Today I had a debate with someone on the subject on why I consider NaruSaku’s love sends a positive message in comparison to NaruHina.
Yes, it all basically started from my previous post on Tumblr. Which I later moved to my Facebook page so I can keep it as a reminder.
It was a response to the initial cross-tagger that cross-tagged in the NaruSaku tag on Tumblr. As you could have expected, haha.
Anyway, the subject in cause was this following picture:
So then, sorry but I couldn’t help myself.
Thus I responded to the person that was not only linking this picture as an example, but was also asking where was Sakura when Pein attacked and put down Naruto, as you’ll see from here.
The argumentation if favor of Hinata & NaruHina
So then, after I posted it on my Facebook page with the same argument I left there, someone came and responded me with the following argument:
Alright, allow me to elaborate:
-First of all, I think is quite unfair to judge Hinata`s acknowledgement of Naruto (or lack of it) in comparison to that of Sakura`s for a very simple reason: Hinata is not the hailed heroine of the series U(duh!)If we get more acknowledgement from Hinata, Kishi might have as well inverted the roles and make Sakura the shy girl (in fact, there was a time in which fact Sakura was shy). That`s a narrative element not a flaw in the character`s… well, character.
Plus, also to remember the anime portrays a Hinata that in fact cares about Naruto (those little extracts about their childhood) he couldn`t do much about it because the way in which her personality has developed: with huge lack lack of confidence and self-esteem. In fact, I consider her situation as being actually more painful to that of Sasuke and Naruto.For they lost their familiar bonds to the hands of an outside force (Kurama and Itachi, respectevly) but Hinata got ostracized by the very people that should have cared and loved her, putting her at the care of a Tutor (If you watched Evangelion compare to her situation to that of Shinji Ikari and you will get the dimension of the problem)
It strikes me as no surprise that her inter-personal capabilities are near zero. Even with the people she cares for…
-About the Chunnin Exam thing: May I remind you of Kakashi`s Words when team 7 became Genin? That one of the main abilities as a Ninja is the ability to work together as team, making your own strengths to complement the weakness of your companions.
Naruto lacks of academic knowledge is therefore complemented by those of Hinata, while Hinata`s confidence is bolstered by the confidence of Naruto. Opposed but complementary
Also, EVERYONE around him was taking the “Easy way”. Ino hijacked Sakura`s body to copy the answers. Sasuke used his Sharingan, Gaara his Sand Eye, Neji the Byakugan, etc. How come using an advantage is selfish? It`s what`s expected from a Ninja in fact, according to Ibiki`s words.
Now, how is come that Sakura bailing out the Chunin Exams, in order to preserve “Naruto`s Impossible Dream” is less selfish than leaping in front of the the Rinnegan wielding corpse that was about to finish him off? How Sakura not intervening was more helpful to him at that point?
One the characteristics of Love is that is not a rational Emotion: You don`t actually especulate about the odds when it comes to the people you actually love. That is why denial is natural part of the grieving process.
If Sakura`s bond was that powerful at the time he should have leaped in front of Pain, try to smack him and get Shinra Tensei`d directly to the Atmosphere. Japanese culture holds in high regard acts of martyrdom, don’t label them as a selfish but as something that is actually expected from a warrior. And from a espouse(the Boshin Wars have plenty of accounts in which the women of Shogunal Soldiers accompanied them in their Last Stand against the superior Imperial Army…And died along side them)
Success is not a pressing matter in Bushido. But Sacrifice is expected, regardless of the odds. You should ask yourselves who matches that archetype: Sakura or Hinata.
The argument in favor of Sakura & NaruSaku
I wanted to respond to him directly there, through the reply function the Facebook team still seems to work on.
But since I couldn’t do it there, I decided that I should do it here on my blog and given the occasion, I can as well keep track of it, hehe.
So, my answer after said argument is this:
Well then, if we go by the same logic, I think it’s unfair to judge Sakura’s acknowledgement of Naruto (or therefore lack of it) in comparison to that of Hinata’s given the information we know.
Yes, Hinata is NOT the hailed heroine of the series, I give you that, that’s why you have Sakura and that’s why Sakura in regards to this matter tops Hinata in terms of … well barely anything if we’re to calculate.
If we get more acknowledgement from Hinata? But who is Hinata for Naruto to need acknowledgement from her? Wait a minute, what are we exactly talking about here? Yes, Kishi might have as well inverted the roles and make indeed Sakura the shy girl (which she actually was in the beginning, when she was bullied, but in the end Sakura snapped out of it and did something for and of herself).
