^I don't necessarily mind a HinaNaru pairing (I'm still willing to give that $1000 to you (Kishimoto), if you end the series with SasuNaru
), but damn, talk about inapproriate pacing/timing. It's like Kishimoto woke up one morning (sometime last week) and realized that he already had a character that likes Naruto, so he then decided to just throw her in wherever and hope for the best. Either that, or he recently attended a J.K. Rowling lecture on how to write romantic relationships...
That being said, the only way that Naruto can beat/reason with Sasuke is if he can relate to Sasuke, and what better way than having all your loved ones/friends killed
.