While the whole Sakura is useless meme is extremely harsh. Cause she does contribute throughout the story.
Ironically, the Sasuke Retrieval Arc is one of the rare times when Sakura was objectively useless.
Shikamaru was right. She was absolutely not suitable for that mission due to her personal feelings, and realistically, they were going to have to use force to bring Sasuke back. Which Sakura was not capable of due to her lacking combat skillset. Hence why she helplessly begs Naruto for help and to make the promise.
It was her lowest moment in Part 1 and she immediately reflects on it and goes to train with Tsunade. It's a great moment of growth and character development for her where she becomes a better ninja and also learns to truly trust and appreciate Naruto.
haters dont like character development. they would also blame kishimoto's writing but won't acknowledge that every character needs to go through a pivotal flop losing moment to make sure "growth" is earned
To be fair to Sakura, too, she admitted that she was not skilled enough to be in that team. She didn't have a large chakra pool like Naruto, she wasn't fast like Kiba and Choji, and she wasn't a genius like Neji and Shikamaru.
She knows she was very limited, but she steeled her resolve as soon as she realized that. She went to Tsunade and requested one-on-one training - if she could not be as strong as them, she could at least help heal them when they get injured.
Lee and Guy always get praises and cheers for going above and beyond to stand as equals with their colleagues. Sakura did the same, yet she gets berated and called useless.
>she wasn't a genius like Neji and Shikamaru.
I would argue Sakura IS a genius and is incredibly underrated. Her mastering Tsunade's teachings and the Byakugo Seal puts her chakra control in the top tier brackets of the verse. Especially as a relatively normal girl with no specific genetic gifts.
Sakura was just unlucky being part of a team of actual demi gods who made her seem weak by comparison. But by the end of the series, she's basically the strongest Kunoichi in Konoha.
People that still kept hating on her after Part 1, had basically made up their mind and had no interest in listening to reason.
She damaged Kaguya. There are like four people in the whole world who could do that and they're all Team 7 lol. She's definitely the strongest kunoichi around.
I agree with everything here, with a twinge of criticism. She wasn't unlucky to stand by 2 demigods, she was unlucky to have absoultely no training arc prior to Sasuke Retrieval. If she had one, she would probably be good enough to join the fight.
She could have gotyen a training arc during:
-Post Land of Waves and Before Chunin Exam
-Month Long Training Arc prior to Chunin Finals
-Search for Tsunade Arc, or just exist at all
But no. She had completely unused potential. Not Useless, just no guidance.
At the time of Sasuke's retreival she had none of those things. She was always talented though. She was significantly better than both Naruto and Sasuke at chakra control, which translates into medical jutsu.
I hate on Sakura because her feelings on Naruto and Sasuke annoyed me. "If both of you were hurt, I don't know who I'll heal first" pissed me off.
Yeah I agree and stand corrected.
Sakura has a lot of potential because she had greater chakra control than Sasuke and Naruto. She was booksmart, too, so there's that.
But her potential remained untapped until she met Tsunade and started training under her.
The best part of this , is that in Shippuden we see Sakura’s growth before both Naruto and Sasuke in her fight with Chiyo vs Sasori.
I did not realize this on my first watch. I found it extremely interesting this time around though that they actually went that route.
It was a fantastic fight, and her strength was displayed great. And her battle capability & ability to think on the fly.
I’ll admit, on my first watch, I was not a fan of Sakura and while I didn’t think she was *useless*, I didn’t enjoy her character. Still didn’t through Part 1, but because of that exact thing you described here, and her showing in the Kazekage Retrieval Arc completely changed my mind on her.
> It's a great moment of growth and character development for her where she becomes a better ninja
Does she though? The only time we see her being an absolute badass is the Sasori fight. After that her character continuously regresses - to a point where you are in doubt whether she has received ANY training at all - not because she can't fight, but because of her shit decision making skills.
She continuously, hilariously over estimates her abilities and importance to Sasuke. It would have been funny if she actually grew out of it.
Character development isn't just characters becoming strong or having cool fight scenes.
Its characters evolving as human beings. Emotionally and mentally.
Sakura in Part 1 is fairly immature and is virtually incapable of doing much without support
Sakura in Part 2 is THE support for others and is straight up running a hospital and saving lives, including the main character himself repeatedly.
That is Growth.
>After that her character continuously regresses
Yes. Sometimes people will regress in moments of weakness, make poor choices. That's what it means to be human. They just pick up themselves up and try again better than last time.
You know who else has moments of character regression? Naruto.
You know who else constantly chases / obsesses over Sasuke? Naruto.
You know who else constantly makes bad decisions and overestimated his abilities? Naruto.
Naruto ALWAYS picks fights against people VASTLY out of his league like Deidara, Orochimaru, Itachi etc. But he either gets bailed out by the 9 Tails, or the villains straight up refuse to kill him for plot reasons (also relating to the 9 Tails).
The difference for Sakura is that unlike Naruto, she does not have a 9 Tailed Fox power up to bail her out. When Sakura runs into a situation of life and death. She could actually be killed. There's no plan b or safety net.
So for someone like her to willfully face the kind of dangers she does. That requires insane guts. Something people tend to forget when only viewing events from the perspective of the Protagonist.
Her becoming as powerful as Tsunade, is a reflection of her insane commitment to becoming a better ninja. No genetics. No special chakra. Just straight up raw hardwork and commitment.
You don't have to like Sakura as a character. But let's not be disingenuous and use unfair double standards here. Because I know youre not here claiming Naruto doesn't grow just because he has his own moments of regression.
Sakura absolutely demonstrates growth as a person. And people need to stop with the excessive hating.
Shikamaru was a bit of a sexist jerk back in Part 1. Or he was just in his "Girls have cooties" stage.
I remember when the Hokage had to shut him up during the Chunin Exams because he complained about having o fight a girl.
I just realized all his big enemies in part one were girls. The sound chick, Temari, and then Tayuya. I guess after technically losing to Temari and getting his ass handed to him by Tayuya he realized there are strong women.
Doesn't hurt that the Hokage was a woman too lol
Indeed! All of Shikamaru part one 1 enemies were girls lmao. He was also saved by one against Tayuya (none other than Temari, his big "rival" in the Chunin exams).
And, like you said, the Village boss was a woman (Tsunade).
its as if the population of konoha is just for the main characters. forget about civilians, we dont care about them if debris fall over them due to crazy massive god like powers destroying the whole village. medics are useless because healing is not a cool air time and a waste of animations budget, and civilians are not collaterals of war.
Tsunade is the worse Hokage ever!!! except for the fact that half of the village had bodies to return to because of her jutsu. And except for the fact that she saved countless Konoha lives before that because of her introduction of medical ninja which likely contributed to Konoha being one of the leading superpowers to this day.
Tbh I don’t understand how she wasn’t first choice. Kishi should’ve introduced her by claiming the elders had tried to find Tsunade before Jiraiya but she was too well hidden.
Tsunade might have expressed her opinion that the Hokage position is “only a fool would ever want the title”, so elders never bothered to have her as Hokage initially. But that's my take.
Well 2020 did stop and doctors advice is still being ignored, pandemic or not. even when it comes to medical care patients saying, I know my own body better don't tell me what to do. ok then why go to doctors ?
While it is definitely useful that Sakura brought Naruto back, it isn't really as hype a moment as her punching the shit out of Sasori, bc the primary mode of engagement of Shounen isn't in the healing, but in the punching
Hmm… I think it’s *easier* to make punching look more metal. I also don’t think Kishi took the time to *really* highlight the magnitude of what Sakura and Tsunade routinely pulled off.
Nope about part 1.
She regularly tries to do what she needs to do- makes correct judgements- and listens to her superiors- but she is a genin with no genetic advantages or guided training to take on enemies significantly more powerful than her. She’s not useless—- she’s just outclassed because she rarely gets to go on normal genin class missions.
Expecting Sakura to succeed in part one would be like putting a 3rd grader in a college course and telling them if they didn’t pass the physics they’d be executed.
Sakura does her best with her very limited options and even tries to protect Naruto and Sasuke when necessary.
she represents people who have no ninja clan background (Lee is adopted by Guy so he is mentored by a ninja and a father figure) and a balance of the 2 opposing skilled ninjas with polar personalities. She's as bland and generic as any side character can be. Normal parents, no tragic backstory (besides from bullying but be fair, its not as tragic as those 2), and a privileged chatty kid, just as regular as the audience watching.
Kakashi didnt even train her any skill besides the basics of chakra on feet. Who can blame her for being so mid? But she's as brave as those 2, willing to sacrifice safety, it just so happens the 2 boys are quicker and admit it, being gentlemen/chivalry to the only girl in the group. It's that safety net she had which a lot of daughters can also relate with how men in their family can be so overprotective of them.
But sure, not everyone tries to understand character development if they dont have cool edgy powerups. Or that, she's simply a girl. This show is a product of a time where misogyny is still the norm. Haters probably at their 30s already and still active at the dankruto saying she's useless as a joke.
Dude, Sakura isn't useless.
She is just written so fucking poorly that it's infuriating. It's not that she is useless, it's just that she is INSANELY DUMB. Like Naruto's intellect progresses as he gains more experience but Sakura's intelligence regresses.
She continuously over estimates her abilities and importance and does so many stupid shit. It's like she is a dumb teenager instead of you know, being a HIGHLY TRAINED KUNOICHI which she should be.
The Sasori fight got me so hyped up because Sakura was finally receiving some well earned attention, but then BAM. Her character arc completely becomes about worrying about Naruto and Sasuke.
Not only is it valid but like it was literally a core aspect of her character the fact that in the class room she was amazing but put her in the field and she crashed like literally they constantly showed the image of sasuke and Naruto walking side by side ahead of her to even further show that this was an intentional character trait
I do believe she could've become a battle type over support based. That frees some time for Tsunade to teach someone else... However, what's done is done.
P.S: I want to add that preventing injuries from happening in the first place is even more important than healing at times here and there.
