Sasuke tried to kill Sakura in the Land of Iron, and I can see why this is a relationship deal-breaker to many fans who despise SasuSaku. Although I am very puzzled why Naruto gets a free pass for, "well, Sasuke tried to kill Naruto, but it's okay since they are best friends and soul brothers", but those same fans turn around and ridicule Sakura as ridiculous for continuing to love Sasuke after he tried to kill her, even though, you know, there's a lot of people in the series who kept loving someone who tried to kill them. Fans also mock Sakura's feelings for Sasuke but then ship Karin with Sasuke, even though Sasuke likewise wasn't going to hesitate to murder Karin. But for some reason, for fans it's only a problem when Sakura does it. Never mind that Naruto, Itachi, Kankuro, and Kakashi all felt love for someone who tried to kill them – it's good and well when everyone else forgives people trying to kill them, but it's bad when Sakura does it.

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I'm not sure how that makes sense in people's minds, because to me such a double standard doesn't make any sense at all. Trying to kill someone is trying to kill someone. Sasuke trying to kill Naruto was just as bad as Sasuke trying to kill Sakura. Scratch that. Sasuke trying to kill Naruto was worse because Sasuke never showed an active desire to go out of his way to kill Sakura, whereas he openly displayed a desire to kill Naruto. Yep. Great friendship behavior at its finest, apparently according to many fans, so long as Naruto (and not Sakura) is the victim of Sasuke's murder attempts. Personally this "killing is caring" philosophy that fans have when it comes to Naruto and Sasuke is bizarre. It was horrible when Sasuke tried to kill Naruto and Sakura; attempting to kill someone who is innocent is not a sign of true friendship.

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If fans think Sakura can't love Sasuke, then they must hold Naruto and Karin and Itachi to the same standard, otherwise they are using double standards and being unfairly biased. Similarly, if you're going with the "Sasuke can't love Sakura because he once tried to kill her", you have to assume that Sasuke can't love Naruto or Itachi either.

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The only times when Sasuke actively tried to kill Sakura was in self-defense. The weird thing is that when it comes to the couple I always hear people complain about how Sasuke was going to kill Sakura, but not a soul complains about how Sakura intended to kill Sasuke. Fans only complain about Sasuke attempting to kill Sakura, even though ironically it was Sakura who came seeking Sasuke to kill him, not the reverse. Are we really going to ignore how Sakura was aiming a poisoned dagger at Sasuke's back with the intention to stab him? If someone tries to kill you, any rational person would react and try to kill/hurt them first, which is exactly what Sasuke did. Sasuke trying to prevent Sakura from killing him by killing her first is the behavior you'd expect from someone who knows their life is in immediate danger and wants to protect themselves by neutralizing the immediate threat.

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I will acknowledge the difference between Sasuke and Sakura: Sakura couldn't bring herself to ever kill Sasuke because she loved him too much to hurt him, even when she knew that he needed to be exterminated if he continued on his current criminal path. Meanwhile Sasuke didn't have any such reservations. Sasuke is crueler and more ruthless than Sakura, and Sakura doesn't have the severe trust issues Sasuke has. Sasuke has spent a life of being lied to, manipulated, used, and he's experienced betrayal of the worst form. Sakura doesn't have these trust issues, so she makes the foolish error of trusting Sasuke too much when she makes the juvenile mistake of turning her back on him.

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Sakura isn't accustomed to hurting people she considers her friends and allies, even if only former ones. She has the heart of a healer – she couldn't even bring herself to hurt Obito, who she barely knew and who she knew had formerly been a criminal of the worst caliber prior to their alliance. It's Sakura's nature to heal, not destroy, and it's difficult for her to betray that nature, especially when it comes to the man who she loves most.

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On the other hand, Sasuke has the heart of a warrior. He'd grown up in a harsh environment and been exposed to more cruelties than Sakura had, so Sasuke had no such reservations like Sakura had. When he tried to kill Sakura, he was already on edge, furious (hidden behind an eerily calm exterior), and suspicious; the obvious murderous intent of a former close friend only made his messy mental state worse. Sasuke wasn't in his best mental state at the time – in fact that was the worst mental state he was in for the entire series. He only starts to get a hold of himself again when Naruto shows up. Several details point out how far Sasuke has slipped during the Land of Iron arc, indicating that Sasuke is struggling to hold his sanity together in the wake of learning the cruel truth about his clan and about his brother. He isn't able to cope with the new information he now knows about his clan's and brother's suffering, and it's made him unpredictable and dangerous. He resorts to doing things he wouldn't normally do, like killing a downed and defenseless Karin. We hadn't seen Sasuke attack a defenseless opponent unable to fight back before and we hadn't seen Sasuke try to kill anyone other than those who intentionally got in his way. Previously, he was determined to defend his teammates. Team Taka even sparked feelings similar to those he had once harbored for Team 7 as we see during the Killer Bee fight. But the Land of Iron arc shows that all that has gone, and the Sasuke we see during the bridge confrontation in the Land of Iron is unhinged, unstable, and not his usual self.

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When Sakura encounters Sasuke at the Bridge in the Land of Iron, Sasuke immediately gets distracted by her arrival. Sakura totally shifts Sasuke's focus away from what he is doing (thus he loses interest in killing Karin) and on Sakura instead. Sasuke even has his Chidori activated, but rather than use it to get the task of eliminating Karin over with, he is so distracted by Sakura that he defuses his Chidori instead without using it. Evidently Sakura interests him much more so than Karin.

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Compare this reunion scene to Bonds, where Naruto and Sasuke encounter each other, yet Sasuke doesn't allow his encounter with Naruto to sidetrack or deviate him from the mission at hand. Even when Naruto chases after Sasuke and calls his name, Sasuke still ignores him. Yet at the Land of Iron, all Sakura has to do is call Sasuke's name once and then she immediately has Sasuke's full attention.

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When Sakura cries out to Sasuke, he stops and fixates on a conversation with Sakura instead, forgetting Karin lying haplessly at his feet. But later, when Karin and Kakashi both shout out for Sasuke to stop before he kills Sakura, noticeably Sasuke pays them no heed or interest. Evidently Karin and Kakashi mean less than nothing to him, but Sakura? For Sakura, Sasuke will hesitate or get distracted. Throughout the series, Sakura has a way of capturing and captivating Sasuke's attention in ways that no other character apart from Naruto, Itachi, and Sarada can do.

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A common misconception about this scene is that Sasuke didn't know that Sakura was there to kill him. So I must clarify: Sasuke immediately saw right through Sakura's lie that Sakura would abandon Konoha to join him.

 

As ludicrous as it sounds, I have actually seen fans say that Sakura truly intended to join Sasuke in the Land of Iron arc. I am utterly baffled by how fans could possibly misinterpret her intentions so incorrectly. It was glaringly obvious that Sakura was there to kill him, and it was equally obvious that Sasuke knew she was there to kill him.

 

Yet I've seen fans comment things such as "there's no way Sasuke could have known that Sakura was there to kill him".

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Um, yes, Sasuke totally knew that Sakura was there to kill him, and the story couldn't have made it more obvious that he knew that. Sasuke wasn't fooled by Sakura's terrible acting, not for a second. Sasuke has severe trust issues and is distrustful and suspicious by nature. Of course he's suspicious, especially when Sakura is acting so uncharacteristically.

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It was explained thoroughly before and after (and it was painfully obvious during) Sasuke and Sakura's Land of Iron encounter that Sakura was there to kill Sasuke, not join him. Sakura's acting was downright terrible and I'm genuinely surprised that any fans were fooled by Sakura's bad acting, considering how transparent it was. Sakura was visibly horrified with how terrible of a person Sasuke had become, and she even said she intended to poison him with her dagger.

