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What do I mean by this? I mean that ever since one other character was added into the chain, its really made an ordeal in that no matter which pairing or pairings occur, one character no matter the situaiton will be left without any notability, no pairing, no love whatsoever. Its a cruel aspect to think because we can say in most cases, other things equal assumption, any of the characters in this love situation could have some relationship, but among the pairings, the most well known, the big 3, NaruSaku, SasuSaku, and NaruHina, many assumed have been the central aspect of this winners and losers, yet the fact is, this is a simple overslimplication. Many would say the manga either goes:
NS happens so Sasuke and Hinata "lose"
or
SS and NH happen so "everybody wins"
What we can infer from this general statement though is no matter what happens, NS or otherwise, Naruto and Sakura are granted to win no matter what by this overslimplifcation.
Yet the case here is, why SS and NH when SS has been well, more antagonistic in development on Sakura and NH has just been infrequent while despite getting the majority of screentime, NS is still mocked or dismissed by many other fans?
It seems to many that if NS happens, Sasuke and Hinata lose, despite this, Sasuke doesn't even matter and to another, Hinata would be the only real loser in this pairing aspect
"But this is why NH and SS should happen because everyone would win." Yeah and it would also pose a problem of love can be true because sakura only hoped for a smug bastard like sasuke to become all warm and fuzzy and naruto to give up completely contradicting himself. Development or no development aside, this is just an oversimplfication that existed and was accepted until a certain point in the story.
Well to see why this overslimpflication isn't as easy as it once was, its because of the other characters, but one in particular I said has caused a shift or addition to this main chain of Hinata to Naruto to Sakura to Sasuke to he doesn't care. To say this, we need to cut down the big pairing tree.
As we know we can say this:
Sasuke is loved by Sakura, Ino, and Karin
Naruto is loved by Hinata
Sakura is loved by Naruto and Lee
Otherwise other minor nudged or probed pairings we can say like ShikamaruIno, ShikaTemari, InoSai, etc, anything thats only had a minor hint or notification is dismissed already, seeing the above, we can count these following pairings: NaruSaku, SasuSaku, NaruHina, SasuIno, SasuKarin, and LeeSaku. So we have 6 pairings, these all have been shown in more than one way or another, but out of them, one caused a new "addition" to upset this simplification of NS happens or not.
First, We look at SasuIno, though Ino loved Sasuke, her role and the lack of detail for her part in the story is not been focused on, because of this, her crush isn't labeled as important. So SasuIno is not a practical storywise pairing because it hasnt been focused on.
Second, we see LeeSaku, though it was shown in greater detail in the old chunin exams arc, it never went fullblown mainstream. It has its comic side in the SD spinoff, but its just that, it hasn't been emphasized or given time onscreen so what does this mean? Its in the same pit as SasuIno.
So now we have the big three and suprisingly, Sasukarin. Now many would say Wait SasuKarin? Didn't that pairing die in the land of iron or isnt Karin just a crazy minor character? In all actuality, the presence of Karin interupted the simple presence of this everyone wins aspect many have with NH and SS.
In reality, the chain is Hinata naruto sakura and sasuke on one end, but on the other end of sasuke is hanging Karin.
Now why is SasuKarin here despite being a smaller pairing? Well its just because Karin is here, because of her involvement with sauske, Karin has something the Sakura doesnt even have, its been her general association with sasuke, being present and having her feelings emphasized in those events that puts this pairing on an opposite anchor basically the opposite side of the scale on one end to where NH lies.
Why is it like this? again
Ino's love for Sasuke has been hardly brought up, even then its been in the lesser degree of whats actually occured in the story from what sakura has. Basically Sakura's impacts from loving sasuke have shown more in the story. The other deal with Lee's for sakura is just a short term one thats a minor scaled one that doesnt have major importance to the overall story. Its kinda sad for Ino and Lee but their loves have not been used to that full scale event to merit a position of this acnhorage that the others use.
So why is it that SasuKarin is the only non-big 3 pairing to find an anchoring on this "one person shall lose scale" Because its simple:
Karin and the aspect of NS or NH+SS occur and everyone wins didn't orignally involve her, when she came in and SK began, it was a third sasuke loving girl who appeared, however unlike SS and SI, Karins has been shown in a degree, but as the story developed there are other reasons to.
Simply at this point, If we had to look left to right, the real pairing chain would be like this with regards to flows of mutuality:
Hinata->I-Naruto->I<-Sakura-//-Sasuke-<-Karin
Notice the labels, you may be confused but I will explain, Hinatas to naruto is we know Hinata loves Naruto and Naruto is nice to Hinata, but the I there means, its really unaccounted for, this is going in line with the unresolved/unasnwered aspect of NH, its only one way as we know but Naruto is at least nice to her.
Naruto to Sakura and vice versa, this is set up because we know they are highly friendly to each other, the I here means, its not full term despite being the closest to an acutal BF-GF deal, Naruto loves Sakura, Sakura cares a lot for Naruto that much is true.
Now look at Sakura and Karin to Sasuke, its one way, simple because Sasuke doesn't love anyone or either of them. He is inbetween but the deal with Sakura is, Sakura isn't trusting sasuke while Karin to Sasuke is well, its just back to normal, I would have put the untrusting stuff but as of the apology Sasuke gave to Karin and how she is just well, normal as she has been around him for most of the series, its just she trusts him but Sakura doesn't.
So what can we see from this scale left to right? We can conclude that because Naruto and Sakura are more central, they are safe. Sasuke has the advantage of a 2 way path on his end while naruto is protected from losing due to his position between hinata and sakura. So what does this mean?
No matter what pairings occur, either Hinata or Karin ends up losing.
Yet this is still a very simple way of saying it. Again, we need to look at how the story flowed, but this is the current path. There are a few more ways to actually cut this down.
1. Sasuke is exempt to the results of this chain no matter what, its because his character has never had any need or focus on some romance aspect towards another girl or intimate relationship. Sasuke's character hasn't had this all these years, there would be no point for it at this moment, the only love he has had was the aspect of love from Itachi, brotherhood, and that of his clan. For Sasuke to get loving all these years later and so suddenly would be out of character. However there is an aspect on why this makes SK possible and a reason for it at the end of the scale. While sasuke doesn't have love for Sakura nor has he had any at all, with karin, despite what time was shown (even for a minor situation people make over the him trying to extingush the amterasu during the bee fight when it hit her) its the fact that SK has one major advantage over even the big 3, its the aspect of being the open ended pairing. It could possibly occur or have a hint of occuring due to the fact that its not because of her involvement or the time she has had with sasuke, its the fact that once sasukes demons are solved, there is always a possible hint because it would go against Sakuras development to just remain the same after all this time, but because Karin has been present around sasuke and had more screentime with him, it opens a better possibility to this.
2. Sakura's development has been drastic between Naruto and Sasuke, while its gotten better with Naruto, its been strained with sasuke, as recently as 635 we know she doesn't trust sasuke, yet its what do we expect between Sakura and Sasuke in the end? Just simple friendship, its not the recent events or the Kushina parallel, its the fact that sakura spent most of her time with naruto and just the fact that one event to the other put more emphasis on growth from what was once hate, to friendship, to compassion for naruto. Events like 457, 469-470 (yes this was part of it the aspect of her trying to make amends), 573, 630, 631, and yes 662+3 wouldn't be thrown in if it lead to nothing. As the writer of the "Narusaku is the big picture pairing" article said, he made a point about, the whole aspect of the pairing events lies on Sakura because she is in the center, Sakura is the sole character who has the descision of either its NS or SS for her and the resulting in either Hinata or Karin losing. Yet as the story goes, when we get events like her seeing narutos condition, wanting him to be hokage, and vowing not to let him die or telling everyone not to let him do it alone (again riding off the land of iron events) its just been general development for her. While her development with sasuke has been well, simply counter productive, she was nearly killed, saw how twisted he became, and was cautious of his appearence at the battlefield, even not trusting him as of recently. While nothing is needed on the Naruto side of deal for matience, Sakura's development cannot go in reverse just for the fact of her own character, Sakura will like sasuke in the end, but its only because she forgives him by means of naruto as the only sensible envisionoment. She trusts Naruto to make everything right.
3. Kushinas foreshadow means Naruto will be a winner no matter what: Lets be honest, no matter how the kushina arguement was debated even with it currently leaning on NS, Kushinas foreshadow means Naruto will win no matter what. Kishi hinted one pairing would be born from a case of unretiquited love returned and well, until 631 came out it was debated between NS and NH. Well as of now, its most recently leaning on NS. It made it clear that there would be a pairing and half of it was naruto, the other half a girl like kushina, though people sitll debate, its not suprising that it could end up NS. Unless it really did turn out to be reattributed as fans wanted or it was just a hoax, its not going to gain much respect for a grand trolling element if it wasn't of any importance in the first place. I mean how some fans claim 645 destoryed the Sakura-Kushina parallel despite naruto being compared to both parents throughout the series and how some thought it brought in a link of Minato to Hinata (despite no evidence of anything related between Hinata or Minato even feasibly existing). Others still disregard it mainly because of the sakura link. Really its simple, either its a foreshadow giving us a hint of NS at this point or it isn't. If it wasn't even needed though it shoudn't have existed and Minato should have just said thankyou to sakura instead of asking if she was his girlfriend.
4. Rather Naruto is the main character, he will get a girl no matter what. He is the progranonist, the hero, his role means his goals and priorites come before anyone else. This yes means if he still loves Sakura, then NS has priority over both SS and NH, this is because since Sasuke doesn't "desire" anyone then its bypassed but going down the scale, Sakuras (old) want of Sasuke and Hinatas want of Naruto are both over written. Naruto's goals have priority.
5. Hinata is at a disadvantage being an infrequent character, this is a simple reason. Though she loves Naruto, its not enough, with events like 631 landing on NS and Hinata herself not able to join Naruto in the extraction/revival event, its just constant missed development. Hinata is minor so this is a disadvantage. Yet Karin is minor too right? Well I would say she is a rare moderate character, she has a fair appearence but shes inbetween the scale of she has her importance and otherwise is just not needed at points. Bascially I say Kairn is the type of character who has done more than say Hinata and Shino, but less than other major ones like Tsunade, Gaara, and Shikamaru. She has her events but not as many as the other 3. Hinata though, she has her moments but due to her infrequentness its unresolved, a funny shocker is how even after being stabbed by sasuke, he at least resolved that with karin in a sense and they moved forward. Sasuke has yet to apologize to Sakura (and Naruto) for that matter. The stuff with Hinata is still left in the dust, the only notion of anything of her events was in 559 when naruto remembered how she defended him from pain, but that was it. Nothing on the confession yet even 6 years later, meanwhile we got a lot of progress with the NS stuff, even the minor Kushina foreshadow was built upon, Sakura has been weary of Sasuke, Karin was at least apologzied too and had her uzumaki chain power manifest itself as well. Even with 615, the whole hand holding remains buried and at this point its been more of an emphasis on nejis death, even to Naruto. Hinata goes on with the hand holding like in 633 but to naruto, this entire war arc, its been Neji's death, not the hand holding. Even then Naruto still told his dad he considered sakura his girlfriend, even liking that notion and Sakura has moved forward in the recent situation being there to help naruto in his near death event. Hinata as unresolved makes her stuck where she is, at one end of the scale while karin is at her end simply because she had the intial love and a bigger development involved with Sasuke compared to both Sakura and Ino.
So what can we conclude from this:
Sadly, there is no "everyone wins" situation like NH and SS originally wanted. But we can conclude:
1. Naruto and Sakura still win no matter what, either together or apart, they get someone. Even if Sakura is independent, she is a winner because the whole chain hinges on her choice even if sasuke would or most likely would still not return the feelings after all this story. Naruto is ensured because of the kushina foreshadow and being the main character.
2. Sasuke's character is exempt from this, it doesn't matter who he ends up with as he hasn't loved anyone at all.
3. No matter what, its either Hinata or Karin who loses, yet even at one end, SK has the advantage of at least being open ended, while there will be one canon pairing, kishi never said anything about more open ended ones and its very possible SK could be the main open ended pairng.
Other things to consider:
NS has the advantage due to the lions share of development and a bit of foreshadowing from 631, it has to lead somewhere, otherwise why bother with this and not focus on NH?
NH has issues with infrequency, its harder for it than ever due to the 631 sakura-kushina stuff and Hinata sadly being left behind after tripping in 662.
SS has been antagonistic, we cannot just see it as like everything sasuke did suddenly didn't matter, otherwise it bears risk to both his character and sakuras development if she would still just blindly love him. As I said before, she can forgive sasuke because of naruto. But to keep sakura consistent, the whole aspect of SS to have even mattered would be for her having gone into the change over the story of the antagonism the love put on her, again SS has its role as an antagonizing element on sakura's development and to a lesser extent naruto, mostly this mainifested in the land of iron events but its shown its antagonism on sakura with 635. Its a negative relationship but it has its role in the story. Otherwise how would sakura have learned the difference between ideal love and the real thing if events like the land of iron didnt occur? Part of SS is yes, being a catalyst force of antagonism on Sakura which eventually helps promote the scale of NS. again her releationship with naruto has only gone up, never down. SS only ends as friendship because of what naruto does, if anything SS becomes what it was before Sasuke left, but they remain friends, Sakura loving naruto in the end is still fully acceptable and believeable tat this point.
SK despite being a lesser pairing than the big 3, it has its purpose. Karin isn't any opposite to Sakura, she isnt an anti-heroine, she has her serious and funny moments, she isnt just a character given an important role like Ay, Mei, and Ohnoki who depsite being kage were absent for about 3/4ths of the story, Kairn has been around for about, I'd say roughly half the seires overall but has been around since the itachi pursuit, she has her role but its just that, like NS had the main focus and most of the development and progress and advancement, SK had its own small space to grow despite the other 3 major ones, despite the conflicts of the other 3, SK has its own little small potential by all means that it has the freedom to become not an offical pairing by any means, but it has a good potential to become an open ended one.
Edited by Inferno180, 10 March 2014 - 09:01 PM.
You just answered your own question there.
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