Fickly

Yay, even the anime knows nh/ss is canon

Are you denying Naruto's words? Naruto' himself said; he knew what Hinata thought just by looking in her eyes. Not surprised you're ignoring it considering NS fans loves doing that '' ignoring''.



If Kishi was to have Naruto answer "you're a great friend but I like someone else", he certainly wouldn't go about it the way he did in this chapter as that would be setting her up for a massive dissapointment. There was ample time for Naruto to gently turn her down, but instead, we see that she is more determined and confident than she ever was. Naruto is not a jerk, if the answer was a simple "thanks but I'm not interested", he would have told Hinata long ago instead of letting her keep her hopes up. He knows what a unrequited love feels like.




So much emphasis has been put on Sakura's feelings for Sasuke lately, and so little nothing on Naruto's feelings for Sakura, that I believe you are mistaken in your analysis. For NS to happen, a LOT of development would be needed to repair the damage caused to it in the kage meeting arc.

Seriously, Sakura has acknowledged the hero and good man Naruto has become, so Kishi burned one of his major tool for turning Sakura around with that.

He also ruined the "Sakura finding out Naruto loves her" by having a 3rd party confess for him.

He also ruined MANY old NS moments with the Kage meeting arc. You can't say anymore that Yamato implied romantic love with his comment, not after his reaction to Sakura's confession. You also can't say "Sakura has been slowly falling in love with Naruto" <insert feeding/blushing/etc scene here> because Sakura herself revealed that she never looked at Naruto in a romantic way.

So all the "romantic development" between NS actually never happen, it was wishful thinking.

On the other hand, Kishi has revealed NOTHING of Naruto's romantic feelings ever since Hinata confessed. The door is still open there, while he would have to pretty much start over with Sakura -> Naruto.

All that Sai's flashback did was remind us that when Hinata confessed, Naruto still had feelings for someone else (since the flashback took place BEFORE Hinata confessed). But don't you find it awfully convenient that Kishi has not touched Naruto's feelings for either of them since? We've had plenty of Hinata -> Naruto and Sakura -> Sasuke moments. But no Naruto -> Sakura one. If Naruto is still sooooo in love with Sakura, why isn't it showing? Up to Hinata's confession we always had sporadic reminders of Naruto's feelings for Sakura. But not since then...

It's Kishi himself that is emphasing Hinata and Sakura's romantic feelings while neglecting Naruto, the fans are just taking what he is giving them.

If Naruto's feelings for Sakura are still as strong as ever, why isn't it showing while we had plenty of demonstrations from Sakura and Hinata?

Hinata has always been extremely insightful when it comes to Naruto. She wouldn't be this confident without reasons. She obviously took his "don't be so hard on yourself, you're strong" comment as an insentive to keep going, and I think she was right to.

Oh and...goes back to celebrating. Will be back here if someone answer me.

Hinata's extra bit of confidence is the result of Naruto telling her that she's strong in 559 (what Naruto said then meant a lot to her as her "thank you" expressed) and whatever message transpired through the two of them looking at each other's eyes. I'm not of the opinion that Hinata's "confidence" in this chapter is due to the two of them talking about the confession. I consider it a result of chapter 559. I was 90% sure would be canon after chapter 98 but after this one it became 100%. Whatever you guys say .





''Goes back to celebrate''

Hinata's extra bit of confidence is the result of Naruto telling her that she's strong in 559 (what Naruto said then meant a lot to her as her "thank you" expressed) and whatever message transpired through the two of them looking at each other's eyes. I'm not of the opinion that Hinata's "confidence" in this chapter is due to the two of them talking about the confession. I consider it a result of chapter 559. I was 90% sure would be canon after chapter 98 but after this one it became 100%. Whatever you guys say .





''Goes back to celebrate''