Sakura Haruno

is a main character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

The name Haruno means "spring" and Sakura means "cherry blossom", which is cherished in Japan due to its beauty and almost tragically short life span (cherry blossoms have historically been associated with samurai). In Japanese, Haru no Sakura means "cherry blossom of spring", which may be an origin of the name.

In the June 2006 issue of the American version of Shonen Jump, Masashi Kishimoto (in the voice of Kakashi) stated that Sakura would make the best ninja instructor and that "she has flaws in her personality, like stalking Sasuke, but Sakura is the closest to being normal".

Background
Sakura Haruno is a member of Kakashi Hatake's Team 7, originally consisting of herself, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sasuke Uchiha. Contrary to her teammates, Sakura did not experience any kind of tragedy during her childhood, however she was picked on. Because of this, she takes for granted things Naruto and Sasuke wish they had, most particularly a loving parent. Sakura's favorite foods are syrup-coated anko dumplings and umeboshi, with her least favorite being anything spicy. Her favorite phrases are and. Sakura's parents have never been revealed in the manga or anime, however her mother's voice was heard in episode 3 of the anime, and again in 53.

Personality
Sakura's character is primarily focused on her relationship with her two teammates, Sasuke and Naruto. Throughout the series, her top priority is constantly to protect them both. Her current goals are still to save Sasuke and to protect Naruto.

At the start of the series, Sakura has a deep infatuation for Sasuke, rooted primarily in his good looks, cunning, cool attitude, and prodigious talents. For that reason, many of Sakura's early appearances are dedicated to her continuing effort to win his affection. Sasuke told her that she was "annoying" because of this, which deeply troubled her. As time progressed, she began to know Sasuke more as a real person with imprefections instead of the cool, flawless boy she had had a crush on. As she learned more about his past and spent more time with him, her schoolgirl crush developed into sincere, loving feelings as she began to care for him as a person who needed her. The growth of her feelings for Sasuke also sparked the growth in herself, changing from a shallow girl obsessed with good-looking boys to someone who would do anything to protect the person she cared most about. Sakura also began to fear that Sasuke would eventually leave her in his quest for power. When Sasuke finally defects from Konoha, Sakura offers to join him in his self-destructive quest for revenge rather than leave his side, an offer Sasuke refuses. She has since joined Naruto in his quest to bring Sasuke back, determined not to be useless like she was before. Her tender feelings have since hardened as not to be weak, and she has even adopted Naruto's notion to use force to bring him back to Konoha. Sakura, even now, continually shows that Sasuke is still the most important thing in her life and that he is the driving force behind everything she does in Part II, just as it had been since the very beginning of the series.

Sakura's relationship with Naruto, like with Sasuke, also changes throughout the series. Despite Naruto's crush on her, Sakura, as with the rest of the village, saw Naruto as a burden, and she was less than enthusiastic at being assigned to the same team as him. Due to his attempts to win her heart, which in turn ruins her chances to win Sasuke's, Sakura viewed Naruto as a talentless idiot out to ruin her life. However, similar to Sasuke, as they spent more time together as teammates, Sakura came to realize that her initial view of Naruto was wrong. When Sasuke defected from Konoha, she turns to Naruto believing him to be the only one able to bring Sasuke back. As such Naruto would in turn dedicate his next mission and 2½ years of training to fulfill this promise, and better himself to fight the Akatsuki. After the failed Retrieval mission, Sakura resolves that she will be there for Naruto from now on. By Part II, when she learns the extent of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's relationship with Naruto, and the Akatsuki's goal to capture Naruto, she has grown a desire to protect Naruto herself. Yamato has seen that Sakura feels very strongly for Naruto, however his analysis was interrupted by a waking Naruto, leaving at: "It's not what you do for Naruto that counts, but the strength of your feelings. Hmph, Sakura, I can tell just by looking at you..., in reality you..." . Sai has also brought up the subject before on their way to retrieve Sasuke. Sakura grows to be very close to and fond of Naruto, due to their spending a lot of time together, their similarities in personality, and their shared goal of finding and saving Sasuke. While Sasuke is her "reason" for getting stronger and for pretty much everything she does, Naruto is her inspiration.