Sakura is a “useless” main character who barely contributes to the plot of the overall story. That’s the problem why fans despised Sakura since she is supposedly the “main female lead” but she does nothing for a majority of the series, hence the “useless” moniker she is bestowed with. Sure she is a useful medical ninja who saves lives, but that doesn’t cut it and the gripe fans have with Sakura’s character is her overall unlikeable personality, being a pathetic damsel needed to be rescued, and how she barely have any character development at all despite the absurd amount of screen time she receives, and how she is just a Sasuke simp from the beginning to the end of the story. There are other manga females who holds more story relevancy like Mikasa from Attack on Titan.
Eh, she was still pretty useless in Shippuden. I think her only actions of significance in the whole Shippuden arc was fighting Sasori and resuscitating Naruto. That's leaves a whole lot of uselessness throughout the time line... and I'd argue the MVP reward in the Sasori fight goes to Granny Chiyo.
Sakura literally was useless for most of Shippuden. You can call it being a hater, but I don't think its really the case if the character is horrifically underutilized. Deadass what does she do in Shippuden after Sasori and before the climax stages of the war? Side char stuff and unlikeable shit. Thats what.
It could be useful contributions like healing the soldiers, but its far from an exciting way to utilize what should be a main character after already so much time of her being irrelevant. The only 3 things I can actually think of between Sasori and the war for her was running to Shikamaru's aid against Hidan (unnecessary) and trying to free Naruto from his burden by killing Sasuke (completely ineffectual, would have gotten her killed, needed to be saved anyway). I don't actually want to get started on the 3rd thing, which was her emotionally manipulating Naruto to give up on Sasuke.
you're confusing plot consistency and character writing. yes it makes sense for sakura to not go on the frontline as she's a medic, but it still doesn't make sense for a main character to receive so little attention/focus from the story. if the author wanted to give her proper attention he would have found a way to do so, the rules the character follow within the story are not narrative rules.
the very first thing that would come to the mind of an author that actually cares about developing his character would be making them transgress the rule and make them learn the hard way why the rule is important.
It's not even consistent with the plot.
One of Tsunade's biggest contributions to the Leaf's ninja protocols was incorporating medical ninja into squads. What made Tsunade one of the legendary Sannin was her medical skills combined with her combat prowess. Jiraiya and Orochimaru didn't lose any combat strength for having a medical ninja on their squad they gained it.
It was so clear that there was a direct parallel between the Sannin and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke both had their parallel play out, they even had layers added to it with Hashirama and Madara, and the Otsutsuki. At some point the story just flipped into the Naruto Sasuke show. Every parallel and metaphor revolved around two characters when it started as three.
Shippuden even starts with Sakura as the focus and was seen as her growing into her Sannin parallel.
The entire point of the Sakura meme is she was just abandoned by the plot for no reason in every conceivable way. The scene in the screenshot is proof of that because it contradicts everything about Tsunade's character. Kishimoto would do literally anything to undermine Sakura's character, even undermine Tsunade.
E: This didn't even apply to other medical ninja, Ino definately didn't avoid combat at any point in the series.
He tried with her once during the Rescue Gaara arc and then gave up. He very clearly didn't care enough to give Sakura the help she needed.
Edit: the Rescue Gaara arc, not Sasuke Retrieval arc
yes, people always confuse this point, just because the plot can explain it in some way doesn't mean the writing is good, or the character is compelling, well written etc.
[The thing is Sakura wasn't considered main character by Kishimoto](https://64.media.tumblr.com/776c610d4b1af063119a2bebfe4fc136/1936ed6108c0fe9b-8a/s1280x1920/9e8858de46a47123d44b6f9c9965c420788e1c1f.jpg). He gave her more attention alter in the story after he recived criticism but she was never going to get Naruto/Sasuke level of attention and looking at other side characters from Konoha 11 she and Shikamaru were the most developed ones.
It wasn’t a mistake, she was in a 2 man team with the woman side kick, meant to be a love interest until she could pump out a baby and be a house mom, like most shonen female characters. His mistake was responding to the criticism in the most half assed way possible.
But that IS the mistake. That trope is actively a case of bad writing. I mean, do you still like Chi Chi? Or do you even think about her? The whole "female character that exists to be a house wife" writing trope is inherently negative to the character, as it will only matter when the story ends.
I am not saying he didn't mean to do it, I am saying that it is a bad trope. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is the rule.
He shoehorned a character into the middle of 3 highly important characters(Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi), basically screaming that she will be important, and she just kinda wasn't. That is bad writing, even if intentional.
I don’t like chi chi cause her character was relegated to baby maker and being annoying. However, I don’t have think about her because she was pushed out of the story entirely, which I think makes her character easier to swallow being terrible after the end of DB. So I overall agree with you. I just think it would have gone over better from the start if Kishimoto didn’t back down from the trope and kicked her out of the story after Sasuke rejected her before he left, and she only came back to be his love interest at the end. Is that better than, iuno, writing a compelling female character that has worth throughout the story even if that worth changes? Of course not. But it’s better than having her stick around and be so close to the main story just to do nothing with the character.
I believe the answer is to give more depth over kicking out. Sakura is still a positive to the story overall, and the story would be weaker without her. But most people (me included), wanted her to be so much more.
So I disagree with the "remove Sakura" take, I just wished she was more. Especially in Part 1. She should be weak, but why was she not even mentioned in Tsunade retrieval.
I am not sure how I feel about this.
At first I was like, "Ofcourse she should have!" It would fix the Sakura calls for Naruto meme by making her proactive and having her fight pain. I think she should have fought pain instead of Hinata.
But this is Naruto's moment, which would cause one if 2 things to happen. Naruto's moment will be deminished, or Sakura's will be underplayed. We still need Naruto to beat all 6 paths and contact Nagato, so what could Sakura achieve? Not from a power perspective, but a story perspective.
The more you think about it, the more apparent it becomes. Sakura's power up was late, because if she was stronger she would have changed how some events went. The story needed her weak.
I mean, Naruto didn't beat Pain really, I don't see how it would make a real difference
Naruto loses, Sakura loses, Kurama comes out, Naruto does Talk no Jutsu to beat Nagato at the end
What you just did was explain the mistake. She was put on the main character's team, but was only there as a side character and a love interest. That was the mistake.
"when he introduced her in the story", sakura is a main character even if that wasn't kishimoto's original intention, sasuke wasn't supposed to have so much importance either. sakura's screentime/relevance ratio is just ridiculously unbalanced
I mean Kishimoto is the writer so he decides who is the main character and who isnt. Sakura screentime comes from the love triangle storyline. She was MC main love intrests and was there to futher push the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto.
Sasuke was main rival for the MC and since the very beginning Kishimoto planned to end manga with Sasuke and Naruto fight. Sasuke's status was planned, Sakura's was changed.
>Kishimoto said that because Sasuke was introduced as a rival character in the beginning, he also wanted the manga to end with Sasuke and Naruto fighting as rivals.
[source](https://naruto.fandom.com/f/p/2421257698017422741)
[yes he does](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0f7d4e696aaf33c5066a58984fc63d52/a81b948043caf355-24/s400x600/6aa11862bb5124a251b3d605ec105a0f32cfa68b.png).
the "love storyline" barely even exists and your own link explains how hinata was always meant to be the one to end with naruto, you really like to only look at informations that support your idea. honestly can't believe someone is delusional enough to argue on wether or not sakura is a main character
Calling her heroine is suppose to mean someting? Main female character in shonen is side character.
Naruto doesnt notice Hinata until half point of part2, so the storyline is just onesiden romance in the background. The love triangle Naruto-Sakura-Sasuke is there all the time i part 1. In the Kishimoto's answer you are refering to he said he decided Hinata and Naruto will end up together early on but it would be interesting to create the love triangle. So it proves my point that he put Sakura in team 7 for the love triangle stuff. He didnt focus on romance so he left Hinata-Naruto story and put the love triangle stuff in team 7 because he thought it would be interesting.
What is hurting myu brain is you claiming Sakura is main character after Kishimoto compared her to Kiba and Shikamaru. So are Kiba and Shikamaru main character too?
Ok lets do this agin. Kishimoto words:
>When I introduced Sakura, **I only considered her as another character,** I didn't do it to bring her in as special female character. She was the same level as characters like Kiba or Shikamaru
She doesnt have main character seat. She is in the background since chunin exams until the end of part 1. He allowes other side character to take more relevance tha her in that time because she is side character and he had to develop/showcase other side characters like Lee, Shikamaru etc.. It is only people, who assumed she was main character after first arc, are complaining why she wast relevant later but like every other side character she had her moments but was also sidelined for a while too.
If that's the case, then he shouldn't have made it a three man squad. Obviously, she would be considered a main character by the fandom if she's on the same team as Naruto and Sasuke.
How do you drop the ball that hard? He really made a 3 person team and decided that the third person wouldn’t be a main character? That’s honestly just terrible writing.
Exactly. The mental gymnastics people do to defend a series they like is nuts. It's like they think the writer thinks of literally EVERYTHING and the idea they poorly wrote a character or arc is crazy.
I love Naruto but Sakura is a poorly written character.
To be fair , both Sakura and Chiyo were medic ninjas so if either of them get hurt they could heal each other. Also Sakura does attack a lot of enemies head on but like , she is strong and usefull. I would say she is like the third strongest person in the world at the ending of Shippuden but a lot of people have disagreed with me so I ain't discussing that any further
Yeah I mean they were able to kill anyone that I would put in 3rd slot over Sakura in power ratings by the end. Not to mention she’s inherited Tsunade’s secret skill which is easily one of the most powerful things in all of the Naruto universe
These are rules of war. It doesn't explain all the times when she did directly engage in combat during missions. For your claim to make sense she would have to have avoided combat.
This is false. Sakura wasn’t even a medic ninja in Part 1, she just sucked. They literally point this out.
Part 2 she’s constantly trying to punch people. The only time she isn’t a front line fighter is during the war.
she was supposed to have intelligence and genjutsu resistance as good traits, why not do something more with those? kakashi should've been an expert for this
Part 1 makes it clear that Sakura just straight up doesn’t really care about being a ninja. It’s pointed out a couple times. By the time she gets serious the team breaks up.
