Sakura Haruno is one of the main characters in Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto series, being a part of Team 7, which is made up of the protagonists of the story. Sakura starts off as a young girl who barely knows anything about the meaning of being a ninja and when compared to the rest of her team, she is, quite clearly, singled out as the weak link. However, with time, Sakura showed great promise in some aspects of the ninja arts and with time, she blossomed into an incredibly powerful Kunoichi, known to be one of the very best in history.
Under Tsunade Senju, Sakura trains to become a great medical ninja and by the conclusion of the Fourth Great Ninja War, she even manages to surpass her teacher, the Fifth Hokage of the village. Clearly, Sakura is quite capable by the end of the story, however, despite everything that she's achieved, she remains to be a controversial character and is often hated by the fans.
Why Sakura Is Hated
From the very beginning of the story, Sakura's character has been one that didn't really appeal to the fans. Her introduction in the story sees her constantly swoon over Sasuke and every single interaction that she has with anyone in the first part of the series has something to do with her love and care for Sasuke. Obviously, Sasuke is fixated on becoming a great ninja and wanting to avenge his clan by killing his brother, so he pays no attention to her, however, despite that Sakura's character continues to revolve around him. For a young girl like Sakura to fall in love with someone is certainly not strange and that clearly isn't the issue here. The main problem with Sakura's character is that her entire existence in the first part of the story has to do with Sasuke and at some times, Naruto.
Take the two out of the equation and Sakura's character can't stand on her own, at least initially. This is to do with Masashi Kishimoto's writing of women which, in general, is considered to be below average. According to Kishimoto himself, he is not good at writing women and that certainly reflects very well in Naruto. Sakura clearly isn't alone in this department. The likes of Ino, Tenten, Temari, among many others are treated worse than her, which leads to fans being annoyed with how they never seem to do anything worthwhile and how little they matter to the main story.
Thankfully for Sakura, Kishimoto improved massively on her character during the two-year timeskip when she trained under Tsunade Senju, and for the first time in a while, Sakura gained a purpose other than Sasuke. Now, her character could stand on her own and proudly call herself a member of Team 7. However, the lack of screen time in the series and the lack of significant moments still hindered the growth of her character. What's more, even after everything that she accomplished, when around Sasuke, her character was once again reduced to a shell of her former accomplished self.
As Naruto progressed, it was quite clear to see that it was slowly turning into a story focusing on just Naruto and Sasuke. The other characters clearly didn't hold as much importance and this reflected best in Kishimoto's treatment of Sakura Haruno. When asked about her, Kishimoto has in the past compared her to "human weakness," which sums up everything wrong with her character, essentially. Sakura's never-ending obsession with Sasuke, her lack of resolve as a ninja, and her lack of significant moments throughout the series are what make her such a hated character in some sections of the community.
Is The Sakura Hate Justified?
In a story focused on ninja fights, Sakura, who Kishimoto barely used, was always going to leave the fans frustrated. At the same time, her character, which fans had a lot of hope for after the time skip, ended up stagnating for the most part, only to get two or three moments of significant power-ups as the story went on. Her ever-growing obsession with Sasuke remained the same throughout the story and even when she became an accomplished ninja, she regressed to being the same girl whose dream was to earn Sasuke's love.
It's certainly quite easy to pin the blame on the character but in all fairness, these are shortcomings in Masashi Kishimoto's writing of women and if the fans are to be frustrated with anyone, it's the author. Throughout her journey as a ninja, Sakura has shown glimpses of promise on more than one occasion, only for Kishimoto to let most of it go to waste. Sakura, just like most women in Naruto, isn't a compelling character even when she had enough in her to be one.
The Naruto novels certainly add a layer of depth to her character but the lack of care that her character received from the author in the original story is essentially what made her unlikable to certain fans. Sakura definitely doesn't deserve the hate and instead, fans should want better for her character from Masashi Kishimoto, who is still involved in the making of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.