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DJSparty

Member Since 21 Apr 2012
Offline Last Active Oct 22 2024 10:29 PM

#991346 Ramblings of a NaruSaku fan 10 years later

Posted by DJSparty on 03 October 2024 - 09:43 PM

Intro:

 

Coming up on 10 years since the original Naruto Manga ended. I have not really posted on here since then. Been in and out of the Naruto fandom, focusing on Naruto/Sakura fanfics sporadically. Definitely been binging the last two months and it's part of the reason why I wanted to post this. 

 

I thought time would lessen the disappointment but unfortunately it has not. The sting and hurt is still there. I figure sharing my experience here might help me find some catharsis and resolution. A lot of my thoughts here are from my recollection as they happened and the series playing out in real time.

 

 

Recap:

 

As a kid, I always rooted for male and female protagonists to get together because their supportive relationships were often the most developed in fiction. I still enjoy exploring this dynamic in my reading today.

 

I first began watching the OG Naruto anime as a young teen, Wave Arc/Chunin Exams on Toonami (post DBZ).

 

Naruto was my favorite character. I was rooting for him the whole time, wanting him to be better, and seeing him overcome every obstacle was something that made me happy. I saw myself in Naruto, I always considered myself not talented, I was never popular and considered myself a sort of outcast, and I could never “get the girl”.

 

I did not like Sasuke’s character, I thought everything came to him to easy. I did not get the fascination of his appeal, and I just did not like his arrogance. He came off as conceded, and ungrateful. I thought he was a jerk.

 

Sakura was my favorite female character in the series, even though she may not have been the one I found the most attractive initially (had a huge crush on TenTen as a kid).

 

I liked & understood Naruto’s crush on Sakura, although I did not like her crush on Sasuke, especially in the early parts. I was rooting for Naruto to win “the girl” over.

 

I definitely felt sympathy for Hinata and her character. Although I never really liked her, I thought her eyes were weird, I didn’t like her original haircut (much better in Shippuden), and furthermore, I did not like her stalker-like behavior. I just found it unappealing. I did however see her potential as a character, especially during her conflict with Neji, and the Hyuga clan storyline (unsure if that was ever resolved in any way post-ending).

 

If you asked me as a kid who just watched the OG anime in the west, who would get together. I would have probably said Naruto/Hinata, Sasuke/Sakura. I wasn’t happy about it, and I shipped NaruSaku back then, but just the way the anime came across, it emphasized NH/SS. I did not get the appeal of either ships however. 

 

I began to read the manga around 2007-2008 and became a regular every week, reading all the newly released chapters. The most apparent thing that I noticed in the Manga, especially in the early post-time skip period, was that the dynamic of Naruto & Sakura’s relationship had shifted. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but they just both seemed to grow closer. I began to actually have a lot of hope that they would end up together.

 

I first became convinced of the chance of them being together by being pointed to the most obvious parallel at the time, Jiraiya/Tsunade. It was apparent and obvious. Further exacerbated by the fact that at the time of Jiraiya’s death, he considered one of his greatest failure’s to be not winning over the woman he loved. For a work of fiction that consistently preaches surpassing the next generation, I was taken in hook, line and sinker of how NaruSaku was endgame.

 

The peak of Naruto in my opinion was always the Pain arc. The absolute tragedy of Jiraiya’s death, Sasuke’s descent into complete darkness and wanting to destroy the leaf village. Naruto’s sage mode training and success. Sakura calling out to Naruto as he arrives. The parallel of Naruto/Nagato. Sakura’s hug. It definitely seemed like a hard peak to top and felt like the climax of the story. In my opinion it set up Sasuke as the perfect “final villain”.

 

I didn’t pay much attention to Hinata’s confession, as she put it, it was quite selfish. In the manga, she only got a few panels, and she was completely blown away & outmatched. I’m aware the anime drew out her fight, which I thought was cheesy. Naruto himself instructed everyone to stay out of the fight for a reason. Whether it was Iruka, Sakura, Neji, or Shikamaru, seeing any of them being killed by Pain, would have set Naruto off the same way. Naruto just didn't want his comrades to die for him.

