What The Hell Sakura

[Umari Senju]

As I was responding to an earlier thread of Sakura VS Tenten, I ended up wondering what the hell happened to Sakura. Now I've never really been a fan of Sakura especially in part one because all she did was cry and fawn over Sasuke. In part 2 she began to change my opinion of her when she demonstrated her med ninja skills countering Sasori's deadly poison and the battle against The 3rd Kazekage puppet with minimal help from Elder Chyo. After that? What the hell happened?

She got all whiney and sobby all over again. Did she not train under a Sannin? Why did Kishi decide not to make her progress any further? Had she maybe found the Slug Mountain she could have been a Sage herself could she not? Why was she not trained in Tsunade's regenerating seal techs? She should have been fighting Kabuto and not the Uchiha brothers.

I had such high hopes for her too, now Scattered to the winds by plot no justsu.......

......LAME Kishi....just....LAME!

[Hipster Madara]

Kishi gave up on Sakura cuz no one really cared.

[SasoriOfTheRedSaand]

She thought she got one on Sasori but just watch, he'll return.

[Ritsu]

Kishi gave up on Sakura cuz no one really cared.

Obviously people cared..seeing as how people are always wondering as to why Sakura was left behind and forgotten.

OT: Kishi stated in an interview that he isn't really good at developing female characters.

[Uchiha Legacy]

Kishi gave up on Sakura cuz no one really cared.

I care.

[xXLostSoulXx]

I agree she has kind of just faded away and reverted back to her old self.

[Umari Senju]

It's. Not just Sakura either all the girls in the Narutoverse save Tsunade have been relatively weak. I don't think Kishi cares for women too much.

[nNoma]

Unfortunately as with all female characters in Naruto bar Tsunade, she doesn't get much love anymore. I think Kishi said he finds it difficult to draw and develop female characters, so I think the fact that he even made Sakura do anything is good. But it will never be enough to those fans that actually want to see some progression out of there favorite female characters.

I for one am happy he's made Tsunade such an important influence in the war arch, she's really shown her colors as Hokage, and I can only hope this is a permanent change not just for her, but for all female characters.

[Chatte]

Good question. Kishi is being very unfair at this point to be honest.
And don't give me that Kishi doesn't know how to deal with female characters. All he has to do is just add something that he is very capable of doing: power-ups!

But it seems like he doesn't give a damn about her. Out of Team 7 she's the most undeveloped. But I still like her. :D

[Umari Senju]

Unfortunately as with all female characters in Naruto bar Tsunade, she doesn't get much love anymore. I think Kishi said he finds it difficult to draw and develop female characters, so I think the fact that he even made Sakura do anything is good. But it will never be enough to those fans that actually want to see some progression out of there favorite female characters.

I for one am happy he's made Tsunade such an important influence in the war arch, she's really shown her colors as Hokage, and I can only hope this is a permanent change not just for her, but for all female characters.

That just makes it even worse as Sakura is Tsunade's pupil, lol!

[Hipster Deidara]

Sakura became less and less important. I put shino over her now.. the one guy many people forget.

[realobito1]

I think kishi wanted to improve tsunade and could not improve sakura for that very reason. Tsunade had skills to show in her battle with madara and kishi could not advance sakura to that same level for the simple reason that outside of naruto tsunade had to be the strongest. Now that tsunade might die sakura has all the time in the world to get better.

[Yellow Flash God]

maybe because she wasn't needed? I mean think of how many characters there are in the NV. We might never see another rock lee, tenten etc. boss battle. The story mainly revolves around Sasuke, Naruto, Obito, and Kakashi (sort of) right now. In part 1 her role was bigger as she was a teammate, now shes just his love interest.

[Chatte]

maybe because she wasn't needed? I mean think of how many characters there are in the NV. We might never see another rock lee, tenten etc. boss battle. The story mainly revolves around Sasuke, Naruto, Obito, and Kakashi (sort of) right now. In part 1 her role was bigger as she was a teammate, now shes just his love interest.

What about at 16 third best medic combat ninja in the NV?
She's not at Tsunade's level, but still... she has her merits.

