My Naruto cold take and a hill is at least get a bit sick on is that if Kishimoto HAD to make the ending “married with kids,” then showing Rock Lee and Sakura as a genuinely happy marriage would have done EVERYTHING the characters could have gotten from a straight paired ending. It would show a woman who loves a man’s earnest nature and determined spirit of joy and a man who works hard and keeps loving his wife.
Rock Lee did have a huge crush on her as a kid! And she didn’t require them at freaking 12! That’s fine! It just really is such a sweet friendship that she genuinely loves him platonically so much that it pains me that she was ??? Like? A stalker? A stalker for SASUKE? And Lee canonically has nobody interested when he is the Konoha CATCH? It just doesn’t make sense to me. At least make the straight couples cute! I’m reading Fics right now of Lee/a man, but I can’t believe he got done so dirty.
And I love writing Sakura as a wingman to Lee but it’s a shame the Fics I’ve seen don’t really include her! It doesn’t have to be to everyone’s tastes for some big OTP, but she and he could have been THE couple to represent hard work and determination and being with someone who just simply cares about you and makes you happy. M
