Sasuke & Sakura: An Analysis
Chapter 11
Sasuke's Paw Encyclopedia
At the beginning of Shippuden episode 189, Sasuke is lost in thought over the upcoming mission while Naruto continues to speak to him by prattling on, prodding Sasuke for his opinion. Sasuke pays no mind to Naruto, but Sakura calling Sasuke's name only once is enough to shake Sasuke out of his reverie and causes him to focus attention on his teammates.
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When Granny Cat mentions Itachi, Sasuke's yells, "Don't talk about Itachi". Immediately Sasuke seems horrified at his emotional outburst, having let his carefully projected façade of being constantly cool and calm slip. Sasuke looks abashed at having allowed his emotions to get the better of him, startled at himself for allowing his self-control to slip so badly. Interestingly, after his outburst Sasuke looks to Sakura, wearing an expression that looks guilty and apologetic, as if upset that she saw his slip-up.
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In the episode, we see also that Sasuke dislikes Sakura's shallow attraction to his physical appearance, disapproving of her infatuation in him causing a lack of focus on the mission. Sasuke dislikes people who are only attracted to physical appearances (thus why he dislikes fangirls he doesn't even know swarming him), and so Sasuke doesn't like Sakura when she's attempting to flirt with and allure him based on physical attraction. Sasuke likes Sakura when she's sincere and focused on the meaningful, not the shallowness of physical attraction. As the series progresses, Sakura grows out of her shallow infatuation with Sasuke and her feelings for him transform into something substantial and real, which explains why as Sakura matures, Sasuke grows closer to Sakura.
During the team's mission, Sakura and Sasuke are at times operating on the same wavelength, even when Naruto is a clueless outsider. When Sasuke is frozen at horror at the prospect of doing something so undignified as playing with a cat's toy, Sakura advises him to play along for the sake of the mission in order to not blow the mission, and Sasuke quickly complies, seeing the sense in Sakura's advice.
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When Naruto blows their cover, Sakura and Sasuke are united in their horror:
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When the mission goes sour, Sasuke is abandons Naruto, but he makes a point of taking Sakura's hand and pulling her along, removing her from the troublesome situation so that the two of them can continue their mission.
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