Heya, my name is Mark, i am currently 25 years old, and no, i am not ashamed of watching and enjoying Naruto still :D

I will by focusing mainly on short stories (or i will try to), as i have written some awfully long tales in my native tongue, which is not english, so in advance, i apologize for any and all gramatic misshaps J

I will mostly write NaruSaku stories, with maybe some other pairings coming in future (I really like Konan for some reason ), maybe stories with OC as well J

Now a little about where i stand on Naruto pairings. Since if i have written this anywhere else, no one would really read it, so i figured i might as well write it here for no one to read :D

While i do not consider myself to be a vivid NaruSaku fan, i always felt like this is where the show was going and what was meant to be. I do like NaruHina and in some respects it does make sense. I know there are many detailed and obviously hard worked on write ups on the internet, supporting on or the other pairing, but for me it always boiled down to three things.

First and foremost, Naruto is the main hero, he is the person that we support and that we identify with. He has his quirks, qualities, his hopes and dreams and all of these make us like him even more (at least me J). One of the reasons why i started to love Naruto way back when i was 15 and saw it for the first time in anime form. Was that it was obvious that he genuenly loved Sakura, me being how old i was, and in very similar situation, i felt connection immidiately. Of course the manga has amazing action and story, that goes without saying, but this was a big part of its succes with me as well. One of his biggest dream, perhaps as big or bigger than becoming hokage and having everyone acknowledge him, is ending up with Sakura, or at least make her happy, which in my eyes always was ending up with her. And this is where the ending sucks for me… He doesnt end up with her. He gets to fullfill all of his dreams except for this one, he has always loved her and it just doesnt matter in the end. For all the foreshadowing with his mom, all the cute moments and all the feelings that they had for each other (even if just friendly from Sakura’s side), this is what sold me on them most. This was partly a love story, and the hero is supposed to get the girl in the end. He loved her throghout the story, yes i do belive that even at the end of it, as all the NaruHina bonding on his part is happening in The Last: Naruto Movie, which clearly shows that he was still in love with Sakura by the time the manga ended. And it all ended up, earning him nothing.

It makes me sad to think that for everything he did for her, he did not deserve a happy ending in Kishimoto’s eyes.

And lets be honest, who of us did not want to see Sakura admit how stupid and wrong she was for loving Sasuke all these years, and finally realizing who Naruto was and what he meant to her J If handled right, this could have been on of the best romantic moments ever.

My second point, is Hinata herself, altho part of it in the Naruto part. While i do like her as character, and she does have some moments with Naruto. I was never sold on the idea of them, because Naruto did not care for her in that way. Her behaviour, her shyness i mean, also makes it hard for me to be sold on this. I know she cares for Naruto a great deal, she loves him, just like he loves Sakura – troughout the entire series, but there is never any real developlment between them. This might be just on my part, because i hardly remember any conversations between them, but i always felt that all of the relationship that they had, was just in Hinata, in her shy looks and whispers, nothing real and touchable. Altho of course there are now several moments in Shippuuden where she protects Naruto, this is nothing so incredibly unexcpected, Naruto would have done the same for her, for anyone and Sakura would have attacked pain as well, as would anyone if they were there.

That being said, i do see other people’s points, saying that Sakura does not deserve Naruto, because of the way she treats him, Hinata loves him all the time and they fit together better. For me, i’d say it just all boils down to the feelings, to what we consider more important when forming these realtionships between them in our head.

My third and biggest issue is with Sakura and Sasuke. And this is not really Sakura’s fault, more like entirely Kishimoto’s fault for even letting this happen. While we know why Naruto loves Sakura and why Hinata loves Naruto, we have no clue (at least me) why would Sakura be still interested in Sasuke. To make it simple, he is a gigantic, enormous A*. For a long time i did not think that he even deserved saving, what Naruto is doing for him is completely unjustified in my eyes, but that is who Naruto is, he never gives up etc., but why would Sakura still like him, why would she like him in the first place? I get it, girls do fall in love for the strangest reasons and he was always good looking, cool and had the angst about him, that is enough for a childhood crush, but since when is that enough for a full fledged love. One that makes you ignore someone like Naruto at your side? I just never got it, in some situations Sakura was interesting and cool character, unfortunately as soon as Sasuke was even mentioned, she turned into a drone, felt like her entire reason for being in the story, was to be in love with Sasuke for reasons…

I do not think that this needs explanation, while other relationships have their pro and against, this is just plain stupid, and what is being done to Sakura’s character here is really wierd. She is a strong willed person, smart and kind, even if a bit hot tempered, for her to just bow down her head and let herself even be killed by the guy she is in love with, is completely out of place. No one can, i know that only a few people would, try to defend what Sasuke has done to Sakura and why they sould be together.

I would be able to excuse this, i would, what do we know, he actually could have chaged after the war ended, become attentive and sweet, become the guy Sakura wished him to be when she was younger, maybe her story does actually have a happy ending… Oh wait, except we actually know. And it does not. He leaves after the war for another two years, than comes back, marry Sakura, has child with her and than leaves her alone with the child for years… I do not even have words to describe how moronic that is. If a child and teen Sakura was not able to stand up for herself, would grown up, adult mom Sakura not be able to finally do that? Doesn’t she deserve better than this?

In a review with Kishimoto after the ending of the manga, i have read something along the lines, that he was considering a NaruSaku ending, but didnt want to make Sakura look bad, because after all this time for her to suddenly change her mind would be odd. So instead he had to make a movie for NaruHina to make sense, (I am sorry, no offense meant to NaruHina fans, but that is what it is, the movie is there so Naruto can realise his feelings for Hinata) and make Sakura suffer for the rest of her life, being in love and married to a guy who is never home, and left her and her child because he had an important mission.

Holy damn, she must have some serious mental problems acording to Kishimoto. I know that it is his world, the characters in that world think and act differently than we would, but this just does not make sense on so many levels. Makes me pity Sakura so much.

And that is it, phef, that was exhausting J

Now that you know where i stand, enjoy my stories J