Sakura Haruno
Table of Contents
editSakura Haruno [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
春野サクラ Haruno Sakura
Sakura Uchiha (うちはサクラ, Uchiha Sakura)[7]Forehead Girl (デコリーン, Dekorīn,English TV: Billboard Brow)[8]Tsunade Number Two (綱手二号, Tsunade Nigō)[9]DebutMangaVolume #1, Naruto Chapter #3
Sakura Uchiha (うちはサクラ, Uchiha Sakura,née Haruno (春野)) is a kunoichi ofKonohagakure. When assigned to Team 7, Sakura quickly finds herself ill-prepared for the duties of a shinobi. However, after training under the Sannin Tsunade, she overcomes this, and becomes recognised as one of the world's greatest medical-nin.
Background
Sakura as an Academy student.
Sakura is the only child of Mebuki and Kizashi Haruno. She had an ordinary childhood, raised by her parents without any serious tragedy or complication. When she entered Konoha's Academy, some of the girls in her class started picking on her because of her large forehead. Sakura tried to combat their teasing by hiding her forehead with her bangs, but this proved to the other girls that it bothered her and caused them to tease her even more. Ino Yamanaka, one of her classmates, saw this, defended Sakura from her bullies, and encouraged her to embrace her forehead rather than hide it.
Over the following years, Ino's guidance and friendship helped Sakura become comfortable with herself and develop into her own person. Though she felt indebted to Ino for helping her, Sakura began to feel that she was living in Ino's shadow when she, instead, wanted to be Ino's equal. At some point after she entered in the Academy, Sakura metSasuke Uchiha and she developed a crush on him. When she told her friends, she was surprised to learn how popular Sasuke was with the girls. Sakura heard a rumour of Sasuke being attracted to girls with long hair and she began letting her hair grow to get his attention. A couple of years later, when she learned Ino had a crush on Sasuke, Sakura ended their friendship so that they could compete for Sasuke's love, thus beginning a bitter rivalry between them. In the anime, Sakura approached Ino, telling her of her liking towards Sasuke. Ino took it to end their friendship, starting their dislike towards each other in the beginning of the series.[10] When Sakura first attempted to confess to Sasuke, he rejected her because he didn't know her and she fled out of frustration and embarrassment. She vented her displeasure for his rejection by punching a tree and causing her Inner Sakura to be born.
Personality
At the start of Part I, Sakura typically gives the outward impression of being polite to her superiors, considerate of her peers, and confident in herself. She has occasional moments of bashfulness around Sasuke Uchiha and competitiveness around Ino Yamanaka, but otherwise appears quite collected. This reservation, though never disingenuous, frequently masks how Sakura really feels: in certain situations she has pronounced feelings of delinquency, jealousy, and anger. Rather than display these emotions to others, she projects them inward, allowing a manifestation of who she truly is — what is labelled "Inner Sakura" (内なるサクラ, Uchi Naru Sakura) — to have the opinions Sakura wants to keep to herself. Inner Sakura, whose appearances are marked by an exclamation of "Shannarō!", is in a sense a personality separate from Sakura herself, a fact that allows her to overcome the Mind Body Switch Technique.[11] At other times, Sakura and Inner Sakura are indistinguishable from each other, usually with regards toNaruto Uzumaki; if Naruto says or does something that annoys or upsets her, Sakura responds with violence, a reaction that under other circumstances would be delegated to Inner Sakura.
Sakura's motivation to get stronger.
As Part I progresses, Sakura is increasingly exposed to the realities of the world, difficulties for which she cannot rely upon Inner Sakura to cope with. As an Academy student, Sakura succeeded through studying alone to the point of pride, able to avoid physical trials and thus allowing her to focus on her physical appearance in a bid to appeal to Sasuke. As a shinobi, however, this is insufficient: the long hair she puts so much effort into is a liability that opponents can use against her; missions cannot be completed with mere book smarts and it is necessary to be able to fight so that other shinobi will not kill her or her teammates. The latter makes Sakura particularly disappointed in herself, as she is unable to contribute much in battle and must rely on Naruto and Sasuke to save her. She sets out to change this about herself, dedicating nearly three years of training to making herself as capable as Naruto and Sasuke; in the meantime, she becomes willing to sacrifice herself to protect them, coming to value them both very deeply.[12] She looks to Naruto as a model for this goal, inspired by his rapid growth and his determination to be there for her and all those he held dear. When Sakura realises that she is as rude to Naruto as Sasuke usually is to her at his urging, she starts treating him better, cheering for his accomplishments and confiding her hopes and fears with him.