Within Sakura resides "Inner Sakura," a manifestation of her inner emotions.Inner Sakura represents Sakura's actual opinion on things when she outwardly displays something opposite. Inner Sakura's appearances are typically marked by an exclamation of "Shānnarō!" (しゃーんなろー). The phrase has no literal meaning, but is usually translated as "Hell yeah!", "Hell no!", or "Damn it!", depending on the situation. The English anime, for censorship reasons replaced the aforementioned phrases with a forceful "Cha!" Inner Sakura is unique as it is in a way a second will within Sakura's mind. When the Mind Body Switch Technique was used on her, Inner Sakura was able to repel the user from her body, suggesting that inner Sakura is a split personality, as Sakura comments she is a girl with "two minds". Although she appears quite frequently at the start of the series, Inner Sakura all but disappears midway through Part I, and rarely appears in Part II. The reason behind this is that she no longer needs to hide her true feelings or reactions behind a fake smile, finally allowing herself to truly say whats on her mind. However, because Inner Sakura usually possessed somewhat violent reaction to things, Sakura is prone to violent outbursts which is not helped by a her chakra- enhanced strength.

As a ninja Sakura felt as though she was in the background, not being able to help anybody. Then in the chunin exams she made a resolution not to let anybody down and to be in the front line instead of falling behind. She kept this resolution when she asked Tsunade if she could become her apprentice after the mission to retrieve Sasuke failed in order to make herself better as a ninja and a person. After training hard for two and a half years she has finally been able to pull her own weight and creating a strong desire to protect her comrades. She has made herself stronger through her training with her Master and still won't give up on saving Sasuke and Naruto. While Sakura does have a very strong personality in her, she also has a softer side.

Another large part of Sakura's personality has to do with her friendship and rivalry with Ino Yamanaka. During her early years in the Academy, Sakura was frequently bullied by others due to her large forehead. To try and combat this, Sakura used her bangs to hide her forehead, fueling the other kids' teasing by indicating she was sensitive about it. Ino Yamanaka, realizing this, gave Sakura a ribbon to accent her face and help Sakura overcome her phobia about her forehead. As such, the two became good friends and Sakura was in time able to develop her own unique personality thanks to Ino. Despite this, Sakura felt she was living in Ino's shadow and longed to be able to prove herself as Ino's equal. When it later became clear that both were infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura ended their friendship so that the two could properly compete for Sasuke's affection, thus beginning a bitter rivalry between the two.

Later, during the Chunin exams the two rekindle their friendship after fighting on equal levels but still consistently argue over guys. They mainly fight over Sasuke.

Appearance
Sakura is said to be very attractive, as shown by Naruto and Lee's crush on her. She has bright pink hair and green eyes. Masashi Kishimoto has stated in an interview that Sakura was supposed to be "cute", but has also said that, because of his inexperience in drawing female characters, she was "far from cute" at the beginning of the series. He and his staff agreed that she's become cuter through the series.

Sakura's outfit has changed in the series. At the beginning, Sakura wore a red dress, that bears strong resemblance to a Chinese qipao dress, with white circular designs (possibly her clan symbol), the traditional dark blue forehead protector which she used to accent her face, and dark green shorts. The shorts became shorter and tighter as the series progressed in order to show Sakura was becoming more active. Sakura aquired a new outfit during the timeskip consisting of tight black shorts, the heeled sandals Tsunade and Shizune wear(knee-high), and a light-colored pinkish apron. (Notably, Rin is also depicted wearing this apron.) Her forehead protector has changed to red in color. She was also designed with the same basic red top as in Part I. She now also wears black gloves and pinkish elbow protectors with this outfit.

Another notable trait of Sakura's appearance is her hair. At the series start, Sakura's hair was grown very long. (When she was young, there was a rumor that Sasuke Uchiha was attracted to girls with long hair.) After Sakura was forced to protect the unconscious bodies of Sasuke and Naruto after their battle with Orochimaru, Kin Tsuchi grabbed Sakura's hair and taunted her for paying more attention to her appearance than practicing her jutsu. Kin kept Sakura captive, holding her tightly by the hair and forcing her to watch Zaku attack Sasuke. This caused Sakura to cut her hair to release Kin's hold on her, and determinedly attacking Team Dosu with a new goal of surpassing her teammates. Sakura kept her new, shoulder-length hair style for the rest of the series.

Later, during the timeskip, she grows her hair again, as shown in a flashback, but later cuts it.

Survival Test arc
Upon being assigned as a member of Team 7, Sakura spent much her time trying to appeal to Sasuke despite the fact that Sasuke had no interest in her and had a habit of belittling her. All the while, Naruto tried to appeal to Sakura, despite the fact that she had no interest in him and degraded him whenever given the opportunity. As such, when Kakashi administered a test on the three to see if they would be allowed to become Genin, Sakura preoccupied herself with following Sasuke instead of helping Naruto. After Kakashi lectured Sakura for this as well as Naruto and Sasuke for their respective faults, Sakura realized that if they are to become Genin, they would need to work as a team, even if that meant breaking the rules. This revelation having been the goal of the test, Kakashi passed the three, Team 7 being the first group to have ever passed his test.

