Naruhina✨

[mysticluminance21]

Revisiting The Last: Naruto Movie

HOW DOES THE LAST: NARUTO MOVIE - DIFFERS FROM THE NOVEL?

I made this post to properly analyze The last movie, by comparing it with its novel adaptation. I’ll be focusing only on the most important parts related to Naruto and Hinata, skipping the rest of it.

Personally, The Last movie is still one of my favorites. But the novel added much more depth and clarity in comparison. This blog includes all the missing or altered parts from the novel (which I felt mattered) that were never adapted in the movie. I had posted this elsewhere before, but now I wanted to share it here.

“Just sharing what I felt was important — I'm not engaging in debates or hate. This post is for fellow fans who enjoy the NaruHina ship.”

“Friendly Reminder: This is a long read”

This blog is divided into 4 parts. Here are the links to each section:

• PART-1

• PART-2

• PART-3

• PART-4

[shirii]

WIP for Naruto’s birthday for the @naruhina-2024 fair 🧡💜

[sourinartt]

Hinata's fans will really do everything they can to make you believe that she is not a privileged girl who lives well despite her father's training, different from her cousin or the secondary branch itself

[memesunkiss]

I think this argument only works if we reduce privilege to a single axis: clan rank. And that's exactly where it starts running into problems with what the manga actually shows.

Because yes, on paper, Hinata belongs to the Main House while Neji belongs to the Branch House. That is an undeniable fact of the Hyūga system. The Branch House bears the Caged Bird Seal, and the Main House possesses institutional authority over them. The manga is very explicit about this.

But the conclusion that therefore Hinata "lives well" or exists as some kind of protected beneficiary of that system is where the text becomes much more complicated. The irony of Hinata's character is that she technically belongs to the privileged side of the hierarchy while simultaneously being rejected by that hierarchy itself.

Those two things are true at the same time.

When we are introduced to her, she is not being presented as a successful heir enjoying the benefits of status. She is introduced as someone her own father considers a failure.

This is not fan interpretation. This is literally how her position in the family is described.

Hiashi eventually removes her as heir and shifts his expectations toward Hanabi because he does not believe Hinata possesses the qualities required to lead the clan.

In other words, Hinata occupies a strange narrative position:

she has the title of privilege but not the security of it. She has the status but not the approval. She has the bloodline but not the power.

And the manga repeatedly emphasizes this distinction.

What's especially interesting is that people often compare Hinata and Neji as if the story is trying to tell us that one suffered and the other didn't.

But that's not actually how Kishimoto structures the conflict.

The Chūnin Exam fight works precisely because both characters are victims of the same system in different ways.

Neji's suffering is externalized. Hinata's suffering is internalized.

Neji is openly marked, controlled, and trapped by the Branch House system. Hinata is psychologically crushed by the expectations attached to the Main House.

The entire emotional weight of their confrontation comes from the fact that neither of them is truly free.

They're mirrors, not opposites. And this becomes obvious in their dialogue.

Neji repeatedly tells Hinata that people cannot change. That weakness is fixed. That failure is fixed. That destiny is fixed.

But what makes those statements hit so hard is that they are the exact same beliefs Hinata has been struggling against for most of her life.

Neji thinks he's speaking to someone who represents the system. The tragedy is that he's actually speaking to another victim of it.

That's why his anger feels so misplaced. Not because it comes from nowhere, but because the target of that anger is someone who has never possessed the authority he imagines she has.

Another issue with the "privileged girl who lives well" argument is that it quietly assumes material privilege automatically cancels emotional or psychological suffering.

The manga never argues that.

In fact, Naruto as a series repeatedly challenges that idea.

Sasuke comes from one of Konoha's most prestigious clans and is still deeply traumatized. Gaara is the son of a Kage and grows up isolated. Neji is a prodigy and suffers under the Branch House system.

Status and suffering are not treated as mutually exclusive categories.

So when people argue that Hinata's struggles don't matter because Neji had it worse, they're often making a comparison the manga itself isn't trying to make.