 

Post-Pain attack, when Sai revealed Naruto’s feelings for Sakura, I really, really thought this was it. She returned his feelings and now it was time for them to get together, and then deal with Sasuke, rescuing him or eliminating him, I didn’t mind either tbh.

 

Sakura's confession was a mixed bag for me. I wanted to believe her. At the time I convinced myself her feelings and what she said for Naruto was true. Naruto calling her out on lying was a gut punch. I was following many different forums at the time and the reactions were mixed. NH/SS fans were obviously saying Sakura was lying about her feelings for Naruto and trying to manipulate him. Myself and many NS fans believed her feelings for Naruto to be true however she had unresolved feelings for Sasuke, and but wanted to relieve Naruto of the burden of the PoaL. 

 

I think 469 was an inflection point for many things. Kishimoto himself at the time even said, he said Sakura was an honest girl, and I felt it was appropriate to believe him. Many people around Kishi commented on how taken aback he was by the vitrol directed towards Sakura. I thought the chapter was not well written then and I still do now. I wish it was resolved differently. 

 

If NaruSaku was endgame, I definitely felt like this is where things changed going forward. Although at the time I just brushed it off thinking that there was another layer in his writing. Kishi and the whole apparatus surrounding him did not help by throwing out all the “red herrings”. I was still a big believer post confession.

 

I thought Sai’s explanation of Sakura’s decision to kill Sasuke was stupid. “She loves him so much, she wants to kill him. She’s ok with Naruto hating her.” That never sat well with me. At the time I spun it as, her feelings for Naruto being so deep, she was willing to endure Naruto’s hatred, in order to protect him from himself.

I obviously enjoyed Naruto saving Sakura from Sasuke, I truly thought that would have been a turning point in whatever feelings Sakura had for Sasuke. 

 

When Naruto met his mother, and she stated “Don’t find a weird one, find a girl like me”, I was beaming as mom had given her approval. Naruto himself thought Hinata was weird. Everything about Kushina and Sakura were similar, I thought it was a no brainer. The unique hair color, the hated forehead, their temperament, even their facial expressions. The one they loved complimenting their most hated feature. Minato complimenting Kushina’s red hair (Naruto, as Sasuke, complimenting Sakura’s forehead). THE SAME DAME POSE AND GLARE after saving their loved one.

 

I remember the stupidity of the love letter snippet and chapter 540. “The guy you love must be really great”. I look at this chapter, and just thought it was unnecessary, and why was Kishimoto going so far in order to convey SS. I remember people on here were puzzled, but we stuck through, thinking there was more planned.

 

I remember the stark contrast of when the Allied Shinobi force was rushing to Naruto and Bee in chapter 573. Hinata was focused solely on Naruto, and her journey with Naruto, I found it quite selfish. She wanted to stop chasing him and hold his hand by his side. Sakura, in contrast, voiced how Naruto is always taking on the burdens alone, and how they are going to be together, not just her but everyone.

 

I always think an author’s message that is being conveyed is important. I perceived both Hinata and Sakura very differently when reading their inner thoughts.

 

Hinata was very much “I, I, I”. She was focused on herself in relation to Naruto. Everything was about her, and her feelings. How she wanted to be by his side.

 

Sakura was the exact opposite, “We, we, we”. She took the approach once again of what’s best for Naruto, not herself. She understood the burdens Naruto bore and wanted to help him, alongside everyone else. She always had.

 

Selfishness (Hinata) vs Selflessness (Sakura). On the forums here, people were rejoicing at the line “but no matter what you say this time… we are going to be together…. Not just me…”, as a stark contrast to Sakura's thoughts in 540.

 

The Tobi/Obito revelation was pretty meh. I remember people thought it was contrived that Obito basically wanted the world to end because his love interest died. Fittingly, I thought another parallel played out here. Obito and Naruto commented on how they are both alike. Sakura reminded Obito of Rin against Kaguya.

 

615-616 Hinata had her critical moment after Neji's death. She helped Naruto recover from his funk, holding his hand, etc. While I am biased, I did not view this as romantic gesture. I thought it was closure for her character arc. Obviously, later interviews revealed it was meant to cement the romantic nature of NH, with Neji as a sort of "cupid." What frustrates me are the other misleading moments and red herrings that followed.

