Out of the massive cast of characters in Naruto, Sakura Haruno seems to deal with the most hate from fans. One of the series’ core protagonists since the very beginning, Sakura has gone through a transformation from a weak, self-pitying child to a full-grown warrior who’s extremely confident in her abilities.
In the Boruto anime series, she can even be seen taking down ninjas who pose a threat to the whole world single-handedly. She’s no longer a young fighter who relies on others to save her; now she saves people.
Just like Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura was trained by one of the three legendary sanin. Under the guidance of Tsunade, Sakura learns how to harness her natural abilities and become a competitive fighter. Not only can she heal herself and others, but she can destroy buildings with a single punch and even summon a giant slug.
At the end of the series, Sakura is easily one of the most powerful ninjas in the world and a worthy heir to the Hokage mantle. There are only a handful of characters actually capable of taking her down, but the rest don’t stand a chance when confronted with her massive strength.
Without further ado, come learn about 15 Characters Weaker than Sakura!
15. Kiba Inuzuka
Kiba is one of those people who thinks they can handle anything. At the beginning of the series, his headstrong nature leaves him completely in shock when he loses to Naruto in the first round of the Chunin exam.
Even though he pushed himself and grew stronger over the years, Kiba remained a lower tiered ninja. In addition to using claws, he can turn his dog, Akamaru, into an identical clone of himself on the battle field to double team his opponents.
Kiba constantly uses pills to increase both his and Akamaru’s chakra. If he were to find himself in a situation where he didn’t have access to these supplements, Sakura would have no problem knocking this teen wolf down a peg.
14. Kankuro
Kankuro is one of the sand village’s toughest fighters, and he even grows up to become Gaara’s bodyguard when he is Kazekage.
He is a skilled fighter and tactical genius, knowing when to retreat and when to attack on a large scale. Kankuro’s strength comes from a series of trap-filled puppets that he designs and controls on the battlefield. Toward the end of the anime, it’s revealed that his dream is creating the strongest ninjutsu puppet ever, something that would make him even more dangerous on the battlefield.
While Sakura and Kankuro never directly come to blows, Sakura did defeat Sasori, a pupeteer who is even more powerful than Kankuro. Sasori was able to easily deflect Kankuro’s attacks and take him down, but Sakura was able to take Sasori down with Lady Chiyo’s help.
13. Ino Yamanaka
Naruto and Sasuke are clearly rivals, constantly trying to one-up each other as the series progresses. To a lesser extent, Ino and Sakura have a similar relationship and even came up with childish nicknames for one another.
In addition to competing for Sasuke’s affection in the series’ early years, the two of them were forced to square off in the chunin exams. While that initial battle led to a draw, Sakura eventually outgrew Ino.
Like Sakura, Ino is a medical ninja but her abilities never grew to Sakura’s level. Her signature ability involves creating psychic link between ninjas in multiple locations, making communication among the Allied forces easier during the Fourth Shinobi World War. While it was an important ability that certainly assisted in an allied victory, on the field she isn’t nearly as helpful or damaging as Sakura.
12. Suigetsu Hōzuki
While Sakura is extremely compassionate, Suigetsu is indifferent to the world around him. He’s a cold-blooded killer who only holds himself back because Sasuke asked him to. Some ninjas dream of revenge and others dream of glory, but Suigetsu dreams of collecting seven legendary swords and increasing his power.
People refer to him as the reincarnation of the demon Zabuza and he’s been hailed as murder prodigy. In addition to wielding a sword, he can transform himself into a liquid mode, making himself resistant to damage.
Admittedly he’s quicker than Sakura is, but even in his liquid form, his body couldn’t withstand a direct blow from Sakura. He might make things hard for Sakura, but her impressive tactical abilities would help her find a strategy to take down this slippery ninja.
