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Now onto the long rambling. SasuSaku is like a desert plant that had to weather a harsh sandstorm to fully grow, while NaruHina is more like a tree which grew huge over years of watering and warm, sunny weather.

Sakura, at the beginning of the manga, has a crush on Sasuke, although she doesn’t really know him very well, nor does he know her very well. Their relationship progresses when Sakura makes that unpleasant comment of Naruto being an orphan and doing whatever he wants. This annoys Sasuke, who is also an orphan. He tells off Sakura, who resolves to be kinder from then on. Sakura gets bashed for this a lot, but it is in fact a positive development, because she broadens her mind and outlook. The next development we get is during the bell test, when Sasuke and Sakura decide to break Kakashi’s rules and feed Naruto their lunch, demonstrating their teamwork.

So within the first few chapters, Sakura has gone from having a somewhat superficial understanding of Sasuke, to gaining a small bit of insight into his life (and Naruto’s life) as an orphan, and proving capable of collaborating together and producing the results that Kakashi desires in genin.

Next is the Land of Waves mission. They display good teamwork here again against Zabuza and Haku, but the biggest development here in their relationship is when Haku “kills” Sasuke. Sakura, significantly, demonstrates a deep understanding of their hard life as ninja; she says that according to the shinobi code of conduct, she should not cry.

She cries anyway.

Remember who else was a “crybaby ninja”? None other than Kakashi’s old teammate, Obito. Remember what Kakashi did when he got the Sharingan for the first time?

He cried. For the people who were precious to him.

At this point in time, we can’t classify her feelings towards Sasuke as something superficial anymore. He’s an important friend. That’s another significant development.

So far, we’ve talked about the development of Sakura’s feelings towards Sasuke, but what about the other way around? Let’s get to that.

We now enter the Chuunin Exams, which is full of SasuSaku development. Kakashi thinks they’re ready, even though they are rookies, something which strikes others like Iruka and Guy as odd (Guy, specifically, has waited a year before signing his kids up). People like to bash Sakura as a “useless fangirl” in Part 1, but it’s plainly foolish in light of Kakashi’s own opinion; he nominates them as a team, so he clearly finds her skills satisfactory.

Not Sasuke though. Sasuke tells her off again here, saying that she’s “worse than Naruto” and that she could train harder. This might seem negative at first glance, true. Sasuke is a blunt individual. But what’s significant here is that he believes in her potential. He wants her to do better. He thinks she can do better. He pushes her to be her best, in his own way. He’s invested in her development as a ninja. He also gives her credit where it’s due, when he says that her sense of genjutsu is the best on the team when Izumo and Kotetsu test them and the other genin. He isn’t indifferent to her, nor does he ignore her like some may think.

This isn’t a one-sided street either. In the Forest of Death, it’s Sakura’s turn to tell off Sasuke for wanting to run from Orochimaru. Here, she too, thinks he’s better than this. She calls him a coward. She pushes him to be his best too, in a way. She’s a far cry from being a “fangirl” by the Chuunin Exams.

The biggest moment in the Chuunin Exams is the “who hurt you?” scene. Here, we see that Sasuke cares enough to violently attack Zaku and break his arms, deeply disturbing Sakura, but most significantly, Sakura calms him down. She is the first person to understand the darkness within Sasuke, not even Naruto and Kakashi. Sakura is.

On top of this, during the Konoha Crush, when Gaara attacks Sasuke, Sakura is the one to defend him, standing in front of him, ready to give up her life, and Sasuke, in turn, wants Naruto to get her away from the fight when she’s outmatched, because he doesn’t want to lose anyone precious again. Here, we’re explicitly shown exactly what Sasuke thinks of her. The first confirmation of how much she means to him.

There are quite a few comedic moments in this part of the story, from Naruto and Sakura being ticked off at Kakashi’s lateness to Sakura being ticked off at Naruto and Sasuke’s stupid squabbling to all of them being freaked out by Guy’s giant eyebrows. There are also times when they brainstorm and plan on how to get their scroll in the second round of the exams. I’d just like to point these out because this pairing isn’t all angst and gloom, nor “one-sided crushes” as some say. They can laugh and have fun together and respect each other enough to consult the other for help.

Taking all these together, it’s no surprise that Sakura is the one to confront Sasuke as he is about to leave the village. It’s also no surprise that he doesn’t even try to harm her. He just says “thank you” and knocks her out.

Because there was something there. She meant something to him too.

So we can say that SasuSaku got a lot of development in Part 1.

