Sakura Haruno

Name: Sakura Haruno
Age 16
Rank:Chuunin (A rank)
Village: Konohagakure


Appearance:

Spoiler:

Personality At the start of the series, Sakura had a deep infatuation for Sasuke Uchiha, rooted primarily in his good looks, cunning, cool attitude, and prodigious talents. For that reason, many of Sakura's early appearances are dedicated to her continuing efforts to win his affection. As the story progresses, she begins to recognize that Sasuke is a real person with imperfections, and develops a more sincere desire to be there for him. Sakura also becomes concerned that Sasuke will someday abandon her and the rest of Konohagakure in his quest for power. When her fears come true at the end of Part I, Sakura does all that she can to stop Sasuke from leaving, such as professing her love for him and offering to join him. Though touched by her words, they do not stop Sasuke from defecting from Konoha.

Since then, Sakura has made her personal goal to bring Sasuke home, which becomes a recurring component of her role in Part II. Although she still worries about his well-being, Sakura is willing to attack him if it means returning him to Konoha. As time goes on and Sasuke becomes an increasingly more dangerous criminal, Sakura recognizes that Sasuke must be stopped at all costs. She also tells Naruto that she no longer has any feelings for Sasuke since he just keeps breaking her heart. Sai and Kakashi has speculated that Sakura intends to kill Sasuke herself to prevent him from sinking any lower as a criminal.

Sakura's relationship with Naruto Uzumaki, like with Sasuke, also changes throughout the series. When first teamed up together, Sakura viewed Naruto as a talentless idiot who deliberately tried to ruin her life, the result of Naruto's efforts to win her heart interfering with her similar efforts with Sasuke. However, as the story progresses and Naruto continuously shows his worth as a ninja as well as his dedication to his teammates, Sakura realizes that her initial perceptions of him were wrong. After Sasuke defects from Konoha, Sakura pleads to Naruto, believing him to be the only one capable of bringing Sasuke back. Although Naruto fails and is left in the hospital afterwards, he vows to someday complete the task she has given him. Realizing the lengths Naruto will go to for her, Sakura spends the next three years training with Tsunade so that in the future she can join Naruto in his quest to bring Sasuke back.

In Part II, Sakura learns of the various hardships Naruto faces: the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and Akatsuki. Saddened by the impact both forces have had on his life, Sakura becomes protective of Naruto and tries to do whatever she can to help him overcome these obstacles. Sakura develops a deep friendship with Naruto, due to their spending a lot of time together. After Sai tells her about Naruto's love for her and the pain that trying to fulfill his promise causes, Sakura is filled with guilt. Soon afterwards she tells Naruto that she loves him and tries to get him to give up on his promise, but he does not believe her and tells her she is lying to herself. Sai later reveals that Sakura's confession was not out of love, but an attempt to release Naruto from his promise, and possibly distract him while she hunts down Sasuke.

Unlike the rest of Team 7, Sakura is the only one of the four members who has not suffered any heavy losses. Therefore, things that her teammates desire, such as family and friends, Sakura took for granted. Also, Sakura is quite outspoken, as when she doesn't understand something or if it bothers her, she tends to practically yell out in questioning or complaining to someone. However, all of this seemed to change by Part II, as she becomes more knowledgeable towards Naruto and Sasuke's sufferings, and tries to ease them. As her personality matures, she also shouts less, but still questions unknown situations plenty.


Inner Sakura.Within Sakura resides "Inner Sakura" (内なるサクラ, Uchi Naru Sakura), a manifestation of her inner emotions. In addition to comic relief, Inner Sakura represents Sakura's actual opinion on things when she outwardly displays something opposite. Inner Sakura's appearances are typically marked by an exclamation of "Shānnarō!" (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. The English anime, for censorship reasons, replaced the aforementioned phrases with a forceful "Cha!". Inner Sakura is unique as it is in a way a second will within Sakura's mind. When Ino used the Mind Body Switch Technique on her, Inner Sakura was able to repel the user from her body, suggesting that Inner Sakura is a split personality. Although she appears quite frequently at the start of the series, Inner Sakura all but disappears midway through Part I, her only other subsequent appearance being at the start of Part II. Sakura, likewise, now performs the emotional, violent outbursts she once relied on Inner Sakura for, much to the dismay of those who are around her at the time.

