In a movie about love, you must have some of these.
The Movie
- The beginning of the movie has shades of this, because despite being the hero of Konoha and the whole world, Naruto still returns to a lonely home.
- When Sakura tells Naruto to walk Hinata home — under the guise that he shouldn't let a young woman walk home alone by herself at night, but in reality she's trying to give them some time alone together — Hinata pauses, and the camera shows her face just out of focus with a carefully blank expression. Naruto is confused by Sakura's request because, to him, "Hinata's really strong. No one in the village would dare mess with her." This is an understated Tear Jerker, because it's full of Poor Communication Kills — Naruto has proudly believed in Hinata's strength ever since the Chunin Exams arc in Part I, which is why he feels that Hinata doesn't need him to walk her home. However, Hinata is visibly crushed by his words because he appears to be turning down an opportunity to spend time with her, especially since, during that scene, he's surrounded by his three most ardent fangirls and he didn't turn them down, even though in reality he's just being nice to them.
- When Hinata is about to give her scarf to Naruto and confess her feelings, she notices him already wearing a scarf that he clearly cherishes. We later learn that it was from his late mother, Kushina, but at the moment, Hinata assumes that it's from another girl. Her stomach growls, causing her to run away, blushing and embarrassed. Sitting on a swing, Hinata cries over her scarf, assuming she has lost her chance to be with Naruto, and decides to stop pursuing him.
- Naruto's realization at the end of his and Hinata's merged memory-recalling dream sequence. As he stares forlornly at Hinata's paper with his name on it, you can tell that he's berating himself for being blind all this time. Remember that Naruto spent most of his childhood trying to be acknowledged by the entire village, but he now realizes in doing that, he didn't know that someone has acknowledged him from the very beginning, long before Iruka did, and has admired and loved him for the way he is since the day they met—Hinata. All those years alone because he was so dense that he never noticed Hinata's love for him, and you can see the despair on his face because he knows now that he could have spent his childhood with her, instead of being alone and hated by everyone else.
- Worse still, anyone who's followed the series knows that, similar to Naruto, Hinata spent most of her own childhood alone, within her own clan.
- Hinata's depression over Hanabi's kidnapping. Even as Naruto tries to lift her spirits by reminding her that she came to the moon to save her sister, Hinata still thinks she's not doing enough, calling herself a "terrible big sister" and regretting leaving Hanabi alone.
- The first half of the second act is ironically bittersweet, because while Naruto is being incredibly obvious in showing his feelings for Hinata, Hinata had already decided to stop pursuing him after she thought Kushina's green scarf was from another woman. This, combined with Hinata prioritizing Hanabi over everything else, sets up the following moment in the second half.
- Naruto confesses his love to Hinata just moments before Toneri arrives. Initially, she looks very happy and surprised, but then tilts her head down with sadness as she knows that she's in a position where she can't accept it, and can only give him her completed scarf. She coldly, unexpectedly, "rejects" him and goes with Toneri out of duty to deal with him herself, leaving Naruto too stunned to say anything for a few moments. Then, he screams her name in anguish, so loudly that it was heard clearly all the way back to the camp where the others were. He chases after her and Toneri and demands that he give her back, unable to hide the pain from his voice. It only gets worse as Toneri taunts him that he and Hinata are going to get married, with Naruto begging Hinata to tell him that everything that just transpired is all a lie. Because she has already made up her mind to save Hanabi at any cost, Hinata averts her eyes and stays silent. The look on Naruto's face says everything—you can visibly see his heart breaking.
- Seeing his opponent has lost his will to fight, Toneri drains Naruto's chakra and uses it to hit him with the blast it creates. Then he uses a green orb to knock Hinata out after she angrily questions his actions. The last thing Naruto and Hinata see before they both lose consciousness is the person they love the most drifting away from them. Especially Naruto's lifeless eyes and defeated facial expression as he falls towards Earth. Hinata is no better. You can tell by the look in her eyes that she's thinking "My God, What Have I Done?" The scene ends with the red scarf burning up, symbolizing Naruto and Hinata's broken bond.
- Naruto's demand that Toneri "give(s) Hinata back" is a Call-Back to him demanding that Orochimaru "give Sasuke back" in the Sai and Sasuke arc. Only this time, there's no anger in his voice—just desperation.