Inner Sakura makes one appearance at the very start of Part II and then is never seen again.[13] This is because Sakura is finally in touch with her feelings and is willing to express what she's thinking, a self-comfort she picked up during her training withTsunade, though this has made her more emotional and impulsive at times. Her violent and/or loud outbursts are, as in Part I, uncontrolled and often directed at Naruto, usually as a reaction to his variations of theSexy Technique, whenever he asks her out on a date or anything she feels is out of line, along with when anybody does something to offends her.[14] Sakura no longer thinks poorly of Naruto despite thinking he is an idiot and her earlier stern disparaging opinion of him that flares at times. She now holds his abilities in high regard, is ever-worrying for his safety and well-being to the point of easily feeling unbearable guilt, and values him as one of her closest friends. Despite criticising Naruto for his perverted nature, Sakura herself has a perverted side, enjoyingsomething even Naruto thought was disgusting. Sai eventually points out that he believes Naruto knows Sakura too well for his own good, constantly placing himself in personal peril out of his feelings for her so that Sakura will be happy. Sakura is moved to tears by this, feeling unbearably guilty for what she feels she had put Naruto through; and despite her attempts to take responsibility for herself during the Summit by trying to deal with Sasuke herself, she still finds herself relying on him due to her own shaky resolve nearly costing Sakura her life. She ultimately settles for doing whatever she can for him, trying to do more in supporting him and his decisions concerning Sasuke, trying to do more to help him bear the challenges of being a jinchūriki, and fighting at his side whenever possible. She is helped in this goal by Tsunade's influence, who trained her to have a contempt for losing and an unbending will;[15] she will place herself at risk so that others don't need to and to assure her allies' victory.[16]
Sakura has been in love with Sasuke since childhood and initially focuses on getting his attention above everything else. Her initial infatuation for him was rooted from his good looks and calm, collecting attitude and his rejections failed to deter her. After becoming teammates, Sakura realised Sasuke's imperfections and suffering, and her desire shifted to helping him as much as she can, which caused that the two of them became closer and protective towards each other and that her feelings could develop into true love. Despite being grateful of her loving him after she confesses to stop him from defecting from Konohagakure, Sasuke rejects her but thanks her before leaving.[17] This rejection deeply upsets Sakura, driving her to plea for Naruto to bring Sasuke home and, when Naruto fails, motivating her to become stronger so that she can bring Sasuke back herself.[18] Sasuke, however, is colder to both Sakura and Naruto in Part II: he showed indifference to them when they meet after more than two years and, in moments of intense hatred while trying to cut his bonds with anyone, has even tried to kill them. She tries to separate herself from her feelings when Sasuke becomes an international criminal, attempting to kill him for Konoha and Naruto's sake and so that he won't sink lower,[19] but her love for him proved to be too great for her to harm him.[20] She resigns herself to the possibility that Sasuke is beyond redemption, but still, even at the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, holds out hope that she may mean something to him.[21] Kakashi even states to Sasuke that Sakura no longer desires for him to return her feelings and she only wants to save him, even though it is breaking her heart. Despite Sasuke's crimes, Sakura was able to forgive him after he sincerely apologised to her for how much he hurt her. She was also surprised when he exhibited a much softer point with her and began poking her on the forehead, an affectionate gesture he picked up from his brother.[22]
After marrying Sasuke, Sakura became very loyal to him and even refused to leave his side while she was pregnant with their daughter, Sarada. Sakura raises Sarada on her own due to Sasuke being away on his mission for many years and she frequently reassures Sarada that Sasuke loves them both and will return home once his mission is over. She is also very patient and wise as her love and patience for Sasuke never faded even though Sarada was barely a toddler when he left. As a mother, Sakura is loving and protective, and has a very close relationship with her daughter and will praise her for her achievements just as quickly as she admonishes her for wrongdoing. Although Sakura is very supportive of Sasuke's duties, she is disappointed when he teases her by refusing to show her affection.
