Sarada Uchiha

Sarada Uchiha (うちはサラダ, Uchiha Sarada) is a kunoichi from Konohagakure's Uchiha clan. Because she grew up without having her father around, Sarada initially struggles to understand who she is or what she's supposed to be. After meeting him with the help of Naruto Uzumaki, Sarada learns that she is defined by the connections she has with others and as a member of Team Konohamaru, she seeks to someday become Hokage so that she can connect with as many people as possible.

Background

Sarada is the only child of Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha. She was born while Sakura accompanied Sasuke on his travels, and was delivered with the help of Karin in one of Orochimaru's hideouts; as such, there is no record of her birth at the Konoha Hospital. As a way to keep a connection with Sasuke, despite being happy with him, Karin kept Sarada's umbilical cord. After that, the family returned to Konoha to raise Sarada, where the two helped her learn to walk. During her father's absence from the village while gathering information on Kaguya Otsutsuki, she became ill with a high fever and afterwards, began wearing glasses, which unknown to her were a gift from Karin. Due to the importance of the mission, her father wasn't around much, and it is because of this that she did not know anything about him, including what he physically looked like as an adult.

Sakura reassuring Sarada that Sasuke cares.

Sakura did her best to comfort Sarada during Sasuke's absence, assuring her that her father loved her and that, when he completed his important mission, he'd come home. When this conversation went on for too long, Sakura poked Sarada's forehead. As Sarada's parents continued to stay close with their own childhood friends, she ultimately got to know the kids of her parent's respective friends very well. On the day of Naruto's inauguration as the Seventh Hokage, she watched to ceremony besides her mother and ChoCho Akimichi.

Personality

Sarada and Boruto glare at each other often, just like Sasuke and Naruto.

Sarada's personality is derived from both her parents, although she takes more after her mother which is noted by Naruto. While Sarada is friendly, sociable, and polite, she has a fierce temper similar to her mother's and doesn't back down from an argument; she also inherited Sakura's verbal tic, "Shannaro!". Like her father, she retains an aloof and calm demeanor unless she is provoked. She has a close attachment to her parents, whom she affectionately refers to as "Papa" and "Mama", despite being apart from her father for many years. Unlike her parents in their childhood, Sarada has respected manners. In contrast to Sakura, she is never overconfident nor obsessed with boys, but modest and treats her classmates nicely, especially her friends Chocho Akimichi and Boruto Uzumaki. Despite Sarada's often bickering with Boruto and her rivalry with him, they are close friends and she cares about him greatly. Sarada even when as far as to encourage her father to make Boruto his student after she witnessed how much effort he put in when trying to learn the Rasengan. When Sasuke finally decided to accept Boruto as his student, Sarada became excited on Boruto's behalf. Sarada is also a curious child; regardless of finding Boruto annoying, she observes him around the village, watching from afar. She comes to the conclusion that they indeed have something in common (both of them want to spend more time with their fathers), displaying keen insight. While she appears polite and friendly, she easily has a fierce temper like her mother. Like many children her age, Sarada also has great respect for the seventh hokage Naruto Uzumaki. It was due to her admiration for Naruto that Sarada made it her goal to become hokage.

Before her Academy graduation, Sarada questioned the value and meaning of being a ninja since her father's duties as a shinobi kept him away from home for many years. Sarada has a good relationship with her mother, although she questioned the validity of her parents' marriage due to her mother's hesitation to talk about her father's absence and his mission, leading her to suspect her parents were keeping secrets from her. Sarada can also be reckless like her mother, such as when Sarada left the village in search of her father despite the danger she was putting herself in. When she mistakenly assumed Sakura was not her birth mother, Sarada became distraught and, in anger, condemned her father as a liar and denounced any connection to her mother. However, Naruto was able to calm her down by telling her a real family is made out of love rather than blood, and Sarada decided Sakura was her mother no matter what. Once Sakura confirmed Sarada was her biological child, Sarada, having already witnessed interactions between her parents that proved they loved each other, agreed, stating all that mattered was the bond between them, effectively reconciling with her mother. Much like her uncle, Itachi Uchiha, Sarada is a firm believer in the Will of Fire and is very loyal to the village, making her one of the few members of the Uchiha Clan to not fall victim to the Curse of Hatred.