The story never asks us to rank their pain. It asks us to understand why both of them were damaged by the same structure.

And perhaps the biggest piece of evidence against the idea that Hinata simply benefited from her position is Neji's own character development.

After learning the truth about his father's death, Neji's anger shifts dramatically. Notice what happens. His hostility toward Hiashi changes. His understanding of the clan changes. And crucially, his hostility toward Hinata disappears.

Why?

Because once he gains a fuller understanding of the situation, he no longer sees her as someone who personally benefited from his suffering.

If Kishimoto intended Hinata to be read as a comfortable beneficiary of Neji's oppression, Neji's arc would logically move in the opposite direction.

Instead, his development leads him toward reconciliation. Not because the Branch House system was acceptable. Not because his suffering wasn't real. But because he eventually recognizes that Hinata was never the architect of that suffering in the first place.

So I think the strongest version of this argument is actually much narrower than people often present it. It's completely fair to say that Hinata possessed social advantages Neji did not.

The manga supports that.

What the manga does not support is the claim that she therefore lived comfortably, escaped the damage caused by the Hyūga system, or functioned as one of its beneficiaries in the same way older authority figures did.

The text consistently portrays her as another child being crushed by expectations she never created and never had the power to enforce.

And that distinction is exactly why the Neji-Hinata conflict works so well in the first place.

[shirii]

quick lil mom hinata relaxing gif 💜📖

[mysticluminance21]

From “Forced Genjutsu Movie” to “Masterpiece”

The Double Standard of Calling a Copy of the Original Work as an alternate ending:

Replacing the Original Character with Someone Else and claiming it “Hard Work and Dedication”

Let's go back a bit.

When *The Last* was released, the Naruto fandom saw a huge backlash from NaruSaku/Sakura fans.

Hinata fans were harassed simply because of the movie's ending and the canon pairing. It was one of the most toxic periods in the fandom.

Now, years later in 2026, those same people are celebrating an "alternate ending" that is essentially *The Last* with Sakura instead.

Calling it an "alternate ending" doesn't change what original is.

If you've copied the entire movie: its plot, scenes, dialogue, pacing, and emotional beats and only replaced one character, you've done far more than just create a new interpretation or story. You've relied almost entirely on someone else's original creative work.

If the goal is to tell a NaruSaku story, why not write an original one? Why not create a completely new/ completely different plot with new characters instead of recreating an existing movie almost scene for scene?

If you have the talent, time, and resources to produce a full-length project, surely you can create an original narrative rather than copying the original and swapping one character, and claiming it's CANON (pretending as if it's fan-made)

This isn't about whether someone prefers NaruHina or NaruSaku. Everyone is entitled to their favorite pairing.

First, copying everything from the original Last movie, on top of that trashing Hinata/Naruhina fans: aren't you even embarrassed?

It's about respecting creative work. An "alternate ending" shouldn't mean reproducing an entire copyrighted movie with changes and presenting it as a new creation. Now, they are planning to create a new video with Boruto as Naruto and Sakura's son?

Sakura/NS fans are really a huge EMBARRASSMENT to Naruto's fandom.

If your creativity begins and ends with replacing Hinata with Sakura while keeping the story same, that's not original or alternate:

it's literally "PLAZARISED FAN-MADE VIDEO" as it's being presented.

[mysticluminance21]

"Mini-Hinata"

[mysticluminance21]

Sakura fans calling Naruto selfish and manipulative is one of the stupidest takes in the Naruto's fandom.

Meanwhile, Sakura was willing to cast aside almost everything else for a single boy, as she repeatedly showed throughout the manga.

Sakura is and will always be one of the worst-written characters, and her fandom's constant attempts to deny or justify her flaws only make that reputation worse.

[mysticluminance21]

"Mini-Hinata"

[mysticluminance21]

Similar vibes...

[mysticluminance21]

This confirms my statement...

[lunaneko14]

Ok I have a new theory: Why were some Major NH moments absent from The Last?

