Shipping can really rot your brains to the point where you can’t help but look through the perspective of your favorite anime duo. Shipping, for those that don’t know, is a fan terminology that explains fixation on two people getting into a romantic relation”ship.” I was deep in the weeds of the Naruto shipping fandom from high school to college when the manga finally ended. My mind constantly wandered about the series; when family members asked what I was thinking, it was likely about Naruto shipping. There was clear favoritism among fans towards the relationship between the title character and Hinata, a side character who longed for the protagonist from the sidelines.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Warning: Spoilers Ahead for the Naruto and Boruto Series!
However, that wasn’t my ship. My ship was with Naruto and Sakura. I didn’t come out instantly rooting for that ship; like many fans, I didn’t enjoy how useless Sakura was in those early parts of the anime. Yet there was a specific moment towards the end of Part 1 that made me really invest in their relationship, a moment that sold me the idea of true altruism at a young age. The scene has now lost its luster after the end of the series; it doesn’t hold the same weight it did, knowing what we know about Naruto’s ending. It was a key emotional moment that meant a lot to me, but now feels like a footnote. The moment I’m inferring is the promise of a lifetime that Naruto made to Sakura at the end of part one.
How One Moment Made Naruto Better
One of the great things about the Naruto manga and anime was the growing maturity of the lead protagonist. Naruto begins the narrative as a brat. He was intentionally immature and unlikable at the start of the series, which made his development into the benevolent ninja at the end feel profound. Naruto had a crush on Sakura since the beginning of the series, but she was madly in love with Sasuke. The three formed Team 7 with their sensei Kakashi, leading into the early story arcs. Eventually, Team 7 falls apart when Sasuke leaves the village to join Orochimaru. It was a dramatic shift in the narrative and symbolically represented a shifting away from childhood for the characters.
Before heading out to rescue Sasuke, Sakura begs Naruto to save Sasuke for her. It was at that moment that Naruto did something uncharacteristically selfless. He buried his own feelings for Sakura and promised her, with a smile, that he would bring Sasuke back. It was one of the most important times Naruto did something altruistic for the sake of someone else. The scene is also a great juxtaposition with Sakura’s and Sasuke’s final scene in Part 1. Sakura confesses in tears her feelings for Sasuke, who, while happy to know she cared so much, still knocked her out to leave. Sasuke’s decision was entirely selfish, adding a nice counterposition to Naruto’s reaction to Sakura. Those scenes impacted me and established the series as more emotionally nuanced than it let on initially.
How Naruto‘s Ending Ruins the Promise
For those who haven’t caught up with Naruto, the series ends with Naruto marrying Hinata and having children with her while fulfilling his dreams of becoming Hokage. The Boruto anime is about the adventures of Naruto and Hinata’s son. Naruto and Hinata’s relationship doesn’t necessarily hinder the promise at the end of Part 1, but the promise between Naruto and Sakura doesn’t have the same effect, knowing the outcome. It was a genuinely sweet and complex scene that brought Naruto and Sakura closer together. The promise also makes Naruto look better compared to Sasuke, with whom Sakura ultimately ends up with. It’s one of the more perplexing decisions the series made in the finale, emblematic of how series author, Masashi Kishimoto, portrayed women in the manga. Most of the female characters’ happy endings stem from marrying men, with Sakura’s marriage to Sasuke being viewed as a happy outcome.
This is despite Sasuke actively doing selfish deeds that he knew hurt her and his friends in the village. Their marriage is also very complicated, making it clear that Sasuke doesn’t stay home often. It’s a very unearned happy ending that doesn’t match the rest of the manga, especially when compared to the end of Part 1. Kishimoto would often sprinkle romantic hints among all the possible suitors throughout the series. While that is drama writing 101, Kishimoto’s own indecision left the narrative feeling disjointed. The promise between Naruto and Sakura was probably meant to have some romantic overtones, alongside Sakura’s confession to Sasuke. Nonetheless, the promise feels more inconsequential in the grand scheme of things because it doesn’t have the same payoff.
The promise between Naruto and Sakura was still important to strengthen their bond, yet it feels lacking now in hindsight because, despite everything, Sakura ends up with Sasuke, which is what the promised scene was used to contrast. If you watch Sasuke knocking out Sakura, and then Naruto making a promise to her, you’re not going to believe she should end up with the man who left her unconscious on a public bench at nighttime. The ending doesn’t match what Kishimoto was laying the groundwork for at the time, making the scene seem less effective and more thematically confusing.
The beauty of manga is that creators constantly change ideas and plans on the fly. While Kishimoto may have foreshadowed Naruto and Sakura at the end of Part 1, he likely changed his mind as the series ran. However, the problem is how haphazardly the romantic subplots were resolved, not giving any solid justification for how certain romantic pairings end up. He would give Naruto and Hinata an entire film to justify their relationship with Naruto: The Last, but Sakura and Sasuke received no such luck. Audiences are meant to believe the man who knocked her out (more than once) is enough justification. Boruto goes into more detail about all the characters’ lives as adults, yet Sakura’s and Sasuke’s relationship still feels difficult to grasp in the context of the original manga.
[RELATED – Naruto Is Still the Hottest Anime on Netflix]
The Positives of the Naruto Ending
There’s a generous interpretation of Naruto’s and Hinata’s relationship, representing the lead characters continued maturity. There’s an adult message about letting go of your childhood crushes and finding someone more in line with your personality. Their romance also perfectly adds closure to Hinata’s development, showing her overcoming her shyness and being rewarded for it. Unfortunately, the preceding entries in the Naruto franchise downplay Naruto’s feelings for Sakura, lessening the impact of the promise of a lifetime. What made the promise so profound was that Naruto did have feelings for Sakura and was burying them for her sake. Now, with everything we know, it doesn’t have the same teeth.
Personally, I’ll probably never be into the Naruto and Hinata ship. I was too invested in the Naruto and Sakura relationship for so long that I can’t help but see all the holes in that romance. Naruto and Hinata’s relationship had too little screen time together before Naruto: The Last, making their romance and marriage puzzling. Their relationship also seems contrived, with Kishimoto having to kill off Neji and make up a backstory about a scarf in The Last to justify the romance. Add in the fact that Sakura and Sasuke getting together still feels insulting to me ten years out, I have difficulty accepting Naruto‘s ending as my ideal closure for the series. It should be noted that this is my perspective; other fans were far more accepting of the finale than I was, which is a fair assessment.
Shipping can hinder enjoying something and lead to toxic habits. Regardless, shipping can still be fun if you find the right social group and have appropriate dissonance. Real life is stressful as it is; take pleasure in the little things that give you joy. I warn you not to get too invested in your ships, as that can lead to disappointment and heartbreak. I also strongly suggest not taking shipping too seriously and avoiding starting arguments online. Have fun with it. I was so hyper-fixated because of how effective Kishimoto was in making me believe in a romance that never really happened, giving me profound moments like the promise of a lifetime that still stick with me. Sadly, I don’t believe I could ever accept Naruto in my life again unless the franchise establishes a multiverse where Naruto and Sakura end up together in one universe. Fingers crossed for that happening.
