Rain

      I feel like her story is often swept under the rug. People are quick to assume things about her before actually understanding why she is the way that she is.

 Hinata was treated like a sack of garbage by her own father…who, by the way, had absolutely no faith in her abilities or her potential…even going so low as to calling her a failure and deeming her a complete redundancy to the clan’s standards.  Her own flesh and blood drains her spiritually, mentally, and emotionally just because she is different from what is expected of her as the first born child of the main branch family.

He basically disowned her as if she equated to nothing…as if she wasn’t worth standing in the presence of. 

Even whilst dwelling in the womb, Hinata was brought into the world with a shitload of expectations and responsibilities stemming from the Hyuga’s hereditary linage . It’s not like she even had a choice for herself. She gets tossed away and degraded for being who she really is: someone who is kindhearted, gentle, and soft…which are easily depicted as weaknesses through the eyes of the clan.

She couldn’t please her father, she couldn’t please her clan…and in the short run, she didn’t have what it takes to please her own damn self. It’s pretty obvious that her father makes her the outcast especially when drawing the comparison between both of his children. 

The one person in her life that is meant to support her no matter the odds, is the root to her social anxiety and poor self esteem issues. But then again…whose to say that her father is the only source of contempt in her life?

Her own cousin despises her too…for reasons way beyond her control. So not only is she deemed a disappointment regarding the title as heir… but she’s being held accountable for her father’s title as well…and the fact that he is also the firstborn over his twin brother. This is also validated through the fact that Neji’s dad was ordered and obligated to give up his life in means to ensure the safety of Hinata’s father.

In the chunin exams you can clearly witness Neji crushing her spirit and belittling every ounce of her purpose for even attempting to be a ninja; every ounce of effort she puts into advancing the betterment of herself. 

Not only does he speak so carelessly about her feelings… but uses his byakugan to strip off every ounce of dignity that she could possibly muster and stigmatizes her through her own sense of inferiority and self loath. He demeans her through the existence of her own flaws by visually ridiculing her personal thoughts, ambitions, and behaviors. 

He refuses to acknowledge her commitment as a ninja…and tells her to forfeit not only the match…not only her title as a kunoichi…but her overall will to change into a stronger and more qualified individual.

Hinata’s self hatred is quite evident…Neji easily notes her feelings of inferiority and assures her that she will never have what it takes to progress in life…due to the fate of her destiny.

So…not only does her father deem her a failure and a redundant disgrace to the clan…but another part of her own flesh and blood hates her guts, degrades every outlet of her efforts, mentally/emotionally/spiritually abuses her in front of the eyes of her team mates, her sensei, the one person she admire, and the rest of Konoha 11.

                             Let’s also not forget to mention…

…The fact that he tried to kill her when she was evidently WAY passed her limits and couldn’t defend herself.

     …All of this transpired just because of the fact that she was born into the main branch. It’s not like she had the prerogative to choose what branch to be born in…nor the order of birth between her father and uncle. Nor should she be held accountable for his father’s death.  At this point, I would question the purpose for even existing if my family looks down on me…and I already hate myself for being the epitome of an unfortunate fate.

   It’s sad because she is resented for her nature…when she pretty much resents herself. She resents herself for not setting a leading example, for not meeting her clan’s expectations, for not being good enough, for potentially burdening those around her, for being a failure, etc.

      Yet, it surprises me that people grudge her for not having the confidence to approach Naruto during his times of anguish. It surprises me that so many of us expect her to have the confidence to openly reveal her love…when she can barely withstand her reality.

    She can barely withstand the reality behind her feelings of inferiority…the reality of the hatred that exist against her very existence. Self affliction is not something to take lightly…and it’s not fair for people to condemn her when she’s fighting herself every single day.

                                                          But then…

….Somewhere in her fucked up life…

Exists a person who ignites her confidence and fearless determination..someone who gives her a reason to actually believe in herself and to not allow the evils in the world to deter her from achieving her goals. Somewhere in her fucked up life…there’s a person that actually uplifts her from her flaws and inspires her to be the best version of herself.   