So, you’re telling me that if that’s a narrative element, she’s to be excused?! Well then, why then don’t we apply the same logic to Sakura then? After all, miss Hinata-sama from the information I was telling you about in the beginning of my reply, knew Naruto’s history, it was made clear to her that he’s a “demon” to not be approached by.
But you see, Hinata took time to not only break those rules, but also get to watch Naruto behind the trees. So she knew he wasn’t this demon – like you would be inclined to think about Sakura, but we’re getting to that later, now we’re talking Hinata – because she had the time to “study” him and in this time she saw how much he suffers and feels like shit and all that, yet she still didn’t do something about it?!
Excuse me but if you had the guts to break the rules posed to you by your father in terms of not seeing Naruto, you might as well break them to the fullest and actually go help that poor kid with something, not just you leech on his strength – which mind you, he made for himself because of the loneliness he suffered from, when Hinata was watching behind the trees and could have had all the possibilities in the world to CHANGE THAT – and then expect him to notice you and love you because “Oh, you see, I actually loved you from the very go but I didn’t tell you because I was this and that but when you were alone there and crying your ass out because you were lonely, I was actually watching you but doing nothing”…
No, things don’t go like this! These are pure justifications! Life doesn’t go that way.
It’s either white or black, it’s either you did it or you didn’t do it. Period. And Hinata did nothing when she had all the chances in the world, especially considering her status, she was basically served on the plate with everything she got, it’s not Naruto’s fault or anyone’s fault that she couldn’t step up to it and always gave-up.
She had all the chances – she has been given training and whatnot by her father, after all, she’s the special heir to the Hyuga throne, so to speak, the bearers of one of the three dojutsus, aka the Byakugan as we all know it. On the other side, there’s Sakura Haruno.
Who Sakura Haruno is at that time? A bullied young girl that came from an apparent no special clan, on the contrary, her parents didn’t even have great dreams, they didn’t even want to become at least ninjas, they were leading a normal life, filled with all the weights of the normal life, you know, as we all do.
Her relationship with her parents was sketchy, especially when it came to her mother and thus this affected not only Sakura’s young child soul but her self-esteem as well. She had zero, nothing, nada.
Then she starts to get bullied until Ino Yamanaka appears one day in her life… bits by bits Sakura starts becoming this little bud that one day shall bloom and gets confidence and even falls in love, all these childish things we all know. She has no knowledge of Naruto and when she does, she doesn’t even care who he is or what he is.
She takes him face-value: he annoys her, she makes sure to tell him, he does something stupid, she makes sure to point it out to him and all that. Sakura didn’t even knew that she was the nine tails jinchuuriki, she finds out later in the series, so she didn’t treat him more or less specially because of this. No, all she knows is that he is messing with her pursuit for Sasuke’s attention given that she liked him.
To her, Naruto wasn’t the Jinchuuriki who you needed to stay away from, to her he was just the annoying little pal that didn’t understand anything about her, and always came between her and her pursuit of Sasuke’s attention.
Thus she made sure to tell him, face-value whenever she annoyed him. Granted, these are not Sakura’s best moments, after all she was a 12 years old love-struck girl, just like Hinata. But you know what? While Hinata knew all about Naruto and she could have been and done so much more than Sakura given all these advantages she possesses in terms of Naruto’s backstory, she does nothing. Nothing.
However, on the other side we have Sakura who has no clue about that yet as soon as she gets to know Naruto better because she starts getting interested in his state of being as well – as she realizes in Chapter 3 – she starts doing all these dangerous but as well wonderful things for him: worry about him as in love as she was with Sasuke in their first mission to pass Kakashi’s test, as soon as he gets injured when they walk Tazuna to the Land of waves prior to meeting Zabuza, she quickly wants to return to the village so a doctor can see him and his injured hand.
She quickly jumps and almost gets herself beheaded by Zabuza’s sword all so that she can keep Naruto safe. When Chuunin exam comes, when she notices Naruto’s down she tries to cheer him up, instead of selfishly putting Naruto in danger by offering him to copy the results, she not only is ready to forfeit her career as a ninja but as well Sasuke’s, her oh great “love”. She fights in the Forest of Death as equally fierce for Naruto as she fights for Sasuke and Lee and all those other things we know.
That’s what Sakura does with all those other things taken into consideration, while Hinata who knew everything and saw his hardship does nothing. Sakura even admits to herself how wrong she was about Naruto and we see her growing stronger and stronger from there.
You say Kishi might have inverted the role… Yes he might have. He could have done so many things in these 15 years, but the point is he didn’t.