These moments are:

Blood Vow

Proud Failure

In Your Eyes

And 615

There was someone else who mentioned the possibility that it’s because the point of the flashbacks were to show Naruto all of Hinata’s efforts to make her romantic feelings known. 

My theory is a bit different:

I don’t think any of these moments are supposed to be taken as romantic.

It’s honestly deeper than that. These moments served to simply show the deep connection between Naruto and Hinata. 

Lets look closer:

Blood Vow: Every fan knows that this is the beginning of NaruHina’s connection on a deeper level than with anyone else. Naruto just saw Hinata be bullied and beaten the same way he’s been his entire life. And so he feels obligated to not let her go down like that because he doesn’t want anyone else to feel lost like he has his whole life. He wants to help someone the same way Iruka did for him. 

Proud Failure: This is the opposite of Blood Vow whereas it’s Hinata voicing her support of Naruto. Even though by this time she does at least have a deep crush for Naruto, those feelings did not play a role in her speech (whereas her giving Naruto medicine earlier, which is in The Last, was about her feelings for him). Hinata was just showing that again, her connection to Naruto runs deeper than a crush, this is something they both share as broken people, as underdogs in the ninja world. 

In Your Eyes: Again, Hinata showing off her deep connection to Naruto and him vice versa. Only to this point it’s almost telepathic how they’re able to see each other’s selves and emotions through each other’s eyes. 

615: Major development on Hinata’s side. Even though she’s doing the same thing as Proud Failure, she’s no longer hiding behind a training pillar, she’s front and center of Naruto basically telling him to wake the fuck up and fight. This isn’t about romance, this is about getting out of this war alive and not letting Neji’s sacrifice go in vain. And yes, even the handhold is not romantic, never was meant to be taken as that, many NH (including myself) have made the mistake of seeing the handhold as Naruto possibly reciprocating Hinata’s feelings. Nope this was just something to physically show their connection. 

So this is my theory. None of these moments were ever meant to be romantic but a testament to NH’s connection either as a base or beyond romantic love. This is basically something I don’t think any other shounen manga couple have. Maybe in shounen ai but with pure shounen, I don’t think so. 

Naruto and Hinata’s relationship will always be one of the best imo because it reminds me of a wise quote by the great Hayao Miyazaki:

“I’ve become skeptical of the unwritten rule that just because a boy and girl appear in the same feature, a romance must ensue. Rather, I want to portray a slightly different relationship, one where the two mutually inspire each other to live - if I’m able to, then perhaps I’ll be closer to portraying a true expression of love.”

[mysticluminance21]

Similar vibes: Like mother, Like daughter...

[mysticluminance21]

Hinata’s little sunflower 🌻💛

[mysticluminance21]

Carved in violet: gentle, yet growing in silence...

Purple beauties 💜💞

[lunaneko14]

@commanderkurama @mythicalheartbeat @rieriebee I just realized something:

In the VIZ version, when Hinata runs at Pain after her confession, she rawrs. 

She fucking rawrs

And this is before she summons her twin lion fists. 

This is so fucking adorable idk what to do with this information. 

[commanderkurama]

Actual Hinata and Himawari:

[mecharose]

I love characters that are completely harmless until they finally unleash their power and then they’re TERRIFYING

[sunny-pandas]

[commanderkurama]

Countering post-finale NaruSaku "arguments"

Because they came up with ridiculous “arguments” since chapter 700, and twisted Kishimoto’s interview words.

“Kishimoto sold out!”

Nope. Kishi said that he planned NaruHina in multiple interviews.

First interview: かなり前からヒナタで決めていました。

“I decided to go with Hinata [to be with Naruto] from quite a while ago”

Second interview: ナルトがヒナタと一緒になることは結構早い段階で決めていましたね。

“Naruto ending up with Hinata was decided on in the very early stages of the story”

Third interview: 僕の中では「NARUTO-ナルト」の少年期が終わって、 青年期に入った少し経った頃から「ナルトはヒナタとくっつく」と決まっていました。

“I’ve already decided that once Naruto’s teenage years are over, and shortly after entering his ‘young man stage’ (15-24ish) that “Naruto and Hinata will come/be together”. (trans by variatonia)

Not only that, but this interview here confirms that Kishi is anything but a sell out. Kishimoto is openly acknowledging that Hinata is more popular than Sakura, but he didn’t let that get the better of him and he kept Sakura the main lead female. That’s a good thing, especially because you can’t say he “sold out”. So while popularity troubled him, he didn’t let it get the better of him. He planned NaruHina from early on (he said this was the original intended pairing many times already), therefore popularity has nothing to do with the actual pairing.