Alignment Good



Bloodline N/A
Specialty: Chakra Attuned, Mentally Attuned, Medical Ninjutsu, Taijutsu
Element: N/A


Goals: To kill Sasuke herself in order to keep him from sinking any lower as a criminal. (Most Likely)

History: Sakura is the third member of Team Seven, the mid-point between the grades of Naruto and Sasuke. Strictly average in all respects, even to the point of having no signature jutsu, Sakura has shown a lot of development over the series. Beginning as nothing more than an admirer of Sasuke and appearing to take her ninja career less seriously than she should, her experiences eventually hardened her to the point of being an effective kunoichi.

Initially, Sakura had a split personality that usually manifested itself viewable only to the audience and broke the fourth wall, an inverted negative cartoon image of herself with "Inner Sakura" written on her head, which conveyed her true emotions. Sakura's polite and pleasant manners were shown on the outside, where Inner Sakura was what she was really thinking. Sakura has been an emotional point for both Naruto and Sasuke, where Naruto's crush on her has always been ignored due to her own crush on Sasuke forming a typical chain. Sakura also caught the attention of the Genin, Rock Lee, who decided he would protect her life with his own within moments of meeting her.

Another person Sakura has a common relation with is her on-off friend and rival, Ino. As a child, the other girls in her class teased Sakura because of her large forehead. Ino stood up for her and the two became friends, staying that way for a number of years until they both developed fondness for Sasuke. Both girls also grew their hair specifically upon hearing that Sasuke liked girls with long hair.

Sakura's first major mission was to the Wave country, where she escorted the bridge-building expert Tazuna. Sakura was not involved in any major fights, but remained as his bodyguard while the other ninja were occupied. She wept while Sasuke appeared to be dead, breaking the rules on how ninja were not to allow their emotions to control them. It was on this mission that her Jounin sensei, Kakashi, held her back from a training exercise that Naruto and Sasuke participated in. Unknown to Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi told her that while she had the smallest overall total capacity of chakra, she was the most efficient at creating and using it and didn't need the training.

Kakashi later entered Sakura into the Chuunin Exam. After an encounter with a disguised Orochimaru, it was up to her to ensure the survival of Sasuke, who Orochimaru had branded with his Cursed Seal and Naruto, who had also been afflicted with a seal that disrupted his chakra. With both boys unconscious and being attacked by Orochimaru's sound trio, Kin taunted Sakura about her long hair and how she was useless as a ninja. Kin continued to pull on her hair and Sakura had an immense change of heart.

Freeing herself from the sound kunoichi's grip by slicing her own hair off, she battled back against all three, desperately trying to defend her team and even going as far as refusing to release a bite on Zaku despite him pounding his fist into her head. Help came from Ino and her team, although the trio were only driven back when Sasuke awoke, first inflicting critical wounds to Zaku's arms after he boasted to hurting Sakura. However, the monstrously violent Sasuke caused Sakura to try and hold him back, eventually calming him enough for the released Cursed Seal to recede.

The seal was a constant worry on Sakura's mind, almost making her throw in the towel for Sasuke and halting his progress in the exam. Despite her worry, Sasuke continued through the preliminary rounds and was attended to by Kakashi, who suppressed the seal. Sakura herself then found herself in a tough situation. Her own opponent in the preliminaries was none other than Ino. The two proved to be equal against each other until Ino played a trick, cutting off her own hair and using it to tie Sakura down while she used her Shintenshin (mind-body switch) technique to invade Sakura's mind. While the intention was to make Sakura submit through the transfer, Ino didn't know of Sakura's split personality and while it slept, Inner Sakura became the dominant personality, mentally assaulting Ino and forcing her out. The girls took a final blow at each other, both knocking each other unconscious and resulting in a draw.

Sakura was a spectator in the finals of the exam, watching Sasuke VS Gaara. However, as the combined Sand and Sound invasion commenced, Sakura's efficiency with chakra control allowed her to dispel Kabuto's mass sleeping skill and remain awake. Under orders from Kakashi, she then woke up Naruto and was about to do the same with Shikamaru when she realized he was playing possum to avoid confronting the invaders. The three, accompanied by a small summoned dog, Pakkun, chased after Sasuke and Gaara. It was during this mission that Sakura was mentally crippled by a horrible revelation… she and Pakkun used the same shampoo.

