I wanted to give Sakura something that would encourage her to believe she was somebody awesome and badass -- she has a lot of moments like that in canon, but early on she sublimates them under a desire to act like a 'proper girl', and so does things like skip meals ("dieting") so she can be skinny and pretty, or grow her hair out because she hears Sasuke likes girls with long hair, etc.

I wanted to be able to establish her as sort of fierce and independent, and I wanted her to be able to look at her memory and be like "OKAY I CAN HANDLE THIS WEIRD PLACE, BECAUSE I CAN APPARENTLY PUNCH HOLES IN THE GROUND". It also gave her a good context for knowing that she was a ninja, since she's training with naruto.

...How much would Sakura have to bribe Iolite to get in on that water heater. * ^ *