Sav from Australia

I don't know if you guys watch or read Rock Lee's manga/anime.  There's an episode in the anime where Lee and Naruto - with Neiji tagging along - are trying to locate Sakura in a town to hang out with her.  They find Hinata lurking and as they patiently wait for her to say something she goes about twiddling her thumbs.  "Ahnooo, Etoooo, Sonooo, Ahnooo, Etoooo, etc, etc."  Neiji keeps telling them off as they want to rush away and it cuts to '30 minutes later' and all she wanted to say was 'Nice weather' or something.  Cue them falling over. 

That is your NaruHina in a nutshell.  Its hilarious, impossible, illogical.  I have been thinking about that scene quite a bit.  You guys should try watching it as well - I cannot remember the exact episode - it is quite the carthatic experience.  The reason I enjoy thinking about it is that it puts the whole NaruHina "canon" into context as the joke it really is.  We are all hurt.  We were/are all really upset at the butchering of the characters and the message, and well, logic.  But that scene, making the mockery with the stereotypical behaviour of the characters - on Lee's show of all places - really makes me smile.

Hideo kojima the Creator of metal gear solid was in a similar position with the fourth one. He was tired of the series (he spent at least 13 straight years working on it) and wanted to move on to something else. In the end; the game felt under the standards of its own series. However, the ending was Worth it, he actually gave resolutions to everyone and did not spit on the message of his series. Raiden (the player who hated and did not understand the beautiful message of 2) backtracked on his character development but in the end the protagonist (kojima) still managed to make him understand what the author was trying to each. Kojima was tired but never conceded defeat on what the series was mainly about (the message of 2 of being your own man and choosing your own life) until the very end.

^^  Thanks for the excellent example of a creator not kittening on his artform.  The message, its all about the message.  And the mangaka failed himself and his characters.

TBH The Naruto and Sakura in chp 698 and onwards is not the Naruto and Sakura I read for 600+ chapters.Thats putting it simply.Kishi destroyed Sakura in the last chapters.

100 percent agree.  Out of character.  As if the characters are brand new clone versions.

Im not sure but we get the chapter way earlier than them (japan) for some odd reason.

I have a lot of friends who are NH and SS fan (because i was one of them before).
they were all in a high even before they read the manga. I can totally understand them. They even tell me that its not too late for me to go back..but i said i couldnt..when they finally calmed down i asked them:

Does this really satisfy you?
Without any ounce of doubt... does this really feel like a complete win? Do you guys just want to win so badly that its okay whatever the method is to achieve it?
are you gonna ignore the elephant in the room that is Naruto's feelings and Sakura's surprising growth towards Naruto.

Since i too loved nh and ss before..and a small part of me stayed there even after i ship NS. I just want to say that ending wouldnt satisfy that small part of me. If they had done it so like what they did with NS development then i might have accepted all of this now.

That small part of me that is ss and nh felt INSULTED.

They ended up together but they never won the fight. It was just handed, spoonfed, BUT NEVER WON. NO FEELING OF REWARD. thats why it could not satisfy.
It was half cooked, unprepared and was not won. Because it did not fight head on.

Naruto and Sasuke had to fight head on to arrive at an agreement and realization. But kishi did not allow this.

Its like you won but did not even fight because you ran away with the trophy before the battle even start.

Idk.. i told myself before that regardless of how the shipping ends i would still be happy nonetheless bec i love the characters and i could easily adapt to whatever the outcome is. But it didnt. 700 was like a different manga. Too different that i could not recognize the characters. There was no connection. It isnt just about the pairings.. everything else seems out of place. Naruto's son felt and did the same way young Naruto did and felt as an orphan which is worst.. because he felt that loneliness even if his parents are both alive.

Im trying to cope with this epilogue by reading other mangas but it only makes me want to see NaruSaku badly. I want to see Naruto happy and determined like he does before 700. But the man i saw that ending doesnt have any spark. What is the meaning of him being a hokage now anyway? Does that hokage meeting bear more significance than Naruto being with his family, overjoyed and has this feeling of completeness??

Excellent comment.  I have run out of likes but this was too good to say something.  The ending section was indeed like something entirely different.

The more I think about it, the more empty I feel. I really need something to take my mind off of it I guess, but I doubt anything will help the sense of betrayal and disgust. Any ideas to ease the pain?

You can do what I have been doing.  Come up with your own characters in your own fictional universe and make things make sense.  Let people behave the way they should in terms of the way the characters are created.  No fan fiction, just a totally new story that belongs to you.  Luckily I was working on my own stories for fun as it helps me get to sleep.  But I realised it is a really good way to get a way from that troll ending.

Alternatively, read the works of authors who cared about their characters and had them behave as they should.  Recommend Lord of the Rings.  Or if you want Japanse read Eiji Yoshikawa's Musashi or Taiko, great books of historical fiction.

Or gym.

Or punching bag.

Or rum.