Sasuke & Sakura: An Analysis

I've heard complaints that Sakura's marriage to Sasuke isn't good for her or that she would be happier with someone else.

But Sakura is happy and satisfied with her marriage, so much so that even Ino says she is a bit jealous of how happy and in love Sakura is.

Sasuke is Sakura's dearest friend (and has been since she was 12) and there is no one else she wanted to spend her life with and be partnered with except him. And that's fine; after all it's her choice who she chooses to be involved with. I actually admire her unwavering loyalty, love, and devotion to her spouse. But it's strange that fans postulate Sakura is unhappy in her marriage by fantasizing that Sakura is miserable and unhappy in her marriage, when the story shows that she is just as happy and lively as ever (scratch that, she's happier than she was in the first two parts of the story).

Fans who dislike SasuSaku make up this narrative that Sakura is miserable in Boruto, like she is wasting away waiting for her true love to return home. This opinion couldn't be further from the truth. Sakura is flourishing in her life in Boruto.

Sakura is content and happy with her married life. Even if she would like to see Sasuke more, she knows that it's for the greater good that she can't since his missions call him away to the field. Nonetheless her emotional needs are fulfilled and she's a healthy person, emotionally speaking.

Too many fans self-project their own romantic expectations/wants onto Sakura and her feelings for her husband, assuming that Sakura is unhappy because she is starved for sexual favors, and that she's starved for attention because of how often Sasuke is gone. As a result fans assume that Sakura is starved of love and affection and thus unhappy.

But that is an inaccurate assessment of Sakura's character. Yes, Sakura is more sexual than her husband and cares a bit more about the physical side of a relationship than her husband does. Even so, many fans fail to realize how much Sakura's approach to romance changed over time, and how Sakura altered her love language over time, in part because she was maturing and in part because she loved Sasuke and wanted to be with him (just like Naruto spends the series learning to alter his approach to Sasuke in order to become friends/brothers with Sasuke). Relationships involve compromise and sacrifice; you don't always get everything you want or wish for in a relationship and sometimes you have to bend towards the other person a little to make things work. Expecting to have you every demand met constantly is going to result in a frustrating, disappointing, and short-lived relationship.

Fans might be emotionally starved for affection and love if they were in Sakura's romantic situation, but they are not Sakura. Maybe Sakura's romantic situation wouldn't be enough for some fans' happiness, but again, they're not Sakura, so fans' feelings don't matter when analyzing a fictional ship. It's about analyzing a couple's feelings for each other, not about analyzing how we would feel if we were personally in that relationship. Sakura has different emotional needs than we fans have, so it is wrong for fans to self-project and self-insert themselves into Sakura as if they themselves get to dictate and narrate what Sakura is feeling. Kishimoto decides what Sakura is feeling and how she emotionally responds to things. The anime and manga made a point of expressing that Sakura's true desire is that Sasuke find happiness, even if that happiness isn't with found with her. Knowing that he is happy is more than enough for her.