Naruto manga - chapter 469
http://www.mangafox.com/manga/naruto/v50/c469/1.html
I looked at the spoilers. Very fast, so i didn't get the details. Still, I knew the main events. So I spent the last three-four days snarling to myself about how sucky it was for Sakura's character development and how pissed I was that Kishimoto couldn't showcase Naruto's amazing faithfulness without breaking Sakura's own faith that was one of her core characteristics and making her look like a self-centered bitch on the rebound.
Still, the actual chapter wasn't quite as bad as I had feared. The body language helps a lot. Also my desperate hope that Kishi has a plan to salvage this, sort of maybe. I know it's not very likely, but I'll cling until next week at least.
1. Blahblah KillerBee rhymes and that's funny lol blah. giant raccoon blahblah...
2. Dead plant guy blah oh hey I like this byakugan eye guy. OHH AN ACTUAL EXPLANATION OF ZETSU'S JUTSU i didn't understand a word of it but then again i should have been in bed five hours ago :DDD; will read over later! (unless someone can summarize in a manner my poor brain will comprehend)
3. -- eeeee Danzou!
"I don't care if i die, but gouge out my eye and take it with you"
BADASS. Okay, man, I need a younger-no-jutsu so I can actually ship the hell out of you. (... WITH KAKASHI, I THINK. YES. Strangely enough not with Sai. Older!Danzou/current!Sai gives better ohsowrong pings. *wise nod*)
Creepy soft doll with hand scythes! It looks kind of neat.
4. "I cuddle you... WITH MY BLADES."
5. Eeee. It looks kinda like a Yamanaka technique except one stage evolved. SHINY.
(but but but he can't be a yamanaka, he's got PUPILS! also he actually used his jutsu in combat. That's just plain wrong. XD
you know, the Yamanakas have a cool ability... and what do we see them use it for? To take over birds and spy from afar and be a hindrance to their teammates who have to shield the empty body. I don't mind the shielding thing as a normal drawback to a potentially devastating ability, but at least do something *shiny* with the things you take over, damn it! It's so *chilly*, all the things they could do with that ability! One fic I read once -- I forgot the rest apart from that, which stayed with me -- had Ino possessing a target, and then jumping from a building and leaving the body just before it crashed to the ground, so it would look like a suicide. That was fucking cool! I wish Kishi would be more inventive with her abilities. He gave Shikamaru a dozen bazilion ways to be creative with his, even before the powerups! Hn.)
6. "You're the one who was trash talking us, Mifune."
7. "... I was perhaps a little hasty! :D lalala um what do you mean i got totally tricked by danzou and acted all badass and now i'm in a room with four people who kinda don't like me ahaha um. Hey Raikage, let me suck your metaphorical cock a bit more. You'll be an awesome leader because, um... you're an awesome brother! Yeah. Totally."
"Bitch, I don't want no metaphowhatever. Do it for real or shut your trap."
8. If only Tsuchikage wasn't a drunk old midget with a fat nose I'd totally ship him with Raikage. He's the only one who doesn't take Raikage's shit and then asks for more, they have a "we will ally for now... SO THAT WHEN WE'RE DONE I CAN FIGHT YOU" thing going on, and Raikage actually used his real~ name~ truelooove~ XD
9. Raikage: *tries to smile in an approving way* *forgets how to unclench his eyebrows*
Naruto: ... repeat plz? I haz snowz in my earz. (NNNGHSOCUTE.)
Kiba: :/
Lee: D8
Yamato: DDDD8
Kakashi: e_\\;;;
10. "What I said, Naruto... is that I love you!"
Okay so she did her love declaration right here in the open with four other guys with them. Not even just in the background watching, but right there in the group with them. And she looks coyly to the side instead of staring right at him.
"I don't know what I was thinking, liking a person like that."
Yeah, what were you thinking? I bet Naruto could tell you, 'cause he's even more in love with Sasuke than you've ever been. >__>
Naruto's O__O face is SO CUTE though. SO CUTE.
11. ... and then his slow 0___0 ... e.è ... è_é ... ouch. Just ouch.
Sakura: *looks surprised when Naruto fails to look grateful and jumps for joy*
Naruto: "Just what happened?"
Sakura: :D "Nothing really I just realized there's no sense in keeping on liking a criminal. I can't stay a kid forever, I have to face reality."
