Those uh don't exactly sound that bad lols. At least they sound like legitimate criticisms rather than just bashings. Now, the ones that go completely crazy on the mangaka, trash he and the manga with profanity and threaten the mangaka's life, those are the idiots lols.
In all honesty, I understand their pain. They invested a lot of time into Naruto and though I may be a little biased, I belive Naruto and Sakura was foreshadowed FAAAR more lols. The way Kishimoto handled it with Hinata felt more like fanservice to me. Now, back in part one, where Hinata was given more airtime and fit in with the main plot, she and naruto's relationship felt more realistic, natural, and not so forced and I supported it. However, like so many of the K11 in part 2, she was more or less discarded from the main story. Sure, we saw her grownup and gorgeous at the start, still with her crush on Naruto, but Naruto still hopelessly in love with Sakura and still wondering what Hinata's deal was lols. They finally gave her a moment in the stroyline, however much much later in the Pein arc and then again, much much later in the war and Juubi arc.
The problem with these moments wasn't necessarily their emotional impact, but the fact that they were very short and involved little to no chemistry from Naruto's part. She attacking Pein, getting badly hurt and Naruto going berserk? He would have done that with any of his friends. She being attacked by the edo shinobi and Naruto saving her? He was saving lots of his friends when he first entered the battlefield. Then of course came Neji's death, which I believe was well done for the most part, but at the same time felt as if it was done solely to force Naruto and Hinata finally into a moment of chemistry.
Sakura? She still had her thing for Sasuke, but it had very few and very brief moments. She also became much more family-like with Naruto and sympathetic to he being a jinchuriki in the Rescue the Kazekage arc. Add to her admiring his strength again and trying to live up to it, not just to Ssuke.
In the Sai and Sasuke arc, she chewed out Kabuto for smarting off to Naruto, stating he had no idea how Naruto felt, as if she had been thinking about, observing and processing him more. This felt like chemistry for me, not just acknowledgement or friendship. When it happened, I remembered that time Sasuke had been hurt I believe by Itachi's Tsukuyomi and Naruto told Sakura about it, and she ran past him straight to Sasuke. In that moment, the scene was slow as Sakura ran by Naruto and he kept staring forward and then behind with such a face of neglect, as if saying in his mind, she'll never love me like she loves him, no matter what I do. But this scene felt as if his hope in her loving him had been rekindled. Later, she was very upset to see Naruto in his Kyuubi state, destroying his body, risking his life to bring Sasuke back to her no matter what, like he promised, and ran toward him, risking her life, almost being killed and being harmed as a result. Naruto was confused as to why she was harmed and wanted to know how it happened, but she kept quiet and giddy about it, saying it was just a scratch and not to worry about her. When Yamato told Naruto what had happened, he was devastated. More chemistry between the two. Sakura also didn't exactly seem as hesitant as I imagined when fighting Hebi Sasuke. She tried to run at him with a determined face, when I was almost certain Kishimoto was just going to force her to be frozen the whole time. Then of course, there was how she acknowledged Naruto's progress again in the Hidan and Kakuzu arc.
In the Pein arc, she screamed out for his name, not Sasuke's and slapped him one last time, yes, slapping him, not punching him, for the first time I could remember and then holding him tight in tears, telling him she was afraid she had lost him too, and calling him an idiot (like she did Sasuke after their second fight
). More chemistry lols. And I actually felt that moment far exceeded the moment Naruto and Hinata had with Neji's death.
Then, Sai told her Naruto loved her and was doing all he could for her and she burst into tears. Whether it was genuine or not, she "confessed her love" to him in the land of Iron because she cared for his life and didn't want him to be harmed anymore, killed or for he and Sasuke to fight. At first I thought this was a step back, because not only was it rusy on her part, but Naruto caught on to it and believed it was strange, however. Then again, if you thought about it for a moment, it felt as though they were in each other's minds and could read each other like books now. Sakura went to try and kill Sasuke on her own with determination, and though she couldn't do it, Naruto swept in to save her and took the hit for her, (just like Sshe did in the Sai and Sasuke arc), and he made one of the most charismatic yet fiercest faces in the series at Sasuke when he did it, as if saying "If you touch her again, the friendship is over and you're losing your head," lols. Sasuke insulted Naruto in the encounter and Sakura fiercely defended him again without hesitation.
In the war arcs, Sakura was absolutely flipping out when Madara had extracted Kurama and Naruto arrived at her feet not breathing, much like Karin was about Sasuke. And then you saw their panels matched with Naruto and Sasuke. Chemistry there. She desperately tried everything she could. It looked to me like she even risked exhausting all her chakra to save him. Then of course she clasped his heart with her hand to keep it beating while performing CPR on him. Then of course, earlier on when Minato arrived, he compared Sakura to Kushina and Sakura blushed and got upset about it lols. Those were obvious inuendos lols. She seemed upset that Sasuke wasn't paying mind to her being hurt by Madara, but then immediately said to herself it was okay rather than staying upset about it and focusing on the battle. Later, she appeared to be so interested in Naruto's six paths abilities to restore lost body parts and life force and it was as if for a moment she forgot Sasuke was there. A moment later, Kakashi stated in his mind it felt to him that though she still loved Sasuke, if seemed as though now it was in a different way.
All this time with someone she already had feelings for to an extent with all this foreshadowing while the other guy was away for so long and the girl overcoming her feelings for him in all these situations and focusing on and learning who the other was, unlike in part 1, was how I interpreted it and it had so much chemistry. I honestly believe fans who want Naruto and Hinata together simply do because they "like Hinata more," simply "hate Sakura," or "believe Hinata deserves Naruto more." Okay, that's fine. But what about Naruto? A relationship must work both ways people lols and the truth is, all that time he loved Sakura. And I feel the fact that he has to focus on developing this "romance" in the final film only shows that much more how forced it is lols.
Buuut at the end of the day, shounen is shounen, not romance lols and the mangaka will often cater to the "majority's" wishes lols.
