It is known that Sakura Haruno is arguably the most infuriating anime character to ever be created. Fans of the Naruto series were constantly disappointed and enraged by her opinions, outbursts, fits of unnecessary rage, obsession with Sasuke Uchiha, and lack of respect for Naruto Uzumaki. As her training continued and she grew into a young adult, her skill level matured but the aforementioned irritating qualities worsened. This made it really difficult to be excited about her growth as a ninja.
Sakura obtained remarkable skills as a medical ninja in addition to extraordinary chakra strength while training with Tsunade Senju. Nonetheless, her abhorrent personality overshadows her advancement in skill level. Furthermore, she allows her emotional instability to hinder any additional progress she could make, while her teammates, Naurto and Sasuke, push themselves to become the strongest versions of themselves in order to reach their respective goals. Through most lenses of perception, she isn't the best representation of female empowerment and quickly ruins most entertaining moments.
10 Tries To Befriend Sasuke By Ridiculing Naruto
Most of the young girls at the Ninja Academy tried to attract the attention of Sasuke Uchiha. He was the brooding loner that every girl swooned over. When Sakura seized an opportunity to impress Sasuke, she decides to express to him that she finds Naruto annoying, in hopes that they would bond over mutual disdain over their new teammate.
Sakura discusses Naruto's rambunctious behavior and mindlessly attributes it to his lack of parental guidance. This immediately irritates Sasuke as he is also an orphan. Sakura's obliviousness and insensitivity naturally enrage Sasuke and she receives a well-deserved rejection.
9 Attempts To Abandon The Village With Sasuke
When Sakura learns of Sasuke's plan to leave Konoha she meets him on the path she knew he'd take to leave the village. She was willing to abandon her friends, family, and the home she grew up in to venture off on an unknown journey with a crush that has repeatedly expressed that he is annoyed by her.
It was selfish of her to want to seek alone time with Sasuke rather than seek the help of her superiors. Sasuke's departure from the Leaf Village, and all of the sorrow and suffering that followed, could've been avoided had Sakura acted responsibly.
8 Sakura didn't choose to share her food during the Bell Challenge
During the bell challenge, Sakura was only concerned about Sasuke even though she wasn't aware of his location the entire challenge, as stated by Kakashi Hatake.
Though each member of Team 7 had their flaws during this experiment, Sakura's main priority wasn't about her ninja education. Later, when their teamwork was being secretly tested, Sakura didn't choose to share her food with Naruto while he was tied up until Sasuke did. If the fate of their challenge was left up to Sakura, they would've failed.
7 She assumed Naruto would fail the Chunin Exams
Throughout the events of the Chunin Exams, Sakura wasn't supportive of Naruto and continued to illustrate her poor collaboration skills. During the written portion of the exam, she assumed Naruto would fail. She consistently factored him as a burden to their team and wouldn't refrain from insulting his intelligence.
Following the written exam, during the physical matches, Sakura anxiously awaited Sasuke's match without thinking about her other teammate Naruto. It wasn't until Ino suggested she cheer for Naruto that Sakura decided to acknowledge the other member of her team.
6 She Ends Her Friendship With Ino
Sakura was extremely close to Ino throughout their childhood days. Ino found Sakura crying one day and discovered Sakura was upset because she was teased about her forehead. Ino initiated a friendship, wanting to make Sakura feel confident about herself. She encouraged her, treated her with kindness, and introduced her to new friends. As a result, Sakura became more energetic and outgoing.
With this experience in mind, knowing the kind heart Ino has, Sakura chose to hold her new crush in higher regard than her close relationship with Ino and declared them rivals after she discovered Ino had a crush on Sasuke as well. Many young girls at The Academy were smitten with Sasuke, but Sakura's choice to end a genuine friendship for a guy that had no interest in her illustrated how juvenile and misguided she is.
5 She was Incapable Of Confronting Sasuke
One of the most cringeworthy things to witness was Sakura's attempt to convince herself that she could stop Sasuke. Sakura's plan to kill Sasuke in order to end the pain his actions inflicted failed miserably. She isn't the only one that deeply cares for him, in fact, Naruto has repeatedly stated that he considers Sasuke his brother. Yet, Sakura is the only one who is paralyzed whenever she is in his presence.
She becomes so immobilized when she is near him that he nearly kills her —twice. With all of her incredible strength, all that she manages to do is shake uncontrollably with a kunai knife in her hand as her eyes well up with tears and forces the rest of her team to pick up her slack as she remains helpless in the background.
4 She Feels The Need To Hit Naruto
There's a thin line between funny and annoying when it comes to Sakura Haruno. In the Konoha village, there are plenty of female teammates that give their male counterparts a hard time. However, Sakura takes a lot more liberty than the average when it comes to taking her frustrations out on Naruto.
There are times when it can be tolerated, and there are other times like when she punches him before thanking him after he saved the village from Pain's attack. Her need to constantly attack Naruto physically, when she can't lift a finger in self-defense against Sasuke when he is literally trying to kill her, exemplifies how she doesn't respect him.
3 She is Willfully Helpless
Sakura was trained by one of the legendary sanin, and yet she continuously limits herself in moments where she can display exceptional strength and skill. During the Pain attack, Sakura fell to her knees and cried out for Naruto's help. There were so many people sacrificing their lives to protect the village, they didn't stop fighting unless they were severely injured or dead.
Most of her peers fought alongside their parents and superiors pushing past their fears, this included Konohamaru Sarutobi, one of the youngest ninjas who engaged in battle. For Sakura, despite the strength she gains, it seems as if emotional distress in moments of battle came naturally to her.
2 She Admits To Being Pathetic
When Sasuke and Naruto decide to take part in their final battle, Sakura makes a desperate plea to change Sasuke's mind. It's a pitiful performance because she holds such a strong devotion to a man that tried to kill her and admitted to accidentally saving her a few moments earlier.
Sakura cries as she tells Sasuke that she loves him and knows that she can't fight him. She continues by stating that all she can do is "whine and beg and cry." With all of the great influences that surround her, this was a slap in the face to everyone that invested in her training.
1 Lies To Naruto About Loving Him
When Naruto asserts to his peers that he wants to deal with Sasuke on his own, he was met with a lot of objections. Many of them felt that the responsibility of bringing Sasuke to justice belonged to all of them. Still, Naruto ventured out on a quest to find Sasuke without the help of any of his comrades.
When they gathered to figure out their next move, Sakura said she had a plan to relieve Naruto of his obligation. Her big genius plan was to tell Naruto that she was in love with him. It's a lie that Naruto saw right through and everyone else hated. For Sakura to think that the only reason Naruto wanted to rescue his friend was for her was insulting and narcissistic. The only thing Sakura accomplished was wasting time and making everyone around her feel uncomfortable.