SasuSaku is my notp(sorry), but I really do hope a proper friendship lays on the cards for the two of them eventually, now that Sakura is older and more mature. (A bit how Naruto mellowed out with the courting Sakura and put their friendship first.) I think a big part of the reason they didn’t get closer in part 1 is because Sakura’s admiration of Sasuke was a little bit alienating in my opinion. Like there were more than enough people praising Sasuke back then, and he needed some normalcy, which I think is what Naruto gave him. Sakura did get to see beyond that, but not so much with the two of them as a singular unit.However, the kage summit arc did bring about something we’ve never really seen Sakura do before. She chided him and defended Naruto when Sasuke tried to brush off what Naruto said about understanding why he’d been acting out after Itachi’s death. That shows a really big difference from her part 1 side which was obviously prone to heavy biased towards Sasuke. She was a little unnecessarily mean on Sasuke’s behalf at times and it goes to show you how much her and Naruto’s friendship has blossomed, which is honestly one of my favourite things in the manga. And also that if Sasuke were to come back, he wouldn’t receive special treatment from her anymore. That’s what I’d like to believe anyway. In theory they could finally start to be real friends, and team 7 could be a stronger unit than ever.

Back to Naruto and Sakura, this is the ship I probably understand why people support the most after my own. It’s dysfunctional parts don’t really go that far outside the realms of real relationship problems, which is a little refreshing in a manga like Naruto. Even back in part one when Sakura was a little rough on Naruto, there were also moments that showed she cared in her own way. Like when she was going to get the three of them pulled out of the chuunin exams because she wanted Naruto to have another chance at them.

And with Sasuke’s absence, the two have been pillars of support to each other, and really, sort of best friends. They still have their spats, but they’re born from concern for the most part. Sometimes they hurt each other a lot too, but there is so much forgiving there. And Sakura is so desperate to make sure that Naruto has support in everything he does. Sometimes to me it feels like she wants to atone for all the times she wasn’t there, and I think Naruto knows that. As far as Naruto’s darker feelings go, she’s one of the closest to them. Not that she can see them clearly, but she knows they are there and it frustrates her that she can’t always shield him from them, I think.NaruHina….A lot of the time it seems a little one-sided, but every now and then the two do seem to have sweet moments. I think it’s really curious how the cat is out of the bag about Hinata’s feelings and we haven’t gotten a response from Naruto on them. It makes me wonder exactly what Kishimoto hoped to achieve by doing that. But the moments scattered in the war have (ignoring the whole Neji thing) been subtle and nice. Naruto’s “You’ve always been by my side.” Seems to mean that he’s finally acknowledging  what Hinata said to him in the Pein arc about wanting to follow in his footsteps. Honestly though, this ship was where I had my money when i first got interested in Naruto, but now it just seems too convenient. On Naruto’s side there’s not really much passion or depth to how he feels in my opinion. It’s almost like Kishimoto’s done that on purpose.I don’t know if you wanted me to talk about NaruSasu, but I’ve really blabbered on enough and I’m sure you know how I feel about them, so I’ll just add that something that those two definitely do not lack is passion. I’m sure even people who don’t ship them can understand the vibes of desperation and obsession Naruto feels for Sasuke. It’s genuinely something inside of him that he’d never dream of letting go of and doesn’t know how to be without. Because Sasuke is the first person to treat him like a human being, and a friend. Without tipping on eggshells around him or anything. And the same goes for Sasuke. You can see how angry his feelings for Naruto make him. To the extent that he feels he needs to kill him to be rid of them, because he knows that as long as Naruto is in his life he won’t be allowed to forget what he means to him. Yet when the two are together, Sasuke’s face is always open like a book in comparison to anyone else. He can’t help letting his walls slip around Naruto, and they ease into old patterns like they were never gone from each other.