ThroughWithLove

Kirisuna is so popular that it became DLC it an entirely separate series (Tales of Arise). Nobody but the most ardent Naruto fanboys gives a crap about Sasuke and Sakura (which is why the SS manga failed miserably).

 
 
 
You really can't forget about me, can you? I never said anything like that. Since you quoted me months later, I will clarify some recent events for some delusional fans who are still mourning NaruSaku death after 9 years.
 
I stated that they would disregard the Boruto manga storyline due to its poor quality and Ikemoto's inability to craft a compelling narrative or produce decent artwork. This has nothing to do with the canon couples.
 
The producers admited that:
 

 
As you can see, they would rather create their own story instead of use Ikemoto story. 
 
- Instead of focusing on Boruto and Kawaki, they shifted their focus to Sasuke and Naruto.
- Rather than the Otsutsuki, they centered their attention on the Uchiha clan.
- Instead of the Karma power, they focused on the Sharingan.
- War and clans conflict instead of the aliens.
 
 
At this point they're just try to milk out the Uchihas and popular plots then tried to hide it by adding Boruto's character in the game.  

 
Despite your alleged popularity of NaruSaku, which led to a decline in the franchise's popularity due to fan backlash, the game producers remained oblivious and made no alterations to the canon couples. Instead of developing an alternative NaruSaku family, they introduced a New Team Special featuring Sasuke, Sakura, and Sarada. 
 
As you can see, Nanashi was just an Uchiha wearing a blonde wig instead of a NaruSaku daughter from another dimension. Let's hope that every blonde character introduced is a NaruSaku son.
 

Also today is the official couples day in Japan.
They still are using the Canon Couples propaganda and ignoring NaruSaku.
 

 
 
They released a pair of rings referencing and paying tribute to Sasuke and Sakura.
 

 
https://twitter.com/...160104464814285
 
 
A big japonese site conducted a popularity poll to find out which couple is the most popular of all mangas. Guess what? 
 
 

 
第1位は『NARUTO』のあの二人 理想の夫婦キャラTOP10。『BLEACH』『マンキン』『SPY×FAMILY』からもランクイン | numan
 
numanヌーマン on X: "【11/22は #いい夫婦の日】 理想の夫婦キャラTOP10を発表 『NARUTO』サスケ&サクラ 『NARUTO』ナルトヒナタ 『シャーマンキング』葉アンナ 4位以下も注目❗https://t.co/DuKKxG006v 「サクラの想いが報われてよかった」 「ナルトとヒナタの長い道のり」 「葉とアンナの熟年夫婦感」 https://t.co/j042QzLF93" / X (twitter.com)
 
 
 
1 - Sasuke/Sakura from Naruto
2 - Naruto/Hinata from Naruto
3 - Yoh/Anna from Shaman King.
4 -  Lloyd/Yol Forger from Spy X Family.
5   - Ichigo/Inoue from Bleach.
 
Everybody in Japan hates the canon couples and everybody misses NaruSaku.  
 
I really admire the anger and some desilusional NaruSaku fan theories  fans 9 years after the ending.
 
 
GoodBye.
 
Let's wait. Maybe in 2050, a NaruSaku son from another dimension will appear, or Kishimoto will express regret for his canon couples decision, stating that he lost his wife based  Sakura to Sasuke due to the influence of the evil editors and Hinata fans.

NaruSaku represented one of the last (if not the only) bastions of truly good storytelling this series had to offer. As people have pointed out to you many times, the setup has been there since chapter 3.

This series has abandoned all attempts at meaningful storytelling, hence why Boruto is the universally acknowledged trash fire that it is. For all your sad efforts at appealing to popularity (i.e. hey guys, look at this random poll I found that ranks SasuSaku as the greatest anime pairing ever!), this is a truth you are utterly unable to ignore; your precious pairings coincide with a formerly universally popular series that has gotten so bad that an entire alternate future video game has to be released just so people might acquire some interest in the actual finished product. Whereas you see this and grow frustrated, I see this and smirk with vindication.🤣

You keep your canon trash fire (where in recognition of how awful these characters have become, Naruto and Hinata literally become fodder for the ole stuffed in the fridge trope). I'm content with fan creations (art, doujin and fanfiction) celebrating not what is, but what could have been.