 

631, and 663 for me were the peak of NaruSaku in the manga. We had confirmation of Minato asking Sakura if she was Naruto’s girlfriend and Naruto responding “sorta”. The symbolism of Sakura having Naruto’s heart in her hands, was fantastic. The action of saving his life and supporting his dream, and how she won’t let him die. Peak Sakura and the absolute epitome of their relationship. Everyone could no longer deny the symbolism, and parallels between Naruto/Sakura & Minato/Kushina. I truly thought that this was ball game.

 

I still had hope, even during 693, the symbolism of Sakura pleading with Sasuke that she loves him, and him stabbing her through the heart (genjustsu). I figured the symbolism was of him “killing off” her feelings towards. Sasuke. Obviously, the pairings were set at this point due to production of The Last, etc.

 

 

 

Parallelism:

 

The concept of parallels in Naruto was a MASSIVE THEME. Naruto/Jiraiya/Hashirama, Sasuke/Orochimaru/Madara, Sakura/Tsunade. Team 7/Team Sannin/Team Minato. But yet the pairing parallel was the red herring. How each team was cut short or unable to be reconciled. It was a big part of the journey. 

 

Parallels really told the story of Naruto/Sakura in my opinion. It was actually quite beautiful to see in real time play out as the Manga was ongoing. Jiraiya/Tsunade, Minato/Kushina, Obito/Rin. Each pairing did not materialize or was cut short. For me I thought that Naruto/Sakura was the culmination of being successful where their past predecessors did not.

 

What frustrated me is that people down play all these parallels regarding these pairings. Nobody ever questioned Jiraiya and Obito’s feelings. Yet Naruto’s love and feelings were downplayed.  

 

 

Reflecting:

 

Looking at all this now, I felt like the latter stages of the manga were a ping pong of “pairing” moments with each fan base claiming victory or defeat. The last 100 chapters I was sort of following along just to see if Naruto and Sakura would end up together. It almost felt like the story at this point was an afterthought. I just knew that Naruto had to fight Sasuke one final time in order for the manga to end.

 

I am disappointed. I am disappointed with the author. I am disappointed with the story. I am disappointed with the titular character, Naruto and how he ended up. I am ultimately disappointed with myself.

 

I am unsure as to whether I gaslit myself into believing this ship could sail. 

 

If I take Kishi at his word (canon pairings were always endgame), then he did an absolute piss poor job as a writer to convey those pairings. Ultimately this is what I felt derailed the story in its later stages.

 

In the Naruto community, on here, on Reddit, on Youtube and throughout, it is quite interesting to see the acknowledgement of how badly the pairing wars messed up the main story of Naruto. It is very telling that the amount of material pumped out (trash spin off, movies, novels, etc) after the series ended in order to paper over the gigantic chasms left by Kishi.

 

There is a lot of guesswork as to how everything went down when Kishimoto was writing most of the Manga. I do not think it will ever really come to light what decisions were made and why. As therapeutic as it is to type everything out, the ending still stings.

 

I’d assume most of them were made for money, and engagement. I always found it odd that more people did not support NaruSaku. Naruto's feelings for Sakura were always put on display in the Manga. I always believed in him and never questioned his feelings. I still find it insulting to de-legitimize his feelings for Sakura, as wanting to "one-up" Sasuke, planned or not.  

 

The unanswered question of “well why didn’t he develop the canon pairings more?”. It could simply be that he didn’t know how to. He himself admitted he cannot write female characters or romance. It’s not really surprising in retrospect. I think that is a big reason why he stepped away from the franchise after the manga ended. Funny enough, Kishi wrote the Minato Spiraling Vortex one-shot, and it had a TON of parallels…...

 

I’m not an author, but I do generally believe any good story always has a “Show, don’t tell”, theme.

 

Kishimoto's depiction, his views, and his insights of Sakura/Sasuke relationship is incredibly toxic and misogynistic. As a man, who grew up exposed to spousal abuse in my childhood home. Seeing this portrayal of a relationship to a young audience is not ok, and it will never be ok. It can never be sane washed. Their relationship, or lack of one, in Boruto is quite telling.

