RTN - NaruSaku

NaruSaku in Road to Ninja
I've seen a lot of other pairing fans saying that the Naruto and Sakura stuff in the movie is just platonic friendship, so we shouldn't be celebrating over anything in it.

First of all, even if there is nothing overtly romantic/non-platonic (which there is, but I'll get to that later), two things still remain true:

1.  Kishimoto wrote this movie to pretty much exactly his specifications and wanting (to the point where he said he made his editors cry and that he put as much effort into this as the manga).  The relationship that he chose to focus on after parental bonds is Naruto and Sakura's.  Not Sasuke and Sakura's, not Naruto and Hinata's, not even Naruto and Sasuke's.  They get frustrated with one another at the beginning of the movie.  Sakura comes to gain a better understanding of Naruto during the movie and what he went through.  She not only wants to apologize to him for her earlier comments (about parents and Sasuke), wants to preserve his happiness ("Naruto is happy in this world?"), and is the one to bring him back to reality (according to a non pairing fan who saw the movie).  Sakura helps Naruto to realize that reality is better than fantasy (she brought the 4th's cloak along to remind Naruto about the sacrifices his real parents made or something to that effect I've heard), and he goes to risk his life to save her when the AU Minato and Kushina don't want to and say its too dangerous.  It's not just focus, its development.  It just goes to show that Kishimoto values the relationship and wants to focus on it.

2.  All of this "platonic" friendship development/focus portrays the strength of the relationship overall, and lays a terrific foundation for any future romance.  One of the things I love most about Naruto and Sakura is that they have this strong basis of friendship to build off of, so why shouldn't I (and other NS fans) celebrate seeing more of that foundation in a movie made by Kishi?

Secondly, there certainly are plenty of non-platonic NaruSaku moments in the movie.  Naruto blushing when Sakura drags him to the park at the beginning of the movie and thinking it is a date, Kiba assuming Naruto and Sakura are on a date, Hinata getting jealous of Sakura (because of her relationship with Naruto), Hinata getting angry at Naruto for taking Sakura's side over hers, Sakura calling the whole fiasco "the longest date ever".

And as much as people rag on NaruSaku for bringing up MinaKushi parallels, they are just undeniably obvious here - Sakura kidnapped by Tobi and chained up in the exact same manner Kushina was, Naruto putting on the kage cloak in the exact same manner Minato did his final night, Naruto saving Sakura bridal style the same way Minato did Kushina, Naruto beating Tobi with the exact same move Minato did Tobi.  And then Naruto says that a kids job is to surpass his parents?  Then Kishi flashbacks MinaKushi's final night at the same time.  Come on now — even an SS fan who saw the movie commented on this in his or her review of the movie from pixiv by calling NaruSaku the next generation MinaKushi.

So yes, I think there is legitimately quite a lot for NaruSaku fans to be pleased about and celebrate with this movie.  And no, the movie isn't canon, and doesn't make NaruSaku canon - its all just fan service.  But at least this fan service is Kishimoto approved/created.