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Sasuke is a sharp, smart person. More than that, he knew Sakura and the heart of her character, and that she's too kind and caring to destroy Konoha. He knew she could never be persuaded to aid him in destroying Konoha, not even for his sake.

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Sasuke knew that Sakura was there for a reason, and he knew it wouldn't be to join him, especially not after he declared his true intentions to destroy Konoha. When Sakura still persisted on putting up the charade of pretending that she would join him anyway, he didn't buy it for a moment. I mean why do you think he questioned Sakura so many times, asking her:

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"What's in it for you to join me? Just what are you plotting?"

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"You think you could really do that? Betray the Hidden Leaf Village for me?"

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"What's the matter, Sakura? You can't do it?"

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Those lines make it clear that Sasuke is highly suspicious and distrustful of Sakura and I cannot see how fans could interpret them any other way, other than to show that Sasuke was altogether unconvinced by Sakura's alleged resolve to join him. He is super skeptical as he wondered about her true motives. Sasuke suspiciously questions her, asking specifically if she could really turn her back on Konoha for his sake - because he already knows she can't.

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But to give Sakura the benefit of a doubt, Sasuke allows her to prove herself to him anyway. Firstly, Sasuke questions her resolve by revealing his intentions to destroy Konoha. It's a test that he already knows she'll fail. Sasuke knows that in response to his question, either (1) she'll declare that she'll never turn on Konoha and Sasuke will know she is being honest, or (2) she'll say that she'll do anything for him and Sasuke will know she is lying. Sasuke already dismissed Sakura as an ally in his plan for revenge, which was why he deserted Konoha in the first place in Part I. He knew her true nature: she was too kind and caring and gentle and good to murder the innocents of Konoha. He knows Sakura will never help him in something so evil and depraved as massacring innocents.

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So as a test, Sasuke asks Sakura to prove her loyalty. If she is truly willing to follow him no matter the cost and can take orders from him, she can prove it by killing Karin on his command. Sakura hesitates, and Sasuke doesn't miss her hesitation, mockingly calling out, "What's the matter, Sakura? You can't do it?" His line at this point shows that he sees right through her; he's not fooled by her act for a minute, and after seeing her hesitation, he sees through her resolve and her true purpose in coming here to him, so he decides to kill her before she kills him.

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On top of that, Sakura's acting is terrible and not at all convincing. Fans must think Sasuke is very dumb and ultra gullible if they actually believe he bought her flimsy act. Sakura is visibly horrified by Sasuke's declaration of his intent to destroy Konoha, and Sasuke never drops his guard around her for a minute. Instead he watches her with his piercing, hawklike gaze, carefully watching every move she makes. Sasuke understands her nature and character too well to be fooled that she would do something so uncharacteristic as join him in achieving vengeance. She had always tried to stop or prevent him from pursuing vengeance previously, and Sasuke knew she wasn't going to stop now, especially when he'd announced that he intended to destroy her homeland, which Sasuke knew she was attached to, no matter what lies she might tell to convince him otherwise. Sasuke tried to kill Sakura because he knew Sakura was there to kill him; he was acting out of interest of self-preservation.

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Even if you ignore all the instances showing Sasuke's knowledge of Sakura's intentions on the first time he attempted to kill her, during the second time he tried to kill Sakura it is indisputably clear that Sasuke saw Sakura pointing a dagger at his back and reacted to the immediate danger by trying to neutralize the lethal threat. "But she was hesitating to kill him", some fans might argue. Yes, Sakura did hesitate once again to plunge the dagger into his back, but Sasuke wouldn't know that. Sasuke was going blind and Sakura had managed to sneak up on him. One wouldn't be able to easily sneak up on the powerful Sasuke Uchiha, so it's not surprising that he acted out in alarm when he regained enough vision to see her there and saw in a panicked flurry that he'd allowed an enemy to get too close to him. He didn't see her hesitation, only the dagger she was aiming at his back.