okay, Naruto ... the characters that Kishimoto draws and profiles... what is the point of making a "could-be relationship"(love)? I mean, there are many speculations on the relationships(love/sexual) in Naruto Manga... But to me, there aren't going to be ANY relationships( within Naruto. There just isn't going to be. This is a Shonen manga. BOY MANGA... I do realize that even in shonen mangas there are relationships (usually love) but I just don't see it in Naruto. When Naruto ends, in the end I don't think that it's going to show Naruto with Hinata or Sasuke with Sakura... or anything else... really. I think that the closest relationship of any kind that I'll see or hint is of Naruto and Sasuke friendship or brotherhood ... something!!... ... well, that's my rant... what's your opinion?

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well, most of the pairings are either there for humor, or deep emotional bonds... it effects the story at some point or another but its prettu much jsut there for a laugh...

It may be shounen, but alot of shounens have romance in them, not too mention the love or hate "shounen romance" genre... does seem that naruto is majorly lacking in them though

I figure naruto and sakura will end up together by the end, poor hinata

i'm really hoping for shikamaru and temari to become something before the series ends, even if it's just in an epilouge chapter.

I personally like these "crushes" or whatever. I think it adds a nice element to the manga even though it is shounen. Yea a lot of shounen does have romance of sort in them. With as many characters as there are in naruto, there's bound to be some little hints or focus on relationships. I find myself wanting to read a lot of shounen if there is an relationship between the characters. To me, romance or crushes between the characters give them a "humane" aspect, and not just some soulless people fighting meaninglessly. Dunno if that last statement made any sense at all, sry.

With the adults, I found that the relationship between

We'll still have to wait as far as the "students", but yea I'm hoping htey show something with shikamaru and temari too.

For some odd reason when Asuma died i thought Kurenai was pregnant with his kid or something...yeah... It always seemed like Kurenai liked Asuma or something, vice versa.

yes, she is...

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LAMBCHOPSIL is my Lock Idol...

MANICK is First runner up! Idol...

STEALTH is The Dark Horse...

KAIOH is Full of Surprises...

I think that crushes and relationship serve some purpose in naruto. For example the ino/sakura rivalry, karin had a crush on sasuke that's why she join heba, and hinata being motivated by naruto when she fight neji during the chuunin exam. Kishimoto uses them mostly through jokes and emo moments.

Of course a lot of anime/manga have the main character to have love interest end without any conclution to their realtionship. Heck some anime/manga who you thought that romance serve no importance becomes one of theme of the story, I'm talking about dragonball. Who would have thought that the series actually extends it's lifespan by making Goku married Chi-Chi. Come think of it, if Kishimoto decided to follow Akira Toriyama we might see Daddy Naruto kicking ass

Why does it need to be romance in Naruto?? I wouldn't mind some Romance, but to me it doesn't need to be. I don't read Naruto for the romance, and I never will. It's a Shonen after all.

In these kinda series it's enough to hint imo.

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Agree wholeheartedly!

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LAMBCHOPSIL is my Lock Idol...

MANICK is First runner up! Idol...

STEALTH is The Dark Horse...

KAIOH is Full of Surprises...

Meh, I'm fine if there're crushes in Naruto; it helps give the characters a bit more depth. While having absolutely no romance would definitely help the focus on the action, it doesn't seem very believable. I mean, c'mon, they're teenagers. What kind of teenagers are asexual (other than Sasuke)?

But I agree that they aren't completely necessary. They're just nice elements for characterisation.

So, I basically just agree with blackunmei8. ^^;

The crushes makes the characters more humane. And remember, the story is about growing up, the characters get older, and crushes are part of growing up.

Plus, fans would pair people up anyways.

Yea, I guess the mangaka would wanna get his say out there first; maybe try and save the characters from some ridiculous pairings(shinoXhaku?)

And to prevent fans from going a bit too deep into yaoi and yuri and things that he probably doesn't want.

Or maybe bacause the mangaka is lonely and chained to work?

On my part, seriousness adds the boring factor to the youth! Endless fighting and puny cries are somewhat common in a ninja fighting scene, that is why Kishimoto adds some relationships in order to emphasize that NINJAs, though MERCILESS, have FEELINGS.

*wonders if Naruto had killed someone already*

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