Under the Same Sky: Sasuke and Sakura (Naruto) Part 2
He really doesn’t, as the development section shows. Actually, Sasuke himself has referred to her as a precious comrade. He doesn’t love her romantically (yet), but he does care about her a great deal.
Sasuke rejected her the night he left; it means the pairing is dead!
This is one of those arguments that I just don’t get. Was Sasuke really supposed to accept Sakura’s offers and either bring her to Orochimaru’s lair (where she would likely be used as a test subject for Kabuto) or completely forget about avenging his dead family? While I personally loathe his decision to abandon Konoha in favor of training under Orochimaru, I can see his justifications for it. He’d spent the past five years training to become Itachi’s equal, yet their encounter at the hotel showed that all that work still hadn’t closed the gap between them even slightly. Against Dosu, Zaku, and Kin, he saw a bit of how powerful Orochimaru would be able to make him. He singlehandedly defeated three opponents at once, and their defeat of Lee proved that they were far from weak.
When Sasuke found Sakura waiting beside the road that night, he could easily have just kept walking. Instead, he chose to stay and talk to her. We saw him lie to her, for no apparent reason other than to avoid mentioning a time when she had made him angry. And, even after she revealed that she cared for him far more than she should, he still didn’t outright reject her. Instead, he thanked her.
If he was trying to tell her that they had no hope for a future together, wouldn’t it have been kinder in the long run to just say so? Rejection hurts, but letting Sakura keep believing in a false hope would be even worse.
Loving Sasuke made Sakura weak!
As mentioned in the beginning, part 1 didn’t show Sakura gaining her super strength or medical ninjutsu. Instead, what we saw was the development of a desire to gain those powers. She started the series as a twelve-year-old girl, and as Kakashi put it, girls her age are more interested in love than ninjutsu. Not true for every girl, but fairly accurate in regards to Sakura.
The problem with this is that we don’t see Sakura remain weak. Indisputably, Sakura was in love with Sasuke until chapter 181 of the manga. During that time, can we really say that she made no improvements?
In the development section, I discussed how we watched Sakura’s love mature over the course of part 1. As we witnessed that, we saw her character improve also. Sakura began the series commenting that orphans were lucky not to have parents around to scold them. During chapter 181, we see her show a genuine understanding of just what being an orphan means for Sasuke while still trying to convince him to stay.
During the Land of Waves arc, Sasuke had protected Sakura against the Demon Brothers when they attacked to kill Tazuna. Against Gaara, she was the one doing the protecting. We saw her choose to sacrifice herself rather than stand by and watch Sasuke be killed. Through this, Sakura fulfilled two of the key themes of the series: a person becomes truly strong only when protecting something precious to them, and your comrades should mean the world to you.
Earlier, we had also seen her protecting her comrades when she fought the Otonin in the Forest of Death. By cutting her hair, which she had originally grown long to impress Sasuke, Sakura symbolically shed her fangirl self, embracing instead the desire to improve herself as a ninja and a person. She was beaten there, as one would expect given how little effort she’d apparently put into her training previously, but that fact is rather insignificant. Physical strength isn’t the only type that matters, even in shounen series like this one. Through Haku, Naruto, and other characters, it has been repeatedly shown that strength in Naruto is gained by wanting to protect something precious to you.
Finally, we saw Sakura begin to show her real self. At the beginning of part 1, Inner Sakura had been created to express the feelings that outer Sakura was unwilling to show. Over the course of part 1, her appearances decrease. Her last appearance during part 1 was during Sakura’s preliminary match against Ino, where Inner Sakura shoved Ino out of Sakura’s mind.
All the events above occurred during the time frame where Sakura was confirmed to love Sasuke. They demonstrate her physical, emotional, and mental improvement during that time period. Loving Sasuke did not make Sakura weak. Her lack of desire to improve herself in the beginning of the series is what made her weak. Over the course of part 1 we saw her realize this weakness and begin to change it, even while still loving Sasuke. The growth of her feelings occurred at the same time as her growth as a person. Fancy that.
Sakura has given up on Sasuke!
