#Kishimoto really said I'm gonna create a female character that's gonna generate so much tension in the team

[team7-headquarter]

The fact that it is a trope in Naruto that Kakashi saves Sakura before Sasuke can or when Sasuke is in a position to do so himself is so unhinged.

What was Kishimoto trying to do there?

The first time it happens (just outside of Konoha while traveling to the Land of the Waves), Sasuke very clearly thinks Kakashi is showing off. It's one of those funny moments where you can see how both Sasuke and Kakashi like being dramatic.

From that point, the story somehow establishes that it's Kakashi's job to protect Sakura as Sasuke and Naruto fight. At least Sasuke thinks that's the case...

It happens during the fight with Haku. I know that Sakura screams and Sasuke immediately wonders what Kakashi is doing when Sakura is in danger. I don't think he'd wonder the same if it was Naruto out there, since he'd probably criticize Naruto and not Kakashi for Naruto's own safety.

When Kakashi saves Sakura from both the chidori and the rasengan, they don't mention it at all, like it was natural for Kakashi to be there and for him to save / protect Sakura. At the time, Naruto was panicking because he couldn't stop, in the sense that he knew he didn't have the skill to do so, but Sasuke was more shocked that it was Sakura he'd hit. Once Sakura was safe and the thing was over, Sasuke went immediately back to thinking about how he was weak compared to Naruto.

He wasn't worried about Sakura not because he didn't care, but because that moment reassured him about Kakashi being there to protect her.

(It's worth mentioning Sasuke was upset over Naruto being the one who rescued her from Gaara because Sasuke was too used to having the role of second protector of the team, since it signaled he was the second strongest around).

Then, in Shippuden? Sasuke doesn't see Sakura as a real threat. He did mean to kill her during the Land of Iron, but the narrative again placed both Kakashi and Naruto there to protect her life. As soon as Kakashi and Naruto appeared, Sasuke forgot about her.

That encounter was the farthest Team 7 had been from the old days and the roles they had at those moments. Teamwork was absolutely gone.

During the Fourth Shinobi War, things went back a bit to what they were. Sasuke and Naruto tried to protect Sakura by telling her to stand behind or step back, except Sakura refused to be protected. They worked seamlessly for a few minutes, until it all went to hell and Kaguya appeared.

Kakashi spent almost the entire battle protecting Sakura. Understandable, since the first thing she did was run to get impaled like she didn't care at all about her own life. (Kakashi was scared shitless that something would happen to her).

TWO TIMES during the Kaguya fight Sakura was in danger and Naruto pointed out (commanded, really) that Sasuke could help her and Sasuke did move to do so, he did face her to act, before his mind could process what he was doing. In both cases, Kakashi was faster and had her safe and sound before Sasuke could even reconsider.

First in the lava world, where Kakashi had Sakura and Obito already secured, so Sasuke moved to protect Naruto. Second when Obito gave both his eyes to Kakashi and he decided to go all Susanno to pull Sakura out of danger, to Sasuke's surprise.

Time to mention that the narrative of the manga makes explicit the petty rivalry between Kakashi and Sasuke. Sasuke does hate him for having the sharingan, you know, and Kakashi would not stop when recriminating how Sasuke decided to use the things he taught him, like the chidori, to hurt his comrades.

Anyway, Naruto decides to use that moment to tell Sasuke that Kakashi's susanno was cooler and talk about how the Copy Nin was amazing and all of that. If I had to guess, Naruto was more than a bit irritated because Sasuke was rude to Kakashi and Sakura and called them useless. It is a good guess if I'm allowed to say so, since Naruto also made a point of telling Sasuke to thanks Sakura for helping Obito bring him back from another dimension.— After all, Naruto did also complain about Sasuke being the leader, since he thought Sakura and Kakashi were better at making plans.

It kinda reached its limits when Sasuke put her under a genjutsu (of getting hit with a chidori to the chest, of all things) and Kakashi lost his cool. He was so visibly frustrated with Sasuke and the feeling was mutual.

It was call back to sooo many moments between Sakura and Sasuke:

When Sakura cried and calmmed the cursed mark back at the Forest of Death, when Sakura tried to prevent Sasuke from competing with the cursed mark during the Chuning Exams preliminaries and Sasuke told her to shut up, or when she tried to stop him from leaving Konoha to find Orochimaru and Sasuke knocked her out. It was an echo of the way Sasuke did almost hit her with a chidori back when they were kids without meaning to and then years later when he did mean to kill her; it was the memory all the times she worried about him and rushed to put herself in danger for his wellbeing when he didn't want her to.

When Sasuke left to fight Naruto, Kakashi was the one who stayed with her. When Sasuke left on his journey for atonement, Kakashi was there to tell him to behave, but also he was there next to the girl he had been protecting for years now. I don't know what all of that was supposed to mean...

I guess that Sakura played a part in Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry as much as she played a part in Kakashi and Sasuke's animosity.