Why does Sakura love Sasuke? This is probably the question that has been bugging you as you watch or finish watching the whole of Naruto as it does not make sense. Sasuke tried to kill Sakura many times. He does not seem to love her. So why is Sakura so in love with Sasuke?
Sakura loves Sasuke simply because he is Sasuke. To Sakura, he is the ideal man and if she gets him to acknowledge her, then in some ways, she has proven to herself that she became the best that she can be. Sakura loved Sasuke more when she knew his story and when they were apart.
This may still be confusing, but hey, this is “love” that we are talking about. Although this will not work in the real world, as it is toxic, it is still interesting to learn about the dynamics between Sakura and Sasuke. Keep on reading to know more about this complicated love!
1. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because He Is Cool (Obviously)
Sasuke is the epitome of Sakura in the first installment of the Naruto shows. The first episode alone shows that Sakura has this crazy crush on Sasuke, just like her other classmates.
It was shown that because Sasuke is cool, mysterious, a prodigy, and one of the best students in the academy, it was so easy for all his girl classmates to have a crush on him. Sasuke always held himself in higher regard than others and this was attractive to Sakura.
We really do not have much anything to go on, in terms of certain characteristics of Sasuke that got a tight hold on Sakura. Probably, we can blame that on the incomplete romantic plot writing of Masashi Kishimoto (no hate, just facts)
One thing that we are sure about is the anime emphasized the previous characteristics that we mentioned. In fact, this was in Sakura’s mind as she sets off to kill Sasuke. A monologue was not enough to solidify Sasuke’s “coolness.”
We were even treated to a lengthy flashback of the time Sakura enumerated these qualities. These flashbacks were shown as she runs off to hopefully catch up to Sasuke, and the latter tries to kill her a few moments later.
Yes, the situation is a bit of a drag, but it is what it is. If you want to learn more as to why Sakura kept loving Sasuke even though he tried to kill her, you can read this article.
2. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because He Is A Testament Of Greatness
Women have an ideal man. We may not admit it, but we pretty much have an idea of what we want in a man, once we reach a certain level of maturity.
Although it is debatable to claim that at such a young age, Sakura already knew that she would love Sasuke forever, it is still a fact that to her, Sasuke is a testament of greatness.
This fact is important because as you might have realized, Sakura suffers from self-image issues. She claims to be this magnificent person, yet deep inside, she knows that she is lacking. Therefore, here comes Sasuke who is on another level, and it presents a challenge on her.
Probably, her thought process was, if she can get to his level or catch his eye, then she is reassured that she is not the useless person that she thinks she is.
You can think of this as embodying your chosen idol. It is not that we want to become like them, they just give us a push in the right direction. In a lot of scenes, Sakura is seen contemplating how she can be a kunoichi that is at par with Sasuke.
3. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because He Did Not Love Her At First
Have you experienced getting rejected by a crush? Or your crush is completely oblivious to you? What do these situations make us do? Yes! We like our crushes more and even try harder for them to notice us.
The same goes for Sakura. In the anime, it was shown that her constant attempts to express her love for Sasuke are always brushed off or branded as nonsense. Sasuke did not really look into it so much.
Therefore, a bit of extra attention from Sasuke is heaven for Sakura. These small gestures that were huge for her made her crave it even more, thus leading to her obsession with Sasuke. She was so determined to make him see her for who she is.
In the process, her love for him just grew. Hoping that someday, he too will love her (and he truly loves Sakura as we show here).
Did you know? In the manga, Sasuke is seen blushing and giving Sakura more physical contact. This was not shown in the anime. It is possible that these gestures mean that Sasuke also liked Sakura from the beginning.
4. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because He Is Broken
We really do not know what it is about women loving to fix broken things, or in this case, a broken human. At the start, Sakura thought of Sasuke as this cool guy, but as they formed bonds while doing missions in Team 7, she found out about his pains.
Sasuke’s pains were the fact that his whole clan was murdered by his older brother and that the latter spared him, thus being the only survivor of the Uchiha clan. He was not only enclosed in guilt but also in helplessness as he was unable to stop his brother.
Sasuke’s grief mixed with his own self-pity of not having the capacity to save anyone made him obsessed with revenge. There has always been a darkness to him and he was proud about it, claiming that he is an avenger.