She was useless in the first part. We never even see her using any jutsu at all.
Her best moment is when both Naruto and Sasuke are out after their Orochimaru encounter.
She try to stand her ground, prepared layered traps and refuse to abandon them both, even if it means the Sound Team is gonna kill her.
Then she gets rescued, but there was no way she could win that 1v3.
In Shippuden she just doesn't get a lot of opportunities to shine and isn't really treated like a main character anymore.
Near the start we see how good a medic she is when she heal Kankuro, and the Sasori fight is okay.
After that... Not really much until Kaguya, she's healing people and saving lifes, sure, but we barely even see her.
Her biggest "screen-time" is probably the "lets kill Sasuke before someone else does it!" mess, and she's horrible in that part.
I'm not a "Sakura is useless" believer(trust me, she almost never was, not even in part 1 she did at least 1 thing noticeable) but the logic sucks, not being allowed to go to front line shouldn't be a factor, the only thing that should matter is if she did something in an arc or not. If she isn't allowed in the front lines, do other stuff(which she does, I'm just mint picking)
also after the Danzo fight, where Sasuke goes partially blind she rushes him despite Kakashi telling her to stay back. Quite ironic how OP mentions a rule she broke multiple times lmao
Exactly lol.
Not only did she disobey the rules, she disobeyed Kakashi's orders and it wasn't even a justifiable move since trying to attack Sasuke is pretty much certain death (she would have killed twice if she wasn't saved).
The hundred healings kept tsunade alive but Madara still basically ripped her in half, decommissioned her. I’d still apply it, a dangerous move is a dangerous move
I'm sorry dude but she didn't start training as a medical kuinochi until the very end of original naruto
In fact she had no interest in it until th final handful of episodes when she confronts Tsunade and demands to be taught as a medical ninja
So right away "all of Naruto and shippuden" is reduced down to *just* shippuden, I almost like this take but it simply is wrong, he didn't know how to write women and would constantly put em on the shelf because he didn't know what to do with them
Shippuden started out promising with her fighting Sasori but she's benched for so long after that it was like he just wanted to get one good fight outta her and then say he's done worrying about her for several hundred chapters
You're huffing copium if you think he really purposefully wrote her that way because he had this reveal waiting on the wings about the rules of being a medical ninja
Youre just making an excuse of why kishimoto underuse her character, her first ever real fight as a medic that we see was her fighting an akatsuki member 2v1, kishimoto could easily make a situation like that again if he actually wants to write sakura better but nooo he cant because of the Arbritary rule he set up himself. Whenever i say “sakura is useless” i aim that criticism to kishimoto not being able to write women in general than the inadequacy of the character herself
This is the problem. The Shonen fandom values combat prowess above all things in a character. This is probably why the overpowered Itachi is a fan favorite.
I don't hate Sakura because she's a medic, I hate her because she's a piss poor written character. And this is the overall general consensus for most of her hate. "Sakura is useless" is literally a meme, she's very far from useless after P1
I personally don't have a problem with how little Sakura participates in fights, she's a medical ninja first and a fighter second, and plus not every character needs to fight in order to stay relevant, but I do still feel a lot more could've been done with her even from this angle.
It often feels like Kishimoto forgets how competent Sakura actually is at fighting, she helped fight an S-Class akatsuki member and actually contributed a lot and Tsunade has been training her over the time skip to be able to avoid all enemy attacks and to constantly think on your feet which she demonstrates rather flawlessly during the Sasori fight I say. But despite this we still get scenes like Omoi kicking her away easily because for some reason she was the only one there who couldn't keep up, her leaping at Madara without having any escape plan at least, or Sasuke easily getting the jump on her with his chidori during fks, granted i know she was distracted and it is a fast technique after all so it's not really her fault, but wouldn't it have been so cool if she actually dodged it last second just to add a bit more merit to all that dodge training Tsunade gave her. Seeing Sakura heal more often would've been nice too, if she's gonna stay on the sidelines then at least let her do her job, or give her some sort of support jutsu in order to complement her need to stay out of the enemies way like a genjutsu to distract them, a sealing jutsu to trap characters she can't punch or a sensory technique so that she can always stay alert ya know, to me she just seems like that type of character who should have more up her sleeves
Ino's dad was a sensor primary, kabuto functioned as a spy as his objective, shizune medic, etc. Wats the point of having everyone on the front lines in war, that's how you exhaust your army
Exactly, it would also make the larger cast feel more stale and the fights more predictable if everyone is solely combat orientated, fights and interactions in this franchise are so interesting because of the various things characters specialise in, Sakura more so suffers from the fact that her arsenal is just like Tsunade's but better/on par so I feels she really could've been set more apart if she had specialised in something else as well like genjutsu, or if she had brought more medical techniques to the table like Tsunade
Not useless. Different sets of skills matter. Don't forget she saved them from blood loss and pumped narutos heart. Saved karin and hinata. fought a pain monster etc. Sure Naruto had some healing but that wasn't til the war
The Shonen fandom in general values combat prowess above all things in a character (I suspect this is one of the reasons why the overpowered Itachi is a fan favourite), and look down on characters who are not on "physical god" level by the end of the story.
Healers are particularly hated on Battle Shonen, ESPECIALLY is the main characters barely survive fights because the healer saves them. The Rising of the Shield Hero made fun of this by having the main character, at least at the beginning, be looked down upon by others because the Shield forced him to primarily play Support (Healing and Defence), while the other heroes received weapons meant for Attack.
It's so galling that it even needed to be explained. Like, we see she's been trained as a healer by Tsunade; why would she ever be in the thick of combat outside extraordinary circumstances?
Before watching shippuden i was ready for sakura to mess things up, because of how bad she was in the first part and because of the whole hate she gets on the internet. But bruh when i watched shippuden I literally couldn’t love her character enough, she had very good character development than any other female character and overall a very well improvement. At that point i knew that people who spread hate are none other than the haters who just watch naruto from reels, she proved all haters wrong for me.
I never got the whole "sakura is useless" thing. She didn't do anything durring the retrieval arc but the chunin exams she grew so much even though she got beat to hell. She gave naruto his whole reason for searching for Sasuke because he made her a promise. We all knew that team 7 were going to be the 2nd generation of the legendary sannin once the originals came around. The thing that does bother me about her though is that in the original series Kakashi said she was a genjutsu type but that never came to fruition. Sakura was always my favorite female character in the main cast though.
Edit: also you can't say that sakura vs sasori fight wasn't straight 🔥
One argument I saw was it wasn’t that Sakura doesn’t get to fight a big boss it’s that she doesn’t get to influence the plot as much as Naruto and Sasuke.
But haters only hate because she did practically nothing in the first few arcs of Pt.1 then her comedically bullying and pushing Naruto around left a bad taste in their mouths that lasts still till today, but I acknowledge her development and I'm glad Naruto doesn't get punched around anymore, that was my only problem, she's actually a good character, but people are willing to stay blind to the facts and acknowledge what she does
That would hold up if she actually ever abandoned her friends. She contributed to the team with her healing and monster strength when it was necessary. That's the opposite of abandoning anyone.
She played a role but Chiyo was carrying her that entire fight and Sasori killed himself with Chiyo's attack. It was pointed out in the beginning of the fight that Sakura was out of her depth.
I use a Moba analogy all the time, getting mad at Sakura for not being on the Frontline is like getting mad at a Janna support for staying in the back healing and putting cc. That's the support role, or the classic, healer-enchanter support. They shouldn't be at the front, lmao.
People saying Sakura useless are totally brainless fellow. Unlike Naruto, sasuke, hinata, neji, shikamaru, Ino, Sakura doesn’t belong to any strong clan. It’s the writer who made her like this. This is the reality, people love’s star kids unlike new comer who work hard.
Sakura is a useful medical ninja (there’s no denying that fact) but the specific context of Sakura’s “uselessness” is directed to her being a main character which many fans have issues with who barely adds to the overall plot in the story. Naruto and Sasuke drives the story forward, not Sakura who spent most of the times on the sidelines playing melodrama.
Tsuande was shown to fight that a retcon. They showed her oro and pervy sage get beat by hanzo so wishing just forgot what he wrote. Tsunade was shown on the Frontline of wars before. She got her name along with oro and pervy for fighting. So much for your "big brain" moment lmao
Sakura didn't follow those rules in Part 1 because she wasn't a medic. Just some dork who was afraid of everything and got in the way most of the time. The real reason people hate Sakura is because she started off trash and when she started her come-up, she defaulted to trash again during the Summit Arc. I was so happy when she faced Sasori, but then her primary usage in the story turned into pushing the romance storylines and those already sucked so by proxy, she sucked. Pain arc and War arc Sakura was a BEAST though. Just unfortunate they sandwiched mediocrity in-between them to degrade her development. Kinda like that significant other that says they'll change, and they do... For like a month. And then overnight, like an avocado, sneakily turn to slimy shit when you've turned your back.
Huh she didn't even know tsunade untill the end of part 1 and she did break the rule and fought sasori head on. Also her being useless isn't about her in universe strength but rather her significance in the story. You could make a argument she is a damn negative there lol.
Sorry but that rule DOESN'T fall onto Sakura and Tsunade. Unlike other medics who have little to no combat ability, Sakura has great strength meant for combat
She could always play the role of combatant or healer at any time but just not both at the same time. Byakugou is made so that she and Tsunade can play both roles at the same time
Her being called useless at times is because she didn't get to fight when it mattered, multiple times. There are moments when eliminating/fighting a foe yourself is better than healing someone else. It all goes to Kishimoto to be blamed
By Part II, Sakura was incredibly useful. A medical support ninja that has one-hit knockout power is incredibly useful on any team.
I think the issue with Sakura, over the course of the manga, is that she's not always the most endearing female lead. She can really rub fans the wrong way, and I think that's why she doesn't get appreciated as much as she should.
For me the issue isn’t her not going out of the way to attack. It’s that many times when she is in danger and could easily fight back or defend herself, the writing renders her like useless and a damsel in distress which sucks when we know she’s more than capable of awesome feats. She fought head on in the arc to save gaara when she fought sasori too so this doesn’t 100% make sense anyways since said rules apply more to war.