The main problem with this is that Sakura is currently acting under incomplete information. Before his conversation with Madara, we'd seen Naruto himself doubt his former teammate. Yet afterwards, we see him defend Sasuke's decisions to Sakura, saying that he now understands Sasuke's need for revenge.
From what Sakura knows, Sasuke completed his revenge and immediately went on to join the organization that wants to kill her remaining teammate. She knows nothing about the truth of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, nothing about how the Elders never specified against killing the innocent eight-year-old or how they had a thirteen-year-old commit the deed. She doesn't know that the village she wants Sasuke to return to is the true cause of the death of his beloved family. Learning that would definitely change how she views things and would probably convince her that Sasuke still has a chance for redemption. He may not be reacting in the most perfectly logical way, but after being mind-screwed as much as he has I honestly don't blame him. He appears to have abandoned his "wipe out Konoha" plan, and chapter 476 showed him choosing to question Danzou about his guilt rather than attacking him on sight.
Even now, even when she believes that Sasuke is so far beyond redemption that he can only be saved through death, in chapter 474 it is still openly declared multiple times that Sakura still loves Sasuke. Sai and Naruto, the two insisting this, had just listened to Sakura say that she no longer cared for a criminal like Sasuke. And yet neither one believes it. Naruto especially is amazed that she'd be willing to kill him because, "Sakura-chan loves Sasuke so much!" Even after everything Sasuke has done, Sai says that she doesn't want to kill him because she hates him. She wants to kill him because she loves him. She wants to save him.
In the past, we've seen Sakura waver only once in her determination to save Sasuke: after Naruto's battle at the Valley of the End. After giving Sakura his Promise of a Lifetime that he would bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto returned coated in bandages "like a mummy". Sakura hadn't been at the battle to see him gain these injuries. She didn't know that Sasuke very clearly turned his hand at the last minute so his Chidori didn't impale Naruto; she didn't know that he'd refused to follow in Itachi's footsteps even though it was the "only" way for him to get strong enough to avenge his clan. All she knew was that Sasuke had tried to leave the village, Naruto had gone to stop him, and Naruto had returned coated in wounds. If ever there was a time when she would give up on Sasuke, that would be it. And, at first, we did see her give up. Despite Naruto shouting to anyone who will listen that his ninja way says he’ll never give up, I didn’t find this surrender to be negative. We, the readers, knew that Sasuke wasn’t far enough gone to kill his own teammate, but when Sakura finds the one person she thought would be able to get through to Sasuke coated in bandages, what else is she supposed to think?
That is why I don’t think Sakura’s actions there were a bad thing. I think she was trying to save Naruto. He’d made her a promise, and he’d gotten the living daylights beaten out of him trying to fulfill it. Was Sakura supposed to sit back and tell him to do that again? No. Sakura wouldn’t do that to one of her precious people. Even though it clearly hurt her to do so, she told him to give up in order to protect him. When he insisted that he would still keep his promise, Sakura didn’t take it as a free ride. Instead, she vowed that next time they would bring Sasuke back together.
Now, like then, Sakura has just had it slammed in her face that Sasuke isn't some kind and perfect person. At the Valley of the End he almost killed Naruto; here, he's joined the organization who possesses the same goal. But the manga still shows us that, dark as Sasuke may be, he hasn't been lost completely. Prior to his fight with Naruto, Gaara killed probably hundreds of people purely for the sake of murder, but he still went on to become a Kazekage his village would mourn the loss of. With people like Gaara or even Nagato already redeemed in this manga, Sasuke is far from lost. And, despite the fact that she was nearly killed by Gaara herself, we saw no protest from Sakura when she participated in the mission to save him from the Akatsuki.
Piror to that rescue mission, Sakura's only real interaction with Gaara had been his attempt to kill her, an event which wouldn't leave a very positive impression. However, with Sasuke, Sakura has been shown plenty of times that he isn't a bad person. He's saved her at least three times, possibly four if you count when she fell after Gaara's sand released her. Naruto and Sai believe that she still loves him, and Kakashi and Yamato made no move to protest that assertion. A recent interview by Kishimoto for Jump Festa 2010 also confirms that she still loves Sasuke, "as expected". Prior to this recent barrage of negative information, we hadn't seen Sakura hesitate on her and Naruto's shared quest to save Sasuke. Early on, she mentioned that over the timeskip she had spent years studying so that when the time came, she would be able to protect them both.
