totherpage95

Gourry x Lina
 

 
 
After hearing that Hajime Kanzaka has decided to work on a 16th Slayers novel (and given that the last volume ended with Lina thinking that Gourry will propose to her as they return to her hometown), I have to restate my love for this couple.

 
 
I'd make the argument that Seishi kept Ruby Crescent (the heroine) a core integral component to the narrative of O-Parts Hunter, and specifically to Jio Freed since the first chapter of the series all the way to the end. You could just tell inseparable  Seishi made Jio and Ruby which really shows.  The final chapter cover also speaks a lot on that front too.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Masashi really needed the same touch that Seishi had when it came to developing his female characters and of course the romance aspect of it for Naruto and Sakura. 
 
 
I do wish so much that we got the same level of love and care for NaruSaku especially in the later half of Part 2 without Masashi throwing a bone to get the fandoms to wag their tails... like "OMG could it be? Could it be?"  and I'm just like thinking.... as an aspiring writer..... this is not how to win over your readers when it comes to developing romance between two characters. 
 
 
I know the argument a lot of people make is "Well Naruto isn't a romance therefore it's fine we didn't get a lot of focus..."  that has always been such a poor excuse I've heard time and time again.
 
 
Which, I'm gonna say this.... if romance isn't gonna be a super integral piece to the narrative of your story.... which is totally fine because any writer has the freedom to do that, but...  here's my advice.... Don't just fool around with your readers about which couple will be canon..... 
 
If you as the writer already know from the conception of your story that this couple is going to be canon then just focus on developing that pairing as you are telling the story you've created. 
 
 
That is definitely the #1 thing Masashi didn't understand when it came to Naruto. 

 

 

One thing I learned after 700 chapters of Naruto and 6 years following the manga  It's that there's one thing Kishimoto loves more than trolling and drama. Those are plot twists, no matter how surprising or poorly done, especially after a Talk no Jutsu from Naruto. A discerning reader will readily identify the recurring pattern.

 

Zabuza saying he didn't care about Haku and he didn't mean nothing to him, but after a Talk no Jutsu, he went on to love him. 

 

Gaara, hated by the village and killing everyone, then became the Kazekage after a Talk no Jutsu. 

 

Nagato reviving the entire village after Naruto's TnJ.

 

Itachi, a psychopath who killed the clan in front of his brother and tortured him to the limits of insanity, becomes a martyr and a loving brother after his death.

 

Kishimoto wouldn't throw in a second declaration of love for Sakura in the last volume of the manga for nothing. Everyone, including NaruSaku fans, should be aware of the possibility of Sasuke's 180-degree shift in relation to Sakura and the potential for repressed feelings to be shown after his fight against Naruto and Naruto's Talk no Jutsu.

 

 

I  consider only the Boruto manga non canon because it wasn't written, illustrated and even  Kishimoto's supervision hasn't been confirmed yet.

 

Regardless of the theory – whether Kishimoto always had everything planned out or if he changed his mind due to some editorial influence – the fact remains that he written and illustrated everything in the original Naruto manga.    Therefore, everything written in those chapters should be taken into account.

 

 

Sasuke was lying. The fact that he called her "annoying" again was clearly a callback to the first time, showing that he remembered and Sakura got the reference.

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakura never thought about or had any flashbacks about this scene.

If the fact that the fake Sasuke complimented her forehead was so important for Sakura

 

Kishimoto should at least have shown a flashback to this scene at some point during 700 + 10 chapters  to demonstrate how iconic this moment was for Sakura. However, this never happened.

 

 

 

Just as NaruSaku became stronger than SasuSaku in Part 2 due to Sasuke's absence and his descent into "darkness" by trying to kill her and destroy the Village.

 

SasuSaku was stronger than NaruSaku in Part 1  Sakura openly loved Sasuke and always wanted to be near him. Additionally, Sasuke wasn't a jerk and considered Sakura important enough to protect or even sacrifice his life and revenge goal for her. But this is just opinion and I will not delve deeper into this theme.

