Anti Sakura - Blog Posts

Naruto 695

CAN I JUST TAKE THE TIME TO EXPRESS MY FEELS?

So look at all these parallels between the two VotE fights:

Can we just appreciate Kishi’s constant parallels?? It’s like he never forgets even when it happened 400+ chapters ago D: AND THEN THIS CONSTANT THEME OF LONELINESS:

EVERYBODY ON TEAM 7 TALKED ABOUT THEIR LONELINESS- ADFGJKL.  But Naruto realized that he isn’t alone because he has Team 7/Konoha.  And I think Sasuke realized like that too even back before he left because look:

Sasuke admits he dreamed of a future with Team 7 full of love, happiness, and peace.  He toyed with the idea of staying with his family (sobs).  But look at his wording here:

“The future is not where my dream is”- Sasuke’s words seem like his ideal world (because that’s what dreams are all about right? Where you will be your happiest) is to live together in harmony with Team 7 and everything to be peaceful.  However, he claims that his dream has no place in the future, but in the past. Yet, I still think to live with Team 7 is Sasuke’s dream even to the current chapters since he’s trying to destroy the past 400+ chapters later (So screw off all those pro Team Taka/anti Team 7 people >:( ) because look at Sasuke’s face when he thinks about killing Naruto:

THAT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A DETERMINED FACE TO KILL SOMEONE >:( It’s more of a depressed/sulking face, realizing he will even be lonelier without Naruto. It’s like he wants Naruto to disapprove his “hokage” ideals and to convince him to come back.  And he knows how much Naruto means to him (in a platonic way sorry SasuNaru fans) because look:

But do you see that smile at the end?! They first scowl at each other because it’s the typical way of saying, “I don’t like you."  But that playful smile at the end just shows how much they actually mean to each other T_T- that we may pretend we hate each other but really we are best friends because we understand each other.

It’s why I think Sasuke got mad at Sakura for mocking Naruto even in part 1 (because notice that smile was when they were 8):

IT EXPLAINS WHY SASUKE GOT SO DEFENSIVE FOR NARUTO D:

And look at Sasuke’s face when Naruto calls him his one and only best friend:

It’s like he’s reminded of what he told Hagoromo:

In the end, Kishi is telling us it’s going to end like this again:

With Sasuke failing to complete his mission of killing Naruto.  But hopefully in the end, Naruto will be conscious to drag Sasuke’s ass back D:< because I would rather not see Sasuke running away from the village…again.

Also, for all those NaruSaku’s sorry to disappoint, but look here:

Naruto says, "I feel like I finally understand why I like her” after her speech about her just wanting Sasuke’s acknowledgement.  Because look at Naruto’s/Sasuke’s face on the top right panel, he replays her words in his thoughts.  And now look here:

Both Naruto and Sakura are connected by their wanting to be acknowledge by Sasuke.  It’s why Naruto is trying so hard to bring Sasuke back and why he keeps referring his promise of a lifetime to Sakura:

He wants Sasuke’s acknowledgement for their friendship and for Sakura’s love for Sasuke. To me, NaruSaku was dead from the beginning of part 1.  Nothing in part 2 hinted for a romantic relationship for NS despite what NS claims.  Because Naruto knows how much Sasuke’s acknowledgement means- so for him to think about Sakura in a romantic way- that destroys his whole ideal of how much “Sasuke’s acknowledgement” means.  In my opinion, Naruto wants SS to happen as much as the fandom does lol.

Anyway, I still feel like SasuSaku has a big part on why Sasuke comes back and Naruto will be the mouthpiece for the SS fandom because look:

Even though Sakura is not physically there at the VotE fight, her presence still has an effect on the SasuNaru fight.  Naruto replays Sakura’s face and her words about Sasuke in his head because it fuels his desire to take Sasuke home.  He knows how painful it is that Sasuke left  and seeing Sakura’s love for Sasuke inspired him to make him promise he will bring Sasuke back.  And I feel like Naruto’s talk no jutsu will mention Sakura’s love again to Sasuke and that will make him hesitate just like before:

And another foreshadowing hint-

I think Kishi was foreshadowing Sasuke’s “hokage” even back then because look at the words on the side: “vigilante Sasuke” why would Sasuke be considered a vigilante back then? A vigilante is “a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate."  And back then, Sasuke’s mission was to kill Itachi-  So I feel like Kishi was even planning back then to return to the VoTE for the final SasuNaru showdown to confront Sasuke’s ideals.