Wave Country arc
When Team 7 set out on their first mission to the Land of Waves, Sakura was left in charge of protecting Tazuna while Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi fought the enemy. When Sasuke appeared to have died in battle, Sakura violated Shinobi Rule #25 of not showing any kind of emotions by crying for Sasuke's loss even as she recited it. When Sasuke turned out to have only been in a death-trance, Sakura was relieved that he was alive. Once their mission was completed, Team 7 returned to Konoha.

Chunin Exam arc
When Kakashi first told them that he had signed them up for the Chunin Exams, Sakura hadn't wanted to participate, acknowledging that she was far too weak to compete in such an event. However, as they were enterring the building for the first part of the exam, Sasuke noticed her discontent and later gave her a smile and complimented her Genjutsu abilities in order to give her some confidence. Sakura afterwards felt much more reassured, and her worries vanished.

During the written portion of the Chunin Exams, Sakura was one of the few Genin capable of answering the test's questions without cheating. Realizing that Naruto wasn't smart enough to answer the questions correctly or think of cheating, Sakura contemplated disqualifying Team 7 so that Naruto didn't need to. She thought about Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage, and she smiled and said that she didn't want his dream to die. When Naruto proclaimed that he won't back down from the test, Sakura decided against it, and Team 7 passed.

Soon after the start of the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Team 7 was attacked by Orochimaru. Although Naruto and Sasuke did their best to defeat Orochimaru, both were rendered unconscious and Sakura was left to take care of them. When they were attacked by a group of Sound Genin sent by Orochimaru to kill Sasuke, Sakura tried to defeat them with some traps she had preprepared, though the group easily avoided her efforts. Just as the Sound Genin were about to turn their attention to Sakura, Rock Lee came to her rescue, determined to protect Sakura at all costs. Despite using techniques he was forbidden to use, Lee was defeated and the Sound Genin again turned their attention to Sakura. Kin Tsuchi immobilized Sakura by grabbing her hair, scolding her for putting more effort in her looks than her abilities as a ninja.

Distraught that people were always fighting for her because she couldn't fight for herself, Sakura resolved to better herself as a ninja. Cutting off her hair to release herself from Kin's grasp, Sakura did what she could to fend off the Sound Genin, even going so far as biting to make sure that she couldn't be easily repelled. This display spurred Ino and her team into coming to Sakura's aid, allowing the latter to rest. An unconscious Sasuke re-awakened after receiving Orochimaru's cursed mark, and the first thing he did was to ask Sakura who injured her. Quickly overcome by his new cursed mark, he began a violent rampage on the sound nins who were present. Frightened by his new behavior and realizing that "this is not Sasuke-kun", a tearful Sakura rushed to his side and embraced him, begging him to stop. Her tearful words and embrace got through to him, and his cursed seal quickly receded.

In the preliminary matches of the exam, Sakura was pitted against Ino. After Sakura and Ino exchanged insults, Ino followed Sakura's earlier example and cut her hair, leading Sakura to believe that Ino had lost her mind. In actuality, Ino cut her hair to help her in battle; by sending chakra into her cut hair, Ino was able to tie Sakura in place, allowing her slow moving Mind Body Switch Technique to have no difficulties in finding its target. After taking control of Sakura's body, Ino tried to force Sakura to forfeit, though Inner Sakura stopped Ino before she could do so and forced Ino from her body. With both girls exhausted from the amount of effort they'd been putting into their fight, Ino and Sakura charged at each other to deal final blows. Striking each other simultaneously, both were knocked out, leading to a draw. As the two recovered, Ino and Sakura began to rekindle their friendship.

When the invasion of Konoha began, Sakura was one of the few Genin present who was able to repel the sleep inducing Genjutsu, in large part due to her control over her own chakra. Because of this, Sakura was assigned by Kakashi to wake Naruto so that they could follow Sasuke. Upon catching up with Sasuke, Sakura protected him from Gaara's attacks, risking her life to put herself between him and danger with nothing but a kunai knife. Gaara used his sand to immobilize her, and as the sand slowly suffocated Sakura, Naruto fought to defeat Gaara. Both Naruto and Sasuke went to great lengths to save her. After Naruto defeated Gaara, Sakura was freed. Later, Sakura thanked Sasuke for saving her, but he explained to her that it was Naruto who had saved her, and she turned to smile at Naruto, not noticing the jealous scowl on Sasuke's face as she did so.