 

 

 

 

 

The issue is that none of Sakura's confessions to Sasuke have been classified as false or a simple blind infatuation. She wasn't forced or influenced by anyone neither.

 

In the first one, Sasuke himself thanked her. Naruto recognized that her love was real, and that's why he did the POAL when he saw how much she was suffering.  If it were a simple blind infatuation, there would be no reason for the POAL to exist in first place.

 

In the second one, when Sasuke said that he had no reason to love her, Kakashi scolded him, saying how true Sakura's love was and she still wanted to save him even after everything. This led Sasuke to do a complete 180-degree turn towards Sakura after the fight against Naruto

 

Sakura's confession to Naruto was influenced by the circumstances surrounding Sasuke and Sai blaming her for the POAL.

 

...

 

Sai himself admits:

 

 

...

 

 

I really doubt that Sakura would even consider making a love declaration to Naruto if Sai hadn't interfered.

Much less  in a Part 2 scenario with Sasuke in the village, without committing crimes and Sai blamming her for the POAL. Second point Naruto basically admitted that Sakura didn't love him, and she was lying to herself.

 

...

 

 

 

Naruto placed his goal to save Sasuke above both the POAL and Sakura, ultimately undoing the POAL.

 

 

 

...

[/url]

 

 

Sakura later simply confirms her love for Sasuke during the war in her first scene. 

Despite the fact that many NaruSaku fans don't accept it, the NaruSaku ship may have truly sunk in this chapter.

Afterward, at most, there are only arguments based on parallels and hopes that Sakura will move on from Sasuke, or that Sasuke won't return to the village or ever be redeemed.

 

 

 

you ss fans would gladly push a button to change the series to "sasuke" instead of "naruto" if it existed    this point where sakura confesses to sasuke just tells me he was trying to spare her feelings by lying and saying he didn't remember the bench moment... he was trying to be kind and convince her to leave him and continue a life separate from his. that doesn't mean he was in love with her and when sakura continued to claim she understood why he was leaving and what he was going through sasuke switched tactics and started to be more cold toward her. the opinion that sakura nearly kissing sasuke wasn't a factor in her feelings for him isn't one i agree with because it is the only major time "sasuke" reciprocated feelings for her romantically .....of course you can form an opinion that it didn't mean much but i highly disagree. why believe that sakura would be in love with sasuke if naruto without being transformed to pretend to be sasuke had said and done these things with sakura? she already was impressed with naruto when he went for kakashi in the bell test, they supported one another in the chunin exam, and naruto saved her from gaara. as for the second confession sakura did and comparing it to other times characters have done the right thing in the series well nagato always deep down wanted to do the right thing these feelings you claim are "repressed" are not visible at any time which is the problem there... gaara had a terrible upbringing it isn't unlikely he could find a new path. zabuza raised haku it isn't a stretch to find out he cared about him after haku sacrificed his life to save his. and itachi's motivations were properly explained it wasn't a 180 degree change of character but rather a secret that the higher ups in the leaf village and itachi kept from sasuke and the readers/viewers it's not comparable to some sort of "repressed feelings"  . the confession was yet another parallel for kakashi and rin. kakashi in this case did not have any feelings for rin so why would sasuke? logically the only real reason sasuke and sakura ended up with one another is likely because of the ship's popularity. kishimoto was trying to nail the coffin shut on ss because he likely didn't like them ending up with one another (as shown whenever he was asked about the ship in interviews). yes he made them canon but i doubt he liked doing that he clearly opposed nh in the kage summit arc he stated "sakura is the heroine not hinata". if the confession was the end of narusaku why have kushina and sakura be a parallel later? why have naruto tell his father sakura was his girlfriend?

it's like saying "kakashi and rin would have happened". why even ask for that? if not for obito kakashi would have let rin die... 
kishimoto and his brother were probably close so he wanted to keep the team the way it was in the story. even in dragon quest/hunterxhunter/o-parts hunter they all have a character kind of like sasuke