Sasuke Uchiha Reflects on Married Life in New Naruto Novel

One of the more prominent relationships in Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto was between Sasuke and Sakura. Not only was it enticing for fans to see how their toxic relationship would evolve over the course of the series, it has been even more interesting to see how they have developed as an actual couple. Being confirmed as a married duo in the official Boruto: Naruto Next Generations sequel, fans have seen several examples of how the emotionally broken and distant Sasuke has adjusted to the idea.

In the newest spin-off light novel for the Naruto series, Sasuke actually comes to terms with married life in a new way. After meeting someone who’s happily married, Sasuke begins to begins to compare it to his own. And this should make many fans of the pairing happy, Sasuke deeply cares for Sakura despite his lack of overt examples.

Talking with the new character Jiji, the second chapter of the Sasuke Retsuden novel (thanks to translations from @OrganicDinosaur on Twitter), Sasuke started to wonder whether married couples needed to be together and how it clashed with his constant time away from the Hidden Leaf Village, “There were periods of time when I didn’t return home once even for several years.” Jiji asks Sasuke whether or not Sakura would think negatively of this, and Sasuke begins to wonder the same thing as well.

“It’s not as if I decided to do this unilaterally. Since Sakura is needed locally in our hometown, and I was requested to conduct work outside of the country, we had no choice in the matter. We exchange letters with one another.” And it’s here that Jiji asks whether or not Sasuke is worried about someone “unsavory” in Sasuke’s absence because they don’t have things like wedding rings in the Hidden Leaf Village.

But while Sasuke couldn’t outright have a response to this, the narration revealed Sasuke’s conviction and care for Sakura, “Sakura is family. No matter where she was, he thought this aspect wouldn’t change…Sakura is his partner who continues to live and function together with him as family. Even though they weren’t connected by blood, and even if they weren’t able to meet with each other everyday, that aspect of her would never change.”

So while Sasuke and Sakura’s married life is not as overt as some of the other married couples in the series, it’s clear here that the two of them are confident enough of their love for one another that it would never threaten their marriage. Though fans suspected this to be the case, it is good to get a concrete example every now and again considering the tough road it took to get to this point for the duo.

Officially titled Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust, this new novel is written by Jun Esaka with a cover illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. Featuring a completely original story, this novel explores the married couple’s views on life and death. This is the second of a new line of novels being published under Shueisha’s Jump J-Books brand this August.