In Part 2, Sasuke and Sakura are separated from each other for the most part, although they have several emotionally charged confrontations with each other. As he gets more and more consumed by rage and hate, he tries to sever his bonds with his teammates. Part 2 isn’t exactly SasuSaku development, but it’s more of Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi trying to preserve what they have with Sasuke. It’s essentially arrested development because Sasuke isn’t moving on from the past, from Itachi and the Uchiha. He can’t move into the future.

After all, if he’s full of rage and hate, how can he allow love to grow in his heart? Though he tries to crush that part of himself, he doesn’t entirely succeed. Sasuke still remembers them, his old team, when Team Taka attacks Killer B and the jinchuuriki easily wipes the floor with them. That’s why he’s able to quench Amaterasu. It’s an interesting moment. They’re still precious to him.

SasuSaku finally receives resolution at the end of the war, when Sasuke learns to stop hating. It’s only when he stops hating that he can move on with his loved ones, the ones who never gave up on him, and the relationship can develop. The final parallel in Chapter 699 shows this; he says “thank you” to Sakura again. He doesn’t knock her out this time in the middle of the night, but instead gives her an affectionate poke on the forehead in the broad daylight. He might be leaving on a journey again, but it’s not to seek power, it’s to understand the bonds of love that hold the world together. He might be leaving, but he’ll always be back. To home. To Sakura. And Sarada, later on.

NaruHina, on the other hand, have parallel development. But because Naruto invests in building bonds with his loved ones, unlike Sasuke who was trying to burn those bridges, they get more and more mutual development in Part 2; it isn’t arrested, like SasuSaku, because Naruto was all about overcoming rage and hate in Part 2.

Unlike Sakura, Hinata is introduced slightly later on in the story, during the Chuunin Exams, not the Land of Waves mission, when Team 8, like Team 7, is nominated by their sensei even though they are all rookies. We are given Naruto’s impression of her: a shy, dark girl who looks away when he looks at her. It’s interesting the odd contrast this has with her name. Both her first and last name mean something like “sun direction” or “facing the sun,” but she is shy, hesitant, and hides herself away in these big, bulky clothes.

People like to say that Naruto doesn’t “notice” her, yet these claims are obviously faulty, because he clearly notices her enough to make these observations about her. It isn’t entirely a positive impression, but neither is it a completely negative one, like how he says he hates Sasuke in the beginning of the manga.

They’re seated together during the first round of the exams, and Hinata wishes him well on the test, which he seems to appreciate, although “he didn’t even notice her.” Hahaha, that will definitely change as the series goes on.

Moving onto the exam, she sees him struggling to answer the questions and offers to let him look at her answers. He refuses, saying that he’s an incredible ninja and doesn’t need to cheat, and that he doesn’t want her to get in trouble either. He also asks her why she wants to help him, and she says she doesn’t want him to disappear here.

These are all big, positive developments in their relationship. So now, Hinata has developed from a shy, dark person to one who is nice enough to let him look at her answers, and one of the few people who “don’t want him to disappear.” A completely sincere and earnest person as Naruto understands, because he can’t believe that she would want him to get in trouble, and thinks Kiba put her up to it (of course he’s totally wrong there; she did it of her own free will, as she would later say when Pain attacks Konoha).

They are given very heavy parallels and development in the Chuunin Exams. Just like Naruto, Hinata has been disdained and has not received acknowledgement from her clan because she’s too weak. Other people are better than her in the ninja arts, people such as her cousin Neji and little sister Hanabi, who as her name indicates, is revealed to be a sparkly firecracker in the Last movie, unlike the shy, gentle Hinata. Her father declares her superfluous to the Hyuuga, and tells Kurenai that he’s unbothered by the thought of her being in life-threatening situations. Where Naruto doesn’t have a family, Hinata’s family has stifled her and tried to crush her spirit. It’s no wonder that she’s dark, hesitant, and hides away in those big, bulky clothes, so unlike her name.

Naruto can’t stand the idea of Neji browbeating her in their match, nor can she handle Kiba mocking Naruto in their match. Where Hinata thinks in her mind that she wants to cheer Naruto on, Naruto openly cheers her on and tells her that it hurts to watch. They are the first to believe in each other, not even their teammates.

Naruto’s belief in her spurs her on to continue fighting past the point of defeat. She adopts the same ninja way as him, and though she doesn’t win the match, she’s changed, just a little. Naruto, by this point, is enraged by Neji’s treatment of her and swears on her blood that he’ll defeat Neji.

Later, when he feels jittery at the thought of facing Neji, she’s the one who encourages him; she admires that though he fails and fails, he always gets back up. In her mind, that’s true strength. She gets an intense feeling in her heart.