 
 
 
You really can't forget about me, can you? I never said anything like that. Since you quoted me months later, I will clarify some recent events for some delusional fans who are still mourning NaruSaku death after 9 years.
 
I stated that they would disregard the Boruto manga storyline due to its poor quality and Ikemoto's inability to craft a compelling narrative or produce decent artwork. This has nothing to do with the canon couples.
 
The producers admited that:
 

 
As you can see, they would rather create their own story instead of use Ikemoto story. 
 
- Instead of focusing on Boruto and Kawaki, they shifted their focus to Sasuke and Naruto.
- Rather than the Otsutsuki, they centered their attention on the Uchiha clan.
- Instead of the Karma power, they focused on the Sharingan.
- War and clans conflict instead of the aliens.
 
 
At this point they're just try to milk out the Uchihas and popular plots then tried to hide it by adding Boruto's character in the game.  

 
Despite your alleged popularity of NaruSaku, which led to a decline in the franchise's popularity due to fan backlash, the game producers remained oblivious and made no alterations to the canon couples. Instead of developing an alternative NaruSaku family, they introduced a New Team Special featuring Sasuke, Sakura, and Sarada. 
 
As you can see, Nanashi was just an Uchiha wearing a blonde wig instead of a NaruSaku daughter from another dimension. Let's hope that every blonde character introduced is a NaruSaku son.
 

Also today is the official couples day in Japan.
They still are using the Canon Couples propaganda and ignoring NaruSaku.
 

 
 
They released a pair of rings referencing and paying tribute to Sasuke and Sakura.
 

 
https://twitter.com/...160104464814285
 
 
A big japonese site conducted a popularity poll to find out which couple is the most popular of all mangas. Guess what? 
 
 

 
第1位は『NARUTO』のあの二人 理想の夫婦キャラTOP10。『BLEACH』『マンキン』『SPY×FAMILY』からもランクイン | numan
 
numanヌーマン on X: "【11/22は #いい夫婦の日】 理想の夫婦キャラTOP10を発表 『NARUTO』サスケ&サクラ 『NARUTO』ナルトヒナタ 『シャーマンキング』葉アンナ 4位以下も注目❗https://t.co/DuKKxG006v 「サクラの想いが報われてよかった」 「ナルトとヒナタの長い道のり」 「葉とアンナの熟年夫婦感」 https://t.co/j042QzLF93" / X (twitter.com)
 
 
 
1 - Sasuke/Sakura from Naruto
2 - Naruto/Hinata from Naruto
3 - Yoh/Anna from Shaman King.
4 -  Lloyd/Yol Forger from Spy X Family.
5   - Ichigo/Inoue from Bleach.
 
Everybody in Japan hates the canon couples and everybody misses NaruSaku.  
 
I really admire the anger and some desilusional NaruSaku fan theories  fans 9 years after the ending.
 
 
GoodBye.
 
Let's wait. Maybe in 2050, a NaruSaku son from another dimension will appear, or Kishimoto will express regret for his canon couples decision, stating that he lost his wife based  Sakura to Sasuke due to the influence of the evil editors and Hinata fans.

NaruSaku represented one of the last (if not the only) of truly good storytelling this series had to offer. As people have pointed out to you many times, the setup has been there since chapter 3.

This series has abandoned all attempts at meaningful storytelling, hence why Boruto is the universally acknowledged trash fire that it is. For all your sad efforts at appealing to popularity (i.e. hey guys, look at this random poll I found that ranks SasuSaku as the greatest anime pairing ever!), this is a truth you are utterly unable to ignore; your precious pairings coincide with a formerly universally popular series that has gotten so bad that an entire alternate future video game has to be released just so people might acquire some interest in the actual finished product. Whereas you see this and grow frustrated, I see this and smirk with vindication.🤣

You keep your canon trash fire (where in recognition of how awful these characters have become, Naruto and Hinata literally become fodder for the ole stuffed in thr fridge trope). I'm content with fan creations (art, doujin and fanfiction) celebrating not what is, but could have bee.