…and people hate her for it… For naturally falling in love with someone who she is strengthened by… Someone who exemplifies the strength she’s dreamed of obtaining for herself since she was a child. 

   So I guess when that special someone walks into your fucked up life… You’re supposed to NOT have feelings for them? This is why I firmly believe that Hinata’s feelings for Naruto are completely understandable. Out of many characters in the series, I honestly believe that she has one of the most legitimate reasoning for loving him to such a huge extent.

     She loved Naruto WAY before anyone acknowledged his existence and way before he could summon a clone properly. She loved him even when he was just the “under dog” who no one paid hardly any attention to. 

…There are even times where she places him ahead of herself. Like facing death in the eye for his safety when everyone else were too busy depending on him…

…showing more concern towards the state of his well being more than her very own..

…And tries to be there for him more than she is physically capable.

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But outside of her love and dedication towards Naruto, she is still a very kindhearted selfless person who is very considerate when it comes to others.

For example, she chooses not to outwardly cheer for Naruto but takes in consideration the feelings of her team mate.

She also offers Kiba and Akamaru healing ointment after their match against Naruto. (People will question…why didn’t she offer the ointment to kiba first? Well that’s because after Naruto won the match, He was already passing her to return to his team. 

Kiba was being carried away by the paramedics down by the battle floor. Naruto was already approaching).

…She protects the value behind Neji’s touching sacrifice by solidifying the purpose behind it…and the reasoning behind EVERYONE’S intent in protecting each other. She ensures that Naruto understands that HE IS NOT THE ONLY ONE who carries the will to protect his loving comrades. She states that since everyone carries the same will in their hearts, this is what makes them FAMILY. (Her exact words: “That is why we are family.”)

    She sacrifices her love for him and agrees to marry Toneri in an effort to save both her sister and the world from impending destruction. Not to mention, she accuses herself of being a bad big sister whilst knitting Naruto a scarf and not being able to do anything about Hanabi’s predicament.

She’s also very humbled and accepting…even despite the fact that Naruto couldn’t afford to take her out to some fine expensive restaurant, She’s more than content with spending time with him…even if they are downing a bowl at Ichirakus. 

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Let’s also not forget to mention…she does NOT carry the jealous mentality. She is aware that Naruto is loved and endeared by pretty much EVERYONE and feels no need to envy any sign of affection.

While many people were so fixated on the fact that Sakura hugged Naruto at the point of his return, Hinata was actually fretting her ass about his safety and THANKING GOD for managing his survival. We’re making a big deal about who SHOULD be hugging Naruto…and not so very much in terms of her being emotionally relieved and thankful that he’s alive and well. Her love does not represent any form of envy…but it is easily conveyed through her concern for his well being.

You can also witness her smiling as she watches  Sakura hugging Naruto out of relief. 

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She was completely devastated after witnessing her cousin’s death…

…and still mustered every bit of strength she had left to get Naruto’s head back on track…preventing him from losing himself as well as the people who are all giving their lives to protect each other (including him)…which (as I mentioned earlier) truly solidified Neji’s words and actions….

…She also reestablished his nindo…reminding him of the reason for why he chooses to advance forward regardless of the obstacles in front of him…the nindo that solidifies his drive in becoming Hokage and overcoming his adversities. The same nindo that delivered her through her times of weakness and self affliction. This is Hinata’s way of saying “Wake the fuck up!”

    Had Naruto allowed himself to fall victim to the traps of Obito…he would be basically going against everything he passionately believed in, the people who were able to conqueror their obstacles because of him, his comrades, and the rest of the lives that depends on him wholeheartedly. Hinata did not only save him from falling into a mental disaster…but she pretty much saved the lives of everyone who is fighting alongside him in the war…and revived his motivation.

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In summary, once people actually get to understand Hinata, she’s not so bad. At the same time, no one is perfect…and I believe this is what gives us the ability to understand each other. I find Hinata to be a very interesting character…even if you want to argue and bring up the lack of screen time she received throughout the manga, I supposed you’re right… in fact, she deserved a lot more screen time than she was given. Perhaps, this is the reason why she is commonly misunderstood as a character…and just as a person overall.