This gives him the courage to face Neji, and it should be pointed out that he defeats Neji, in part, for her. He looks for her after the match is over, wondering if she saw him. A far cry from “I didn’t even notice her.” In a sense, Neji, true to his name, is a screw who connects them together.

Those are such great parallels and development. Hinata, when she keeps failing and failing and stands up in her match against Neji, she’s just like Naruto. When Naruto is hesitant and filled with self-doubt, he’s just like the old Hinata. And when Hinata encourages him and points out his true strength, he gets the strength to overcome his shortcomings, just like the new Hinata. They have a positive feedback loop.

Their development continues in Part 2, when Hinata sees him for the first time in three years and freaks out over what to say to him. Naruto seeks her out and asks why she’s “hiding.” Again, a far cry from “I didn’t even notice her,” and a bit of foreshadowing, when she finally stops hiding and honestly tells him her feelings later on. Of course, at this moment, she’s too overwhelmed and faints in shock, giving us some humor with Naruto completely oblivious as to why she acted that way; they have light moments as well as heavy, just like SasuSaku.

We get some interactions during the time when Team 7 and Team 8 search for Itachi, where Hinata seems completely unbothered by the fact that Naruto is a jinchuuriki, and demonstrates just how much her skills have improved since Part 1, when she analyzes how Kabuto’s body has been taken over by Orochimaru’s cells and sees the flames of Amaterasu from miles away, but the biggest developments they have are during Pain’s attack and the Fourth Ninja War.

She steps in when Naruto is pinned to the ground by Pain and finally stops hiding and shows her true strength. All this time, she’s been looking at Naruto’s back, chasing after him, wanting to be with him, but now the tables have turned. He’s literally looking at her back, and while he’s shocked at her resolve to fight, she’s calm and does so of her own will. A lot of translations have her say she’s “selfish,” but the word she uses is “hitoriyogari,” which is more accurately “self-satisfaction.” As in, she’s doing this for her own self, to change her own self, for her own self-satisfaction, a theme which goes back to her fight with Neji, when she also resolves to change herself. This is a build-up of that.

This is also why I hate when people say “her personality revolves around Naruto,” because yes, while she does love him, what she’s doing here is changing herself, for herself, for her own self-satisfaction. Her own development and growth. She wants to be a person she can like. Not the old Hinata who always used to give up. Now she won’t give up even though she knows she’ll never defeat Pain. She owes that to Naruto and to herself. She finally embodies her name, “facing the sun.”

When Pain attacks her, Naruto goes completely berserk and gives up all control to the Kyuubi. “Destroy everything,” the fox says. “Give your heart to me, and I’ll save you from your suffering.” Seeing Hinata attacked and almost dying caused him that much suffering and pain. Why? Because he loves her too. He doesn’t tell us, but he shows us with his actions. Seeing Hinata attacked, in my view, was like seeing himself attacked. They are parallels and share the same philosophy and ninja way. They’re almost reflections of each other. You could say that now she is the one who gives him an intense feeling in his heart, just as he did for her.

Their next moments of development are in the war, when they’re constantly saving each other from despair and pain.

When Hinata is fighting the White Zetsu, and lapses into her brief self-doubt, thinking she’s useless, Naruto shows up, says everything’s okay, and seemingly reads her mind, telling her not to get so down on herself, and that she’s strong. He throws her own words from the Chuunin Exams back at her.

When Neji dies, and Naruto lapses into despair, Hinata’s the one who slaps sense back into him, reminding him of their shared ninja way, throwing his own words from the Chuunin Exams back at him.

She resolves to stop running and finally stand by his side, holding his hand. Well, he beats her to the punch, when he holds her hand, thanks her, and says it’s all because of her being by his side. Hinata once again starts doubting she could execute the Sixty-Four Palms, then remembers Neji and Naruto’s words of encouragement, and not only succeeds, but improves the technique by combining it with her Twin Lion Fists. Supporting each other, even when they’re not physically present.

They’re connected across long distances, and both are terrified when something happens to the other; Hinata, rushing towards him when his heartbeat grows weaker and weaker (a parallel to the Chuunin Exams, when he’s terrified when her heartbeat goes weaker and weaker). Naruto, rushing towards Hinata, when she’s caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and calls out to him for help. A positive feedback loop.

They get their resolution at the end of the series too, when they stand together, side by side forever, with the one who’s always believed in them. They’re twin suns, just as Minato and Kushina were described, and whom they closely parallel.

Rating: Mature

Pairings: NaruHina, BFFs--GaaHina/GaaNaru, Light NaruSaku.