Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-26320097-20150423120614/@comment-4068612-20150703001228

It's not a canceled out plot twist if stuff actually happens. What we perceived as a plot twist was simply a red herring used to help develop a character (ie. have Sarada's insecurities regarding family be resolved). You say cancel out, but that choice of word implies that the plot twist had no impact, which is what the person you've been butting heads with has been trying to argue.

When you say canceled out, it implies that you think the plot twist was pointless and did nothing. But we don't end where we began, because Sarada was changed by the twist, even if it turned out not to be real.

Without the brief moment of angst presented by the twist, you have Sarada who doesn't know how to feel about her family because she never gets to see her father. Her suspicions of her mother not being her mother stems from the fact that she doesn't really feel loved. You can easily see this from the fact that Sarada, while still resolute in her desire to save Sakura despite the now-false revelation of her lineage, questions her father over whether his feelings are truly connected with Sakura's or not.

I would actually argue that this was very smart of the author. Not because I believe it's brilliant writing or anything like that, but it allows him to have a more realistic Sarada. It would be strange to have her feel like nothing is wrong when her father is never home. So in order to resolve this without having to factually change that 1. Sasuke is her father and 2. Sakura is her birth mother, he introduces a mini-arc to help develop her and curb her of a reasonable insecurity.