And may I also note…she’s not the strongest character in the series….

She’s not the most relevant character in the series…

She’s not the most popular character in the series…

…………..Her fans tend to love her more…………..

Before watching the video, I already knew that Kishi had never said anything close to describing Sakura as useless, but I watched the video anyway just to see if it was anywhere near as bad as Swagkage’s video where he demonstrated a severe case of diarrhoea of the mouth… And I have to say this person gave Swagkage a real run for his money. 

No, the Youtuber used the Kobayashi interview and the more recent Jump Festa 2017 interview as “evidence” that Kishi thought Sakura was useless, and then he proceeded to ramble on for 11 mins where he not only grossly twisted Kishi’s words, but also gave pathetic examples as to why she’s a useless and hated character.

Best example of twisting Kishi’s words - In the Kobayashi interview, Kishi mentions that he regretted how Sakura’s character turned out in terms of her popularity because he wanted her to appeal to a wide audience due to her normality, but this instead made her more unpopular. This guy however, twists that into saying “So there you go, even Kishimoto didn’t want her dumb ass!”… Despite the fact that if he didn’t want her he wouldn’t have tried to raise her popularity in response to its decline, nor would he have persevered with her as the heroine despite Hinata’s increasing popularity.

Best example of a pathetic reason as to why she’s hated - At around the 3.20 mark, he says “she spent the entirety of part 1 using Naruto as a sword and shield”, despite the fact that she not only put her body and life on the line to protect Naruto, Sasuke and Lee from the Sound Ninja in the Forest of Death, but she again put her body and life on the line to protect Sasuke from Gaara. But no this guy didn’t see any of that, of course not. I could go through each point he gave and provide detailed explanations as to why they’re so short sighted, but just like with the SwagKage video, that would make this post far too long.

And then you know what he did? Towards the end of the video he claimed that everything he said was “a fact” because Kishi himself apparently said it and agreed with him, despite the fact that the interviews he referenced literally made no mention of any of the points he made as to why Sakura is hated. The Kobayashi interview mentions Sakura’s declining popularity, Kishi’s attempts to improve it, the thoughts on making Hinata the heroine instead despite her not doing much either, but ultimately sticking with Sakura. The Jump Festa interview mentions how Kishi initially had no plans on making Sakura a main, but just because those were his initial thoughts obviously doesn’t mean that this was the case throughout - his thoughts regarding her character clearly changed in due course because she was indeed the main heroine of the story, and evolved from being someone who was on Shikamaru and Kiba’s level of importance.

According to this guy though, Kishi supported his claims, meaning he also agrees with his claim that one of the reasons Sakura was hated, was because she “trained the wrong skill set” (said at around 7.50). Obviously, Kishi has never said anything of the sort, but let’s just process this for minute - This guy thinks Sakura was an idiot because she “trained the wrong skill set” due to the fact that she didn’t train herself in genjutsu, and he admonished her for that because she apparently trained to become a “defensive ninja”, which he deemed to be insufficient for saving Sasuke. He even referenced her chakra control as further evidence that she should have focused on improving her genjiutsu, which is just all kinds of stupidity because not only is medical ninjutsu and the super strength taijutsu a far better indication of great chakra control than genjutsu is, meaning she obviously trained the right skill set, but her super strength taijutsu is a much more offensive technique than genjutsu anyway because it actually causes extreme physical harm. So… At that point I was just Like… 

What is this guy on about? And of course, people just lapped it up because it was a Sakura hate video.

Basically Anon, this Cycles guy referenced two interviews where Kishi said absolutely nothing about Sakura being useless, then he spent the next 10 minutes giving preposterous reasons as to why she’s hated, and then he finished by saying how everything he said was a fact because the interviews he referenced (which again, said nothing about how she’s useless), somehow proved that she’s useless… And people believed him.

There’s a story where Barnaby and Kotetsu argue over who has to dress as a woman to go undercover as a couple. Barnaby calls Kotetsu a pervert for wanting to see him in a dress.

