Did Sakura Die in Naruto? Here Is What Happened
One of the biggest injustices in the Naruto series was the treatment of Sakura Haruno. Despite the ensurances from Masashi Kishimoto that Sakura is his favorite character, she was consistently let down throughout the series. Thankfully, the later story arcs and the Boruto series “saved” Sakura’s character. She became a Ninja World hero with other Team Seven members. However, many Naruto characters were on the brink of death or really died in the series, so this article will discuss if Sakura died in Naruto.
Sakura doesn’t die in the Naruto series. She is close to death multiple times, mostly at the hands of Sasuke, but she always survives. Frankly, she acted mostly as a medical ninja during battles with her teammates. Still, her power came out in battles against Sasori, a puppetmaster of Akatsuki, and the Fourth Shinobi World War, where she showed her true power and almost lost her life trying to save her friends.
We will talk about her near-death experiences in the show and emphasize the biggest battles Konohagakure’s kunoichi went fought in the series. Moreover, we will mention her life post-Naruto briefly to see if she had close scenarios as an adult. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end of the article.
Short character study of Sakura Haruno
Throughout the years, Naruto fans have discussed various characters, their story arcs, their journey, and their progression. Favorites like Itachi and Kakashi mainly were hailed as one of the best Naruto series in their characterization. Still, some of them were unfairly treated – like Haruno Sakura.
The female member of Team Seven was constantly overshadowed by the potential of Naruto and Sasuke, which made her quite unutilized in most fights during Naruto Part One.
Naruto had Kyuubi inside himself, he wasn’t the most talented shinobi in the world, but he always worked hard to compensate for his deficiencies. On the other hand, Sasuke was extremely talented and had enormous potential that was overshadowed by his drive for revenge. However, despite their childhood tragedies and problems that made their lives harder, the fact that both Naruto and Sasuke were descendants of famous shinobi clans was present heavily in their journey.
Sakura came from a fairly “ordinary” shinobi family that didn’t have an exceptional clan kekkei genkai or dōjutsu that would separate her from other Konohagakure shinobi. She was always the smartest out of the Team Seven trio and always relied on books to progress as a kunoichi. However, the real battles and dangers of the Ninja World presented Sakura with no choice but to rely on her skills as a ninja, and unfortunately, she lacked in that regard compared to her teammates.
Her deficiencies are one of the things that made fans dislike Sakura, and her character is one of the worst-written characters of Naruto Part One. Her skills as a kunoichi were average at best, and despite being one of the main characters, she was always put on the side for Naruto and Sasuke “to shine.”
If we analyze her personality, Masashi Kishimoto “dropped the ball” massively when writing Sakura’s character. Sakura was shown to be insecure in her youth, mostly because of her looks, and her classmates constantly bullied her for the size of her forehead. She overcame it by relying on herself and her friend Ino, which helped her develop into herself.
However, her insecurities weren’t the issue with her character, but inconsistencies with her decisions and her attitude towards Naruto. Sakura had a huge crush on Sasuke, which was alright most of the time, but Kishimoto managed to make her insufferable, especially during Part One. The biggest example is her trying to stop Sasuke from leaving Konoha – she confesses her feelings to Uchiha, who only thanks her and leaves.
Upset and heartbroken, she begs Naruto to bring Sasuke home, which he fails to do, and then Sakura decides to improve to bring him home herself.
This situation seems fine, but the burden she put on Naruto and guilt-tripped the boy to bring Sasuke back was a low blow, especially knowing that Naruto had a crush on her.
The end of Part One saw members of Team Seven training under the members of Legendary Sannin and, three years later, come back much stronger, especially Sakura. Teenager Sakura made immense progress over the years under the tutelage of Tsunade, from which she discovered that she has the potential to be strong – impeccable chakra control and genjutsu immunity.
In Naruto Shippuden, she improved as a kunoichi and character in the story. Despite being overshadowed once again by her teammates, Sakura proved that she could be a solid character who still made some questionable decisions but at least had a solid reason for that (except saying to Naruto she loves him – low blow Sakura).
Sakura is a flawed young woman with many insecurities and questionable choices. Still, the more she goes on in the Naruto series, the more she progresses as a character, which is the most important thing.
Sakura’s most important battles in Naruto
Now that we know who Sakura is Naruto series let’s name a few important battles that were really dangerous.
Sakura’s fight with Sasori of the Red Sand showed how much she improved in three years of training with Tsunade.
One of the biggest tests for Sakura came immediately after reuniting with Naruto. After two and a half years of hard training with Tsunade, Sakura got dispatched to the Kazekage rescue mission, which brought Team Seven back together. On the journey to save Gaara from Akatsuki, together with master puppetmaster Chiyo, Sakura encountered one of the most notorious Sunagakure shinobi, Sasori of Red Sand. The member of Akatsuki fought against Chiyo and Sakura, who combined their skills and beat the dangerous shinobi.
Sakura showed a plethora of skills, and finally showcased how good she can be in battle. Fight against Sasori is one of the most creative fights we saw in the series.
Encounter with Sasuke in Orochimaru’s lair prompted Sakura to become stronger.
Despite this particular moment not being a proper battle, Sakura and Naruto learned a valuable lesson about their former teammate, Uchiha Sasuke. The younger Uchiha acted indifferent towards his teammates, and after neutralizing them, Naruto and Sakura realized that they need to train even harder to be equal to Sasuke.
This is the moment when Sakura almost died at the hand of Sasuke, but was saved by Captain Yamato, in the last moment.
The final decision to kill Sasuke almost costs Sakura her life.
One of the most important fights in the Naruto series is during the Five Kage Summit arc. Sasuke faces Danzo Shimura, a man responsible for using Itachi, and the massacre of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke defeats Danzo, but not without almost killing Karin and Sakura, who vows to finally kill Sasuke. When she gets a chance to kill Sasuke, Sakura hesitates and almost dies if it wasn’t for Naruto’s last-second reaction.
Sakura and Naruto are devastated seeing their friend becoming the enemy of the Ninja World and almost giving up on him.
Sakura’s role in Fourth Shinobi World War was extremely important, as a medical-nin, but as a strong kunoichi as well.
The Naruto series established that Sakura is an impeccable, and extremely capable medical-nin. Her chakra control and enormous chakra reserves helped the injured shinobi countless times. Sakura kept Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke, and even Obito Uchiha alive in a fight against god-like Madara, and goddess Kaguya. However, one of the most epic moments of the war was when Team Seven combined their powers to seal Kaguya, and defeat her once and for all.
Sakura used her incredible strength and punched Kaguya with a force of a mountain, and helped Naruto and Sasuke finish the job. Once a weak, with average potential ninja, became a strong kunoichi, who stood as an equal to her teammates and friends, Naruto and Sasuke.
Does Sakura die in Naruto?
With all being said, Sakura never died in the Naruto series. Her character went through a lot of ups and downs but was never indicated that she will be killed off. Despite some fans wanting otherwise, especially during Naruto Part One, the writers persisted with Sakura, who progressed into a formidable kunoichi, and a good character.
She had her faults, as any teenager would have, and was treated poorly by the writers and the fans, but in the end, Sakura became one of the most important parts of the Naruto series.
Sakura was involved in some dangerous fights where she would mostly stay in the background and heal everyone, but when she fought and showcased her strength, Sakura was a force to be reckoned with.
Today, Sakura is a great supporting character in the Boruto series, where she is considered a legend of the Shinobi World, a mother and a wife, who protects her family with everything she has. In the end, Sakura became a great character in the Naruto series, which we as the fans, welcomed with open arms.
