Sakura Haruno

File:Sakura chan.jpg

Haruno Sakura.

• Name: Sakura Haruno
• Kana: 春野サクラ
• Seiyuu: Chie Nakamura
• Voice Actress: Kate Higgins
• Birthday: March 28
• Blood Type: O
• Height: 150.1 cm
• Weight: 79.1
• Ninja Ranks: Chunin (per Part II)

Sakura Haruno is the kunoichi (female ninja) of Team 7. She has been very important to the series, despite being somewhat weak. She has an undying love (read: obsession) for Sasuke Uchiha (who doesn't really like her back), and is a bit rude to Naruto (who likes her). She, unlike any other character, has a second personality, known as "Inner Sakura". This "inner" self shows her true feelings (example: While "outer" Sakura didn't support the idea of putting an eraser on Kakashi-sensei's head by putting it between a nearly closed door and the wall (with the eraser falling after he opens it), the "inner" Sakura supported the idea).At the beginning of the series, Sakura is a Genin-level student of Kakashi Hatake and teammate of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Initially, Sakura's stamina and overall talent were quite below average, having had only used a few skills over the course of the series, the most advanced of which is dispelling genjutsu. Sakura's main strengths are her intelligence and her great chakra control. She was able to climb trees using her chakra on her first try while it took several days of constant training for Naruto and even Sasuke to manage it.

Inner Sakura

Inside Sakura resides the "Inner Sakura", which seems to be much more ill-tempered than Naruto's demon fox. Inner Sakura seems to represent an assertive part of her personality and mostly serves as comic relief. Sakura's typical gentle responses are juxtaposed with the Inner Sakura's constant "Shannaro" (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 (in English, it's translated as an angry and forceful "Cha!"). Inner Sakura is often attributed to being Sakura's defining ability, aside from her chakra control, much like Sasuke's Sharingan or Naruto's demon fox. Inner Sakura actually exists as a separate spirit within Sakura, which came in handy during her battle with her rival, Ino Yamanaka. When Ino hit Sakura with her Mind Body Switch Technique, she only suppressed the regular Sakura. As such, Inner Sakura, after a little prodding by Naruto, was able to emerge and force Ino to leave. After this point, Inner Sakura only appears once in episode 197 of the anime, when Sakura fails to notice that a smoke bomb was set off the night before, and once in chapter 250 of the manga, when Naruto tries to refuse a mission assigned by Tsunade. Sakura, however, does occasionally exhibit traits that would have originally have been confined to Inner Sakura, though they are rarely seen (they become more frequent after the timeskip, a sign that Sakura is becoming more comfortable with herself and is showing her true nature more often).

Sakura's favorite foods are syrup-coated anko dumplings and umeboshi (pickled ume fruits); her least favorite food is anything really spicy. Her hobbies are quizzes and memorizing things and her favorite phrase is "courage" (勇気, Yūki?), although it was once "a lifetime full of love" (一線愛の人生よ！, Issen ai no jinsei yo!?). The latter was also featured in the ending song of episode 170 as a painting on her bedroom wall. She is also shown to be afraid of frogs.

Part in the story

Early childhood In her early school years, Sakura was timid and was occasionally made fun of and bullied because of her large forehead, until Ino Yamanaka approached and befriended her, giving her a ribbon and telling her not to hide behind her bangs. Sakura looked up to Ino for her looks and ability, but while she appreciated Ino's friendship, she couldn't ignore the feelings of inferiority Ino induced in her. At one point, during a flower arrangement lesson, Sakura wonders whether Ino was like a fully bloomed flower, and if so, then what was she? Ino cheered her up, telling her that even a bud eventually becomes a flower, and there's no point to a flower unless it blooms. Their friendship continued until it became clear that both of them were infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha; Sakura felt that she could never equal Ino, let alone surpass her at anything, while she was trapping herself as Ino's mere sidekick in her mind. She handed Ino her ribbon back and proclaimed that they were rivals from that point on. Their friendship slowly deteriorated into a spiteful rivalry; by the start of the series, there is no indication that they were once best friends.

