the most developed ones in the series, as she has become stronger than her Part I (Naruto) counterpart, which was considerably weaker than Naruto and Sasuke. This allows her to take a more active and appealing role in the series. Major praise has been given to her encounters with Sasori and Sasuke owing to her fighting skills and mature reactions, respectively. Sakura's love confession to Naruto in later parts of the series has been commented to be one of the deepest lines and parts of the story arc for bringing confusion in regard to whether her love confession claim was as serious as her intention to stop Naruto's suffering. It also came as a surprise as fans wondered what Sakura's real intention regarding Sasuke was, the latter having already become a dangerous criminal during such a time in the series. Jason Thompson believes Sakura's feelings were well-handled by Kishimoto. While disliking the romance between Sasuke and Sakura in the original series as she felt it was initially a crush on Sakura's part, Amy McNulty thought the spin-off manga Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring helped to expand the bond between these two as well as their relationship with their daughter, Sarada. 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. Critic Yukari Fujimoto says that Sakura is an example of Naruto showing a conservative view of women. Ino, Sakura and Hinata place priority on love, treating it as more important than excelling as a ninja. Fujimoto states that during the ninja examinations, Sakura's climactic fight with Ino, her love rival, is conducted on a purely physical level, contrasting this level of skill with the supernatural abilities displayed by her male classmates at this point. When the medical ninja Tsunade is introduced, Sakura takes on a daughter-like role, learning to heal others from Tsunade's teaching, which Fujimoto regards as reinforcing a conservative idea of women — that women do not belong on the battlefield as warriors, only as nurses. See also References External links Naruto characters Comics characters introduced in 1999 Fictional female ninja Female characters in anime and manga Child characters in anime and manga Teenage characters in anime and manga Child characters in television Teenage characters in television