And look here:

Sasuke says, "It’s these connections that make life so painful!!"  With these words, Sasuke even tells Naruto why he’s pushing Sakura’s love, Kakashi’s teachings, and Naruto’s friendship away.  it’s because he’s afraid to feel that pain again.  He can’t go through losing more important people in his life because it tears him apart.  I think that’s why he’s trying to be alone on this "hokage” path.  But like I said before, I think Sasuke just wants Naruto to prove him wrong- that his ideal isn’t the way to go.

Bah this was super long and would have been even longer- but I decided to stop rambling about my feels. 

Thanks for reading!

Yeah, now it been mention, I know more Naruto and Sakura is pushover person in real life

He's right, I give him my support.

I completely disagree with this!!! I see that the user for this is 'shannaro-kamo,' so perhaps this account is only here for Pro-Sakura takes, and so maybe this is me shouting at a wall, but this is such a strange take that's completely inconsistent with Ino's character, the plot parallels, the fact that Inoichi's literal dying words are that Ino's best quality is her ability to be a GREAT FRIEND?! and the reoccurring meaning of that quote.

Ino actually says

"(彼女は)強がってはしゃいてるだけど"

And words meaning the same thing twice; once as a kid in the quote OP used, and then later when Sakura cuts her hair in the Forest of Death as she tells Naruto that the reason she cut her hair was for an 'image change,' which is obviously not true. Of course, since Naruto was unconscious when she cut her hair, he believes her, while Ino (and Sasuke, probably) rightly identify that she's fronting instead of being honest. In the chuunin exam context, anyone can induce that Ino uses such words to say 'Sakura is putting on a front to hide her true feelings.'

See here;

So what does is mean when she says these words as a child? Kishimoto loves to have characters echo their own words and the words of others in parallel meaning afterall. There has to be a link in the meaning, not just a random attribution.

You used some bad faith on Ino's part to say that she was... Somehow aware of some future rivalry brewing between her and Sakura over Sasuke and getting mad at Sakura for becoming confident and challenging her to the point of even regretting her past goodwill??? But that is SO inconsistent with everything the canon establishes about Ino.

Consider;

1) Ino is absolutely fine with the idea of Sakura one day surpassing her using floriography metaphors when Sakura asks why she gave her the ribbon (remember that Ino is symbolized as a cosmos!);

So why would she suddenly go back on her word with no explanation and feel a sudden rivalry when she herself already acknowledged that Sakura, perhaps, had even more potential? Ino only ever tried to make Sakura bloom, or do you think she's lying about considering it a shame when others don't reach their full potential too? And that she only wants herself to bloom? Her regretting helping Sakura would go against her core beliefs. Ouch. Bad faith : /

2) Ino is a sharp, bold, and confident girl who easily thought on her feet to shoot flower stems into the mouths of the girls being mean to Sakura, and who pretended to get mad over Sakura's later taunts just to use her jutsu. Although she gets loud and obnoxious, Ino is a planner. So does it really make sense for an Ino who was already sensing a rivalry and regretting helping Sakura to look THIS upset and shocked over her Sakura leaving and have no pithy words in response? Shouldn't she look more resigned? Angry? Does this look like the face of a girl who is already certain that Sakura is her rival? Or is it the face of genuine devastation? Besides, where is all her characteristic yelling and self-righteousness from literally any other time someone 'challenges' her?

3) Ino didn't need any time after tying with Sakura to immediately express happiness that Sakura had bloomed beautifully, because she never had any doubt that Sakura would one day bloom and never regretted helping her get there.