In a sharp contrast to most other characters, Sakura lacks any childhood tragedy and, initially, defining themes (Masashi Kishimoto said that he made her initially unlikable by design). When she, Naruto, and Sasuke are assigned to form Team 7, she is fixated with Sasuke and cannot stand Naruto - hardly knowing either of them. Shortly after their team's formation, she tells Sasuke that she believes the reason that Naruto behaves mischievously is because he doesn't have any parents to control him, and that she's jealous because her parents are always trying to tell her what to do. Though Naruto isn't there to be outraged by this, Sasuke knows from personal experience that parental chastisement is nothing compared to the loneliness of an orphan, and harshly berates her frivolous attitude. This is the first hint that Sakura isn't as shallow as she's been presented, and she concludes that Sasuke was probably right and she should treat Naruto better (though even this may be partly due to her infatuation - Kakashi later notes that she always agrees with Sasuke without question).

Survival Test Arc

Though her initial infatuation with Sasuke still overshadows her interactions with both him and Naruto at that stage, Sakura's understanding and respect for both her teammates grow again during the Survival Test. Kakashi, the sensei of the newly-formed Team 7, administers a test designed to split the team apart – only the genin who capture one of the bells hanging from his belt will pass, but there are only two bells and three genin. As Kakashi expects, the "team" splits; he easily counters their individual attempts at seizing the bells, then admonishes Sakura for ignoring Naruto in favor of Sasuke even though Sasuke had declared both his teammates to be nothing more than an obstacle. Kakashi allows Sakura and Sasuke to eat lunch in anticipation of their next attempt – but not Naruto, who had earlier tried to eat the team's box lunches. Though warned that feeding Naruto means failure, she follows Sasuke in doing so. Pleased, Kakashi passes the team, saying that while those who disobey the rules are garbage, those who abandon their teammates are even lower.

Wave Country Arc

Later, when the team is sent on a dangerous mission in the Land of Waves, Sakura is first confronted with the meaning of being a kunoichi as she witnesses what appears to be Sasuke's death. She recites Shinobi Rule #25 (to not show emotion under any circumstance) as she violates it, bursting into tears on Sasuke's chest. Her tears become joyous as Sasuke awakens from what was only a death-trance.

Chunin Exam Arc

The first stage of the Chunin exam is a written test, designed specifically to be too difficult for Genin to complete, forcing them to cheat. However, Sakura is able to complete the exam by herself, a testimony to her intelligence. At the end of this exam, the teams are presented with the mysterious "tenth question" and given a choice of whether to take it or not. The examiner tells them that not taking it fails your whole team immediately, but failing to answer correctly prevents you from becoming a Chunin forever. Sakura, knowing that Naruto couldn't have answered questions of this difficulty correctly, starts to raise her own hand to quit, forfeiting her own chance at becoming a Chunin this year so that Naruto would have the chance to take the exam again. She is stopped, however, by Naruto's declaration that he won't back down or quit, which turns out to be the correct answer.

The second stage is set in the Forest of Death. Soon after Team 7 enters the forest, Naruto and Sasuke are rendered unconscious as a result of their fights with Orochimaru. When a group of Sound Genin choose this moment to attack the group, Sakura realizes that she will have to protect her friends if they are to live and pass the exam. As Kin Tsuchi grabs her long hair and immobilizes her, she comments on how Sakura's hair was glossier than her own, saying Sakura spent more time on her looks than on her training. (Sakura had grown her hair long because of a rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair.) At this point, she begins to think about how she always scorned Naruto, believing herself to be above him, even though she could only watch from the sidelines while he fought to protect her. She realizes that she was the weakest member of Team 7, and, deciding to change herself and fight for her friends, cuts off her hair with a kunai, freeing herself from Kin's grasp. (This is a twist on a common Japanese fiction image, where a character--often a woman--cuts her hair short simply as a symbol of discarding her previous life.) After getting away from Kin, she delays Zaku Abumi's attack on Sasuke by tricking him with a series of replacement jutsus, slamming her kunai into his arm and biting him. Even as Zaku punches her repeatedly in the head, Sakura refuses to let go. This display spurs Ino and her team into coming to Sakura's aid, allowing the latter to rest.