What does Sakura think about when she learned all this? “Oh, I need to fix him.” Sasuke’s darkness did not only dissuade Sakura’s feelings for him but it was used as an anchor for Sakura to show him that through her, he can let go of his dreams of revenge.
This may be taken as shallow in the case of Sakura, but if you look at it, it is not actually derived from her illusions of what they can be. It is just that she knows that Sasuke is more than his darkness and if only she can make him see that, all be well.
5. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because He Acknowledges Her
Nothing makes a woman love a man harder when the man acknowledges her strengths. This is the exact case of Sakura as she felt that Sasuke is the only one who can see her for who she is.
During the training of Team 7 for the chunin exams with Kakashi, he noted that Sakura has great chakra control. In fact, it was so easy for her to do Kakashi’s challenge that she ended up just sitting out the rest of the training.
Sasuke called out this fact which made Sakura proud of what she thought was an insignificant skill. Before this training, Sasuke commended Sakura many times when it comes to coming up with strategies and analyzing certain situations.
These acknowledgments boosted the confidence of Sakura. Yes, Sakura has this superiority complex where she boasts about her high grades in the academy, however, the truth is she simply does this because she felt inferior when it comes to battle skills.
Hearing Sasuke’s words made her believe the lies that she tells herself. Especially when the acknowledgment came from such a snob like Sasuke. There was even a conversation when Sasuke said that even though her fighting skills are lacking, she is still a valuable team member.
Now, you might compare this to the shower of praises that Naruto gives Sakura. However, for Sakura, the praises of Sasuke are more sincere. With Naruto, he whips out acknowledgments during random times, even when Sakura does nothing.
Also, Naruto tends to acknowledge Sakura’s efforts for the team (or lack thereof) especially when she feels vulnerable, after yet again, she needed saving in a certain mission. This is very different from the acknowledgments of Sasuke that are perfect in timing.
6. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because She Believed That He Is A Good Person
A lot of fans hate Sakura as they feel that she is a useless character. However, if there is a quality where you can absolutely praise her, it is the fact that she wholeheartedly believed that Sasuke is still a good person despite all the evil things he did.
When they were still young, we can blame this on her obsessive crush on Sasuke, but as Naruto moves on to Naruto Shippuden, we can see that Sakura’s hopes are not just anchored on the cool characteristics of Sasuke.
Instead, she held on to their bonds and what she actually saw him do during their missions. She knew that Sasuke has been corrupted by his thirst for revenge, but she knows that deep down, there is still that Sasuke who supports and protects his loved ones.
In little nuances in the anime, we see how Sakura separates the evil deeds of Sasuke from Sasuke himself. She understands that what he did is a product of his bad experiences and that whatever bad things he did, did not define him.
7. Sakura Loves Sasuke Because She Never Got Over Her First Love
We are simply filling in the blanks here as the romance plot of Sasuke and Sakura is drastically lacking both in the anime and manga. However, this theory by a lot of fans is plausible.
It is possible that Sakura kept on loving Sasuke even after he left the Hidden Leaf Village because she never got over him. Sasuke is Sakura’s first love, and in reality, we all know how our first loves affect us. In fact, there is truth to the saying that you never forget your first love.
As Sakura and Sasuke did not have the opportunity to explore their dynamics besides being teammates in Team 7, what they are left with are their ideas about each other. For Sakura, her focus was on bettering herself while she hopes and waits for Sasuke’s return.
For Sasuke, it was about revenge, but all the while, her idea about Sakura is still her being loyal to teammates and a good-hearted girl. This is probably why he was also able to return her love.
There was an instance where there is a copycat Sasuke, in the character of Sai, but replacing her first love never occurred to Sakura. She held her first love close to her heart and hoped that in the future, this love will bloom, and it did. After all, they got married and had a child.
Final Thoughts
How we wish we can find answers in the manga and anime as to the fruition of Sakura’s love, but what we discussed above is all that we have to answer this question. Probably, Masashi Kishimoto meant it to be this way?
It may be because his version of telling the love of Sakura for Sasuke is simply loving because of love. No matter what the causes may be, we are sure that Sakura truly loves Sasuke, and in many ways that are rarely seen, the latter also loves her.
We can only wait for new episodes of Boruto to see how their relationship will evolve. Who knows? There might be some filler that can fill in the gaps of the Sakura and Sasuke love story.