I'm trying to read this as something mature and reasonable, but it still comes across as "I never really loved him because you can't control love, I just had a crush which you can switch on and off at will and now it's inconvenient." Thing is, Naruto is the one who said that if growing up and not being a fool meant letting go of Sasuke then he'd rather be a fool all his life, so he's not gonna be impressed she's settling for him.
12. "So Naruto, no need to keep that promise... won't you stop chasing Sasuke?"
I think the only thing that redeems it a little for me, is the very fact that her smile is fake and way too bright and shallow and nervous for the situation. No matter whether she's aware that she's trying to shield his poor little feelings by nobly sacrificing herself, or whether she's honestly confused and lost and hurting, there's still a part of her that doesn't even believe the shit coming out of her mouth.
Of course it doesn't help that she seems to think Naruto WOULD believe it... or does she? because, um, what.
Yamato: >:/ "What the hell are you..."
*snerk* "Oh Sakura, I can tell that in reality you... LOVE NARUTO WITH ALL YOUR HEART, I CAN TELL BECAUSE AS A CAPTAIN I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT LOVE MATCHES BETWEEN TEAMMATES WHICH I WILL THEN ENCOURAGE YOU TO LEAVE BEHIND FOR THE GOOD OF THE MISSION" hahaha not so much.
Kiba having the flashback to the genin reunion...
Sakura: "I'll do all the talking so let me blahblah"
-- I'm srsly hoping we then discover that the full talk was something about how Sakura was gonna PROVE once and for all that Naruto wouldn't give up and she knew it and they better know it too. It's the only thing that could fully redeem it for me.
(and whoa, hinata was there in the genin crowd, too. When Sakura knows perfectly well that she just risked her life for him. That adds another layer of bitch on the "oh, I'm so special to him his little heart might never recover from losing me so i have to sacrifice myself as a consolation prize boohoo sob sob" cake)
Naruto: Did something happen? *still can't believe it. And whne Naruto can't even believe it, you better believe there's something to be disbelieved. believe it.*
13. Sakura: Nothing happened!
Sai: *.....* 9__9 *oh, good, Sakura is about to make Naruto-kun happy. I will sure like to see Naruto-kun happy.*
Sakura: If you want to know why I started liking you, I'll tell you clearly! *melancholic prettyface as she gathers herself*
Naruto: *flashbacks to bench incident, Dead Porcupine Sasuke incident, Promise of a Lifetime, We'll do it together, OMG SASUKE i see manchest o_o*
(frrrgh as if her "next time we'll do it together" wasn't ALREADY taking the "promise you'll do it for me naruto!!" back. gah.)
14. Sakura: *...hug?* *not even with her arms thrown around his back, but just with her hands curled around his arms*
Naruto: ... *stands there*
Kakashi: ... e_\\ "Sakura, you..."
Sai: è__é *this better be working, bitch. Put more boobs in it!* *strange how I like it less than I believed I would...*
Kiba: >__é;;;; (oh god this looks like a "this better be working" face. XD)
Lee: ò.o;;
Yamato: >:/ (what, Doctor Love doesn't encourage this turn of events? *gasp* I thought he'd be throwing a party!)
15. Sakura: "Sasuke keeps getting further away... but you, you stayed." *this is not at all a case of "settling" à la "if you can't be with the one you love, try to love the one you're with."* "You became the hero who protected the village... beloved by everyone... i'm just one of them."
(it's a little hard to read this in a way that doesn't come across as "I love you because you're worthy NOW, just like everyone else, but I would never have loved you as you were before." I'm sure she hasn't fallen THAT low and she just means that he's been impressing everyone, her included.)
"But all Sasuke's done is break my heart and become a gangsta... And that's why I love you! Because Sasuke is a gangsta now, but that doesn't mean I love you because I have to have SOMEONE and I've given up on him so i'm on the rebound, I mean if that were the case I'd have fallen for you FIRST and then my feelings for him would stop being relevant, huh? But Naruto, you're right here where I can touch you and Sasuke isn't and i've been getting real horny lately and you make me feel safe
I reached the "safe" part and was all "... yeah, that's not being in love, honey, that's fear of getting hurt."
16. Naruto: "Gimme a break, Sakura-chan, I told you that joke is not funny!" >((
Oh Naruto why are you so cutely drawn when you're getting your heart kicked.