 

There were many points in the manga where Naruto & Hinata’s romantic relationship could have been built upon, but it wasn’t for some reason. A movie retconning primary elements of the manga doesn’t change the poor execution of it. Naruto never once expressed in Hinata in the entirety of the manga, full stop. 

 

I like to think that Naruto and Sakura’s relationship was one of maturity, mutual admiration, acknowledgement, understanding, selflessness, and respect. I think there is something to be said about NaruSaku supporters and emotional maturity. I never understood the hate it got, considering that Naruto himself loved her. Sakura had so much potential as a character, I’m a sucker for strong female characters. It is heartening for me to see Sakura’s rise in popularity after some time has passed. Too little too late unfortunately.

 

From chapter 3 onwards, that was reinforced that they always tried to take care of each other. I took that as true love. Kishimoto showed that either overtly (NaruSaku was endgame but he was convinced/directed otherwise), or inadvertently (trolling). If Kishimoto’s intentions were to troll sections of the fanbase and keep them engaged, then he should rightly be called out for it. 

 

 

 

Conclusion:

 

I still consider myself a Naruto/Sakura fan. My interpretation of their relationship, in the moment when I was in the middle of following the series is always going to ring true. It has always made the most sense to me. I believe I deserve that from Masashi Kishimoto.

 

I did not mean for this post to be this long; this was just me venting my thoughts. Ultimately my feelings of disappointment, and resentment lies with Masashi Kishimoto. His decisions to misdirect and write the story and his characters how he wrote them should bear the criticism and ire of a displeased fanbase.

 

Some believe he gave in to external pressure, and for a while I think I did too. However, I think in the back of my mind that gave me some sort of hope. Part of me thinks it is best for me to take him at his word (even though his word changes), for the sake of closure. I have not kept up with every interview since the ending of the manga so I don’t know everything that has come out. As stated earlier the snippets I have heard were mentioned above. Feel free to discuss or correct me if I am wrong.

 

If you are here with me at the end of this novel stream of consciousness, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I’m around sporadically, just to see what the community is up to. I’d like to still keep it alive and I hope many others are with me.

 

You are all awesome!

 

Best,

Sparty

 

 




#690022 The Last theory: Collection of Info & co.

Posted by DJSparty on 06 December 2014 - 07:40 AM

Just got back from going out and had a chance to catch up with the thread.... Seriously sucks being out of likes reading some of the other posts. 

 

First, it's not worth it to cry over Kishi's work. It's good to remember that it's just fiction at the end of the day. From the sounds of all the spoilers and what others are saying NS wasn't resolved or even acknowledged in the movie. In my opinion, I think that is better. People who read the manga in the future and get into the series will probably be shocked at how it ends and how inconsistent the pairings are with the manga's theme's. Especially when the author is on record saying he intentionally misled the most developed boy-girl relationship in his story just to keep fans on board (Flat out wrong/Soul Selling but I guess he was well within his rights, there has to be some accountability IMO). 

 

Second, the writing took a nosedive when he decided to increase the fights and wars to DB/DBZ levels. I don't know if you guys ever read the fic, "The Sealed Kunai", but it is absolutely excellent and to date one of the best written Naruto fics on FF (Not NS or any major ships BTW). It's funny when I hear that Kishi decided to mimic DBZ and how Toriyama wrote his story. Toriyama never strung along with regards to romance. Everything was decided and built upon, case in point is Vegeta/Bulma. They had a child together and slowly over time it was shown that they cared for each other. It was SHOWN from both sides (unlike SS)!!!

 

Third, and I've said this before, I'm really looking forward to the output of a lot of NS fanfics/fanarts that will come out of this. Hard to believe that there are writers out there that are posting free work that is written better than what we were shown with Kishimoto. 

 

Chin up people,

We don't need a canon for our ship to still sail!!




#687677 The Last theory: Collection of Info & co.

Posted by DJSparty on 05 December 2014 - 07:18 PM

The dying wishes of a mother are meant to be misleading no way.