Why? How? Because Ino wasn't the one harbouring an inferiority complex about Sakura, or underestimating Sakura. All of her 'I'm better than you!!!' dialogue was clearly posturing - posturing, mind you, that was so good that nobody even on her own team realized her acting prowess lol. Her happiness at Sakura's growth is what is genuine - no resentment, a Naruto-like close-eyed smile. It's Sakura who is unable to say anything positive about Ino after the fight...

So what exactly was baby-Ino trying to say up there in OP’s quote? To be completely honest, Kishimoto doesn't give us many Ino-centric pages... But let's use what we have instead of making up awful, unfounded characteristics to attribute to Ino, and understanding that when she says these words, she's referring to Sakura covering up her feelings.

If you ask me, the most evidence lies in the idea that Ino was worried that Sakura was pretending to be someone else, someone who fronted, competed with other girls, put other girls down - becoming the type of girl that Ino is shown to hate.

Remember that most of the girls around them were the sort who liked Sasuke and weren't nice to each other or any other girl because of the perceived competition - and Ino knows this. Ino was afraid of Sakura becoming someone she disliked by being so explicit with her crush on Sasuke and throwing herself into the vicious ring of girls who tore each other down over Sasuke and changed for the worse. These girls don’t believe that every person should be made to bloom into the best flower they could be, they tear each other down, and that goes against everything Ino stands for. Compare Ino's expression in the screencap below to OP's screencaps - they're almost identical. She's not being petty or jealous. Those narrowed eyebrows over her eyes mean that she’s pissed and concerned.

Although I'm not even sure if Ino specifically liked Sasuke, because it seemed like she liked ALL pretty guys (Neji, Sai, etc.) and likes to flirt, it's clear that Ino has a problem with girls who bring others down and make fun of others for wanting to look/be better, and that she implicitly didn't want Sakura to become a girl like that. Consider the way Ino dealt with her (alleged) crush, she kept it private and to herself, and only had it thrown her face via rumours - not reputed facts. She wasn't interested in the drama of liking Sasuke and what that did to the other girls. Not to mention, on the flipside, if she really thought Sakura was no match for her, why not tell Sakura about her crush to her face? Why not declare it like the many other girls? Is she jealous? Or superior? How can she logically be both? Or is it that Ino isn’t interested in hating on other girls over mutual crushes and getting competitive to begin with? In defense of this, Sakura was the one who made it an issue first and set the precedent.

Moreover, it's telling of you to assume that two girls can't like the same guy without provoking a fight over it in repressed jealousy or dismissing each other as lesser and not a competitor, when it actually is more often than not in Naruto. For instance, Karin never diminishes Sakura nor does she challenge her over their feelings for Sasuke. They co-exist while simultaneously liking Sasuke, and even in the Gaiden, when Karin is shown to still have feelings for Sasuke, she never puts down Sakura. Hinata similarly never takes to tearing Sakura down over the fact that Naruto likes her, she is neutral. Ino, by Kishimoto's pattern in dealing with girl’s crushes, was probably neutral at first until Sakura threw it in her face, because Sakura, as the protagonist heroine, is the exception who needed to 'surpass' Ino. You would need strong evidence to the contrary to disprove that Ino was always a two-faced bitch, and you don't provide that burden of proof with the simple 'フン'/‘Hm” and the aforementioned repeated quote that means something else. Plus, more than Hinata and Sakura were friends, or Sakura and Karin were friends, Ino and Sakura friends - so you would need a very high burden of proof to recast Ino as a worse friend than any of the other girls.

Plus, Ino even gets proven right in her worries about Sakura fronting and becoming mean when Sakura throws the exact kind of crap her bullies said to her back in Ino's face, even if it just to provoke her (which, you know, outside of this analysis, it's always classy to provoke your enemy by straw-manning them into a weak girly girl archetype when they were the one to give YOU strength when you needed it regardless of context. Wanting someone to fight you doesn't give you the justification to disrespect them);

This is actually the only time Ino grits her teeth and the SFX says that she visibly bristles, which she doesn't do elsewhere. Plus, the nature of SFX shows the reality of her feelings, not just her acting for her jutsu. So Ino's actually offended. Sure, Sakura was trying to provoke Ino, but what a low-ball way to do that. 