I wouldn't say the series collapsed and lost its fanbase because NS did not happen, but I will say that NS not happening is a symptom of the reason the series collapsed and is in the miserable state its currently in. Kishimoto's original editor left the series at around the Pain arc and things slowly started falling apart since then. Perhaps Kishimoto's new editor gave him free reign? Perhaps too many hands began stirring the big fat Naruto pot (i.e. Studio Pierrot?) Perhaps all of the above? Either way, the tone of the writing post chapter 450 (perhaps arguably even several dozen chapters earlier than this) HEAVILY suggest that the Naruto steam train was slowly descending off the smoothly maintained rails it had been gliding on for 400+ chapters. I've gone over this before page by page and panel by panel in a separate thread here, but the entire fake confession sequence (everything leading up to it and everything afterwards) has to be some of the worst writing in this entire series. Characters literally contradict themselves in the span of a single chapter, Naruto's dialogue about wanting to die with Sasuke is blatant character assassination and it all ultimately serves no purpose (almost as if the author is telling us to pretend this part of the story never happened). Everything post 450 makes it abundantly clear that Kishimoto has no idea what he wants to do with this series. Sasuke is a member of the Akatsuki after the Itachi fight, but literally after the Pain arc, he spouts nonsense about no longer being a member since he upheld his end of the bargain to capture Bee. It was made clear that he was going to attack the leaf village (which would have been a better set piece than the bloated war arc) (hell, I don't even think Pain should have been given the opportunity to enter the leaf village since it undermines Sasuke's desire to do this). Not to mention all of these villains who are really being controlled by surprise surprise other villains (Pain < Obito < Madara < Zetsu < Kaguya < Aizen < Marijuana). The love, care and attention this shounen manga had been given over the course of 400+ chapters was erased and Naruto quickly devolved to same escalation/power-level/beam-spam nonsense you can find in any other series. Boruto takes these problems and makes them EVER WORSE with this whole Otsutski clan sh_t. That and Boruto is crappy and lazily written character. A lot of us grew up on Naruto because he was RELATABLE.  Boruto is not relatable. Just another edgelord gary-stu who is a dime a dozen these days. Even Boruto's entire angst angle is IDIOTIC given that it is a result of a problem even part 1 Naruto would know how to solve within ten seconds.
 
Under these circumstances, there is little wonder NS did not happen. The magic responsible for the original series' success disappeared 2/3 of the way through the original series. NS (and MANY other plot elements) needed this magic to work. Kishimoto got lazy and started getting writing advice from overseas YouTubers who have never written a single story in their entire lives. Over time, people began to sense that the magic emanating from the series they had fallen in love with had disappeared. Some of us noticed this in the form of the fights no longer having any real complexity to them and instead being glorified DBZ fights. Some of us noticed this in the form of previous plot lines either being abandoned outright or having no satisfying conclusion whatsoever (I like how all of the previous buildup about Danzo got reduced to nothing after having him quickly get killed after becoming Hokage; it's almost as if him becoming hokage did not matter). And some of noticed noticed this in the form of Naruto and Sakura's character arcs suddenly going in weird directions; if I'm reading chapter 459, 469 and 470 correctly, Naruto basically GAVE UP on his promise of a lifetime and confirmed to Sakura that he was saving only Sasuke for himself (keep in mind that Naruto's whole retarded 'lets die together' speech with Sasuke is an implicit acknowledgment that he is willing to accept an outcome where he fails to keep his promise to Sakura)---698 and 699 appear to be consistent with this, as the POAL is never referenced throughout these chapters despite it having been broadcasted as a pretty big moment for Naruto and Sakura throughout the end of part 1 and the beginning of part 2. Hell, even putting romance aside, the whole crap about Naruto being the child of prophecy and a bunch of other stuff that incidentally proves part 1 Neji right. A lot of people in the fandom saw these cracks and pipe-leaks forming in the series, but decided to keep watching/reading the series just to see how things ended or shipping. Believe it or not, even if a restaurant is bad, a lot of people will stick around and finish their meal at the restaurant. But once they're done, you can rest assured that those people will not come back. This is what happened to Naruto. People stuck it out to the end, but gave up on it afterwards and the thought of an emo gary-stu version of Naruto being the main character in a sequel didn't catch a lot of people's interest.