The Majin Vegeta speeches are just straight epic. The battle between him and Goku are, in my opinion, the greatest in Anime history. Bruce Faulconer's music fit the series perfectly.




#673926 The Last: Naruto the Movie: Thread 2 aka The Last retcon: Hinata-sama the movie

Posted by DJSparty on 25 November 2014 - 06:05 PM

Wow, truth be told I can't even be mad at this. It's pretty hilarious how far off the movie and the last two chapters are.

 

What was drawn and written through, at the very least, 692 chapters of this manga lead many non-shippers and casual fans in a completely different direction. Kishi's rules and themes he wrote are completely disregarded when it comes to the romance aspect of the story. This man truly can't write romance to save his life. If what he says is true and the pairings were decided a long time ago, then he unintentionally created one of the most powerful bonds in the manga and had no freaking idea how to stick to his original endgame pairings. It's is extremely sad and unethical (IMO) when you have to undermine a relationship in order to move on with the story to "make it all fit". I'm going to reiterate what I said earlier, if he didn't know/was embarrassed to write romance then he should never have done it in the first place. Not surprised that he failed to understand character's feelings.

 

You get an F for literary competence Kishi. Count me in the group as no longer a fan of your work.




#667202 Kishimoto on why Sakura is with Sasuke, and other horrible ideas.

Posted by DJSparty on 20 November 2014 - 11:06 PM

Sorry about this double post guys, but I thought this thread was a more appropriate place to put my rant rather than the movie thread:

 

The degradation of the titular character's goals and interests are astounding. Never before have I read a piece of fiction where the main character was just thrown to the wayside in the last chapter, epilogue, and this farce of a movie. The facts are that it doesn't matter when Kishimoto decided on the final pairings. If there was some sort of progression towards the endgame pairings. The story would have been MUCH MORE digestible and the ending would have made sense. The red herrings that Kishi gave us are insulting to the characters he created and the relationships they had, Jiraiya/Tsunade, Obito/Rin, and most importantly Minato/Kushina. 
 
The travesty of this is that the writer of a series would go to extreme lengths to keep the fans guessing. An old friend of mine who happened to get in to Naruto the same time as me has a degree in English with a specialization in creative writing. He's currently aiming for a PhD in English. We happened to run into each other and caught up, one of our common interest were this manga and he too was shocked with the ending and he's not even a shipper at all He broached several topics, but one of the main ones we discussed was the artwork. I don't know how much depicting literal foreshadowing plays in Japanese culture but showing mirror panels EVERYWHERE would give an educated individual such as him a great sense where the story was headed...... NOPE. 
 
Another issue he had was with the whole "pale love" Naruto had for Sakura. He heavily criticized Kishi for showing the CPR scene. He said, and I quote, "The literal symbolicism of a girl holding a boy's heart in her hands means that his heart is devoted to her, the fact that she beats it for him just compounds that fact that she is his reason for living." While I thought that was pretty strong a statement I couldn't really deny it.
 
The artwork of this manga and the anime are completely counter intuitive to what Kishi wrote and/or planned. We both concluded that Kishi's writing skills should be called into question and any future works should be looked at with a grain of salt. A self respecting writer who should care for his fans has a duty to write a clear concise story that flows well so that his fans understand the story first and foremost. 
 
We also both agreed that if Kishi wasn't good at writing romance, he should have never delved so deep into it in the first place. Fact is he couldn't conclude the love triangle properly withing 700 chapters and 15 years of writing this manga. Using a movie to show how the romance developed for the MAIN CHARACTER further exacerbates this thought. Even now, we are getting hints that they are embarrassed drawing these "romantic scenes". Kishimoto and his team bit off more than they could chew and are now backtracking like nobody's business in order to make this all seem plausible. 
 
The Naruto fandom will probably only get a true answer of what really went through Kishimoto's head well after Part 3 has ended. Many writers such as JK Rowling, and Akira Toriyama have done so, explaining what they might have done differently or if they were indeed pressured to change the story to cater to the masses.




