Sarada Uchiha

is a kunoichi from Konohagakure's Uchiha clan. Because she grew up without having her father around, Sarada initially struggles to understand who she is or what she's supposed to be. After meeting him with the help of Naruto Uzumaki, Sarada learns that she is defined by the connections she has with others and as a member of Team Konohamaru, she seeks to someday become Hokage so that she can connect with as many people as possible.

Background
Sarada is the only child of Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha. She was born while Sakura accompanied Sasuke on his travels, and was delivered with the help of Karin in one of Orochimaru's hideouts; as such, there is no record of her birth at the Konoha Hospital. As a way to keep a connection with Sasuke, despite being happy for him, Karin kept Sarada's umbilical cord. After that, the family returned to Konoha to raise Sarada, where the two helped her learn to walk. During her father's absence from the village while gathering information on Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, she became ill with a high fever and afterwards, began wearing glasses, which unknown to her were a gift from Karin. Due to the importance of the mission, her father wasn't around much, and it is because of this that she did not know anything about him, including what he physically looked like as an adult.

Sakura did her best to comfort Sarada during Sasuke's absence, assuring her that her father loved her and that, when he completed his important mission, he'd come home. When this conversation went on for too long, Sakura poked Sarada's forehead and promised to continue them some other time. As Sarada's parents continued to stay close to their own childhood friends, she ultimately got to know the kids of her parents' respective friends very well. On the day of Naruto's inauguration as the Seventh Hokage, she watched the ceremony beside her mother and Chōchō Akimichi.

Personality
As a child, Sarada was portrayed to be like post-massacre Sasuke: unfriendly, unsmiling and sullen, but this changed around the time of her Academy graduation. According to Naruto, her personality takes after Sakura's, which he bases on the suspicion that Sarada is "scary" when she's angry, indeed having somewhat of a strong temper, which flares up more often after her appointment to Team Konohamaru. In these and other moments of particularly strong feeling, Sarada often exclaims her mother's characteristic "Shannarō!". According to Chōchō, she is also known for having a very dark side to her when confronting problems. Anger aside, she displays a normal range of emotions, from laughing to crying to blushing in appropriate situations, contrasting with Sasuke's typical stoic reaction to every circumstance. In most situations, Sarada is kind-hearted and brave, polite to others and considerate of her friends and family, wishing well for them and standing up for them when they need her. She doesn't mind saying what she's thinking, whether it's a question she wants the answer to, an opinion she holds firmly, or a frustration she can't let go of. Like Sakura, Sarada is quite well-read: she feels comfortable arguing the differences between a panda and a normal bear; and she is apparently the only participant in the Chūnin Exams to have heard of the book series called Shinobi Strategist Detective Story, much less read all four volumes.

Sarada is appreciative of Naruto for his help in mending her relationship with her parents, finding him to be kind and warm. She is quite interested in his Will of Fire, wherein he tries to form bonds with everyone (particularly villagers of Konoha) that he can. Because of Naruto, Sarada decides to make her dream to become Hokage, preferring the kind of life Naruto has to the life of her father. In the anime, she even shows great appreciation for the Hokage Rock and fantasizes about having her own likeness carved into it. However, Sarada shares a complicated relationship with Naruto's son, Boruto, although she is also interested in him due to their similar relationships with their respective fathers. The two ninjas are often at odds with the young Uchiha valuing the Hokage post while Boruto initially showing utter disdain for it, as well as the two usually argue and fight with each other for almost anything. Despite this, they are very close, deeply caring for one another's well-being and actually supporting their dreams greatly.

Sasuke's prolonged absences upset Sarada, and she would periodically ask Sakura about him during her childhood. Sakura would do her best to field Sarada's questions about who Sasuke was, what he was doing, and how he felt about Sarada, yet at the same time she would speak cryptically, either giving vague answers or avoiding topics entirely, not wanting to tell her daughter her father's past and the details of his mission. Although she put up with this for many years, Sarada starts to feel that Sakura is withholding something from her in the days just before her graduation from the Academy; initially extending this assumed dishonesty to all medical-nin since Sakura is one. After getting into an argument about what Sakura may be hiding from her, Sarada comes to suspect about her own lineage, a suspicion that is briefly, even though wrongly, confirmed to her at first. This at first causes her to angrily rebel against her parents. She reconsiders this after talking to Naruto, who reminds her that family is defined by how people feel for each other and not from blood. Because Sarada loves Sakura and has had countless examples that Sakura loves her too, Sarada reconciles with her mother, thereafter restoring the good relationship of trust, mutual protection, and honesty they'd otherwise had.

Her temporary strain with Sakura occurs as a result of her attempt to cope with Sasuke's absence in her life; when she can no longer endure not having her father around, as her mother could tell her almost nothing about him. She decides to personally seek out Sasuke so that she can finally meet him and ask him directly all the things she's wanted to know, such as if he actually cares about her or her mother; the excitement of getting to be in the same room as him causes her Sharingan to awaken. She is accordingly disappointed when, on seeing him, he is apparently cold and indifferent to her, providing her with none of the answers or comfort she craved, and therefore becomes angry with him, berating him for neglecting his own family. As with Sakura, Naruto defends Sasuke, telling Sarada simply that Sasuke is a great shinobi. Moreover, Sarada eventually sees the emotionless shinobi exterior lifted in his brief moments of kindness to Sakura and herself. Although he is never as forthcoming as she wants him to be, Sasuke is able to convince Sarada that he cares about her by reminding her that she singularly represents his bond with Sakura. He also makes a greater effort to spend time with her and console her when he must be away, which, although it makes her sad, she understands. When she does get to see him, Sarada is happy, according to Sakura even happier than herself.