Sakura: ))):
(huh, no tear in her eyes. Considering how much of a fountain she's been recently...)
17. Sakura: ^-^; ahaha "but i just switched from sasuke to you, everyone knows women are fickle how come you're not happy?"
Naruto: "I hate people who lie to themselves." >:|
DUNDUNDUNNNN.
Okay, yeah, that little "Sakura secretly loevs Naruto she just hadn't noticed before and she totally doesn't care about Sasuke anymore!" argument is pretty much dead. With that SRS frown he had almost from the moment she said it, and that utter certainty in his simple "No. You're not" -- as a shounen, pure hearted, hero there's NO WAY he's wrong about it. I'm... still not saying it couldn't develop! But from a basis like that, man would it be angsty and bitter. Naruto just wouldn't trust her easy even after she HAS sorted out her feelings for Sasuke (*if* she's going to).
I... hate it less than I had thought, but that's mostly because of the art -- she looked so uneasy and unconvinced and the mood was about as far from a true confession as you can get, I mean come on she used her love confession right there in front of everyone because it was a *tool* to attempt to change his mind; even before he rejected it, the whole feel of it was just wrong.
I'm clinging to the idea that Sakura knew it wouldn't work, she just tried anyway because it was a last ditch effort, everyone pressured her to give in, Sai did a thorough job of crushing her soul, she's scared Naruto will get killed too and she needs to have at least one of the two of them left, she's really not looking too crushed there by the end because she was just proving a point to the other assholes and it'll turn out she was in perfect agreement with naruto from the start and her devotion never wavered just to make naruto's look steady and true shut up i can dream. I'd forgive her that. I wouldn't appreciate it much if she truly believed that all it would take for Naruto to give up on Sasuke would be her flashing her tits and a promise of a love she knows she doesn't feel, but she'll pretend because she's Just That Noble.
I'm gonna hold up hope until next week. After that, well, I'll just take it as proof that Kishi can't show Naruto being greater than your average joe without contrasting him with someone being worse, and Sakura drew the short straw just so Naruto could look noble, selfless and all-knowing, and I'll replace it with my own headcanon where her core devotion in either of her boys never wavered, just maybe the strength she needed to see it through. >_>
I looked at the spoilers. Very fast, so i didn't get the details. Still, I knew the main events. So I spent the last three-four days snarling to myself about how sucky it was for Sakura's character development and how pissed I was that Kishimoto couldn't showcase Naruto's amazing faithfulness without breaking Sakura's own faith that was one of her core characteristics and making her look like a self-centered bitch on the rebound.
Still, the actual chapter wasn't quite as bad as I had feared. The body language helps a lot. Also my desperate hope that Kishi has a plan to salvage this, sort of maybe. I know it's not very likely, but I'll cling until next week at least.
1. Blahblah KillerBee rhymes and that's funny lol blah. giant raccoon blahblah...
2. Dead plant guy blah oh hey I like this byakugan eye guy. OHH AN ACTUAL EXPLANATION OF ZETSU'S JUTSU i didn't understand a word of it but then again i should have been in bed five hours ago :DDD; will read over later! (unless someone can summarize in a manner my poor brain will comprehend)
3. -- eeeee Danzou!
"I don't care if i die, but gouge out my eye and take it with you"
BADASS. Okay, man, I need a younger-no-jutsu so I can actually ship the hell out of you. (... WITH KAKASHI, I THINK. YES. Strangely enough not with Sai. Older!Danzou/current!Sai gives better ohsowrong pings. *wise nod*)
Creepy soft doll with hand scythes! It looks kind of neat.
4. "I cuddle you... WITH MY BLADES."
5. Eeee. It looks kinda like a Yamanaka technique except one stage evolved. SHINY.
(but but but he can't be a yamanaka, he's got PUPILS! also he actually used his jutsu in combat. That's just plain wrong. XD
you know, the Yamanakas have a cool ability... and what do we see them use it for? To take over birds and spy from afar and be a hindrance to their teammates who have to shield the empty body. I don't mind the shielding thing as a normal drawback to a potentially devastating ability, but at least do something *shiny* with the things you take over, damn it! It's so *chilly*, all the things they could do with that ability! One fic I read once -- I forgot the rest apart from that, which stayed with me -- had Ino possessing a target, and then jumping from a building and leaving the body just before it crashed to the ground, so it would look like a suicide. That was fucking cool! I wish Kishi would be more inventive with her abilities. He gave Shikamaru a dozen bazilion ways to be creative with his, even before the powerups! Hn.)
