I honestly think Naruto should have stayed single at this point. Everything after Shippuden episode 479 is filler and The Last literally just contradicts canon. The real Naruto should have and would have been able to break out of the genjutsu because of having control over Kurama at that point, rather the illusion shouldn’t have worked on him in the first place, but yet it did anyway because of plot.
Nextly, the memories weren’t about anybody except Hinata, not team 7, not Iruka, Not him and Sasuke, just Hinata. Everything in the movie was about Hinata, heck Sakura barely got any lines unless it had to do with furthering NaruHina.
Naruto was starved for attention and love back then, yet he completely forgot the memory of somebody actually treating him kindly and not glaring at him? Furthermore, Naruto was never able to pull off any kind of decent shadow clones without them drooping at that point. Heck, he hadn’t even heard of making multiple clones at that time)
And the part with Sakura saying that Naruto only loved her because Sakura loved Sasuke just really bugged me, because NaruHina wasn’t even decided to be a thing until over half way the manga, And they're gonna tell me Naruto’s feelings for Sakura were fake? I can understand if it was seen as a genuine love that Naruto moved on from, but to say it never existed contradicts everything Naruto showed from the beginning.
1. Out of all the girls that liked Sasuke, Naruto specifically targeted Sakura, even before they got put on the same team and before that rivalry really even began(or at least when they were all in the academy). He never looked towards ones like Ino or any of Sasuke’s other fangirls, only Sakura.
2. I guess Obito didn’t really love Rin and Jiraiya didn’t really love Tsunade because those dynamics were built as clear parallels to team 7. Basically, they’re also implying that Obito only loved Rin because she loved Kakashi and that Jiraiya only loved Tsunade because she had a crush on Orochimaru. All of which is just... no.
3. Naruto said “I hate people who lie to themselves”. Well, it seems like he was lying to himself all that time, because he didn’t even deny Sai saying he loved her, he asked her out on numerous dates, felt smitten with her, so all that was a lie. He was just a douchebag playing with her because she wanted to get to Sasuke. All those times he cheered her on, blushed at her, and protected her meant nothing. It was all just a tactic to win her over. There was only like one time Naruto did something really stupid and that was him impersonating Sasuke to kiss her, but beyond that, he started making it apparent over the course of the series that he genuinely loved and cared about her.
4. Naruto, could tell that Sakura loved Sasuke, but he pushed his feelings aside and promised to bring him back anyway because even if she were to never return his feelings he wanted Sakura to be happy more than anything else.
5. Going by the movie’s logic, who’s to say Naruto’s sudden love for Hinata wasn’t based on a rivalry with Toneri?
6. By the way, Naruto, who faced rejection and being hated all of his childhood, yet never gave up despite it, got all depressed about being rejected by a girl who willingly went off with the enemy in front of him? He QUIT being a Shinobi while Hanabi was still in danger because Hinata willingly went off with Toneri? That was so cringy and Naruto is just pathetic there, that’s not the real Naruto I grew up with. He’s just not like that. He’s not that weak. And you can not tell me that Naruto was never in love with Sakura, even if it was a past love.
The depths that S/P has gone to make Naruto and Hinata make sense that they’re willing to trample over canon, previously established concepts and Naruto’s whole character in general just disgusts me.
Also, Hinata’s backstory with her father was enough. There was no need to make her more sympathetic than she already was. Going beyond what was established in the manga like that is just making her a damsel in distress. Plus, you may want to deny it but anybody in their right mind wouldn’t dare to screw with the hyuuga clan, or insult their eyes, because that is an attack on the hyuuga clan in general. Her bodyguard only appeared to thwart them off but really she was basically a princess so nobody should have been able to lay a hand on her in the first place, especially at that time, especially by some idiots.
And again, S/P completely threw anything out the window that suited their preferences, and Kishimoto was nothing but a puppet that just went with whatever they thought would be good instead of originality. Kishimoto never really did think things through though, Kaguya being a prime example and oh the fact that Obito came back, his Sharingan fully in tact despite that the entire half of his body was crushed. Oh and, Kishimoto said himself that even in the Zabuza arc he didn't even know what Sasuke’s backstory was except that his Brother had done something wrong while secretly being good. You can’t tell me he thought of pairings when he hadn’t even figured out the back story of the main character’s rival at a point Naruto’s feelings for Sakura had already been established, especially considering Hinata wasn’t even introduced until the chuunin exams. His feelings weren’t fake. Kishimoto didn’t even really plan on NaruHina until around the pain battle but suddenly all of Naruto’s established one sided feelings for the only major girl in his life he’s called with the “Chan” honorific(aside from Tsunade-obaa-chan) were fake? Bullshit.
Additionally, they can’t convince me that Naruto didn’t know the difference between romantic love and platonic love, he clearly knows the difference, and he, again, showed clear attraction to Sakura even though she was attracted to Sasuke.
Not knowing the difference between love for the value of ramen and love for somebody you’re willing to protect with your life is just an awful analogy. Hinata jumped in and basically threw her life away, saying “I love you”. And you’re telling me Naruto couldn’t tell the difference? You’re telling me that he thought she was comparing his life to the value of food??? No. Naruto understood the difference. Studio Pierrot just doesn’t want to admit it and the little bit of development NaruHina got in the series was completely ruined by that movie and started back from square one, turning Hinata into a weak fragile pitiful girl that had to be saved over 5 times in less than hours, despite basically being a demigod, and SP pushed it back to the way they started, barely interacting at all. And then she gets jealous over a SCARF? What if somebody else had gave it to him? Would she get all depressed?
And If he’s not able to tell the difference between romantic love and love for ramen, then he’s really in no position to be claiming people are lying to themselves. Going by that logic, he should have believed Sakura’s confession without question.
Heck, the love story would have been better if it had revolved around a generic mission, and Naruto reflected on the way Hinata helped him and encouraged him in the war, throughout the years, but they literally felt the need to CREATE fake memories, put Naruto and Hinata into genjutsu for Naruto to realize his feelings for Hinata. To suddenly decide he loved her based off her memory instead of his own.
This gives the message that one can rely on illusions to do the talking for them instead of being brave and talking things out yourself like a proper adult.
On top of all of that, don’t get me started on the misleading ass Trailer. Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto were the three main characters in it. But Sasuke got 6 seconds. And Kakashi got very little screen-time as well. Screw you, SP. Screw you and your shitty marketing tactics.
