GoldenDays

"And it had the same warming effect as the ramen did — it left him wanting a little more."

It goes for me too, I WANT MORE.

I love how this version of Sakura really has a lot of street smarts. Not that our actual Sakura doesn't, she definitely has her moments, but this one has it down to a 'T.' Hopefully this version of Naruto will also have the same unpredictable traits, using some nifty ninja-ish (but not really NINJA ninja, since this is modern AU) tricks to get out of trouble every now and then, like what happened here. This version of Naruto seems to revel in his more prankster mischevious side, which was something I would've liked to see more of in canon.

This might be really REALLY random, but one particular scene that stood out to me was when Sakura threw her apron over the stack of textbooks. I didn't actually read the short description up top where you mentioned she was a med-student, so when I read this scene, I liked how you showed she was actually studying for something, in a very "passing-detail" sort of manner.

I don't know, it's strange of me to notice something like that, but yeah.

Anyways, you somehow managed to combine my mental image of Sakura and Ayame (whom I secretly ship with Naruto on the side. Serious. IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE) what with Sakura being a ramen chef, and as much as I'm hoping to see Ayame here, it's probably not gonna happen, if not as a cameo but yeah...I'm just rambling randomly now.

Anyways, thanks for the great read! And sorry for the random review, lol.

Naruto and the Ramen girl please!

NarutoXAyame

This pairing right here. Naruto and Ayame.

I guess it's technically 'crack' because...well, no real development, but come on! The setting is almost PERFECT for a romance!

Naruto loves ramen, and there so happens to be a cute ramen girl that cooks at his favorite ramen shop.

Not to mention, it seems like Old man Teuchi Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame are some of Naruto's oldest friends. I'm surprised he didn't fall in love with HER when he was younger.

Love of Ramen + Cute Ramen Girl Cook + One of the first people to show him kindness = Naruto x Ayame

Let this thread (or noodle) of romance begin!

Just a thought, feel free to completely ignore this but...

Assuming Lady GT does make an alternate ending, I'm hoping that it won't just be the NaruSaku dynamic that's touched upon, but also various other things relating to the plot.

After all, when ending a manga, you don't want to just focus on how/why this character married that one, but you also want to bring a good conclusion to those things that aren't pairing-related either. A well-rounded ending usually wraps up most, if not all, the large and small plot details so that readers go, "Ohh, so that explains why this happened. Okay, that makes sense."

In short, if LadyGT does write her own ending, I hope she doesn't just talk about Naruto and Sakura exclusively, but also tidbits of everyone else's story too. Although I can imagine that undertaking something like that can be immense, since you're basically cleaning up Kishimoto's mess for him.

That's just my opinion though, and I'll just say there's a high chance I'll be much happier with her version of the ending, rather than the rushed one that was served to everybody.

LadyGT, if you're reading this, just wanna let you know, no pressure okay? You may not know me, but I truly loved all the artwork that I've seen from you.

Go do whatever you feel is right. =)

Right, those are some good points. It's just, I feel like we've put so much focus on the backlash received from NH and especially SS becoming canon, that I feel like, in order to really determine whether or not things ended well 'plot-wise', it'd be good to see just how much was resolved non-pairing wise, and how much was just left floating around for speculation.

If this list becomes a little too large, then it just goes to show that there really wasn't much thought or effort brought forth by Kishimoto to provide an appropriate ending that nicely wraps up any remaining questions about the plot.

And this isn't even taking into account the whole pairing aspect of things, which depending on your point-of-view, is the whole icing on the cake.

Some things I'm left wondering about were:

• What happened with Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Karin?
• What happened with Kabuto? Including the above, there's these super-dangerous characters just waltzing around. I highly doubt they're just enjoying walks through the countryside, sniffing flowers and what-not. And I doubt world peace is their list of priorities.
• What was the point of Madara 'spitting' out those weird relics? Did the manga ever get into what those things were anyways? And where they actually 'USEFUL' for resolving anything?
• What exactly is Naruto doing as Hokage? Ninjas aren't exactly going out assassinating/attacking anyone anymore, so it's probably just a bunch of details about how to expand the shiny new city they've got. Unless of course, he's still making sure that the city keeps up its defenses from possible attacks. But then, this just goes to show that he never really did end the 'Cycle of Hatred' did he?
• And the Cycle of Hatred itself is another unresolved plot-point. I'm pretty sure Naruto hasn't conquered it yet. In fact, defeating something like that sounds a bit ridiculous and naive, especially since it stems from a certain ideal, a philosophy. Something you can't really rasengan in the face.