6. "You're the one who was trash talking us, Mifune."
7. "... I was perhaps a little hasty! :D lalala um what do you mean i got totally tricked by danzou and acted all badass and now i'm in a room with four people who kinda don't like me ahaha um. Hey Raikage, let me suck your metaphorical cock a bit more. You'll be an awesome leader because, um... you're an awesome brother! Yeah. Totally."
"Bitch, I don't want no metaphowhatever. Do it for real or shut your trap."
8. If only Tsuchikage wasn't a drunk old midget with a fat nose I'd totally ship him with Raikage. He's the only one who doesn't take Raikage's shit and then asks for more, they have a "we will ally for now... SO THAT WHEN WE'RE DONE I CAN FIGHT YOU" thing going on, and Raikage actually used his real~ name~ truelooove~ XD
9. Raikage: *tries to smile in an approving way* *forgets how to unclench his eyebrows*
Naruto: ... repeat plz? I haz snowz in my earz. (NNNGHSOCUTE.)
Kiba: :/
Lee: D8
Yamato: DDDD8
Kakashi: e_\\;;;
10. "What I said, Naruto... is that I love you!"
Okay so she did her love declaration right here in the open with four other guys with them. Not even just in the background watching, but right there in the group with them. And she looks coyly to the side instead of staring right at him.
"I don't know what I was thinking, liking a person like that."
Yeah, what were you thinking? I bet Naruto could tell you, 'cause he's even more in love with Sasuke than you've ever been. >__>
Naruto's O__O face is SO CUTE though. SO CUTE.
11. ... and then his slow 0___0 ... e.è ... è_é ... ouch. Just ouch.
Sakura: *looks surprised when Naruto fails to look grateful and jumps for joy*
Naruto: "Just what happened?"
Sakura: :D "Nothing really I just realized there's no sense in keeping on liking a criminal. I can't stay a kid forever, I have to face reality."
I'm trying to read this as something mature and reasonable, but it still comes across as "I never really loved him because you can't control love, I just had a crush which you can switch on and off at will and now it's inconvenient." Thing is, Naruto is the one who said that if growing up and not being a fool meant letting go of Sasuke then he'd rather be a fool all his life, so he's not gonna be impressed she's settling for him.
12. "So Naruto, no need to keep that promise... won't you stop chasing Sasuke?"
I think the only thing that redeems it a little for me, is the very fact that her smile is fake and way too bright and shallow and nervous for the situation. No matter whether she's aware that she's trying to shield his poor little feelings by nobly sacrificing herself, or whether she's honestly confused and lost and hurting, there's still a part of her that doesn't even believe the shit coming out of her mouth.
Of course it doesn't help that she seems to think Naruto WOULD believe it... or does she? because, um, what.
Yamato: >:/ "What the hell are you..."
*snerk* "Oh Sakura, I can tell that in reality you... LOVE NARUTO WITH ALL YOUR HEART, I CAN TELL BECAUSE AS A CAPTAIN I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT LOVE MATCHES BETWEEN TEAMMATES WHICH I WILL THEN ENCOURAGE YOU TO LEAVE BEHIND FOR THE GOOD OF THE MISSION" hahaha not so much.
Kiba having the flashback to the genin reunion...
Sakura: "I'll do all the talking so let me blahblah"
-- I'm srsly hoping we then discover that the full talk was something about how Sakura was gonna PROVE once and for all that Naruto wouldn't give up and she knew it and they better know it too. It's the only thing that could fully redeem it for me.
(and whoa, hinata was there in the genin crowd, too. When Sakura knows perfectly well that she just risked her life for him. That adds another layer of bitch on the "oh, I'm so special to him his little heart might never recover from losing me so i have to sacrifice myself as a consolation prize boohoo sob sob" cake)
Naruto: Did something happen? *still can't believe it. And whne Naruto can't even believe it, you better believe there's something to be disbelieved. believe it.*
13. Sakura: Nothing happened!
Sai: *.....* 9__9 *oh, good, Sakura is about to make Naruto-kun happy. I will sure like to see Naruto-kun happy.*
Sakura: If you want to know why I started liking you, I'll tell you clearly! *melancholic prettyface as she gathers herself*
Naruto: *flashbacks to bench incident, Dead Porcupine Sasuke incident, Promise of a Lifetime, We'll do it together, OMG SASUKE i see manchest o_o*
(frrrgh as if her "next time we'll do it together" wasn't ALREADY taking the "promise you'll do it for me naruto!!" back. gah.)
