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One of the most widespread and pervasive memes to come from the Naruto series’ rise to international popularity concerns the ever-controversial Sakura Haruno. While it may seem unfair to point to a character and say everything about them is a meme, this is, unfortunately, all true for Sakura.
It always seemed like no matter what she did or how she developed as a character, fans always found ways to mock and hate her, calling her useless, among many other choice words. While very few of her actions justified such a hateful response, there have been many times fans of the series tended to unfairly lobby against her.
Here are 10 times the Naruto fandom unfairly hated Sakura.
10 instances that prove Naruto’s Sakura is more hated than she should be
1) Trying to stop Sasuke from leaving
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In an interesting twist, fans were able to find a way to hate on Sakura for trying to prevent Sasuke from leaving the Hidden Leaf Village early on in the series. While her actions were motivated by selfish intentions and desires pertaining to her romantic feelings for Sasuke, it nevertheless feels like an over-hated action of hers.
While Sakura may have been speaking from the heart, she still clearly was speaking to Sasuke as a friend and a teammate in essence. She even brings up Naruto and Kakashi while pleading with him, saying they can all be a team again and just be happy in the village together.
2) Telling Naruto she loved him
While this moment does indeed deserve some hate, the negative reactions from fans are extremely exaggerated, considering the intentions behind this action. It may seem cruel to try and manipulate Naruto's emotions, but Sakura was only trying to prevent Naruto from hurting himself in an attempt to fulfill his promise and bring Sasuke back.
Essentially, the moment sees her come to terms with the rogue teammate being gone for good, even to the point of abandoning that dream of being with him. As a result, she tries to convince Naruto to give up as well in the most direct and effective way possible. While it may have been a lie, the intentions behind said lie were incredibly pure and noble.
3) Saying she caught up to Naruto and Sasuke
Easily one of the most unnecessarily and unfairly hated Sakura moments is when she says she’s finally caught up to her teammates. While not true in a variety of senses, what she means becomes clear in the scenes that follow.
Having learned the Hundred Healings jutsu, Sakura can now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her teammates on the front lines. This is something she rarely does in the series, almost never doing it up until this point with both Sasuke and Naruto present. While her phrasing may have been not the greatest, her intended meaning was clear, and as a result, the statement is incredibly over-hated.
4) Calling out to Naruto
One of the most intriguing moments of hate Sakura has received from the series’ fanbase is when she calls out to Naruto during Pain’s assault on the Hidden Leaf Village. Many fans seem to joke that Sakura is so weak and that she has to use Naruto as her summoning jutsu.
While perhaps funny, it minimizes the emotionality of the scene and what Sakura is going through. Kakashi and essentially every other capable fighter of the Hidden Leaf is out of commission by this point, and there’s no hope in sight. Considering Naruto began training in Sage Mode specifically to defeat Pain, it’s logical for her to call out to him during this moment.
5) Not having a signature attack
Easily one of the strangest criticisms Sakura receives is regarding not having a signature attack jutsu like Naruto, Sasuke, and so many others do. In the same breath, however, her character has traditionally focused on raw strength and excellent chakra control, characterizing her as a powerhouse support fighter more than a purely offensive one.
Furthermore, she does eventually end up possessing a signature jutsu in the form of the Hundred Healings Jutsu, which she learned from Tsunade. Due to the insane amount of recovery potential it boasts, it’s arguably not only Sakura’s strongest and signature jutsu but one of the strongest signature jutsus in the entire series.
6) Doing nothing against Zabuza and Haku
While Sakura deserves some hate for this course of action (or rather the lack thereof), it’s certainly too hated by fans of the series. The young Kunoichi was on her first mission and hadn't had as hard a life as Naruto or Sasuke had up to that point.
It’s true that she could have fought or contributed in some way, but she likely would’ve ended up being more in the way than she was by doing nothing. It’s an unfortunate role to play in the series’ first major fight; however, Sakura certainly gets more hate than she should for playing said role.
7) Not destroying the Rinnegan
This is arguably the most fairly-hated Sakura decision on this list, but even then, fans of the series go overboard with their hate.
As a fully trained medical ninja by this point in the series, it goes against the core of her role on the battlefield to injure someone, especially if they now seem to be more friend than foe.
The failure of not destroying the Rinnegan definitely deserves some hate considering the destruction and death the decision resulted in once Madara retrieved the Rinnegan from Obito. However, it’s definitely over-hated, with fans not understanding Sakura’s position and ideology at this point in the story.
8) Trying but failing to fight Sasuke
Fans hate Sakura for failing to have the emotional wherewithal to fight and kill Sasuke herself, despite the myriad of opportunities she’s had. It’s an incredibly unfair criticism to send her way, especially when considering the complex relationship and feelings she has for him throughout the series.
This moment, in particular, is exemplary of yet another case of the series’ fans not being empathetic towards Sakura’s position and philosophy during the entirety of the story. It’s undoubtedly more hated than should be the case and perhaps shouldn’t be hated at all.
9) Marrying Sasuke
Yet another moment where fans failed to understand the complexity and depth of Sakura’s relationship with Sasuke was when the two ended up marrying. Fans constantly criticized her for marrying someone as murderous, hateful, and criminal as Sasuke, not understanding that she still loves him despite all these things.
Nearly every relationship sees one party ignoring aspects of the other’s personality or actions they don’t particularly agree with out of the love they have for that person. And it's no different for Sasuke and Sakura’s marriage, making this incredibly humanizing part of their relationship unjustly over-hated.
10) Treatment of Naruto
Finally, one of the more acceptable but still over-hateful criticisms of Sakura on this list is her treatment of Naruto. She’s incredibly physically abusive with him throughout the entire series, being forced to play a part in yet another common anime trope the series falls into.
While it definitely deserves hate, Sakura is unfairly despised for this trope-like action, more so than many other characters who also fall into it. Unfortunately, this over-hated action of Sakura’s proves that there’s some unspoken bias towards her in the general anime community and the series' community itself.
