I used to dislike Sakura but my point of view was tainted, I now look at her in the proper light. She is nothing more than a little mortal girl who happens to live and play on Mount Olympus. Sakura has been thrust into situations that will only leave her looking negative, because she simply can't measure up. That aside though she isn't completely absolved of guilt, because she does have some faults.
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Selfishness:
In Part 1 right at the beginning you see her obsessed with Sasuke, yet she then comments about Naruto's lack of parents. Showing she cared so little about Sasuke's own life, she was oblivious to his situation or didn't care about it.
As part 1 progresses, she tries to force intimacy into her relationship with Sasuke by doting on him while he is unconscious. When the curse mark is introduced into the situation, you see Sakura view the information of it's existence as some special connection between her and Sasuke. Not telling Kakashi or Naruto to ensure that privileged connection, and to once again try and establish a deeper relationship. She feared the curse mark not because of what it meant in terms of Sasuke's darkness, but because it was a harbinger capable of creating distance between her and Sasuke. Then when he leaves, you see she tells no one capable of actually stopping him beforehand and goes herself to confront him. Why because she once again was trying to establish some deep connection going alone to make her confession of love.
In this confession she acts like she has knowledge on his situation and talks about him avoiding loneliness, but you can see it's a front as it gets around to her saying if he leaves she'll be alone. Sakura then makes the offer of going with Sasuke, showing she doesn't care what he does as long she is happy and with him. Meanwhile the entirety of the time she is also with a teammate in Naruto, who was noticeably ostracized from the whole village. This sits fine with her obviously though as she never looks into that situation, but still feels okay asking things of him.
When Part 2 roles around we're led to believe she has developed actual love for Sasuke, I guess adhering to the old adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder". That is erroneous however because nothing changed, and her actions proved just that. To make it short and sweet as I am boring myself now, Sakura finds out Sasuke attacked the Raikage's brother and after talks with Sai and the rest of the idiots she decides she will kill Sasuke. Now this leads to her dumb confession and the betrayal of her own team to go kill Sasuke herself. This is supposed to be viewed as some selfless act, but in actuality it is the paragon of her selfishness.
The real reason she wanted to kill Sasuke is because after being declared an international criminal she viewed their future together as an impossibility. So since she couldn't be with him due to his criminal status, the next logical step is obviously to kill him herself. That way she doesn't have to think about him out there experiencing life with no chance of returning to her, and she will finally have a connection with him, being his killer. This act is also somehow viewed as her freeing Naruto of some burden, once again showing she only thinks of herself. She never considered that maybe just maybe he wanted to save Sasuke for his own reasons, not just to bring him back to her.
After foolishly trying to kill Sasuke once she fails, then apparently also trying to free Kakashi from the burden she attempts again. The need to be the one to kill is Sasuke still there, none the less she fails once more. Then Naruto saves her life, talks with Sasuke, restores her hope that his will is destiny, and she draws from this that she will just have to trust them. Showing now that she believes Naruto has the ability to bring Sasuke back and or die with him, it's okay to attribute human qualities to Sasuke again. Sakura likes to humanize and dehumanize Sasuke's image in her mind to fit whatever emotional whim she's undertaking. A tactic used by selfish people to void the need of ever truly accepting someone as they are.
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Arrogance:
In the academy Sakura scored very well, and was the most book smart student there. Not the natural genius Sasuke was, she still excelled in many areas and because of it had an ego. Often in part 1 she enjoyed displaying skill or knowledge in an area some member of her team lacked in, her arrogance though never became an issue until part 2.
This was due to her training with Tsunade, bestowing upon her a new level of confidence. Facilitated by Naruto's bond with Tsunade, Sakura was able to learn directly from Tsunade improving her non existent abilities. From this we saw Sakura start to talk down to enemies, make boastful claims, and also try to take a power position in the village as Tsunade's student. None of this started any problems though, a lot of her detractors reference comments made during the actual war. Sakura stated she had finally caught up to Naruto and Sasuke, now why this upset people I will never know. The arrogance in that statement was so ridiculous it was comical, it also goes to show she is always thinking of herself compared to others.
Come war time it is revealed both Sakura and Ino still love Sasuke, oh and Karin does too. It's obvious a component of their love for Sasuke is fueled by their rivalry, viewing him as a trophy to some degree. Neither Ino nor Sakura truly have a connection with Sasuke, they are just fueled by teenage lust. However due to the isolation the Shinobi world causes, a little crush tends to become an incredibly irrational one. As a result we have seen Sakura shoot down the more comical attempts at romance from Naruto, Rock Lee, and the serious one from the fodder ninja with the love letter. I'm sure that also plays a factor in part of the fandom disliking her, I guess her rejections are interpreted as her viewing Sasuke as the only one worthy. Again I could care less, but it seems to rile some people up.
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Selfishness and arrogance I feel are her two polarizing qualities that get people upset, as well overestimation of her own combat abilities. Sakura really is harmless though, she's just stupid and naive. In the personality department she is Obito light, her obsession with Sasuke mirrors his with Rin, but in the end Sakura's is surface level. From an ability standpoint she is Tsunade light, she has a lot of her master's medical prowess, but her actual combat efficiency is non existent.
Sakura has a past, just not one anyone cares about. The problem people run into is viewing her as a main character and getting upset when she falls short of that billing. What needs to be accepted is that sometimes a writer intends for something to go a certain way, and occasionally it just doesn't work out. Sakura is nothing to the story in the grand scheme of things, she just happened to be teamed up with two people whose abilities and destiny will always make her look bad.
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I am waaaaay tired right now, but now I will never feel the need to comment on this subject again, burden lifted.
