| • • • Her Transition |
 Sakura has changed a lot since the beginning of the series. We find out that she first started out as a little crybaby due to the fact that
bullies kept on picking on her due to her "big forehead." That was until Yamanaka Ino who stepped up and saved Sakura and changed her into the woman she is today.
She then became the Sakura we know today; strong-willed, courageous, a good leader and all that good stuff. I guess you can say thanks to Ino for shaping Sakura the way she is now. We are shown flashbacks of how Sakura and Ino's friendship was in episode 32.
 She always thought of herself as weak because she could never defend herself again well...anyone.
She was always being protected, especially by Naruto, Sasuke and Rock Lee. They are three important people in her life and she hates the fact that they are always protecting her.
She was tired of it and decided to come out of her shell and completely bloom into the flower she was named after. This happened in episode 32 when she showed her courageousness and how much she wanted to protect Naruto, Sasuke and Lee after they've been protecting her.
She wanted to show them (even if they didn't know) that she cared and would protect them this time, not the other way around.
 She did her best to get out of Ino's shadow. Sakura was always following Ino around when they were younger because she couldn't fend for herself.
Ino would always come to the rescue and defend her for her. In episode 42, Sakura shows she's tired of just being a sidekick to Ino, that she can be her own person.
She showed this when she and Ino were fighting and Ino was hesitating to fight her best friend. Yes, they are obviously still friends but on another level. They show how much
they care by fighting and bickering with one another. Sakura makes Ino take their fight seriously because she's tired of being a lapdog to her and the real fight between them begins. In the end, they
both came out and had a tie showing equal power on both sides.
 Sakura finally decides to change her lifestyle after she came back from her mission with
Jiraiya (one of the legendary sannin) and Naruto to research on where Sasuke is. The evil villain in this episode (Arashi) told her she was just a hindrance and
as we all know that's like a taboo word for her. Its all that she thinks she is and decides to change herself. She told Naruto while he was laying in a hospital bed after
their mission that she will no longer be a hindrance anymore.
It was then coincidentally moments before that Tsunade and Shikamaru were talking about Naruto, Jiraiya and Sakura's mission and Shikamaru commented that it would have been nice to have had a medic-nin on their team. Tsunade replies and says its true but its hard to find a medic-nin these days because they aren't that easy to train. You need someone who has almost perfect chakra control, have immense intelligence and finally know how to apply the knowledge that you know. She also stated that you need something special to become a first-rate ninja. More or less I'm guessing what is needed is a strong will and determination. Sakura then asks Tsunade to become her apprentice (or student) since she has all these qualities. This is Sakura's first step to becoming who she is today.  Sakura is completely different now. She's been training under the Fifth Hokage's eyes (Tsunade) as her
apprentice and even Kakashi himself said she has the high possibility of being stronger than Tsunade herself. The pupil surpassing the teacher. She got stronger and actually
had the will to force herself to stop being weak so that she could bring Sasuke back. This hasn't been shown in the anime just yet but in the manga we are shown what power has possessed and trained for these past 2 1/2 years.
She has monstrous strength, she's still as good with genjutsu as she always was, still as intelligent as always, now knows taijutsu, ninjutsu and she's an amazing medic-nin now.
She's definitely grown up from what and who she was before. All of the things she's gone through her life is what has shaped her to be what she is today. This was shown in manga chapter 246 and you can read what Kakashi and Naruto think about the new Sakura here and here! ;) Amazing, she's got beauty, brains and brawn...
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