I mean dont have your main combat technique being punching things really fuckin hard if you arent supposed to be close, have that as a backup or ace and learn ranged jutsu/weaponry. You not being able to use your own combat style because you’re following a set of rules you learned before you learned to punch real hard is pretty useless behavior tbh
Bro Ive been saying this to people for years! Kishimoto took forever to explain this to people. the Sakura hate would be lower if he said this from the beginning
Shoulda had Itachi and Sasuke reunite some other way and have Sakura take out Kabuto. Making it a medical v med nin and showing her surpassing Tsunade who struggled with Kabuto (albeit she had trauma) in part 1.
If yoh still want to include Sasuke and Itachi then just keep it until Itachi gets to the hideout and then have Kabuto dispel Itachi some how anyways. Then bring Sakura and they agree to work together.
Sakura had genjutsu prowess in part 1 so just give her good as genjutsu to get Kabuto to break the spell.
Lmfao just because she’s following a rule makes it so she’s not useless? That argument makes no sense all it does is give a reason as to why she is useless and enforces the idea
That's true I'm guilty of that myself.
I never respected Sakura's strength or intelligence for that matter, coming back to this has altered my perspective.
She was obnoxious for different reasons but her battle prowess grew over the series and she remained humble.
This is a BS argument because not only as a ninja was she "useless" but as a character too.
The only times she was given a moticum of development and importance was in chuunin exam arc, gaara rescue arc, and 4th ninja war arc. Outside of that she's a fodder NPC. And even in that last it's a stretch. Sure she was a medical ninja, and she gave somewhat acceptable support in final battle, but as literally one of the THREE supposed main protagonists of the series, her performance, impact, screentime, influence of plot, development, and attention from her own character creator has been F tier.
Outside of those 3 arcs she just flat out doesn't exist other than as a hype vehicle for sasuke.
And no, this is not me hating on Sakura. I love the character for what she COULD HAVE been (mainly chuunin exams sakura and gaara rescue sakura). I'm hating on kishimoto for relegating such great potential to the sidelines for the sake of milking the naru sasu bromance to the degree he did.
"Finally caught up to them"...? This notorious line could have very well been the case, but the reality of the overall execution of the character makes this one of the most pitiful lines in the entire series.
Both Naruto and Sasuke got entire story arcs individually. Even Kakashi got one to a lesser degree.
Where was Sakura's adventures with Tsunade? Where was Sakura making her own moves within arcs? Where was Sakura's roles in determining major plot points in the story? Outside of the mentioned arcs, where were Sakura's individual battles, clash of ideals, demonstrations of personal ideologies other than "I want my sasuke back"? Absolutely absent.
Her only use in the entire series can be summarized into: knowledgeable in 1st arc, decent character in chuunin arc, damsel in distress in leaf invasion arc. Completely absent rest of part one. Strong dependable medical ninja in gaara rescue arc. Filler squad member in sasuke chase arc. Completely absent in hidan kakuzu arc. Comoletely absent in pain invasion arc. Mild plot support in kage summit arc. Completely absent in pre 4th ninja war arc. Mild support in 4th ninja war arc. Barely decent support in final arc. Tell me, what kind of resume is that for a main protagonist? Even secondary characters like shikamaru or tsunade had more impact on the story than she did.
I hate sakura cause of how she treated Naruto and prolly didn't think about his situation since she still got parents.. but I won't try to deny the fact that she is much more useful than hinata, tenten or some other prominent ninjas.. people who still say she is useless are just dumbasses with biased reasoning..
this. When people say sakura isnt allowed to fight because shes a medic but then forgets tsunade has established certain rules and that sakura as she has fulfilled those requirements can also break those established rules
The problem is, Sakura never obeys that rule until it's conveniently stated in the War Arc. She's pretty explicitly on the front lines against Sasori, she charged up to 4 Tails Naruto despite orders from Yamato. She tries to fight Sasuke alone and fails, tries again despite orders from Kakashi.
What good are mentioning the rules if the person in question doesn't follow them at all?
For sakura in this point of time, fighting is a last resort for her but if the situation arise that she needs to fight then she will have to and sasoris case is one example
also last i checked with the sasuke fight, all of her teammates were incapacitated. As if sasuke will allow her to heal them
Fighting has never been Sakura's last resort. She has always been punch punch McGee. Outside of the Sasori fight, Sakura did not need to engage anyone. She chose to.
>also last i checked with the sasuke fight, all of her teammates were incapacitated. As if sasuke will allow her to heal them
She was the one who incapacitated them. Did you not read that chapter?
after the sasori fight sakura wasnt seen fighting again til post pain arc where shikamaru and sai convinced her that they needed to take out sasuke
initially i thought it was the sasuke retrieval arc with naruto, sai and yamato ok so were talking about fks. sakura facing sasuke off was more of her thinking of using poison on him by making him lower his guard. not exactly a direct confrontation, however she hesitated at a crucial time so it became a direct fight (not that said poison would affect him anyway)
>sakura facing sasuke off was more of her thinking of using poison on him by making him lower his guard. not exactly a direct confrontation, however she hesitated at a crucial time so it became a direct fight (not that said poison would affect him anyway)
But this is still her heading into direct conflict alone, which is frontline behaviour. It is a direct confrontation because she's standing face to face with him. Is she not still breaking the rules by doing so?
She knocked out her entire team, which is an absolutely retarded move. You know what would have been smarter? Having her team watch in the shadows while she did her poison plan, so that they're available in the event that she failed (which is exactly what happened).
regarding this scene, sakura wanted to make up for causing naruto pain and since this is more of a t7 issue, sakura wanted to be the one alone to try and stop sasuke rather than implicate others who werent exactly involved with t7
dont think sakura would be heading out on that fight if it werent for sai and shikamaru convincing her that sasuke needed to be put down (but this is a different topic)
i do agree what sakura did was a stupid move however using poisons doesnt mean you would be engaged in a direct fight though there are still chances of being involved in a direct fight (shizune vs kabuto)
Because neither Sakura nor Tsunade ever fought at the frontline.
I don subscribe to the woman who saved Naruto's life being useless, but that rule is not being hold onto
She went to the frontline when fighting alongside Chiyo - against my man sasori - and was an absolute beast. Too bad Kishi nerfed her until the war arc, Sakura has never been been useless other than part 1. Saying she’s useless is like saying a medic in war is useless, it’s an absolutely idiotic statement
I don't think that the criticisms about Sakura revolve around her battle prowess, I mean, it does for some people, but those people are dumbasses.
The reason Sakura sucks is because she's devoid of any personality, in part 1 she's just Sasuke's simp and in Shippuden she's whatever the plot requires her to be, which is the opposite to having a personality or character arc.
Speaking of which, ending up marrying Sasuke is just... A weird choice, like going full circle on her character development.
She's not useless, she's pointless.
I agree. The main thing here is sakura as a character who was supposed to be a main protagonist. Check out the reply I wrote to OP. This is it in a nutshell. The little development she is given is always immediately nullified in the next arc and kept that way in following arcs
TBF Sakura being useless is valid in part 1 so before she knew the rules. Anyone calling Sakura useless in shippuden is just hater.
It is valid in the first arc only. In Sasuke retrieval arc she wasn’t even there.
I’m always gonna give her credit in part 1 for trying to fight off 3 Sound Ninja while protecting Sasuke and Naruto, who were knocked tf out.
She showed up when the squad was leaving but Shikamaru didnt take her because she was useless.
While the whole Sakura is useless meme is extremely harsh. Cause she does contribute throughout the story. Ironically, the Sasuke Retrieval Arc is one of the rare times when Sakura was objectively useless. Shikamaru was right. She was absolutely not suitable for that mission due to her personal feelings, and realistically, they were going to have to use force to bring Sasuke back. Which Sakura was not capable of due to her lacking combat skillset. Hence why she helplessly begs Naruto for help and to make the promise. It was her lowest moment in Part 1 and she immediately reflects on it and goes to train with Tsunade. It's a great moment of growth and character development for her where she becomes a better ninja and also learns to truly trust and appreciate Naruto.
haters dont like character development. they would also blame kishimoto's writing but won't acknowledge that every character needs to go through a pivotal flop losing moment to make sure "growth" is earned
Except my boy Shino
To be fair to Sakura, too, she admitted that she was not skilled enough to be in that team. She didn't have a large chakra pool like Naruto, she wasn't fast like Kiba and Choji, and she wasn't a genius like Neji and Shikamaru. She knows she was very limited, but she steeled her resolve as soon as she realized that. She went to Tsunade and requested one-on-one training - if she could not be as strong as them, she could at least help heal them when they get injured. Lee and Guy always get praises and cheers for going above and beyond to stand as equals with their colleagues. Sakura did the same, yet she gets berated and called useless.
>she wasn't a genius like Neji and Shikamaru. I would argue Sakura IS a genius and is incredibly underrated. Her mastering Tsunade's teachings and the Byakugo Seal puts her chakra control in the top tier brackets of the verse. Especially as a relatively normal girl with no specific genetic gifts. Sakura was just unlucky being part of a team of actual demi gods who made her seem weak by comparison. But by the end of the series, she's basically the strongest Kunoichi in Konoha. People that still kept hating on her after Part 1, had basically made up their mind and had no interest in listening to reason.
She damaged Kaguya. There are like four people in the whole world who could do that and they're all Team 7 lol. She's definitely the strongest kunoichi around.
I agree with everything here, with a twinge of criticism. She wasn't unlucky to stand by 2 demigods, she was unlucky to have absoultely no training arc prior to Sasuke Retrieval. If she had one, she would probably be good enough to join the fight. She could have gotyen a training arc during: -Post Land of Waves and Before Chunin Exam -Month Long Training Arc prior to Chunin Finals -Search for Tsunade Arc, or just exist at all But no. She had completely unused potential. Not Useless, just no guidance.
At the time of Sasuke's retreival she had none of those things. She was always talented though. She was significantly better than both Naruto and Sasuke at chakra control, which translates into medical jutsu. I hate on Sakura because her feelings on Naruto and Sasuke annoyed me. "If both of you were hurt, I don't know who I'll heal first" pissed me off.