Another example:  He noticed that Kakashi was (getting?) more popular than Naruto, and thus toned him down instead of pandering.  Kishimoto has flaws as a writer, but at the very least he stays true to how he wants to write the story, and doesn’t seem to be the type to cave-in for the sake of money.

“NaruHina wasn’t Kishi’s idea! It was SP’s! They gave him the idea for the movie!”

1) NaruHina has always been intended by Kishimoto himself.  See above where he states multiple times that NaruHina was planned from early on.

2) SP had no idea about the baby boom in chapter 700. So SP’s anime team could not have manipulated Kishimoto into the pairings or the kids. They were shocked about the children.

3) It’s true that the anime staff gave Kishi the idea for a romantic movie and he went along with it. However, the scarf plot was based on his own personal experience and he created the plot. He received a scarf from his wife.

“When he was in meetings with the movie staff and they were planning the story, he mentioned that his wife had made a scarf for him and everyone went quiet, like, “Wow…” (this is our idea)” (trans by julinay) 

I remember reading the anime staff thought the scarf plot was cliche, but Kishi insisted it had to be done.

4) When Kishimoto speaks about NaruHina romance and says this: “But I didn’t really think about the love story of the two (laughs), I hadn’t intended to write a story about it.” – It was taken out of context by NaruSaku fans (nothing new here).  Kishimoto doesn’t mean he never planned NaruHina (he said he did, MANY TIMES), he just didn’t plan on writing about the specific love story. That’s why when the movie idea was brought up to him, he happily went along with it. He always wanted to include romance, but never did because he said he wasn’t good at it/gets embarrassed.

5) The movie is 100% Kishimoto approved and as canon as can be.

OrganicDinosaur translation and comments.

“Basically, Kishi said that he didn’t intend to expand upon how Naruto and Hinata actually got together sometime in between ch.699 and 700, (can mean either in manga or in the movie). The interpretation that “Kishi never intended for NaruHina at all” is wrong (based on other interviews too). It reads to me like he just didn’t intend on that particular aspect of their relationship to be fleshed out.”

“Sakura had romantic feelings for Naruto, Kishimoto confirmed it!”

Absolute bullshit. Kishimoto said this:

なんだかんだでサスケに対して一途なんだと思います

"I think Sakura hasalwaysbeen devoted to/had her mind set on Sasuke”

Same interview where he said Sakura would look terrible if she changed her heart from Sasuke to Naruto after so long, and the same interview where he said he planned Hinata ending up with Naruto quite some time ago.

Speaking of which.  He never said he wanted NaruSaku. Ever. He never said he wanted to at all.  This is what he said: サクラにしようかと迷った時期もあってのですが

"At one point/period of time, I thought about [considered] Sakura [for the role]”

takL translation is this: “There was a time when I wondered if I should pick Sakura (for the role)”

While NaruHina was chosen first and the original, at one point he only considered/thought about NaruSaku. It’s natural to wonder/explore different paths to take your story.  However, he scrapped that idea after realizing how bad it was and stuck to his original plan (which was NaruHina).