When Gaara was finally tracked down, he began to transform into a terrible mixture of human being and a Tanuki made of sand, chasing Sasuke in turn. When Naruto appeared, Gaara attacked Sakura, who was looking after Sasuke. He pinned her to a tree with a large blanket of sand that would slowly constrict tighter and tighter. Gaara gave Naruto a time limit before the sand crushed her to death. Luckily, Naruto's determination and desire to protect those who he held dear proved to be the deciding factor, freeing Sakura from the death trap.

After the exam, team seven went on a brief mission to the Tea Country where they encountered the renegade defector, Aoi Rokusho. Formerly from the Fire Country, Aoi fled, stealing an important item and pinning the blame on another leaf ninja. Sakura's blooming medical skills saved the team and their charge, the boy who was blamed by Aoi, from Aoi's poison. By now, Sakura's position had been cemented as a supporter rather than direct attacker, or a simple damsel in distress. For a long time, this was Sakura's last real mission.

Sasuke, meanwhile, suffered the last straw and with a heavy loss from his brother and mocking from Aoi, compounded with the last-place loser Naruto now outshining him. Despite Sakura bringing him flowers and tending to him daily, he cast her aside and smacked a plate of sliced apples from her hands, demanding a fight with Naruto on the roof. Sakura watched, looking on as the boys came at each other with techniques intended to cause maximum damage. Throwing herself blindly between them, she was saved at the last moment when Kakashi parried the attacks. Despite the worry, Kakashi comforted her once again. Just in case, Sakura then granted Naruto the "date" he had wanted for a long time, which she used to tell him about Sasuke's Cursed Seal.

Meanwhile, Sasuke himself was preparing to leave Konoha. As he reached the gates, Sakura stopped him, trying to convince him to stay behind by offering to help in his revenge. However, her begging only caused Sasuke to strengthen his resolve. After Sakura cried her heart out to him, he coldly knocked her out and left her aside. She awoke the next morning and quickly raised the alarm, while Tsunade assembled the team to bring Sasuke back. Before they left, Sakura begged Naruto to return with Sasuke. Naruto promised he would, but when Naruto was carried back from the mission, Sakura realized that the only solution was to increase her own power. Sakura went straight to the Hokage and asked to be taken on as an apprentice. Tsunade was impressed with Sakura's determination and accepted her as a student. Over the next two years, Tsunade trained Sakura and passed down her skills.

In the time spent under Tsunade's eye, Sakura's skills as a healer improved. When she and Naruto had a rematch with Kakashi for the old bell test he used on them as Genin, Sakura revealed another surprise. She had also learned the secret to Tsunade's inhuman strength, splitting the ground beneath Kakashi. However, no sooner had the reunion happened, the three were issued with a mission to help retrieve Gaara from Akatsuki. After arriving at Suna, Sakura showed her growth by saving Kankurou from Sasori's poison.

It was here that their consultant Chiyo, a woman who had been heralded as a living legend, noted the similarities between Tsunade and Sakura. The trio and Chiyo set off in search of Gaara and his kidnappers. Along the way, their path was blocked by Itachi, the man to blame for Sasuke's attitude. Itachi put Naruto under a Genjutsu, which Sakura reversed, while Kakashi took Itachi on head to head. A two-sided attack from him and Naruto put Itachi down, only to reveal that it was not Itachi, merely a specially-transformed subordinate of Sasori, one of his partners in Akatsuki. The team, joined by a support group consisting of Gai, Lee, Tenten and Neji, broke into Akatsuki's hiding place and instantly began fighting. However, only Sasori and his partner, Deidara, were present physically. Deidara took off with Gaara while Sasori remained behind to deal with Chiyo and Sakura.

Sasori and Chiyo were both experts in using puppets as their attacking tools, with Sasori going one step further and hiding himself within the shell of one of his. With help from Chiyo, Sakura smashed open the puppet and revealed Sasori himself. However, this only served to raise the odds as he summoned another – the mutilated and mechanized corpse of the third Kazekage. In addition to the puppet modifications Sasori had made, the Kazekage retained his skills from his life, the ability to manipulate iron sand, which Sasori had mixed with his own lethal poisons. Chiyo responded by calling upon two puppets of her own – the mechanized remains of her own son and his wife – Sasori's parents.

The third Kazekage proved extremely difficult to neutralize, managing to inflict poisonous wounds as well as use the iron sand to disable the parental puppets. However, Sakura managed to pull off a last-second strike, shattering it to pieces. Sasori's next move was the biggest surprise of all. Pulling off his cloak, he stood on a cable with a spear-tipped end that coiled up into his stomach, with scythe-like claws sprouting from his back and other bodily augmentations – he was a living puppet himself. Chiyo drew her trump card, the White Secret Technique: the Chikamatsu puppet collection, a group of ten puppets controlled by one finger each. Sasori responded with his own, the Red Secret Technique and opened up a panel built into his chest. A hundred strings of chakra flowed out and connected to one puppet each, displaying his own collection of a hundred puppets, which he had used to conquer an entire country.