But now, he last few chapters alone have had multiple instances of Sakura being confronted with how evil and irredeemable Sasuke is now. Naruto's declaration at the end of 469 tells us that this wasn't enough to make her move on from him, as do the comments by both Sai and Naruto in chapter 474. However, wouldn't it seem to her like it should be? Sakura's heart hasn't changed "like the autumn sky", but wouldn't it sound to her like it should?
That's why I don't view this as something negative. Sai tells us quite clearly that she isn't doing this because she wants to. She's doing it because she believes it's the only way to save Sasuke. She told Naruto to give up on him, not because she's stopped caring, but she wants to end the suffering of one of her closest friends.
It's often argued against the pairing that Sakura's feelings are selfish, especially during her confession in chapter 181. This idea shows that that couldn't be farther from the truth. We'd already seen during scenes like Sakura's choice of a daffodil that her feelings had matured beyond just idolizing the pretty boy. She genuinely cared for him. We were shown during chapter 181 that she'd do anything to help him. Now, we've also been shown that even while Sakura loves Sasuke, while she is willing to give up everything she has to be with him, she isn't going to force her friends or Sasuke to suffer to reach that end. Now, from what Sakura has heard, it sounds as though the only way to stop Sasuke from sinking any lower is to kill him. She wants to rescue him from the evil path he is on, even if the only way to do it is by staining her own hands with his blood. Sai also reveals that even while she was planning this, a part of her was also acting purely for Naruto's sake to try to cause him the least pain as a result of her decision. She wanted to protect Sasuke; she wanted to keep her friends from starting a cycle of revenge; she wanted to keep from hurting Naruto. In the end, when Sakura acts on her supposedly selfish love, she tries to spare the pain of everyone except herself.
SasuSaku ignores Naruto! The idea of their relationship hurts him!
With chapter 469 and chapter 474, I think we can safely say that Naruto has accepted the idea of this pairing, and it seems as though he supports it. In the past, we'd seen him step out of the room to allow the two of them a moment in private when Sakura hugged Sasuke at the hospital. And, as mentioned in the development section, it wasn't Sakura's reaction that caused Naruto to do this. It was Sasuke's.
When Sakura begged for him to return Sasuke in chapter 183, we saw Naruto hesitate for only a moment before remarking that she really liked Sasuke. Then he promised to bring Sasuke back.
If there was ever a scene that caused Naruto to realize that Sakura's feelings were serious, it was that. Yes, we do see him express brief pain over the idea. But in under a page, he's pushed that pain aside. He wants his precious people to be happy.
More than three years have passed since then, but those two chapters show us that Naruto still remembers. This time, there was no pain or hesitation. 'Sakura loves Sasuke.' This time, Naruto wasn't expressing any grief over that idea. This time, he was the one encouraging her to continue.
Fandom Guide
(In reverse from the rest of the manifesto, this section was written/compiled by Ngure and beta'd by Erendhyl.)
The SasuSaku fandom is one of the best there is in Naruto. This section is intended to help you navigate this very large fandom.
Shrines:
These are websites, made by fans, dedicated to the pairing. All of them are in English.
Heart of A Shinobi:
http://sasusaku.tripod.com/
Harmonia:
http://www.geocities.com/kunoichi_cherushi/sshome.html
Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura--A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/purplecat14/index.htm
Windswept-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://laced-up.org/winds/info.php
Yin and Yang-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.amourae.com/sasusaku/
Dwindle- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.geocities.com/anomynousgurl/bu.html
P O L A R I T Y- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://magicalwings.net/sasusaku/
Far Away: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/sasusaku/
Only Hope: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/xhiddenlove/
Thank You: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://naruto.mokora.net/sasusaku/
Saku to Sasu- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/punksakura/index.htm
Warrior x Cherry Blossom- A SasuSaku Fan Work Listing/ Shrine
http://sasusaku.tsuki-hana.org/fanworks/
Communities/Forums:
Interested in talking to other fans of SasuSaku? Check these sites out.