#667188 The Last: Naruto the Movie: Thread 2 aka The Last retcon: Hinata-sama the movie

Posted by DJSparty on 20 November 2014 - 10:54 PM

The degradation of the titular character's goals and interests are astounding. Never before have I read a piece of fiction where the main character was just thrown to the wayside in the last chapter, epilogue, and this farce of a movie. The facts are that it doesn't matter when Kishimoto decided on the final pairings. If there was some sort of progression towards the endgame pairings. The story would have been MUCH MORE digestible and the ending would have made sense. The red herrings that Kishi gave us are insulting to the characters he created and the relationships they had, Jiraiya/Tsunade, Obito/Rin, and most importantly Minato/Kushina. 

 

The travesty of this is that the writer of a series would go to extreme lengths to keep the fans guessing. An old friend of mine who happened to get in to Naruto the same time as me has a degree in English with a specialization in creative writing. He's currently aiming for a PhD in English. We happened to run into each other and caught up, one of our common interest were this manga and he too was shocked with the ending and he's not even a shipper at all He broached several topics, but one of the main ones we discussed was the artwork. I don't know how much depicting literal foreshadowing plays in Japanese culture but showing mirror panels EVERYWHERE would give an educated individual such as him a great sense where the story was headed...... NOPE. 

 

Another issue he had was with the whole "pale love" Naruto had for Sakura. He heavily criticized Kishi for showing the CPR scene. He said, and I quote, "The literal symbolicism of a girl holding a boy's heart in her hands means that his heart is devoted to her, the fact that she beats it for him just compounds that fact that she is his reason for living." While I thought that was pretty strong a statement I couldn't really deny it.

 

The artwork of this manga and the anime are completely counter intuitive to what Kishi wrote and/or planned. We both concluded that Kishi's writing skills should be called into question and any future works should be looked at with a grain of salt. A self respecting writer who should care for his fans has a duty to write a clear concise story that flows well so that his fans understand the story first and foremost. 

 

We also both agreed that if Kishi wasn't good at writing romance, he should have never delved so deep into it in the first place. Fact is he couldn't conclude the love triangle properly withing 700 chapters and 15 years of writing this manga. Using a movie to show how the romance developed for the MAIN CHARACTER further exacerbates this thought. Even now, we are getting hints that they are embarrassed drawing these "romantic scenes". Kishimoto and his team bit off more than they could chew and are now backtracking like nobody's business in order to make this all seem plausible. 

 

The Naruto fandom will probably only get a true answer of what really went through Kishimoto's head well after Part 3 has ended. Many writers such as JK Rowling, and Akira Toriyama have done so, explaining what they might have done differently or if they were indeed pressured to change the story to cater to the masses.




#666591 Official NFL Thread

Posted by DJSparty on 20 November 2014 - 05:05 PM

Blount Force Trauma back in NE. Nobody wants to hit that Blount!!!




#663608 Official NFL Thread

Posted by DJSparty on 17 November 2014 - 05:06 PM

JONAS GRAY!!! 4 TDS, 199 YARDS!!! The guy could of easily of made 6 and broke the record if Patriots let him. Taking away the first 4 weeks (which were the weeks Patriots weren't themselves yet), Patriots are the best offense, and a top 5 defense in the league.

As people rush to pick up him in the waiver wire this week....

 

Knowing the pats, he won't even get 10 carries next week XD.




#662000 The Last theory: Collection of Info & co.

Posted by DJSparty on 15 November 2014 - 10:38 PM

Okay, I am going to be honest....if NS some how...SOME HOW...manages to be canon in the end, I still would not find this ending...appealing. Like I said, it is not really about pairings choice, but rather...the ending was just bad...even if my OTP or whatever happens...it all feels bad. It feels weird.

15 years and 700 chapters of a manga should be more than enough time and space to have a resolution to the main characters love interest in a logical, concise, well written way.

 

 

I also am annoyed if Kishimoto-sensei thinks we're all morons to assume Naruto's love for Sakura was pale when it was VERY real!

Sacrificing one's personal feelings for the sake of another person is not pale at all. It's foolish to even consider..... It's demeaning to many parent-children relationships.




#661970 Can Naruto still be considered the hero we knew?