Stemming from her mother, Sarada's intellect and wisdom are greater than most of her peers. When Sakura told her Sasuke did have a habit of showing affection that was greater than kissing, she thought Sakura was referring to sexual intercourse. However, she was actually referring to Sasuke's habit of poking her in the forehead. In the anime, Sarada seems to attempt to portray as "normal" and wanting to maintain a certain extent of normality as shown with her refusal of riding on top of a train or attempting to not sprint over buildings.

Appearance
According to Naruto, whereas Sarada's personality takes more after Sakura, her appearance takes more after Sasuke: she has onyx eyes and hair, which she keeps shoulder-length resembling her father's adult hairstyle, parts to the right, and tucks behind her ear. Even though she inherited both Sasuke's hair colour and eye colour, Sarada inherited most of her facial traits from Sakura: the wide, cat-like eye shape, the eyelashes and the face shape. Sarada's eyelids take more after Sasuke's. She wears a pair of red glasses, which are a gift from Karin.

Early in her Academy career, Sarada wears a vermilion jacket, under which is a cream coloured vest, under which is a high-collared white shirt with a red tie. She also wears a red skirt and black open-toed boots. As she nears graduation, she begins wearing a red sleeveless qipao shirt - similar to what Sakura wore in Part II - with the Uchiha crest on the back. She also wears a pair of light-coloured shorts, dark purple thigh-length stockings, black shinobi sandals, and long dark purple arm warmers. Once she receives a forehead protector, she wears it around her forehead with her bangs hanging over.

In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sarada wears a sleeveless, buttoned dull red dress bound by a yellow tie and a white belt. She wears white bandages underneath. She also wears a black fingerless glove on her right hand, similar to her father, a black arm warmer on her left arm and a pair of black ankle-length, open-toed high-heeled sandals (with wooden soles in the manga).

Abilities
Sarada is a highly gifted kunoichi, inheriting her father Sasuke's prodigious talent and her mother Sakura's keen mind, leading Mitsuki to call her an elite genin. Accredited to her Uchiha lineage, her talents allowed her to rank third in her class and ultimately made her classmates expect her to easily pass the graduation exam. Likewise, she could single-handedly defeat dozens of Shin clones even before graduating. Upon gaining more practice with her Sharingan, she is able to defeat Buntan Kurosuki and Ashimaru.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
As an Uchiha, Sarada has powerful chakra. From Sakura, Sarada inherited naturally advanced control over her chakra. Even before graduating from the Academy, she is able to collect chakra into her fists and release it on contact with a target to have a devastating effect, such as cratering the ground or sending an opponent flying into the distance. However, her reserves seem to be low as she nearly passed out from over-usage of her Sharingan during a sparring match against Chōchō.

Ninjutsu
Sarada is very knowledgeable in ninjutsu. With her natural talent, she can effectively copy other people's techniques with similar proficiency. Sarada can use Fire, Lightning and Yin Release, the former of which she can infuse into Fūma Shuriken to stun or knock back others. From her battle against Buntan, Sarada greatly expanded her Lightning Release, copying the opponent's skills to create orbs, streams, and even protective armour out of lightning. She has also shown prowess with the Uchiha clan's coming of age technique: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique.

Like many Uchiha, Sarada has an affinity for ninja tools and her speciality is shurikenjutsu, to which she had the highest marks in class. With said skill, she is able to throw her weapons quickly and with precision, even able to precisely deflect a projectile with one of her own launched kunai. She has also shown similar aim while devoid of sight, as while practising with her eyes closed, she was able to perfectly hit the target mat six times in a row. In the anime, she is able to effectively perform Cooperation Ninjutsu and Fūinjutsu, able to use both to restrict a person's movements and increase the might of this alongside fellow users.

Sharingan
Sarada awakened the Sharingan at age 11 out of excitement at being able to see her father after many years. While only just receiving it, and each having only a single tomoe at the time, she quickly adjusted to its power, giving her heightened visual perception to efficiently react to and avoid threats more easily. Using it, she can perform genjutsu proficiently, as well as dispelling it. Upon witnessing a technique being performed, Sarada can copy the technique's hand seals to perform it simultaneously with the original user.

Academy Arc
In the anime, on the day of the Academy entrance ceremony, Boruto Uzumaki without warning crashed a train into the Hokage Rock, cancelling the ceremony. Two weeks later, after Boruto's suspension ended and he finally joined the class, he continued to make a spectacle of himself. When Chōchō noted that Sarada was especially close to Boruto due to their respective parents, Sarada voiced her dislike of being considered close friends simply because of their parents. Later, Boruto got into a confrontation with the class' top student Iwabee Yuino. As two students began arguing about what it means to be shinobi, they decided to skip class to settle things in fight. Sarada joined the rest of the class to watch the fight in a training arena. Ultimately, Boruto and Inojin Yamanaka's respective words resonated with Iwabee, ending the fight. Despite the pleasant ending, Sarada and the rest of the class were fiercely scolded later by their sensei Anko Mitarashi for skipping class.

