Sasuke & Sakura: An Analysis

When Sasuke meets up with his team at the start of the chunnin exams, merely the way Sakura says good morning is enough for Sasuke to realize that she's upset. From watching the anime, I myself couldn't tell that anything is wrong with Sakura or that she's emotionally upset from her morning greeting alone (I just happen to know she's feeling down because of the prior scenes from Sakura's perspective). Yet Sasuke knows her so well and is so finely attuned to her feelings that merely a morning greeting is enough for him to realize that she is upset and not her usual chipper self.

Rather than doing nothing about it, Sasuke tries to make her feel better a moment later when he points out her skill in identifying genjutsu, bringing praise and attention to her abilities in front of a small crowd. Even though he could have easily taken the credit and praise for himself, he smoothly deflected the attention off of himself and on to Sakura, who he knew needed it more. 

Sasuke's attempt to cheer Sakura up works perfectly, and Sakura realizes Sasuke's true intentions by praising her genjutsu know-how: it's not just about praise, he is attempting to cheer her up because he has observed she is upset. Sakura internally thanks Sasuke for his effort, recognizing his effort to cheer her up was not a coincidental accident but an intentional effort on his part. From the panel with Sasuke smiling and his eyes not being shown (shadowed eyes are anime's way of telling viewers that the characters are experiencing intense emotion), it makes it evident that it brings Sasuke great pleasure and happiness to cheer up his comrade.

Because of Sasuke's sensitivity and kind act, Sakura is able to regain her usual vivacious spirit and attain a boldness she hadn't had before; she became gung-ho about the chunnin exams, finding newfound confidence when before she had been feeling unsure and unworthy of being in the chunnin exams.

In comparison, despite being her other friend and teammate who'd she spent a lot of time with, Naruto was oblivious to the whole incident, being totally clueless about Sasuke's reason for trying to cheer her up (as indicated by the puzzled question mark above his head). Naruto didn't even realize Sakura needed encouragement to begin with because Naruto hadn't noticed a thing different about Sakura's mood, whereas Sasuke had seen right through Sakura. The contrast shows that Sasuke has a high degree of sensitivity for Sakura; he's aware of the shifts in her moods and Sasuke cares about Sakura's happiness and wants her to be confident in her abilities.