u/neon-anime

If you have seen the "anime vs manga" posts, you will realize how much care Sasuke showed to Sakura that was butchered in the anime, and I mean most of their moments.

In the Naruto radio segments (Oh! Naruto Nippon), Noriaki Sugiyama mentioned that he had to be very careful with his tone. Because he knew Sasuke would eventually return to the village and marry Sakura, he tried to ensure that Sasuke never sounded "purely evil" or "hateful" toward her, even when the dialogue was harsh.

----- Part 1: [ See part 1 here ] -----

In the Naruto radio segments (Oh! Naruto Nippon), Noriaki Sugiyama mentioned that he had to be very careful with his tone. Because he knew Sasuke would eventually return to the village and marry Sakura, he tried to ensure that Sasuke never sounded "purely evil" or "hateful" toward her, even when the dialogue was harsh.

If you have seen the "anime vs manga" posts, you will realize how much care Sasuke showed to Sakura that was butchered in the anime, and I mean most of their moments.

Part 1: [ Here is part 1 ].

When Naruto says this brotherly bond is one of his first, it cuts to them as young kids smiling about 5 years before Team 7 (Ch 229/OG Ep 133) during the first Final Valley fight. This is because they started to feel a family like bond way back then, >!and Sasuke says the same after their final fight. For kid Sasuke, it was seeking his lost family all day, every day; for kid Naruto, it was the blood family he never had. Seeking that the most as kids, along with their shared loneliness and trauma, made it feel like they grew up together (in the same village and ninja academy class) and made them feel like blood brothers years before Team 7. They found the blood family they sought the most in each other. Naruto described his feelings at that young age in more detail in (Ch 227-228/OG Ep 132).!<

>!Then as the manga concludes in (Ch 699/ Ep 479), Sasuke internally acknowledges that same moment (when Naruto called him the [blood] brother he never had from the first Final Valley fight). He thinks his lingering feeling is finally clear: Naruto is not just like a brother, he truly feels as if he is with a real blood brother, sharing Naruto's feelings from back then. !<

In the Naruto radio segments (Oh! Naruto Nippon), Noriaki Sugiyama mentioned that he had to be very careful with his tone. Because he knew Sasuke would eventually return to the village and marry Sakura, he tried to ensure that Sasuke never sounded "purely evil" or "hateful" toward her, even when the dialogue was harsh.

Kishimoto openly confirmed his love for her to the fans in 2005, more than 20 years ago.

Kishimoto: "The one who filled his lonely existence with the emotion called love... was Sakura."
(Naruto Secret: Scroll of Fighting Character Official Databook II).

Part 2 is coming very soon.

Personally, the first final valley fight hits the hardest.
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Kishimoto Naruto Meigenshu: Kizuna (2013) Interview:

Kishimoto: Iruka started in the manga as the father Naruto never had. Since Naruto did not have parents from the very beginning, I wrote him with the intention that he would see Iruka as his father.

Q: In one chapter, Naruto tells Itachi that Sasuke is like a brother to him. Is that what you were going for from the start?

Kishimoto: Yes. Rather than just being friends, I wanted Naruto and Sasuke to be more brothers than blood brothers.
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Kishimoto 2015 Interview with Entermix Magazine:

Kishimoto: "I thought that the bonds a child who had no family and no ties would finally acquire wouldn't be so easily severed. Since he didn't have a family, the people he could consider family wouldn't be something he could just cut off."

Personally, the first one hits the hardest.
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Kishimoto Naruto Meigenshu: Kizuna (2013) Interview:

Kishimoto: Iruka started in the manga as the father Naruto never had. Since Naruto did not have parents from the very beginning, I wrote him with the intention that he would see Iruka as his father.

Q: In one chapter, Naruto tells Itachi that Sasuke is like a brother to him. Is that what you were going for from the start?

Kishimoto: Yes. Rather than just being friends, I wanted Naruto and Sasuke to be more brothers than blood brothers.
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Kishimoto 2015 Interview with Entermix Magazine:

Kishimoto: "I thought that the bonds a child who had no family and no ties would finally acquire wouldn't be so easily severed. Since he didn't have a family, the people he could consider family wouldn't be something he could just cut off."

From: Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring (written and drawn by Kishimoto).

Note: read the pictures first. I just wanted to clear some things up about Sasuke's estimated 8 year journey...

Also, here is why the canon mini-manga and the canon novels were made:
Chapter 700 was the final Naruto manga chapter, and it was a time skip to the ending Kishimoto was hoping to reach. Episode 479 marks the end of chapter 699 and the conclusion of the final manga arc (the War Arc). Kishimoto got tired after 15+ years of non-stop work and wanted to rest. That is why even Naruto becoming Hokage was not included in the manga, despite making Naruto say it 1,000 times. So, to continue some of his vision and to fill in the blanks between chapters 699 and 700, professional novelists were hired. While Kishimoto did not write the dialogue, he held a supervisory role over the novels; they carry Kishimoto’s name. He approved the major plot points, provided guidance for the story and characters, and did other things as well. Kishimoto treated them as "official expansions" of the story and was very happy to see others handle some aspects of his characters, like the romance parts in these expansions. But he won't step in for every detail or subplot, so some parts might not be as good as if he were 100% involved. It is basically a similar situation to Dragon Ball Super with Toriyama.

If anyone is interested, the manga depicts his subtle feelings much better than the anime; check this link: [ Sasuke’s Great Care and Subtle Feelings for Sakura (Part 1): Before Itachi ] (Part 2 link is in the post)

Sasuke’s Great Care and Subtle Feelings for Sakura (Part 1): Before Itachi (Part 2 link is in the post)

Many online use these scenes to argue that Sasuke never loved Sakura or even hated her, but the full narrative reveals the opposite.

In the Naruto radio segments (Oh! Naruto Nippon), Noriaki Sugiyama mentioned that he had to be very careful with his tone. Because he knew Sasuke would eventually return to the village and marry Sakura, he tried to ensure that Sasuke never sounded "purely evil" or "hateful" toward her, even when the dialogue was harsh.

Naruto is even holding sunflowers with which the name Hinata is associated (although the actual word is himawari).