Top 10 Misconceptions About Sakura Haruno

Both the anime and manga make it clear that Sakura is in love with Sasuke. Chapters 181, 675, and 693 all state that Sakura's love for Sasuke is on a completely different level from a simple crush.

Sakura is not obsessed with Sasuke. She is determined to bring back a fellow Team 7 member, someone she cares deeply about. She wants to save Sasuke from his dark path. Chapters 181, 553, and 693 clearly state this. Just like Naruto, Sakura is trying to bring back someone important to her, not acting out of obsession.

One of the most inaccurate accusations against Sakura is that she is useless. Sakura is a skilled medical ninja who has saved countless lives. She kept people like Naruto and Shikamaru alive and saved Kankuro from certain death. She even jumped in front of a poisoned sword to protect Chiyo. Without her, Chiyo would have died, and Gaara would have stayed dead as well. Sakura also performed open-heart massage and CPR on Naruto to keep him alive.

There is nothing useless about saving lives.

Sakura never mocked Naruto for being an orphan. In the manga (chapter 3), Sakura said Naruto was "lucky" for not having parents, as he could do whatever he wanted. She thought this explained his behavior as a brat, because she believed her own parents wouldn't allow her to act the same way. However, Sakura didn't realize how lonely it was for Naruto to grow up without a family. This is why Sasuke told her that having a parent upset at you is nowhere near what Naruto experiences - and that she was being annoying.

Sasuke said nothing about Sakura mocking Naruto because it never happened. Her mistake was in not understanding the pain of being without a family, not in mocking him for being an orphan.

This is also a misconception. While it is true that Sasuke was the final catalyst for Sakura stepping away from Ino, Sakura's backstory with Ino makes it clear that it was more than just about Sasuke. Sakura felt like she was in Ino's shadow and could never beat her (as evidenced by the fact that Sakura said she won't lose to Ino "anymore"). What else could she be referring to, if not their rivalry in the ninja academy? Sasuke had not shown any interest in either of them up to that point, so Sakura couldn't mean losing Sasuke to Ino.

Ino was skilled, charismatic, and pretty. Sakura felt inferior to her, and her insecurities showed. Ino helped Sakura build confidence, and Sakura admired her, as she stated during their match in the Chunin Exams. However, even after coming out of her shell, Sakura still felt like she was in Ino's shadow.

Sakura knew that all the girls liked Sasuke, but she never broke off her friendship with them over it. Only when she learned that Ino liked him too did she step back. This was because it wasn't just about Sasuke - it was about Sakura's inner rivalry with Ino. Ino was her rival in both battle and love. Sakura couldn't beat Ino in school, and she wasn't about to lose Sasuke to her either. That's why she officially made Ino her rival: to show Ino and everyone else that she was her own person, not just Ino's shadow.

If Sakura couldn't step away from Ino, how could she believe she was good enough to be a kunoichi or win Sasuke's heart? Sakura said she wore her headband on top of her head because she wasn't on equal terms with Ino yet. When they fought in the Chunin Exams, she placed it on her forehead for the first time and told Ino she wasn't fighting over Sasuke - she was fighting to surpass Ino. If she couldn't do that, then everything she had done, including breaking off her friendship, would be for nothing. She didn't say, "If I lose Sasuke to you, it would be for nothing." No, it was about standing on equal terms with Ino and surpassing her as a kunoichi.

This ties in with the claim that "Sakura is useless." As mentioned earlier, Sakura has done plenty. She helped save Naruto, Sasuke, and Kankuro, defeated Sasori, punched a goddess, healed countless people on the battlefield, unlocked the Byakugou Seal, became the top medical kunoichi in the world (aside from Tsunade), opened clinics for orphaned children, and defended Konoha.

Sakura has accomplished a lot.

This is a big lie. Sakura has shown care for Naruto as early as Part I. If she didn't care or hated him, she wouldn't have defended him or stood up for him when she did. For example, when she thought Sasuke hit Naruto too hard for "relieving himself" in front of her, she expressed concern and told Sasuke it wasn't necessary. Sakura was willing to take the fall for Naruto in the first Chunin Exam because she wanted to protect his hopes and dreams.

She also dedicated her goals to protecting both Naruto and Sasuke. She did her best to keep Naruto alive with CPR, refusing to let him die when his dream was so close. Sakura shed tears for him over the pain he went through with the Nine-Tails, and she frequently tried to shield him from emotional suffering. She cares deeply for Naruto, even comforting him after Tsunade was injured, despite Tsunade being her own master. Sakura didn't complain to Naruto about needing comfort herself, even though she had trained under Tsunade for nearly three years.

Sakura is canonically incredibly strong. She is said to have strength on par with Tsunade, and by the end of the series, she surpasses her. Kakashi once noted that Sakura has a talent for genjutsu, and if she incorporated it into her skillset, she would be even stronger than Tsunade.

By the time of The Last: Naruto the Movie, Sakura had become completely resistant to genjutsu, as confirmed by Shikamaru. This is a feat even Tsunade hadn't achieved, meaning Sakura can resist attacks from genjutsu users - an impressive accomplishment.

Naruto Gaiden completely debunks this misconception. Karin explicitly states that she is not Sarada's mother - Sakura is. The fact that Sarada wears glasses doesn't mean that no one in Sakura's family could have ever needed glasses. This is a baseless claim.