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moss-veins · 3 years

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Did Sakura realize Naruto’s true feelings for Sasuke?

I’ve wanted to write about this for a while now and seeing posts like this, I finally felt motivated to do it.

In the linked post, Maoam (op) focuses on explaining Sakura’s reactions in certain moments of the manga concerning Naruto’s feeling towards Sasuke and vice versa. My post will be different as I’m only focusing on when I think we first see Sakura realize that Naruto’s feelings towards Sasuke is the same as hers (romantic).

This post will be a little long so I’ll break it off here for people who don’t wish to read it!

Now, this is my first read through of the manga and I think with analysis it usually takes multiple read throughs, however, I do think what is noticed by a first time reader is also important to note. Also, I’m reading the manga with no intention of finding this scenario. I will point out that I did notice this first in the anime, to my surprise since I was not looking for this. I never once speculated that Sakura was ever aware of Naruto’s feelings towards Sasuke and I’ve became aware of this on my own, only coming across the linked post (and others) after I came to my own realization. Honestly, I felt more relieved seeing others’ posts, helping me to not feel crazy for reading this particular anime moment (and manga moment) like this.

First I will state the moment I believed that Sakura realized Naruto’s romantic feelings for Sasuke since I feel like I’ve been prolonging it and, if anyone reads this, it’ll be what the reader actually wants to know. The moment is simply when Sakura meets Naruto at the gate before the retrieval mission.

Before diving into the moment that this post is about, I wanted to point out what I noticed before leading up into the moment (feel free to skip to the main topic). Something that contradicts anyone who wishes to think that Naruto and Sakura are close friends or even good teammates. Now, I never went into watching or reading Naruto with the mindset that they weren’t good friends or teammates. Since I started watching the anime as a kid, I saw the moments of team 7 being together and “joking” around and took that as friendship. However, as I got older and with reading Naruto blogs which talk in depth about many themes/topics in the manga and anime (as well as being a person who has studied to analyze literature), I’ve come to notice that it was not true friendship. Team 7 only showed the dynamic of coworkers/soldiers. They worked well as a team, they got along (mostly), but when the mission was over they went their separate paths and they didn’t hang out outside of “work.” I’m not counting the times Sakura spent at the hospital at Sasuke’s side because even when he was conscious he ignored her presence. The three had desired closeness but only from certain members and not as a group all together. Naruto desired to be close to Sasuke, Sakura desired to be close to Sasuke, and Sasuke desired to be close to Naruto.

Anyways, the contradiction I saw leading up to Naruto and Sakura at the gate was simply that they did not inform each other of Sasuke’s leaving. To start with Sakura, we know that she is woken up by two assistants getting documents for Tsunade (forgive me, I don’t remember their names). She tells them that Sasuke is gone, but where does she go after? Not to the Hokage and not to Naruto. If Sakura considered Naruto as a close friend or, at the very least, acted on the teammate role, she would have went straight to Naruto to inform him about Sasuke. Especially when the night before she told Naruto about the curse mark, Orochimaru, and her fear that Sasuke would leave the village. However, even though she did that and got comforted by Naruto, still the person who did tell Naruto was Shikamaru... who only told him because he was told to take Naruto on the retrieval mission.

Now, to switch my focus to Naruto... If he cared about Sakura (or liked/loved her) and cared about her worries and love for Sasuke (that he was aware of), why doesn’t he go running to her right after Shikamaru tells him that Sasuke has left? Naruto did not have to go with Shikamaru to pick a team, he could have went searching for Sakura and met Shikamaru at the gates in a time frame set by Shikamaru. However, the thought of telling Sakura does not cross his mind. Now, I’m sure some people may assume that during Shikamaru’s offscreen explanation to Naruto that he may have mentioned Sakura knowing and her role in informing the Hokage. However, we clearly see that is not the case because Naruto reacts with complete shock at hearing that Sakura met up with Sasuke and tried to stop him leaving the village.

“What... Sakura-chan. You already met with Sasuke!?”

Isn’t this interesting? That neither Sakura or Naruto informed the other of Sasuke being gone even though they both care about Sasuke and they’re all on the same team. It’s especially interesting since they all reflect on the picture of team 7 so often, that a viewer/reader who wasn’t attentive would easily believe that they are looking at the team as a whole... that they were all precious to one another, that they were all close friends. However, if they were close, Sakura would have run to Naruto immediately after waking up and Naruto would have went to find Sakura immediately after finding out from Shikamaru. I can’t say why they don’t feel like the other is important enough to do this. I don’t think Sakura at this moment knows of Naruto’s real feelings for Sasuke, therefore there shouldn’t be any reason for her to feel closed off from Naruto. Naruto, on the other hand, supposedly “likes” Sakura, enough to want to date her, but yet she isn’t the first person he runs to? Although, he does know that Sakura “likes” Sasuke... However, I can’t say whether that means he would be bitter to her because of it. He never (at least to this point, I can’t say anything for anything after) at least shows it. If anything, you’d think that the kind Naruto would at least be concerned about Sakura because of her feelings for Sasuke. Yet, neither of them go inform the other.

(The main topic starts here)

Moving on, finally to the moment of Sakura’s realization that Naruto shares the same feelings she has for Sasuke! (Also the moment that the attentive reader becomes aware of Naruto’s true feelings as well.)

