Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-28869806-20150525191639/@comment-25478058-20150526093045

I am a huge Sakura fan and I agree with those who are disappointed in Sakura. I think to be more accurate I should say, I'm disappointed in the lack of development for Sakura.

Sakura definitely had her accomplishments (punching out Kaguya being one of the best) but I agree with those who state that she lagged behind, and constantly hearing "I've caught up!" and then not fighting much was frustrating. Sasuke and Naruto consistently reached new levels of ninja godhood, whereas Sakura has only arguably surpassed Tsunade (I say she has, but others disagree with me). There was no reason Sakura couldn't learn more interesting offensive jutsus (someone who has perfect chakra control like Sakura could: easily learn the Rasengan, develop highly advanced chakra scalpels, do more with nature transformations, etc. etc.) and there was no reason Sakura had to become a medic other than Kishi just didn't think girls could fight.

For an example of a situation where Sakura could have shown her skills: if she had fought with Kakashi against Pain instead of Chouza and Chouji. Those two are side characters and they got the spotlight there instead of Sakura, who punched out the centipede in one hit. Sakura and Kakashi could have shown off their Team 7 teamwork and their analytical skills. Sakura could have used her puppet-defeating skills to beat the mechanical Pain. Symbolically, it would also have been better if Kakashi had sacrificed himself for Sakura rather than Chouji, especially knowing what we know now about Rin. So that scene was a disappointment for me in terms of Sakura. During that time, she ran the hospital, which is impressive, but in a shonen fighting manga it is not as cool as fighting. Furthermore, she ended up on her knees crying for Naruto, which was an especially uncool moment when she could have been fighting.

So overall I was disappointed by Kishi's lack of interest in making Sakura stronger, and then I was frustrated by the way he tried and failed to catch her up to Naruto and Sasuke. So far in Gaiden the situation just seems to be getting worse.