Does Sakura Love Naruto? Did They Ever Date?
The Naruto series offered us many great dynamics between the characters. Mostly friendships, which Kishimoto has written really well. Romance is another story for Naruto since no romantic storylines were outright displayed in the series. Yes, Kushina and Minato and Asuma and Kurenai come to mind, but besides that, we had unrecruited love and distance pinning for other characters. In the case of Sakura and Naruto, their relationship was always odd, to say the least. It actually got quite complicated during the series, which was questioned by the fans. In this article, we will discuss if Sakura ever loved Naruto and did they ever date in the Naruto series.
Sakura and Naruto never dated in the series, nor they ever had romantic feelings for each other. Naruto did have an unrecruited crush for Sakura but never truly acted on his feelings. On the other hand, Sakura always thought of Naruto as her friend, and that continued to their adulthood, where Naruto and Sakura shared a true friendship and strong bond.
We will discuss this topic more by explaining Sakura and Naruto’s dynamic throughout the Naruto series and pinpoint moments that felt important for their relationship. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end of the article.
Sakura’s and Naruto’s relationship in the Naruto series
Naruto and Sakura have known each other since they were pre-academy children. While Sakura was struggling with her insecurities about her looks, Naruto was a perky troublemaker with baggage that he couldn’t control, and for that, he never received any empathy from his fellow villagers and peers.
When they started attending the Academy classes together, Sakura was the typical popular girl in the class. She was friends with another popular girl in the class, Yamanaka Ino, which put her at the top of the social hierarchy. Of course, she didn’t think anything special of Naruto, and as most of the class did, they thought Naruto was a class clown that everyone made fun of.
Naruto was the opposite of Sakura, constantly doing pranks and covering his grief with a laugh. However, after properly meeting Sakura, Naruto developed a crush on the pink-haired girl, which continued after Academy put them on the same genin team.
Now Team Seven, the Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke trio were interesting. Naruto was pining after Sakura, while Sakura did the same with Sasuke, who didn’t care for the girl at all.
Sakura always scolded Naruto for his behavior and would always hit him, or some fans would say “physically abuse” him, which is exaggerating. Masashi Kishimoto always had a particular type of humor in the series, mostly reflected in Sakura and Naruto’s dynamic. Other characters had the same shenanigans – Ten Ten and Rock Lee first come to mind.
Sakura’s character was accused multiple times of being too harsh on Naruto, especially regarding Sasuke. After young Uchiha departed from Konohagakure, Sakura burdened Naruto heavily to bring Sasuke home. Of course, the Gutsy Ninja took it to heart and made it his mission to bring his friend and teammate back.
Two and a half years later, and a time skip that led us to Naruto Shippuden, both Sakura and Naruto came back from their training. Naruto immediately made Sakura mad when they reunited – he failed to compliment her looks.
Over the following months, Naruto and Sakura build a strong friendship that potentially gets more “serious.” Specifically, Sakura manipulated Naruto’s crush on her to stop him from going after Sasuke. That stemmed from the fact Sakura realized that Sasuke would never get better and that he truly became evil.
Of course, Naruto saw through her lie immediately, dismissed Sakura, and ultimately told her that he hates people who lie to themselves. Naruto later saves Sakura from Sasuke, and the world slowly but surely transitions into Fourth Shinobi World War.
The war is a violent event with death and tragedy looming over every corner, and old faces, thanks to the Edo-Tensei jutsu, come back to help the Allied Shinobi Forces. One of them is Naruto’s father, Namikaze Minato, who witnesses Sakura scolding Naruto over something which closely reminds him of his wife, Kushina.
This is the moment that fans graded as the possibility of Sakura and Naruto ending up together. After Minato asks Naruto if Sakura is his girlfriend, he blushes and denies it, confirming that Naruto is still “crushed” on Sakura during the war.
After Team Seven beats Madara and Kaguya, Naruto finally makes Sasuke understand and brings him back to Konohagakure; Team Seven continues with their lives.
The question remains: Have Naruto and Sakura ever dated, and has Sakura ever loved Naruto? Let’s find out!
Does Sakura love Naruto and did they ever date?
Over the series, we saw that Naruto and Sakura had an interesting dynamic that sometimes bordered with romantic overtones. Post-series fans know that isn’t the case now, but more than ten years ago, during the Naruto series run, fans speculated that Sakura and Naruto would end up together purely because of parallels.
Masashi Kishimoto is very fond of parallels, which are present throughout the whole series – Asura and Indra, Hashirama and Madara, Naruto and Sasuke, Team Minato and Team Seven, Three Sannin and Team Seven, and more.
The whole series was a parallel, and keep in mind that shōnen manga and anime tend to set up a romance between two people like Sakura and Naruto had. A woman is a strong and confident individual who berates a man with a golden heart and big dreams.
In the end, to the sadness of SakuNaru fans, Sakura and Naruto never happen in the Naruto series, and instead, they develop a true friendship and bond.
Despite wanting to end ties with Sasuke and even kill him at one point, Sakura always loved Sasuke, which continued until the end. Naruto realized her love for Sasuke very early and decided to move on.
What’s also important to mention is that The Last: Naruto the Movie saw Naruto and Sakura briefly talking about the boy’s crush on her. Naruto realizes that he loves Hinata, and Sakura tells Naruto that he loved her because of his desire to defeat Sasuke, the boy she loved and still loves.
The epilogue of the Naruto series showed Sasuke apologizing to Sakura and his wrongdoings, making promises of him coming back after his personal mission, and eventually getting to know each other. Sasuke and Sakura ended up getting married and having a daughter named Sarada. In Boruto, the Uchiha family is a very present and strong family with unique relationships, but most importantly, it works.
On the other hand, Naruto found peace with Hinata, who loved him from the beginning, and pined after him throughout the whole series. The duo got married, which is shown in the epilogue of the series, and retold in more detail in Naruto Hiden manga.
Today, Naruto and Hinata are married with two children, Boruto and Himawari, and Sakura and Naruto share a unique and close friendship that they forged from hardships and support.