Due to Sasuke being absent for most of her life because of his mission, Sarada grew up not knowing him. Over the years, she would ask Sakura countless times when he was coming home and she even became unsure about whether he really cared about the two of them at all. Growing up without a father was something that deeply troubled Sarada and seeing all her friends enjoying time with there fathers left Sarada craving for her father's affection. Despite Sarada claiming she doesn't remember Sasuke at all, she apparently recalls some memories of him from her early childhood, such as him and Sakura holding hands when she was a toddler. Moments before she meant with her father, the excitement of seeing him for the first time in years awakened her Sharingan. Her initial impression of him was disappointing due to Sasuke's seemingly indifference to her and his refusal to answer her questions regarding his absence and her mother, which greatly upset Sarada and made her cry. Despite this, she still hoped to understand him more and have some kind of relationship with him.

Appearance

Sarada's full appearance.

According to Naruto, whereas Sarada's personality takes more after Sakura, her appearance takes more after Sasuke: she has onyx eyes and hair, which she keeps shoulder-length resembling her father's adult hairstyle, parts to the right, and tucks behind her ear. Even though she inherited both Sasuke's hair color and eye color, Sarada inherited most of her facial traits from Sakura: the wide, cat-like eye shape, the eyelashes and face shape. Sarada's eyelids take more after Sasuke's. She wears a pair of red glasses, which are a gift from Karin.

Early in her Academy career, Sarada wears a vermilion jacket, under which is a cream coloured vest, under which is a high-collared white shirt with a red tie. She also wears a red skirt and black open-toed boots. As she nears graduation, she begins wearing a red sleeveless qipao shirt - similar to what Sakura wore in Part II - with the Uchiha crest on the back. She also wears a pair of light-coloured shorts, dark purple thigh-length stockings, black shinobi sandals, and long dark purple arm warmers. Once she receives a forehead protector, she wears it around her forehead with her bangs hanging over.

In Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Sarada wears a sleeveless, buttoned dull red dress bound by a yellow tie and a white belt. She wears white bandages underneath. She also wears a black fingerless glove on her right hand, similar to her father, a black arm warmer on her left arm and a pair of black ankle-length, open-toed high-heeled sandals (with wooden soles in the manga). According to the light novel of Boruto: Naruto the Movie, Sarada has apparently been "very popular lately" with her male comrades of Konoha.

Abilities

Sarada defeats Tarui with a single punch.

Sarada is a highly gifted kunoichi, inheriting her father Sasuke's prodigious talent and her mother Sakura's keen mind, leading Mitsuki to call her an elite genin. Accredited to her Uchiha lineage, her talents allowed her to rank third in her class and ultimately made her classmates expect her to easily pass the graduation exam. Likewise, she could single-handedly defeat dozens of Shin clones even before graduating.

Chakra and Physical Prowess

From Sakura, Sarada inherited naturally advanced control over her chakra. Even before graduating from the Academy, she is able to collect chakra into her fists and release it on contact with a target to have a devastating effect, such as cratering the ground or sending an opponent flying into the distance.

Ninjutsu

Sarada is very knowledgeable in ninjutsu. Sarada can use Lightning and Yin Release, the former of which she can infuse into Fuma Shuriken to stun or knock back others.

Like many Uchiha, Sarada has an affinity for ninja tools and her speciality is shurikenjutsu, to which she had the highest marks in class. With said skill, she is able to throw her weapons quickly and with precision, even able to precisely deflect a projectile with one of her own launched kunai. She has also shown similar aim while devoid of sight, as while practising with her eyes closed, she was able to perfectly hit the target mat six times in a row.

Dojutsu

Sharingan

Sarada's sharingan.

Sarada awakened the Sharingan at age 11 out of excitement at being able to see her father after many years. While only just receiving it, she quickly adjusted to its power, giving her heightened visual perception to efficiently react to and avoid threats more easily, as well as the ability to dispel genjutsu. She can also perform genjutsu proficiently.

Possibly due to only being half-Uchiha, Sarada's sharingan doesn't seem to evolve as quickly as her predecessors. She initially unlocked its power before graduation, but even a full year later during the Chunin Exams she still only possesses one tomoe in each eye.

New Era

Academy Arc

In the anime, on the day of the Academy entrance ceremony, Sarada is shown about to listen to Naruto's speech. However she and everyone present at the event are annoyed when Boruto crashes a train on Naruto's stone face. Afterwards she starts to hang out with Chocho, but she starts to ignore Boruto by walking pass him. Two weeks later, after Boruto's suspension ended and he finally joined the class, he continued to make a spectacle of himself. When Chocho noted that Sarada was especially close to Boruto due to their respective parents, Sarada voiced her dislike of being considered close friends simply because of their parents. Later, Boruto got into a confrontation with the class' top student Iwabee Yuino. As two students began arguing about what it means to be shinobi, they decided to skip class to settle things in fight. Sarada joined the rest of the class to watch the fight in a training arena. Ultimately, Boruto and Inojin's respective words resonated with Iwabee, ending the fight. Despite the pleasant ending, Sarada and the rest of the class were fiercely scolded later by their sensei Anko Mitarashi for skipping class.