There’s a story where Karina and Barnaby compete intensely to get Kotetsu’s affection.

Karina gets a Wild Tiger body pillow.

Barnaby get’s jealous when Tiger get’s partnered with Origami instead of him during a test of courage event.

Barnaby feels lonely when Kotetsu goes to see his mother for a few days, and when he sees a little racoon-dog decoration thing it reminds him of Kotetsu so he hugs it, not realising it’s Origami. He then wonders why the figurine’s image makes him “feel so at ease” and asks Origami to come to interviews with him as the figure.

And my favourite so far is when Sky High tries to help Barnaby out while he’s picking up after Kotetsu, who’s fallen asleep on a chair. Barnaby had been complaining about doing it, but when Sky High offers to help and goes to place a blanket over Kotetsu, Barnaby straight up slaps it out of his hands and then puts it on himself. Sky High’s reaction is hilarious.

I’m not sure I can explain why Sakura loves Sasuke in general, as opposed to why her feelings for him evolved into love. That may or may not be essentially the same thing, but I just wanted to make that distinction.

Before I get there though, does she really need to give a reason in the first place? Whenever people give their apparent reasons for loving someone, I just always think to myself so if they didn’t do all those things, would they not have fallen for them? Not being able to give a reason to explain someone’s feelings for another aways just makes it seem to me as if those feelings are more unconditional, because in those instances the feelings are more of a result of the person’s impact on you, and how they make you feel, rather than being a result of something that they said or did, which makes it seem more superficial. I remember several instamces where this was explcirly demonstrated.

For instance, it happened in The World God Only Knows.

Keima’s words and sentiments here are probably very similar to the thoughts running through Sasuke’s head when Sakura confessed to him for the 2nd time in 693. He was likely wondering how she could possibly still love him under the circumstances:

And Chihiro would subsequently set the record straight, echoing Sakura’s feelings towards Sasuke:

Chihiro couldn’t explain why she liked him, but she knew that she didn’t need any justification. Not having a specific reason to love someone is part of what makes the feeling unconditional after all.

Another example of this was demonstrated in Ore Monogatari!!.

Yamato was asked why she liked Takeo:

But Yamato couldn’t answer because she couldn’t articulate her reasons. However, that didn’t mean that she loved Takeo for no reason:

She just couldn’t describe it. But we the readers could see why. The same applies for Sakura; just because her reasons weren’t explicitly stated, doesn’t automatically mean that they didn’t exist, nor does it mean that she loved him for no reason, it simply means that they can’t put it into words because the exact origin or reason is too hard to pinpoint. This is because their feelings weren’t a result of that the person said or did, they’re a result of who they are.

Yet another example of this was exhibited in Love Is Like After the Rain.

After Akira confesses to her Manager, he eventually questions her as to why she would fall in love with a 45 year old man:

And Akira’s reply? The same thing that was echoed by Chihiro, by Rinko, and by Sakura - you don’t need a reason:

And Akira certainly didn’t feel as though she needed any form of justification for her feelings; she loved him, and that was the end of it:

Akira loved Masami because of who he was. She saw the good in him, despite the fact that he just thought of himself as an old fart.

Just like Keima thought that he didn’t endear himself to Chihiro in any way, yet she still loved him regardless.

Just like Takeo thought that he was always going to be unpopular with girls, but Rinko loved him anyway.

And just like Sasuke thought that a future where he could embrace love was beyond him, Sakura loved him anyway.

So going in from this, I can’t say exactly where Sakiura’s feelings for Sssuke stemmed from, but what I can say is why they deepened so much. The development of her feelings derived from her wanting to help Sasuke overcome his darkness and wanting to know more about who he truly was. Sometimes feelings can develop from the sincere endeavour of wanting to help someone dear to you get better, and in the process, learning more about them. In fact, Sai and Ino’s canonisation largely shadowed this process as well.