- It's even sadder if you look at this scene in context. Naruto has spent most of his childhood alone with no friends, no family and almost everyone hating him for no reason. However at this point, he's realized that ever since the day they met, Hinata has always acknowledged, admired, loved, and cared about him. And then you remember that after Hinata brought Naruto out of despair following Neji's Heroic Sacrifice, he thanked her for staying by his side. The thought of this person abandoning you, only two days after you finally realize just how important this person has always been to you, will really put someone down.Hinata: (coldly) Naruto-kun... Goodbye...
- Naruto's reaction and subsequent depression can really hit close to home to anyone who has ever confessed their feelings to the person of their affections, whether it's your own One True Love or whether you're asking them to be your date at a school dance or to be your significant other...only to get coldly rejected.
- On the other side of this, Hinata has just found out that Naruto is in love with her. Toneri then shows up before she can reaffirm her love for Naruto and explain her situation to him, and unfortunately for Naruto, Hinata has already committed to a plan to rescue Hanabi and save the earth, offering herself away as Toneri's bride so that she could infiltrate his castle. Because of this, she chooses to "reject" Naruto's Love Confession, something she has been waiting almost her entire life for, but then has to watch as Toneri blasts Naruto away, potentially even killing him. Her face as she walks into Toneri's arms and when Naruto demands Toneri to give her back show that this decision is hurting her just as much as it's hurting Naruto. Needless to say, those four days away from Naruto were probably eating away at her. Which is why when she is later reunited with Naruto, she apologizes to him for hurting his feelings, though Naruto understands why she did it and forgives her.
- The novelization
makes this scene more painful. After Naruto begs Hinata to tell him that Toneri is lying about them getting married and Hinata looks away, seemingly not denying his panicked inquiries, the completely stunned Naruto thinks that he must have caused Hinata so much pain due to his Oblivious to Love status, as he confused her love for him with being similar to his love for ramen or shogi. He feels that by Hinata "rejecting" him and "accepting" Toneri's proposal on her own free will, he is receiving his punishment for the long years of being dense towards her feelings. It needs to be repeated: Naruto thinks that losing Hinata to another man is what he rightfully deserves for being blind to her love.
- Naruto falls unconscious for three days after Hinata "rejected" him and left with Toneri. It hurts him so much that, when he wakes up, Sai teases him that he now understands how a guy reacts to rejection and tells Naruto that he spent those three days mumbling Hinata's name and "other embarrassing things". Since Naruto mistakes Hinata's actions for a real rejection, he doesn't want to hear about her anymore and he spends the rest of the day and night curled up in a Troubled Fetal Position...until Sakura reminds him that Hinata only ever loved Naruto, similar to how she herself only ever loved Sasuke, and that will never change. Getting his Heroic Second Wind, Naruto states in his Heroic Vow that he will save Hinata and properly return her love for him.
- In the novelization, after Sakura's pep-talk, Naruto starts crying as he thinks about how he had truly fallen in love with Hinata, confessed his love to her, and then was unexpectedly "rejected". He acknowledges that not only did Hinata's "rejection" cause him to hit rock-bottom, but he was having a hard time climbing back up and finding his strength again. It needs to be repeated: our Determinator cannot find his strength, because the thought of Hinata not loving him is breaking him, to the point where he actually hit rock-bottom. It isn't until he remembers everything his teammates said that he finally gets his Heroic Second Wind and makes his Heroic Vow.
- Pay attention to Naruto's Heroic Vow. Depending on the translation, he says "This whole time, you always loved me for the way I am" or "You've loved someone like me forever and ever." During the War Arc, Kiba implied that Naruto was insecure around Hinata because of the way he tried to act tough and cool in her presence, and Naruto did not deny nor poke fun at his statement. His Heroic Vow confirms it. Even after realizing Hinata's love for him and his own love for her, Naruto still can't believe someone like Hinata would genuinely love him for him. This just reaffirms that, no matter how beloved he is now as the hero of Konoha and the savior of the world, Naruto's incredibly lonely and painful past plagued him with insecurities to the extent that he can't believe someone could ever love him, let alone unconditionally like Hinata has since forever.