Villains in stories often and should be challenges to hero beyond the physical whether that be emotional, psychological, or ideological. This is often done by the villain being a dark reflection of the hero; often of a certain trait to both challenge and warn the hero.

 

In the latest chapter of the Mirai manga it made pretty clear the Ryuki is a dark reflection of Mirai's dissatisfaction of the current era. That they by living in an era of peace are unable to match the generation the came before them.

 

In Kotor II: The Sith Lords. The Titular Villains, the Sith Lords, are a dark reflection of the heroine the Jedi Exile. The Jedi Exile was a general in the Mandalorian War with an innate talent to create force bonds to strengthen her, during the final battle of the war she was betrayed by her leader, Darth Revan, by being order to activate a doomsday weapon the Mass Shadow Generator, the backlash of the mass death happening all at once made her cut herself off from the Force, but she in the game comes back defeats the Sith and her students go on to restore the Jedi Order that lasted for nearly 4000 years after her death. Darth Nihilus, Lord of Hunger, was an extreme of her relying on her force bond power to feed off others for strength; he became so consumed by his own power, he consumed his own body, and had to bind himself to his armor to survive. Darth Sion, Lord of Pain, is a dark reflection of her relying on the force to sustain herself; he became a walking corpse that could only survive by the Force. Darth Traya, Lord of Betrayal, both were betrayed by the Sith and exiled by the Jedi; Traya all the Jedi she trained followed Revan and fell to the darkside, she trained the other two lords in how to use their power which led to being consumed by their power, then betraying her, and she trained the Exile for revenge. Beyond the Exile, no other student survive to pass on her teaching leading them to mostly die with her beyond what the Exile taught to the Jedi. As Traya is the final boss she therefor is the greatest of the dark reflections of the Exile. IE Darth Revan's betrayal or in the game revenge against the Jedi Council for exiling her was the greatest danger that could have led to her falling to the darkside. 

 

Back to Naruto. As Obito is Naruto's greatest dark reflection he represents what is the greatest danger of what could make Naruto fall. Sakura's death at the hands of Sasuke. Why is that? Because, until the last moment of the manga he was in love with her. That's why Naruto understood and forgave him. Without Naruto's love of Sakura, the story doesn't work.

 

Beautifully written post and well said. The obvious parallel between Rin and Sakura should have been brought to light and this story and this story is criminally worse for not having even ATTEMPTED to bring this up AT ANY POINT during any of Naruto's confrontations with Obito. 

 

Oh, to think of all the things this story could have been. 

Instead we get:
"You only liked me because of your rivalry with Sasuke." and "Naruto doesn't understand love. He loved Sakura like a potato and thought Hinata wanted to eat him." completely invalidating the entire character and his motivations.   

They could have done that "Breakup" Respectfully, "I know you like me, and for a time I thought I liked you to but...nothing ever came of it and there's someone else out there who you should give a chance to." But Nah Hinata had to be HIS FIRST AND ONLY LOVE.

Obito being Naruto's dark mirror was such an interesting concept that was also ruined. Like I'm glad Obito redeemed himself but Naruto never needed to call him a "Cool guy" and proceed to copy his haircut. its just kittening weird. 

 

This. Horrendous. Horrendous. Horrendous. Horrendous storytelling. You do not set up a BLATANT parallel between the main character's love interest and the main villain's love interest and then DO NOTHING ABOUT IT. NS being endgame was plain as day.