SasuSaku: Under The Same Sky FC; NarutoFan:
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=52501
Sasuke x Sakura; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku/
SasuSaku Love; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/chiharu_euphie/
Sincerely Yours: Sasuke x Sakura Guild; GaiaOnline:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=15169
I Love You With All My Of Heart!- A SasuSaku Fanclub:
http://www.freewebs.com/sakura_loveangel/index.htm
Moon and Sun- SasuSaku and NaruHina Forum:
http://sunluna.proboards.com/index.cgi?
Essays:
Written by fans, expressioning their love and views on SasuSaku.
Original SasuSaku Manifeso: Blooming by Zauberer_sirin
http://community.livejournal.com/shi...58.html#cutid1
In Defense of SasuSaku; By Des_Butterfly
http://community.livejournal.com/chuunin/2620814.html
Why SasuSaku is Plausible; By -Blue-n-Pink-
http://www.fanfiction.net/topic/15292/10587452/1/
FanFiction:
Stories written by fans of SasuSaku.
Sakura and Sasuke, Flower and Shadow; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shadow/17670/
Forever Devoted; Fanfiction Compilation
http://hokage.fifteenth-moon.net/sasusakuff/
sasuXsaku Shrine; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shrine/22102/
Sasuke x Sakura Recs; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku_recs/
Paper Fans are Bounty in Spring; LiveJournal
http://community.livejournal.com/springpaperfan/
Fanart:
English:
Japanese:
PhotoBucket Albums:
Other References:
This is a Photobucket album with references to SasuSaku outside the chapters themselves.
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r...%20references/
Sasuke rejected her the night he left; it means the pairing is dead!
This is one of those arguments that I just don’t get. Was Sasuke really supposed to accept Sakura’s offers and either bring her to Orochimaru’s lair (where she would likely be used as a test subject for Kabuto) or completely forget about avenging his dead family? While I personally loathe his decision to abandon Konoha in favor of training under Orochimaru, I can see his justifications for it. He’d spent the past five years training to become Itachi’s equal, yet their encounter at the hotel showed that all that work still hadn’t closed the gap between them even slightly. Against Dosu, Zaku, and Kin, he saw a bit of how powerful Orochimaru would be able to make him. He singlehandedly defeated three opponents at once, and their defeat of Lee proved that they were far from weak.
When Sasuke found Sakura waiting beside the road that night, he could easily have just kept walking. Instead, he chose to stay and talk to her. We saw him lie to her, for no apparent reason other than to avoid mentioning a time when she had made him angry. And, even after she revealed that she cared for him far more than she should, he still didn’t outright reject her. Instead, he thanked her.
If he was trying to tell her that they had no hope for a future together, wouldn’t it have been kinder in the long run to just say so? Rejection hurts, but letting Sakura keep believing in a false hope would be even worse.
Loving Sasuke made Sakura weak!
As mentioned in the beginning, part 1 didn’t show Sakura gaining her super strength or medical ninjutsu. Instead, what we saw was the development of a desire to gain those powers. She started the series as a twelve-year-old girl, and as Kakashi put it, girls her age are more interested in love than ninjutsu. Not true for every girl, but fairly accurate in regards to Sakura.
The problem with this is that we don’t see Sakura remain weak. Indisputably, Sakura was in love with Sasuke until chapter 181 of the manga. During that time, can we really say that she made no improvements?
In the development section, I discussed how we watched Sakura’s love mature over the course of part 1. As we witnessed that, we saw her character improve also. Sakura began the series commenting that orphans were lucky not to have parents around to scold them. During chapter 181, we see her show a genuine understanding of just what being an orphan means for Sasuke while still trying to convince him to stay.
During the Land of Waves arc, Sasuke had protected Sakura against the Demon Brothers when they attacked to kill Tazuna. Against Gaara, she was the one doing the protecting. We saw her choose to sacrifice herself rather than stand by and watch Sasuke be killed. Through this, Sakura fulfilled two of the key themes of the series: a person becomes truly strong only when protecting something precious to them, and your comrades should mean the world to you.
