Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. It belongs to its rightful creator. Check my profile for the universal disclaimer.

A/N: This story is a little non-canon. I'm making that Itachi killed the Uchiha clan when Sasuke was 7, not 5 or 6. And this story might be a little AU/OOC-ish. And every section switches POV's. See if you can guess who's talking in which POV. The first one is in third person.

Summary: She had never wanted to be a kunoichi. But fate had chosen a different path for her. A character study of Haruno Sakura.

Sub-Summary: Haruno Sakura. She was just like her namesake, weak, fragile, needed to be protected. She was their cherry blossom. She was their shining star in the night sky. She was the chain that held them together. She was their everything. A character study of Haruno Sakura.

My Path

By: slstmaraudersjple

i. Kunoichi

She had never wanted to be a shinobi, or more specifically, a kunoichi, like her aunt. She had never wanted to get caught up in the dangerous life of a shinobi, ready to die at any moment, running the risk of losing all her friends for the sake of a mission or high pay. And most importantly, she had never, never ever, wanted to kill without remorse.

She had wanted to grow up like a normal civilian girl, grow up and become a nurse and help people, fall in love with a man and get married, move into a new house and have children, and live happilv ever after.

That was her dream, anyways.

But fate had chosen a different path for her.

It happened when she was 5.

She was climbing a tree (her mother told her firmly, "No.", but then again, Haruno Sakura had always been stubborn, even at the age of 5) and she fell from the branch. The branch was at least 7 feet high.

She had broken her leg, and had cuts and scrapes all over her body. She was bleeding and losing blood fast. Her mother had run to her screaming. Sakura felt her eyes get dizzy with blood loss.

"Mommy…" She whispered as comfortingly as her 5 year old self could.

Her mother cried as she knelt by her only daughter's frail body, screaming for help.

The screams of her mother alerted a nearby shinobi squad, mainly ANBU squad 13, with Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, and their temporary teammate Hatake Kakashi. They had appeared in the backyard in a flash, took one look at the bleeding 5-year old, and told her that the little girl was going to die because the hospital was too far away.

The Haruno woman screamed at the ANBU, shouting that they were ninja, and couldn't they just use some teleportation jutsu? Hatake Kakashi told her that moving the girl was going to injure her even further.

Then it happened.

"Mommy… I'm not going to leave you yet…" Haruno Sakura whispered.

A soft blue-green glow erupted from her body, enveloping her.

Sakura's mother screamed, rushing over to her daughter, but Kakashi held her back.

"She'll be fine. That blue-green glow is charka. But this is an interesting case. Aren't you a normal, civilian family?" Kakashi murmured, looking down at the little girl.

"The only other ninja in our family is Haruno Hikari." The woman replied.

Just then, the charka disappeared. When the charka glow was gone, Haruno Sakura lay on the ground, looking good as new, except for the blood lying on the grown and torn clothes and blood-splattered body.

"Mommy! I told you I'd ne'er leave you!" Haruno Sakura stood up, running over to the woman.

Suddenly, she fell down in a dead faint.

Sakura's mother screamed again, rushing over to her daughter and scooping her up, quickly checking for a pulse.

"Don't worry, Haruno-san. It's just charka exhaustion. Itachi and Shisui will bring her to the hospital. I need to ask you a couple questions, though. Why don't we pay Sandaime Hokage a visit?" Kakashi suggested as Itachi gently took the unconscious little girl and then he and Shisui disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Whatever questions you have to ask me, ask me now and leave us alone." The woman replied.

"Very well. Is this the first time it's happened?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes."

"You say the only other member of your family that is a shinobi is Haruno Hikari. You wouldn't be talking about Haruno Hikari, head medic of ANBU Team 2, now would you?" Kakashi asked.

"If she looks anything like my Sakura-chan, then yes she is."

"Do you know what your daughter has just demonstrated, Haruno-san?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes."

"Then you know that her path has already been chosen?"

"Yes."

"When will you enroll her in the Academy?"

"Never, for as long as I can postpone it, I'll protect my daughter from your ways. I don't want her doing such dangerous work as you do."

"Well, not all of them are dangerous. Some of them are as harmless as walking a dog."

"That's before they become Chunin. Afterwards, she could die."

"Anyone can die at anytime, Haruno-san."

"I want to live long enough to see Sakura get married and settle down. I don't want to outlive my daughter."

"That can be arranged, easily, Haruno-san."

"Are you threatening me, Kakashi-sempai?"

"Ah. My apologies, Haruno-san. But rest assured, Sakura will have to attend the academy. In 2 years." Kakashi said. He then leaped onto the fence. Then he turned back to the Haruno. "Be sure to expect a letter from Sandaime Hokage, Haruno-san."

That was the last thing that she heard before the infamous Copy-nin disappeared in a poof of smoke.