[Umari Senju]

maybe because she wasn't needed? I mean think of how many characters there are in the NV. We might never see another rock lee, tenten etc. boss battle. The story mainly revolves around Sasuke, Naruto, Obito, and Kakashi (sort of) right now. In part 1 her role was bigger as she was a teammate, now shes just his love interest.

Normally I would agree with you, but there were many opportunities to make her a valuable asset. For instance: when she asked Yamato to teach her the tech to Subdue the Kyuubi when Naruto rages out of control. That would have been cool but they put a DNA restriction on that so that ended that. When Tsunade was comatose, she could have trained in summoning Katsuyu but she didn't. I would have made her a slug sage and had her learn her own regenerating style jutsu. Regardless of making Tsunade the strongest female character, Sakura should have at least been on the battlefield helping out with some of these main bad guys. She just attends to the wounded in relative safety. Such a letdown.

And if Kishi didn't know how know to develop women characters then get some help from his other writers...what a shame.

[theRPGdude]

You never know what's gonna happen. Sakura might just surprised all of us with her hidden ninjustu. She may even join up with Naruto and fight with him. She might even become a sage. She might as well be dead. Idk. Only Kishi knows. I wish I did so I can make a future thread. But it's all good.

[AP2k]

What about at 16 third best medic combat ninja in the NV?
She's not at Tsunade's level, but still... she has her merits.

She's third best out of the four medical ninja in the series.....and she's not even remotely close to kabuto/tsunade.

[Drakengard]

I hate to say it but Kishi's been known to neglect some characters for a while now. I personally think Sakura has plenty of potential to live up to (don't see why a lot of others fail to see it too, but oh well). It's the climax of the war, so perhaps there will be a last stand with the Konoha Rookies and we'll be able to see some final power ups for the lot of them.

[Chatte]

She's third best out of the four medical ninja in the series.....and she's not even remotely close to kabuto/tsunade.

My wrong, indeed, I forgot about Kabuto.
Anyway, she has her merits nonetheless.

[AnimeFanGirl4Eva]

Good question. Kishi is being very unfair at this point to be honest.
And don't give me that Kishi doesn't know how to deal with female characters. All he has to do is just add something that he is very capable of doing: power-ups!

But it seems like he doesn't give a damn about her. Out of Team 7 she's the most undeveloped. But I still like her. :D

Personally, I agree. it isn't that hard to give a girl strong Jutsu's >.> Developing a female character as a personality is WAY different from developing them moves :/ I think he is just using that as an excuse as he had made some strong women including Konan, Tsunade and Mei. I understand that this is a "shonen" manga and all, but seriously, what guy wouldn't like a strong girl? All Kishi has to do is make the girl of his dreams! If he even has one.... makes me wonder lol

[GiantShuriken]

Once they gave Naruto Sage Mode, Sakura became worthless from then on. At least initially with Team Kakashi she was a pretty important part. But Naruto just became too overpowered from there on for her to matter. Once Naruto and Sasuke faced off again after the 5 Kage summit, she realized her own weakness in relation to the two of them both physically and mentally and decided to just trust in them. It is in the manga and anime.

[Drakengard]

I was pretty amazed at how Sakura grew over the Time-Skip. When I first watched that arc in the anime, I thought she even surpassed Naruto's usefulness when she healed Kankuro and battled Sasori. Their combat feats seemed comparable in the extended fight vs Kakashi too (even though Naruto gave them the edge with his unpredictable plan). And thennn... nothing >_>

[KGB Kakuzu]

yup...Kishi said he is bad with female characters.

Sakura got it better than the rest lol! She has strong punches, poision counters, knockout gas, and healing!! Just look at Tenten !!!! Hinata also has only one mover riding for her manga wise and that is the Twin Lion Fist, but who knows if she ever actually uses it. I mean Anime Hinata has a good arsenal, but it isn't canon. Ino still only has the mind transfer, but it works for the Ino-Shika-Cho.

Tsunade almost had nothing until this war when we saw the full potential of her mage tank abilities...even more so than the Orochimaru fight.

The ladies need some stronger moves, but it is unlikely they get them :/.