Posted by DJSparty on 15 November 2014 - 10:15 PM

As for Naruto still being the hero we know? It's a tough question, and given the ending of the manga, an even tougher answer. The fact that there is any question or doubt in whether or not he is/was is troubling to me, and therefore I'd have to go with no, he wasn't. He accomplished what he stated were his goals but he didn't surpass his predecessors in any respect, in my opinion. The hero never got THE girl, and to me that's a big deal. Especially when it was emphasized with his teacher's last words (it is implied that Naruto was/is supposed to surpass Jiraiya) about not getting the love of his life. 

 

I don't know if the Tale of the Gutsy Ninja is the same as it was in the manga but if it is, Naruto's actions goes directly against what he said to Nagato when he said "That's who Naruto is." Which is disheartening. 




#647553 FoolishYoungling's thoughs on the conclusion of Naruto.

Posted by DJSparty on 07 November 2014 - 03:23 AM

We're all disappointed in this. I started this anime 10 years ago, and I have shipped NaruSaku hard everyday for these past 10 years. I was 8 at the time, so I started understanding love and how to care for women because of Naruto. The way Sakura would change when she was with Naruto was just a tearjerker. She was so cute, and Naruto knew how to make her feel like she was the best girl ever. Any girl would of left a guy (who only gave her something good looking to see) for a guy who was raising as the hero of the world, and featured unchallengeable love for her.

 

This love wasn't even brought back up. He never got to tell Sakura all about her forehead or anything. Nothing about how he saw his mother in her. Nothing about how she made his heart go crazy. Heck, Naruto doesn't even talk with Sasuke or Sakura anymore... Team 7 isn't back together. They split up all just because they grew up?.. Sasuke has spent 15 years being a loner and just coming back for a little while to make Sakura raise a kid by herself. You would think that the two people (Naruto and Sasuke) that know the importance to have a loving family more than anyone else would be extremely attached to their kids.

 

Instead Naruto grew up (TOO MUCH) and became a strict parent. He just became hokage and his son is around 8 years old. Where was his excuse to not spend time with him those 8 years? What is Sasuke's reason to not stop traveling the world after a few months/years and come back for his child he gave Sakura? None. Just Kishimoto ruining team 7, characters development, and a lot of things that should of been resolved. This end was extremely rushed. We had no time to celebrate the victory of this long war. WHY NOT!? 15 years of work all just to be rushed off. Such a great manga that just... ruined my childhood. I thought saying "I'll never forget the impact Naruto had on my childhood" would be a good thing. Now it will be nothing but a burden.

 

Only thing good I got out of NaruSaku was understanding love and then meeting Amanda and all you other amazing people here. I swear with NaruSaku I learned to treat women like they had it all with me. That's what Naruto offered Sakura, but she wanted to be a housewife of a boring guy who left her to raise the kid alone instead. Kishimoto said it right himself. "I suck at writing romance." You sure do you piece of garbage. One Piece owned all your sells anyway, so I'll have fun watching him show you how it's done for the next few years before he quits. Because you know. After spending over 15 years working on one manga. He isn't tired of writing a masterpiece. Then again... Naruto didn't end up a masterpiece... did it?

Couldn't agree more

 

Read your profile man, I just wanted to say we probably share the best OTP..... Brady/Belichick. TB12 = Greatest Living American and all shall bow down to Darth Hoodie!!!




#641159 Chapters 699+700 spoilers

Posted by DJSparty on 06 November 2014 - 01:03 AM

Hey guys,

 

I hope you all bear with me because this is going to be a pretty extensive post. I’m a long time lurker, all the way back to about 2008/2009. My only post on this website was in the old debate thread I believe. If you guys totally want to TL; DR this I won’t hold it against you. Here we go…..

 

As stated in my profile Naruto is the last manga/anime/cartoon I’ve followed in all my twenty-three years of living. Definitely the first series where I truly cared about what happened with the shipping. Truth be told in the beginning I honestly didn’t think our pairing would have a shot watching all of part one but I was still fully invested into it because I loved the concept of the hero and the heroine getting together (shipped Harry/Hermione, Ash/Misty, Tai/Sora, and for those who used to watch BeyBlade, Tyson/Hilary). Since DBZ was my first anime I ever got into I never cared about the shipping.

