Understanding
There are many things 12 year old Sakura does not understand.
Sakura had never been thought of as a genius. Perhaps had she been the civilian academy she would have, but at the ninja academy she was merely clever. Instead, the title 'genius' at the ninja academy was synonymous with 'prodigy.' These titles were reserved for the shinobi entering from clans – Hyuuga, Nara, Uchiha.
She would thirstily read scroll after scroll, book after book. She read like her life depended on it because one day her life will depend on it. By the age of 11, she could recite the 109 ways to kill using only a senbon needle, the 57 poisons she could create from a simple tree, along with their antidotes. She could control her admittedly low reserves of chakra in ways unheard of to not-even-genins and could easily figure out the exact angles and trajectory paths of multiple weapons all in her head.
She was the perfect shinobi on paper.
But then, 12 year old Sakura sees an enemy nin rip apart her lazy sensei (it was a substitution, just a substitution), for the first time in her life she did not understand. The fear paralyzed her and her mind was not racing a hundred miles a minute as per usual. All she could do, all she could think was horror.
The moment Naruto (kind, idiotic Naruto) pushed her out of the way from the mist enemy nin (putting himself in harm), she did not understand.
The moment where she saw Sasuke (her beloved Sasuke) lay down his life (he ran in front to protect… so much blood) for the sake of Naruto (dead last, the baka) she did not understand.
Apparently friendship isn't something you can capture on paper.
This tiny little thing was previously posted on my old profile. I made a couple of tweaks - what do you think?