Kishi explicitly says that there was a time when he WONDERED whether he should change Sakura’s feelings.  He quickly dismissed that idea because as he said, it would make Sakura look bad to suddenly switch from Sasuke to Naruto (cue fake confession scene here), especially after he’s become a “hero”. He only “thought” about changing her feelings; it wasn’t materialized. Aka, this change of feelings never happened in the manga and everything he did with NaruSaku was done on purpose with the intention of misleading (which he says in his new interview himself; 「だからこそ、ナルトとサクラがくっつくかのようにミスリードさせるために、あえてサクラとナルトの母親であるクシナの動きを重ねるかのようなシーンを描いたりもしたんです」。He drew Sakura compared to that of Kushina, Naruto’s mother, in order to mislead.) and keeping people interested. He never intended on actually getting Naruto and Sakura together. The relationship was always platonic, as we’ve said for years. OrganicDinosaur translation: “I decided from pretty early on that Naruto and Hinata would be together. So I kept Naruto and Sakura close together in order to make it misleading. I even dared to describe and draw parallels between Sakura and Naruto’s mother, Kushina, in repetitive scenes, on purpose, to achieve that effect.”

Why would Kishi say this if he intended NaruSaku? No. Sakura’s feelings have never changed. She has always and will always love Sasuke.

Here, another thing taken out of context from this interview.

 ヒナタはナルトが最初から頑張ってるところをちゃんと見て、 ずっと応援していた唯一の子なんです。ナルトはうまくいかないけど頑張っていて、諦めないところが格好いいって分かってる。 サクラもそのことに途中で気づきますけど

“Hinata was the only kid who paid close attention to the way Naruto was working hard from the very beginning, and always supported him. She understood that the way he worked hard and didn’t give up even if things didn’t go smoothly for him was pretty cool. Not that Sakura didn’t realize that along the way too…” (trans by mezzomarinaio)

NOWHERE does this state or imply that Sakura returned or was close to returning Naruto’s feelings. NOWHERE does this state or imply she loved Naruto (hello, look at the previous interview where he states that Sakura has always loved Sasuke). He only mentions that along the way, she also noticed that Naruto was a hard worker; she noticed what Hinata did all along.  Kishimoto just didn’t want to belittle Sakura, therefore he felt the need to mention she also saw Naruto as pretty cool later on. 

~ I really don’t understand how people can twist things so much. It’s incredible.

[honyakusha-eri-deactivated20190]

Regarding Kishimoto’s Words on The Last in a Recent Interview

This interview just recently came out: http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/A0004639

I do plan on getting to fully translating it… at some point… (so many unfinished projects… ugh…) but anyway, there is something that needs to be addressed. As much as I hate translation debates, a mistranslation of a small bit regarding The Last is being spread around and causing unnecessary drama, and frankly, it’s pissing me off. What I’m referring to is this bit:

描くと恥ずかしいですし、本当は描きたくない部分でもあるんです（笑）。『THE LAST -NARUTO THE MOVIE-』では、ナルトの恋愛を描いていただいたので、僕自身では描けない部分が映画で観られてうれしかったですね。

In context, Kishimoto was talking about the romance in the series, and normally I would translate the full context (which I plan to eventually), but for now, I’m focusing on this part because it needs to be clarified. First off, here is my translation of it:

I’m embarrassed to write it, so in truth, there were parts that I didn’t want to write (laughs). In “The Last -Naruto the Movie-” Naruto’s romance was written, so I was happy that the parts that I myself could not write could be seen.

The point Kishimoto is making here is that romance was not shown in the actual manga because he personally was embarrassed to write it. Notice he said he was happy that this could be seen despite that he was too embarrassed to include it in the manga. 

There is a translation floating around that is worded in a way that completely botches this. Whether this came about in error, or it was meant to intentionally twist the meaning, I do not know. If it was the latter, I view such a thing as an insult to every translator in this fandom, because that is essentially making a statement that you think nobody is going to be good enough at this to figure out the lies, which is why I’m so pissed right now. But regardless of whether or not it was intentional, it is detracting from the actual point of what Kishimoto was saying, and therefore is an unacceptable translation. (No, I’m not going to link to the other translation or mention the name of the one who did it. Don’t even ask.)

The problem with the other translation (and the comments that went along with it) is that it made it sound like the main point was that Kishimoto was not the writer of The Last. This was not the point that he was trying to make. Also, just throwing out there that most people, including those of us who absolutely love The Last, do NOT try to claim that Kishimoto created it all on his own. That being said, there are plenty of sources that indicate that he was involved in its creation. Plus, his statement here that he was happy for what was shown gives further indication that he approves of it.

