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Sakura Haruno from Naruto cannot seem to catch a break.
Her character went all over the place, and many fans branded her as selfish and useless. The writer even seemed to be leaning that way at times.
What is essential is that Sakura is at least 12 to 13 during part 1 and 15 to 17 during Shippuden. The point being, she's messed up, but she's a child. Kids are supposed to screw up.
So, context will be provided for all of these. These are the five times Sakura Haruno was selfish in Naruto and five times she acted selflessly.
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Note: All of this is the author's opinion, and spoilers are included for all of Naruto.
Five times Sakura Haruno was selfish in 'Naruto'
1) Knocked her team out to go after Sasuke
This one has made multiple lists. To summarize, the Konoha 11 wants to kill Sasuke, with no objections between them. Sakura and Naruto are the only outliers, with the latter loudly and vocally objecting.
Sakura wanted to take Sasuke down herself. She never confided this desire in anyone but knocked her team out with sleeping gas.
Trying to go after Sasuke was good, but have some backup!
2) Poor attitude toward Naruto
Sakura wasn't exactly an ideal team player early on. Always fawning over Sasuke or trying to help him, she didn't exactly care about or for Naruto until after the bell test.
This led to comedic slapstick moments between her and the blonde-haired protagonist. For a while anyway. Not just that, but disrespecting Naruto as an orphan only caused Sasuke to spurn her.
This attitude began changing over time, starting with the bell test. She was also especially rude to him when she wasn't exactly trying to aid his efforts against Kakashi.
3) Trying to go after Sasuke alone. Twice.
Now, this one might be slightly controversial.
It was understandable when she was younger. Haruno tried to convince Sasuke to stay in the village by using multiple arguments: he had Team 7, she'd be lonely, she loved him, his revenge wasn't worth the effort. All excellent points that fell on deaf ears.
She also said she'd scream for help, and he thanked her before knocking her out. Realizing she couldn't exactly get him head-on, she warned everyone and, when the effort failed, apologized to Naruto for all the mean things she'd said and done to him.
That? It was okay. She tried, at least despite fears.
In Shippuden, though? While Sakura does help fight him in the Tenchi Bridge Recon/Orochimaru's hideout assault arc, she reaches a low point in the Five Kage Summit arc.
The above knockout of her team was compounded by the fact that she tried to trick Sasuke into striking her. However, Sakura was too slow and had to be bailed out by Kakashi and later Naruto when she failed to strike him again and was being held hostage.
That was foolish. Considering Sakura's unstable mental state, it's understandable but still foolish and a bit of sloppy writing, especially when in the video game Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 she does fight him.
4) The emotional manipulation bit with Naruto
She tried to tell Naruto to give up on Sasuke and that he didn't have to keep his promise by emotionally manipulating him by saying she loved him. In fairness, she was guilt-tripped by Sai.
Sai explained this, and Naruto got the message of why: she's scared he'll kill himself by going after Sasuke. This was explained straight away, and even the normally dense titular character got this.
Sakura could've tried a different tactic, mind you, but it was a catch-22 that she was stuck in.
5) Breaking up her friendship with Ino... over Sasuke
Sakura was a bullied kid and looked up to Ino for a long time. The problem is, once she developed her crush on Sasuke and tried to impress him, she noticed Ino was doing the same thing.
Unfortunately, she chose to sever that tie. Likewise, she felt like she was in Ino's shadow and wanted to be her own person.
This friendship got rekindled after their Chunin Exam fight, however. Water under the bridge, as they say.
Five times Sakura Haruno was selfless in 'Naruto'
1) Feeding Naruto, or helping feed him
Ah, the bell test! It was Team 7s trial as a group, which they initially failed due to none of them, in particular, trying to use teamwork. Sasuke and Sakura got to eat, but Naruto didn't due to being eliminated first.
Sasuke offers Naruto his food, and Sakura helps feed him. She didn't need to help feed him, but she chose to do that.
It's minor, but it's what causes Kakashi to reevaluate them as a team.
2) The entire Chunin Exams Arc
To clarify, this whole arc is where most complaints about Sakura's character stop. From managing to ace the written portion of the test without resorting to cheating to slicing her hair off and defending Naruto and Sasuke while they were down, to even leaving a flower for the injured Rock Lee, Sakura shines during this arc.
The selfless parts of the defense of Naruto and Sasuke, at least until backup arrives, include stopping Sasuke from doing worse than shattering Zaku's arms, and generally trying to aid people afterward, including breaking the genjutsu on Naruto when the attack on Konoha started and saving their lives.
She even buried the hatchet with Ino, who she'd been rivals with since they were kids, after a tense bout in the Chunin Exams.
3) Anytime she's emergency healing someone
Clarity, Sakura is an amazing healer. If she weren't there, dozens, if not hundreds, would be dead. She's performed multiple life-saving surgeries and operations: healing Hinata to prevent her from dying after fighting Pain, saving Naruto and Sasuke numerous times (including after their final battle), saving Kankuro's life, and also using the slug summons of Tsunade's to ensure everyone lives through the Fourth Great Ninja War.
It took a lot of training under Tsunade and a lot of dedication, but Sakura's healing made her the top healer in Konoha.
4) Being a single Mom in Boruto
If this isn't a selfless act, nothing is. Sakura practically raised Sarada herself, which is not an easy feat. She helped raise her healthily, helped provide Sasuke with a healthy emotional outlet, made sure Sarada's training with Sasuke wouldn't traumatize her (and provided her own help training too), and saved her life when Shin Uchiha was after her!
The fact that she maintained a strong friendship with Ino and Hinata and helped them all with problems is also a plus. All that, and still finding time to heal people as Konoha's top healer and surgeon.
5) Helping Naruto and Hinata get together
Considering this is Sakura Haruno, the girl who obsessed unhealthily over Sasuke for the better part of Naruto and broke up with a friend, her helping Naruto (oblivious as he is) and Hinata (as shy as she is) get together is saying something!
It resulted in several orchestrated attempts throughout Naruto: The Last Movie, but it succeeded. It only took a kidnapping, an epic battle on the moon, three days' worth of round-the-clock healing, and finally giving him the scarf Hinata made for him! It worked, don't question it!