Earlier, we had also seen her protecting her comrades when she fought the Otonin in the Forest of Death. By cutting her hair, which she had originally grown long to impress Sasuke, Sakura symbolically shed her fangirl self, embracing instead the desire to improve herself as a ninja and a person. She was beaten there, as one would expect given how little effort she’d apparently put into her training previously, but that fact is rather insignificant. Physical strength isn’t the only type that matters, even in shounen series like this one. Through Haku, Naruto, and other characters, it has been repeatedly shown that strength in Naruto is gained by wanting to protect something precious to you.
Finally, we saw Sakura begin to show her real self. At the beginning of part 1, Inner Sakura had been created to express the feelings that outer Sakura was unwilling to show. Over the course of part 1, her appearances decrease. Her last appearance during part 1 was during Sakura’s preliminary match against Ino, where Inner Sakura shoved Ino out of Sakura’s mind.
All the events above occurred during the time frame where Sakura was confirmed to love Sasuke. They demonstrate her physical, emotional, and mental improvement during that time period. Loving Sasuke did not make Sakura weak. Her lack of desire to improve herself in the beginning of the series is what made her weak. Over the course of part 1 we saw her realize this weakness and begin to change it, even while still loving Sasuke. The growth of her feelings occurred at the same time as her growth as a person. Fancy that.
Sakura has given up on Sasuke!
The main problem with this is that Sakura is currently acting under incomplete information. Before his conversation with Madara, we'd seen Naruto himself doubt his former teammate. Yet afterwards, we see him defend Sasuke's decisions to Sakura, saying that he now understands Sasuke's need for revenge.
From what Sakura knows, Sasuke completed his revenge and immediately went on to join the organization that wants to kill her remaining teammate. She knows nothing about the truth of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, nothing about how the Elders never specified against killing the innocent eight-year-old or how they had a thirteen-year-old commit the deed. She doesn't know that the village she wants Sasuke to return to is the true cause of the death of his beloved family. Learning that would definitely change how she views things and would probably convince her that Sasuke still has a chance for redemption. He may not be reacting in the most perfectly logical way, but after being mind-screwed as much as he has I honestly don't blame him. He appears to have abandoned his "wipe out Konoha" plan, and chapter 476 showed him choosing to question Danzou about his guilt rather than attacking him on sight.
Even now, even when she believes that Sasuke is so far beyond redemption that he can only be saved through death, in chapter 474 it is still openly declared multiple times that Sakura still loves Sasuke. Sai and Naruto, the two insisting this, had just listened to Sakura say that she no longer cared for a criminal like Sasuke. And yet neither one believes it. Naruto especially is amazed that she'd be willing to kill him because, "Sakura-chan loves Sasuke so much!" Even after everything Sasuke has done, Sai says that she doesn't want to kill him because she hates him. She wants to kill him because she loves him. She wants to save him.
In the past, we've seen Sakura waver only once in her determination to save Sasuke: after Naruto's battle at the Valley of the End. After giving Sakura his Promise of a Lifetime that he would bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto returned coated in bandages "like a mummy". Sakura hadn't been at the battle to see him gain these injuries. She didn't know that Sasuke very clearly turned his hand at the last minute so his Chidori didn't impale Naruto; she didn't know that he'd refused to follow in Itachi's footsteps even though it was the "only" way for him to get strong enough to avenge his clan. All she knew was that Sasuke had tried to leave the village, Naruto had gone to stop him, and Naruto had returned coated in wounds. If ever there was a time when she would give up on Sasuke, that would be it. And, at first, we did see her give up. Despite Naruto shouting to anyone who will listen that his ninja way says he’ll never give up, I didn’t find this surrender to be negative. We, the readers, knew that Sasuke wasn’t far enough gone to kill his own teammate, but when Sakura finds the one person she thought would be able to get through to Sasuke coated in bandages, what else is she supposed to think?
That is why I don’t think Sakura’s actions there were a bad thing. I think she was trying to save Naruto. He’d made her a promise, and he’d gotten the living daylights beaten out of him trying to fulfill it. Was Sakura supposed to sit back and tell him to do that again? No. Sakura wouldn’t do that to one of her precious people. Even though it clearly hurt her to do so, she told him to give up in order to protect him. When he insisted that he would still keep his promise, Sakura didn’t take it as a free ride. Instead, she vowed that next time they would bring Sasuke back together.