Appearance
Sakura has fair skin, green eyes, and pink hair. In her youth, she wore her hair as bangs in order to cover her large forehead and fend off her classmates' calling her "Forehead Girl" (デコリーン, Dekorīn, English TV: Billboard Brow). Ino Yamanaka encouraged her not to do this and wear her hair back instead, so that others could see her face. Later in herAcademy career she let her hair get longer because of rumours that Sasuke Uchiha was attracted to girls with long hair.[10] When, during Part I, she realises that long hair is a vulnerability in combat situations, she cuts her hair and keeps it under shoulder-length from that point onward, which she sometimes pins up in a ponytail while working.[23] As Sakura gets older, she is noted to become very attractive, with Jiraiyalikening her looks to Tsunade's own.
In Part I, Sakura wears a red qipao dress — at various times either with or without short sleeves — with slits along the sides accompanied by a zipper and white circular designs. She also wears tight dark green bike shorts with a shuriken holster around her right thigh, blue sandals, and the standard Konoha forehead protector worn as a hairband. Colour illustrations from the manga tend to depict her using nail polish and eye-shadow in Part I, both of which are not present in the anime. In Part II, Sakura's typical outfit consists of a red top with the same design as the upper-half of her Part I outfit. Accompanying this are black gloves, low-heel, knee-high boots, black shorts underneath a short grey apron skirt, and grey elbow protectors (her skirt and elbow protectors are pink in the anime). The cloth of her forehead protector is changed to red and she starts carrying a medical pouch. Sakura wears the standard Konoha infantry flak jacket and assorted clothing during theFourth Shinobi World War. She also gains theStrength of a Hundred Seal — in the shape of a violet rhombus — on her forehead, which remains visible thereafter.
Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sakura wears a sleeveless red qipao dress that reaches her upper thighs, with white trimmings and a white circular design on the back similar to her Part I attire; it is tied with a black obi. She wears black shorts underneath the dress, black gloves, and grey elbow and knee protectors. She has also changed her previous boots to regular black, high heeled ninja sandals. In adulthood, Sakura's attire consists of a red sleeveless qipao top that exposes her navel, the back of which carries the Uchiha clan crest and falls to her knees. She also wears light-coloured pants and high heels. For battle, Sakura wears a red top similar to her Part II one, with the Uchiha clan crest on the back, elbow protectors and flatter sandals. At home, she often dons a long white apron and keep her fingernails long and well-manicured.
Abilities
Sakura defeating dozens of Ten-Tails mini-clones.
As a genin, due to her focus on her studies, Sakura lacked any particular combat skill, other than the basic skills she learned in the Academy. This greatly limited her role in missions, to the point where she frequently noted how much she relied on her teammates, Sasuke and Naruto. Determined to change herself, she undergoes intense training with Tsunade for two-and-a-half years, greatly improving her skills. Others remarked that Sakura would inevitably surpass Tsunade[9][24] and is once again recognised for her talent after having formed the Strength of a Hundred Seal during theFourth Shinobi World War.[25][26]
Two years following the war, she would become a jōnin,[27] and could single-handily defeat Kido Tsumiki despite the Anbu being empowered by a Tailed Beast Drug.[28] In adulthood, she was even considered to be a suitable replacement for Naruto as Hokageby Boruto Uzumaki,[29] and was said to be capable of single-handedly defeating Shin Uchiha by Sasuke.[30]
Chakra Control and Physical Prowess
While Sakura has barely been seen usingtaijutsu in Part I, she was able to hold her own against Ino, one of the top students in her class.[31][32] After training with Tsunade, among other things, her taijutsu improved, allowing her to defeat several of Sasori's puppets without attaining even a scratch.[33]In Part I, despite not being known for her strength, she was able to uproot a mast from a ship and use it as a weapon.[34] Sakura has also proven to have quick reflexes, able to grab Obito and get to safety just as the dimension he opened released acid.[35]
As seen in Part I, Sakura's most defining skill was her proficiency in chakra control.[36] Such exact use of her chakra allows her to perform a jutsu with maximum efficiency without wasting much chakra. Due to this, Kakashi Hatake noted that she is well-suited forgenjutsu. While never actually seen using genjutsu, she is frequently able to quickly identify when genjutsu is being used,[37] and then release herself and others from it.[38] ByThe Last: Naruto the Movie, she becomes resistant to genjutsu.