During a class introducing students to summoning techniques, Boruto's continued antics to show off, Sarada scolded him on his foolishness. This sparked an argument between all the boys and girls. Later during their lunch break, Sarada began to fight with Boruto over who would get the last yakisoba bun. Shino appeared, insisting that they boys and girls settle things with a race challenge for a flag. The challenge quickly got heated, with many of the boys being taken out of the contest until only Boruto, Shikadai, and Inojin were left on their team. Getting desperate, Boruto found a summoning scroll and miraculously summoned a snake-like creature. The creature went on a rampage, attacking the students and launched Chōchō Akimichi off the roof, to which Sarada helped Boruto in saving her. After the creature was subdued by the timely arrival of Konohamaru, the contest ended with the girls getting the flag. Despite their victory, the girls made peace with the boys.

Later, the class gained a new transfer student from Otogakure named Mitsuki. While many of the girls found Mitsuki very handsome, Sarada sighed in distaste at them for judging someone purely on looks. The following day, wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organised a welcoming party for the new student. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his Wind Release: Breakthrough, causing even more damage to the Academy. Suddenly, one of the repairmen went on a rampage, destroy the Academy. Sarada joined her friends in stopping him. While Sarada gave a distraction, Shikadai subdued him. Despite the initially success, the man quickly recovered and continued his rampage. Ultimately, the combined effort of Boruto and Mitsuki ended the madness.

Later, Sumire realises that she is being stalked. Eventually, Sarada and her friends discover that it is Magire, a shy student from a different class. The boy, having a crush on Sumire, asks her out, which Sumire turns down, leaving him distraught and running away in shame. The following day, various creepy messages are left for Sumire. While Sarada and the others decide to watch over her, they are systematically separated from Sumire. Eventually, the perpetrator is revealed to be a possessed Magire, who kidnaps Sumire. Chōchō and the others soon find them, where Magire quickly attacked them with his concealment skills. Eventually, Chōchō was able to reach Magire, noting that such an indecisive nature will never win anyone over. Accepting his poor methods of trying to make Sumire like him, the spectre was rejected from Magire. As Magire began to apologise for his actions he fainted, resulting from severe chakra drain caused from his possession. The group then quickly take him to the hospital.

Later, after returning from a night session of training, Sarada bumped into Boruto. As the two discussed how the famed movie star Kagemasa's career was brought into question, Boruto suddenly turned his attention on a mysterious stranger. He noticed the person had the same dark aura like the others and decided to investigate. Sadara soon followed, saving Boruto from the stranger's attack. She was shocked to see that that it was Kagemasa, and even more surprised that the celebrity had become very fat. Frustrated on the fact that his movie series was going to be cancelled because of his increased weight and poor dieting, Kagemasa continued his assault on the students. As Boruto explained the situation, while she didn't fully understand the story, she did trust that Boruto wasn't lying. Following Boruto's plan, Sarada launched a shuriken assault on Kagemasa. Knowing that the movie star would dodge, Boruto disguised himself as one of the shuriken, letting him get close enough to knock out Kagemasa, purging the spectre.

Later, the class was assigned by Shino to split into groups of three and each tail a different workplace for a few days to better understand non-shinobi life. Chōchō convinced Sarada to check out both the nail salon and the pastry factory. When learning that some of her friends were in an accident and sent to the hospital, Sarada went to check on them. After being relieved that they would be fine, Sarada decided to leave, dragging the loud Boruto out before he disturbed the patients.

Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams of his class for an exercise to determine which pairing would prove optimum upon graduation. During the challenge between teams, Shino was called aside to discuss the still-absent Sumire. Shino left Sarada in charge of writing down the results of the matches. As everyone discussed the rumour that Sumire was being transferred to a new school, they were delighted to learn Sumire had indeed returned to their class.

Shino taught the students how to walk on water, even stirring the water to simulate river and ocean currents. Sarada walked home with groceries, and spotted Boruto, Inojin, Shikadai, and Denki jumping off a train. They invited her to go with them teach Denki fishing, but she declined, having to prepare dinner, and criticised them for riding the top of the train. At home, Sarada prepared soup as Sakura arrived.

The following day, Sarada handed Sakura her vacation trip schedule as she finished packing. Sakura asked if Sarada wants her to bring anything, but Sarada told her not to waste her money. Sakura noticed a teddy bear that was supposed to have been picked up for one of her patients is still there. Sarada offered to take it. At the train, Sarada gets distract reading a note from her mother, and forgets the teddy bear on the train when she gets out. Sarada is mortified at considering going through the roofs like Boruto. Shizune spots her, the two exchange words, and Sarada leaves. The boys are unsuccessful catching any fish. Sarada rushes to the next station, but has to help an old lady buy her ticket. Sarada jumps on top of the train, and is surprised to see she enjoys it.