Now, like then, Sakura has just had it slammed in her face that Sasuke isn't some kind and perfect person. At the Valley of the End he almost killed Naruto; here, he's joined the organization who possesses the same goal. But the manga still shows us that, dark as Sasuke may be, he hasn't been lost completely. Prior to his fight with Naruto, Gaara killed probably hundreds of people purely for the sake of murder, but he still went on to become a Kazekage his village would mourn the loss of. With people like Gaara or even Nagato already redeemed in this manga, Sasuke is far from lost. And, despite the fact that she was nearly killed by Gaara herself, we saw no protest from Sakura when she participated in the mission to save him from the Akatsuki.
Piror to that rescue mission, Sakura's only real interaction with Gaara had been his attempt to kill her, an event which wouldn't leave a very positive impression. However, with Sasuke, Sakura has been shown plenty of times that he isn't a bad person. He's saved her at least three times, possibly four if you count when she fell after Gaara's sand released her. Naruto and Sai believe that she still loves him, and Kakashi and Yamato made no move to protest that assertion. A recent interview by Kishimoto for Jump Festa 2010 also confirms that she still loves Sasuke, "as expected". Prior to this recent barrage of negative information, we hadn't seen Sakura hesitate on her and Naruto's shared quest to save Sasuke. Early on, she mentioned that over the timeskip she had spent years studying so that when the time came, she would be able to protect them both.
But now, he last few chapters alone have had multiple instances of Sakura being confronted with how evil and irredeemable Sasuke is now. Naruto's declaration at the end of 469 tells us that this wasn't enough to make her move on from him, as do the comments by both Sai and Naruto in chapter 474. However, wouldn't it seem to her like it should be? Sakura's heart hasn't changed "like the autumn sky", but wouldn't it sound to her like it should?
That's why I don't view this as something negative. Sai tells us quite clearly that she isn't doing this because she wants to. She's doing it because she believes it's the only way to save Sasuke. She told Naruto to give up on him, not because she's stopped caring, but she wants to end the suffering of one of her closest friends.
It's often argued against the pairing that Sakura's feelings are selfish, especially during her confession in chapter 181. This idea shows that that couldn't be farther from the truth. We'd already seen during scenes like Sakura's choice of a daffodil that her feelings had matured beyond just idolizing the pretty boy. She genuinely cared for him. We were shown during chapter 181 that she'd do anything to help him. Now, we've also been shown that even while Sakura loves Sasuke, while she is willing to give up everything she has to be with him, she isn't going to force her friends or Sasuke to suffer to reach that end. Now, from what Sakura has heard, it sounds as though the only way to stop Sasuke from sinking any lower is to kill him. She wants to rescue him from the evil path he is on, even if the only way to do it is by staining her own hands with his blood. Sai also reveals that even while she was planning this, a part of her was also acting purely for Naruto's sake to try to cause him the least pain as a result of her decision. She wanted to protect Sasuke; she wanted to keep her friends from starting a cycle of revenge; she wanted to keep from hurting Naruto. In the end, when Sakura acts on her supposedly selfish love, she tries to spare the pain of everyone except herself.
SasuSaku ignores Naruto! The idea of their relationship hurts him!
With chapter 469 and chapter 474, I think we can safely say that Naruto has accepted the idea of this pairing, and it seems as though he supports it. In the past, we'd seen him step out of the room to allow the two of them a moment in private when Sakura hugged Sasuke at the hospital. And, as mentioned in the development section, it wasn't Sakura's reaction that caused Naruto to do this. It was Sasuke's.
When Sakura begged for him to return Sasuke in chapter 183, we saw Naruto hesitate for only a moment before remarking that she really liked Sasuke. Then he promised to bring Sasuke back.
If there was ever a scene that caused Naruto to realize that Sakura's feelings were serious, it was that. Yes, we do see him express brief pain over the idea. But in under a page, he's pushed that pain aside. He wants his precious people to be happy.
More than three years have passed since then, but those two chapters show us that Naruto still remembers. This time, there was no pain or hesitation. 'Sakura loves Sasuke.' This time, Naruto wasn't expressing any grief over that idea. This time, he was the one encouraging her to continue.