After training under Tsunade for over two years, her chakra control increased tremendously, becoming a vital part to many of her abilities. By building up chakra into her fists (and infrequently her feet) and releasing it on contact with a target, it grants her what Naruto constantly refers to as "monstrous strength". Sakura's strength is enough to destroy buildings or upend the earth. When used against living targets, Sakura can break bones, rupture organs, or even kill with a single strike. Sakura's strength was enough to damage Kaguya Ōtsutsuki with one blow, breaking one of her horns off and drawing blood despite Kaguya's immense durability.[39] Furthermore, she can send chakra throughout her entire body and improve her ability to withstand crushing blows.[40]
Sakura releasing her seal.
Another objective of Tsunade's training was to increase Sakura's available chakra supply to complete the Strength of a Hundred Seal, something that would take three years do.[25]When the seal is released, Sakura has access to all the accumulated chakra, allowing her to perform jutsu of a greater scale than she is normally able to,[41] and among other things, make her physical attacks even more powerful.[25] She can also transfer this chakra to others.[42]
Ninjutsu
Sakura and Katsuyu heal the tired and injured.
Sakura has shown to be efficient inshurikenjutsu, able to accurately pin a falling Naruto to a tree with a kunai from a distance. By Part II, Sakura could use the Summoning Technique, and like Tsunade, summonKatsuyu, a giant slug. By having Katsuyu split apart and attach itself to others, Sakura couldremotely monitor many allies at once, healing them and replenishing their chakra as needed.[43] By the time of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sakura's natures included Earth,Water, Yin, and Yang Release.[5]
Medical Ninjutsu
Sakura (with Ino) heals an injury.
The main purpose of Tsunade's training was to teach Sakura medical ninjutsu and thus make her a medical-nin, which demanded Sakura's refined chakra control. As such, Sakura can heal even the most fatal of injuries.[44] Tsunade remarks that her proficiency for healing are exceptionally rare.[45] When dealing with an enemy with an extremely resistant body, she could combine her chakra-enhanced fists with her medical ninjutsu to heal the resulting damage, eventually killing the affected cells from over-replication.[46] By releasing the Strength of a Hundred Seal, Sakura can put her body in astate in which it heals itself so that she doesn't need to stop to treat herself or even be fazed by injury.[47] In the anime, she could perform a highly difficult operation alone to regenerate a missing section of the body while using a part of individual's body as a medium by using four formula-lines to restore the missing section of the body.[48]
Sakura extracting poison.
If healing ninjutsu proves ineffective, Sakura can make incisions in her patients with theChakra Scalpels to try and directly treat her patients' vital organs.[49] She can also cure those who have been poisoned by extractingthe poison from their bodies, while simultaneously repairing the damage — something which even poison-experts likeChiyo cannot do. To ensure a complete recovery, Sakura can create an effective antidote after analysing the poison's contents, even for poisons that Sasori did not believe anyone but himself could make antidotes for.[50]
Her medical expertise extends to more standard medicine as well, enabling her to perform autopsies and examine cells with a knowledge of genetics.[51] She was taught by Tsunade how to make fast-acting sleeping gas,[52] and was taught by Shizune on how to concoct poisons that, when coated on weapons, could debilitate or paralyse a person with a single scratch.[53] In the anime, Sakura created even created her own version of Military Rations Pills, intended to have more medicinal purposes and be easier to consume.
By the time of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, she had also learned the Healing Power Alteration Technique (癒力変生の術,Yuryoku Hensei no Jutsu), although it is unknown what this entails.
Intelligence
Sakura completes the Chūnin Exams' written test without the need of cheating.
While she was in the Academy, Sakura received consistently high test scores.[54] It is because of her diligence in her studies that Sakura initially struggled in combat situations, for which reason she was added to Team 7 so that she could benefit from the more battle-oriented Naruto and Sasuke, while in turn, they would benefit from her large knowledge base. She was able to answer the written portion of the Chūnin Exams all by herself, something genin were not expected to be able to do.[55] Sakura's intelligence is nevertheless consistently useful, making her observational enough to guess an opponent's tactics from a brief scan of the battlefield and pick up on otherwise minor inconsistencies in conversation.[24][56]Sasuke deemed her analytical skills to be superior to his Sharingan.[37]
She has excellent memory, able to quickly piece together multiple pieces of information she's previously come across in order to form a hypothesis.[57] In actual combat, Sakura frequently relies on misleading her opponents, either by letting them think they've outsmarted her so that they lower their guard,[58] or letting them think they've defeated her so that they will approach her, and she can defeat them with a single punch.