The scene where Morio tries to give Sakura a love letter isn't exactly what I consider a SasuSaku scene, but I want to give my thoughts on the scene regardless. Because for some reason Sakura gets a lot of hate for declining Morio's love letter, when her rejection was just common sense and what any practical girl would do.

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Sakura doesn't know a thing about Morio She doesn't know who he is, what he's like, what his habits and hobbies are, what his reputation is, etc. It's not even certain if she even knows his name. Morio may appear nice on the surface, but what is he really like in his day-to-day life? Maybe he's a jerk. Maybe he's the nicest guy you'd ever had the fortune to meet. Maybe he's an alcoholic. Maybe he's merciless to his enemies. Maybe he's great with kids. Maybe he's charitable and generous. Maybe he's sly and underhanded. Maybe he's thoughtful and sensitive. Who knows? And for the present moment, who cares? Sakura's in the middle of a war, and she's in charge of the injured and dying. Why should she be interested in some stranger she's never met, when she still cares about the former teammate she has known since she was five years old and spent over a year training and living and working together with? Close friend that she knew a whole year versus random guy she just met that day...why would she be attracted to random guy she knows nothing about again? She'd be better off at least pursuing a relationship with another friend like Naruto and Lee over some random Stone shinobi she hadn't even met until that day. So fans' outrage over Sakura turning down a letter from a total stranger baffles me.

 

I find Sakura's loyalty to Sasuke admirable. I know that's going to be an extremely unpopular opinion, but I find Naruto's loyalty to Sasuke admirable too, so there's no difference. Sakura and Naruto's devotion to Sasuke rings sincere and true, because they take their relationships seriously and don't easily abandon a dear friend; in fact they don't abandon their friends at all. Both remained steadfastly loyal to Sasuke because they knew the real Sasuke wasn't truly the monster he appeared to be lately. They realized Sasuke in his current state was a bad person and would need to be killed if he didn't change. Yet even so Sakura and Naruto operated off the hope that Sasuke would change and return once again to being the kind, caring comrade that they had both once loved and known. Naruto himself had instilled the hope in Sakura that Sasuke could still be saved, so you might as well blame Naruto first for causing Sakura to believe and trust in Sasuke even after the Land of Iron encounter, enough to reject a love letter because "she has someone else".

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And what's it to fans if Sakura doesn't want anyone else but Sasuke as a romantic partner anyway? If she's not interested in romance outside of her best friend, I don't see the problem. Sakura is old enough to decide if she's interested in pursuing a relationship or not. She certainly has the right to decide if she wants to pursue a relationship outside of the guy she decided was "the one" for her.

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Personally, I think it's more mature for Sakura to not falsely lead on Random Dude #2838 by pretending to be interested in him when she's really not. Like I said, she doesn't know a single thing about Morio and she has zero reason to be interested in pursuing a relationship with him, especially considering the present circumstances with the war. It's better for her to be upfront with Morio about her feelings and not wrongly leading him on by making him believe he has a chance with her when he doesn't.

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In addition to that, don't forget that Morio is from a completely different country. If Sakura leads him on and if they should get into a relationship, there is a long distance and different nations separating them. Should Sakura and Morio ever get serious about a relationship, then either she will have to move to the Stone or he will have to move to the Leaf. It would be unwise for Sakura to casually get involved with a shinobi from an entirely different village on a whim without being willing to make the commitment to move away from her homeland and all her friends. Not exactly a life-changing decision you want to make in the spur of the moment just because a total stranger offers you a love letter.

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Primarily this scene tells us two things:

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#1. Sakura values commitment, devotion and loyalty in a romance (the same traits Sasuke highly values in a friendship/romance), as Sakura herself is loyal, devoted, and committed. For her, it's Sasuke or nothing. She's chosen Sasuke as her one true love. She's not the type to go shopping around for a boyfriend or drop a relationship once it gets troublesome, boring, or inconvenient for her. Sakura is a devoted romantic partner, and she doesn't trade one love interest for the next. She's not the type to wrongly lead on other men either. She knows who she loves and she commits to that person and to them alone.

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#2. Sakura doesn't have any glamorous disillusions about Sasuke. For all the fanbase's gripes about "Sasuke can do no wrong in Sakura's eyes", this scene contradicts that. Sakura knows Sasuke isn't a good person, which is why she seems downcast and depressed when Morio comments that the person she loves must be a great one. Sakura has no false illusions that Sasuke is a hero; she's knows he's presently a terrible villain. But even despite his flaws and despite his recent evil nature, Sakura continues to love him nonetheless.

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Plus for all the "Morio's so nice and Sakura should totally have chosen him" this random shinobi gets from the fanbase, his comment that "whoever you love must be a great man" bothers me a bit. I'm certain I'm overthinking this part and Morio's phrase was undoubtedly well-meaning and friendly in kind in intent, but it's strange that Morio derails the conversation from being about the object of his affection (Sakura) to focusing on the object of Sakura's affection (Sasuke). It seems a little strange to me that Morio questions whether Sasuke is of the Leaf and makes the presumption, "he must be a great guy", without knowing diddly squat about Sasuke's identity or personality. Sure, there's the hidden compliment that Sakura must have great taste in men (which is probably how Morio meant his statement). But it seems almost passive-aggressive when he doesn't know a thing about Sakura's tastes or what her relationships are like. Why make an observation about Sasuke's character? It would be better for Morio to instead compliment Sakura (the object of his affection) by commenting that "he is lucky to have someone like you" instead of diverting the conversation to discussing Sakura's boyfriend. Especially when Morio had just reprimanded himself by stating it was rude for him to pry into Sakura's love life, and especially when Sakura's silence in response to Morio's query of Sasuke's national affiliation indicated she didn't want to talk about her love life. Maybe it's just because of the tonal inflection of the way Morio said it, but Morio's line kind of bothered me. Probably it was just supposed to be an instance of Morio being realistically awkward and flustered in wake of being bluntly turned down by the woman he had a crush on.

 

Anyway, I'm sure Morio is a nice guy, but that doesn't mean Sakura has to pursue a love life with him just because he's nice and there's nothing wrong with her turning his love letter down if she's not interested.