GUYS DID YA'LL HEAR THE NEWS MASASHI KISHIMOTO BROKE SILENCE THAT NARUTO'S ENDING WAS A LAST MINUTE DECISION!!
To break it down simply he said that originally Sakura was going to fight back against Sasuke in a almost skirmish kind of a fight, but would ultimately get the better of her in the end. However, he quickly changed his mind because he couldn't bare to imagine Sakura taking out someone so dear to her and being emotional is what defines Sakura's character which is why he decided to let Sakura plead instead. On top of that, Masashi Kishimoto even said that Sakura was also going to help assist Naruto in the fight against Sasuke mid way through, but also decided not to as it would lessen Naruto's stamina as a fighter by that point in the series. In terms of Sakura's reaction at the end of 699 he did have an idea of Sakura still not getting over what Sasuke did to her and ultimately it was going to be Sasuke that asks her to give him a chance to which Sakura would say "we've still have a long ways to go even saying it could be possible, but in the end the main reason he picked the asking route was to harken back to Part 1 bring it all back full circle. The epilogue itself was also going cap off the series for Naruto's inauguration as the hokage and the final page showcasing him being greeted by everyone (including Sakura's parents) he encountered on his journey as he is named the Seventh Hokage, but he also changed that because he wanted to showcase ever rising of newer generations. In the interview Kishi goes into more details about what happened with the ending, and I just thought it was worth sharing with you guys.
Edited by LuckyChi7, 01 April 2018 - 10:10 PM.