During a class introducing students to the summoning technique, upon seeing Boruto's continued antics to show off, Sarada scolded him on his foolishness. This sparked an argument between all the boys and girls. Later during their lunch break, Sarada began to fight with Boruto over who would get the last yakisoba bun. Shino appeared, insisting that the boys and girls settle things with a race challenge for a flag. The challenge quickly got heated, with many of the boys being taken out of the contest until only Boruto, Shikidai, and Inojin were left on their team. Getting desperate, Boruto found a summoning scroll and miraculously summoned a snake-like creature. The creature went on a rampage, attacking the students and launched Chocho off the roof, to which Sarada helped Boruto in saving her. After the creature was subdued by the timely arrival of Konohamaru, the contest ended with the girls getting the flag. Despite their victory, the girls made peace with the boys.

Later, the class gained a new transfer student from named Mitsuki. While many of the girls found Mitsuki very handsome, Sarada sighed in distaste at them for judging someone purely on looks. The following day, by wanting the students to warm up to Mitsuki, Shino organized a welcoming party for the new student. When Shino's efforts for the party backfired with his insects, the class began to freak out, with Denki begging someone to make the insects go away, which Mitsuki did with his wind techniques, causing even more damage to the Academy. Suddenly, one of the repairmen went on a rampage, destroy the Academy. Sarada joined her friends in stopping him. While Sarada gave a distraction, Shikadai him. Despite the initially success, the man quickly recovered and continued his rampage. Ultimately, the combined effort of Boruto and Mitsuki ended the madness.

Later, Sumire realizes that she is being stalked. Eventually, Sarada and her friends discover that it is Magire, a shy student from a different class. The boy, having a crush on Sumire, asks her out, which Sumire turns down, leaving him distraught and running away in shame. The following day, various creepy messages are left for Sumire. While Sarda and the others decide to watch over her, they are systematically separated from Sumire. Eventually, the perpetrator is revealed to be a possessed Magire, who kidnaps Sumire. Chocho and the others soon find them, where Magire quickly attacked them with his concealment skills. Eventually, Chocho was able to reach Magire, noting that such an indecisive nature will never win anyone over. Accepting his poor methods of trying to make Sumire like him, the spectre was rejected from Magire. As Magire began to apologize for his actions he fainted, resulting from severe chakra drain caused from his possession. The group then quickly take him to the hospital.

Later, after returning from a night session of training, Sarada bumped into Boruto. As the two discussed how the famed movie star Kagemasa's career was brought into question, Boruto suddenly turned his attention on a mysterious stranger. He noticed the person had the a dark aura about him and decided to investigate. Sarada soon followed, saving Boruto from the stranger's attack. She was shocked to see that that it was Kagemasa, and even more surprised that the celebrity had become very fat. Frustrated on the fact that his movie series was going to be cancelled because of his increased weight and poor dieting, Kagemasa continued his assault on the students. As Boruto explained the situation, while she didn't fully believe the story, she did trust that Boruto wasn't lying. Following Boruto's plan, Sarada launched a shuriken assault on Kagemasa. Knowing that the movie star would dodge, Boruto disguised himself as one of the shuriken, letting him get close enough to knock out Kagemasa, purging the spectre.

Later, the class was assigned by Shino to split into groups of three and each tail a different workplace for a few days to better understand non-shinobi life. Chocho convinced Sarada to check out both the nail salon and the pastry factory. When learning that some of her friends were in an accident and sent to the hospital, Sarada went to check on them. After being relieved that they would be fine, Sarada decided to leave, dragging the loud Boruto out before he disturbed the patients.

Sarada is seen after running an obstacle course in groups of three. However Shino fails all students, because the few who complete the course did so by leaving their teammates behind. Konohamaru and Moegi tell the students they'll occasionally drop by for the purposes of seeing who fight be under their command, and encourage them to see which formations work better.

Several weeks later, Shino decided to change up the three-man teams of his class for an exercise to determine which pairing would prove optimum upon graduation. During the challenge between teams, Shino was called aside to discuss the still-absent Sumire. Shino left Sarada in charge of writing down the results of the matches. As everyone discussed the rumor that Sumire was being transferred to a new school, they were delighted to learn Sumire had indeed returned to their class.

