For many fans of the Naruto franchise, Sakura Haruno wasn’t initially a fan-favorite. More often a damsel in distress than a team member pulling her own weight in the early days, Sakura matured a lot over the course of the story. Much of that maturation happened in the gap years.

Between Naruto and Naruto: Shippūden, Sakura trained under Lady Tsunade to master new abilities. Those three years created a lot of change. She developed intense chakra control and medical ninja skills. As Naruto Shippūden’s stories played out, fans got to see how well she could handle herself in a battle. The time skip between Naruto Shippūden and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations was much longer. Sakura had ten years between chapters to have plenty of adventures without anyone having to save her.

The former Team 7 member spent that time starting a family, like so many of her generation, but she also spent time building a career and mending her home following the events of war. She used her medical knowledge to found clinics, save lives, and go on numerous missions where she saved the day. Many of those missions and events come to fans courtesy of the light novels written between the manga as well as The Last: Naruto The Movie.

For fans who want to see just what Sakura got up to, we’ve assembled these 20 Things Sakura Did Between Shippūden And Boruto.

She Offered To Leave Konoha

The love of Sakura’s life is Sasuke Uchiha. With a dark past, Sasuke feels a lot of guilt for the trouble he brought to Konohagakure as a teen. As a result, he left the village for years at a time. Sakura offered to go with him nearly every time he decided to travel. Fans get to see at least one of those instances play out in Naruto Shippūden when Sasuke explained that he needed to go alone on his journey of atonement.

Despite Sasuke constantly leaving her behind, Sakura knew he still cared because he began using his big brother’s sign of affection: a forehead poke. She did get to accompany him on at least one trip away from the village much later.

She Opened A Clinic With Ino

Writers expanded the events between series for fans of the show with the “light” novels. In Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love Riding Upon A Spring Breeze, writers focused on Sakura’s accomplishments. One of those drew from her empathetic nature and her medical ninjutsu training.

Sakura, along with her childhood friend Ino Yamanaka, decided to open their own clinic in Konoha. Not just an ordinary medical clinic, the establishment was a children’s mental health clinic. As two women who came of age during difficult battles, they both knew that the younger generation of Konoha citizens would need help adjusting to life after the Fourth Shinobi World War. They wanted the kids who had lost so much in Konoha to have help.

She Visited The Blood Prison

The Blood Prison In Naruto

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning In The Icy Sky chronicled a chapter of the Sixth Hokage’s life a year after the war. Sakura was one of the shinobi chosen for a mission to the Blood Prison during an eventful arc. Kakashi was aboard a hijacked aircraft that ejected passengers near the prison itself. As part of a shinobi platoon, Sakura was supposed to help control the outcome of a possible prison riot. Sakura ended up working in a medical ninja capacity instead.

As passengers ejected from the craft, Sakura was one of the shinobi catching them and checking them over. Likewise, when the craft actually crashed, she was one of the first on the scene to treat injuries. Instead of applying her skills in battle, the novel allowed her to be the equivalent of a ninja paramedic.

She Saved Temari

Shikamaru And Temaru In Shippuden Adaptation of Shikamaru Hiden

The events of Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting In Silent Darkness were adapted for an episode arc of Naruto Shippūden, but some events in the novel didn’t make the cut. One of those was Sakura’s role. In the light novel, when Shikamaru goes missing while on a secret assignment, Temari and Naruto join forces to save him. Temari recruited Sunagakure shinobi for the job, while Naruto brought Sakura for her medical expertise.

During the rescue mission, Temari battled a brainwashed Sai. While Temari is an accomplished shinobi, the novel makes it clear that her worry for Shikamaru hampers her focus. Sakura ended up literally punching Sai away from Temari to save her life. She also healed her friend’s injuries. The anime swapped Sakura and the Suna shinobi out for Shikamaru’s former teammates Ino and Choji.

She Helped Stabilize The Land Of Silence

The rescue mission to save Shikamaru took Sakura into the Land of Silence. That particular country was full of “Enlightened” who needed help adjusting to life without their leader. Shikamaru originally traveled to the land because of missing shinobi, including Sai, who praised the leader of the Enlightened in a letter.

The leader was essentially a charismatic cult leader. His words were laced with genjutsu, which allowed him to make everyone in the land do his bidding. Shikamaru, who realized it was a genjutsu, didn’t allow himself to be caught up. With an entire country of shinobi who had been living a life of one man’s lies, there was plenty for them to adjust to after the fact. The country had to get back up and running with a whole new infrastructure.

She Had Her First Date With Sasuke

Sakura and Sasuke in Boruto

Sakura spent the majority of her childhood nursing one huge crush. Sasuke didn’t initially appear to return her affections. When he defected from Konoha, it seemed like her crush wouldn’t go anywhere. Following Sasuke’s assistance in the Fourth Shinobi World War, Konoha pardoned Sasuke for his crimes. Even though he left the village for large periods of time, he still managed to have a (long distance) relationship with Sakura.