He had millions of chances to do so and they are independent of Sakura’s and Hinata’s statuses as the heroine of the series and secondary character, that has nothing to do with it. It has to do with the fact that Kishi could have made things in a certain way independent of this fact yet he didn’t. And this is why Hinata loses point blank to Sakura in every term, despite Sakura starting the way she did.
Because Sakura learned from her mistakes and started doing something about them. Hinata didn’t. Period. Plus, you said that’s not a flaw in character but a narrative element. Well, a narrative element can be the very flaw of the character.
And as Kishi portrayed things, this is Hinata’s flaw: her selfish – as he as an author and she as a character has pointed out, nature of love for Naruto. You can twist this and justify it as you wish. There’s no justifying. We’re good at justifying but what about accountability?!
When are we going to take responsibilities for our actions? Sorry but that’s what I always read when a fan of Hinata’s justify her actions. I am a fan of her’s as well, I just don’t like the way she ended up. You know the reason I support Sakura and NS? Because yes, Sakura was an annoying 12 years fangirl, I give everyone that, but just that.
Because whereas princess Hinata was all shy and “good behaving” she didn’t do anything to help Naruto in any good way, it was all selfish-based while she remained the same 12 years old self, just in a bigger body, whereas Sakura the moment she had the opportunity, she took it and made something of not only herself, but Naruto as well.
This is why you’ll see Sakura at Naruto’s side when he’s at death’s door and not Hinata, if you ever wondered why Kishi made Hinata trip the moment Naruto was about to die. Because while Hinata wanted to be there for him, granted, she only wanted to be there so Naruto-kun can observe how great she is and thus she can be by his side, while Sakura doesn’t care about that, they each mind their own business.
He is on the front line fighting while she is on the back line healing, however with the two of them working towards the same direction things move and when the time comes, it doesn’t matter to her that “Oh, notice me sempai it was I that healed you because if it weren’t have been for me, you wouldn’t be alive”. No.
When the time comes, it’s all: you’re not going to die on me, dammit, you hear me? And thus she proceeds to hold his heart in her arm and pump it, while on the other side she locks her lips to him to breathe life into him.
It doesn’t matter she is about to die herself of exhaustion, it doesn’t matter anything: Naruto is definitely NOT dying because he has a dream to accomplish, he has a dream that needs to come true and damned be anyone who tries to interfere with that! In those moments, the world takes a back seat as her sole purpose is Naruto’s heart to stay alive.
So then, you see, you can justify this how much you want and say that Kishi didn’t do it because of their statuses as main and secondary characters. Neah… Shikamaru is secondary as well, Jiraiya is secondary as well and so it’s Tsunade and Madara even…
But think about the impact they had over Naruto’s life and what impact Hinata had. HELL, take Iruka and compare him to Hinata… He tops her from point blank. And he has even less screen-time. Why? Because Iruka acknowledged his existence when nobody else did. When Hinata knew about his and did nothing.
Why is it that Iruka and Team 7 always comes in front of anyone else? Haven’t you wondered that? That’s why I’m sorry to say but from the very get go your argument goes invalid as the manga itself cancels it.
And what does the anime have to do with the manga here? Even in the anime, EVEN MORE SO this puts her in a bad light. Are you really sure you wanna go there? If we’re to go by the anime, while Hinata was ordered to look away Naruto’s side she always subdued such thing from the get go, while Sakura, she was dragged but still had the time to just a little look around and worry about Naruto solely, not herself.
Let’s not go into-detail with the anime because even the anime, if read as it should burries Hinata more than it should help her… So I am not quite sure you wanna go there. Don’t forget that Pierrot itself gave us plenty NS fillers as well. Episode 235 says hi…as well as the kids one. But anyway…
You’re justifying her actions again without taking accountability into account… Sakura also had a huge lack of confidence and self-esteem, even moreso since she was shown being bullied and all this thing, Hinata-sama had bodyguards, but instead of crying her eyes out of pity herself and excuse and justify her actions, she made something of herself. Hinata didn’t. Period.
You want to say to me that her situation is actually MORE PAINFUL to that of Sasuke and Naruto? Come on, tell me you didn’t go there or else I feel like not even discussing with you, I’m being hella honest here… No, dude, just don’t go there.
Sasuke had the same fate as her and still did something of himself instead of crying himself out of pity, same did Naruto, same did Sakura, despite not being served ON PLATE those things. She had all the things at her disposal, it’s her own goddamn problem she couldn’t take a stand and do something of herself. Come on, let’s not go even deeper than this.
And so did Sakura’s parents and so used to do Sasuke’s as well, at least his father. Yet look where they are and where she is. No, no, excuses don’t work here. They all had it bad. Some chose to do something for themselves, some chose to give up and cry their selves out of pity. Period.