When Sasuke awoke in the Forest of Death with the Curse seal activated, this was when Sakura realised that there was darkness in him, and that’s when her feelings began to develop:

Notice how she compared how Sasuke was acting then, to the happy Sasuke that she saw and admired:

Lol, madara + fate = mate, I’ve had the blog for almost 3 years and I can’t believe I’ve never made that connection.

To answer your question, as you know, Sasuke was adamant for those who were not present in their meeting to be ignorant of his actions and the dangers that could possibly be lurking over the horizon, because he knew that should the information be leaked into the general public, it would most likely cause mass unrest and pandemonium amongst the citizens, therefore ruining the era of peace that they had worked so hard to bring forth:

So because of this he was very serious about ensuring the confidentiality of his activity. The problem was that Sasuke took this endeavour a little too far, because he completely closed himself from those who weren’t at the 5 Kage Summit, including his daughter, because he wanted to ensure their safety. But he didn’t anticipate the negative repercussions that would have on Sarada because he had mistakenly thought that Sakura would be all she needed.

As for why Sasuke and Sarada’s reunion turned out the way that it did, earlier in chapter 2, Sasuke was attacked by a mysterious individual. Initially, he sighed when he had noticed that he was being followed, and he didn’t take his opponent seriously. However, when Sasuke saw that mini Shin was wearing the Uchiha crest, he now had his undivided attention:

To make matters worse, Sasuke then noticed that this unknown individual also possessed the Sharingan:

So unsurprisingly, this caught Sasuke completely off guard, and he proceeded to ask who on earth this person was, to which he’d get no answer:

So obviously, after this encounter, Sasuke was now being as cautious as ever. Therefore, when he goes to his and Naruto’s supposed secret meeting place, only to be greeted by an individual who he noticed was not only was wearing the Uchiha crest:

But was also in possession of the Sharingan - just like the mysterious individual who attacked him in the forest:

This was the unfortunate, but unsurprising conclusion he’d reach.

He had just been attacked by someone wearing the Uchiha crest and in possession of the Sharingan.

As far as he was aware, Sarada hadn’t unlocked her Sharingan.

As far as he was aware, Sarada shouldn’t know of his and Naruto’s meeting place; only Konoha’s hierarchy should know of it - hence his comment: “Well done finding out about this place”, but Sarada showed up alone, without Naruto.

As far as he was aware, Sarada should’ve still been in Konoha with Sakura, safe from all of this.

As far as he was aware, Naruto was meeting him alone.

All these factors, along with Sasuke now being highly vigilant, all pointed to Sarada being one of Shin’s comrades, which was what he initially presumed:

But after hearing her desperate cry for her father:

Sasuke realized that it was indeed his daughter, and he ceased his attack:

As soon as Naruto caught up with them, Sasuke immediately began interrogating him on why his daughter and her friend were here with them when he was meant to be coming alone:

This was not just because this was dangerous business which would put their lives in danger, but also because Sasuke’s actions were meant to be kept highly classified; exposing his activities to them would bring the risk of such information leaking to the village and causing pandemonium:

Q: “ Remember ur first ship Shamy?”

Yeah I definitely agree.

Literally the entire point of her speech in the first place was to illustrate her frustration that she was always being made to hide behind Naruto and Sasuke while they fought the battles for her. She even made it explicitly clear that after a while, she gave up on trying to catch up with them skill wise because that was practically impossible:

So right there, she made it very clear that she was not trying to catch up with them in terms of skill. So why would she then do a complete 180 and end up saying how she caught up to their level, when she had very explicitly said mere seconds earlier how that’s not what she was trying to do? It makes no sense.

Tsunade had clarified to her that a medic’s responsibility to not get killed wasn’t to be used as an excuse to being incapable of fighting on the front lines, and that’s all Sakura wanted to do; she wanted to be able to fight on the front lines with her team mates, rather than watch them from behind.

That’s why when she was finally back to back with Naruto and Sasuke, fighting alongside them, she thought about Tsunade and happily exclaimed that she had finally caught up to them, because she was finally fighting on the front lines with them, which was always what she had wanted to do in the first place; that was the entire point of her inner monologue: