Sakura and Hinata are two of the most coveted female characters in Naruto Shippuden and took the hearts of many young fans across the globe. They are both kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf Village also known as Konoha.
Kunoichi are female shinobi. Lots of female fans love the gender equality in Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto Shippuden as the female ninjas often have similar respect and power in the village.
For example, Tsunade is one of the most powerful kunoichi in the world and the Hidden Leaf Village, she is part of the Sanin who are the three most powerful ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village and was also the Fifth Hokage.
Both Sakura and Hinata have shoes to fill when it comes to being the best kunoichi, although they both have different skills and talents. So this begs the question, who is the better ninja? Read on to find out.
Who Is Sakura?
Sakura Haruno is a main character in Naruto Shippuden. She joins the Ninja academy at the same time as fellow shinobi Sasuke and Naruto who form the Team 7 under Kakashi.
Sakura initially struggles as she joins the ninja academy due to her insecure and shy personality, but after encouragement from Naruto and Sasuke she gets better.
Sakura is really intelligent but avoids the physical trials while enrolled in the Ninja academy. In the first act of the series Naruto Shippuden most of Sakura’s ninja abilities are overlooked by her passionate feelings towards Sasuke whom she loves.
Sakura quickly realises that she cannot rely only on her book smarts in her life as a kunoichi. She soon learns that if she wants to protect herself and her fellow shinobi, rather than relying on Sasuke and Naruto, she has to learn the true ways of the ninja.
Sakura dedicates three years of her life to make herself as capable as Sauke and Naruto under the training of Sannin, and Hokage, Tsunade, who trains Sakura in the arts of medical ninjutsu.
She begins to grow with the same speed as Sasuke and Naruto, although her overly protective and emotional nature sometimes gets the best of her – she must overcome her own trials in order to become a true ninja.
As Sakura lacks much combat skill she focuses on the art of medical ninjutsu like her master Tsunade. After training with Tsunade for three years she became a very capable kunoichi.
During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade and Sakura form a partnership that is super important in the eventual victory of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Once Tsunade chooses to retire from her life as a kunoichi, Sakura potentially becomes the most powerful medical ninjutsu practitioner and kunoichi in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Sakura eventually marries Sasuke once he returns to the Hidden Leaf Village, and they give birth to a daughter named Sarada.
Who Is Hinata?
Hinata Hyuga is another female character in the Naruto Shippuden series, and its wider world. She joins the Ninja academy at the same time as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, and joins Team 8 in the first act.
Hinata is part of the Hyuga clan, who are one of the most unique and powerful within the Hidden Leaf Village. Every member of the clan possesses the Byakugan which gives them extended fields of vision and to see through walls and across great distances, among other powers.
As Hinata is the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga, leader of its clan, she was in line to be heiress of the clan. However, as her suitability for the role came into question, and her sister displayed more natural talent Hinata had to prove her worthiness as heiress.
In the anime, but not mentioned in the original Manga, Hinata and her sister, Hanabi, are pitted against each other in a fight to decide who should be heiress.
Hinata refuses to hurt her sister, while her sister is willing to do anything to become heiress, and thus Hinata loses the fight quite clearly and is disinherited from the clan.
Hinata’s disinheritance is certainly the foundation of her shy and reserved character. Her personality naturally leads her away from violence and combat, but her Byakugan skills are unique and coveted.
Her tune soon changes from reservedness to determination as she wishes to protect and serve her team rather than burdening it. She also seeks to impress and gain the affection of Naruto Uzamaki which drives her improvement in skill a lot.
From the unique training she received from her clan, Hinata has an impressive control of chakra and by the second act she gains enough advanced control to match the power of a medical-nin and is used in performing group jutsu’s where her powerful chakra is super important.
Hinata and her cousin Neji, of the same clan, often combine powers to a devastating effect.
Hinata actually engages Pain during his assault in order to protect Naruto and fights him for a period, almost saving Naruto, before Pain inevitably overwhelms her and executes her in front of Naruto before she is saved later on by Sakura.
Upon marrying Naruto, she becomes a member of the Uzumaki clan. She and Naruto have children and Hinata retires from general kunoichi duties to raise her family. She successfully raises Boruto, Naruto’s son, while Naruto attends his duties as Hokage.
Who Is The More Powerful Kunoichi?
Well, this depends on how you define power. Sakura is by far the more successful kunoichi through her understudy of the Hokage and Sannin Tsunade. Hinata also has some special training from her clan, but never receives designated training in this way.
It could be argued that during the Chunin Exams Sakura and Hinata are around the same ability. They both have their own awakenings as they get older and see more of the world, and both find their own reasons to push harder.
Both kunoichi are equally dedicated to the protection of Konoha and its ninjas.
Sakura is potentially of worse ancestry, the Hyuga clan is definitely more powerful and of note than the Haruno clan.
Hinata had the chance to potentially be the leader of the Hyuga clan, which is one of the most powerful in the village due to its unique honing of chakra abilities.
Hinata is also a direct descendant of the celestial Otsutsuki clan allowing her special access to relics and environments that Sakura has no relation to.
Although, in spite of lacking the ancestral power that HInata inherited from her clan, Sakura definitely improves a lot more than Hinata and reaches heights that aren’t expected of her.
This is particularly because of her training under Sannin and Hokage Tsunade who trains Sakura extensively in the art of medical-ninjutsu which makes Sakura the most powerful medical-nin in the village after the Fourth Shinobi World War.
Both kunoichi had their own parts to play in the victory of the Fourth Shinobi World War.
While Hinata has much more natural power than Sakura, Sakura works a lot harder and trains a lot harder in order to make up for this.
It is Sakura’’s defiance and determination that makes her not only the best medical-nin in the village but also the Director of Konoha Children Mental Health Clinic and the Head of the Konoha Medical Department which are particularly notable achievements.
If we were to judge these two kunoichi based on their physical prowess and ability to fight, I feel that Sakura would win.
Even though both are equally against conflict in general, and wouldn’t likely fight, due to Hinata’s history with duels, I feel Sakura would win based on her determination.
Sakura does actually save Hinata’s life during the Fourth Shinobi World War, but this is after she duels with Pain, an extremely powerful ninja who Hinata does actually harm in some way.
In comparison, Sakura hasn’t fought anyone to the abilities of Pain, so maybe Hinata could potentially win in a fight.
Conclusion
Personally, I don’t feel Hinata or Sakura are better than each other, they both present their own unique and useful skills. Both were successful mothers while their husbands were bust with shinobi duties, which shouldn’t be forgotten.
Sakura arguably has the most success as a kunoichi through her skills as a medical-nin and after the Fourth Shinobi World War she is the most powerful medical-nin in the village and has assumed the role that Sannin Tsunade once held.
Hinata, on the other hand, possesses a huge amount of potential power through her Byakugan and relation to the Hyuga clan and Otsutsuki clan but her natural character also means that she doesn’t particularly use it in combat.
It can be said that Hinata has the most unique and powerful skills of the two ninjas but certainly doesn’t achieve as much as Sakura does even with these powers.
I find that Sakura has the most success as a kunoichi due to her own determination and training, whereas Hinata possesses the most natural power as a kunoichi. In any case, the two are friends and likely wouldn’t, and didn’t, fight in the series.