Her interpersonal capabilities are zero because she choses so. We all have a choice in life to make. Be like this or like that. But you’ve got to live with the consequences of your actions as well, not try then to justify your choice of actions. Nope, doesn’t work that way.
Lol, dude, no. You’re applying the wrong context to an important lesson. Typical. The example you gave here, sorry but it’s so weak… Naruto lacks of academic knowledge yes, indeed, that’s true, but he made it up by his own force without having to cheat. What Hinata did there was show Naruto the easy, cheating way out and like Naruto said, in life there’s no easy way… because then if you take the easy way out it makes you look cheap.
And that’s something Naruto doesn’t want and that’s why as complementary we have Sakura’s own desire to give this up for his sake’s dream. Because what Hinata did was first of all dangerous and risky and could have possibly put Naruto in the situation that if caught cheating, he would have never became a ninja again thus bye bye Hokage dream. All that so he can observe she is there, thus making it look selfish.
But on the other side, we have Sakura almost there ready to give up for his dream’s sake, so thus that dream be untouched by any circumstances that might make it unrealizable, which makes it only selfless of Sakura… BIG DIFFERENCE once again the way the author portrays the two’s actions in regards to Naruto.
As always and mentioned in her confession as well Hinata’s one come as selfish because she doesn’t take Naruto’s situation into consideration, just what she wants to achieve, while Sakura doesn’t even care about what might happen to her, all she knows is that she wants Naruto to accomplish his dreams thus she does everything in her power to accomplish that without thinking about herself for a second. See the difference?
Yes, everyone around him was taking the “Easy way” indeed. But Naruto expressed his convictions from the very get-go and even now, recently, at the end of the manga: he will never take the easy way out. That’s a lesson of morale and outside the ninja context. What’s in the ninja context is that indeed, by Ibiki’s words, he had to utilize their capabilities to do somehow and do this test and Naruto did it in the end, without having to put himself in danger: by being himself and staying true to himself. After all, what Ibiki wanted to see was if was there someone who was gonna break psychologically. Don’t forget that Ibiki was part of Konoha’s Intel Squad.
See, careful how you read the manga because there’s always an underneath under the initial underneath. I don’t know when you will guys understand that Kishimoto has built the manga in such a way that you cannot possibly touch Naruto’s and Sakura’s relationship, especially when compared to Hinata… Come on.
Wow, you really don’t understand a thing about love… No wonder… So you wanna say to me that Sakura wanting to forfeit the Chuunin exams for his dream’s sake is selfish but not jumping in front of Pein and respecting his wish is selfish as well? Wow, sorry, I consider this argument so flawed that I am not even going to answer to it as it’s a disrespect to this work itself, all for Hinata-sama’s little angel ass.
Sorry dude, you might have expected more, but this isn’t even a good argument to take into consideration… All I hope is that you never meet in life such love like the one you seem to admire cause then it’s when you’ll understand why it doesn’t work. Until then I am not even gonna waste my time because you clearly have your opinions well-set in mind.
Sacrifice is expected when it’s a real sacrifice, not when you do it so that the other one can observe the “great oh sacrifice” you’re making for them… Sacrifice was what Sakura did with her confession, because despite lying that she doesn’t care about Sasuke, she was willingly going to kill him with her own two hands, leave Naruto hate her for the rest of their lives, all so that he can be safe, she didn’t want anything in return…
Answer yourself one thing: have you ever or would you ever be able to go to those lengths for someone you don’t love, supposedly? With all the implications such decision impose? All while keep it so that the other one doesn’t know that you’re doing this for their own wellbeing, no matter how much it might hurt him/her, and you’ll look like crap?
Would you have the guts to take on something like this, something that will make you look like the bad guy in the story, while all you’re doing is actually taking care of the other one’s wellbeing at all costs? Even the cost of your own life and happiness? Think about that for a second… Because while everyone goes “ooh, poor little angel Hinata” she “sacrificed” her life for Naruto and call Sakura the “big bitch”, think about at the end of the day in what situation was Naruto left after Hinata’s confession and in what situation he was after Sakura’s one?
Destroying your own friends and home and land and even your own self or physically well although indeed, it does suck and hurt? But which one do you prefer? The variant of Naruto being alive and well or the one where he destroys not only himself but his entire home and friends? You pick.
With that being said, thank you for your attention!
And to respond to Nicolas, I answered myself the question and the archetype fits Sakura like a glove.
Because that’s how Kishi constructed the manga. Now I ask you, are you sure that your answer is the correct one?
