What makes SasuSaku so Beautiful
I have spent the entirety of my day in a bit of nostalgia and remembrance of my first major ship. This is a ship who’s tag I cannot visit on Tumblr because of all the hate and gloating and boastfulness that was not in the SS fandom or even in the Naruto fandom in general when I was active back in 2005 - 2008.
It made me reflect a lot on why I became such a strong support of SasuSaku and why to this day I love it still; and I realize that there is so much beauty in the angst and pain that comes along with shipping SasuSaku.
SS is not a pairing for the lighthearted. It is full of twists and turns, pain, a long winter without interaction that is supported solely by Sakura’s faith and unwavering feelings. This continues well into the afterstory, but I digress– this is what I love so much about SasuSaku. SasuSaku makes me FEEL something, and not just feels. I feel the pain, I feel the caring, I feel the strength.
The beginning of the series starts with Sakura, who has a childish and rivalry based crush on Sasuke, and Sasuke who is singularly dedicated to becoming strong only to defeat “a certain someone”. These are not the same characters or the same relationship we come out with at the end of the story. It is through the experience they have together and with their team that they develop into the characters we know in the end of the story.
Sakura slowly begins to see and learn more about Sasuke by making mistakes; she annoys him, she says things she does not realize are heartless when compared to his experiences that she thinks make her sound cool. Sasuke puts her down without much remorse, but instead of becoming upset Sakura takes what he says and finds ways to fix these parts of herself. It is these kinds of actions that also help to form her acceptance and understanding of Naruto as well. It is a huge push in her character development of self absorbed young girl with a crush to someone who is a support in every way she can be to every person she encounters, and a strong member of her team with her own unique strength and confidence.
Sasuke is not wholly negative to Sakura throughout this change; we see him blush when she mentions her goals to Kakashi. We see him go to check on her when she screams during the bell test. We see him jump in to protect her when they are attacked on the way to the Land of the Waves. From the beginning, Sasuke protects her even as he is harsh.
Sakura is not the strongest member on her team; throughout most of part one, we see her living in the shadow of her teammates who were destined to become the greatest ninja of their time; ironically, this is also a reflection of Sakura’s confidence in herself as well. And even though Sasuke seems to find fault in anything that anyone else does and idolizes strength, we see he has a respect for the skills Sakura does posses that he does not. He is embarrassed to ask Sakura for advice on chakra control, and instead asks Naruto only when he realizes he cannot do it on his own; in the same arc, we also see his concern for Sakura while he is fighting Haku and his body “Moving of its own accord” to protect Naruto. We’re beginning to see there is more to Sasuke than just power.
This arc is also when Sakura realizes for the first time that Sasuke is not an untouchable person; when she see him lying on the bridge cold and unmoving, she is convinced he is dead. When he awakes, she is relieved and Sasuke does not push back her advances to hug him.
When the team returns from the Land of Waves, Sakura and Sasuke have another harsh conversation that deeply affects Sakura and her belief in her ability to compete in the Chuunin exams. This follows her all the way to the written test– and Sasuke notices. We get another glimpse into his respect for her when he compliments her genjutsu ability and states that she should already know where they are because she knows better than any of them that there is a genjutsu. It is then that Sakura realizes she also has an ability to assist her team and explains that the floor number is incorrect.
The Forest of Death was really a treasure trove for SasuSaku and the development of Sakura’s character. Orochimaru attacks, and Sasuke stabs himself in the leg so he can save himself and Sakura. This is one of the first times we see a shift in Sakura from idolizing Sasuke to being able to tell him when he is wrong. She calls him a coward when he choses to hide from Orochimaru, telling him that at least Naruto is not a coward. When he is bit, it is Sakura whom he falls into.
This is when we see the biggest shift in Sakura’s character in the series up until this point; she is alone with both Sasuke and Naruto out cold, the girl who did not think she was strong enough to enter this fight. She is the only one who can protect them, and she knows how important it is to both of them that they pass this part of the exam. They are attacked, and Sakura makes the choice to throw aside her childishness and vanity, cuts her hair off and fights back with the most skill we had seen her use up until that point. She surprised the Sound Nin who attacked her, but it still not enough to defeat them.
That is also when we get the biggest show of Sakura’s importance to Sasuke; he awakens, sees her beaten and bruised, and literally breaks the arms of the one who claims responsibility for her pain. The power of the cursed seal is overtaking him and Sakura is able to bring him back to himself by asking him to stop and hugging him. She stops him with her tears; this is one of the few times we see Sasuke control his curse seal pre-timeskip.
They continue together as a team through the forest of death and enter into the preliminary matches. This is the first time we get validation that Sakura means a bit more to Sasuke than others do; Sakura tries to convince him to tap out because of his cursed seal and that she knows it hurts him, and he tells her no. She choses to raise her hand and tell the instructors, and Sasuke grabs hold of her and tells her to stop, that he needs to do this, and that if anyone were to keep him from competing that he would never forgive them, not even if they were her. He’s separating her and putting her on a different level. There is an understanding between them and we also see Naruto’s eyes widen in surprise at this exchange. He has never seen Sakura go against anything Sasuke wished, and he has never seen Sasuke address her concern in quite the same way.