Sasuke Retrieval arc
When Sasuke attempted to abandon Konoha so that he could go to Orochimaru for power, Sakura met him at the village's exit. Notably, she was the only one to realize what he was planning to do. Sakura did what she could to stop him. She admitted that he always acted like he hated her and revealed that he rarely spoke to her, though he stated that he couldn't remember these things. When it seemed that he was still going to leave, she offered to help him in his quest for power, so long as she could be with him. Sasuke then turned to her and called her annoying but smiled as he did so. Sakura then threatened to scream and alert the village of his betrayal. Sasuke, apparently affected by her words and tears, gave her a soft "thank you", something he rarely ever said to anybody, before knocking her unconscious and leaving the village.

When Naruto set out the next day to retrieve Sasuke, Sakura begged for him to bring Sasuke back, believing Naruto to be the only person who could get through to Sasuke. Naruto, looking at the crying Sakura, promised her that he would bring Sasuke back, making it his promise to her for a lifetime. Naruto assured her that he understood her pain, reminding Sakura of what she had said to Naruto (while he was impersonating Sasuke) near the beginning of the series. This brought more tears as Sakura realized that Naruto knew how she felt and that he had always been there for her.

After Naruto failed to bring Sasuke back and lies in a hospital bed, he apologized to Sakura for failing to bring back Sasuke and asserted that he will definitely keep his promise. Sakura regarded Naruto and saw his injuries and determination. She thought about how little she had done to help stop Sasuke, unlike Naruto. Inspired by Naruto's determination, she replied that next time they would retrieve Sasuke together and that she would be there to help him from now on. Determined to never be useless again and to save Sasuke and help Naruto, Sakura then asked Tsunade to become her apprentice, a request to which Tsunade happily accepted.

Anime Filler arcs
Little was seen of Sakura during the filler arcs, much of her time being preoccupied with training. When she did go out on missions with her fellow Genin, Sakura served as the medical specialist, healing the wounds of others and examining bodies. Ino, jealous of Sakura's newfound healing abilities, asked to train with Sakura to be a medical ninja. To Ino's dismay, Sakura immediately proclaimed that Ino would be her junior during the course of the training.

Part II
After Naruto's 2½ year training Sakura was one of the villagers to greet him. She asked him if she looked any different now, but Naruto was clueless to the fact that she was searching for a compliment to her matured look, and he remarked that she looked exactly the same. Not long afterwards she displayed some of what she gained from her training with Tsunade when she punched Naruto for attempting to reveal a new perverted technique that was designed to put the Sexy Technique to shame. Kakashi would gather the two remaining members of Team Kakashi together for another bell test, in which Naruto and Sakura had to work together to retrieve the bells. Again Sakura shocked Naruto and Kakashi as well by displaying her excellent chakra-enhanced strength. But even then it wasn't enough to slow down Kakashi. It was only Naruto's plan to spoil the latest entry of Jiraiya's book did they manage to get past Kakashi's Sharingan.

Rescue Gaara arc
When Gaara was kidnapped by the Akatsuki, Team 7 was sent to help in rescuing him. After arriving in Sunagakure, Sakura was sent in immediately to help save Kankuro. Just in the nick of time Sakura used a highly advanced technique to save him and used the poison she extracted to make three antidotes. As Team 7 set out to pursue Gaara's captors, they were joined by Chiyo. After finding Gaara, Sakura and Chiyo battled an Akatsuki member Sasori, while Naruto and Kakashi follow his partner, Deidara. By guiding her as a puppet, Chiyo was able to help Sakura in avoiding Sasori's poisoned attacks, allowing Sakura to use her superior strength to destroy Sasori's puppets. As the battle progressed Sasori summoned a puppet of the Third Kazekage, which could create iron sand, and Sakura's strength was really put to the test. While fighting the Third Kazekage puppet, Sakura began to pick up on Sasori's movements and dodging his attacks. Even Chiyo was impressed with how quickly Sakura picked up on Sasori's attacks and stated that Sakura was doing well without her help. Sakura was able to destroy the Kazekage puppet by feigning unconsciousness and then using her insane strength to destroy the puppet when Sasori moved the puppet in to insure the kill. After this, Sakura displayed her considerable Taijutsu skills by destroying many of the puppets in Sasori's Performance of a Hundred Puppets Technique while Chiyo was busy controlling her Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu Technique. When Sasori tried to kill Chiyo, Sakura used herself as a human shield and was stabbed to protect her, giving Chiyo the opportunity to stab Sasori through the heart. Even as Sasori stabbed her through the stomach Sakura began healing her wounds while the sword was still in her body. Despite her healing ability, Sakura's wound was too great and she didn't have enough chakra to heal herself fully. Chiyo used her Resurrection Technique on Sakura but because Sakura was not dead yet, Chiyo didn't have to give all of her life-energy to complete the resurrection. Before Sasori died, he rewards Sakura for her survival by telling her of a spy within Orochimaru's ranks that he was scheduled to meet in ten days from that day. As Chiyo surrendered the rest of her energy to perform the Resurrection technique to save Gaara, she said to Sakura not to give her life for an old woman and that someday she would surpass her master as a female ninja. Team 7 returned to Konoha, and now had an opportunity to find Sasuke with Sakura's newfound information.

