Just_A_Chuunibyou
yeah, I kind of agree, it makes much more sense to awaken senbonzakura now rather than during the chunin exams. at least it gives her time to actually train with the sword and develop some basic swordsmanship. she can unlock her Shikai during the Orochimaru fight that way she can actually do something against Orochimaru and help out during the invasion. at this point, she'll still be useless during the bridge fight and chunin exams because she won't actually know how to use a sword until part 2. she definitely won't be able to learn how to use it adequately during the 1-month break between the 2nd stage and 3rd stage of the exams. This sakura clearly doesn't have Ichigo's monstrous instincts for battle so she needs to actually train to wield a sword.