Naruto had a crush on Sakura, but she only loved Sasuke. Naruto accepted Sakura's feelings and focused on becoming stronger. Sakura lied to Naruto about loving him to distract him from chasing Sasuke.

The reason Sakura is considered by many within the Naruto fandom to be a “useless” character is a fault on Kishimoto’s part for his terrible track record for writing women.

Summary Sakura may not have surpassed Tsunade during the Fourth Shinobi War, frustrating many fans. Kishimoto could have enhanced Sakura's character development further in Naruto series.