You messed up when you said Naruto and Sasuke were nothing more than Rivals. Sakura was not the first to treat him as a friend.Because he's totally obsessed with her, like he is in love with her or something.
But really Sakura was a mother figure to Naruto , she treated him exactly as Kushina could, and she only hit him like a couple of times in the manga, most of the abuse was filler, and she only ever punched him to correct him.
Also Sakura may have been blunt about somethings, but she never said anything malicious towards Naruto, she was a young girl , and this immature boy was annoying her, wanting her to be his girlfriend
Sakura was more mature, and she really didn't see a future, Naruto wasn't talented, wasn't smart , and was a goof, idk why you guys act like you would've treat Naruto like a regular person, it's understandable that you would sympathize with Naruto because he is the main character, but Sakura is the only character who truely care for Naruto and treated him as she would anyone else.
It annoys me that you all say she was a ***** to him and he should've hated her, when Naruto intentionally got in between her and sasuke in part 1 when he knew her feelings, and then you bring up what Sakura said to sasuke when she was confusing to him after Naruto tricked her
She was absolutely correct, sasuke even said the same thing to Naruto during their first battle , Naruto have a twisted sense of right and wrong , Sakura did nothing but help shape him into a respectable young man, tough love needed sometimes
Also due to Naruto not ever having any family, it's understandable that he would confuse Sakura's care for him and friendship as something more, because no one was ever nice to Naruto
You can say hinata was here for him, but she was too shy to do anything , Sakura is the first on in the manga to treat Naruto as a friend, him and sasuke are nothing more than rivals
In part 1 Naruto vs sasuke, sasuke thought he killed Naruto , when he used Lees jutsu on him, and his eyes didn't change one bit, Sasuke knew that he would have to kill Sakura to gain power, but he couldn't ...
Iruka will forever hold that spot. Sakura was barely a friend, she was immature herself.