Sakura is depicted as a kunoichi affiliated with Konohagakure (木ノ葉隠れの里, English version: "Hidden Leaf Village") and a part of Team 7, which consists of herself, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and their sensei Kakashi Hatake.

Over the course of the series, as Sasuke eventually leaves the village, Sakura begins to shed this singularly driven persona, becoming a medical ninja while apprenticed under the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, and becomes friendly and even protective of Naruto as his life becomes increasingly at risk.

She was initially noted to be a stereotypical shōnen character, representing a love interest for the protagonist, and was said to serve little purpose at the beginning of the series beyond being comic relief.

Her emergence from this stereotype as the series progressed, thanks to her training with Tsunade, which leads her to develop her medical and combat skills, has been celebrated by many reviewers.

[2] Despite these elements, Kishimoto is fond of Sakura, as he feels that many of her personality traits are common among all people, thus giving her a sense of real humanity.

[7] When designing Sakura in her Part II appearance, Kishimoto decided to change her clothes to a more lively karate suit style.

[9] During Part II's last story arc, Kishimoto tried making Sakura look more beautiful, most notably when she joins Naruto and Sasuke in the final fight against the creature Ten-Tails.

[5] Despite deciding that Naruto and Hinata would end up together since the early stages of the manga, Kishimoto thought it would be interesting to throw Sakura in the middle to form "a messy love triangle."

[14] Sakura is a young ninja who is a part of Team 7 alongside Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha under the leadership of their sensei Kakashi Hatake.

Sakura lacks any unique traits that would set her apart from the rest of Team 7, although Kakashi notes that she has an excellent control over her chakra early in Part I.

During the Chunin Exams, when the rest of Team 7 is left in need of her protection, Sakura realizes that relying on others to fight her battles has been unwise.

After Sasuke's defection from Konohagakure at the end of Part I,[18] Naruto's failure to bring him back,[19] and Sakura's inability to help either of them, she becomes Tsunade's apprentice so that she can do more for her teammates in the future.

As they search for Sasuke, Sakura learns of the various hardships Naruto faces because of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox creature sealed inside him, which is being pursued by the Akatsuki.

[27] After Sasuke is pardoned for his crimes, Sakura sees him off as he decides to travel the world in search for redemption and shows signs that he finally accepts her feelings for him; he pokes her forehead and thanks her right before his departure.

[28] In the epilogue, set years after the end of the Fourth Ninja War, it is shown that Sakura and Sasuke had married and had a daughter, Sarada Uchiha.

[40] She is also present in all three of the original video animations produced for the series, helping Naruto and Konohamaru to find a four-leaf clover in the first original video animation,[41] joining her team in escorting a ninja named Shibuki to his village and helping him fight the missing-nin that stole the village's "Hero's Water" in the second,[42] and participating in a tournament in the third.

[43] A light novel titled Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze (2015), written by Tomohito Ōsaki and illustrated by Kishimoto, focuses on Sakura sometime after the events of The Last: Naruto the Movie, where she, now a celebrated medical ninja who is in the middle of opening a new mental clinic with Ino Yamanaka, becomes worried when a conspiracy that threatens to destroy Konohagakure is using Sasuke as a scapegoat, potentially ruining his chance at redemption amongst the villagers.

As a result, his whereabouts become a touchy subject for Sakura, who assures Sarada over the years that Sasuke will return home once having completed his mission.

[45] Sakura later serves as a spectator for Sarada while she participates in the Chunin Exams and saves both herself and other onlookers from falling debris, afterward healing Hinata.

Sparrow commented that every anime and manga benefited from a strong female presence that Sakura provided for the Naruto series, although characterizing her as "stereotypically girly".

[59][60] In a review of episode 110 of the anime, IGN celebrated the culmination of the development of Sakura's character throughout the series and the growing out of the "girly" personality.

Anime Reviews considered Sakura to be a stereotypical echo of similar love interests of protagonists in other shōnen manga and that she was not likable.

[73] Sarah Nelkin of Anime Now praised Sakura's development across the series, mostly in late parts of the story due to how she turns into a stronger person as she grows up and especially when she becomes an adult.