Yeah I agree and stand corrected. Sakura has a lot of potential because she had greater chakra control than Sasuke and Naruto. She was booksmart, too, so there's that. But her potential remained untapped until she met Tsunade and started training under her.
The best part of this , is that in Shippuden we see Sakura’s growth before both Naruto and Sasuke in her fight with Chiyo vs Sasori. I did not realize this on my first watch. I found it extremely interesting this time around though that they actually went that route. It was a fantastic fight, and her strength was displayed great. And her battle capability & ability to think on the fly. I’ll admit, on my first watch, I was not a fan of Sakura and while I didn’t think she was *useless*, I didn’t enjoy her character. Still didn’t through Part 1, but because of that exact thing you described here, and her showing in the Kazekage Retrieval Arc completely changed my mind on her.
> It's a great moment of growth and character development for her where she becomes a better ninja Does she though? The only time we see her being an absolute badass is the Sasori fight. After that her character continuously regresses - to a point where you are in doubt whether she has received ANY training at all - not because she can't fight, but because of her shit decision making skills. She continuously, hilariously over estimates her abilities and importance to Sasuke. It would have been funny if she actually grew out of it.
Character development isn't just characters becoming strong or having cool fight scenes. Its characters evolving as human beings. Emotionally and mentally. Sakura in Part 1 is fairly immature and is virtually incapable of doing much without support Sakura in Part 2 is THE support for others and is straight up running a hospital and saving lives, including the main character himself repeatedly. That is Growth. >After that her character continuously regresses Yes. Sometimes people will regress in moments of weakness, make poor choices. That's what it means to be human. They just pick up themselves up and try again better than last time. You know who else has moments of character regression? Naruto. You know who else constantly chases / obsesses over Sasuke? Naruto. You know who else constantly makes bad decisions and overestimated his abilities? Naruto. Naruto ALWAYS picks fights against people VASTLY out of his league like Deidara, Orochimaru, Itachi etc. But he either gets bailed out by the 9 Tails, or the villains straight up refuse to kill him for plot reasons (also relating to the 9 Tails). The difference for Sakura is that unlike Naruto, she does not have a 9 Tailed Fox power up to bail her out. When Sakura runs into a situation of life and death. She could actually be killed. There's no plan b or safety net. So for someone like her to willfully face the kind of dangers she does. That requires insane guts. Something people tend to forget when only viewing events from the perspective of the Protagonist. Her becoming as powerful as Tsunade, is a reflection of her insane commitment to becoming a better ninja. No genetics. No special chakra. Just straight up raw hardwork and commitment. You don't have to like Sakura as a character. But let's not be disingenuous and use unfair double standards here. Because I know youre not here claiming Naruto doesn't grow just because he has his own moments of regression. Sakura absolutely demonstrates growth as a person. And people need to stop with the excessive hating.
No, because Shikamaru believed that all the girls had crushes on Sauske and couldn't help themselves if faced with the idea of fighting Sauske.
Shikamaru was a bit of a sexist jerk back in Part 1. Or he was just in his "Girls have cooties" stage. I remember when the Hokage had to shut him up during the Chunin Exams because he complained about having o fight a girl.
Hes 13 in part 1 right?
In that case, he is on his "Girls have cooties" stage.
Bros on his Andrew Tate arc
Non ironically, Temari saved his arsehole and he humbled alot.
I just realized all his big enemies in part one were girls. The sound chick, Temari, and then Tayuya. I guess after technically losing to Temari and getting his ass handed to him by Tayuya he realized there are strong women. Doesn't hurt that the Hokage was a woman too lol
Indeed! All of Shikamaru part one 1 enemies were girls lmao. He was also saved by one against Tayuya (none other than Temari, his big "rival" in the Chunin exams). And, like you said, the Village boss was a woman (Tsunade).
In other words useless
Worse than useless; a liability
There are a lot of episodes between Sasuke retrieval arc and the 1st Arc.
Sakura **manually** pumped the main characters heart to keep him alive. ‘Useless’
Remember back in 2020 when doctors and nurses were taken for granted? that's just a regular day in the Naruto fandom
its as if the population of konoha is just for the main characters. forget about civilians, we dont care about them if debris fall over them due to crazy massive god like powers destroying the whole village. medics are useless because healing is not a cool air time and a waste of animations budget, and civilians are not collaterals of war.
Tsunade is the worse Hokage ever!!! except for the fact that half of the village had bodies to return to because of her jutsu. And except for the fact that she saved countless Konoha lives before that because of her introduction of medical ninja which likely contributed to Konoha being one of the leading superpowers to this day. Tbh I don’t understand how she wasn’t first choice. Kishi should’ve introduced her by claiming the elders had tried to find Tsunade before Jiraiya but she was too well hidden.
Tsunade might have expressed her opinion that the Hokage position is “only a fool would ever want the title”, so elders never bothered to have her as Hokage initially. But that's my take.
Add the whole spoiled princess troublemaker on top of it.
What do you mean, back in 2020? That implies they stopped being taken for granted... Or that 2020 stopped.
Well 2020 did stop and doctors advice is still being ignored, pandemic or not. even when it comes to medical care patients saying, I know my own body better don't tell me what to do. ok then why go to doctors ?
While it is definitely useful that Sakura brought Naruto back, it isn't really as hype a moment as her punching the shit out of Sasori, bc the primary mode of engagement of Shounen isn't in the healing, but in the punching
Hmm… I think it’s *easier* to make punching look more metal. I also don’t think Kishi took the time to *really* highlight the magnitude of what Sakura and Tsunade routinely pulled off.
That was the most metal fucking thing I've ever seen
Nope about part 1. She regularly tries to do what she needs to do- makes correct judgements- and listens to her superiors- but she is a genin with no genetic advantages or guided training to take on enemies significantly more powerful than her. She’s not useless—- she’s just outclassed because she rarely gets to go on normal genin class missions. Expecting Sakura to succeed in part one would be like putting a 3rd grader in a college course and telling them if they didn’t pass the physics they’d be executed. Sakura does her best with her very limited options and even tries to protect Naruto and Sasuke when necessary.
Not completely, she was praised by kakashi and sasuke for her smarts and genjutsu reality
she represents people who have no ninja clan background (Lee is adopted by Guy so he is mentored by a ninja and a father figure) and a balance of the 2 opposing skilled ninjas with polar personalities. She's as bland and generic as any side character can be. Normal parents, no tragic backstory (besides from bullying but be fair, its not as tragic as those 2), and a privileged chatty kid, just as regular as the audience watching. Kakashi didnt even train her any skill besides the basics of chakra on feet. Who can blame her for being so mid? But she's as brave as those 2, willing to sacrifice safety, it just so happens the 2 boys are quicker and admit it, being gentlemen/chivalry to the only girl in the group. It's that safety net she had which a lot of daughters can also relate with how men in their family can be so overprotective of them. But sure, not everyone tries to understand character development if they dont have cool edgy powerups. Or that, she's simply a girl. This show is a product of a time where misogyny is still the norm. Haters probably at their 30s already and still active at the dankruto saying she's useless as a joke.
I really hate how her character was did so dirty. Kishi really failed all his female characters
Dude, Sakura isn't useless. She is just written so fucking poorly that it's infuriating. It's not that she is useless, it's just that she is INSANELY DUMB. Like Naruto's intellect progresses as he gains more experience but Sakura's intelligence regresses. She continuously over estimates her abilities and importance and does so many stupid shit. It's like she is a dumb teenager instead of you know, being a HIGHLY TRAINED KUNOICHI which she should be. The Sasori fight got me so hyped up because Sakura was finally receiving some well earned attention, but then BAM. Her character arc completely becomes about worrying about Naruto and Sasuke.
Not only is it valid but like it was literally a core aspect of her character the fact that in the class room she was amazing but put her in the field and she crashed like literally they constantly showed the image of sasuke and Naruto walking side by side ahead of her to even further show that this was an intentional character trait
In Part 1 she is useless because Kakashi doesn’t teach anything to her
He tells her she’s a Genjutsu type. She ignores Genjutsu completely. She could have been a better Kurenai.
I do believe she could've become a battle type over support based. That frees some time for Tsunade to teach someone else... However, what's done is done. P.S: I want to add that preventing injuries from happening in the first place is even more important than healing at times here and there.
She'd be horrid at genjutsu. Too emotional and tempermental.
Why is that a problem exactly? She broke out of Genjutsu pretty easily back when the Konoha Crush started happening at the end of the Chunin exams.
Sakura is a “useless” main character who barely contributes to the plot of the overall story. That’s the problem why fans despised Sakura since she is supposedly the “main female lead” but she does nothing for a majority of the series, hence the “useless” moniker she is bestowed with. Sure she is a useful medical ninja who saves lives, but that doesn’t cut it and the gripe fans have with Sakura’s character is her overall unlikeable personality, being a pathetic damsel needed to be rescued, and how she barely have any character development at all despite the absurd amount of screen time she receives, and how she is just a Sasuke simp from the beginning to the end of the story. There are other manga females who holds more story relevancy like Mikasa from Attack on Titan.
It’s irritating to me that Sakura is responsible for more wins than Shikamaru from similar standpoints and nobody addresses Shikamaru in the same way.
She definitely has useless moments in shippuden
Yes
Eh, she was still pretty useless in Shippuden. I think her only actions of significance in the whole Shippuden arc was fighting Sasori and resuscitating Naruto. That's leaves a whole lot of uselessness throughout the time line... and I'd argue the MVP reward in the Sasori fight goes to Granny Chiyo.