According to Ino in an episode of Boruto, the two shared their first date for a whole two minutes and thirty seconds. We don’t know what exactly happened to cut the date short, though Sakura protested that it even was a date. Regardless of the whole story, we know Sakura and Sasuke did manage to find their way to one another eventually.

She Spent Time In Sunagakure

Sunagakure

Between her founding of a children’s clinic in Konohagakure and her helping the Land of Silence get back on its feet, Sakura was already pretty busy helping out those affected by war. She made time to travel to Sunagakure to help out there as well. 

As a result of the friendship between Naruto and Gaara, as well as the relationship between Shikamaru and Temari, Konoha and Suna maintained a close bond. Sakura traveled to the country to help them out after the Fourth Shinobi World War. Just as she and Ino founded a children’s mental health clinic in Konoha, Gaara asked her to assist medical ninja in Suna with the same process. Gaara, who spent much of his childhood miserable and alone, didn’t want the same for other children.

She Tried To Set Naruto Up

Naruto With Admirers In The Last

Well aware of Naruto’s crush on her in their teen years, Sakura chalked Naruto’s feelings for her up to his competitive nature with Sasuke since she had feelings for their teammate. Following the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War, young women all over the village started to pay attention to Naruto.

Not wanting him to fall for the attention, Sakura hoped he would realize that Hinata Hyuga was a good match for him. During The Last: Naruto The Movie, Sakura encouraged the two to spend time together. She went so far as to give Hinata advice concerning Naruto and try to convince Naruto to walk the other girl home. Naruto, however, was oblivious to Sakura’s attempts to find him a match.

She Delivered A Message For Gaara

Gaara In Boruto

When Sakura and Ino visited Suna to help start the village’s own mental health clinic, they performed double duty. In addition to helping Suna with their medical program, they also acted as messengers for Kazekage Gaara. Gaara called the duo into see him because he heard a rumor and wanted it passed along to Kakashi directly. He didn’t trust the information getting into the wrong hands, but did want Sakura and Ino’s opinion.

A man matching Sasuke’s description, and with his chakra signature, was thought to be plotting against his home village of Konoha. While Ino and Sakura knew that was impossible, they couldn’t prove it. Sakura delivered the information to Kakashi herself so she could help the Sixth Hokage come up with a plan.

She Saved Her Entire Team

Naruto The Last Sends Sakura Sai Shikamaru Naruto and Hinata on a Rescue Mission

During the events of The Last, Sakura accompanied Naruto, Hinata, Sai, and Shikamaru on a mission to rescue Hinata’s little sister Hanabi. The entire group was caught in a genjutsu that caused them to hallucinate their own memories. They relieved important moments from their past.

Sakura excelled at recognizing genjutsu when she trained under Kakashi. He even referred to her as a “genjutsu type” shinobi, though she never pursued that particular specialty. She did, however, learn how to break genjutsu relatively quickly. She used that skill to wake herself from the hallucinations first before pulling the rest of the team out. The hardest to wake from the dream state was, of course, Naruto, but Sakura managed to do it.

She Adopted Sasuke’s Sign Of Affection

When Sasuke was a small child, his big brother Itachi had a unique way of showing his affection for him. He would poke Sasuke in the middle of his forehead with a single finger while talking to him. Sasuke, eventually, adopted this signal himself. Fans first saw it used when he said goodbye to Sakura.

That gesture is what told Sakura that Sasuke did have feelings for her after all, giving her hope that though he left Konoha, he would one day return to her. Over time, Sakura began using the gesture herself. In the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series, fans can even see her using it when talking with her daughter Sarada, though Sarada isn’t initially aware where the gesture originated.

A Villain Abducted Her

While Sakura, Ino, and Sai all investigated the possible Sasuke plot against Konoha in Sakura Hiden, Sakura ended up in serious danger. After attending interviews with witnesses in a related investigation, Sakura saw what she thought was Sasuke taken into custody. She realized too late that genjutsu caused her vision.

The hallucination brought Sakura’s guard down enough for an abduction. Kido Tsumiki abducted her with plans to use her tragic end to strengthen Sasuke’s Sharingan, and thus, his own synthetic copy. Unfortunately for Kido, he underestimated Sakura’s strength. Though Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata all heard of Sakura’s abuction and intended to save her, Sakura saved herself. Not only did she get herself out of the bonds Kido placed her in while distracting him, but she also fought her captors off.

She Suffered From Exhaustion (After She Saved Naruto's Life)

Sakura Saves The Group From A Genjutsu In The Last Naruto The Movie

During the events of The Last, Sakura used her medical training to help her team on more than one occasion. One instance in particular wore her down. Naruto confronted Toneri on his own when Hinata chose to leave with the movie’s villain. Though Naruto was a great shinobi, Toneri and his puppets gained the upper hand, leaving Naruto seriously injured. In fact, Naruto stayed unconscious for three full days while Sakura had to heal him.

Sakura used her incredible chakra control and training to maintain that three day state of healing, but it cost her. She was forced to rest after Naruto woke up, since she was exhausted as a result of her commitment to getting him up to full strength.

