one and only

Ah, the same old “SS is problematic” rigmarole. 

Yes you’re right, Sasuke is very attentive of Sakura and sees through her well. Sasuke is the source of most of SS’es problems, but that does NOT make SasuSaku problematic. Even someone as troubled as Sasuke found his happy ending, with the only girl he grew close to. And no, Sasuke has never been abusive. From the little we see of Sasuke in 700, he’s most likely NOT an absent father. Let’s get this last point out of the way first:

What is the basis of the absent father claims? He’s not in the village at that very moment? Do a few after-school instants characterize an entire relationship? 700 is the preamble to part III and the fact that he’s away is relevant to the plot. Sarada isn’t shown to long for her father, in fact, she’s noticing a similarity between her rivalry with Boruto and her dad’s with Naruto. If Sasuke were an absent father she wouldn’t speak of him so comfortably. And then, Sasuke is so connected to his daughter that he senses her exclamation. The only noises are his, the forest is static, the scene shifts toward him as his daughter is still talking, with the “…” it’s clear there’s nothing in the forest. Come onnnn. He’s clearly reacting to her. The lengths people will go to justify what they wish they saw… smh fandom. 

Part of SS’s struggles is also how Sakura thinks Sasuke sees her. I’m mentioning them, but this does NOT make them problematic. How can people call SS problematic if we haven’t even seen their dynamic as a mature couple? Almost no bond is ever the same before and after a relationship has been established. Is it okay to drop someone while they’re at their worst? How do the nuptial vows go again? “Through thick and thin” (similar vows apply in Japan and other non-JudeoChristian traditions). Before getting into a relationship, Sakura reaffirms the earnest quality of her unconditional love, all this while never compromising her values. So from Sakura’s side, the love is admirable. 

The manga extends over Sasuke’s darkest years, it is not representative of stable Sasuke. Like we’ve been saying forever. Problematic/abusive relationships can be identified because the victim is unable to refuse the partner’s manipulative demands. Sasuke’s problem is the opposite, he tries so hard to escape those bonds. Never has he been controlling, never has he forced them to do something against their wishes, he never played the victim in order to gain something from Sakura or any one of his friends. Was Sakura hurting? A lot, but it was second-hand suffering because she’s very empathetic, and Sasuke’s pain is massive.

Does Sasuke have the right to be so broken? After all, Karin, Kimimaro and others lost their clan too. Hasn’t Kakashi seen his father die before his eyes? Some readers can’t forgive Sasuke for having been a thorn in the side of many, but I feel empathy for him. He was betrayed and brainwashed by the one person he loved the most. It isn’t just the tragedy of what he had to endure, but how he found the strength to survive one shocking revelation after the other. His thoughts were manipulated too many times. He could trust no one. No bond with a person so broken can be easy. Yet, this girl and team slowly gained ground into his heart, “I don’t ever want to watch those dear to me die before my eyes again” he thought could grow emotionless, he tried to rationalize feelings, but failed. That’s not how feelings work. Sakura is Sasuke’s special girl, the proof is scattered all over the manga. Even him, shattered as he was, mistaken as he was, recovered the unconditional love he had lost with his brother. Can you imagine how comforting Sakura’s love must be, for someone this hurt?

At this point we’re going in circles. Us SasuSaku shippers see an inspirational story in which a guy, who believes to have lost his right to be happy ever again, finds the truest love in someone who knows him well, who both saw him shine, and at his lowest. Despite having seen it all, and despite not approving of his choices, she still believes there’s good left in him, she wants him happy.

 The thing that frustrates me when people say “Sasuke makes Sakura cry and sad, therefore he’s abusive and their relationship is abusive,” is that they don’t realize that HE is NOT the one responsible for her tears. She CHOOSES to cry and be sad because like uchihagakure said, Sakura has empathy/sympathy for his pain. He hasn’t forced her to do anything…it was Sakura who “chose” to go after him to accomplish a mission greater than anything that Konoha has ever assigned—-to rescue a person from mental torment and darkness and give him peace. I will admit that around the surface, it’s easy to fall into the trap of claiming SS as abusive, because it’s dark, it’s frustrating, it’s dramatic and melancholy…things that you don’t see or want in a typical relationship. 

However I believe Sakura gained something from falling in love with Sasuke. She acquired the will and strength to become a medic ninja. Sakura took the initiative to train with Tsunade BECAUSE she didn’t see herself strong enough to help her teammates…most of all, to save Sasuke. His betrayal and disappearance pushed her to do something different, to make herself more worthy and capable. She trained hard and found her niche in medical ninjutsu, and sometimes I wonder why a medical nin of all things? Why not become more proficient in taijutsu or senjutsu or other styles? Why was being a medical ninja so significant for her? 

Because a medical ninja HEALS…and guess what Sakura wants to do, HEAL Sasuke. Her pursuit, her love, and her relationship with Sasuke is significant because of this theme…she is a healer that will ultimately heal a patient not just physically and mentally, but emotionally. Whether antis want to accept it or not, loving Sasuke has defined her; it has given her an identity. If she had went with Naruto, it would have been too easy. Yes Naruto was lonely, but he was fully capable of taking care of himself—he did not have a reason to feel distrust or betrayal from the people he loved, because he didn’t have anyone to love as a child. Sakura was not the one to fill his lonely existence, that was Hinata’s job. Sakura, as a mature, persistent, and strong-willed individual, aimed for a bigger challenge, and she stuck with it through and through, despite all the pain and burden that came with it. This burden came from her side alone, because she knew her pursuit was not going to be easy, and sometimes she broke, like ANY HUMAN WOULD. 

Someone who never read Naruto once told me when I described SS was that Sakura seemed like a person who was trying to save a family member who fell into the darkness of drug addiction. I didn’t understand this comparison, but I realized that the parallel he was trying to make was the “hardships” and “persistence” that came with trying to save a person you cared about who was not themselves anymore. It’s never easy to see someone you love become lost and hurt, and it’s equally not as easy to make them stop and bring them back. Sasuke was a teammate, someone that Sakura came to like superficially at first but slowly began to understand his struggles…she felt enough empathy and pain for him that she “wanted” and I say WANTED, not HAD TO, take on the mission to bring him “home”, which is in this case, is to the family and trusted individuals Sasuke had missed for so long. 

I think the fact that Sakura went through all of this, faltered at times but still got back up and kept on going, made her an amazing and strong human. Antis claim that they want the best for Sakura, but what they want for her is something easy and without conflict. That’s not real life, and that’s certainly not Sakura’s character…sometimes, you have to commit to harder obstacles full of tears and stress to see yourself grow and become immune to the things that once scared you. They fail to understand that a girl like Sakura does not go for the easy route, she works hard for the things that she wants and the most important thing is that she KNOWS what she wants. That’s the most admirable thing of all. She’s the most human of all the characters because we didn’t see a consistent progress of her character…there were high times and low times but in the end, Sakura became an amazing mother and pediatrician of a children’s mental health clinic (if you consider the latter canon). And all this was possible because she “chose” to give significance to Sasuke Uchiha and the darkness that came with his past.  

RESIDENT EVIL 4 REMAKE