{ general character info }
Character: Haruno Sakura.
Canon: Naruto manga.
Age: 16.
Gender: Female.
History: Wiki no Jutsu.
Personality: Sakura is a character who has gone through some drastic shifts, and some not-so-drastic. She’s a very passionate person. In many ways, she allows her feelings to dominate -- she’s never been very good at shinobi rule # 25: show no emotion. She knows this; she herself cited the rule while sobbing over Sasuke’s (supposedly) dead body in Wave Country. Whether she’s happy, or sad, or angry, it’s not hard to read Sakura’s mood. In the beginning she believed that this was a bad thing and attempted to suppress her feelings to the point of developing a violent and fiery ego -- personified as Inner Sakura -- who said all the things in her head that she wouldn't allow herself to say out loud. After her apprenticeship with Tsunade, she makes much less of an effort to conceal that part of her, and Inner Sakura appears less frequently. Instead, her sometimes-hair-trigger temper has the force of her freakish chakra-enhanced strength.
At the beginning of the series, she appears at times to be shallow and insensitive in the way that twelve-year-old girls who haven’t ever experienced significant hardship often are. She was obsessed with Sasuke and dismissive, even resentful, of Naruto. But as the three of them began to work together as a team, she saw Naruto’s fierce determination and Sasuke’s unhealthy downward spiral and she came to see them, bit by bit, as multi-faceted people whom she admired and cared about very much, and she grew herself because of it. She has become particularly close to Naruto, and wants to protect him no matter the cost. Sakura is fiercely loyal to those she calls friends. She is not one to back down from a fight, and has shown a willingness to fight dirty if she feels it necessary, even to the point of emotional manipulation. Knowing that Naruto is in love with her, she tries to deter him from setting out in reckless pursuit of Sasuke by telling him that she loves Naruto now, has stopped loving Sasuke, even though it’s a lie. An ugly tactic, to be sure, but one she was willing to utilize to keep him safe. I’m taking her from before this canon point, but I still think it’s important to note because evidence of Sakura’s cunning is seen at multiple earlier points -- in the Forest of Death during the chuunin exams, when faking out Sai with a smile before decking him -- so I believe that she’s been capable of fighting ugly for a while, if necessary.
There is a balance to Sakura’s hot-headedness, though. When not dominated by extreme emotions, Sakura is generally a calm, rational, tactful person who is good at reading situations and finding a way to resolve conflict, on and off the battlefield. She is generally respectful towards those in power, like Tsunade, who have earned that respect. She shows a propensity for leadership; she can certainly be bossy, but also diplomatic, and she will take charge of a situation and direct others if need be. She can also be friendly (or at least she tries to be, even with people she initially dislikes: she attempted to reach out to Sai not very long after she’d hit him for trashing Sasuke) and, in spite of harsh appearances, deeply compassionate. Even at her most thoughtless, in the beginning of the manga, she gives food to a starving boy in Wave Country.
At times her logical side wars with her emotional side. For example, after fighting Sasori and beating him, and knowing full well that he can feel no pain, Sakura punches him in a fit of rage when he criticizes Chiyo for choosing to save Sakura’s life over her own. “What do you think a human life is? What do you think blood ties are?” she asks him, and he counters by asking, “Are those the words of a shinobi?” Cold logic versus emotion. Sakura possesses both of these things, and the scale may tip either way depending on the weight applied. Often, it’s her feelings.
Sakura is also intelligent, the smartest member of Team Seven (according to the third databook). From a young age she showed aptitude and an analytical mind, even if she didn’t excel in all subjects at academy. During the written part of the chunnin exam, she was one of the only genin who was able to answer the questions without cheating, despite them being purposely designed to be too difficult for a genin to answer. And she is certainly what people would call book-smart.
In spite of how far she’s come, there are many ways in which Sakura is still insecure. She’s aware of her strengths, but she’s also well aware of her weaknesses. She knows she’s not as strong as her teammates, and to some degree she feels that she might still be a burden to the team. Because of this, there is always a small voice in Sakura telling her that her best is never enough that fuels an ever-present drive to be better, to be stronger, to overcome. Sakura hasn’t backed down from a fight since she was twelve, even if she was clearly outmatched and could easily have died. She is, in a word, ballsy.