This is the next time we see Sasuke control his cursed seal.
This is also when we see Sakura has the confidence to consider herself on par with her rival, Ino. She moves her headband to her forehead and fights with seriousness; she defeats Ino’s mind control jutsu and the battle ends in a draw. This is a huge step for her and the beginning of her mending of her relationship with Ino. Sakura has moved from an inconfident girl and bloomed into a cosmos.
During the final battles for the the Chuunin Exams when Sound attacks and Gaara and Sasuke run off, we see Sakura attempting to protect Sasuke without fear against an enemy that frightened him. She is pinned to a wall and hurt; and Sasuke, unable to control his cursed seal and knowing he cannot win tells Naruto to save her and run far away because he cannot bear to see someone dear to him die again.
Very slowly, Sakura has become extra important to him on a level that Sasuke recognizes.
After his run in with Itachi, Sakura remains with Sasuke in the hospital. when he awakens she hugs him again and cries. This time Sasuke does not make any comment about her being heavy, he watches her with soft eyes and confusion. Naruto watches, his eyes soften, and we see that he can see that there is something special going on between Sasuke and Sakura.
We also see that with Sasuke’s growing irritation with his lack of power and his rivalry with Naruto (one that is dangerous and puts both boys in danger), he does not want to hurt Sakura. Whens he runs into the battle, both boys are suddenly jolted out of their focus and instead worried about how they are going to stop so she does not get hurt.
Then we have the goodbye scene.
This scene still makes me so sad and so happy. We have Sasuke and Sakura at a crossroads but also at a confirmation; Sakura says Sasuke has always hated her, and that he told her she was annoying. He denies this. Then she goes on to explain how her time with him and their team has been so important to her. Sasuke explains he has to leave, and that it does not concern her. He says he had fun, but it’s time to change his course. Sakura begs him to stay. He moves to leave.
She says that she loves him.
She begs him to take her with him.
He moves to walk away, and she threatens to scream– anything to keep him with her.
Then we have Sasuke thanking her for everything, and then knocking her out she can’t follow him. He lays her on the bench. And then he leaves.
This is the end of their interaction in Part 1, and a fully developed pairing at this point. Sasuke leaving and Naruto’s dedication influences Sakura to approach Tsunade and find her own kind of strength. She continues searching for clues to find him. She becomes stronger, she hones her craft. She defends him when other insult him (Sai, for instance) or have the intent of hurting him. She is a woman with a mission and a faith that Sasuke, despite what he did to Naruto, can be redeemed.
Then we meet him again, and it is the first time we see their faith shaken. Sasuke is not the Sasuke they know. He has a dark influence, he attacks them.
The next time Sasuke and Sakura meet, it is when Sakura resolved herself to killing him because he is not the man that she knows Sasuke to be and he is not going down a path that she believe he would have ever truly wanted for himself. She tries to convince herself that her faith in him is lost– and yet, she cannot kill him because despite how she loves him and wants to end his pain, she loves him too much to give up on him. The Sasuke she knows is still in there.
He does attempt to kill her.
And yet she keeps on believing.
When Sasuke appears on the battle ground during the war, the first person he addresses is Sakura. When Naruto and Sasuke try to leave her behind, she steps up and says she will fight beside them. Sasuke seems her attack, and for the first time since part 1 we see he is impressed. We see him protect her. We see Team 7 as a unit again.
We see Sasuke say that he only cares about Naruto, and how this disappoints her. We see her give her all to save him, every ounce of her strength, and then he catches her before she falls and thanks her for helping him get out.
When she confesses again, in an eerily similar way to how she confessed the first time, Sasuke shakes. He’s not ready to hear this, because he knows how she feels and he can’t accept that Sakura can still feel that way for him. He confirms he remembers the conversation they had before by saying she really is annoying. He makes sure she can’t follow him.
Then he tries to convince everyone that he doesn’t understand why she would love him, and they call him out on it. For Sasuke, any relationship with Sakura equates to a romantic one and he tries to push her away because he doesn’t feel he deserves it.
After his battle with Naruto, he apologizes to her. He knows he has hurt her, and he knows he will continue to do things that are wrong. But he want to fix it, somehow.
In similar fashion, when he leaves again he lets Sakura know when she requests to go with him that his sins have nothing to do with her– the only difference is he promises to see her again and that he will be back.
We know from Chapter 700 that they found their happy medium and started a family. We know from the voice actors interview that they were informed as early as 2002 that Sasuke and Sakura would end up together; for that happen, almost all of their development had to occur before Sasuke left. If we can take the Hiden as canon, we know that Sakura took what she learn from Sasuke and opened a childrens mental hospital so no one else would have to suffer the way he did, and she continued to wait. We know she questions but has faith; we know that someone impersonating him is not enough to bring Sasuke back, but that protecting Sakura was.
It is all so beautiful; the way they both developed, how in the end Sasuke came back to her and still found a way to have his family and deal with his sins. Sakura’s patience and how she turned from a selfish young girl to a giving, caring and understanding young woman is amazing.
I love SasuSaku. I just can’t help it; they have everything I ever wanted in a pairing.
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