Fandom Guide
(In reverse from the rest of the manifesto, this section was written/compiled by Ngure and beta'd by Erendhyl.)
The SasuSaku fandom is one of the best there is in Naruto. This section is intended to help you navigate this very large fandom.
Shrines:
These are websites, made by fans, dedicated to the pairing. All of them are in English.
Heart of A Shinobi:
http://sasusaku.tripod.com/
Harmonia:
http://www.geocities.com/kunoichi_cherushi/sshome.html
Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura--A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/purplecat14/index.htm
Windswept-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://laced-up.org/winds/info.php
Yin and Yang-A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.amourae.com/sasusaku/
- Version One: http://www.amourae.com/sasusaku/v1/
- Version Two: http://www.amourae.com/sasusaku/v2/
Dwindle- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.geocities.com/anomynousgurl/bu.html
P O L A R I T Y- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://magicalwings.net/sasusaku/
Far Away: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/sasusaku/
Only Hope: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/xhiddenlove/
Thank You: A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://naruto.mokora.net/sasusaku/
Saku to Sasu- A SasuSaku Shrine:
http://www.freewebs.com/punksakura/index.htm
Warrior x Cherry Blossom- A SasuSaku Fan Work Listing/ Shrine
http://sasusaku.tsuki-hana.org/fanworks/
Communities/Forums:
Interested in talking to other fans of SasuSaku? Check these sites out.
SasuSaku: Under The Same Sky FC; NarutoFan:
http://forums.narutofan.com/showthread.php?t=52501
Sasuke x Sakura; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku/
SasuSaku Love; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/chiharu_euphie/
Sincerely Yours: Sasuke x Sakura Guild; GaiaOnline:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/?guild_id=15169
I Love You With All My Of Heart!- A SasuSaku Fanclub:
http://www.freewebs.com/sakura_loveangel/index.htm
Moon and Sun- SasuSaku and NaruHina Forum:
http://sunluna.proboards.com/index.cgi?
Essays:
Written by fans, expressioning their love and views on SasuSaku.
Original SasuSaku Manifeso: Blooming by Zauberer_sirin
http://community.livejournal.com/shi...58.html#cutid1
In Defense of SasuSaku; By Des_Butterfly
http://community.livejournal.com/chuunin/2620814.html
Why SasuSaku is Plausible; By -Blue-n-Pink-
http://www.fanfiction.net/topic/15292/10587452/1/
- NarutoFan Essay Posts Compilation:
http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost...ostcount=29019
FanFiction:
Stories written by fans of SasuSaku.
Sakura and Sasuke, Flower and Shadow; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shadow/17670/
Forever Devoted; Fanfiction Compilation
http://hokage.fifteenth-moon.net/sasusakuff/
sasuXsaku Shrine; FanFiction.net
http://www.fanfiction.net/community/..._shrine/22102/
Sasuke x Sakura Recs; LiveJournal:
http://community.livejournal.com/sasusaku_recs/
Paper Fans are Bounty in Spring; LiveJournal
http://community.livejournal.com/springpaperfan/
Fanart:
English:
- SasuSaku-Fans; Deviantart:
http://sasusaku-fans.deviantart.com/
SasuxSaku-Fanclub; Deviantart
http://sasuxsaku-fanclub.deviantart.com/
SasuSaku-FansFC; Deviantart
http://sasusaku-fansfc.deviantart.com/
We Love Sakura and Sasuke; Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/groups/593581@N22/
Japanese:
- Japanese SasuSaku listing of Websites:
1. http://rknt.jp/s/sasusaku/
2. http://sa.kurakara.net/ys.cgi?mode=kt&kt=01_05_01
Doujinshi list: http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost...ostcount=53585
Doujinshi: http://photobucket.com/guestlogin?al...0-%20sasusaku/
PhotoBucket Albums:
- 1. http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...rt%20pictures/
2. http://s74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...rt%20pictures/
3. http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r...kumomo/fanart/
4. http://s105.photobucket.com/albums/m211/Lenne_sasusaku/
Other References:
This is a Photobucket album with references to SasuSaku outside the chapters themselves.
http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r...%20references/