How would you describe the feelings of Sasuke for Sakura in Part 1? And in Part 2 , when things got tough?
Let’s break it down shall we?
Sakura initially made a negative first impression on Sasuke by acting ignorant to the hardships of loneliness, so he considered her annoying at first, nothing more, nothing less:
After returning from the Land of Waves, and seeing how she still wasn’t taking her duties as a ninja seriously, Sasuke bluntly suggested that she should train more to refine her skills. He had seen how Sakura had bested both he and Naruto in terms of chakra control in the forest, and probably found it a little frustrating that she obviously had potential, but wasn’t doing anything with it:
Linking on from the last point, Sasuke is always very observant when it comes to his comrades, particularly Sakura. He noticed her potential, and now he noticed that she wasn’t acting like herself:
And at this point, he cared enough about her to try and cheer her up and make her feel better about herself. He was basically informing her of her potential here. And for someone like Sasuke, who always came across as rather arrogant, to nonchalantly admit that Sakura was better than him in a certain area, was a big deal:
He wasn’t above admitting that she was better if it meant that she’d cheer up. I doubt he would have done that for Naruto:
Then came the confrontation with Orochimaru, where he again demonstrated the lengths he’d go to in order to save his comrades. He had already displayed this with Naruto when he saved him from Haku. Now it was Sakura’s turn, where he stabbed his own leg in order to get himself to move:
Of course, his actions when he awoke with the Curse Seal activated were heavily influenced by the sinister nature of the seal, but it’s still rather telling that the first thing he did when he awoke, was to ask Sakura who did that to her, and then proceeded to break the arms of the culprit. He was definitely starting to see her as someone who was important to him:
This was only confirmed during their confrontation with Gaara, where Sasuke himself explicitly stated how important it was that Naruto saved Sakura, because she had become dear to him, and didn’t want to relive having such a person die in front of him again:
This was again reiterated later on while Kakashi and Sasuke were having a discussion following Sasuke’s fight with Naruto on the hospital rooftop. Kakashi claimed how they both had found precious comrades:
And Sasuke then thought of Sakura and Naruto. This was such a contrast to Sasuke’s initial impression of Sakura. At first, she was just an ignorant, annoying team mate who didn’t focus enough on improving her ninja skills. Now, she was one of his precious companions who he’d go to great lengths to save. Both she and Naruto had wormed their way inside his heart:
However, despite how important Sakura now was to him, he was already under the influence of the Curse of hatred at this point. And as we know, when Uchiha’s are afflicted with this curse, the hatred they feel overpowers the feelings of love. So due to this, Sasuke opted to walk the lonely path of revenge, regardless of his new found camaraderie with Sakura and Naruto. However, he still wanted to let Sakura know how grateful he was to her for everything she had done for him up to that point:
Now in Part 2, after Sasuke had spent some time together with his new team, they’d eventually come to remind him of the bonds he had with Team 7. This was especially the case during their fight with Killer Bee, where after witnessing how far Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo were willing to go to save him, he was reminded of Team 7:
Illustrating that despite all the time spent apart from them, despite what had transpired during their reunion at Orochimaru’s hideout, Sasuke hadn’t yet let go of them; he still remembered the love, the affection, and the company that Sakura offered him. That’s significant.
And then comes the events in the Land of Iron, where Sasuke had fallen deeper in the Curse of Hatred than any Uchiha in history. At this point, Sasuke would have killed anything that looked at him the wrong way, and Sakura and Kakashi could see that; they could see how far he’d fallen, and it was painful:
However, by the time Sasuke had joined the war effort, he had a much clearer head, but was still deep in the curse. Despite this, when he witnessed Sakura finally demonstrating what she was truly capable of:
He could only smirk in response. After all this time, ever since they had returned from the Land of Waves and he told her to focus more on her training, he was finally shown first hand what she could really do. And while the vast majority of the Allied ninja forces were left in shock and awe, he simply gave a knowing smirk, and greatly respected her show of power:
Later on during the war, Sasuke attempted to dismiss his actions of saving Sakura and Kakashi from the Infinite Tsukuyomi as simply because they were in close proximity to Naruto. However, Naruto wasn’t having any of it. He knew that Sasuke’s body just moved on it’s own to save them, because Naruto knew that deep down, regardless of how much he refused to acknowledge it, Sasuke still cared for Team 7, he still cared for Sakura, and that’s why he acted without thinking in order to save her and Kakashi:
Sasuke’s silence during Naruto’s explanation is very telling; he had no rebuttal, further indicating the accuracy of Naruto’s words:
Now, chapter 685 was used to demonstrate again that there was still good in Sasuke, and that he did very much care for Sakura, despite his words to the contrary. People like to claim that Sasuke was apparently willing to let Sakura drop into lava (when it’s already been proven that Sasuke was aware that Kakashi had the situation under control). Yet, this begs the question, if Sasuke had really been willing to let her fall into lava and die, then surely he’d have no qualms with her simply falling to the ground, from her feet no less, if he were truly that heartless and didn’t care about her at all:
This is because there is accuracy in Sakura’s words during her 2nd confession; she did still have a place in Sasuke’s heart.
Following on from that, after Sakura’s 2nd confession to him, he compares her feelings to that which was shared between his family, and not only uses that to indicate that he knew her feelings were genuine, but he also probably used that to strengthen his resolve after Sakura’s confession had briefly weakened it, because he adamantly believed (or at least he tried to make himself believe) that such genuine feelings would only be a burden in the long term. He then attempted to dismiss her feelings as shades of the past, because she was trying to get him to return to the way he was before; an endeavour Sasuke believed to be impossible:
However, Sasuke was proven wrong. After Naruto had hammered it into his brain just what it meant to be a friend, the impenetrable walls created from the Curse of Hatred that had been surrounding his heart since the massacre of his clan began to diminish. He was emotionally at ease and able to think and see with clarity, and he realized that his current emotional state was all that Sakura had wanted for him since the beginning. Sasuke knew that he had wronged her, and despite Sakura rebuffing his initial attempts to apologise, Sasuke persisted, because he knew it must be said:
And rather than give a convoluted list of all the things he felt he needed to apologise for, Sasuke opted to just apologise for everything.
And after a while, living with opened eyes and an opened heart for the first time in years, he was able to spend time with Sakura, and see her not through eyes filled with hatred, but with clarity, and the willingness to embrace love again. This led to him giving her his ultimate expression of affection, to indicate to her that despite the necessity for him to travel alone, she was still very precious to him:
And just look at Sakura’s blush, after finally being able to look Sasuke straight in the eyes as he thanked her; she definitely got the message ^_^
That’s how I’d describe the evolution of Sasuke sentiments towards Sakura in the story. He started off by finding her annoying, but she quickly became very precious to him, but his hatred overpowered anything else, and wouldn’t allow her to become anything more than a dear comrade.
After being freed from the shackles of his hatred though, he was able to see things he’d missed, including who Sakura truly was and how far her feelings for him truly went. He’d soon reciprocate in kind :)
germansingergirl
dailybridgerton
titsay
izzy806
snowghoul
romaincrisis
theartofmadeline
annaxmalina
areudirty