She never asked to be a shinobi. She simply wasn't bred for it. Although her aunt was a famous medic well-known throughout Konoha, she wasn't suited for it.

After receiving a letter from the Sandaime Hokage, the next thing Sakura knew, Haruno Hikari appeared at their front door, saying that Sakura was going to go over and spend one month at the ANBU base twice a year to learn the basics from the elite of the elite.

And so Sakura went. The one-month was the most rigorous training she had ever done in her short, 5-year old life. 50 jumping jacks, 50 push-ups, 10 laps… that was the basics. And then Hikari taught her basic fighting stances, then simple weapons skills.

People like Kakashi, Shisui, Itachi, occasionally stopped by and gave her a couple pointers on how to improve.

The first month went by and when she went home, the first thing she did was ask her father to build her a little training using the back half of their large backyard.

The second month went by faster than Sakura would have liked. And then the third. And then the last one, the fourth month.

The ANBU drilled her harder than she would have liked, but Sakura was grateful for it; she passed the entrance exam with a score rival to that of Uchiha Sasuke's and Hyuuga Neji's.

ii. Team

Being in a team meant that I would have to be responsible for the lives of my two teammates and sometimes, my Jounin instructor.

When my team was called up, I didn't know whether to be surprised or what. Uzumaki Naruto, dead last. Uchiha Sasuke, top of the class. Our instructor? None other than Hatake Kakashi.

I don't know when I developed a crush on Uchiha Sasuke. But truth be told, that's what everyone called it. But you know, I never had a crush on him. It was just that he was 'in', and all girls wanted to follow what was 'in' and what was 'out'. You know, the Universal Rules of being the women we are. I mean, true, I had always thought of him as a pretty face, but nothing more. And well, I admired his skills. He's really good, you know? I mean, come on. He's a freaking prodigy. It's the least you'd expect of him.

But you know, I think I fell in love with Uchiha Sasuke somewhere along the road. I mean, I the beginning. I thought I had a crush on him. But turns out, that night he left, I realized… I realized that I really loved him with all my heart. I just didn't know it then.

As for Uzumaki Naruto, I never really hated him. He was always my best guy friend. (Of course, Ino-pig's my best girl friend. That's girl friend with a space, people!!) Even though I was annoyed at the beginning that he would always declare his love for me and treat me to ramen, in the end, I realize that it was the only way he knew how to show that he loved me… like a sister. (Of course, he found that out after our first 'date'.)

And I think that Naruto thought he loved me. But you know, he has someone who'll love him and cherish him as much as I do. Hyuuga Hinata. Yup, that's right. The shy, innocent, always stuttering Hyuuga heiress. Haha. They look so cute together. They just balance each other out, her quietness and his loudness, her politeness and his rudeness, her shyness and her boldness. They were perfect for each other. (Of course, I won't go into deep detail about how much trouble Naruto was in with the Hyuuga clan, or how much trouble Naruto would be in if not for Neji's support. Eventually, he was accepted into the clan and he and Hinata got married and lived happily ever after with kids. Haha. That was a little exaggerated. But you all knew that, right?)

And Hatake Kakashi… somewhere along the road, he became not only my sensei, but my mentor and my older brother, the brother I never had. Despite the pervert that he may be sometimes, he always looked out for me. After Sasuke and Naruto left, whenever Tsunade was too busy to teach me, he and Anko and Ibiki trained me. Hard to believe it, but the three of them did. From Kakashi, I learned more ninjutsu. From Anko, how to identify poisons and quickly prepare the most basic antidote. And from Ibiki, I learned the basic art of interrogation and torture, and how to withstand torture. Yup. Trained by the most fearsome and talented in all of Konoha.

I sometimes look back at pictures from albums from my childhood and think of what might have happened if I never decided to take the path of a kunoichi. I think my fairytale dream might have come true. But fate dealt me a different hand, thus, changing my fate.

I was never suited to take the path of a kunoichi. I wasn't bred for it. I wasn't suited for it.

iii. Cherry Blossom

Haruno Sakura. She's just like her namesake: the cherry blossom, fragile, weak, needed to be protected… and beautiful.

Tch. Annoying woman. Surprisingly enough, despite all the years she worked with Tsunade, she still underestimates herself, even though anyone who's heard of the infamous Team 7 (which consists of her, the dobe, our perverted sensei, and that loser of an artist, and of course, myself) would be scared shitless.

It's just that she's a compassionate person. She doesn't like seeing anyone in pain, and she'll do anything it takes to get them out of it. Which, basically means that we have to be extra careful when we fight our opponents because none of us can stand seeing her in pain at the sight of seeing someone in pain. Meaning that if we're ordered to kill, we kill without shedding any blood and without causing pain. '

Which basically sums up to, to make a long story short, we have to make up techniques to kill painlessly, bloodlessly, and effortlessly. Which means we have to work harder to gain perfect charka control to perfect those stupid medical ninjutsu techniques.

