Broken Figurine

There's something wrong with your friendship if you help your friend in labour chase after her husband, and then after delivering the baby not visit in twelve years to see her... but sending glasses is fine. I think Karin lucked out, or maybe Sasuke would have let her follow him--I don't know. Either way, it doesn't erase the problems of her character from the series more like it makes me wish that this was the kind of character we saw after she was stabbed and taken back to Konoha. Would have been nice to see that friendship develop then; and this whole love for Sasuke cast aside especially if she wasn't even going to end up with him...

Really excited, and it's great that it's going to be written by Mike! Korra and Asami would have just started their relationship by the time they entered the spirit portal. I wonder if we will get to see them talk about starting their relationship, or if the Spirit World vacation will be left for the imagination of fans and it picks up where this gif starts pretty much.

I see a lot of "well if Sakura is bad then __ is too" but isn't that avoiding the question? Point being is that Sakura's actions should not be blamed on anyone else. At this point of time she is a grown woman with grown responsibilities and just because other characters messed up too doesn't mean she shouldn't get critiqued. 

She's a character. She's only as good as her author, and the reason why people bring up "this person" "that person" is to show that she's a symptom of a greater problem--the author's inability to make his character's act in a way that's accountable, reasonable, and with enough justification that a reader could go "well, I see why they did that from their perspective..."

That's the funny thing about Gaiden; Sarada has taken on our questions and presented them in the framework of the story. Do her mom and dad love each other? Is Sakura her real mother when she looks so much like Karin? Why can't her mom answer questions? Gaiden was supposed to address these issues that largely revolve around Sasuke and Sakura's relationship/family and the result... didn't make sense.

Of course she's getting critiqued--and as redrose pointed out there is an odd fixation on her given that it's not an inherent flaw of personality and character; her actions in Gaiden go well above and beyond it. Sakura's actions and her relationship with Sasuke, like every other character who recieved focus in this story are the result of bad writing. 

Okay, so she's a grown woman with responsibilities. The only thing that I personally disliked was when she punched a hole in the ground and brought her house down. That is irresponsible and it could have hurt her albeit ninja daughter; and quite the over-reaction... but we know why it happened. It was a plot device for Sarada to find the photo, which in turn is another strange plot device... all for the sake of the red herrings. So if we ignore those and focus more on Sakura's relationship and life choices, they're not the most dignified but why should I hate her for them--now at this point in the story? She's living a domestic life after most of the conflict is over, raising her daughter. No evidence shows that she's a terrible mom, and maybe she wouldn't win mother of the year awards but what? What is she doing that most grown women with responsibilities don't anyway? If she divorces Sasuke, she's going to be in a similar situation--unless being a grown woman with responsibilities includes finding a man to marry that might stick around for... or else we'll hate her?

It's poor writing all around. Why did Sakura cover Karin's photo? Because he had to maintain the red herring. Why did Sakura avoid questions to Sarada? To maintain the red herring. Why did no one know the circumstances around Sarada's birth aside from Karin at the end? Because red herring. Why do these 'great friends' Sakura and Karin not maintain contact so that Sarada would KNOW who that lady with the glasses like hers are? Red Herring. 

It's the stupid plot handled poorly that requires the characters to act unreasonably to maintain the drama and suspense. Sasuke and Sakura are just terribly written and nothing fits well together. The conclusion did not satisfy or provide any justification for what the characters did throughout the story. It was all just a wacky misunderstanding!

It is difficult to like any character when their feelings and circumstances are arbitrary. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that Sakura's 'fainting spells' from the beginning of the series are going to come back in. Either as Sakura's pregnant (and that Shizune's mention of it happening since her childhood is a red herring) or as the reason she can't have children. 

 

And as far as raising a child that isn't hers, there's no reason to masquerade as a Sasuke's wife even if she chose to raise his test tube baby. Sakura dusting a house full of Uchiha crap and wearing his clan symbol on his back — if Sarada is not hers and the marriage was never truly a marriage, just an arrangement of convenience for Sasuke — really paints Sakura in a stalkerish light. And she's simply not that way.

 

I don't see her as degrading herself so as to end her career to take care of Sasuke's illegitimate child, pretend she's his wife, and raise his child as hers while he leaves the village forever. Sakura's kind, but she's not crazy.

 

We'll see in the next two chapters what is real and what has been the red herring.

 

And if Kishimoto has Sakura turn out to be this way — stalkerish and giving everything up for Sasuke — then the whole Gaiden has been a red herring centered around Sakura's development, kindness and strength. When all along Kishimoto knew he was just going to leave her out in the cold again.

 

Those are my thoughts on this whole series: either the Gaiden is going to turn out to be Kishimoto's apology to Sakura fans, or the Gaiden is going to be one more chance for Kishimoto to make Sakura the scapegoat for everything that's wrong with this manga.

Goodness I hope that's not the way it goes. As I said, it's not so much that she's raising Sasuke's daughter it's the masquerade of being his wife--is she his wife? Why is she living a lie and telling one to Sasuke's daughter if this is the case? Also, if she is a 'stalker' she must be one that Sasuke agreed to because he refers to her as his wife as well. There is just so much that is ridiculous on both sides. Gaiden is just begging for an explanation and they better deliver in these next two chapers.

Maybe Sakura is Sasuke's wife, hence the Uchiha symbol and referring to him as such... and that maybe early into their marriage they receive a shock that Sarada is a product of Orochimaru's experimentation. They bring the daughter back and Sakura agrees not to punish the child and raises her as her own. Perhaps Karin didn't want to, or they didn't want Orochimaru having access to Sarada while Karin is still working under him so they didn't give her a choice. Sakura doesn't have to be sterile for this to happen, it just may be that she began raising a child that isn't her own--but Sasuke is 'absolved' of fault there because it wasn't his decision so it's not grounds to stop loving him or divorce in Sakura's perspective.

There are obvious problems like why Sakura seems to lie about not just the birth but the relationship that complicates matters, but again--if this is all some ruse it's not just Sakura being a loving fangirl, Sasuke has been keeping up the lie around Naruto and others. It may benefit himself, which paints them both in ugly, disturbing light (he doesn't love her and let's her 'pretend' to be his wife so he doesn't have to raise his daughter)... 

I think we do need to wait for Gaiden to explain itself. Is this a terrible pairing and reflecting badly on the characters as it stands? Yeah, Sakura destroying her house and being in a relationship where she needs to lie is already far from perfect. Her status as mother, fertility, and taking care of Sarada has nothing on that. Whether Sakura is Sarada's mother, whether she can be--this whole debate is sort of missing the point. Even if it's the worst possible thing where she's basically a submissive Uchiha fangirl who agrees to pretend to be wife just because she loves Sasuke beyond any shred of reasonability, her care and love toward Sarada stands as a positive. Is she a perfect mother? No, but I don't see her as a horrible one either.