Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-12509038-20141124214040/@comment-8284722-20150125215914

@Kirin Yeah, the thing about Naruto's hypocrisy was starting to create problems. So I decided to drop it after Rachin pointed that out.

The Tailed Beast thing was going to come in sooner or later. The moment I saw "Nine" in the name, I knew there was more. I even predicted the Ten-Tails that way. But they were always a big deal; the very fact a Tailed Beast is in the protagonist MADE the series, literally made it.

Gotta agree with the plot's intended realism. And the Uchiha rant (stupid Sharingan spammers).

There's a lot I gotta say about Sakura's Part II development. For one, though, her development didn't go spiraling downwards after Kazekage Rescue. Or Sai and Sasuke. Or Hidan and Kakuzu. Or Itachi Pursuit. Or Invasion of Pain. In fact, in all those arcs, her bond with Naruto was getting stronger, whereas there was practically nothing going on on either side for her relationship with Sasuke (in the former statement, the same can be easily said for Part I). In Five Kage Summit, everything really went, for lack of a better word, rocky. Sakura now knows Naruto's feelings and is willing to be his girlfriend in order to ease his "suffering", but she's also trying to give Sasuke euthanasia in order to ease HIS "suffering". It was complex, but I decided to focus on Sakura's last two quotes from the arc: "All I can do now - is believe in them", and "Thank you Naruto. Because of you, I know we'll be Team 7 again". For me, I thought this would result in some sort of love triangle that would shape Sakura's character over the course of the rest of the series. You see, I see Team 7 as the three main aspects of love, and though they don't get it at first, them becoming the pinnacles of that is beautiful. For Naruto, it is camaraderie love, which was played out brilliantly. For Sasuke, it is familial love, which was rather rocky but ultimately played out well. And for Sakura, it is romantic love - all I can say to that is that Kishi probably hasn't read/seen The Hunger Games (of course, all the Japanese are going "THIS IS TEEN-FRIENDLY BATTLE ROYALE, DAMMIT!"). Problem was, the thing actually seemed to be in Naruto's favor. After all, throughout the war, there were many moments where it looked like Sakura would go for Sasuke and many moments where it looked like she wouldn't. Conversely, there was not a single moment of animosity between Naruto and Sakura. Hell, when I put it that way 693 is perfectly fine. But the outcome in 699? Okay, just no. For Hinata, the reason you gave for her is the very reason I've heard from every single NHer (except the only NHer I know personally, who literally has a crush on her). Problem is, that goes straight back into the thing about backgrounds predetermining endings. And it's a flaw that's existed throughout Naruto. Development is what is important and that's why NS, again, is far more capable than literally every other pairing even in "death". So in my opinion, had Part I never existed and Naruto beat Sasuke in their first battle, then it would all work, mainly because for the most part everyone's legit development stopped at various points of the Chunin Exams. But because of Naruto's popularity, Part II came around. And then everything shifted into a different direction. Anyway, if you're fed up with the romance, this is going to be my last thing on it.

I'll get into Sasuke later when you make that thread, although I would say that it should have just been Naruto, unless Kishi were to develop Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi further, at which point I'd easily call it Team 7. And that thing about fates makes a lot more sense when you put it that way.

@Jiton I gotta disagree with Naruto being a story about war. From Ch. 451 onwards, sure. But before that, not really. Across all 700 chapters, Naruto, as you mentioned, is a story about love - not just romantically (which it sucked at), but in all of its forms (which it rocked at). Everything else was pretty good. If it were me, I would have done Obito or Madara being behind everything.