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primnroses · 2 years

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― Sakura Haruno being described as the best medic-ninja of Konoha in official material

The information presented in this post has been checked and revised. My aim is not to hate or to discredit any of the characters mentioned. Please read about me for further information.

This post will contain evidence in picture format directly from the manga Naruto (1999 - 2014) created by Masashi Kishimoto and published by Shueisha in 1999. I will also use information present in the novels, promotional magazines and the databooks of Naruto.

This informative post will show a few pieces of media where Sakura Haruno has been described as “the best medic-ninja of Konohagakure” using examples from different sources. The evidence displayed in this post are some of the examples I could find, as I considered some to be repetitive.

This meta is crossposted in AO3.

I give my permission to use or share this thread with informative purposes as long as you credit me.

I do not support the anime or the work of Studio Pierrot in regards to Naruto because I consider it over exaggerated and beyond biased. Furthermore, these fillers include some actions that these characters are unable to do in the canon according to official sources and they also generate unnecessary debate.

Please, take this into consideration.

Since she started training, Sakura Haruno demonstrated to have a talent for medical ninjutsu unseen since her senpai Shizune, considered a kunoichi with skills that led her to be considered second to Tsunade.

According to the third databook, at age 16, Sakura was already considered a top medic-ninja even among those that came before her and worked in the village as professionals.

Her skills allowed her to start working in Konoha Hospital as part of the Medic Corps and the manga displays her doing her job in this building a few times.

By age 17, Sakura was considered a jōnin level medic-ninja, despite being a ninja of chūnin rank.

Jōnin level medic-ninja are those Medic Corps whose abilities have become “near godly”, like Shizune, who is a jōnin kunoichi that specializes in medical ninjutsu and derived and can work in the hospital.

This term might be a little bit misleading, because being a jōnin medic-ninja does not mean that every jōnin shinobi that can perform medical ninjutsu is considered as such. The official denomination used for above chūnin level ninja that specialize in one specific area are called tokubetsu jōnin, like Ibiki Morino and his vast knowledge of interrogation and the mind. However, the hierarchy of Konoha Hospital deems jōnin to their workers, the Medic Corps, that have reached a very high level of medical ninjutsu skills.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, White Zetsu infiltrated the Logistical Support and Medical Division to kill the ninja since medical ninjutsu users are the main support system in battle. The enemy started targeting the most skilled medic-ninja, those jōnin medic-ninja, and among them was Sakura.

In the midst of war and after completing the Byakugō no In, Sakura had already surpassed Shizune and her master, Tsunade according to the fourth databook.

Two years after the war, there is many information about Sakura’s status as the best medic-ninja of Konoha coming in different formats.

The material included next comes from official promotional magazines and novels set in the Blank Period and The Last: Naruto the Movie.

During this time, Sakura continued to work in the hospital with he Medic Corps healing the injured as a result of the Fourth Shinobi World War as mentioned in some novels, one of them Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze and Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise, among others.

Not only was Sakura still a constant aid in the hospital just as before, according to the movie’s guidebook, she even earned the rank of jōnin (上忍) right after the war, not only as a powerful kunoichi, but also as a medic-ninja that was already recognized with that level years prior.

From this point in time, Sakura has been described as the best medic-ninja in Konoha in the following material:

The Last: Naruto the Movie promotional magazine 1:

Japanese: 春野サクラ— 綱手の技術を継承し、里一の医療忍者に長レている。怪力も健在。

English: “Haruno Sakura: She inherited Tsunade's skills and is the best medical ninja in the village. Her superhuman strength is still alive.”

Full picture:

The Last: Naruto the Movie promotional magazine 2:

Japanese: 春野サクラ — 木ノ葉隠れ随一の医療忍者に育つ。師匠である綱手の度胸と怪力も健在。

English: “Haruno Sakura: She grew up to be the best medical ninja in Konohagakure. The legacy and courage of her master Tsunade have been passed down to her.”

Full picture:

The Last: Naruto the Movie character description 1:

Japanese: 春野サクラ — 木ノ葉隠れ随一の医療忍者に育つ。師匠である綱手の度胸と怪力も健丘。

English: “Haruno Sakura: She grew up to be the best medical-ninja in Konohagakure. The legacy and courage of her master Tsunade have been passed down to her.”

The Last: Naruto the Movie character description 2:

Japanese: 春野サクラ — 第七班所属のくノ一で、ナルトと共に成長してきた仲間。五代目火影・稠手に弟子入りし、今では木ノ葉隠れ随一の医療忍者として活躍している。精緻なチャクラ制御能と、師匠議りの度胸を用いて緑り出す怪力が武器。

English: “Haruno Sakura: A kunoichi from Team 7 who has grown up with Naruto. She became a disciple of the 5th Hokage, Tsunade, and has successfully become the best medical ninja in Konohagakure. With delicate chakra control and training of her master, she can unleash superhuman strength and medical ninjutsu.”

