slimsh4d3y

^ That would not surprise me. At all. 

Anyway, I'm going to take a more optimistic route with 634.

I predict that we will see at least some of the following:

- The reaction to the simultaneous summonings, Sakura's in particular. Naruto, Gamakichi, and/or Minato will say/do something that shoves the manga in the NaruSaku direction, and there will be references to a new generation of Sannin.

- **The identities of Sakura and Sasuke's summons will be revealed as well as brief flashbacks/talk no jutsus as to how they got them. If Sakura's slug is Katsuyu, we will learn the fate of the Kages.** (almost definite)

- Sakura will leave her slug to stay behind and heal people, but she will enter the battlefield and play offense (possibly on top of Gamakichi with Naruto  )

- Team 7 will do something cool and deal more damage to the Juubi fodder, the rest of the alliance watching/fighting in admiration

- Inspirational quote by Naruto with Sakura and Sasuke in the background ends the chapter.

I also enjoyed the idea of Naruto and Sakura getting together as early as the beginning of the series. At that point I did not like Sakura much as a character, but Naruto stated early on that he really liked her and I wanted him to get what he wanted for once: her. As I watched Part 1 (back in '05/'06), I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Naruto and Sakura's relationship develop from a one-sided crush into a mutual friendship. I especially shipped NaruSaku during the promise of a lifetime scene. The way that he looked at her when she was crying and promised to bring Sasuke back....   Absolutely beautiful. Naruto knew that Sakura loved Sasuke so much at that point that he was willing to put aside his own feelings for her in order to make her happy. That is true love right there.

In Shippuden, I found that Naruto and Sakura's relationship bloomed into a deeper friendship that is slowly turning into something more. She was physically attracted to him as soon as he got back from training, and they worked so well together getting the bells from Kakashi after being apart for so long. The Heaven and Earth bridge scenes as well as their individual confrontations with Sai about their feelings further pushed me into the NaruSaku abyss.    It became clear that Sakura cared so deeply for Naruto; she was willing to put her life on the line for him and cared so much about his well-being and happiness (just like he did for her in Part 1).

I think there was truth behind Sakura's words during the confession scene. She didn't realize it at the time, but she was starting to fall in love with Naruto. That's why she was blushing when she told him that she loved him; you can't really force yourself to blush, it's an innate, automatic reaction. Naruto reacted the way he did because he knew that she was still in love with Sasuke and he didn't realize that she really was falling for him (because even Sakura herself didn't fully realize it at this point). It was a sad scene, but it was obvious to me that Sakura had developed feelings for him. Also, Naruto saving Sakura from Sasuke was just a beautiful scene that now reminds me a lot of Minato rescuing Kushina. 

I sort of fell off the NaruSaku bandwagon after this. There wasn't really a whole lot of interaction between Naruto and Sakura that made me feel like their relationship would ever blossom from friendship into mutual love. 615 in particular made me lose hope in this great ship; I thought that Naruto had begun to notice Hinata in a more romantic light and had forgotten all about his love for Sakura. 

Thankfully, I couldn't have been more wrong. 

Sakura's wonderful speech in 630 made me realize that she does deeply care for him and knows him better than anyone else. It was like they were husband and wife: She is so familiar with him and in-tune with his feelings that she was the one to encourage everyone not to doubt Naruto and their alliance. She knew what he was thinking and stepped up to defend him in such a caring way (although the way she said it was definitely not caring toward the alliance haha). And Naruto calling her his girlfriend in the following chapter only re-affirmed his love for her. He told his father, the one he looks up to more than anyone, that Sakura was his "kanojo; his lover; his girlfriend.   And she didn't deny it! I can't wait to read the remaining chapters and see how the beautiful friendship between Naruto and Sakura finally blossoms into open love....preferably with a forehead scene. 

TL;DR: I do not ship unless I see mutual attraction and development BETWEEN the two characters. NaruSaku has mutual attraction as well as development BETWEEN the two characters, unlike the other main ships. 

 

 

633 was a consolation prize I felt, many haters basically said "Just wait till what Hinata unleashes, it will outshine Sakura, I mean she airpalmed the ten tails." This made me just go   I seriously did not know how to react, she had Naruto's power, many said Hinata would outshine Sakura again and that she was finished, no more powerups for Sakura, well 633 came, Hinata's boost was just a small gain, so Sakura takes out like 100 in one shot, Hinata barely takes out 1 with 64 palms?   Some great power boost that was,    I bet many after seeing that were like, 'Well Sakura is done, nothing new for her." *They reached the end of the chapter* Summoning Jutsu! Many haters may have felt annoyed at that part. 

People are in denial.  It's like the 5 Stages of Grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and ultimately Acceptance.