Sasuke and Sai arc
After returning to Konoha, Kakashi was left bedridden, leaving Yamato to lead in his stead. Sai was also added to the team as Sasuke's replacement, though Sai's insults towards his predecessor caused conflict amongst the team. At one point, Sakura violently punched Sai across the face and sent him flying, threatening to do worse if he ever bad-mouthed Sasuke again. Later, she and Naruto only agreed to work with him because they believed he would help them save Sasuke. Their mission, a meeting with the spy, turned out to be a trap and Naruto was left heavily injured in his battle with Orochimaru. Sakura was shocked by Naruto's transformation, being that this was her first time to see him in his demon fox form. When Kabuto commented on how this is now a fight between monsters and not shinobi, Sakura ran after Naruto trying to stop him, crying out that she would save Sasuke for him, but Naruto in his four-tailed form attacked Sakura with a single swipe of his tail. The poison from the demon fox's chakra harmed her, but Kabuto healed her, saying that they both want to get rid of the Akatsuki. After Yamato supressed the demon fox's chakra from Naruto, which made him unconscious, Sakura healed his wounds, asking Yamato if there was anything else she could learn to be of more use in protecting Naruto. Yamato realized that Sakura wanted to be there for Naruto, so he reminded her that its the strength of her feelings for Naruto that counts. While Yamato was going to suggest that she felt something more for him, Naruto woke up before he could finish. After the group navigated their way to Orochimaru's hideout, they found Sasuke after much searching of the lair. Uninterested in returning to Konoha, Sasuke attacked the team, and Sakura, determined to bring him home, attempted to attack him, but Yamato jumped in before she could. Despite their efforts, Sasuke managed to escape, and Sakura sheded tears because, once again, she had failed to stop Sasuke from leaving. She promised to get stronger alongside Naruto. Team 7 then returned to Konoha.

Fire Temple Filler arc
While watching Naruto continue his training and helping out by making him food pills, Sakura was ordered to go to the Fire Temple with her team. When their guide to the temple was late, Sakura joined Yamato in searching for him. After finding Chiriku, the leader of the Fire Temple, Sakura and Yamato found Naruto fighting against a young monk named Sora.

At the Fire Temple Sakura and her team were told about near-extinct Twelve Ninja Guardian and how one of deceased member's corpse was stolen. She found it very selfish six of the members were will to start a pointless war against Konoha simply to further their power in the Fire Country. Sakura and her team later went in pursuit of three other Ninja guardian corpses. Unfortunately, Sakura and the others found themselves trapped in a giant rock canyon. Inside, Sakura was seperated from her team and attacked by a giant spider. She fortunately was saved by Sai. She and Sai then went to find Naruto, who was at the mercy of Fuka's soul absorbing power (although Sakura furiously thought Naruto was making out with the enemy).

Later during the attack on Konoha, Sakura did her part as medical ninja, healing all injured people she came across until she was told to aid Asuma at the power plant. There she discovered that the four lightning chakra users of the Ninja Guardians were resurrected to use the dreaded Limelight jutsu. She was then orderd by Asuma to stop one of the four. She was intercepted by Fuen who trapped her in a unique Genjutsu. However, Sakura had already analyzed Fuen's attack patterns and deviced a counter-manuever. She then tricked Fuen into revealing herself, allowing Sakura to strike her hard. She then ridiculed Fuen for not knowing her own limitations before finishing her off with a ground crushing punch, causing Fuen's defensive barrier around Konoha to disappear.

After discovering that her intended Ninja Guardian target turned into dirt, she rushed back to help Asuma. There she found that Sora was infused with some of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's chakra and was being controlled by it. While wanting to help, Naruto told Sakura to stay back. After Naruto managed to save Sora, Sakura immediately went to work healing Naruto.

Hidan and Kakuzu arc
Sakura came to Team 10's aid in their fight against Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu. Because Shikamaru Nara was separated from the rest of the group, Sai and Sakura were sent as backup for him, though upon arrival they found that Shikamaru had already defeated his opponent. Having not taken part in the battle, Sakura returned to Konoha with the others, and later healed the damage to Naruto's arm from the use of his new jutsu. Later, Sakura joined Naruto and Sai at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Naruto had diffuculty eating and Sakura remembers touching words Naruto said to her. Based on this she offered to feed him. Naruto becomes greatly excited by this. Then Sai started feeding him instead to which Naruto furiously reminded Sai that if he should try that again he should be aware of the intimate moment Sakura and him were having.