11. Shizune
Sakura isn’t the only person to train under Tsunade. Shizune is Tsunade’s assistant, and as a result of that she is better medical ninjitsu than anything else. She’s certainly a better medical ninja than Sakura is and even directed the Logistical Support and Medical Division of the Allied forces during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Shizune can hold her own in a fight, even taking on Kabuto one-on-one, but she relies on poison more than brute strength. Sakura, who can heal herself and knows how to avoid poison, would have no problem quickly taking care of Shizune.
While Shizune’s fighting prowess is sequentially non-existent, her organizational capacities are quite impressive. When Tsunade became Hokage, Shizune remained her assistant, helping her run the entire village. She did such a good job that even after Tsunade leaves the role, Shizune stays on and assists Kakashi and Naruto when they are both Hokages.
10. Konohamaru Sarutobi
As obvious and silly as it sounds to say, Sakura would have no problem defeating Konohamaru, a small child throughout most of the series. Like Naruto, Konohamaru is a headstrong individual with dreams of proving himself to the village.
At the beginning of his journey, like any child, he constantly sought out short cuts that could deliver him quick results until Nartuo told him that training was a long-game.
In Boruto, Konohamaru is a strong warrior and team leader in his own right. While it’s likely the series is setting him up to be a future Hokage, Sakura still outpowers Konohamaru to a considerable extent. They have different abilities obviously; Sakura can’t produce a rasengan, but she can outpace him in the endurance game any day of the week.
9. Shino Aburame
Shino is a reserved, observant ninja. Unfortunately for him, his quiet nature makes him a little off-putting to some of his companions and he often has a hard time developing close relationships.
Symbolic of the fact that he doesn’t get along well with humans, his special ability includes controlling different breeds of insects that can be used to attack or steal enemies chakra. He can even create insect copies of himself to distract and mislead his opponents.
In Boruto, Shino serves as a teacher for the next generation. He’s a smart fighter who wins most of his battles using his tactical abilities, so it’s a good thing that he’s assisting the next generation. But, at the end of the day, Sakura would have no problem smashing this bug brain on the battle field.
8. Tenten
Out of all the young ninjas audiences see from the leaf village, Tenten was given the least amount of screen time.
She’s easy-going, dedicated to self-improvement, and an expert at using weapons in battle. Her signature weapon, a chain with weights attached to both ends, is certainly dangerous, but since Sakura can harden her skin to absorb blows, it’s not that big of an asset for Tenten if the two square off.
Tenten eventually develops medical ninjistsu skills, but her abilities are minor compared to Sakura’s.
Tenten idolizes Tsunade and spent a great deal of time hoping to be as powerful as her. Unfortunately, Sakura was the lucky pupil who got to study under Lady Tsunade and learn the secrets of the 100 Seals.
7. Iruka Umino
While Iruka may have been one of Sakura’s first teachers, she definitely surpassed his power levels throughout the series. He takes his duty as a protector of the village very seriously, putting his life on the line for Naruto and his other students on multiple occasions, but Sakura is better suited to keep people safe than he is.
Iruka is a skilled ninja, but he’s more suited to be a teacher than a warrior. He doesn’t have any special abilities, he’s just sufficiently trained in all the basic tenets of being a ninja.
During the Fourth World War, Iruka’s main purpose was keeping Naruto calm. Instead of fighting and putting himself out there, like Sakura did, Iruka stayed back because he wasn’t much of an asset on the field.
6. Haku
Haku has a tragic backstory. The son of two farmers, he was treated like a monster by his father and the other villagers when his abilities first manifested themselves. Alone and desparate for meaning, Haku pledged allegiance to Zabuza, essentially becoming a mercenary.
His main skill is his speed, meaning he would likely get more blows in than Sakura if they were ever to come to blows again. But, as with everyone else on this list, if Sakura gets one good punch in, Haku is going down.
The fight between Team 7, Haku, and Zabuza was the event that kick-started Sakura’s mission for self-improvement. As she stayed back and defended the bridge builder, she vowed to herself that she no longer wanted to rely on Naruto and Sasuke to fight her battles.