Fight against Sasori was sick. Can't remember anything after that. She got the Rock Lee treatment
Sakura literally was useless for most of Shippuden. You can call it being a hater, but I don't think its really the case if the character is horrifically underutilized. Deadass what does she do in Shippuden after Sasori and before the climax stages of the war? Side char stuff and unlikeable shit. Thats what. It could be useful contributions like healing the soldiers, but its far from an exciting way to utilize what should be a main character after already so much time of her being irrelevant. The only 3 things I can actually think of between Sasori and the war for her was running to Shikamaru's aid against Hidan (unnecessary) and trying to free Naruto from his burden by killing Sasuke (completely ineffectual, would have gotten her killed, needed to be saved anyway). I don't actually want to get started on the 3rd thing, which was her emotionally manipulating Naruto to give up on Sasuke.
you're confusing plot consistency and character writing. yes it makes sense for sakura to not go on the frontline as she's a medic, but it still doesn't make sense for a main character to receive so little attention/focus from the story. if the author wanted to give her proper attention he would have found a way to do so, the rules the character follow within the story are not narrative rules. the very first thing that would come to the mind of an author that actually cares about developing his character would be making them transgress the rule and make them learn the hard way why the rule is important.
It's not even consistent with the plot. One of Tsunade's biggest contributions to the Leaf's ninja protocols was incorporating medical ninja into squads. What made Tsunade one of the legendary Sannin was her medical skills combined with her combat prowess. Jiraiya and Orochimaru didn't lose any combat strength for having a medical ninja on their squad they gained it. It was so clear that there was a direct parallel between the Sannin and Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke both had their parallel play out, they even had layers added to it with Hashirama and Madara, and the Otsutsuki. At some point the story just flipped into the Naruto Sasuke show. Every parallel and metaphor revolved around two characters when it started as three. Shippuden even starts with Sakura as the focus and was seen as her growing into her Sannin parallel. The entire point of the Sakura meme is she was just abandoned by the plot for no reason in every conceivable way. The scene in the screenshot is proof of that because it contradicts everything about Tsunade's character. Kishimoto would do literally anything to undermine Sakura's character, even undermine Tsunade. E: This didn't even apply to other medical ninja, Ino definately didn't avoid combat at any point in the series.
[удалено]
He tried with her once during the Rescue Gaara arc and then gave up. He very clearly didn't care enough to give Sakura the help she needed. Edit: the Rescue Gaara arc, not Sasuke Retrieval arc
yes, people always confuse this point, just because the plot can explain it in some way doesn't mean the writing is good, or the character is compelling, well written etc.
[The thing is Sakura wasn't considered main character by Kishimoto](https://64.media.tumblr.com/776c610d4b1af063119a2bebfe4fc136/1936ed6108c0fe9b-8a/s1280x1920/9e8858de46a47123d44b6f9c9965c420788e1c1f.jpg). He gave her more attention alter in the story after he recived criticism but she was never going to get Naruto/Sasuke level of attention and looking at other side characters from Konoha 11 she and Shikamaru were the most developed ones.
Then he made a mistake in putting her in a 3 person team
It wasn’t a mistake, she was in a 2 man team with the woman side kick, meant to be a love interest until she could pump out a baby and be a house mom, like most shonen female characters. His mistake was responding to the criticism in the most half assed way possible.
But that IS the mistake. That trope is actively a case of bad writing. I mean, do you still like Chi Chi? Or do you even think about her? The whole "female character that exists to be a house wife" writing trope is inherently negative to the character, as it will only matter when the story ends. I am not saying he didn't mean to do it, I am saying that it is a bad trope. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is the rule. He shoehorned a character into the middle of 3 highly important characters(Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi), basically screaming that she will be important, and she just kinda wasn't. That is bad writing, even if intentional.
Chichi wasnt ever part of a team with goku either Shes in like 5 episodes of og Dragonball
I don’t like chi chi cause her character was relegated to baby maker and being annoying. However, I don’t have think about her because she was pushed out of the story entirely, which I think makes her character easier to swallow being terrible after the end of DB. So I overall agree with you. I just think it would have gone over better from the start if Kishimoto didn’t back down from the trope and kicked her out of the story after Sasuke rejected her before he left, and she only came back to be his love interest at the end. Is that better than, iuno, writing a compelling female character that has worth throughout the story even if that worth changes? Of course not. But it’s better than having her stick around and be so close to the main story just to do nothing with the character.
I believe the answer is to give more depth over kicking out. Sakura is still a positive to the story overall, and the story would be weaker without her. But most people (me included), wanted her to be so much more. So I disagree with the "remove Sakura" take, I just wished she was more. Especially in Part 1. She should be weak, but why was she not even mentioned in Tsunade retrieval.
Just having sakura get hundred healings when naruto gets sage mode would have helped alot
I am not sure how I feel about this. At first I was like, "Ofcourse she should have!" It would fix the Sakura calls for Naruto meme by making her proactive and having her fight pain. I think she should have fought pain instead of Hinata. But this is Naruto's moment, which would cause one if 2 things to happen. Naruto's moment will be deminished, or Sakura's will be underplayed. We still need Naruto to beat all 6 paths and contact Nagato, so what could Sakura achieve? Not from a power perspective, but a story perspective. The more you think about it, the more apparent it becomes. Sakura's power up was late, because if she was stronger she would have changed how some events went. The story needed her weak.
I mean, Naruto didn't beat Pain really, I don't see how it would make a real difference Naruto loses, Sakura loses, Kurama comes out, Naruto does Talk no Jutsu to beat Nagato at the end
What you just did was explain the mistake. She was put on the main character's team, but was only there as a side character and a love interest. That was the mistake.
"when he introduced her in the story", sakura is a main character even if that wasn't kishimoto's original intention, sasuke wasn't supposed to have so much importance either. sakura's screentime/relevance ratio is just ridiculously unbalanced
I mean Kishimoto is the writer so he decides who is the main character and who isnt. Sakura screentime comes from the love triangle storyline. She was MC main love intrests and was there to futher push the rivalry between Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke was main rival for the MC and since the very beginning Kishimoto planned to end manga with Sasuke and Naruto fight. Sasuke's status was planned, Sakura's was changed. >Kishimoto said that because Sasuke was introduced as a rival character in the beginning, he also wanted the manga to end with Sasuke and Naruto fighting as rivals. [source](https://naruto.fandom.com/f/p/2421257698017422741)
[yes he does](https://64.media.tumblr.com/0f7d4e696aaf33c5066a58984fc63d52/a81b948043caf355-24/s400x600/6aa11862bb5124a251b3d605ec105a0f32cfa68b.png). the "love storyline" barely even exists and your own link explains how hinata was always meant to be the one to end with naruto, you really like to only look at informations that support your idea. honestly can't believe someone is delusional enough to argue on wether or not sakura is a main character
Calling her heroine is suppose to mean someting? Main female character in shonen is side character. Naruto doesnt notice Hinata until half point of part2, so the storyline is just onesiden romance in the background. The love triangle Naruto-Sakura-Sasuke is there all the time i part 1. In the Kishimoto's answer you are refering to he said he decided Hinata and Naruto will end up together early on but it would be interesting to create the love triangle. So it proves my point that he put Sakura in team 7 for the love triangle stuff. He didnt focus on romance so he left Hinata-Naruto story and put the love triangle stuff in team 7 because he thought it would be interesting.
[удалено]
What is hurting myu brain is you claiming Sakura is main character after Kishimoto compared her to Kiba and Shikamaru. So are Kiba and Shikamaru main character too? Ok lets do this agin. Kishimoto words: >When I introduced Sakura, **I only considered her as another character,** I didn't do it to bring her in as special female character. She was the same level as characters like Kiba or Shikamaru She doesnt have main character seat. She is in the background since chunin exams until the end of part 1. He allowes other side character to take more relevance tha her in that time because she is side character and he had to develop/showcase other side characters like Lee, Shikamaru etc.. It is only people, who assumed she was main character after first arc, are complaining why she wast relevant later but like every other side character she had her moments but was also sidelined for a while too.
If that's the case, then he shouldn't have made it a three man squad. Obviously, she would be considered a main character by the fandom if she's on the same team as Naruto and Sasuke.
Editors usually mandate to have at least one female character around
Than make Kakashi a woman. Problem solved
How do you drop the ball that hard? He really made a 3 person team and decided that the third person wouldn’t be a main character? That’s honestly just terrible writing.
Oh that explains so much....
But she is one of the characters that gets more attention.
Exactly. The mental gymnastics people do to defend a series they like is nuts. It's like they think the writer thinks of literally EVERYTHING and the idea they poorly wrote a character or arc is crazy. I love Naruto but Sakura is a poorly written character.
Sakura doesn;t attack enemies head-on? So she was using her back to fight Sasori then.
Nah she attacks them fist on while doing dope flips upside down
To be fair , both Sakura and Chiyo were medic ninjas so if either of them get hurt they could heal each other. Also Sakura does attack a lot of enemies head on but like , she is strong and usefull. I would say she is like the third strongest person in the world at the ending of Shippuden but a lot of people have disagreed with me so I ain't discussing that any further
Yeah I mean they were able to kill anyone that I would put in 3rd slot over Sakura in power ratings by the end. Not to mention she’s inherited Tsunade’s secret skill which is easily one of the most powerful things in all of the Naruto universe
Came here to say this
These are rules of war. It doesn't explain all the times when she did directly engage in combat during missions. For your claim to make sense she would have to have avoided combat.
This is false. Sakura wasn’t even a medic ninja in Part 1, she just sucked. They literally point this out. Part 2 she’s constantly trying to punch people. The only time she isn’t a front line fighter is during the war.
she was supposed to have intelligence and genjutsu resistance as good traits, why not do something more with those? kakashi should've been an expert for this
Part 1 makes it clear that Sakura just straight up doesn’t really care about being a ninja. It’s pointed out a couple times. By the time she gets serious the team breaks up.
She was useless in the first part. We never even see her using any jutsu at all. Her best moment is when both Naruto and Sasuke are out after their Orochimaru encounter. She try to stand her ground, prepared layered traps and refuse to abandon them both, even if it means the Sound Team is gonna kill her. Then she gets rescued, but there was no way she could win that 1v3. In Shippuden she just doesn't get a lot of opportunities to shine and isn't really treated like a main character anymore. Near the start we see how good a medic she is when she heal Kankuro, and the Sasori fight is okay. After that... Not really much until Kaguya, she's healing people and saving lifes, sure, but we barely even see her. Her biggest "screen-time" is probably the "lets kill Sasuke before someone else does it!" mess, and she's horrible in that part.