As they left they encounter Konohamaru (in anime, alongside with Udon and Moegi), who demonstrated some of his newly created perverted jutsu for Naruto, who having not grown out of his perversion, reacted in a way similar to Jiraiya. Although she berated Naruto and Konohamaru for their practice of creating perverted jutsu, she fell prey to Konohamaru's Sexy: Double Knockout Guys Technique, which took the form of a naked Sasuke and Sai in a suggestive embrace and reacted like Naruto did. Shocked at how she reacted, she tried to dismiss her outburst, but the others were unbelieving.

Three Tails Arrival Filler Arc
Sakura, Sai, and Yamato are ready to go and back up Kakashi and the others, but they're waiting for Naruto, which is taking too long because he's training with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. Eventually, she loses her patience and retrieves him herself.

Later, Sakura and the rest of her team find that the area Team 8 is located in has been surrounded by crystal. She stands back and watches in amazement that at Naruto's new synchronizing jutsu with Gamatatsu that demolishes it.

Quickly, she and her team then find Kakashi's team, and is horrified to see that Hinata was captured in crystal. After successfully freeing Hinata from the crystal, Sakura stayed behind with Hinata to help her recover.

Hunt for Uchiha
When news reached Konoha that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru and left Otogakure, Sakura and Naruto were the first to join Kakashi's 8-Man Squad and began the hunt. During her search, she barely missed a member of Sasuke's Team Hawk, Karin, and followed Deidara's suicide explosion to regroup. When Kiba caught Sasuke's scent, the group followed until they encountered Deidara's former partner, Tobi.

Post Hunt for Uchiha
Sakura was present when Jiraiya's death was revealed to Naruto. Naruto then blamed his death on Tsunade, which Kakashi scolded him for his disrespect. Naruto stormed off and Sakura asked him where he was going but was stopped by Tsunade who told her to give Naruto time to deal with Jiraiya's death. Afterwards, she then tried to convince Shikamaru to help Tsunade figure out Jiraiya's code. Later, when Naruto was pestering Tsunade about the autopsy reports, Sakura told Naruto about the delicacy of the autopsies and mentioned that since Shizune was leading it, it would go fast. As Naruto was about to go pester her to speed it up, Sakura declared she'd never forgive him if he bugged Shizune. Sakura was then shocked to hear Naruto announce that he will avenge Jiraiya and that he refuses to wait around. Sakura, trying to help Tsunade and Naruto in any way she could, was then assigned with Shikamaru and Shiho to figure out what the code meant and how it could unlock a way to defeat the mysterious Pain.

Invasion of Pain arc
After hearing an explosion from the Code-breakers department, Shikamaru and Sakura headed towards the location. She then killed Pain's huge centipede summon with a single punch, by which other ninja were impressed. She went over to the girl who would've been crushed by the centipede and healed her knee. Iruka came over and told her what was going on, to which she was shocked that the Akatsuki would attack directly. Sakura then headed towards Konoha Hospital to treat the injured, which was starting to fill up. While at the hospital, Sakura was having trouble healing the amount of patients flowing in. After Pain unleashes Shinra Tensei, Sakura was saved by Katsuyu only to see the devastation of what Pain's jutsu had done to Konoha. Shocked and stunned, Sakura cried as she called for Naruto's return. Naruto returned moments later and Sakura was helped by a member of the Hyuga clan to see what was happening. She was relieved, happy, and greatly impressed by what the Hyuga told her about Naruto. Sakura later heals Tsunade while telling her she did great. Unfortunately, her joy soon turns to horror as she learns that Naruto has once again transformed, this time to a six-tailed form. Sakura then takes command and because of Naruto and Pain moving away from the village decides to try and retrieve Hinata.

Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Sakura joined her fellow members of Team 7 on a mission to protect the actor Yukie Fujikaze, as she and the production group she worked for, traveled to the Land of Snow. Throughout the movie, Sakura encountered the Snow shinobi Mizore Fuyukuma and eventually distracted him with her Sakura Blizzard Technique. Sakura also used her intelligence to pin-point the area that Sasuke needs to set the net. Finally, the two ninja of the snow died when their chakra armor collided and "zapped" them. She was later seen looking out at the newly created Spring country holding Sasuke Uchiha.

