Board Thread:Episode Discussions/@comment-1018594-20150319124409/@comment-1458758-20150320184738

Cjtrules15 wrote: Whoa, completely forgot about Sakura. You are right, this arc is supposed to showcase her hard work and evolution in becoming a formidable ninja that doesn't need to rely on Naruto or Sasuke. I hate how they have portrayed Sakura and all the other females in Konoha 11.

Tenten: Forgettable and like Guy and Lee said, she is convenient because she can summon a million things.

Ino: Probably the most powerful konoha 11 female when it comes to ninjutsu because her clan's jutsu but really doesn't get to show it off. She lacks confidence like Hinata but to a lesser extent.

Hinata: Always shown to be swooning over Naruto and daydreaming about him. Extremely shy and passive. Gets annoying and predictable.

Sakura: Always needs rescuing by Naruto, Sasuke or Kakashi. Supposedly the strongest medical nin other than Tsunade but doesn't show it until 4th Shinobi World War. Yeah, don't get me wrong, Hinata was always lacking confidence and all, so her depending on memories of Naruto is fine up until like the Pain Fight when she basically declares she's standing on her own.

But let's look at the score card?

Tenten is basically backline support for her team, the others are all insanely strong taijutsu, she's a weapon master, but even that is barely touched on.

Hinata, heart and soul of her team, every time we see her, it's something about Naruto (A problem for many characters who seemingly can't do jack if Naruto isn't the motivation)

Ino, has a great and interesting ability, is notably a back line fighter due to its downside, but that makes sense in her team as Chouji is their only front liner, her and Shikamaru being mage support basically. For some reason became the med-nin of her party and basically does nothing throughout part 2. Shika got a whole big thing with Asuma the first time, Chouji got a whole big thing when Asuma was resurrected, Ino, get's nothing solo.

And Sakura. Sakura showed so, so much promise at the start of part 2. She took down Sasori. Sure, she had support, but her skills were immense, she was strong as hell, but after that she's spent all of it chasing after Naruto and Sasuke. Even when Naruto and Sasuke developed skills and abilities far surpassing their mentors, all Sakura ever managed was to match Tsunade. Which is utterly disappointing.

I could turn this into a whole thing on the status of women in Naruto, but that would be entirely off topic, so I'll just get back to the episode.

I like what they're doing with Ajisai, it's interesting and I look forward to seeing how this develops into her being one of the Paths of Pain.