Now I’m sure that some who are reading this after having seen the poor translation I’m talking about are going to wonder why they should take my word over that of someone else. So I will explain parts of the grammar of the original text and why I translated it the way I did. I used a “read more” tag just because it makes the post really, really long.

Keep reading

[rieriebee]

Thank you for the clarification. Way for people to miss the point completely. Kishimoto is embarrassed to draw romance, this is nothing new. Because of this, he wasn’t going to actually draw the love story. That’s why when the movie idea was proposed to him, he happily went along with it and thought it was great. Despite not being able to draw it, Kishimoto stated 3 times that he planned for Naruto and Hinata to get together in the early stages of the story.  

No one said Kishimoto wrote The Last entirely. Unlike the Boruto movie, he had the main series looming over his head and is not a trained script writer. Even so, that does not make the movie any less canon. He 100% approved it, is happy about it, and considers it part of the main story line (chapter 699.5 is a good way to word it).

- Kishimoto states the The Last is a love story that depicts what happens between chapters 699 and 700. (“The latest film is a love story,” Kishimoto said. “It will depict what happened between the 699th and 700th manga episodes. I designed the characters and helped make the story.”) This is his way of saying it’s official/canon. - Kishimoto red pencilled the movie to death until it met his liking. (”I went about doing the character design while imagining them as ‘adults’. I made them rewrite the script many times. Well they must have thought I was annoying. But I think it became an interesting movie so everyone please come to watch it!”)

- He didn’t write the whole script, but he DID write some of it!  (”We had the scenario checked by Kishimoto-sensei. I appreciate that amidst being busy with serialization, he kindly gave us various advice. He also wrote some of the important lines such as, “It takes time to knit a scarf.”) - Kishimoto confirms the scarf plot in The Last is based on his own personal experience with his wife.  The dialogue is as follows: Fan: Kishimoto-sensei, did any of your own romantic experiences make it into the movie? Kishimoto: A little bit. Fan: Oh, where? Kishimoto: Well… giving the scarf… Narrator: This time in Naruto, a scarf knit by a girl has become an essential item. Kishimoto: The staff was gathered and we were making the story, (they were saying things) like “a scarf in this day and age?” “People do that?” (I said) “I’m sorry, I got a scarf that my wife knit,” and everyone got quiet… (Translation by honyakusha-eri​)

- The 2 year timeskip/gap for the movie was Kishimoto’s own idea. (”In my head, Naruto’s boyhood has ended, setting it at a time that’s a little after adolescence, I decided that “Naruto would be together with Hinata” (…) The movie takes place two years after the original work, in order to do the love-story of the two people, they needed to be over 18 years old. I was picky about that and particularly fussing over it. (laughs)”)

- Kishimoto even has favorite scenes from the movie.

- Kishimoto wrote a guidebook to the movie with a canon NaruHina date that’s titled “AFTER THE LAST”.

I honestly don’t know why this is still an issue when it’s been refuted so many times already. He approved the movie. He went to the screening and commented. The movie is considered official. It has a place in the time line of the story: two years after the war. He said it takes place between 699 and 700. He also said it’s heavily connected to the manga. He made a guidebook on it with a special chapter. It’s canon and people need to get over it. If they want to blame SP and think it’s a shitty movie, then they can blame Kishi too. 

[lenlenie06]

 i can’t believe that this point the people still argue this, it seen that a lot of interviews is not enough. Still if he did not write The last completely, he participated, he put the important points, he is agree with The last, for these simple reasons

*kishimoto ended his story with  Naruto with a fake arm, *he mention to hamura and hagoromo, and their story *He showed us Naruto and Hinata as a family in the manga, It is enough to say that “ the last”  is canon, The story of the manga ended way that allows all points spoken in the last. kishimoto work in it, (movie and manga) the script is as he wanted  thanks to all the changes that he did, is happy with it.

a lot of thanks for the links and the translation