Sakura wasn't lying about when she revealed her feelings for Naruto, she only lied about being over Sasuke, Kishi confirms this in an interview at Jump Fiesta.
I've been critical on Kishimoto's sense of character, before... but this takes the cake.
Sakura may love Naruto in the sense that she cares about his well-being... but as a romantic interest, it's just not there. In her head - she may even 'want' it to be there; she realizes that 'he's a great guy.' But he's the friend she can rely on - not what makes her loins tingle. That's the source of her confusion and frustration. Simply put - she knows she should be satisfied with Naruto, but also knows that she won't be.
That 'spark' just isn't there, and no real amount of character development on Sakura's part is going to change that.
Unless he decides to make one of his characters go completely out of character; like when Naruto flat-out ignores Hinata following his victory over Pain.
So did Sakura lie to Naruto about loving him?
Yes. When she was trying to say: "I love you, stop chasing after Sasuke" - it was all in the context of "I'm over Sasuke, and I have my eyes set on you." She knew exactly what Naruto would interpret those words to mean, and said them specifically as an emotional leverage to manipulate his actions.
If Kishimoto has some other idea about what Sakura was trying to do there, or thought it showed forward development of her character; he's spent far too much time drawing Naruto and needs to get back into society for a little bit. It did nothing but convey that she was being quite the self-centered and manipulative wench.
And anyone who said: "Aww" about her hugging Naruto deserves all of the ill-fated relationships they are guaranteed to have. Because they don't gaheet it.
Kishimoto: On the contrary.... I felt like depicting an honest girl, with a surprisingly stubborn impression.
So... she became such a character, but... well... from here on, maybe I should draw her showing a bit more spirit.
I figured I had placed her in a heroin-like situation
. . . She was sort of in a heroine status right up until she decided to pull the whole "I will just get Naruto to stop chasing after Sasuke by telling him that I love him and releasing him from that promise he made. Obviously, the reason he's doing this is because he loves me so much that he holds himself to that promise I made him give."
Had she kept it down to business and said: "Naruto, we need to take care of Sasuke because he's getting out of hand." That'd have been cool - the resolved, knowledgeable character that defeated Sasori.
But, no, she tried to manipulate him and say "I'm over him, I want you!" so that she could distract him long enough to go behind his back and kill someone he was hellbent on bringing back alive. ... Then got her ass handed to her.
But from the readers I was told harshly that she wasn't heroin-ish at all
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