Full picture:

The Last: Naruto the Movie novel character description:

Maruo Kyozuka is the author of this novel. He is also the scriptwriter of the movie.

Japanese: 春野サクラ — 木ノ葉隠れの里随一の医療忍者。

English: “Haruno Sakura: The best medic-ninja of Konoha.”

This novel has been officially translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Here are the official description of Sakura in both languages.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding

Shō Hinata is the author of this novel. It has been translated into Portuguese and French, the next excerpt was share by two followers and the English fan translation was provided by http://cacatuasulphureacitrinocristata.tumblr.com

This is Sakura’s dialogue in the novel.

You can read Konoha Hiden in English and this chapter here.

However, there is something different about the French and Portuguese and the English translations. In French, Sakura describes herself as “une femme médecin de premier ordre au village” which literally means “a top class medic-ninja in the village”, while the Portuguese describes her as “uma das melhores ninjas médicas da vila” which literally means “one of the best medic-ninjas of the village”. So, there’s obviously a problem between the English and the other translations.

Some readers have pointed out that Panini, the publisher, has received complaints about their translations before, so this might be another problem related to it.

There is also something to note about the difference of these translations:

In the Portuguese translation, Sakura is speaking about being able to use monster strength, which requires precise chakra control, makes her a better medic-ninja than others. However, the only people that can use chakra enhanced strength are herself and Tsunade. In that case, she’s comparing her master and herself and saying both are the best medic-ninja.

In the French translation, Sakura is speaking about being able to use monster strength, which requires precise chakra control, makes her an excellent kunoichi. However, the only people that can use chakra enhanced strength are herself and Tsunade. In that case, she’s comparing her master and herself and saying both are the best kunoichi.

There’s clearly a clash in both versions, since one of the translators is talking about being a high-class medic-ninja (医療忍, Iryō-nin) and the other is talking about being a high-class kunoichi (くノ一) for being able to use chakra enhanced strength. They speak about completely different roles and also comparing only two people, Sakura and Tsunade.

The English version is talking about being an excellent medic-ninja, so the fan translation is the closest and least ambiguous description about Sakura’s skills. She is the best medic in Konoha.

Naruto chapter 632

Hashirama Senju about Sakura’s strength.

Japanese: なんという怪力…アしは綱以上かもしれんな

English: “What monster strength.. it might be greater than Tsuna’s.”

Here are the official Viz and Mangapanda versions.

In fact, it is true that displaying greater strength than others is signal that a shinobi is a better medic-ninja than others. According to the third databook, chakra enhanced strength is directly linked to medical ninjutsu as a form of even greater control of chakra. This is a feat that only a very limited number of medic-ninja can achieve.

Only two high-skilled medics can perform chakra enhanced strength: Sakura Haruno and Tsunade. For instance, Hashirama mentioning that Sakura shows greater force means she has better chakra control, and, subsequently, she can perform more advanced medical ninjutsu.

This status resulted in Sakura being able to gather her own teams of medic-ninja to missions, as seen in Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Frozen Sky by Akira Higashiyama and Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise by Shin Towada.

This recognition earned Sakura the promotion to Head of the Medical Department. She acts as the lead doctor of the Medic Corps, the personnel of Konoha Hospital, as its director, and she also works in the medical office of the Hokage Residence.

She is also seen as the lead medic-ninja throughout the new era, always there to provide care to those people injured. At the same time, Sakura also trains future field medic-ninja in a classroom inside Konoha Hospital.

End.

Author notes:

Despite having several pieces of official media that describe her as the best medic-ninja, Sakura is never given that recognition by Wikis or by fans.

What I’ve noticed while writing this post and gathering information is that people purposefully avoid writing Sakura as “the best medic-ninja” for unknown reasons, either because of hate or jealousy, the true essence of what’s written in Japanese is always mistranslated.

Moreover, the problem might be that the author, Masashi Kishimoto, avoids explicitly describing Sakura as ever surpassing Tsunade in medical ninjutsu. What he does is leave hints with Hashirama Senju, like surpassing Tsunade in strength, which requires chakra control and the stronger the chakra enhanced strength, the best medic-ninja; or with Kakashi Hatake and Chiyo, who voiced that Sakura would end up becoming a better kunoichi than Tsunade. The last two examples are often ignored because people would rather see a direct statement.

It’s also a problem with the difficult access to official Japanese media, especially from the movie, that comes without a verified translation into English or will only be available to Japanese fans. Even so, translated novels that address this condition of Sakura are often considered “filler” or not canon because the author didn’t write it.

However, it’s been more than demonstrated that Sakura Haruno, as early as 17 years old, surpassed Tsunade in medical ninjutsu, became the strongest kunoichi and is now considered the top medic-ninja in Konoha and, subsequently, the world.

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