However Shikadai spots her for a moment, and she hides from him. Shikadai informs the others what he thinks he saw. Sarada evades them, but they find her footprints. Sarada narrowly avoids them and jumps off the train. Chōchō sees her, and Sarada begs her not to tell anyone. Chōchō takes her to the lost and found, where she collects a package. They discover it's not the same package, despite similar wrappings, and that the other package has already been claimed. Chōchō takes her to a marketplace where they sell products from other villages, and have a woman identify the doll they have as a Takigakure doll, which they send down the river in a ceremony for their ancestors, in exchange for rare flavoured chips from Chōchō.

Chōchō and Sarada arrive at where the ceremony takes place, but her package was already put in the river. They return the package they collected, and Sarada walks on the river to retrieve hers. The boys arrive to try fishing in the river, distracting Sarada, who tosses the package to Chōchō and falls on the river. She emerges where the boys are fishing, and claims to have gone for a swim, intimidating them. Sarada delivers the teddy bear and goes out to eat with Chōchō. When Sakura gets home, Sarada offers her soup.

During the day of the Kage Summit in Konoha, as class was ended early for it, Boruto asked his classmates to join him in pulling a prank. While none of them joined him, Sarada did follow and observe him from afar, keeping herself hidden. Later when she arrived home, she told her mother that boys are stupid, but remarked that Boruto and herself had something in common like their similar feelings towards their fathers.

Sarada Uchiha Arc
As their graduation from the Academy approaches, Sarada's classmates all train with their fathers to help them prepare for their final exams. Sarada becomes jealous of the time everyone else is having with their fathers and returns home to ask Sakura about her own father, Sasuke. When Sakura struggles to answer a question as simple as if Sasuke used to wear glasses like Sarada does, Sarada asks if Sakura and Sasuke are even married. Sakura destroys their house in a fit of frustration, and then faints when she realises what she's done. After leaving Sakura with Shizune, Sarada goes through the rubble of their home to look for sentimental belongings. While doing so, she discovers that what she thought was a picture of her parents together is actually two separate pictures; in Sasuke's, he is standing next to a woman with similar glasses to Sarada's.

Suspicious about Karin, Sarada asks Shizune about the details of her birth; who was present and when and where. Shizune isn't able to answer her questions, so she seeks out her friend and classmate, Chōchō Akimichi, for comfort. Chōchō shares her own suspicions that Karui and Chōji aren't her real mother and father and that she wants to go looking for her actual parents. Sarada finds Chōchō's suspicions unsubstantiated, but this nevertheless gives her the idea to go looking for Sasuke in order to ask him her lingering questions directly. She goes to see Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, but outside his office overhears that he is planning to meet with Sasuke anyway. She starts following Naruto as he prepares to leave the village, with Chōchō accompanying her, believing that they are searching for her parents and not Sarada's. As they're about to follow Naruto out of Konoha, Sarada notices Boruto arriving late to deliver a lunch to his father. Sarada offers to deliver it for him, what will be her excuse for following Naruto.

As she and Chōchō hurry to catch up with Naruto, they are confronted by a boy with Sharingan named Shin Uchiha. Sarada is surprised by him, having been told there were no other Uchiha, and so refuses Shin's request to go with him. He attacks them. Although Sarada and Chōchō do a good job of defending themselves, Naruto intervenes, having sensed that they were following him. Naruto easily blocks all of Shin's attacks, forcing him to retreat. Although he would prefer to send Sarada and Chōchō back to Konoha, Naruto decides it would be safer for them to come with him. As Naruto eats the lunch from Boruto, he asks Sarada if she's looking forward to seeing Sasuke. She confesses that she has no memories of him and asks Naruto to tell her about him. He complies, explaining that, although she looks a lot like Sasuke, Sarada's personality is more similar to Sakura's. Sarada is happy to hear this and, when they near the rendezvous point with Sasuke, Sarada runs ahead to meet him; her desire to see him is so strong that it awakens her Sharingan. When Sasuke sees her, however, he assumes she is one of Shin's cohorts and uses his sword to threaten her for information.

Sasuke realises his mistake when Sarada calls him "papa", at which point he turns on Naruto, reprimanding him for bringing her. Sarada defends Naruto, saying that she came without his permission because she wanted to ask Sasuke if Sakura is really her mother. Sasuke ignores her question and refuses to tell why he's been absent from her life for so long. Sarada cries at his indifference and storms out. Naruto follows and tries to comfort her, but they are interrupted by another attack by Shin and his father, who is also named Shin Uchiha. Naruto defends Sarada while Sasuke attacks Shin, but Naruto is quickly incapacitated after being stabbed by a sword and Sasuke is forced to protect Sarada with his own body. Before Shin's father can finish them as he intends to, Sakura appears and badly injures him with her punch. Shin escapes with his son using a creature and takes Sakura with him. Unable to go after him, Naruto and Sasuke take Sarada and Chōchō to Orochimaru's hideout to see if he knows anything about Shin and his location.

While Orochimaru explains that Shin is one of his experiments now run amuck and that his "sons" are actually his clones, Sarada pulls Suigetsu Hōzuki aside, whom she recognises from the picture of Team Taka. She shares her belief that Karin is her mother, which Suigetsu is unable to confirm or deny. They go through Karin's belongings and finds Sarada and Sakura's umbilical cord that Suigetsu believes is from when Karin was born. They compare its DNA with Sarada's and find there's a match, which initially seems to prove that Karin is Sarada's mother. Suigetsu becomes uncomfortable and leaves; Naruto, who was eavesdropping, enters after him to remind Sarada that they need to rescue Sakura. Sarada refuses, stating that she owes nothing to Sakura if she isn't truly her mother, especially if she's been lying to Sarada about it her whole life.

