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.
Oh that old chestnut. Right for people that might not know or forgotten. Both Oda and Kubo had online accounts and used to tease and troll their fans. So people assumed Kishimoto must be the same and used that to explain any storyline or plot development they didn't like. Hinata wasn't the heroine having non-stop sex scenes with Naruto every chapter was because Kishimoto was trolling them. Sakura didn't fight was because Kishimoto was trolling them. The story is generic because Kishimoto is trolling them. NS was just one big long troll by Kishimoto he spent most of the manga developing that pairing to the point of almost completely ignoring the others beyond making them look bad because he was planning a 15 year long joke.
This of course ignores the fact that one, outside of events like Jumpfesta he never interacts with fans. I don't think he even has any social media accounts. Two, the interviews he gives never come off as him enjoying his 15 year long joke but a guy that gave into pressure and wondered if he did the right thing. Well, till he threw up his hands and stopped caring. Also the simple question. If Kishimoto is some great genius artist that was half-assing Naruto for a joke, Why did Samurai 8 flop!?
6 Years? Its been 10. Were you in a coma for 4 years? Are you alright? Comas that long have been know to be cause by or result in severe brain damage.
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.
Look, sometimes blue curtains in a story is just some blue curtains.
Naruto is a standard Shounen manga with standard moralities and tropes. Its not uncommon for Japanese stories to teach Japanese kids that they just need to understand their opponents and talk to them to make peace with them.
As for 693 I could try to explain that was likely Kishimoto showing how much he didn't like the pairing and didn't want to go through with it, but you won't believe it. Wait. Wait. You think Kishimoto is just a big troll and any issues with the manga are him trolling right? Well there is your answer. He is trolling the SS fans. Think about it. Why would such a great troll stop at a mere 15 years long joke? When he can make one that last an eternity that he could laugh at the entire time, including those 15 years? That why SS has no positive development even after they got together. He made a pairing with no positive elements beyond how hot the guy is. Just to watch pathetic women desperate for some hot fantasy that will never happen to them in real life try to justify it and laugh at their excuses. Now, isn't that what a Great Troll like Kishimoto would do?
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.
He handed it off to Ikemoto and hasn't taken it back despite it failings. It is canon for now and it happened because of nH/SS. Its failing are in part those pairing fault.
"Whatever Kishimoto makes is canon." Just not the thing you personally disagree with it seems. Or when its "who cares my pairing is canon."
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.
He was writing for a Japanese audience not an American one, where you have to beat a point every second in hopes they may get it. They rarely do. Hell, you ignore all the times Sasuke made clear he doesn't like Sakura.
I'm getting annoyed at all the pictures and having to keep requoting.
The Confession at the end of part one was suppose to be the end of SS. To show her love means nothing to Sasuke and he is ending his bond with her. Saying 'thank you' to a confession is a polite way of decline it in Japan. The reason confessions are a big thing in Japanese stories is they believe confession must be accepted or rejected on the spot. To not do so is considered very rude, and when you reject you do it politely by saying, "thank you." It is not kishimoto's fault some fans refused to accept that and wanted them together. Went over the second enough times already on this thread alone.
"So, Sakura shouldn't get with Naruto out of guilt for how she treated him (agreed,) but Sasuke should get together with Sakura out of guilt for how he treated her?" That about sum up your stance on the pairings?