Look at her face right after Naruto says this! She’s not reassured by this, is she? Her face does not show comfort in his words, she looks confused and then conflicted? Upset? Nothing positive. If she didn’t notice Naruto’s wording here, the hint of his true feelings behind them, wouldn’t she be comforted that Naruto is showing that he is taking this seriously? That he is also upset about losing his “friend”? Wouldn’t she feel comforted by not feeling alone in her hurt of losing someone she cares about? And what happens right after this? Sakura has a flashback....

Why this particular flashback? Why? Let’s say Sakura hasn’t realized Naruto’s true feelings behind the words he said, don’t you think there are more fitting memories she could recall to? Such as Naruto saving Sasuke from Orochimaru’s Snake during the chunin exam? Or how about the memory of talking to Sasuke after the fight with Gaara, where she assumed that Sasuke saved her and Sasuke corrected her, telling her that it was Naruto who saved her instead. These are just two examples she could recall to assure her that Naruto is strong enough to save people, that he is strong enough to save Sasuke. However, she remembers this flashback instead.... which regards feelings and Naruto’s understanding of them (ignoring the fact that she thinks she is talking to Sasuke when she isn’t). (A little food for thought as well, from her point of view, she is remembering Sasuke asking about how she felt about Naruto... Therefore, she is remembering “Sasuke” only focusing his attention on Naruto since the beginning....)

Again, why would she choose to focus on a memory that states, “He (Naruto) has now really become the troublemaker and disrupter of my love life... He seems to be enjoying watching me being troubled. He doesn’t understand anything about me...”

What did Naruto just say to her to trigger this memory? This... “Sakura-chan, you really like Sasuke, huh? I know how much pain you’re in because of Sasuke... I can understand.”

This is followed by:

He Always Knew. Or in other words (and translations) he always understood. This is the moment to me that she understood what Naruto meant behind his words (which could be why she is crying so hard yet again). She was hit with awareness and her flashback helped her to understand Naruto’s feelings as well. It’s also very interesting that she follows it with he always helped me. Sakura knows that Naruto has indeed always helped her and that he tries to make others feel better... So of course, Sakura would bet that Naruto would continue to help her regarding Sasuke even if she starts to see him as a rival for Sasuke’s love/attention (which Naruto kind of always was). Also, it’s important to remember that Sakura is a symbol of selfish love, so of course she is going to prioritize her feelings over Naruto’s. I think this is also why they never become closer than teammates. They never keep in touch unless they’re on a mission together (for an example, the years Naruto was gone with Jiraiya for training, they did not keep in touch).

(What follows are kind of stray thoughts which move away from Sakura’s initial realization that this post was about, so continue reading if you’d like!)

This may also be why, later in Naruto part 2, we see her lie to Sai about Naruto’s feelings towards Sasuke.

“Naruto... Thinks of Sasuke as being like a brother. That’s why.” It’s obvious she is lying in this panel, because she is immediately paralleled to Sai who is also lying about his feelings towards someone important to him. They’re both drawn to only show the bottom portion of their faces, from the side, and we can’t see their eyes. I mean, this may only be caught after the first time reader learns of the information we get later about Sai’s feelings that allows us to know that he is lying here. However, Kishimoto definitely knew Sai was lying in this moment and Sakura is lying as well. Sakura knows that Naruto doesn’t see Sasuke as a brother but she’s not going to outwardly admit that, huh? Also, the linked post mentioned above also goes over Sakura’s reaction to Naruto calling Sasuke “cooler” than Sai and how Sakura doesn’t genuinely smile in that moment, and honestly she looks a little worried. (that panel in its self seems like she is trying to distract Naruto’s view away from Sasuke and to a guy that “resembles” Sasuke instead.... but that’s for a whole other post).

Naruto’s face when he makes the “nice guy promise” to Sakura is obviously a forced smile. I’m not the first person to bring this up but I think it’s important to touch on it since I’m talking about the moment it happens in. Naruto’s action of hiding his pain behind a smile is something that the manga/anime has always showed us. For one example, here is Naruto starting to feel lonely and dejected by Jiraiya and we see he is hurt by Jiraiya’s words and refusal to stay with him while he trains, but he quickly changes to a smile to hide his emotions.

Another small thing I noticed is that after Naruto’s promise he leaves with Shikamaru’s team. There is no “goodbyes” or “I’ll see you soon” or any other exchange with Sakura. Perhaps he didn’t want to put on an act anymore and chose to put his focus on something else. To seem like the outgoing goofball he portrays himself as. We know Naruto prefers this type of attention anyways.

Also it’s interesting seeing Naruto’s reaction to Kiba, the face doesn’t look like a forced smile anymore (perhaps a peek behind the mask?) and it quickly turns into a determined one. He now isn’t putting on a fake act for Sakura (”a promise only for her”) and recites his Ninja Way. Before Sakura showed up at the gate Naruto only appeared outwardly to be determined and confident in this mission to return Sasuke back to village, and now thanks to Kiba bringing his attention away from Sakura, Naruto went back to how he was before.

Fin.

#moss-veins reads Naruto #naruto analysis #narusasu #sasunaru #sns #nsn #anti-narusaku #anti-sasusasku #naruto #i didnt really proof this so hopefully it makes sense lmao #my posts

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