- The scene where Toneri brands Hinata a traitor and turns her into one of his puppets is just heartbreaking. She is pleading with him to stop, telling him that he doesn't have to destroy the Earth, but he spitefully destroys her red scarf because he knows she was really making it for Naruto and then he hypnotizes her just to make sure that she wouldn't betray him again.
- The heartbreaking part comes from the look of utter horror on Hinata's face as she watches what could possibly be her only chance of reconciling with Naruto destroyed before her eyes.
- While her brainwashed-self is trapped in a picture frame, she sheds a single tear as she mentally calls out for Naruto. Her regret over breaking Naruto's heart is higher than ever.
- Toneri's backstory in the novelization is quite sad as well. His clan was divided as to how to respond when Madara summoned the gedo statue out of the moon. One side believed the action was cause to punish all humanity, the other opposed them. This led to war and in the end only Toneri, at the time only a child, survived. He has since lived in utter isolation and come to blame humanity for it all.
- At the end when Naruto and Hinata are running hand-in-hand through the portal back from the moon to the Earth, they're shown running as they are, then as they were in Part II of the manga, then looking like they were back in Part I, and finally like they were when they first met as children. In all forms, Naruto is wearing the red scarf Hinata made for him. This sequence WILL make you cry.
- During the ending credits with Naruto and Hinata's wedding montage, the entire cast (except Sasuke) appears, with Hanabi holding Neji's funeral photograph.
- The whole ending credits sequence of the movie is a Tear Jerker in its own right, when you realize that this is essentially the end of Naruto! This is his final story. A character that we have loved and rooted for completes his journey after 15 years, and is now happy and content with the woman he loves and who's always loved him in return. It really does feel like watching your child grow up, get married and leave the house.
- The fact that the ending credits song is Hoshi No Utsuwa a brilliant and poignant song about life, death and cosmic rebirth makes the scene even more touching.
- It becomes a literal Tear Jerker when you find out that director Tsukeo Kobayashi passed away several months after the movie was released. See "Around the Movie" below for more details.
- The whole ending credits sequence
Around the Movie
- Studio Pierrot knew that the movie's director, Tsuneo Kobayashi, had severe health problems and that he probably wouldn't last until the end of the year, which is why his name is the one featured prominently at the end of the Creative Closing Credits, instead of Masashi Kishimoto's. This movie is quite literally Kobayashi's Swan Song, and even those who didn't like the story of the movie cannot deny its splendid direction and visual flair. Kobayashi passed away on May 2015.
- Hinata's Image Song, Fuyu no Owari ni, is about Hinata's feelings for Naruto during Part II when they were still not realized. The song's lyrics are quite heartbreaking. The song directly states that she has tried to be selfless, move on, and tell herself that she would be all right if only Naruto was happy, but in reality she was lying to herself all this time. She can no longer deny the fact that she still loves him and wants to be with him. So she will try once more, even though she thinks that her feelings won't reach his heart. It's sad and bitter, but it makes Naruto's Love Confession to her, and his own Image Song, No Matter What Day It Is—which, according to its lyrics, is a direct response to her song—all the more Heartwarming.
- Special mention goes to Nana Mizuki's performance, which makes the song even more heart-wrenching. Hinata's voice starts out fairly cheery, but gets progressively sad and bitter as the song goes on. During the last few verses, when she declares that she will try once more to convey her feelings to Naruto, and that she won't give up, even though she thinks that her love won't reach him, you can clearly hear Hinata's voice start to crack as if she's about to start crying from despair. It's subtle, but it makes the song that much more emotional.
- The English Version of the song doesn't pull any punches either.
- Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding, the officially sanctioned novel that deals with Naruto and Hinata's wedding, is generally a very light and funny read...which makes these moments especially hard to handle:
- Lee is dreaming of Neji when he is exhausted.
- Tenten also remembers Neji as she tries to move on with her life and carve her own unique path as a shinobi.
- Teuchi laments about the shinobi customers who never come back.
- Iruka's Manly Tears of Joy to the following line doubles as Tear Jerker and Heartwarming:Naruto: "I'd like you to come to this wedding as my father."
