Statistics, shipping and Naruto

[fujiko1601]

I probably waste too much time gathering useless statistics, but that's just the way I am. I thought I should share and bore somebody else with them.

Since shipping seems to be such an important issue in fandom I decided to find out what are the most popular pairings and what is less popular than I assumed.

Here is the top ten characters ordered by the number of fics labeled romance on ff.net.

1. Sasuke 20381 I can't say I'm surprised. Reserved, rather cold and willing to forsake everything for the sake of his revenge. Not the best boyfriend material, but we all know that's not what fanfic is about.
2. Naruto 16849 not surprising for a main character. Why not the first? Easy, that's because he lacks three important qualities 1) pale skin 2) dark hair 3) "go die" attitude. More girlish looks wouldn't hurt either.
3. Sakura 16468 If you need a girl to write romance about the leading female is the way to go.
4. Hinata 7094 If you find Sakura too bitchy, there's always the quiet Hinata.
5. Neji 4327 Sasuke is fine and all, but sometimes you need somebody who is actually there in Konoha. and here is a character who qualifies for all three requirements. And you get long flowing hair and special eye technique as a bonus.
6. Gaara 4105 No, that has nothing to do with his personality. That's what you get for having red hair and living in different village.
7. Kakashi 3447 Sometimes you just get tired with writing about twelve-year-olds.
8. Itachi 2870 And here is older, more powerful and evil version of Sasuke if that's what floats your boat.
9. Tenten 2699 Don't think it's about her. Neji just needs a girlfriend.
10. Shikamaru 2549 Sometimes you need something different, I guess. Or there might be some girls who like smart guys.

Interesting note: both Neji and Tenten ranked lower if I searched for all genres.
If you want to know how somebody who didn't make it to the top ten ranked, ask me.


If they are in the same team, they get paired up. If they fight at some point, they get paired up. And if you are Sakura or Hinata, chances are you'll get paired up anyway.

• Sasuke For Sasuke it's Sakura (8490). Or Naruto (8113) if you're into yaoi. Main characters, teammates, both have some kind of strong feelings about him. Nothing to explain here. If you want het and don't like Sakura, you can always have Hinata (1424). Itachi(549), Gaara(220) and Ino(199) are much less popular.
• Naruto Sasuke(8113) no questions asked. Even if I summed up next ten Naruto pairings it didn't reach 7000. Hinata(3316) and Sakura(1744) might have a chance compared to Gaara(537), Itachi(327) and Ino(312) and the rest of them are not even worth mentioning. One might wonder why main character + leading female (who he has a crush on) doesn't rank better, but that's not how fan logic works. Female crushes are always more important.
• Sakura It's all about Sasuke(8490). There are three that you could call strong ships: Naruto(1744), Kakashi(1169), Gaara(1124). Sakura the fandom bicycle has the longest list of ships with more than 200 fics, among them the only yuri ship that filled the quota Sakura/Ino(207). The others are: Itachi(887), Neji(560), Lee(303), Deidara(249).
• Hinata Here we have Hinata's crush Naruto(3316) and of course even Hinata can't ignore Sasuke(1424). Then there are the cousin with issues Neji(463), the teammate Kiba(388) and for some reason Gaara(477) who ranks better than the latter two.
• Neji Has been canonically seen with two females one of which is his cousin. That leaves us with Tenten(2227). We could slash him with his male teammates, but they are rather silly to satisfy popular taste. No worries we still have Sakura(560) and cousin Hinata(463). Naruto who changed his view of life, seems too occupied with other ships, but that's something they share with Gaara(230).
• Gaara Gaara has the problem of living in Suna and the only people worth notice there are his siblings. Have you already forgotten about Sakura(1124) and Hinata(477). Naruto as we already mentioned is too busy to manage more than 537. Wait a moment Gaara fought Lee and later had a meaningful conversation with him. Let's slash them(332). And why not add the pretty boys with special eyes Neji(230) and Sasuke(220).
• Kakashi We don't have any popular female characters his own age, so Sakura(1169) it is. Kakashi as a team leader takes care of Naruto. Who else? Iruka of course! That must be the sign of true love(936). That's it for Kakashi. There's Sasuke and Naruto, but they didn't quite fill the quota.
• Itachi There's Kisame, but his not pretty enough(133). So Itachi is left with the fandom bicycle Sakura(887), his twisted relationship with Sasuke(549) and we all know he's after Naruto(327).
• Tenten Neji(2227). The next would be Naruto(91), but that's WAY less than 200. That's either true love or nobody knows what else to do with Tenten.
• Shikamaru He has vary unusual tastes. Teammate Ino(950) or exam opponent Temari(807). Very like him to go for the girls with the least competition.

In conclusion let's have a look at the final results.

1. Sasuke/Sakura 8490
2. Sasuke/Naruto 8113
3. Naruto/Hinata 3316
4. Neji/Tenten 2227
5. Naruto/Sakura 1744
6. Sasuke/Hinata 1424
7. Kakashi/Sakura 1169
8. Gaara/Sakura 1124


9. Shikamaru/Ino 950
10. Kakashi/Iruka 936
11. Itachi/Sakura 887
12. Shikamaru/Temari 807
13. Neji/Sakura 560
14. Itachi/Sasuke 549
15. Naruto/Gaara 537


16. Gaara/Hinata 477
17. Neji/Hinata 463
18. Deidara/Sasori 399
19. Hinata/Kiba 388
20. Gaara/Lee 332
21. Itachi/Naruto 327
22. Naruto/Ino 312
23. Sakura/Lee 303
24. Sakura/Deidara 249
25. Gaara/Neji 230
26. Sasuke/Gaara 220
27. Sakura/Ino 207

Note: only one yaoi fic has more than 1000 fics. The lower you get, the more slash and less het there is. The only yuri pairing is also the least popular one. Ships with less than 200 fics are ignored. If you know a ship that should be here, let me know.

That's it. The shipping Maths in Naruto.