“Sakura did nothing wrong! ~” you say...

(Sure, Jan. I’m sure you get looooots of friends by treating people in this way. Couldn’t be me, lol. Me and my decade long girlfriends will see ourselves out.)

Their whole rivalry is barely even 'mutual.' Sakura declares it, Ino is first SHOCKED before anything else, and then half-heartedly reciprocated for a few panels. Sakura is the one who says their entire friendship and all Ino's ever done for her is meaningless unless she surpasses her. Ino just rises to Sakura's challenge understanding that the other girl needs this, though she herself definitely doesn't because she always acknowledged her own abilities and Sakura's without a problem. Ino doesn't change at all, her character is consistent, but forced to move with Sakura's own changing perceptions of Sakura, Ino, and their relationship. It's not Ino's fault that Sakura retconned all of the good things Ino said to her as proof that Ino never acknowledged her - when she already did in the memory with the cosmos. The idea that Ino never acknowledged her as a kid and spoke down to her is a weird one based on the warped and traumatized Sasuke & Naruto dynamic that the only way to acknowledge someone is to want to fight them or be jealous of them, which even Sasuke & Naruto realize isn't right towards the end of the manga. It's not Ino's fault she never drank Team 7's 'how to (badly) relate to people' Kool-Aid?

If you want to find someone who 'wasn't that good of a friend,' I'm sorry self-described 'Sakura apologist,' but the girl you're looking for isn't top kunoichi, defender of bullied girls, floriography nerd Ino Yamanaka. Consider that Ino and Sakura barely interact towards the end of the manga, but even so, Kishimoto goes out of his way to establish that Ino is defined by her positive friendships when it's barely even relevant to the plot, through both Asuma and Inoichi Yamanaka's last words, for no other reason than to clarify Ino’s character.

Unless you think Inoichi and Asuma are liars too, or don't understand their daughter and student respectively.... Unlikely, right? So don’t come for Ino for being a bad friend when she was the best one. #thankunext

Debunking the notion that Ino was a perfect friend to Sakura

disclaimer: I love both Ino and Sakura and won’t judge them for their behavior in the context of their rivalry, whether as kids or young adults. This is just to show that Ino wasn’t infallible when it came to helping Sakura, because many like to incorrectly antagonize Sakura in favor of Ino to this day.

Ino did show regret about helping Sakura once Sakura confessed about her crush.

強がってはしゃいでるだけよ= Tsuyo gatte hashai deru dake yo which translates roughly to ‘just acting tough’ which is exactly what she says in the anime (the following screenshots are from the Netflix sub)

this one is from another website

this is a translation from online

and this is the Viz translation, which is inconsistent with the rest

Even the “Him, hah!” is wrong because all she says in the raw is “フン” = hun = hmph. She says nothing about Sasuke and isn’t talking about Sasuke. She’s talking about Sakura to the girl next to her; she’s not responding to the girls in the foreground telling Sakura that Sasuke is popular, that wouldn’t even make sense. She’s sensing a rivalry, and a significant part of her wishes Sakura would go back to being shy and insecure. It’s therefore no wonder that when she hears of Ino’s crush from other sources, Sakura has doubts about Ino and realizes she can no longer be a tagalong. Ino didn’t tell Sakura about her crush because it would mean confronting her feelings of jealousy; it wasn’t because Ino was prioritizing the friendship. That’s the real reason Sakura broke off the friendship.

Ino herself comes to understand this:

Ino was forced to recognize Sakura as an equal, and it was for the benefit of both girls. Sakura did nothing wrong.

SAKURA FANS STOP POSTING YOUR CHERRY BLOSSOM QWEEN IN THE SASUKE AND UCHIHA TAGS CHALLENGE (‼️impossible‼️)