NaruSasuSaku Manifesto

The three characters are introduced as immature twelve-year-olds with lots of conflict and growing up to do. They are put on the same ninja team, with their teacher Hatake Kakashi. From there they go on a lot of dangerous missions together and grow marvelously entangled with each other -- and it certainly doesn't come to a stop when Sasuke decides to leave the village and defect to the bad guys side. (It might even make it worse, actually. XD)

The series then jumps forward, starting again when the characters are age 15-16.

THE CHARACTERS

Uzumaki Naruto: Orphan who was ostracized by the village for being the host of the demon fox Kyuubi, who razed the village and killed his parents on the day of his birth. Naruto pretty much raised himself from there, developing into a loud-spoken, enthusiastic, slightly rude boy who uses pranks and obnoxiousness to get people's attention. He does very badly in class; nevertheless he dreams of becoming Hokage, the leader and strongest ninja of the village. At first that dream is simply for the sake of forcing others to recognize and accept him; starting with his team and teachers and spreading out from there, that goal eventually morphs into a desire to protect the village and all its inhabitants, and to bring peace to the ninja world.

Uchiha Sasuke: Also an orphan, though more recently -- Sasuke was part of the prestigious Uchiha clan, a happy little boy with a big brother he loved; until his big brother, apparently for no reason, decides to eradicate the clan, leaving him as the only survivor. Sasuke is eight. From there on, betrayed by the person he admired the most, he dedicates himself to revenge and tries his hardest to avoid forming new emotional bonds. He doesn't succeed, though he pretends otherwise really well.
(Sadly enough, after years in the grey zone of "I'll use evil people to my own ends, but adamantly refuse to kill anyone who isn't my evil brother, no seriously Suigetsu put that peon down", Sasuke has recently been kicked over into BWAHAHAHA TONIGHT THE STREETS SHALL RUN RED WITH BLOOD territory. Thankfully, Naruto has placed getting Sasuke back and happy as his big goal so we know the series won't end before that's fixed, but at the moment, well.)

Haruno Sakura: The ordinary girl of the group, Sakura has a family and it's likely they are civilians -- they are never shown on screen. At first Sakura is a textbook-smart but very shallow girl, who crushes on Sasuke because he's cool and despises Naruto because he's an annoying loser, and finds washing her hair and daydreaming about romance more worth her while than training to fight. She is quickly faced with the harsh realities of the ninja world and the true personalities of her teammates, and over the course of the show grows into a fierce ninja-medic; nevertheless she still worries about her perceived uselessness and her inability to catch up to her demon-host and magic-eyeball teammates.

THE SUB-PAIRINGS

Naruto/Sasuke

Hate at first sight.

Alright, not really. But at the start of the series Sasuke is top of the class and Naruto dead last. Naruto immediately decides that they will be RIVALS. Sasuke decides that Naruto is an annoyance, but apparently Naruto is so much of an annoyance that Sasuke finds himself unable to ignore him. And slowly but surely Naruto gets under his skin. To the point when, when a barrage of needles rains on a severely outclassed Naruto, Sasuke gets in the way, and promptly gets turned into a pincushion, "dying" in Naruto's arms. "Why?! I didn't ask you to!" "Shut up. My body moved on its own, idiot." Naruto then proceeds to spectacularly lose his shit on their poor enemy, his anger resonating with the demon sealed inside him.

After that they're still not friends, but -- but they're something now.

Naruto is also slowly getting stronger. Sasuke is surprised, and at first pleased to have someone to measure himself up against, because his brother is a monster and he won't go far without something to push him farther. Then an enemy comes, that is stronger than him, and Sasuke loses badly. Sakura gets knocked out trying to shield him, Naruto is visibly scared as hell of that guy (for good reason -- not only is he another, psycho demon bearer, but he's basically what would have happened to Naruto if Naruto hadn't found people to accept him.), and even though Sasuke gave in and used the dark power a bad guy gave him that he was supposed to leave the hell alone, he still lost.

Sasuke decides to die, again. "Take Sakura and run. I can't bear to watch my precious people die before my eyes again," he says, equating his teammates with his dead family and clan.

Shaken out of his fear by that declaration, Naruto decides to kick untold amounts of ass. Sasuke watches, stunned, and... starts getting jealous.

This culminates when his brother comes back in town. Because the man who he loved most, who betrayed him, who he dedicated his life to killing... doesn't give a damn about him. He just wants Naruto, the dead last that Sasuke had to protect all the time (except just recently when he pulled off something extraordinary and where the hell did that come from again.) Sasuke is still too weak, what has he been doing with his time while Naruto was progressing so much, painting flowers? Here, have 24 hours of flashbacks to your mom and dad and extended family getting murdered, kid, and then a little coma on top.