Sarada accuses Naruto of being part of the conspiracy to lie to her. Naruto doesn't actually know what the truth is, but he objects to what she says about family. He, as Hokage, regards every villager of Konoha, even though they have no genetic ties, as part of his family and he wants to protect them. In the same way, even if Sarada and Sakura had not been related by blood, they would have been family because of their history together and their feelings for each other. Sarada is reminded of all the times in her life that Sakura was there for her and how she always tried to make Sarada happy. Sarada cries at this reminder that she and Sakura love each other and decides she wants to help save her. They reunite with Sasuke, who transports them and Chōchō to the dimension where Shin has taken Sakura.

When they arrive at Shin's lair, they find Sakura already in combat with Shin. After being protected by her husband who crashed Shin with his Susanoo, Sakura regroups with them. Sarada is happily looking at her parents as Sasuke tries to help his wife up, realising that Sasuke does care for Sakura. Shin is mortally stabbed by several of his clones. He attempts to escape using a Sharingan Spying Creature, but Sarada crushes the creature before it can take him away and Shin dies from his injuries. Shin's clones then start attacking, several dozen of which Sarada defeats at once with Cherry Blossom Impact, which surprises everyone except for Sasuke, who smirks proudly at his daughter. Naruto frightens the clones into surrendering, giving Sarada a chance to talk to her parents. Sakura hugs Sarada, reassuring her that she truly is her real mother, and Sarada apologises for doubting her and tells her that everything that matters is that their feelings are connected. Sarada next expresses concern for Sasuke's relationship with Sakura due to his long absences, but he explains that she, as their daughter, is proof enough of their strong connection. Sarada cries of happiness after hearing this.

Sasuke accompanies them back to Konoha. As they approach the village, Chōchō finally "meets" her father: Chōji Akimichi; Sarada laughs. After spending some time with Sarada and Sakura, including posing for an official family picture, Sasuke departs Konoha again. Sarada and Sakura see him off and, when he notices that Sarada's sad, Sasuke hugs her, pokes her forehead and promises to see her again. Sakura offers Sasuke a bento and then he leaves. Later, in class at the Academy, Boruto thanks Sarada for delivering the lunch to his father. Sarada insists that she should thank him instead, as it's because of delivering that lunch to Naruto that she's decided her dream in life is to become Hokage.

Following this, Sarada began to regularly train in secrecy with Chōchō and learning all she could about the Sharingan, hoping to master her new power before revealing it to anyone else.

School Trip Arc
In the anime, to improve relationships with other villages and symbolically show the warring era was over, the Seventh Hokage set up an official class trip for the Academy to go to Kirigakure. When a trip leader among the class was being debated between the students, Sarada volunteered Boruto, which the entire class swiftly agreed upon as no one else wanted to. Upon arriving, they were met with Kagura Karatachi, who was appointed to act as the class' tour guide. The class was later taken to meet Chōjūrō, the Sixth Mizukage, who welcomed the class to the village.

Later, Sarada found Tsurushi Hachiya, a known delinquent of Kirigakure, badly injured. After she treated him, he revealed that he foolishly was working for Shizuma Hoshigaki, a radical man who sought to return Kirigakure to the "Bloody Mist" era. Soon afterwards, they found a battered Boruto, who upon waking up, revealed that Shizuma had manipulated Kagura into join his personally made Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist in the goal of usurping the Mizukage. While Sarada wanted to report to the adults, Boruto insisted they handle this themselves so as to not create a commotion, saying that he had a plan.

She and Boruto found Mei and Chōjūrō, who were addressing the fact that Shizuma's group had stolen the Seven Mist Swordsmen blades and added Kagura to their ranks. While the Sixth Mizukage was strongly considering killing them all for the treachery, Boruto insisted that Kagura was not truly a traitor, but being manipulated. Boruto also insisted to treat this as a children's fight so as to not make a public scene. Chōjūrō agreed to this on the condition that he join them in ending the revolt and if it was completed before curfew. After getting Denki to cover for her and Boruto, she and Boruto met up with Chōjūrō at the Kiri Memorial where Shizuma's team was about to destroy it, seeing it as an insult to Kirigakure's pride. As the fight ensured Sarada was knocked underground by the Shibuki's blast, forced to fight Buntan Kurosuki.

As Buntan began pressuring Sarada with her array of Lightning Release techniques augmented by the Kiba, Sarada managed to hold her own with her Sharingan. Buntan voiced both her excitement at facing the Sharingan and disdain at for it, seeing as not only an unfair linage trait, but also a shortcut to power. Sarada however retorted that Buntan stole the Kiba, but Buntan insisted that she earned them and proved to be her father's child by more than just lineage. As the two continued to clash, with Sarada continuously copying her opponent's attacks, the Konoha-nin realised that their constant lightning attacks was heating the water around them. Sarada took advantage of this by luring Buntan in with genjutsu and used the increased hydrogen to set off a large explosion with her paper bomb to defeat her foe, but soon collapsed in exhaustion from excessive usage of her Sharingan. After Shizuma and his team were defeated, Tsurushi treated her and helped her back to the hotel before curfew.