14. Sakura: *...hug?* *not even with her arms thrown around his back, but just with her hands curled around his arms*
Naruto: ... *stands there*
Kakashi: ... e_\\ "Sakura, you..."
Sai: è__é *this better be working, bitch. Put more boobs in it!* *strange how I like it less than I believed I would...*
Kiba: >__é;;;; (oh god this looks like a "this better be working" face. XD)
Lee: ò.o;;
Yamato: >:/ (what, Doctor Love doesn't encourage this turn of events? *gasp* I thought he'd be throwing a party!)
15. Sakura: "Sasuke keeps getting further away... but you, you stayed." *this is not at all a case of "settling" à la "if you can't be with the one you love, try to love the one you're with."* "You became the hero who protected the village... beloved by everyone... i'm just one of them."
(it's a little hard to read this in a way that doesn't come across as "I love you because you're worthy NOW, just like everyone else, but I would never have loved you as you were before." I'm sure she hasn't fallen THAT low and she just means that he's been impressing everyone, her included.)
"But all Sasuke's done is break my heart and become a gangsta... And that's why I love you! Because Sasuke is a gangsta now, but that doesn't mean I love you because I have to have SOMEONE and I've given up on him so i'm on the rebound, I mean if that were the case I'd have fallen for you FIRST and then my feelings for him would stop being relevant, huh? But Naruto, you're right here where I can touch you and Sasuke isn't and i've been getting real horny lately and you make me feel safe
I reached the "safe" part and was all "... yeah, that's not being in love, honey, that's fear of getting hurt."
16. Naruto: "Gimme a break, Sakura-chan, I told you that joke is not funny!" >((
Oh Naruto why are you so cutely drawn when you're getting your heart kicked.
Sakura: ))):
(huh, no tear in her eyes. Considering how much of a fountain she's been recently...)
17. Sakura: ^-^; ahaha "but i just switched from sasuke to you, everyone knows women are fickle how come you're not happy?"
Naruto: "I hate people who lie to themselves." >:|
DUNDUNDUNNNN.
Okay, yeah, that little "Sakura secretly loevs Naruto she just hadn't noticed before and she totally doesn't care about Sasuke anymore!" argument is pretty much dead. With that SRS frown he had almost from the moment she said it, and that utter certainty in his simple "No. You're not" -- as a shounen, pure hearted, hero there's NO WAY he's wrong about it. I'm... still not saying it couldn't develop! But from a basis like that, man would it be angsty and bitter. Naruto just wouldn't trust her easy even after she HAS sorted out her feelings for Sasuke (*if* she's going to).
I... hate it less than I had thought, but that's mostly because of the art -- she looked so uneasy and unconvinced and the mood was about as far from a true confession as you can get, I mean come on she used her love confession right there in front of everyone because it was a *tool* to attempt to change his mind; even before he rejected it, the whole feel of it was just wrong.
I'm clinging to the idea that Sakura knew it wouldn't work, she just tried anyway because it was a last ditch effort, everyone pressured her to give in, Sai did a thorough job of crushing her soul, she's scared Naruto will get killed too and she needs to have at least one of the two of them left, she's really not looking too crushed there by the end because she was just proving a point to the other assholes and it'll turn out she was in perfect agreement with naruto from the start and her devotion never wavered just to make naruto's look steady and true shut up i can dream. I'd forgive her that. I wouldn't appreciate it much if she truly believed that all it would take for Naruto to give up on Sasuke would be her flashing her tits and a promise of a love she knows she doesn't feel, but she'll pretend because she's Just That Noble.
I'm gonna hold up hope until next week. After that, well, I'll just take it as proof that Kishi can't show Naruto being greater than your average joe without contrasting him with someone being worse, and Sakura drew the short straw just so Naruto could look noble, selfless and all-knowing, and I'll replace it with my own headcanon where her core devotion in either of her boys never wavered, just maybe the strength she needed to see it through. >_>