Obviously when Naruto brings back a healer to fix him, Sasuke doesn't wake up in a very favorable mindset. He challenges Naruto, but not in a playful way. He's jealous, and hurt, and feels like he's been wasting his time and why is he stalling when Naruto is growing by leaps and bounds? So when Orochimaru offers him more power -- at the low cost of leaving the village and his teammates behind, oh, yeah, and promising to hand over his body for a new tenant eventually -- Sasuke goes.

Naruto refuses to let him go, because when he loves someone it's forever, and Sasuke is his now. They fight, and it's violent, and Sasuke uses the dark power and Naruto his demon chakra, and they throw hurtful things at each other's face, and Naruto says he'll bring Sasuke back even if he has to break his arms and legs for it, and Sasuke says like fuck Naruto can understand what it's like to lose his parents, he never had any family, but to Naruto Sasuke IS family, and. Sasuke wins.

He should sever his bonds for good right there. He should kill Naruto so he can get the instant power-up to his magic eyeballs that might be the only thing to enable him to ever match his brother. He chooses to gain power in his own way, and after staring at Naruto's unconscious face from way up close , leaves Naruto behind.

The second part of the manga is pretty much "Naruto's Epic Quest To Get His Boyfriend Back," complete with fangirling Sasuke, getting flaming pissed when Orochimaru gets too familiar ("In my presence, don't talk about Sasuke as if he belongs to you!"), and hugging his pillow, face down on his bed, as he melancholically wonders what Sasuke is doing right now.

I'm not kidding about this one, either.

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The dynamic: Rivalry. Passion. Rage. Belonging. Family of choice (Naruto has decided to tack on the title of "brother" to explain away his obsession with Sasuke. Uh huh.) Naru/Sasu (Sasu/Naru, same damn pairing!) is all rivalry and pushing at each other and challenging each other -- it's the most important bond Naruto has, and to Sasuke is only second to his bond with Itachi, his big brother.

The bond might be called instead "obsession", and it's so passionate it sometimes becomes outright violent, and just with the two of them, they might burn each other out. Neither of them knows how to compromise. If they got together, they'd be too stubborn to let go, but as a result they'd probably hurt each other quite a bit. They're so deep under each other's skin and that's why they can hurt each other so much, because they need each other but they're horrible at expressing it peacefully. ... It's hot as hell, but not very stable.

How Sakura influences it:
Sadly enough it's more of a matter of "how Sakura COULD influence it", because Naruto/Sasuke is the most emphasized bond in the series and often the other characters are reduced to standing on the sidelines watching the fireworks. There are some scenes where she does have an effect, though, and considering the personality interactions it's not hard to extrapolate what might happen.

They're two alpha males, and it focuses them and binds them together to have someone to protect. Sakura would likely chafe at being protected too often -- part of her character arc dealt with her feelings of powerlessness and uselessness -- but being the weaker, least haxx0red member of the trio there is no denying that sometimes she does need it. Also, they're not in competition with her, so she's less stressful.

She has grown enough of a backbone during the second part of the manga that it's very likely she would now be more than willing to bang their skulls together if needed. She would be, basically, a mediator and a referee. While she often blindly sided with Sasuke against Naruto as a child, she did show she was plenty willing, even back then, to point out to Sasuke when he was acting like a coward and Naruto was being brave; she has developed a tighter bond with Naruto since then -- she'd be less likely to side with Sasuke on petty, domestic matters as well.

Sasuke can listen to her because she's not as in-your-face as Naruto -- she can be pretty diplomatic, yet determined, with him -- and he wouldn't have as much of that kneejerk "no, and also GTFO" reaction to her that he does to Naruto.

She's an intellectual type who can sit still for long periods of time so she wouldn't have nothing in common with Sasuke or force him to go lock himself in some other room because she can't sit beside him reading a book without nagging him.

She's friendly and enthusiastic like Naruto so Naruto could socialize with her instead of attempting to socialize with Sasuke while Sasuke is in his "I hate the whole world" moods and getting kicked in the face for it.

She would make things more stable. More normal, less extreme. Naruto has never known a normal family -- she would teach him -- and Sasuke lost his early -- she would remind him.

In a nutshell, Sasuke and Naruto have the most intense bond, but without her they're still not really stable or complete.

