I've seen a lot of posts defending and criticizing Sakura's fake confession in the Land of Iron during the 5 Kage Arc.

My take on the whole event:

This was Sakura at her lowest moment but there was no resolution to this.

The biggest problem with Sakura's fake confession is that it NEVER gets brought up again. Sakura doesn't apologize to Naruto for the burden she put on him and never considers his feelings.

Sakura burdened Naruto with everything because she was too weak to do anything.

Sakura never knew how Naruto felt about her until Sai said something. Sakura never doubted her feelings for Sasuke throughout the entire show. She still liked Sasuke:

• When he left for Orochimaru in Part 1
• When they reunited in Orochimaru's lair at the beginning of Shippuden
• During the fight on the Samurai Bridge
• Near the end of the War Arc when Sasuke was about to fight Naruto

The problem with Sakura's fake confession is that it isn't genuine but only "A means to an end". If Sakura ever doubted her feelings for Sasuke before the 5 Kage Arc maybe her confession would make sense but Sakura never considers Naruto for a second because according to the author "moving on from a crush makes you a bad person".

Nobody would fault Sakura or Karin for moving on from Sasuke after the 5 Kage Arc.

Anyways after Naruto catches her red-handed, she throws a fit (for no reason) and then leaves. She says, “I’m sorry,” in her mind, but not to Naruto's face.

There's no resolution or Heart to Heart between Naruto and Sakura after the 5 Kage Arc but before Naruto goes to train with Killer Bee.

Naruto apologizing to Sakura for disguising as Sasuke to talk to her

Sakura apologizing to Naruto for treating him like he was stupid and saying what she said in the Land of Iron

People claim Sakura did this to save Naruto's life and remove a burden that she (thought she) placed on him.

But let's be real Sakura didn't save ANYONE. Naruto and Kakashi end up saving her from her shit plan. So it doesn't even make sense. Who tf did she save?

Sai

Sai is another subject of interest and is pointed to as the reason why Sakura did what she did but my question is this:

If Team 7's bond was so strong then why is Sai easily able to gaslight Sakura into thinking that Naruto only wanted to bring Sasuke back for her sake?

Is Sakura unaware of Naruto's bond with Sasuke and how Naruto relates to Sasuke, that Sai can trick her into thinking it's her fault because she thinks she is the center of Naruto's world?

Is Sakura THAT arrogant she thinks she is the center of Naruto's world? Plus this was before Sai made her feel bad because during that time he went 4 tails on the Tenchi Bridge she (attempts) to tell him to stop trying to save Sasuke as she will do it instead. This proves she doesn't understand why Naruto wants to save Sasuke.

Sai then tries to say "Sakura is not an idiot, nor is she a child who wouldn't understand the situation and circumstances"

Sai doesn't know Sakura that well because when it comes to Sasuke all of Sakura's development is flushed down the drain and she reverts to Part 1 Sakura.

Shizune and Shikamaru

Shikamaru & Shizune essentially said if nothing is done about Sasuke blood will be shed and it'll be on Konoha's hands thus breeding more war. Sasuke at this point was going trigger-happy and willing to kill anyone who stood in his way. Say if Sasuke actually reached Konoha to kill everyone would Ino and Sakura still be crying? Would Naruto still beg everyone for Sasuke's forgiveness?

Naruto

As much as I want to blame Sakura, Naruto is to blame as well. Naruto doesn't communicate with Sakura about the truth about Itachi and the Uchiha clan but does with Kakashi and Yamato. Doesn't Sakura deserve to know? She was on Team 7 as well. When things start getting bad, he just doesn't say anything to his friends/comrades and runs off, he crashes out when it comes to Sasuke.

Sakura's Plan Doesn't Make Sense

What was Sakura’s brilliant plan if Naruto bought her fake confession? Walk hand in hand back to the Leaf?

Say everything goes as planned and she tricks Naruto into believing she loves him AND she kills Sasuke. Then what? She thinks Naruto is going to be so "in love" with her that he will just overlook her killing Sasuke? Again if this bond with Naruto is "so strong" why does she think Naruto will be okay with her killing Sasuke?

IMO if Sakura's plan succeeded Naruto would've never forgiven her.

No Resolution

So Sakura lies to her supposed "best friend", Sai catches on to her plan and tries to stop her before she knocks out her teammates when they all agree to kill Sasuke together. And for what? What does this all lead to? Were you expecting a resolution to all this drama?

There isn't.

Sakura tries to trick Sasuke saying that she abandoned the Leaf and that she's joined him (Sakura still has on her Konoha headband btw). Sasuke tells her to kill Karin to prove her loyalty. Sakura walks up with a poisoned kunai to give Sasuke a slow death I guess?