Later Sarada's class bid Kirigakure farewell Sarada asks Boruto if he's going to punch Kagura if he's shows up and Boruto asks her we he would punch him, and Boruto tells her he would like to thank Kagura for their school trip but Sarada thinks Boruto is crazy. At the Academy, Boruto, Sarada, and Iwabee are called to Iruka's office. For their trouble-making in Kirigakure, they're given detention, having to repaint a classroom.

Mitsuki and Sarada finds Boruto after he's asked everyone, and Sarada tells him about the store Chōchō showed her.

Graduation Arc
Before graduation exams, Sarada goes camping with her class mates. As ninja classes began preparing for the graduation exams, the various students were interviewed about their future goals alongside a parent, Sakura in Sarada's case. Later, she was interviewed by a man named "Sukea" who said he was writing an article about the ninja students. Sarada voiced strongly her desire to become Hokage. Later, when Namida Suzumeno and Wasabi Izuno began having a falling out because Wasabi wasn't going to continue being a ninja alongside Namida, Sarada was conflicted on how to help. Boruto discretely noted that the Hokage is suppose to help end all quarrels in the village to benefit all, motivating Sarada to help her friends. Sarada then learned that it was Wasabi's parents who made the decision. Convinced by Sarada, Wasabi spoke to her parents and made them allow her to rejoin Namida in becoming ninja together, much to Namida's joy.

During the exams, taking up Shino's subtle offer to try stealing the test answers for the written test, Sarada and her friends were able to easily pass the test. Later, during the practical and final test, the class was brought to the training field. There, the entire class was set up to face Shino, Anko Mitarashi and Konohamaru for 24 hours. While the teachers would still evaluate the students' respective improvements, the students' true test was against Kakashi Hatake. The Sixth Hokage quickly explained that he would only pass the first student who is able to take the single bell attached to his hip. As the test began, Sumire and some of her friends faced off against Konohamaru. As the jōnin easily dispatched several of the students, Sumire and Sarada chose to fend off Konohamaru while Mitsuki and Boruto went on, realising that the true goal was not simply to get Kakashi's bell. Sarada tried to keep up with Konohamaru through her Sharingan, but the more experienced ninja easily overwhelmed her.

Ultimately, Konohamaru gained an upper hand and left them defeated. Later, Sumire and Sarada then regroup with the remaining students. Taking to heart Kakashi's harsh scolding on him, Boruto voiced his dismay at "failing" everyone, having led them to becoming lazy and weak-minded as a ninja. Everyone insisted however that his influence as only made them strong, helping them grow pass their previous problems. The inspired Boruto then designed a plan to pass the test. Joining up on Boruto's plan, Sarada and others were able to deceive Konohamaru, letting Sarada capture him in a genjutsu long enough to hit his marker, eliminating him from the test. Sarada and Boruto then joined up with the others to face Kakashi. Despite their group assault, Kakashi easily repelled all the students. This however proved to be a setup to get the Sixth Hokage in a group String Light Formation. Despite their effort, Kakashi was still able to hold them off. Ultimately, time ran out with no one getting the bell. However, Kakashi still chose to pass everyone as the succeeded in the test's true goal; team-work and loyalty. When assigned to Team 3 with Boruto and Mitsuki, Sarada requested being put in another team, citing incompatibility with Boruto. While en route to make a personal request to the Hokage, Sarada had to cooperate with Boruto to get past Mirai. After Konohamaru pointed out the value of hard-earned cooperation, Sarada decided against changing teams, and instead requested their team to have the designation of Team 7.

Genin Arc
For Team 7's first mission, they were assigned a D-rank to aid the Green Banks Village who were being attacked by bandits for their crops. Sarada was eager to begin her quest to become Hokage. As such, she sternly told Boruto not to act up in fear of it affecting her own performance record. Upon arriving, they learned that the only way for normal people to enter the village was by a great retracting bridge. They also learned that the previous village leader, who oversaw the bridge's construction, passed away recently, leaving his daughter Kiri to inherit the position. Kiri, while uncertain about trusting in such young ninja, revealed that she withheld the full nature of the mission when she requested it. As she revealed that the attackers were actually trained ninja, which made Konohamaru concerned as this would make the mission at least B-rank in danger. While Konohamaru considered whether or not to continue the mission despite the deception, the village was attacked, prompting Boruto rushed off. Boruto was quickly pressured by the older ninja, but was saved by Konohamaru, as the foe quickly retreated after realising that he was a Konoha-nin. As Konohamaru realised that there was more being hidden, he confronted Kiri. She confessed that the enemy ninja were after the deed to the bridge, which was the main source of income for the village. Later that night, as another villager was attacked, Team 7 went into action, only to find that several of the villagers were being controlled by genjutsu. They managed to harmlessly subdue the villagers, but Kiri was abducted.