Because if we see our teammate in pain, we're in pain too. We've spent too much time to not know what hurts each other the most.

Tch. Annoying woman. Just like her namesake.

But secretly, I wouldn't trade her for anyone in the world. Now, if you spill to anyone, I'll kill you using that new medical ninjutsu technique that I perfected just now. And believe me, you wouldn't even know you were dead until you met whichever angel greeted you at the gates of Heaven. (Or Hell, in which case, you'd be greeted by devils.)

iv. Star

Whenever we come back from missions, I always like to look up at the nighttime sky and count the stars.

Why, you may ask.

Well, the stars shine so brightly during the nighttime. They're so beautiful, and even though they look fragile, they're not, just like Sakura-chan.

You know, Sakura-chan's like the shining star during the night, She's bright, glowing, and most people underestimate her. She looks gentle, but she's the most fiercest kunoichi you'll ever meet. (Don't tell her, but the other Konoha 12 and I voted on it. And she won, hands down! Even Sasuke-teme reluctantly agreed!)

I feel so blessed whenever I look up at the comforting sky. It's so silent, and it follows you wherever you go. It's like a ghost, only it's solid.

So whenever I come back from solo missions, or missions with teammates that aren't Team 7, I look up at the nighttime sky and count the stars.

The more stars I count, the sooner it means I'll see Sakura-chan. Because she's worried the most whenever one of us is gone with teammates other than Team 7. And being the medic-nin that she is, if anything happens, she'll be one of the first to know.

And believe me, the first thing she'll do after she finds out is heal you. And then she'll beat you into a bloody pulp for worrying her, and then she'll heal you and the whole process will repeat. So unless you want an endless cycle of pain, I highly don't recommend it.

v. My Everything

Haruno Sakura.

As soon as people hear that name, they usually imagine some gentle, delicate, fragile woman.

But when they meet her, their opinion of her changes dramatically.

Why?

Because Haruno Sakura is anything but a gentle, delicate, fragile woman that needs to be protected. She's fiercely determined to protect her teammates, equally compassionate, and stubborn to death with her decisions.

True, even I admit that she used to be weak and needed to be protected.

But once Naruto and Sasuke left, she was left alone. Instead of using that time to mope around and do nothing, she decided to train and change herself for the better.

And she did.

In the short span of 2 years, she miraculously changed. She suddenly went from a cherry blossom to… a monster.

Okay, maybe that's too much.

She changed dramatically, though. And I'm not talking about her figure. She made herself a legend in the 2 years we were all gone. She became this infamous kunoichi famous for her abilities as a medic-nin. Her skills were rumored to rival Tsunade's.

Instead of her teammates protecting her, she ended up protecting them, taking on the role of the chain that binded us together.

To say we were surprised is an understatement. We weren't surprised. We were surprised, stunned to the point of stupidity, amazed as little children at a magic show, and everything in between.

Naruto, the idiot, asked, "Oh man, Sakura-chan! Your figure filled out! Man, you look hot!"

In short, he forgot to compliment her for all her achievements. That was when we found out how horrifyingly monstrously strong Sakura became.

Her left eyebrow twitched.

Instinctively, Sasuke and I jumped back, taking cover about 40 feet from the area.

Then, Sakura did something unexpected.

She smirked and then slammed her fist into the ground.

The ground erupted and split with a loud roar.

The training area, nevertheless, became off-limits.

Naruto was in the hospital for 2 days.

After that, Sasuke and I were careful to praise Sakura for her achievements. Although Sasuke just nodded or did some gesture or whatnot.

Sakura's an amazing girl. She can do anything once she puts her mind to it. And by anything, I mean literally, anything. Anything from sewing to cooking, from cooking to cleaning, from healing to killing and everything in between. She has a wide range of abilities. She can work with complete strangers, children and elders love her, and she's admired by all the people she meets.

Because, who can't be amazed by a girl who can do all that, and more? Sakura, in short, is perfection to the eye. Or at least, as perfect as anyone will ever be.

I can't really say that I practically created Team 7 from scratched. All I did was basically do what any other Jounin teacher would do. I took them in (little mischievous brats that they were), taught them techniques and the importance of teamwork.

The rest, they figured out on their own. They built in a sixth sense that told them if their fellow teammates were ever in trouble. And they were never wrong. No matter where they were, even if they were alone in a country miles or days away, they could tell when their missing teammate needed assistance. And they were dead right, every single time.

But, what I can say is that the precious bond that Team 7 shares… I had a part in creating that too.

And it's mainly because of one Haruno Sakura.

A/N: Uh… kinda strange ending? Whoops. I got off topic there. Haha. X