Side note: Sakura is shocked that Sasuke feels cold. What is she talking about? She met him again at the beginning of Shippuden and he was pretty cold then.

Side Note 2: How does Sasuke know Sakura is a healer? He's never seen her use medical ninjutsu

Also, Sasuke is IMMUNE to poison so her poisoned kunai wouldn't even work LMAO. (Kakashi even said this)

But surprise surprise she fails miserably and needs to be saved by Kakashi. Then Sakura gets another chance and uses another kunai (WHY) to try and kill Sasuke but yet again freezes up before Naruto saves the day.

What was even the point of all this? Sakura doesn't contribute anything to this whole arc and wastes everyone's time showing she has no self-respect for herself and that she only exists as a love interest for Sasuke.

I'd prefer if Sakura FOUGHT Sasuke like she did in Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 Full Burst but we can't have nice things. Sakura must be eternally attached to Sasuke's hip because that's her whole character.

At this point in the manga, Sakura could've taken on Sasuke. He just got done killing Danzo, was low on chakra, and was going blind. Sakura didn't even throw one measly punch at him SMFH.

Even in the manga, Sakura says that even though she's a ninja all she does is cry and rely on Naruto. It feels like Part 1 Sakura has returned again. When Sasuske isn't in the picture Sakura is relevant and a good character but the minute he appears so does Part 1 Sakura. Saying she'll have faith in Naruto and Sasuke like WTF. She's putting everything on Naruto again because she's too weak to do anything.

Only Naruto and Sasuke get a resolution while Sakura contributes nothing and her drama throughout this Arc is rendered a waste of time.

Conclusion

People will argue and say that Naruto would've forgiven Sakura regardless.

To that, I say yeah of course BUT. Sakura herself needed to initiate an apology and come clean to Naruto because SHE wronged her best friend by selfishly placing her desires on him.

The perfect time to do that was after the 5 Kage Arc but before Naruto left to train with Killer Bee.

SHE chose to lie about her feelings and manipulate Naruto into giving up on Sasuke. She didn't even "try her hardest" because she could have chosen to talk to Naruto heart to heart by themselves without everyone else around and tell him that Sasuke was no longer worth the fight and both their well-being was more important, but she didn't.

Just poorly resolved and handled if you ask me.

https://preview.redd.it/1mls7bigdvge1.jpg?width=1916&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=222b8daf36b8b6a7d47342ff9f3e127bfc8d886e

Reanimation of the Hokages was a major advantage to the Allied Shinobi Force. What if they weren't revived, how would the outcomes have changed in such a scenario??

Let's consider Sasuke somehow turned out to be the same as in canon, without getting to know Hashirama's stories.

Wouldn't the war basically end with that tailed beast bomb if Minato was not there to teleport it? In that case, didn't Orochimaru's nasty experiments help humanity?

https://preview.redd.it/p8c0u6bmevge1.png?width=832&format=png&auto=webp&s=37b9a715ddfc69eb0c9b9afc4ebe13b14521f4f0

There were already 7 bijuus inside, so he could have absorbed chakra from the statue to heal himself and could have made a colossal chibaku tensei to seal the nine tails.

Why didn't he use it?

I don’t know if this has been asked before but curious to what people come up with. If other anime characters were in Naruto what would their jutsus be

Even though I think this is a pretty generic answer in the verse, and also very aware of his immense popularity, Itachi is by a landslide my favorite character in Naruto.

My reasons vary. In first place I just stan the Uchiha more than any other clan or group of people. Their story is tragic. It involves a permanent and constant cycle of hatred and vengeance. The sharingan is like a price you must pay for being born Uchiha. You are born with it? Then you are also thrown into the madness of holding one. Their difficult beginnings and Madara’s descent into chaos and flash forward until the coup in the almost present tense where one is led to believe Itachi and Sasuke are the only surviving Uchiha. Itachi’s portrayal as one of the coldest, heartless beings. How he plays the part perfectly. And how this perspective is flipped once you are revealed the truth of the matter and the duties he had to carry for the sake of his brutal mission. Nawww bruh. Just pure insanity.

That being said, the last thing that he tells Sasuke also makes me tear up: “no matter what you do from now on… I will always love you.” Damn…. Maybe i am just in my feelings or I’m being dramatic or overly sensitive. But when I read those words they echo and start resonating from within, making me believe that I too want to see or hear them for myself, that I too, am looking for somebody to love me regardless of what actions I may take. If I rise up, if I fall down, if I win all my battles, or lose all of them, is there somebody out there that can pronounce those words? Does that person exist? Where could you be I think to myself, and Itachi serves to me as a fictional reminder that perhaps somewhere out there, hopefully, in this world that we live in, someone loves me dearly no matter what happens.