After this, Sakura dedicated herself even more fully to training and eventually grew to become one of the Leaf Village’s most powerful ninjas.
5. Temari
Temari has had a rough life. Related to both the Fourth Kazekage and Gaara, Temari had a tough time making friends and became something of an outsider in the village. Her hard life has made her a rather dismissive, cruel person, rarely showing any emotion when people were killed by Gaara early on in the series.
Most of her training includes long-range techniques, making her a good match for Sakura. Utilizing a giant fan on the battlefield, Temari controls wind and can move her opponents around on the battlefield.
For most of the series, Temari would have easily been able to take Sakura down, but by the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sakura has surpassed the power levels of the previous Legendary Sanin.
Sakura will have to fight hard and avoid a lot of wind, but all it takes is finding one second where Temari is distracted or exposed to a blow and the match is over.
4. Hinata Hyūga
Hinata may have beat Sakura in the competition for Naruto’s heart - a battle Sakura didn’t really want to participate in - but if these two found themselves on the battlefield it would be quite a different story.
Even with the Byakugan, a special jutsu that gives Hinata a 360 degree field of vision around her and the ability to pinpoint attacks on people’s chakra pathways, Sakura can easily take her down. Hinata is quicker, but Sakura’s endurance can outlast Hinata’s, so in the one second where she slows down Sakura will be ready to pounce.
Hinata’s core strength comes from her deep empathy for other people. Much like Sakura, she started the series lacking confidence in her abilities and often considered herself a burden on her teammates. As the series progressed, Hinata started pushing herself harder because she wanted to be an asset, not a liability, for her teammates.
3. Team Dosu
This is technically cheating because they are more than one character, but Sakura could still take all three of these sound ninjas down.
During the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru manipulated a group of ninjas, led by Dosu Kinuta (the guy in the bandages), and used them as pawns for him to learn more about the new generation of young ninjas.
When Sakura squares off against these ninjas during the Chunin exam, she needs help from Rock Lee, Shikamaru, and Ino to ward them off. But, if they were to ever face again, Sakura would have no problem taking all three down simultaneously.
Not only can she distribute chakra throughout her body, making it harder for the team’s blows to impact her, but she can summon a giant slug named Katsuyu to the battlefield to help divide and distract her enemies.
2. Sai Yamanaka
After Sasuke ran off with Orochimaru, leaving a gap in Team 7, Sai came in to fill the hole. Just like Sasuke before him, Sai has quite a few emotional problems but he’s an incredibly gifted fighter, even receiving Danzo’s praise as one of the strongest members of Root.
Sai is quite evasive and he’s a skilled long-range fighter thanks to his ink jutsus, but Sakura just needs to get in close and deliver one crushing blow to take him down.
While Sai can conceal himself underground and use wood element attacks, Sakura can easily crack through the ground or break any branches that might be pinning her down. Sai would certainly put up a tough fight, especially if he’s given enough time to generate a whole army of ink creatures to fight alongside him, but if Sakura can harm Kaguya, Sai doesn’t stand a chance.
1. Karin Uzumaki
Karin and Sakura have a complicated “relationship”, to say the least. Even though neither one of them would want to admit it, they’re fairly similar in their traits and habits.
Both characters fluctuate between tough-as-nails personalities and highly flirtatious behavior whenever they are around Sasuke. While Karin is strong enough to be a part of Sasuke’s dark team that has people like Suigetsu on it, she’s no match for Sasuke’s old teammate, Sakura.
Karin’s core abilities include monitoring people’s chakras. Without any set up, she can detect people’s chakra signatures and can act as a good scout for a team. But when it comes to fighting herself, Karin is nothing special. She’s definitely weaker than Sakura, who would take her down easily.
What do you guys think about this group of characters? Are there any other Naruto characters not included on the list that are definitely weaker than Sakura? Sound off below!