 

Sasuke/Sakura

Sakura starts out as one of many Sasuke-fangirls, enamoured of his good looks, stoic reserve and little smirks. Sasuke starts out annoyed and doing his best to ignore her.

But when they're placed onto the same team, Sakura learns that Sasuke isn't perfect -- that he's been hurt, that sometimes he does lose his cool and get scared and tries to run away. She sees him scared out of his mind (and calls him out on it, snapping him out of it), and she sees him in the grip of an evil power that makes him laugh as he pulls people's arms out of their sockets and other joyous things (and she hugs him until he comes back to himself).

She sees him tempted by that power, and she worries. She learns that he's not just cool and hot, but a real person -- harsh and distant often, only rarely letting himself be gentle, and badly damaged. She still loves him. So when he's about to get killed by someone he could barely scratch, she doesn't even think -- she shields him. And when he wakes from his coma angry and dark after his brother messed him up, and her teacher and even Naruto tells her he'll be fine and there's no need to worry, she's the only one who knows he won't be fine, the only one who knows he will leave, the one who's waiting there for him.

"I love you so much I can't stand it! I have family and friends here, but if you leave, it'll be as if I am alone. Please stay for me... and if you can't, then take me with you."

 

Sasuke at first gets angry with Sakura, for her real faults -- for her thoughtless comments about what being an orphan means, for her disdain of Naruto when she doesn't even train herself at all, which he snaps at her about (and then she realizes he was right and starts working on fixing her personality and habits) -- but he also protects her, and when she's depressed he tends to notice and try to sneakily encourage her. He also mentions his past in her presence, though in rather cryptic ways.

He doesn't have much of a clue what to do with her feelings, so he tries to ignore it, but when he wakes from a coma and she's hugging him and crying against his neck, he lets her.

He's angry with everyone by the time he leaves, and at first he tells her she's annoying when she wants him to stay, but at the end, when she says "I love you", he thanks her, very quietly.

And then of course he leaves anyway.

 

In the second part of the manga, Sakura has evolved into a rock-breaking badass medic, who will not let Naruto get in trouble for defending Sasuke's reputation, but who doesn't care one bit about hers -- here, have a punch in the face for badmouthing him around me.

The only thing that breaks her confidence that she knows the real Sasuke and that they'll bring him back one day, is the news that Sasuke plans to destroy their home village, and that he has sided with Akatsuki -- the bad guys group that used to employ his much-hated brother (what the heck happened here?), and which is dedicated to gathering the demon bearers and killing them to take the power of their demons (Naruto is a target.) At that point, full of despair, she decides that she cannot let Sasuke fall into darkness any farther, and since her village is planning to assassinate him before he makes a bigger mess of things, she's got a duty to do it herself. As their teacher says "it's because she loves him that she wishes to kill him." Because even then, apparently lost for good, all traces of the boy she used to know gone, even when she tries, she still can't stop loving him, but she has a village and friends to protect now and will not follow him blindly against her own ideals.

But in the end no matter how much she wishes it and how strongly she believes it's necessary, she can't bring herself to do it.

It's a really good thing Naruto's there to show her that Sasuke might not be as lost as she was led to believe just yet, and that there is still hope.

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The dynamic: Painful, desperate love from Sakura. Understated care and encouragement from Sasuke. Sasuke can't afford to let anyone in, though. Might have been nice, but he's an avenger. That's all there is for him.

How Naruto influences it:
First off, he doesn't give a shit if Sasuke is an avenger and therefore just cannot form new bonds, no really he can't. He just barges in and makes his own, and he's determined to bring Sasuke back home and get him to lose his silly revenge obsession. At this point, Sasuke would hopefully lose the unfortunate tendency to keep his loved ones at arm's length, leaving the way open for Sakura...

Second, he sees Sakura's feelings for Sasuke, and... He steps back -- oh, he still asks Sakura out often, and smiles at her, and is delighted to be around her -- but he doesn't pressure her, keeps his deeper feelings for himself. He sees her feelings for Sasuke. And when everyone is telling them "Sasuke is evil and a traitor now, give up on him" and Sakura loses hope that they will ever bring Sasuke home, he's at Sakura's side, telling her that he knows they can do it until she believes it again, and refusing her attempts to sacrifice her own feelings for the good of others. He understands her bond to Sasuke like no one else does (maybe because he feels the same, huh? XD) and it really makes her feel better about it.

To Naruto, Sasuke is his brother-soulmate and Sakura is the girl who gives him butterflies, and he'll smile at them and push them together because he wants them both to be happy. Even if it's not with him.