Sp my understanding of his character, is that he is heavily interested in money. To the point it's somewhat of an obsession. Do you think he would teach his skills/ageless ability for a price?

I personally think the jonin system/how you become a jonin should be more known, because we have big exams on how you become a genin/chunin but we don’t know anything about how you become a jonin.

Does it even make sense for Madara to be the FINAL villain?

What i mean is, in the very first arc, it's established that the ideal Shinobi is an emotionless tool, who completes the task given to them no matter what.

The wave mission is a perfect example of this. The only reason the main cast even fight zabuza and haku is because both sides of the conflict were given conflicting missions. Neither side has any personal stake in the matter.

This theme is present throughout the entire series, as every major antagonist Naruto faces is being manipulated (being used as nothing more than a tool) or is themselves manipulating things in the background.

Gaara/sand village: manipulated by orochimaru to attack the leaf

Orochimaru/ kabuto: one of the greatest manipulators of the series and his right hand man

Sasuke/sound 4: manipulated by orochimaru

Akatsuki: manipulated by Obito

Obito: manipulated by madara

Taking this into account, I don't think Madara (or anyone who had ever called themselves a Shinobi) could've been the final villain. Why would the final villain be another Shinobi (tool), instead of the grand manipulator?

Sorry if this doesn't make sense, just something I had in my head.

do you think some new big bad is going to be introduced? do you think it’s going to be disappointing? the story has been going for over 20 years now and they’ve kept the story going for so long that I don’t know how they could conclude it without disappointing a lot of people. every major/once major character is either irrelevant or so strong now that I can’t imagine a realistic threat suitable of closing out the naruto/boruto series. the only thing I can think of is something above the otsutsuki or maybe like a god of chakra or something but that still seems ridiculous. the story that was set up at the start is long over and idk how kishimoto is going to pull off a good conclusion. i’m not a boruto hater or anything I think the story is fine im just worried about it burning out and being abandoned before it gets a good conclusion.

surely this has been seen before, but what is the meaning of it. I'm only on my first watch right now so not sure.

Hello there,

Hope this isn't much of a noob question.
I am rewatching naruto and I stumbled upon a youtube short of the fight between the ambushed mist villagers and kakashi. The quality of the video is way better than the animation from the original naruto. Not in terms of resolution but it's a new animation, new ratio. I saw the 20th anniversary video again but this clip was not there. Here are some pictures for reference (left is the youtube short and right is the episode i'm watching. Anyone know if there was a remake or is this a shippuuden flashback? (if yes know the episode?)

Thanks in advance :D

Naruto gasp

Kakashi sliced

Mist ninja emerging

Is there any official explanation for why Edo-Tenseis have unlimited chakra, or where they draw it from? I mean, of course it’s an anime, but it seems to me like a physical contradiction within the Naruto world.

I mean it seemed pretty effective. I don’t think they ever really came up with a counter to this.

Obito before becoming evil loved rin (a non-uchiha) and wanted to be hokage.

Itachi and shisui were willing to die for the village and helped spy on their clan, itachi even had dreams of being hokage.

Izumi's mum married a non uchiha and wasnt even living in the uchiha compound before the higher ups rounded every uchiha up and forced them to live there.

Even sasuke married a non uchiha tho to be fair he didnt have anyone to chose from.

The uchiha didnt follow madara in leaving the village and gave it a chance.

The uchiha clan had also gotten smaller.

My point is that the uchiha were slowly and surely becoming one with the village and breaking the framework which hashirama dreamed of. So yeah tobirama was right that it wasnt easy to break them out of the framework and hashirama was naive, it didnt not mean it was impossible because it was happening. Yeah sure they didnt adapt as fast as the senju who we assume integrated into konohagakure so much that they stopped using the senju last name, but everyone goes at their own pace, I'd argue they integrated more than the hyuga did.

Unironically it was tobirama and the elders that ruined it by treating them like outsiders, with danzo even straight up planning their demise way before they had even done anything wrong. If tobirama really wanted them to break the frame work he shouldnt have created a police force and tried to create a system that allowed uchihas to interact with other konohagakure citizens but nooo he was too paranoid and needed to watch them pushing them to a corner which made the framework stronger uniting them more. His paranoia about madara unironically made more madaras.

When you want groups of people to integrate into a society you create a system that allows for them to interact with members of said society. You dont segregate them, ban them from governemnt, cut their funding, spy on them 24/7 and not acknowlege their efforts in the war. Don't even get me started on hiruzen, the fact that he knew very well that danzo held prejudice towards the uchiha yet he allowed him to do what he wanted is BEYOND me, he's no doubt the most 2 faced hokage.