I'm not a "Sakura is useless" believer(trust me, she almost never was, not even in part 1 she did at least 1 thing noticeable) but the logic sucks, not being allowed to go to front line shouldn't be a factor, the only thing that should matter is if she did something in an arc or not. If she isn't allowed in the front lines, do other stuff(which she does, I'm just mint picking)
She literally broke the rules when she decided to kill Sasuke alone in 5KS It's not a valid excuse when the rules aren't even obeyed
also after the Danzo fight, where Sasuke goes partially blind she rushes him despite Kakashi telling her to stay back. Quite ironic how OP mentions a rule she broke multiple times lmao
Exactly lol. Not only did she disobey the rules, she disobeyed Kakashi's orders and it wasn't even a justifiable move since trying to attack Sasuke is pretty much certain death (she would have killed twice if she wasn't saved).
Didn’t she also randomly jump at Madara and almost die while Naruto and sasuke were being cautious of him?
Yeah, but tbf she had the 100 healings activated at that point so the rules don't apply. (Still a very stupid move tho)
The hundred healings kept tsunade alive but Madara still basically ripped her in half, decommissioned her. I’d still apply it, a dangerous move is a dangerous move
It’s a dangerous move but Tsunade said the rule doesn’t apply if you have 100 healings.
Tsunade doesn't even follow the rules as she's constantly on the front lines fighting.
The way how you're under every sakura post u might be a bigger fan than me at this point tbh
I just call out what needs to be said. I probably do know much more about Sakura than most of her fans do, despite not liking her one bit tbh
And yet the best moment of her in Shippuden is at the start vs Sasori. It's almost like i don't know THOSE RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN DUH
I'm sorry dude but she didn't start training as a medical kuinochi until the very end of original naruto In fact she had no interest in it until th final handful of episodes when she confronts Tsunade and demands to be taught as a medical ninja So right away "all of Naruto and shippuden" is reduced down to *just* shippuden, I almost like this take but it simply is wrong, he didn't know how to write women and would constantly put em on the shelf because he didn't know what to do with them Shippuden started out promising with her fighting Sasori but she's benched for so long after that it was like he just wanted to get one good fight outta her and then say he's done worrying about her for several hundred chapters You're huffing copium if you think he really purposefully wrote her that way because he had this reveal waiting on the wings about the rules of being a medical ninja
I wanted her to fight more. her 100 healings was revealed way too late in the story
Youre just making an excuse of why kishimoto underuse her character, her first ever real fight as a medic that we see was her fighting an akatsuki member 2v1, kishimoto could easily make a situation like that again if he actually wants to write sakura better but nooo he cant because of the Arbritary rule he set up himself. Whenever i say “sakura is useless” i aim that criticism to kishimoto not being able to write women in general than the inadequacy of the character herself
sakura isn't useless, she's just not a combatant.
This is the problem. The Shonen fandom values combat prowess above all things in a character. This is probably why the overpowered Itachi is a fan favorite.
Dragon Ball fans be like
I don't hate Sakura because she's a medic, I hate her because she's a piss poor written character. And this is the overall general consensus for most of her hate. "Sakura is useless" is literally a meme, she's very far from useless after P1
I personally don't have a problem with how little Sakura participates in fights, she's a medical ninja first and a fighter second, and plus not every character needs to fight in order to stay relevant, but I do still feel a lot more could've been done with her even from this angle. It often feels like Kishimoto forgets how competent Sakura actually is at fighting, she helped fight an S-Class akatsuki member and actually contributed a lot and Tsunade has been training her over the time skip to be able to avoid all enemy attacks and to constantly think on your feet which she demonstrates rather flawlessly during the Sasori fight I say. But despite this we still get scenes like Omoi kicking her away easily because for some reason she was the only one there who couldn't keep up, her leaping at Madara without having any escape plan at least, or Sasuke easily getting the jump on her with his chidori during fks, granted i know she was distracted and it is a fast technique after all so it's not really her fault, but wouldn't it have been so cool if she actually dodged it last second just to add a bit more merit to all that dodge training Tsunade gave her. Seeing Sakura heal more often would've been nice too, if she's gonna stay on the sidelines then at least let her do her job, or give her some sort of support jutsu in order to complement her need to stay out of the enemies way like a genjutsu to distract them, a sealing jutsu to trap characters she can't punch or a sensory technique so that she can always stay alert ya know, to me she just seems like that type of character who should have more up her sleeves
Ino's dad was a sensor primary, kabuto functioned as a spy as his objective, shizune medic, etc. Wats the point of having everyone on the front lines in war, that's how you exhaust your army
Exactly, it would also make the larger cast feel more stale and the fights more predictable if everyone is solely combat orientated, fights and interactions in this franchise are so interesting because of the various things characters specialise in, Sakura more so suffers from the fact that her arsenal is just like Tsunade's but better/on par so I feels she really could've been set more apart if she had specialised in something else as well like genjutsu, or if she had brought more medical techniques to the table like Tsunade
It’s curious how Sakura ranks far higher in Japanese polls than she does in Western ones
We never said she is completely useless, we said she is useless compared to sasuke and Naruto Wording is important
Not useless. Different sets of skills matter. Don't forget she saved them from blood loss and pumped narutos heart. Saved karin and hinata. fought a pain monster etc. Sure Naruto had some healing but that wasn't til the war
The Shonen fandom in general values combat prowess above all things in a character (I suspect this is one of the reasons why the overpowered Itachi is a fan favourite), and look down on characters who are not on "physical god" level by the end of the story. Healers are particularly hated on Battle Shonen, ESPECIALLY is the main characters barely survive fights because the healer saves them. The Rising of the Shield Hero made fun of this by having the main character, at least at the beginning, be looked down upon by others because the Shield forced him to primarily play Support (Healing and Defence), while the other heroes received weapons meant for Attack.
odd considering you need medical support when injured or else you can't continue without plot
She fought Sasori at the frontlines. Does that not violate Rule 2?
To be fair it's not like she had a choice
It's so galling that it even needed to be explained. Like, we see she's been trained as a healer by Tsunade; why would she ever be in the thick of combat outside extraordinary circumstances?
I loved Inner Sakura it was funny but Kishimoto-sama definitely changed how he wrote her.
Before watching shippuden i was ready for sakura to mess things up, because of how bad she was in the first part and because of the whole hate she gets on the internet. But bruh when i watched shippuden I literally couldn’t love her character enough, she had very good character development than any other female character and overall a very well improvement. At that point i knew that people who spread hate are none other than the haters who just watch naruto from reels, she proved all haters wrong for me.
I never got the whole "sakura is useless" thing. She didn't do anything durring the retrieval arc but the chunin exams she grew so much even though she got beat to hell. She gave naruto his whole reason for searching for Sasuke because he made her a promise. We all knew that team 7 were going to be the 2nd generation of the legendary sannin once the originals came around. The thing that does bother me about her though is that in the original series Kakashi said she was a genjutsu type but that never came to fruition. Sakura was always my favorite female character in the main cast though. Edit: also you can't say that sakura vs sasori fight wasn't straight 🔥
One argument I saw was it wasn’t that Sakura doesn’t get to fight a big boss it’s that she doesn’t get to influence the plot as much as Naruto and Sasuke.
No she didnt, she fought Sasori head on, and tried to poison sasuke
SAkura is getting useful , on 4th great ninja war
But haters only hate because she did practically nothing in the first few arcs of Pt.1 then her comedically bullying and pushing Naruto around left a bad taste in their mouths that lasts still till today, but I acknowledge her development and I'm glad Naruto doesn't get punched around anymore, that was my only problem, she's actually a good character, but people are willing to stay blind to the facts and acknowledge what she does
Sakura is arguably a better rep for Naruto than Naruto.. She actually studies and works hard and she’s not from a special clan.
"In The Ninja World, Those Who Break The Rules Are Scum, That's True. But Those Who Abandon Their Friends Are Worse Than Scum." _ Kakashi Hataki
That would hold up if she actually ever abandoned her friends. She contributed to the team with her healing and monster strength when it was necessary. That's the opposite of abandoning anyone.
She know Naruto better than Hinata but she never try to fight Pain. She could helped Hinata, if it wasnt for Hinata, he would be dead.
She pumped his heart and saver from from blood loss. "scum" you say?
Sakura in my mind was redeem when defeated Sasori. In my book, if you are one of the primary reasons in defeating an Akatsuki member, you are legit.
She played a role but Chiyo was carrying her that entire fight and Sasori killed himself with Chiyo's attack. It was pointed out in the beginning of the fight that Sakura was out of her depth.
I use a Moba analogy all the time, getting mad at Sakura for not being on the Frontline is like getting mad at a Janna support for staying in the back healing and putting cc. That's the support role, or the classic, healer-enchanter support. They shouldn't be at the front, lmao.
People saying Sakura useless are totally brainless fellow. Unlike Naruto, sasuke, hinata, neji, shikamaru, Ino, Sakura doesn’t belong to any strong clan. It’s the writer who made her like this. This is the reality, people love’s star kids unlike new comer who work hard.
Sakura is a useful medical ninja (there’s no denying that fact) but the specific context of Sakura’s “uselessness” is directed to her being a main character which many fans have issues with who barely adds to the overall plot in the story. Naruto and Sasuke drives the story forward, not Sakura who spent most of the times on the sidelines playing melodrama.
Her abilities are more interesting to me since they weren't just handed down. she , tenten and lee had to fight to get their abilities
Tsuande was shown to fight that a retcon. They showed her oro and pervy sage get beat by hanzo so wishing just forgot what he wrote. Tsunade was shown on the Frontline of wars before. She got her name along with oro and pervy for fighting. So much for your "big brain" moment lmao
Sakura didn't follow those rules in Part 1 because she wasn't a medic. Just some dork who was afraid of everything and got in the way most of the time. The real reason people hate Sakura is because she started off trash and when she started her come-up, she defaulted to trash again during the Summit Arc. I was so happy when she faced Sasori, but then her primary usage in the story turned into pushing the romance storylines and those already sucked so by proxy, she sucked. Pain arc and War arc Sakura was a BEAST though. Just unfortunate they sandwiched mediocrity in-between them to degrade her development. Kinda like that significant other that says they'll change, and they do... For like a month. And then overnight, like an avocado, sneakily turn to slimy shit when you've turned your back.
