im really glad naruto and sakura never dated, but i wish theyd managed a better friendship. on sakuras end you can clearly see her grow to legitimately care about him, but on his end... he just doesnt? his side always seemed so superficial, like he never started to see her differently than he did in part one, as "that girl i like who hould date me instead of sasuke". i.e. not even a person. except, i guess, to eventually see her as "that girl who should date sasuke". whos motives he couldnt understand when she pretended to like him to try and get him away from the guy. and then after they grew up, what, has he stopped communicating with her entirely? he didnt even know for sure if salad was her daughter. did he never once see her pregnant? sakura had most of the series to come to understand and platonically love naruto, but naruto gave basically nothing back. thats not how a fucking friendship works.