Although Chiyo's puppets were still quality over quantity, there was still too much risk and it was up to Sakura. With an item given to her by Chiyo, she managed to thrust at Sasori and trapped him up against a wall, sealing off his chakra. The puppets fell limp and Sasori's body with it. However, Sakura noticed at the last second that Sasori's body was empty – no eyes, hollow and lacking the small cylinder that had his name written on it. Before she could react, another puppet, now with Sasori's face and the missing cylinder, lunged at Chiyo. Sakura threw herself in front and took the fatal stab from the puppet's poisoned sword. Chiyo then quickly injected the last of the antidote into Sakura. Sasori drew back, pulling off the forearm section of the puppet to reveal another blade underneath. As he rushed forward for a second strike, he suddenly stopped as two swords impaled his body and the cylinder, critically injuring the last remaining organic part of Sasori.

Sasori gloated that not even medical techniques could heal the wound he dealt Sakura. Chiyo remarked that she was not using conventional medical treatment, but a method of life-force transfer that she had originally developed for Sasori that could even breathe life into a puppet. Sasori then realized that his dead parents could have been resurrected and simply muttered "pathetic", mocking the technique and questioning his grandmother's sanity. As the blood drained from his chest, he lost the ability to control his own body and finally dropped to the ground after he lectured Sakura on the advantages of his lack of morality and mortality, as well as leaving her a small hint before he lost consciousness, that he would be meeting with a spy he had placed among Orochimaru's underlings.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi had defeated Deidara and secured Gaara, who appeared dead. Chiyo transferred the last of her life-force into him, then told Sakura that she may well go on to surpass Tsunade. Shortly after, Sakura cradled her lifeless body as she passed on. As the leaf ninja left, Sakura brushed a hand over Chiyo's grave and said her final goodbyes.

No sooner had they got back home, things were already changing as her report on Sasori's spy prompted an investigation. Naruto and Sakura found themselves joined by two new faces – Kakashi's replacement as team leader, the man codenamed Yamato and the irritatingly blunt Sai, also a codename. The three met up with the spy, with Yamato disguising himself as Sasori. As a shock to them all, the spy was none other than Kabuto… however, Orochimaru himself had followed, surprising them both. Kabuto ran to "Sasori", but double-crossed him and slashed through him, revealing Yamato inside; unaware of what Sasori really looked like under the puppet.


Orochimaru told Kabuto that it was indeed a fake and invited Naruto, Sakura and Sai to step forward too. As Orochimaru's words drove Naruto into a frenzy, Sakura is knocked flat as a defensive outward burst of chakra from a Kyuubi-possessed Naruto and almost sent plummeting off the bridge, struck with a wound that proves difficult to close up. As Orochimaru and Naruto face off, Yamato takes measures to track Orochimaru, Kabuto and apparently, Sai. In the recovery time that follows, Sakura uses her medical skills to heal Naruto after his brutal Kyuubi rampage. Yamato takes the opportunity to address her not so hidden close feelings for Naruto. Sakura is taken aback by Yamato's view of her character. She doesn't get a chance to answer him though as Naruto regains consciousness.

The team then leaves in pursuit of their quarry. Despite a convincing dummy, the team fails to fall for a hung corpse mimicking Sai and presses further on, where they eventually end up inside one of Orochimaru's temporary bases. The team split up to search for clues, running into Sai's cell and apprehending Kabuto. However, the base is torn apart in a moment and Sakura finds herself staring up a cliff and into the face of Sasuke himself. When they were unable to persuade Sasuke to come home with them they attacked him instead, but this was also ineffective. Sasuke escaped and, defeated, the team returned home.

Team Yamato was sent to provide back up for Team 10 during their battle with Akatsuki. Because Shikamaru was separated from the rest of the group, Sai and Sakura were sent to provide assistance for him, though upon arrival they found that Shikamaru had already defeated his opponent. Having not taken part in the battle, Sakura returned to Konoha with the others, and later healed the damage to Naruto's arm from the use of his new jutsu. Because this made it difficult for him to eat, she offered to feed him. Though he was delighted by the idea, interference from both Sai and Kakashi prevented this from happening.