Fears: Despite being in a very dangerous profession, Sakura doesn’t scare on the battlefield easily at all, leaping into the fray despite bad odds. Most of her fears revolve around her team, past and present, and what she can and cannot do for them. A medic’s job is to care for her team, to tend to their injuries and make sure they return home whole and alive, and this is a job Sakura takes very seriously and very personally when it comes to her loved ones.
Her deepest fears are related to that. She’s afraid that a day will come when she can’t help the people she cares for most and is sworn to protect. She fears her shortcomings on the battlefield, that she will become a burden to her team. She fears falling behind her incredibly talented teammates and being left in the dust. I believe that her willingness to seek out Naruto and try to manipulate him into giving up on Sasuke is an (admittedly cruel) attempt to protect him and reflects a fear that his bull-headedness will only hurt him; that this is rooted in a much deeper, older fear that he and Sasuke might kill each other, as they have nearly done in the past, while she looks on helplessly.
Above all, what scares her the most is an inability to protect, and her own limitations.
Weaknesses: Stubborness. Sakura is very, very stubborn. This has proven to be a strength in some cases, in that she is determined not to give up in a battle or in her training, but it can just as easily become a weakness: an inability to know when it would be prudent to quit. She’s also quite emotional, wearing her heart on her sleeve, her feelings usually an open book for anyone to read and manipulate. Her love of Sasuke, her loyalty to Tsunade, her affection for her teammates: all of these are things that could be used against her. She can be easily provoked, is quick to anger and lash out, sometimes without thinking of the consequences. She can also be quick to judge people, fairly or unfairly, and boy can she ever hold a grudge when she puts her mind to it.
There’s also the bad habit she has of putting herself between harm and the people she cares about. Whether it’s Sound genin and her unconscious teammates or Sasori’s poisoned blade and Chiyo, there’s a somewhat alarming self-sacrificial streak in her.
Physically, she’s a skilled fighter, but her most effective and devastating techniques are short-ranged, requiring her to get close to her opponent. This leaves her disadvantaged in certain situations.
Canon: Naruto manga.
Age: 16.
Gender: Female.
History: Wiki no Jutsu.
Personality: Sakura is a character who has gone through some drastic shifts, and some not-so-drastic. She’s a very passionate person. In many ways, she allows her feelings to dominate -- she’s never been very good at shinobi rule # 25: show no emotion. She knows this; she herself cited the rule while sobbing over Sasuke’s (supposedly) dead body in Wave Country. Whether she’s happy, or sad, or angry, it’s not hard to read Sakura’s mood. In the beginning she believed that this was a bad thing and attempted to suppress her feelings to the point of developing a violent and fiery ego -- personified as Inner Sakura -- who said all the things in her head that she wouldn't allow herself to say out loud. After her apprenticeship with Tsunade, she makes much less of an effort to conceal that part of her, and Inner Sakura appears less frequently. Instead, her sometimes-hair-trigger temper has the force of her freakish chakra-enhanced strength.
At the beginning of the series, she appears at times to be shallow and insensitive in the way that twelve-year-old girls who haven’t ever experienced significant hardship often are. She was obsessed with Sasuke and dismissive, even resentful, of Naruto. But as the three of them began to work together as a team, she saw Naruto’s fierce determination and Sasuke’s unhealthy downward spiral and she came to see them, bit by bit, as multi-faceted people whom she admired and cared about very much, and she grew herself because of it. She has become particularly close to Naruto, and wants to protect him no matter the cost. Sakura is fiercely loyal to those she calls friends. She is not one to back down from a fight, and has shown a willingness to fight dirty if she feels it necessary, even to the point of emotional manipulation. Knowing that Naruto is in love with her, she tries to deter him from setting out in reckless pursuit of Sasuke by telling him that she loves Naruto now, has stopped loving Sasuke, even though it’s a lie. An ugly tactic, to be sure, but one she was willing to utilize to keep him safe. I’m taking her from before this canon point, but I still think it’s important to note because evidence of Sakura’s cunning is seen at multiple earlier points -- in the Forest of Death during the chuunin exams, when faking out Sai with a smile before decking him -- so I believe that she’s been capable of fighting ugly for a while, if necessary.