Shino teaches the students how to walk on water, even stirring the water to simulate river and ocean currents. Later, Sarada walks home with groceries and spots Boruto, Inijin, Sikadi, and Denki jumping off a train. They invite her to go with them teach Denki fishing. She declines, having to prepare dinner, and chides them for riding the top of the train. At home, Sarada prepares soup as Sakura arrives. The following day, Sarada hands Sakura her vacation trip schedule as she finishes packing. Sakura asks if Sarada wants her to bring anything, but Sarada tells her not to waste her money. Sakura notices a teddy bear that was supposed to have been picked up for one of her patients is still there. As she has no time to deliver it, Sarada offers to take it. At the train, Sarada gets distracted reading a note from her mother, and forgets the teddy bear on the train when she gets off. Though she is desperate to catch the train, Sarada is mortified at the thought of jumping across the roofs like Boruto. Shizune spots her, the two exchange words, and Sarada leaves. Meanwhile, the boys are unsuccessful catching any fish, and Boruto resolves to find a better fishing spot. Sarada rushes to the next station, but has to help an old lady buy her ticket and misses it. Sarada jumps on top of the train before it gets away, and is surprised to see she enjoys it. Shikadai spots her for a moment, and she hides. Curious, Shikadai informs the others of what he thinks he saw. Sarada hides from the boys, but they find her footprints. Sarada narrowly avoids them and jumps off the train. sees her, and Sarada begs her not to tell anyone. Chōchō takes her to the lost and found, where she collects a package, but they discover it's not the same package, despite similar wrappings, and that the other package has already been claimed. Chōchō takes her to a marketplace where they sell products from other villages, and has a shopkeeper identify the doll they have as a Takigakure doll, which they send down the river in a ceremony for their ancestors. As payment, Chōchō gives up rare flavoured chips from her personal stash. As part of their trip, takes Sakura to where she had her first date with Sasuke. Chōchō and Sarada arrive at where the ceremony takes place, but her package was already put in the river. They return the package they collected, and Sarada shakily walks on the river to retrieve hers. The boys arrive to try fishing in the river, distracting Sarada, who tosses the package to Chōchō before falling into the river. She emerges where the boys are fishing, and claims to have gone for a swim, intimidating them. Sarada delivers the teddy bear and goes out to eat with Chōchō. When Sakura gets home, Sarada offers her soup, but having learned from her misadventure, tells her mother that she deviated from her usual recipe.

Sarada Uchiha Arc

As their graduation from the Academy approaches, Sarada's classmates all train with their fathers to help them prepare for their final exams. Sarada becomes jealous of the time everyone else is having with their fathers and returns home to ask Sakura about her own father, Sasuke. When Sakura struggles to answer a question as simple as if Sasuke used to wear glasses like Sarada does, Sarada asks if Sakura and Sasuke are even married. Sakura destroys their house in a fit of frustration, and then faints when she realises what she's done. After leaving Sakura with Shizune, Sarada goes through the rubble of their home to look for sentimental belongings. While doing so, she discovers that what she thought was a picture of her parents together is actually two separate pictures; in Sasuke's, he is standing next to a woman with similar glasses to Sarada's.

Sarada and Chocho depart.

Suspicious about Karin, Sarada asks Shizune about the details of her birth; who was present and when and where. Shizune isn't able to answer her questions, so she seeks out her friend and classmate, Chocho Akimichi, for comfort. Chōchō shares her own suspicions that Karui and Choji aren't her real mother and father and that she wants to go looking for her actual parents. Sarada finds Chōchō's suspicions unsubstantiated, but this nevertheless gives her the idea to go looking for Sasuke in order to ask him her lingering questions directly. She goes to see Naruto, the Seventh Hokage, but outside his office overhears that he is planning to meet with Sasuke anyway. She starts following Naruto as he prepares to leave the village, with Chōchō accompanying her, believing that they are searching for her parents and not Sarada's. As they're about to follow Naruto out of Konoha, Sarada notices Boruto arriving late to deliver a lunch to his father. Sarada offers to deliver it for him, what will be her excuse for following Naruto.

Sarada meets Sasuke.

As she and Chōchō hurry to catch up with Naruto, they are confronted by a boy with Sharingan named Shin Uchiha. Sarada is surprised by him, having been told there were no other Uchiha, and so refuses Shin's request to go with him. He attacks them. Although Sarada and Chōchō do a good job of defending themselves, Naruto intervenes, having sensed that they were following him. Naruto easily blocks all of Shin's attacks, forcing him to retreat. Although he would prefer to send Sarada and Chōchō back to Konoha, Naruto decides it would be safer for them to come with him. As Naruto eats the lunch from Boruto, he asks Sarada if she's looking forward to seeing Sasuke. She confesses that she has no memories of him and asks Naruto to tell her about him. He complies, explaining that, although she looks a lot like Sasuke, Sarada's personality is more similar to Sakura's. Sarada is happy to hear this and, when they near the rendezvous point with Sasuke, Sarada runs ahead to meet him; her desire to see him is so strong that it awakens her Sharingan. When Sasuke sees her, however, he assumes she is one of Shin's cohorts and uses his sword to threaten her for information.

