The irony is hilarious.. everything people accuse sakura of actually applies to hinata.
hinata’s entire character revolved around naruto. Most of her screentime, thoughts, motivations, and development centered around wanting naruto’s acknowledgment. Even during major tragedies and devastating family situations, naruto was still her main focus.
Her brother died right in front of her, yet her focus drifts to naruto’s big hand. Her own sister gets kidnapped and tortured, and her mind is still focusing on naruto. In the middle of a world war, her biggest resolve is still ‘I want to stay beside naruto kun forever’ but not about changing her clan, not about protecting the people, not about the victory, but only naruto.
During the pain arc, hinata was the only member of the konoha 11 who didn't protect the villagers. Instead, she was protected by her bodyguard the entire time. She only did something when it came to naruto.
Hinata is kind and gentle, but that doesn’t make her good enough as a character. She was secretly happy when naruto defeated kiba because her bias toward naruto always came first. And let’s not pretend she was some revolutionary hero fighting the hyuga system either, because canon never showed that. She was literally the clan heiress and still did absolutely nothing meaningful to change the slavery system inside her own clan.
Because neji still died as a slave, his final words make it clear that his freedom only came when his life is taken. Even naruto told neji that he is the one who gonna change the hyuga, not hinata. NEJI.
That alone proves the hyuga system was never truly challenged onscreen, and hinata never fought hard enough against it despite having privilege and status within the clan.
Meanwhile sakura actually had goals outside romance. She wanted to become stronger, stop being a burden, protect her teammates, and help people through medical ninjutsu. Her development wasn’t centered around sasuke. She trained under tsunade, became one of the greatest medical ninjas in the world, saved countless lives during the war, protected konoha multiple times, and later opened mental health clinics and hospitals. She actually contributed to the world around her beyond romance.
And the ‘sakura only loved sasuke for looks’ argument completely falls apart the second you pay attention to the story. Yes, it started as a childhood crush. But sakura’s feelings evolved after spending years with sasuke in team 7. She saw his loneliness, trauma, survivor’s guilt, and self destructive mindset firsthand. She understood the darkness he carried and wanted to save him from it.
And if sakura truly only cared about sasuke’s looks, she would’ve moved on the second he became a rogue ninja, criminal, and emotionally unavailable for years. She also would’ve instantly fallen for sai since kishimoto literally introduced sai as someone visually similar to sasuke. But she didn’t because her feelings for sasuke were never just about appearance.
So let’s be real. The sakura hate is pure hypocrisy, fueled by a double standard from people who can't handle a flawed, independent woman and would rather have a heroine who just stays quiet, shy, and treats the male character gently.