They can't stand that Sakura is the one helping to progress the story along, even though it's been long established that she's the main female. They refuse to believe that NaruSaku will happen, even though it's backed up by the ENTIRE manga - the gradual development of their relationship, the parallels between Kushina/Sakura and Kushina's speech, Naruto referencing his love for her multiple times and even calling her his girlfriend, Sai/Yamato commenting on Sakura's feelings for Naruto, etc. It's all there. Meanwhile, NaruHina only has Hinata's love for Naruto. That's it. Never once has Naruto seen Hinata in a romantic light; it seemed like it finally happened in 615, but that was shot down in 631 with the girlfriend comment. It is now clear as day that the handhold was purely to transfer chakra as well as give Hinata a boost of confidence. Romance was far from Naruto's mind at that moment. Also, no one has ever commented on Naruto's feelings for Hinata, because they're well-aware that he is in love with Sakura. Even people who don't follow the manga notice the NaruSaku moments, including the New York Times as well as this (found on Tumblr):

It's all deny, deny, deny at this point: "NaruSaku is only for comedic relief", "Naruto meant a friend who's a girl", "Minato does not know Hinata, otherwise he'd ask if she were Naruto's girlfriend", "Hinata had such a powerful moment in 633, so much better than Sakura's in 632 so Naruto is going to love her", etc. Once it's no longer possible to deny that NaruSaku will happen, there will be extreme anger. This is followed by bargaining ("Please Kishi just kill off Sakura PLEASE! Volume sales will go up so much if you just get rid of her - I'LL buy them all if you kill Sakura off"), then depression and eventually (for some) acceptance.

There is an article on Crunchyroll about shipping fanart....NaruHina featured and no NaruSaku, of course.   Funny (yet disturbing) to see so many comments on that article like "NaruHina was the reason I started watching romantic anime" and "I only read Naruto for NaruHina". These people are in for a rude awakening.   If they read Naruto purely for the ships, particularly NaruHina, that's just....sad. There is nearly NO development between them throughout the entire series; development for their individual characters, sure, but not in their relationship with each other. It just shows that people (our ship included, although I don't think we are as extreme) read each Naruto chapter with their shipping goggles strapped extra-tight over their eyes.

...That felt so good getting off my chest.  Is it Wednesday yet?

 

 

Its just again, if hinata moves romantically towards Naruto, then why the issue with the Sakura-Kushina parallel, he basically built on Kushinas "find a girl like me" foreshadow event for a reason, just to now say it would be worthless or re attribute it towards Hinata, this just makes things crazier to follow.. I can understand moving towards her abilities forward to lead the clan though, that is understandable, but its just too hard to see what Hinata is actually going to do. I mean nothing has done anything to 631 yet, its still the biggest factor here. Plus just the story setting right now, what room for actual NH romance remains? The longer the story goes on without doing anything for them, the harder it gets for NH to actually develop.

Bold 1: I don't think this will happen. Someone like Sawyer7mage said that Minato should come back and say "JK find someone like me" and all the anti-NaruSaku fans jumped on board. Kushina said "Find someone like your mother", Minato said "This girl is eerily similar to Kushina". Minato knows his son's personality, yet he still asked if Sakura was his girlfriend and made the parallel. Plus, isn't Kishimoto-sensei supposed to be big on parallels? The Sakura --> Kushina will stay, IMO.

Bold 2: However; although this somewhat contradicts what I just said, I think Hinata still has a chance with Naruto if that is still her goal. She has plenty of opportunities in the upcoming fights to show her stuff and make Naruto realize his "feelings" for her. Is it possible she'll make it past the Sakura/Kushina and Jiraiya/Tsunade parallels? Sure. But is it probable? Hard to say.

 

theres really only one piece of development for Hinata that's left.

the ability to do what Naruto did for Sakura in part 1. Basically the ability to set aside her feelings for Narutos happiness. Can she say to Naruto "Yyou really like Sakura don't you? I can tell"

The NaruHina fandom would be an absolute wreck if this happened. And to be honest, I don't think I'd like it either, although I support NaruSaku. I just feel like, if Hinata is still after Naruto romantically, all her development and moments would just be such.... wastes.   Gah, I'm so torn here!

 

 

I want to see more jutsu explanation personally. Everyone other main character has gotten a Talk no Jutsu except Sakura about their abilities.

I think this will happen in the next chapter. Everyone will be so amazed/shocked that she can summon; an explanation would have to be given, even if it's just a sentence or two.

^ Don't forget that Hinata had an AMAZING moment when she thought about "N-N-Naruto-kun's big hands" and did the move her cousin mastered during the Chunin Exams!  haha