There is a balance to Sakura’s hot-headedness, though. When not dominated by extreme emotions, Sakura is generally a calm, rational, tactful person who is good at reading situations and finding a way to resolve conflict, on and off the battlefield. She is generally respectful towards those in power, like Tsunade, who have earned that respect. She shows a propensity for leadership; she can certainly be bossy, but also diplomatic, and she will take charge of a situation and direct others if need be. She can also be friendly (or at least she tries to be, even with people she initially dislikes: she attempted to reach out to Sai not very long after she’d hit him for trashing Sasuke) and, in spite of harsh appearances, deeply compassionate. Even at her most thoughtless, in the beginning of the manga, she gives food to a starving boy in Wave Country.
At times her logical side wars with her emotional side. For example, after fighting Sasori and beating him, and knowing full well that he can feel no pain, Sakura punches him in a fit of rage when he criticizes Chiyo for choosing to save Sakura’s life over her own. “What do you think a human life is? What do you think blood ties are?” she asks him, and he counters by asking, “Are those the words of a shinobi?” Cold logic versus emotion. Sakura possesses both of these things, and the scale may tip either way depending on the weight applied. Often, it’s her feelings.
Sakura is also intelligent, the smartest member of Team Seven (according to the third databook). From a young age she showed aptitude and an analytical mind, even if she didn’t excel in all subjects at academy. During the written part of the chunnin exam, she was one of the only genin who was able to answer the questions without cheating, despite them being purposely designed to be too difficult for a genin to answer. And she is certainly what people would call book-smart.
In spite of how far she’s come, there are many ways in which Sakura is still insecure. She’s aware of her strengths, but she’s also well aware of her weaknesses. She knows she’s not as strong as her teammates, and to some degree she feels that she might still be a burden to the team. Because of this, there is always a small voice in Sakura telling her that her best is never enough that fuels an ever-present drive to be better, to be stronger, to overcome. Sakura hasn’t backed down from a fight since she was twelve, even if she was clearly outmatched and could easily have died. She is, in a word, ballsy.
Fears: Despite being in a very dangerous profession, Sakura doesn’t scare on the battlefield easily at all, leaping into the fray despite bad odds. Most of her fears revolve around her team, past and present, and what she can and cannot do for them. A medic’s job is to care for her team, to tend to their injuries and make sure they return home whole and alive, and this is a job Sakura takes very seriously and very personally when it comes to her loved ones.
Her deepest fears are related to that. She’s afraid that a day will come when she can’t help the people she cares for most and is sworn to protect. She fears her shortcomings on the battlefield, that she will become a burden to her team. She fears falling behind her incredibly talented teammates and being left in the dust. I believe that her willingness to seek out Naruto and try to manipulate him into giving up on Sasuke is an (admittedly cruel) attempt to protect him and reflects a fear that his bull-headedness will only hurt him; that this is rooted in a much deeper, older fear that he and Sasuke might kill each other, as they have nearly done in the past, while she looks on helplessly.
Above all, what scares her the most is an inability to protect, and her own limitations.
Weaknesses: Stubborness. Sakura is very, very stubborn. This has proven to be a strength in some cases, in that she is determined not to give up in a battle or in her training, but it can just as easily become a weakness: an inability to know when it would be prudent to quit. She’s also quite emotional, wearing her heart on her sleeve, her feelings usually an open book for anyone to read and manipulate. Her love of Sasuke, her loyalty to Tsunade, her affection for her teammates: all of these are things that could be used against her. She can be easily provoked, is quick to anger and lash out, sometimes without thinking of the consequences. She can also be quick to judge people, fairly or unfairly, and boy can she ever hold a grudge when she puts her mind to it.
There’s also the bad habit she has of putting herself between harm and the people she cares about. Whether it’s Sound genin and her unconscious teammates or Sasori’s poisoned blade and Chiyo, there’s a somewhat alarming self-sacrificial streak in her.
Physically, she’s a skilled fighter, but her most effective and devastating techniques are short-ranged, requiring her to get close to her opponent. This leaves her disadvantaged in certain situations.