I generally believe had hashirama lived longer and remained hokage the uchiha wouldve definitely integrated with the leaf way more and you'd see more half or quarter uchihas like izumi and sarada. Honestly hashirama was the uchihas only chance to a better life in konohagakure, tho he was naive and too optimistic, his ideals did a lot for the ninja world.

Thoughts?

Sogood it shifted everyone's thought towards naruto , surprised hiruzen , the entire arena ,even orochimaru was impressed

Now hear me out. As a Naruto fan, I’m not the biggest fan of Boruto. It’s decent at best, but had it’s fair share of good episodes before the time skip.

I actually liked the Sasuke Retsuden arc, this is like my 3rd or 4th time rewatching it. Why you might ask? (Shino voice) it’s because I’ve been watching a Naruto movie a day for the last week since I’ve been on vacation from work.

If I recall correctly, most peoples problem with the arc was the art quality being mediocre at best, amongst other quality issues like the quality of the story and I’m not sure if people were trolling or serious about the dinosaur thing because that was explained that Sasuke was holding back😂

So my point is, I feel these issues could’ve easily been solved had this or improved on had this been a movie and they put a bigger budget for it than it just being a filler arc in an already me diocre anime. I think that could’ve helped them also develop the story a little deeper and find ways to make it more exciting and interesting.

I honestly think it would’ve been in their interest as well. The amount of Boruto haters than went back to watch it just to check it out just goes to show how many fans are starving for content surrounding OG Naruto characters. I mean look at the Minato one shot.

What do you guys think? Do you see the vision or am I just babbling nonsense?

TLDR: I think the Sasuke Retsuden filler arc in Boruto should’ve been a Naruto movie instead. It had lots of potential and could’ve been great with the right budget for the art style and more work on the content with this being an important project and not just a filler arc for Boruto. They would’ve made a lot of money from it as well.

Lookin for OC MS abilities that might fit with Sasuke’s style if he didn’t have Amaterasu.

The abilities should also have limitations and weaknesses; like only works within a certain range or only lasts for a certain amount of time.

For example an OC ability I’m dubing Burakkupansā (bur-ak-oo-pan-sa)

Uses:

The user causes an opponent to be enveloped in red lightning that damages them continuously feeding off of their own chakra. It gets stronger depending on the opponent’s strength.

Weakness: It only works within a finite distance, really strong wind style.

How is the Merch in the Opera? I'm basing this on what tickets I should buy, cheaper if the Merch is good? I better seat if the Merch meh? Any past experiences?

Credit for where I got the picture from:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Naruto/comments/117a3h2/naruto_homecoming/

So most of us agree that Naruto should have learnt something over the time-skip besides better fundamentals and a slightly bigger Rasengan.

So in addition to all of the canonical training/ improvements that he did over the time-skip. I propose that he learns the following:

1. Becomes more adept with the Toad related Summoning Techniques - including the summoning of Mt. Myoboku's Stone Swords

2. Barrier: Canopy Method Formation

3. The Flying Thunder God Technique

Now two things to note here:

• In my mind One of Naruto’s Shadow Clones would have the brilliant idea during their training, to apply the FTG Technique Formula onto the spine of the original Naruto. Thereby making him and any potential Shadow Clones that he creates, markers.

• Naruto becoming more adept with the Summoning Technique isn’t really him learning a new thing. More so him actually using and practicing with it.

Doing what we’ve seen Jiraya do, such as warping targets to a Toad’s Esophagus, summoning Gamaken, or summoning Mt. Myōboku’s Stone Swords. Which are very useful moves.

Now we could even insert just a few moments ALL throughout Part 2 where Naruto could have learnt something.

Beginning of Shippuden

You could have Naruto practicing his aim with Kunai’s sometime after returning to Konoha. Where he encounters Konohamaru who flexes the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique.

This would obviously be a technique up Naruto’s ally and then we could have naruto learning it from Konohamaru.

Considering that Naruto is such a Savant with Shadow Clones. He should be able to learn the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique within the span of a day.

Post-Akatsuki Suppression Arc

After naruto recovers from his fight with Kakuzu where his arm was injured. Naruto who is forbidden from using the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, trains for a few days in order to make his Wind Release: Rasengan stronger.

Fourth Great Shinobi World War

After Naruto harmonizes with Kurama. Unlocking KCM2 and Bijuu Sage Mode.

We should see him summon Ma & Pa in order to perform the Sage Art: Amphibian Technique

Showing to the audience that he can use the Sage Art: Amphibian Technique is a bigger deal than it might seem initially. As it gives Naruto access to the Cooperation Jutsu - Sage Art: Goemon & he can have Ma & Pa use Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Chant

Adding Genjutsu to his arsenal once and for all, and a powerful one at that.