Naruto Chapter 442

[Konohamaru!]

Completely the best fight in the Manga so far... The fact that he landed just a normal Rasengan isn't lame to me at all because it was done in what seemed like a more continuous action sequence instead of him building it up, talking about it or something else, and then going. I really hope they animate this fight well for the anime... I liked the struggle on Naruto's face when battling against the Shinra Tensei while being supported by his clones. The classic never say die attitude...

As for the whole love interest thing, I was a bigger fan of Sakura then Hinata for a long time, but now I'd be totally happy with either of them or even the priestess from demon country(from first Shippuden movie)... Lets face it... Naruto deserves some lovin after the shit he's done and been through... Hah, though knowing Naruto, he probably wouldn't know what to do if any of the three approached him about it. lol

I could see the whole love interest thing going a number of ways, but I can't see them wanting to depict Hinata's heartbreak of not landing Naruto. Hinata has never done anything wrong, and her calm and shy nature is probably a better fit for Naruto as a love interest. I very much think Naruto and Sakura love eachother, but at this point it's probably much more of a brother/sister/bestfriend type thing.

I can see them not giving too much information and leaving it open for suspense, but in the end when Sasuke is reformed by Naruto and Sakura, he's going to need someone to be by his side to help him, and thats where Sakura's origional love for him will take off again. I think this mainly because now that Naruto knows Hinata loves him, he's not going to forget that and will probably look at Hinata in a completely new light, so I see him actually making Hinata his choice. They'll have to bring Hinata a bit more into the foreground and make her a bigger character, but I think they've just started to do so...

*hah* just had a surprise twist thought though... Very extreamly unlikely to happen, but what if Hinata wakes up and doesn't remember who she is or her feelings for Naruto. Speculate amongst yourselfs... lol

As for the remainder of the fight, I think we can count on some conversation between Naruto and Nagato, and it wouldn't suprize me for Nagato to have one final ace up his sleeve, but I'm more stumped as to what they'll try and do with Konan. She will obviously want to protect Nagato, but I sense that she loves him and almost would rather not fight if it meant saving his life. If it comes to a fight... aside from Naruto, I think Sakura and Neji are probably the most likely people to fight against Konan. Naruto has to see this battle to the very end in my opinion though...