In my head, Naruto keeps Sasuke from emotionally draining Sakura and Sakura from smothering one half of herself (the loud, violent, kind of snarky girl) because Sasuke mostly pulls out the tender, "everything for you (nothing for me)" side where Sakura cares and cares and cares and folds herself into origami shapes to please him, even if he never asked for it -- oh, it would make her happy enough, in a self-sacrificial way, but seeing how Sasuke only acknowledge the people strong enough to demand his attention, it wouldn't be very good for a more equal partnership. Naruto keeps them balanced.

 

Sakura/Naruto

Naruto starts out with a crush on Sakura, who he describes at first as "a cute girl I kind of like". That shallow reason quickly morphs into something a little deeper when he witnesses her intense determination (...to woo Sasuke XD) where he feels that he finally understands what he likes about her.

He then promptly tries to sabotage their relationship, thus proving Sakura's assessment that "Naruto is an annoyance who is trying to ruin my love life." Thankfully the attempt fails and while Naruto has a couple more immature shows of jealousy, he doesn't do anything like that ever again.

For a long while, while Sakura's feelings for Sasuke become less shallow as she discovers the true Sasuke, Naruto's for Sakura stay a goofy, kiddie crush, distracted as he is by his rivalry with the same Sasuke. He often seeks her out and asks her on dates, but is consistently rejected, often violently. At that point, while Sakura is slowly getting to see his bravery and his commitment to his teammates, she still isn't about to admit it, and his attempts at flirting annoy the hell out of her. Still, she is growing to care for him, as is proved when, given a choice between the team dropping out of an exam and trying again next year, and Naruto risking losing his chance at reaching his biggest dream, she attempts to drop out on his behalf.

After that point, Sakura's respect for Naruto keeps growing, though she still doesn't show it to him, instead squabbling with him and roughing him up.

When Sasuke, who was in a coma, wakes, and Sakura cries in relief and hugs him, is the first time we see Naruto showing serious, mature romantic feelings for Sakura (or maybe Sasuke, who knows XD). At first ready to greet Sasuke loudly, he comes to a stop watching the hug, startled, and then gives a quiet, melancholy smile, and sneaks out of the room before either of his teammates remembers his presence.

The biggest shift in their relationship from Sakura's side is when Sasuke leaves, and she begs Naruto to bring him back since she couldn't stop him. Naruto, looking pained at first, forces a grin and says that he knows how much she loves Sasuke, and he promises that he will bring Sasuke back. Sakura remembers that time she accused Naruto of trying to sabotage her relationships and thanks him, thinking that Naruto has always supported and understood her.

Naruto fails, but that prompts Sakura to decide that next time, they will go after Sasuke together, and to look for a mentor of her own.

Naruto then leaves for training for two years and a half; when he comes back, their relationship is much improved. Sakura still casually bullies him (Naruto still laps it up) but as the only two left, and the only ones who truly understand what a gaping hole Sasuke left in them, they side with each other against outsiders much more readily. Sakura takes to defending Naruto's feelings to outsiders; but trying not to be a burden or hurt him sometimes she tends to hide some painful truths from him, or even outright lie, for what she sees as his own good. Similarly Naruto doesn't like looking weak or pitiful in front of Sakura; a later flashback also shows that he refuses to ever declare his feelings for Sakura because how can he, when he can't even keep a promise -- he doesn't feel worthy.

United at first mostly in their goal to get Sasuke back, Sakura and Naruto grow closer while chasing after him (Sakura at some point proposing to hand-feed a Naruto with a broken arm) culminating in Sakura hugging him and thanking him in front of the whole village after his defeat of an extremely dangerous enemy, and Naruto looking adorably stunned.

Sadly enough, next time Naruto is hunted down while he's out of the village, instead of telling him that their peers have given up on Sasuke and decided to have him killed, she attempts to convince Naruto to go home by professing that she has fallen out of love with evil!Sasuke, and in love with him, who has always stayed with her while Sasuke left for parts unknown, who is now a hero, and who makes her feel safe. (only the last of which is a halfway good reason, imho.)

Naruto tells her that he hates people who lie to themselves, and that even without his promise to her he would still have gone after Sasuke and doesn't intend to stop.

At that point, I sincerely believe that Sakura wishes she was in love with Naruto, but nevertheless her love confession is full of references to another guy and how the only reason she doesn't love that other guy anymore is that he's evil now and far away and women's hearts are known to be fickle anyway -- and since he loves her, Naruto has no reason to keep chasing evil!Sasuke. Because calling Sasuke a lost cause and things like that has been proved to make Naruto inclined to listen to your argument. Not.