Afterwards, Team 7 met with the enemy shinobi to exchange the deed for Kiri. The enemies however intended to kill everyone. Konohamaru dealt with Hidari while Sarada and the others retreated with Kiri. They were quickly followed by Ashimaru. Together, with Sarada analysing the enemy's tactics through her Sharingan, the three genin were able to devise a team combo to defeat the enemy. With this and Konohamaru defeated the other enemy, the mission was completed.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
While her team is on a mission to capture an animal that's been attacking a local farm, Sarada unsuccessfully tries to convince her teammates that the animal is not a panda as they believe, but merely a normal bear that only looks like a panda. The bear/panda is nevertheless captured and they report their successful mission to Naruto. Boruto ends up getting into an argument with Naruto and storms out before he can be told about their invitation to join the Chūnin Exams. Sarada and Mitsuki track Boruto down afterwards to tell him about it, but he's uninterested, even when told that they can't enter without him. Sarada becomes angry with him, accusing him of interfering in her dream to become Hokage. He scoffs at her, telling her that to be Hokage means disappointing everyone around her.

Sarada and Mitsuki continue to pressure Boruto to enter the Chūnin Exams, but it's only Sarada's reminder that Naruto will watch the performances of the finalists that gets Boruto to agree. In preparation for the Chūnin Exams, Boruto trains with Sasuke, who has briefly returned to Konoha. When Sasuke appears unappreciative of the hard work that Boruto puts into learning the Rasengan, Sarada informs Sasuke of how rare it is for Boruto to do any work at all; Sasuke replies that he didn't intend to seem critical of Boruto and thinks he is doing good work. On the day of the first stage of the exams, Sakura sees Sarada off and wishes her luck. Before she goes, Sarada teases Sakura about how happy she is now that Sasuke is back, which Sakura blushes at.

For the first stage, competing teams are given a true-or-false question about the fifth volume of a particular book. Boruto and Mitsuki turn to Sarada for the answer, but she doesn't know it, having not been aware that there even was a fifth volume of that book. They select true, and for their answer they are dumped into a pit. Boruto assumes that they've failed and makes no attempt to stop himself from falling, forcing Sarada and Mitsuki to catch him as well as themselves. Because of their willingness to not give up, their team passes to the second stage. During the second stage a few days later, the teams compete against each other in games of capture the flag. Sarada and Mitsuki go off to capture the opposing team's flag while Boruto defends their own. When they reach the flag, they find that there are actually several hundred. Sarada dispels this genjutsu with her Sharingan in order to locate the real flag and capture it.

For the final rounds matches, the remaining participants compete in a series of one-on-one matches in front of a packed stadium crowd. In her first match, Sarada defeats Tarui with a single punch, which Sakura cheers loudly from the crowd and embarrasses Sarada. Immediately after Boruto is caught cheating during his own match, the stadium is attacked by Kinshiki and Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki. While Sarada is helping spectators evacuate, a piece of debris almost falls on her, though she is saved by Sasuke. Sasuke takes Sarada to where Naruto and Boruto are so that he and Naruto can combine efforts to protect their children, but Momoshiki is too strong. Naruto has Sasuke focus on protecting Boruto and Sarada while he fights Momoshiki and Kinshiki alone. Boruto passes out as they watch the fight, and when he wakes up in the hospital later Sarada informs him that Naruto was captured.

Boruto joins a team organised by Sasuke to rescue Naruto, and before he goes he asks Sarada and Mitsuki to look after everybody while he's gone. Naruto is ultimately rescued and life in Konoha returns to normal. While their team is out on a mission to recapture the same bear/panda from before, Sarada scolds Boruto for cheating during the Chūnin Exams, which he apologises for. She asks if he plans to take after his father by becoming Hokage, to which he replies that he'd rather be like her own father, being her right-hand man when she becomes Hokage herself. After the bear/panda is captured, Mitsuki notes that as amazing as Sarada and Boruto's parents are, they don't compare to his own parent, Orochimaru. Having met Orochimaru before and being confused at the time, Sarada asks if Orochimaru is Mitsuki's mother or father, which she receives no conclusive answer to. Sasuke and Sakura, both smiling, watch Sarada and her teammates leave for a mission.

Mujina Bandits Arc
While Team Konohamaru is on a mission to capture the Mujina Bandits Sarada punches some bandits and she asks them where is their boss. Sarada is annoyed that Boruto is playing with playing cards. A few days later, Sarada and her team were given their first B-rank. While intimidated at first as such missions were normally reserved for at least chūnin, Mitsuki noted that the Fifth Kazekage was known for doing B-rank missions back when he was a genin. Seeing a similarity in this fact to her desire of becoming Hokage, Sarada quickly became excited about it.

Later that night, while practising her marksmanship at home, Boruto arrived, saying that something important came up and he would not be able to join the mission. Realising that Boruto truly felt he needed to do this, she told Boruto to handle his problem while she tells the team, admiring Boruto's newfound sense of responsibility. On the day of the mission, worried about her teammate, Sarada had Mitsuki track Boruto down to help. They arrived into time to save the paralysed Boruto from Shojoji, quickly subduing and defeating the bandit. Later, while applauded for saving Tentō and capturing the Mujina Bandits, Konohamaru also said they would have to be punished for abandoning their official mission.

