We never really saw her actual training, but yeah we did see the results of it at the beginning of Shippuden during the second bell test. But we never saw any progression of her fighting prowess from puppet guy until now.
Fight on the front line.
So damn late for that.
Uh....that line feels so pulled out of Kishimoto's ass after how far away from the front line he's kept Sakura for 90% of Shippuden.
I don't really buy it.
I think that was an excuse. I think the ratings were effected more because she was done so badly that every time he sprinkled one of those seeds it came out of nowhere since all her fighting progress was off screen with no on screen training.