Sasuke realises his mistake when Sarada calls him "papa", at which point he turns on Naruto, reprimanding him for bringing her. Sarada defends Naruto, saying that she came without his permission because she wanted to ask Sasuke if Sakura is really her mother. Sasuke ignores her question and refuses to tell why he's been absent from her life for so long. Sarada cries at his indifference and storms out. Naruto follows and tries to comfort her, but they are interrupted by another attack by Shin and his father, who is also named Shin Uchiha . Naruto defends Sarada while Sasuke attacks Shin, but Naruto is quickly incapacitated after being stabbed by a sword and Sasuke is forced to protect Sarada with his own body. Before Shin's father can finish them as he intends to, Sakura appears and badly injures him with her punch. Shin escapes with his son using a creature and takes Sakura with him. Unable to go after him, Naruto and Sasuke take Sarada and Chōchō to Orochimaru's hideout to see if he knows anything about Shin and his location.

Sarada comes under the belief that Karin is her mother.

While Orochimaru explains that Shin is one of his experiments now run amuck and that his "sons" are actually his clones, Sarada pulls Suigetsu Hozuki aside, whom she recognises from the picture of Team Taka. She shares her belief that Karin is her mother, which Suigetsu is unable to confirm or deny. They go through Karin's belongings and finds Sarada and Sakura's umbilical cord that Suigetsu believes is from when Karin was born. They compare its DNA with Sarada's and find there's a match, which initially seems to prove that Karin is Sarada's mother. Suigetsu becomes uncomfortable and leaves; Naruto, who was eavesdropping, enters after him to remind Sarada that they need to rescue Sakura. Sarada refuses, stating that she owes nothing to Sakura if she isn't truly her mother, especially if she's been lying to Sarada about it her whole life.

Sarada accuses Naruto of being part of the conspiracy to lie to her. Naruto doesn't actually know what the truth is, but he objects to what she says about family. He, as Hokage, regards every villager of Konoha, even though they have no genetic ties, as part of his family and he wants to protect them. In the same way, even if Sarada and Sakura had not been related by blood, they would have been family because of their history together and their feelings for each other. Sarada is reminded of all the times in her life that Sakura was there for her and how she always tried to make Sarada happy. Sarada cries at this reminder that she and Sakura love each other and decides she wants to help save her. They reunite with Sasuke, who transports them and Chōchō to the dimension where Shin has taken Sakura.

When they arrive at Shin's lair, they find Sakura already in combat with Shin. After being protected by her husband who crashed Shin with his Susanoo, Sakura regroups with them. Sarada is happily looking at her parents as Sasuke tries to help his wife up, realising that Sasuke does care for Sakura. Shin is mortally stabbed by several of his clones. He attempts to escape using a Sharingan Spying Creature, but Sarada crushes the creature before it can take him away and Shin dies from his injuries. Shin's clones then start attacking, several dozen of which Sarada defeats at once with , which surprises everyone except for Sasuke, who smirks proudly at his daughter. Naruto the clones into surrendering, giving Sarada a chance to talk to her parents. Sakura hugs Sarada, reassuring her that she truly is her real mother, and Sarada apologises for doubting her and tells her that everything that matters is that their feelings are connected. Sarada next expresses concern for Sasuke's relationship with Sakura due to his long absences, but he explains that she, as their daughter, is proof enough of their strong connection. Sarada cries of happiness after hearing this.

Sarada's family portrait.

Sasuke spends some time with Sarada and Sakura in Konoha, even posing for their first family photo. After some time, Sasuke was about to leave again and hugged his daughter as she sadly asked him when he will come back. Sasuke tells Sarada to not make such a face and pokes her on the forehead, promising to come home soon, which makes her very happy. Sakura gives him a bagged lunch and hopes for a kiss in return, but he leaves without further comment, only smirking in amusement as he walks away. Later, in class at the Academy, Boruto thanks Sarada for delivering lunch to his father. Sarada insists that she should thank him instead, as it's because of delivering that lunch to Naruto that she's decided her dream in life is to become Hokage.

Versus Momoshiki Arc

Sarada participating in the Chunin Exams.