Ao Arc
Sometime after Team Konohamaru captured Shojoji, Naruto joined his son in a sparring match in front of the Academy students and other spectators. As everyone was amazed at Naruto somehow able to nullify, Mitsuki noted to Sarada that the Hokage was actually absorbing the techniques. Ultimately, it was revealed the match was to test a new advanced ninja tool based off of Momoshiki's absorption power. To test it, Naruto's prosthetic hand was replaced with a mechanised one fitted with Katasuke's new tech. Afterwards, once learning about the deception, Boruto was furious, feeling that his father was being a hypocrite for using such advanced tools in combat when previously scolding him for doing the same. Sasuke however calmed Boruto down, making him realise that this was necessary as the danger to their world was still very imminent.

Naruto also admitted to knowing about Boruto's mark on his right palm, which was another reason Naruto approved the development of this advanced weaponry. Katasuke then arrived to retrieve his prototype, to which Naruto assigned Team Konohamaru a C-rank mission to escort the lead scientist back to the lab in Ryūben City. While Boruto stormed off in a huff, Naruto asked his genin team-mates to watch over him should anything happen with his mark. After Boruto got over his moodiness, the mission soon after began. Once arriving on a train to their destination, they bumped into an old patient of Katasuke, a survivor of the Ten-Tails's attack from the Fourth Great Shinobi War. As Boruto continued to absentmindedly voice his disapproval of advanced weaponry, Ao set Boruto straight, noting that all tools can be good or evil, all depending on its usage. He proved his point by taking Katasuke screwdriver and feigning an attack on Boruto with it. The group soon after left Ao once arriving at their destination.

Upon arriving at the lab, Sarada and her team were surprised to see Sumire, who was working there. For the second part of their mission, Team Konohamaru aided in the testing of new technology. Soon afterwards, they receive a call from the Seventh Hokage, noting that Konohamaru and his partner Mugino went missing during a mission nearby. Naruto then reassigned Team Konohamaru to search for their Jōnin sensei.

Before leaving, Katasuke decided to join them, wearing a new prototype battle armour. Akita also offered them her nin-ken, Chamaru, to aid in the search. Soon, they found Konohamaru's last known location, at the crash site of a blimp. There, they found a group of puppets lying about. Before they could do much investigating, they puppets attacked. It quickly became apparent that the puppets were self-moving robots based on new ninja tech. As they proved highly resilient, Katasuke used his armour to block the attacks long enough to make the robots overheat and shut down. Chamaru then found Konohamaru's scent and led them to a cave. Before they could talk about what happened with Konohamaru, they were confronted by Ao, who held a machine gun at them, questioning them on what they learned inside the blimp.

Ao then unleashed a barrage of Fire Release Bullets from his gun, making everyone realising that he a scientific ninja tool. Konohamaru, with help from Katsuke, was able to destroy Ao's gun. As Konohamaru asked if this had anything to do with the organisation Kara, Ao unleashed a hidden weapon from his prosthetic shoulder, blasting Konohamaru. He then attacked Katsuke and stole one of his technique-absorbing gauntlets. After testing it himself on Boruto's Rasengan, Ao concluded that now they had to die to keep the organisation a secret. Mugino then held Ao down long enough to collapse the cave on him and Ao to save his allies. His sacrifice however turned futile as Ao quickly clawed his way out of the rubble, prompting Sarada and her team to retreat. As they took shelter, Katsuke admitted to his shame that the enemies' access to advanced ninja tech was because they brainwashed him into giving up his research. As Konohamaru insisted that they had to return the data he found on the blimp to Konohagakure, Katasuke offered to act as a divergence to atone for his mistakes. Boruto however insisted they stop Ao before he continued to abuse the technology that Katasuke gave him.

Trivia

 * shares her name with Sarada Devi; wife and spiritual counterpart of 19th century Indian mystic Ramakrishna.
 * According to character trivia from Boruto: Naruto Next Generations:
 * Sarada's hobby is reading (history and mystery).
 * Her favourite foods are things that are based on black tea flavours.
 * Her least favourite food are tomatoes, which coincidentally are one of Sasuke's favourite foods.
 * Her attributes are: 160 in strength and negotiation, 150 in chakra, 145 in intelligence, 140 in perception, and 130 in dexterity.
 * She has four stars in marksmanship, genjutsu, and ninjutsu knowledge.
 * In artwork for Boruto, Sarada is depicted with a dōjutsu reminiscent of the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Quotes

 * (To her mother about Boruto) "Mama... some boys are sooo...stupid. Well, he is...kinda similar to me in some ways too... When it comes to dads...we're both totally Shannarō!"
 * (To Boruto about bento made by his mother) "Besides...a boxed lunch isn't just about food, right? When you know how special the person who made it for you is..."
 * (To Naruto after believing Karin is her biological mother) "Why do I have to go rescue someone who's not my mom?! You guys have deceived me all my life! Go to hell!"
 * (To her mother) "As long as we love each other...and our feelings are connected."
 * (To Boruto) "I plan on becoming Hokage by choosing a different path than my dad!"
 * (To her father about Boruto) "You're as severe as ever, huh, Papa... I'm just going to say one thing because I think you don't know this about Boruto, okay? Boruto really isn't the hard-working type! It's incredible he kept it up this long! You understand what I mean, right?"