Sakura, stopping cursed seal Sasuke.Although Team 10 contributes heavily to the fight with the Sound Genin, it is Sasuke, who finally awakes engulfed by Orochimaru's cursed seal, that defeats them. He inquires about who is responsible for Sakura's wounds and, upon learning that it is Zaku, Sasuke proceeds to savagely brutalize him, making several scathing and ominous comments about Zaku's arms before finally wrenching them out of their sockets. However, before he can continue, Sakura, knowing that the Sasuke she knew would never go on a pointless killing spree, catches him in a hug from behind, begging him to stop and causing the cursed seal's influence to recede. After Team 7 recovers, they go on to pass the second stage

In the preliminaries of the third exam, Sakura is matched against Ino. During their fight, Sakura notices that Ino is holding back, and insults Ino to fluster her to the point where Ino cuts her own hair (not wanting to be outdone by Sakura's newfound determination). This turns out to nearly be Sakura's undoing, as Ino is then able to turn her hair into living ropes with her chakra, and hold Sakura in place. When Ino manages to hit Sakura with her Mind Body Switch Technique, Naruto cheers Sakura on. While this just seem to annoy Ino, it also helps Inner Sakura break free, allowing her to force Ino out of her mind. In the end, however, the fight between Sakura and Ino ends with both girls knocking each other out at the same time, causing both of them to lose.

In the actual third exam, Sakura exhibits feelings of both amazement and slight jealousy when Naruto wins his match against Neji, promising that she would do her best to become a strong shinobi from then on out. She was also one of the few Genin able to repel Kabuto Yakushi's sleep-causing genjutsu, and also managed to show extreme bravery when she came between Gaara's attack in his Shukaku form to protect Sasuke.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc

Eventually, Sasuke decides to abandon Konoha so that Orochimaru can give him the power he desires. As he leaves the village, Sakura finds him, and soon understands the magnitude of what he is about to do. Crying and desperate not to lose Sasuke, Sakura does anything she can think of, confessing her love for him, offering to help him with his revenge, and even offering to join his twisted journey so they can at least be together. Sasuke's cryptic last words before swiftly knocking her out and departing are "Sakura... Thank you." The databook elaborates on this a bit, saying "Sasuke is unable to answer her feelings. At the end, he leaves her with only a word of gratitude rather than words of parting."

The next day, before Naruto leaves to bring Sasuke back, Sakura appears and begs Naruto to bring back Sasuke, stating that only Naruto is able to do it. Naruto, looking at the crying Sakura, promises her that he will bring Sasuke back, making it his promise to her for a lifetime. Sakura seems to finally understand how Naruto feels for her, and she realizes that he is not what she originally thought he was.

When Naruto comes back from the retrieval mission, he can only tell Sakura that he's sorry for failing. He tells Sakura that he'll definitely keep his promise, because he said it was a lifelong promise. Sakura, seeing his determination, replies, giving him a strong smile, "Next time, we'll do it together!" Later on, she asks Tsunade to make her her apprentice. Tsunade, recognizing her determination, agrees to Sakura's request.

Looks

She had long pink hair but she cuts it later on she wears red and has emerald eyes

Jutsu

• Mystical Palm Technique (Medical Jutsu)
• Poison Extraction Technique
• Sakura Blizzard Technique (Naruto the Movie)

Fighting Style

Her skills surmises her as a genjutsu user though she hasn't displayed any jutsu other than canceling it

After two and a half years of intense training under Tsunade, Sakura has become an excellent combat Medic-nin, and her abilities as a ninja have improved substantially in the form of medical jutsu and the use of chakra to create immense physical strength, also due to Tsunade's tutelage. An example of her enhanced strength after the timeskip is seen when she slams her fist into the ground to force Kakashi, who had hidden underground, to reveal himself during the bell test; her superhuman strength easily splits the ground apart. Naruto and Kakashi, both shocked by the display, commented on her technique in reaction to this, calling it her "insane strength". Another useful skill Sakura picked up from Tsunade's teachings is the ability to decipher the pattern of attacks from an enemy. Tsunade stated that this skill was especially important for Medic-nins to know as they generally possess less stamina and combat ability on the battlefield.

Sakura manipulating her chakra to decimate the ground beneath her.The reason why Tsunade and Sakura possess such remarkable physical strength is due to their unrivaled chakra control; their strength comes from the precise build-up and release of chakra, which requires almost inhuman timing and precision. If Sakura's chakra control was not top notch, Tsunade would have never been able to teach her the technique, let alone medical jutsu. Over time, both Tsunade and Sakura seem to instinctively use this jutsu (storing up chakra and releasing it), without actually having to concentrate. Sakura is amongst the most efficient chakra users in the entire series, potentially surpassing even her own master, considering she was able to learn such high level medical abilities in such a short amount of time. Also, Sakura's medical skills have been said to exceed those of many medical ninja of higher rank, and she is probably on par with, or even surpasses, Tsunade's and Kabuto's skill when they were her age. Both Kakashi and Chiyo have praised Sakura for having the potential to surpass Tsunade