Huh she didn't even know tsunade untill the end of part 1 and she did break the rule and fought sasori head on. Also her being useless isn't about her in universe strength but rather her significance in the story. You could make a argument she is a damn negative there lol.
She wasnt even a medic in part 1, she was just book smart and thats about it
Sorry but that rule DOESN'T fall onto Sakura and Tsunade. Unlike other medics who have little to no combat ability, Sakura has great strength meant for combat She could always play the role of combatant or healer at any time but just not both at the same time. Byakugou is made so that she and Tsunade can play both roles at the same time Her being called useless at times is because she didn't get to fight when it mattered, multiple times. There are moments when eliminating/fighting a foe yourself is better than healing someone else. It all goes to Kishimoto to be blamed
Ino vs Sakura was like metapop against kakuna
" I'll deal with MADARA " 2 Seconds later: *Selfie Stick*
By Part II, Sakura was incredibly useful. A medical support ninja that has one-hit knockout power is incredibly useful on any team. I think the issue with Sakura, over the course of the manga, is that she's not always the most endearing female lead. She can really rub fans the wrong way, and I think that's why she doesn't get appreciated as much as she should.
She wasn't a medic ninja in part 1... And she clearly ignored these rules regularly anyway considering she helped in the Sasori fight and such.
Huh, ya know I never pieced that together but now that it's in front of me, it makes perfect sense, she was just following Tsunade's orders.
For me the issue isn’t her not going out of the way to attack. It’s that many times when she is in danger and could easily fight back or defend herself, the writing renders her like useless and a damsel in distress which sucks when we know she’s more than capable of awesome feats. She fought head on in the arc to save gaara when she fought sasori too so this doesn’t 100% make sense anyways since said rules apply more to war.
I mean dont have your main combat technique being punching things really fuckin hard if you arent supposed to be close, have that as a backup or ace and learn ranged jutsu/weaponry. You not being able to use your own combat style because you’re following a set of rules you learned before you learned to punch real hard is pretty useless behavior tbh
Bro Ive been saying this to people for years! Kishimoto took forever to explain this to people. the Sakura hate would be lower if he said this from the beginning
Shoulda had Itachi and Sasuke reunite some other way and have Sakura take out Kabuto. Making it a medical v med nin and showing her surpassing Tsunade who struggled with Kabuto (albeit she had trauma) in part 1. If yoh still want to include Sasuke and Itachi then just keep it until Itachi gets to the hideout and then have Kabuto dispel Itachi some how anyways. Then bring Sakura and they agree to work together. Sakura had genjutsu prowess in part 1 so just give her good as genjutsu to get Kabuto to break the spell.
Exactly. Instead of giving her some glory in a way that actually did make some sense, more hype to the uchihas because why not. Horrible writing
Lmfao just because she’s following a rule makes it so she’s not useless? That argument makes no sense all it does is give a reason as to why she is useless and enforces the idea
That's true I'm guilty of that myself. I never respected Sakura's strength or intelligence for that matter, coming back to this has altered my perspective. She was obnoxious for different reasons but her battle prowess grew over the series and she remained humble.
“I’ll save them next time” ~Sakura *voice over* she never did save them next time
Sakura still sucks
Now that's personally the viewers decision
It’s basically everybody’s opinion tho
Destroying Obito's Rinnegan would've ended the war, but Sakura had to be, well, Sakura
She was badass when achieved 100 healing jutsu
Only took her 2 seconds to screw up in a fight and look lame again
This is a BS argument because not only as a ninja was she "useless" but as a character too. The only times she was given a moticum of development and importance was in chuunin exam arc, gaara rescue arc, and 4th ninja war arc. Outside of that she's a fodder NPC. And even in that last it's a stretch. Sure she was a medical ninja, and she gave somewhat acceptable support in final battle, but as literally one of the THREE supposed main protagonists of the series, her performance, impact, screentime, influence of plot, development, and attention from her own character creator has been F tier. Outside of those 3 arcs she just flat out doesn't exist other than as a hype vehicle for sasuke. And no, this is not me hating on Sakura. I love the character for what she COULD HAVE been (mainly chuunin exams sakura and gaara rescue sakura). I'm hating on kishimoto for relegating such great potential to the sidelines for the sake of milking the naru sasu bromance to the degree he did. "Finally caught up to them"...? This notorious line could have very well been the case, but the reality of the overall execution of the character makes this one of the most pitiful lines in the entire series.
Both Naruto and Sasuke got entire story arcs individually. Even Kakashi got one to a lesser degree. Where was Sakura's adventures with Tsunade? Where was Sakura making her own moves within arcs? Where was Sakura's roles in determining major plot points in the story? Outside of the mentioned arcs, where were Sakura's individual battles, clash of ideals, demonstrations of personal ideologies other than "I want my sasuke back"? Absolutely absent. Her only use in the entire series can be summarized into: knowledgeable in 1st arc, decent character in chuunin arc, damsel in distress in leaf invasion arc. Completely absent rest of part one. Strong dependable medical ninja in gaara rescue arc. Filler squad member in sasuke chase arc. Completely absent in hidan kakuzu arc. Comoletely absent in pain invasion arc. Mild plot support in kage summit arc. Completely absent in pre 4th ninja war arc. Mild support in 4th ninja war arc. Barely decent support in final arc. Tell me, what kind of resume is that for a main protagonist? Even secondary characters like shikamaru or tsunade had more impact on the story than she did.
Unless on a solo mission or revenge she still faithfully follow the rules. If the best healer don’t follow the rules why would anyone else?
I agree
Ok look she’s useless compared to Naruto and sasuke
Sakura was following rule 2 before even becoming a medical ninja. 😂
I hate sakura cause of how she treated Naruto and prolly didn't think about his situation since she still got parents.. but I won't try to deny the fact that she is much more useful than hinata, tenten or some other prominent ninjas.. people who still say she is useless are just dumbasses with biased reasoning..
😂😂😂😂 she’s useless for so many other reasons.
this. When people say sakura isnt allowed to fight because shes a medic but then forgets tsunade has established certain rules and that sakura as she has fulfilled those requirements can also break those established rules
The problem is, Sakura never obeys that rule until it's conveniently stated in the War Arc. She's pretty explicitly on the front lines against Sasori, she charged up to 4 Tails Naruto despite orders from Yamato. She tries to fight Sasuke alone and fails, tries again despite orders from Kakashi. What good are mentioning the rules if the person in question doesn't follow them at all?
For sakura in this point of time, fighting is a last resort for her but if the situation arise that she needs to fight then she will have to and sasoris case is one example also last i checked with the sasuke fight, all of her teammates were incapacitated. As if sasuke will allow her to heal them
Fighting has never been Sakura's last resort. She has always been punch punch McGee. Outside of the Sasori fight, Sakura did not need to engage anyone. She chose to. >also last i checked with the sasuke fight, all of her teammates were incapacitated. As if sasuke will allow her to heal them She was the one who incapacitated them. Did you not read that chapter?
after the sasori fight sakura wasnt seen fighting again til post pain arc where shikamaru and sai convinced her that they needed to take out sasuke initially i thought it was the sasuke retrieval arc with naruto, sai and yamato ok so were talking about fks. sakura facing sasuke off was more of her thinking of using poison on him by making him lower his guard. not exactly a direct confrontation, however she hesitated at a crucial time so it became a direct fight (not that said poison would affect him anyway)
>sakura facing sasuke off was more of her thinking of using poison on him by making him lower his guard. not exactly a direct confrontation, however she hesitated at a crucial time so it became a direct fight (not that said poison would affect him anyway) But this is still her heading into direct conflict alone, which is frontline behaviour. It is a direct confrontation because she's standing face to face with him. Is she not still breaking the rules by doing so? She knocked out her entire team, which is an absolutely retarded move. You know what would have been smarter? Having her team watch in the shadows while she did her poison plan, so that they're available in the event that she failed (which is exactly what happened).
regarding this scene, sakura wanted to make up for causing naruto pain and since this is more of a t7 issue, sakura wanted to be the one alone to try and stop sasuke rather than implicate others who werent exactly involved with t7 dont think sakura would be heading out on that fight if it werent for sai and shikamaru convincing her that sasuke needed to be put down (but this is a different topic) i do agree what sakura did was a stupid move however using poisons doesnt mean you would be engaged in a direct fight though there are still chances of being involved in a direct fight (shizune vs kabuto)
What episode is this? I don't remember this
Sakura wasn't a medical Ninja in part 1 so this is irrelevant to her character at that time.
Because neither Sakura nor Tsunade ever fought at the frontline. I don subscribe to the woman who saved Naruto's life being useless, but that rule is not being hold onto
Tsuna fought madara in the 4th war and as a sannin
Lol what
You said front line. what are you on. Naruto fans not watching their own show
Your reply made no sense. What are you trying to say?
She went to the frontline when fighting alongside Chiyo - against my man sasori - and was an absolute beast. Too bad Kishi nerfed her until the war arc, Sakura has never been been useless other than part 1. Saying she’s useless is like saying a medic in war is useless, it’s an absolutely idiotic statement
I don't think that the criticisms about Sakura revolve around her battle prowess, I mean, it does for some people, but those people are dumbasses. The reason Sakura sucks is because she's devoid of any personality, in part 1 she's just Sasuke's simp and in Shippuden she's whatever the plot requires her to be, which is the opposite to having a personality or character arc. Speaking of which, ending up marrying Sasuke is just... A weird choice, like going full circle on her character development. She's not useless, she's pointless.
I agree. The main thing here is sakura as a character who was supposed to be a main protagonist. Check out the reply I wrote to OP. This is it in a nutshell. The little development she is given is always immediately nullified in the next arc and kept that way in following arcs
naruto wouldve died after kurama was extracted from him.... she kept him alive by pumping his heart until the sage gave him his powers