I also believe in my little shipper heart that Sakura's problem is that she thinks it's either/or -- that she has to give up on Sasuke first, but she absolutely cannot make her do that, no matter how much more convenient her logical mind knows that would be -- and that Sasuke makes her feel very differently than Naruto does so there's no way they both can be called love, right? Right. Silly girl. :p

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The dynamic: Friendship. Support. Light-heartedness. Playfulness. Tenderness. The Only One Who Gets It re: missing Sasuke. Yet also they tend to suffer each in their corner and present a strong front so as not to worry each other, and don't share issues not related to Sasuke, as if afraid of... I don't know, presuming too much, maybe.

How Sasuke influences it:
While you can take Sakura out of the NaruSasu dynamics with no damage, and Naruto out of the SasuSaku without making it stall on the spot, Naruto and Sakura's dynamic is based in great part on Sasuke. They likely wouldn't have gotten closer without him. Naruto wouldn't have noticed Sakura's strong-willed determination if he didn't see it in action as she went after Sasuke, and Sakura would have continued to see Naruto as an annoying idiot if Sasuke hadn't snapped at her, and shown, with his rivalry, that Naruto was more than a dead-last. Indeed their relationship develops little in all of part 1, only truly taking off when he leaves the village. Sasuke's following absence meant they weren't focused so much on him, allowing them to discover each other past the "cute, determined girl" and "noisy annoyance who might be a nice guy underneath -- but, annoying" level. And their defense of Sasuke to the rest of their peers and village and the whole damn ninja world means they drew much closer together as a result.

They need Sasuke to come back home to them, because while they have grown much closer in his absence, he is still the goal they are running toward. They lean against each other for support, but funnily enough, the angsty one is the only one who can really make them stop angsting.

I think, once he is back home, healing him will require opening up to him as he opens up to them, and therefore opening up to each other -- about Naruto's demon bearer issues and how much he grieves for his dead mentor, about Sakura's ongoing uselessness issues, about Naruto's tendency to mistake Sakura's care and worry for pity. Sasuke's absence has allowed them to draw much closer, but when he is back their bond will not disappear as they both become obsessed with him once again; if any, it will be strengthened, because they won't be fretting themselves sick over how much danger Sasuke is in and that means they'll have more emotional resources freed for each other.

Also Sakura will finally realize that loving Naruto doesn't mean being unfaithful to Sasuke, and Naruto will finally realize that yes, he's good enough to be loved back and he doesn't have to be all noble and suffer in silence, he can have the things he wants too. Idiot.

 

Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura

At their most basic, Naruto is in love with Sakura who is in love with Sasuke who is desperately trying not to let Naruto in. Alright. (okay no in this pic it's kinda like sasuke is trying to get in Naruto, but in a very ouchy way. I might have chosen badly.)

But what gives it a chance at being a real ménage à trois instead of a compromise where no one really gets what they want, is that the bonds aren't one-way. Sasuke cares about Sakura's wellbeing and is glad for her feelings, even though, consumed by revenge, he can't reciprocate. Sakura has gone from despising Naruto to admiring him greatly, caring about him, and defending him to other people just as hard as she defends Sasuke -- and even to Sasuke. And Naruto, well. He loves them both.

I really think they do, too.

For the twosomes: Sakura brings stability to Naruto and Sasuke's interaction; Naruto brings life to Sasuke and Sakura's; Sasuke binds Naruto and Sakura together.

And then when all three of them are together it's yet another kind of interaction, another mood and feeling. One that says "complete." They fit as a team and as friends and as soulmates. The mood would be kind of "us against the world" and that might not sound very healthy but considering how out of the ordinary they all are in their different ways, I think they'd make it work for them just fine.

Of course there would be issues -- Sasuke's intense fear of loving and losing again, and possible matching PTSD, Naruto's little idea that Sasuke and Sakura would be a perfectly happy couple without him, much better than anything he can bring either of them Sakura, Sakura's "I can only watch from the sidelines and never DO anything" and likely her feeling of inadequacy on an emotional level as well if the bond between Naruto and Sasuke, already incredibly intense, turned romantic. But they've been entangled so long, and there might be angst and tears and confusion and several people getting punched in the face but in the end their bonds would bring them back together so they can figure it out.

And from there on it's bed-breaking, neighbour-waking, screaming-orgies time. :D

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Fanfiction.net Team Seven C2 -- Collection of Team Seven centric fics. Some of it is gen, and some with twosomes, but most of them are about the threesome.
Sasuke x Naruto x Sakura fanclub at the Narutofan.com forums.