She Fought A Sasuke Imposter

Sakura In Action

When Sakura investigated the Sasuke impersonator in her light novel, she took the events rather personally. After all, they abducted her and used her as a pawn. She had the chance to fight the imposter of the man she was in love with, and she took it. Though he had synthetic versions of Sasuke’s abilities, including a tailed beast cloak used against her, Sakura used her considerable strength and chakra to fight back.

In fact, she primarily used her fists in the fight rather than her other shinobi skills, beating Kido soundly. She also warned him to never attempt to impersonate Sasuke again. Sakura narrowly missed the real Sasuke, who came to save her, but found her with events well in hand. He cleared a path for her, getting the imposter’s henchmen out of the way.

She Attended A Wedding Alone

Sakura At Naruto And Hinatas Wedding

Because Sakura was so committed to Sasuke, she didn’t date other people during their time apart. In fact, when all of their friends paired off to attend significant events in each other’s lives, she was left alone. Hinata and Naruto’s wedding seemed to kick off the relationships among the rest of their peers. Though Sai and Ino had made their feelings for one another clear in the past, they officially attended the wedding as a couple. Likewise, Kiba became interested in a woman he met attending the wedding. Temari and Shikamaru also rekindled their relationship, deciding to accompany one another at the wedding as well.

As all of her friends paired off for the wedding, Sakura celebrated Naruto and Hinata’s marriage alone because Sasuke was out of the country. She did, however, receive his hawk and well wishes for the couple.

She Married Sasuke

Sakura’s love for (and loyalty to) Sasuke did eventually lead to something. Despite Sasuke spending large chunks of time away from Konoha, the two did eventually marry. We never got to see Sakura’s wedding - unless it comes up as a flashback sequence in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

Sarada not being sure Sasuke and Sakura were even parents might make some fans doubt that the two ever got married at all, especially since there was no spectacle made of it like there was for Naruto and Hinata. Sakura and Sasuke refer to one another as husband and wife over the course of the Boruto manga though, and that’s more than enough proof for us.

She Investigated Missing Shinobi

Sakura rubs her head in confusion in Naruto

In Sasuke Shinden: Book Of Sunrise, the focus is squarely on, you guessed it, Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura also plays a significant role in the novel. When summoned to Kakashi’s office to discuss missing shinobi from other lands, Sakura revealed that she was already doing some research on her own. Though Sasuke looked into disappearances of the shinobi from outside Konoha, Sakura discovered shinobi missing from Konoha as well.

She continued to investigate on her own, although with Sasuke outside the village and able to follow more leads, it was Sasuke who eventually found the culprits. Naruto very craftily mentioned Sakura in one of his final communications with Sasuke in the novel, though. He detailed her likening Sasuke’s investigation to being a member of the Konoha police force. It’s that mention that convinces Sasuke to return to her.

She Gave Birth In A Secret Base

Sarada Sasuke And Sakura in Pictures in Boruto

At some point in their relationship, the distance between Sakura and Sasuke became too much for her. After becoming pregnant with Sarada, Sakura didn’t just sit at home and wait for Sasuke to return to her yet again. Instead, she decided to go with him on his journey.

When Sasuke left Konoha the first time, he told Sakura he didn’t want her to go on his journey of redemption with him. It’s unclear why this time he changed his mind. Sasuke might just not have wanted to argue with his pregnant wife. Over the course of their travels, Sakura went into labor. Far from any hospital, Sasuke took Sakura to one of Orochimaru’s old secret bases. There, his former ally Karin helped Sakura deliver her baby.

She Taught Sarada To Walk

Sarada Thinks About Learning To Walk in Boruto Manga

Fans don’t know much about Sakura’s life in between Sarada’s birth and the beginning of the Boruto series. What we do know is that at some point, Sasuke left Konoha again, leaving Sakura and Sarada behind while he spied for Konoha. Before he left, he and Sakura did work together to teach their daughter a few things. One of those things was learning to walk.

It’s one of the few memories we see Sarada have of Sasuke. Considering how vague her memories are in Boruto, and her doubt about her parentage, it’s not clear if what Sarada visualizes actually happened or not though. Regardless of whether or not Sasuke was there to help, it’s certain that Sakura taught Sarada to walk.

She Went To Karin For Help

Karin Meets Sarada in Boruto

As teenagers, Sakura and Karin might have been rivals for Sasuke’s affection if they’d ever spent any real time around one another. Instead, Sasuke recruited Karin for Team Taka while away from Konoha. Outside of a handful of battles, the two women didn’t interact very much.

That clearly changed after the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War. Karin didn’t hold any resentment toward Sasuke and Sakura for marrying. After helping deliver Sarada, she even kept the baby’s umbilical cord as a memento. Sakura and Karin must have forged some sort of friendship in that time because when Sarada became ill, Sakura went to Karin for help. Sarada ended up with a serious fever as a toddler. The fever was so bad that it eventually affected Sarada’s vision. Karin provided Sarada with glasses to help correct it.  

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Sakura was very busy in between the events of Naruto Shippūden and Boruto. Did we miss anything big? Let us know in the comments!