 

Moving on, in Shippuden, especially when I started reading the manga, I seriously began to hope that a favorite pairing of mine would turn out to be canon for once. The progression of scouring through the Interwebz from NarutoBase, NarutoForums which were filled with NS bashing and hating of Sakura, her being the butt of many jokes, I happened  to come across this beautiful gem, this soliloquy, this little slice of reprieve where like-minded people inspired me to believe in my original pairing because the manga gave some D*MNING evidence (or so I thought). The fact that many of you truly stay positive and keep hope alive is in and of itself evidence that this manga has touched the lives of all of us.

 

Real life is harsh, it’s cruel, and you are almost certainly guaranteed to never get what you quite want, it was nice to delve into the world of fiction where you see someone overcome insurmountable odds, and achieve every single thing they set out for themselves. Growing up I related to Naruto in a lot of ways, I look at Naruto as the last shade of my childhood leaving me. If these spoilers are truly real (I feel that they truly are) then it really pains me to have to leave it like this, a sense of unfullfillment as I move on to the future.

Moreover, looking back at this story and all the facts that were a supposed given makes me really question my reading comprehension and critical analysis skills, which I feel aren’t too shabby considering I just got accepted into a US medical school. The parallels from Minato/Kushina, and especially Obito/Rin, and Jiraiya/Tsunade and their implications/goals along with Naruto’s convictions of never, EVER giving up tied the knot for me. This, of course, is not counting the countless interactions in the manga. Clearly Masashi Kishimoto and I look at things a lot differently.

 

Sadly this is the last piece of fiction that I really have been invested in and probably will be for quite some time if not ever, regardless of how the story or pairings turned out. Although I’m probably not going to read the last two chapters (Unless ladyGT does them). Taking a page out of Naruto’s book (supposedly), I’m going to have to give up on my love and move on to something else that can possibly fill the void in some way shape or form, ironically.

 

Words cannot express enough gratitude to all the moderators on here, from Smiter, Derock, Nate Rivers, Sakura Blossoms, tricksie, FoolishYoungling (seriously, I love you #NoBromo…. TB12 is the greatest living American and all shall bow to Darth Hoodie :D). If I missed out any of the other moderators I apologise, I didn’t intentionally leave anyone out. Every single one of you deserves some rounds of applause for making this beautiful place happen.

 

To all of the veterans on here=>  Atheck you’re style of writing, insights , and vocabulary are truly special), James your sig was probably my favorite on here I found myself agreeing with all of your posts, lady GT you some of, if not the best, fanart I’ve ever seen and while I would totally understand if you decide to never draw NS again, I wouldn’t mind our version of 699/700 at all (send us off the right way), you are loved by this community. I dunno if you all remember Ciardha, most knowledgeable poster on manga I’ve ever seen. GravenImage, NaruSaku4Life3g,  Konan-Sama, luffyq1, Fenris, MangaReader, xxRomanceGirlxx, Chatte, Canadian_DJ, StriderC, catsi563, redragon88, ramenanmitsu, Toasty Warrior, 天地長久, rikoudou, Phantom_999, T XD, and anyone else who I missed, all of your insightful posts always left me with a positive feeling about the story and our pairing.

 

I could spend the rest of the night listing other insightful posters and their ideas but I will leave you all with this. Although this was just a manga, a piece of fiction, what we had here was an idea, concept, a vision, an ideal, therefore it exists and is a tangible piece of reality. Nobody, whether it be trolls, or even the author himself can take that away from us. Use these lessons that we have learned to accomplish any goal of yours.

 

I wish each and every single one of you nothing but the best, stick together through these turbulent times, for it is our BONDS that we rely on to keep on living.

 

In all likely hood this will probably be my last post on this site and I may come back here eventually after everything has settled down and sunk in. Feel free to respond to any of this. For now I’m bidding you all adieu.

 

Much love bruhs,

 

Sparty out

 

(Damn, that second to last paragraph was cheesy as all hell… XD)