Legend of the Stone of Gelel
Sakura was sent out on a team with Naruto and Shikamaru to deliver a pet ferret to a village where it could be picked up by its rightful owners. After arriving and finding the village in ruins, they were attacked by mysterious warriors led by Temujin, a knight wielding the power of the stone of Gelel. Their conflict with him resulted in Sakura and Shikamaru becoming separated from Naruto, only to rejoin him later after several conflicts with Temujin's allies. During a final battle with the wolf-like Fugai, Sakura killed her by using metal pillars to reflect her ear-splitting howl, which caused the pillars to collapse in on her.

Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
Sakura was assigned along with Naruto and Rock Lee to protect the Land of the Moon's prince during his world trip. Sakura also displayed some of the immense strength learned from Tsunade by destroying a wall with a single punch and her improved Taijutsu skills during a fight with Genjutsu user Karenbana, who was hired to kill the prince. Sakura got trapped in Karenbana's Genjutsu technique, but shattered a chandelier above the two combatants’ heads with a thrown shuriken, causing glass to fall on the floor. Sakura was then able to hear Karenbana's movements by the sound of the glass crunching under her feet. Sakura delivered a bone crushing punch to Karenbana's jaw ending the Genjutsu and the fight.

Shippūden the Movie
Sakura was assigned with to protect and escort the Demon Country priestess Shion to the tomb of the ancient demon Mouryō. To aid her in this mission, she was joined by Naruto, Rock Lee, and Neji (who was assigned as team captain). During their arrival at the temple, Sakura and her team were forced to face off against a group of ninja with unusually powerful mastery of element Ninjutsu. Sakura used her tremendous strength to aid Lee in fighting them off as Neji went in search for the priestess. During the journey to Mouryō's tomb, Sakura was put in charge of caring Shion, something the latter claimed was very uncomfortable (causing Sakura to to go in a fit of rage). After a hard battle, Sakura was able to join her team in taking down their opponents by first tricking them into using up their medically-enhanced chakra.

Abilities
At the start of the series, Sakura's only defining characteristic is her intelligence, largely due to her interest in memorizing things and the taking of quizzes while in the Academy. Because of this, Sakura has shown to have very keen talent for observation and analyzing. Through this, she can easily see through most deceptions and misdirections an opponent may use on her.

However, as she has focus so much on her book studies, it had greatly affected her physical performance. While in the academy, she excelled in basic practice of Ninjutsu and kunoichi training, her prowess on the actual field of combat was much weaker. Her stamina and fighting skills were below average. However, as the series continue Sakura’s abilities grows as she becomes the apprentice to Tsunade.

Chakra Control
Soon after the start of her first mission, however, Sakura discovers that she has an excellent control over her chakra, and as such she has an innate ability to use jutsu to their maximum efficiency without wasting any chakra. While this particular ability is never put to great use in Part I. In the fight against Ino during the Chunin preliminaries, she was able to create two clones, which confused Ino, send chakra to her feet for bursts of speed, and attack Ino at pin-point timing.

Her chakra control becomes a focal point of Sakura's fighting style in Part II, as it helps her control chakra to her fists to reduce things to rubble by a simple punch.

Substitution and Clone Timing
Sakura is a well-accomplished user of the substitution technique, and her timing for it is quite advanced. During the fight against the three Sound Genin during the Forest of Death arc, she managed to pull over two substitution techniques, and timily attacks Zaku with a kunai. Her substitution technique seems to be the only technique, along with the Clone Technique, she was able to perform during the whole Chunin Exam arc. In the Fight against Ino Sakura was able to create two clones to confuse Ino and attacking her at perfect timing. Later, in the fight against Kabuto, she uses a perfectly timed substitution technique to run at Kabuto with a bunch of kunai, which wasn't that effective.

Medical Techniques and Strategical Analysis
Sakura's natural control of her chakra has been taken to new heights over the time skip, an ability utilized to its fullest by the training she has done with Tsunade. With her excellent chakra control, Sakura has turned into an excellent combat Medical-nin, and has shown herself to be able to heal fatal injuries with relatively little effort even when more experienced medics would deem it a lost cause. SHe has also shown to be able to heal herself even though she was poisoned and bleeding. In her training to become a Medic-nin, Sakura has also acquired the ability to pick up on an enemy's movements in a short period of time as a good field medic needs to be able to survive a battle and avoid injury if he or she is to fulfill his or her purpose and heal other members of his or her team. This ability allows her to predict what attack an opponent will use seconds before an attack and then dodge it quickly and easily.