Once they returned to Konoha and learned of Jiraiya's death, Sakura tried to comfort both Naruto and Tsunade. When Naruto blamed Tsunade for the death of Jiraiya, Sakura scolded him. She was then shocked to hear Naruto declare that he would get his revenge. She later tried to help decipher Jiraiya's dying message to find out more about the Akatsuki leader, Pain, but was interrupted by Pain's attack on the village. After saving some villagers Sakura went to the Konoha hospital, defending the building and healing what injuries she could.

When Pain destroyed the village, Sakura was saved by Katsuyu. When she sees the village in ruins she calls out for Naruto to return to save everyone. After Naruto's return Sakura could only watch as Naruto tried to defeat the six Pains. She became worried when Naruto entered a six-tailed state, and was amazed to find out that Hinata risked her life to try and save Naruto. She heals Hinata afterwards and watches as Pain, defeated and converted by Naruto, revives all those who had died during his attack.

[edit] Five Kage Summit arc Sakura accompanies the rest of the village in welcoming Naruto back from his meeting with Pain. First she punches him, but then tearfully hugs him and thanks him. She was then devastated to tell Naruto and the others that she and Shizune couldn't do anything else for Tsunade, who is left in a comatose state. She tried to cheer Naruto up after what happened to Tsunade, but they were later called by Tazuna and Inari, who complimented her appearance, causing her to blush. Tazuna then looked for Sasuke but Naruto stated that he had been gone for a while and that he would bring him back, causing Sakura to look relieved.

Soon afterwards, Sakura and Naruto learn that Danzō has become the new Hokage and that he has ordered Sasuke be executed as a missing-nin. They contemplate how to convince Danzō to change his mind, but Kakashi advises them against it. While asking Sai about Danzō they are confronted by Omoi and Karui. The Kumogakure ninja inform them of Sasuke's crimes and demand any information they may have on Sasuke. Sakura then wonders why they wanted to know and questions them. Kauri then reply's back angrily for being interrupted then, yells at Sakura calling her annoying and asking her what Sasuke was to her. Sakura then unable to find an answer burst into tears. Sai and Naruto then defend her. Seeing how upset this makes Sakura, Naruto volunteers to tell them for her the information they wanted to know about Sasuke.

Naruto, with Kakashi and Yamato, go to the Land of Iron to ask the current Raikage to forgive Sasuke. While they are gone, Sai informs Sakura of the lengths Naruto has gone to to make her happy. He also says that although Naruto loves her, the strain of trying to bring Sasuke home and fulfill the promise he made to her cause him nothing but pain. Shikamaru joins the conversation on behalf of the other members of the Konoha 11, telling Sakura that Sasuke's actions will only lead to war. Believing that the best course of action would be for them to personally stop Sasuke, Shikamaru asks for Team 7's consent. Sakura tearfully agrees.

After Sai informed Sakura of Naruto's feelings, and because of the suffering she had caused him, Sakura decided to be the one to tell him of their decision. She, Sai, Kiba, and Rock Lee went to the Land of Iron to see Naruto. There, Sakura told Naruto that she has just fallen in love with him, and all of a sudden stopped loving Sasuke. The entire group (Sai, Kiba, Lee, Yamato, Kakashi, and Naruto) were all in disbelief, and Naruto refuted her confession, claiming it was a lie. Sakura insisted she was telling the truth, and informed Naruto that the promise he made her was no longer necessary. Naruto insisted that he was not just trying to fulfill his promise to her, but also to himself. Sakura quickly departed with the rest of the group. Once out of earshot, she asked Kiba to help her find Sasuke. As the group leaves, a second Sai watched the team depart some distance away. After making sure that Sakura's group had left, the clone approached Naruto, to tell him the truth that Sakura couldn't bring herself to tell. Sai explained that the rest of Konoha 11 had decided to kill Sasuke, as his actions would lead to war with the other countries and one person is not worth the risk of total war. It is because of Sakura's guilt over the promise, combined with the knowledge that Sasuke's death would hurt Naruto, that she falsely confessed. Sai continued to explain that Sakura had decided to track down Sasuke herself, most likely in an attempt to kill him. He explained to a confused Naruto that it was because she loved Sasuke that Sakura felt the need to kill him herself, even if it meant Naruto hating her. Sakura's true intentions and thoughts on the matter are yet to be revealed.