to argue that Sasuke is, then why then did she attempt to kill Sasuke to protect Naruto? And do not say it's because she loved him too much to let him be evil. That was an absolutely ridiculous claim made by the canon, because it postulates a level of love sufficient to want to kill someone who is in darkness, but not sufficient to actually carry out that murder attempt. That is not at all compelling.

So if Naruto is Sakura's most precious person, but she thinks she loves Sasuke, you can see why people think learning about the bench scene would suddenly flip her views. It's not ridiculous at all. If Naruto is her most precious person, then him being a romantic partner of hers only requires chemistry. And you can easily get chemistry. They had romantic moments in the story.

The bench scene would have been absolutely massive for Sakura. It tells her that Sasuke is willing to come out of his shell just for her. That he likes her.He's attracted to her. Not just to her, but to her imperfections. Not just to her imperfections, but to the one imperfection she absolutely hates. It gives the impression he understands her, when the real Sasuke absolutely did not, but Naruto ironically did. Sakura would have been left with the impression that Sasuke secretly felt a certain way, but was just too shy to do anything after that. That is just horrible to think about if you are Naruto, or even if you are Sakura. I hope you actually understand it now. But I don't have anything else to say to you.

Telling Sakura about the bench scene isn't forcing it, she has a right to know. If you think that the scene would have no impact on how she felt about Sasuke or for that matter Naruto that is an absolutely ridiculous stance. She was an insecure 12 year old girl who fantasized about a socially stunted pretty boy giving her a compliment. He proceeds to give her that exact compliment in a completely out of character fashion. Do you think the naive, non-worldly person that Sakura is at that point in the story would not be massively influenced by that?

You don't need tension in a romance, just interesting exposition. Himawari learns that Naruto should have been with Sakura by observing them. She is motivated to make that happen both to save her father and Konoha despite the fact that it will remove her existence. She would be surprised and fascinated at how happy and out of character the prospect of Sakura makes him compared to the father she knows. This is interesting. You do not find it interesting because you do not see any problem with the canon pairings.

No one is going to stop Himawari because how could they? No one else has a time travel jutsu. Does anyone really need to? No one cares about Boruto in this story. He's just the reason they are going back in time.

Sakura never needs to know that Himawari's existence will be erased. I don't know why you read that into it. It's an interesting idea though. With Sakura's self-sacrificial personality, would she then be compelled to be with Sasuke ANYWAY? Dun dun dun

No one wants to use the time travel to simply stop Boruto because that doesn't have the result of Naruto being with Sakura, which is what we want to accomplish. Let's say the jutsu has a number of years you have to go back as a minimum. Though plugging every single plot hole in a time travel story is an absolutely fruitless and almost pointless task.

Time rules who cares. There's only one timeline. She ceases to exist because she will never be born in that timeline and the timeline is cognizant of that fact somehow. Is an intelligent timeline so ridiculous? The fact that her brother is innocent could be touched upon but should not affect their decision because it would also affect Naruto being with Sakura, that I know you have no interest in making happen but is crucial to the story.

Himawari would not be aged back into her time. She would cease to exist after the mission was successful. And the result of the successful mission is that Sakura now loves Naruto. So the fact that she didn't before, according to you, is not an issue. It would also defeat the villain, which is Boruto. Sakura loving Naruto would cause Naruto to be with Sakura and marry Sakura. This would have had many consequences I have to admit. I guess that is an issue. Like Naruto being happy, Sakura being happy, their kids whatever you name them probably being happy, unless you made them unhappy for cheap drama. People around Naruto and Sakura would be happy for them. Hinata would be married to someone else. She would probably also be happy because she learned how to exist without leaning on Naruto. That is a very rewarding feeling for someone. Naruto's son would not hate him. Sasuke would probably be married to Karin who would be less miserable because she could travel with him, and also because she would be married to Sasuke, as she loved Sasuke and still does. Sarada would be the daughter of Karin instead of the daughter of Sakura, unless she already is. Their kids would be less ugly. You can call this subjective, but honestly looking at this case hardly anyone would. Naruto would actually talk to his wife Sakura, as opposed to not talking to his wife Hinata. Naruto would actually attend the dinners that Sakura made. Naruto would probably not get drunk in the Hokage office. Ok I'm going to stop

Responding to this person is dangerous.

Himawari will be like the new Itachi.

Even better because since her brother will be deleted, he won't stick around and end up kittening up the series.

That scene comes off as very awkward due to how quiet Naruto is. I don't know what kind of tone they were going for with it, but it definitely didn't work.

Having the past love interest be the cupid is almost always a terrible idea. "Don't worry, she's just as obsessed with you as I was with Sasuke! Toneri is just like you were! Haha!"