Taijutsu and Genjutsu
In close combat, Sakura's Taijutsu skills has gained tremendous growth thanks to Tsunade's constant battle drills to better protect herself should she find it impossible to avoid battle. To further aid her in that situation, she can rely on the super strength taught to her by Tsunade. By building up and releasing her chakra with precise timing, Sakura can easily decimate any obstacle and turn it to rubble. An opponent struck by her full strength can suffer from anything ranging from instant death, broken bones, ruptured organs, or any other wound associated with intense blunt force trauma, depending on how much chakra Sakura puts into the kick or punch. Over time and through repeated use, Sakura has become able to use this strength instinctively and does not need to put any effort into using it. She has also shown to become more agile which was shown when she had to fight Sasori with his 100 puppets along with Chiyo. This mixed with ability to learn enemies attack patterns make her hard to hit. Furthermore, her strength, coupled with her medical expertise, and the more beauty she gains over the time skip has caused many to see Sakura as another Tsunade (Jiraiya himself notes this while Naruto thinks that Sakura has gotten even more violent than before). Many believe that she will surpass Tsunade as a female ninja because she has all of the previously mentioned abilities and, unlike Tsunade, she is a natural Genjutsu user and has the potential to master many high level techniques. However she has yet to be seen employing Genjutsu. So far, all she has shown, is the ability to dispel high level Genjutsu.

Inner Sakura and Cha-Combo
Throughout the video games, "Inner Sakura" becomes a technique due to Sakura's lack of jutsu. Even in the anime, it shows Sakura gaining monstrous strength while her inner-self appears, exclaiming "Cha!" or "Hell Yeah!", which also creates the "Cha-Combo", which is a combo attack of Sakura attacking the enemy or enemies multiple times. Furthermore, Sakura is given combo attacks like "Fairy Tale Destruction" with Naruto, in which Naruto does something rude, and Sakura tries to punch him and misses, attacking the enemy instead. In most video games, Sakura is given techniques that are not shown in the anime or in the manga. Ino is the only other person who has encountered Inner Sakura due to her mind transfer jutsu. Ino was amazed and says that Sakura has two spirits. This may be taken literally or it may just be a multiple personality which enables Sakura to better resist mind transfer jutsu.

Trivia

 * Sakura is the first one of her team to have defeated an Akatsuki member, Naruto being the second, and Sasuke the third. However, like Sasuke, they did not actually defeat the members, the members allowed themselves to be killed or killed themselves.
 * Despite Sakura and Ino being rivals, it appears that their families are actually good friends as seen when Sakura's mother has her send sweets to Ino's house.
 * Sakura was ranked as the 12th most popular character in the sixth and most recent Naruto character popularity poll. She placed 8th in the fifth poll and 10th in the fourth poll. She was 9th in the third poll and 14th in the second poll. She achieved her highest ranking of 5th in the first poll.
 * Although considered a natural at Genjutsu, Sakura has yet to perform any outside of games. The only demonstration of her Genjutsu talents seen in the actual series is that she has been able to dispel any and all Genjutsu cast on her thus far (an exeption being Yakumo and Kakashi).
 * As shown by Sakura and Rin, the purple-pink colored skirt that they both wear may have to do with them being medical ninjas, seemingly making some sort of connection.
 * Sakura's blood type, O, could be a pun on her position as a medical-nin, as O is the universal donor.
 * Sakura is the only member of Team 7 who is unable to do the summoning jutsu unlike her mentor. Naruto can summon toads like Jiraiya, Sasuke can summon snakes like Orochimaru, but Sakura hasn't shown the ability to summon slugs like Tsunade so far in the series.
 * According to the 3rd Databook, Sakura wishes to fight Ino.
 * Out of all her teammates, Sakura is the only one who has never been in a serious conflict with Sasuke.
 * Sakura is the Japanese name for cherry trees, and their blossoms. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry. also used in the game Hanafuda as a month card of sakura (flowering cherry, Japanese kanji: 桜 or 櫻 )

Quotes

 * "Shannaro!" (original Japanese only; it has no literal meaning, but is often translated as "Hell yeah!". The English anime uses "Cha!" instead)
 * "Sasuke-kun!"
 * "The only one I really want to be close to... is you, Sasuke-kun."
 * (To Ino) "Didn't you know? Women have to be strong in order to survive!"
 * "Ino, if you play with fire, then you're gonna get burned."
 * "It's always like this, the only things I can do for Naruto are small and insignificant."
 * "I have to protect those who are important to me!"
 * "Tsunade, I have a request..., please make me your apprentice!"
 * "This time, get a good look at my back!"
 * "I will get stronger as long as I continue to try!"
 * "I won't be a hindrance to you anymore!"
 * "I promised Naruto..., I said that this time we'd be together!"
 * "I can't let it end here!"
 * "I have family and friends... but Sasuke, if I lose you, I'll be... I will be very lonely."