Naruto FanFiction
Published; April 5th, 2007

In-Depth Summary: AU, Dark!Sakura. Sakura was more than what she led on, more than just brains and beauty. Tired of the constant ridicule, she makes a stand to be more cruel, cold, and strong then the others while figuring out that she's not as normal as she thought she was.

The Sakura Chronicle,
Pre-chapter: Wise Inner Self — Arc I, Inflexible Determination
Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Naruto. It all belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

It was late, the quiet village colored in a pale-blue hue. The full moon showered the town, making it more beautiful than ever, but rather than observing the night sky, a lone female stood near a small stream refusing the rest that every other shinobi in Konohagakure had taken. She stood in deep thought, brilliant turquoise eyes planted on the small body of water she stood in front of, hands held in the shapes of fists. She was tall for female her age as well as a little too curvy, but completely breast-less with mid-back pale pink hair. The thirteen-year old female was long limbed, body completely toned and packed with muscle that wasn't so developed, yet just right. Her skin recently became a golden tone, dark compared to it's usual pale color from all the sunny early mornings and afternoons to which she stood out training for the last few months more than she'd ever done in her life. This time, she was going to try walking on water.

"So, you're all set, then?" Her inner self asked in her typical sluggish voice. The kind of voice like when a person has just woken up and their mouth still felt heavy and dull. But she was just impatient and bored. As always.

Sakura nodded.

"Then move already!"

Startled by the tone that belonged to Inner Sakura, she lifted her left foot and placed it on the water lightly, then after confirming that she wouldn't fall into the stream, did the same with her right. Watching with a ghost of a smile as the small ripples came forth from the place where her feet disturbed the surface, she began to take step after step, the ripples becoming larger and larger with each pass they made. It was quiet, the only sound coming from the light breeze and the soft beating of her own heart. She was exhausted from all of the workouts and jutsu's she practiced before this, but she told herself that she was not going to go home until she did this one last thing.

She remembered overhearing Ebisu-sensei explaining to another student how this helped to perfect chakra, how it was much more difficult than climbing a tree without using your hands. He was right. She could feel the perspiration that rolled down the side of her temple to her jaw as she continued to concentrate of floating on top of the water. This would help her, she knew, learning how to completely perfect chakra control. She was already great at it, but she wanted to perfect it. She wanted to learn as many jutsu's as she could without wasting any unnecessary chakra energy. Sakura could feel her body being drained with each step that went on yet she was determined to continue until she made it to the other side.

Halfway there, all of the negative thoughts and constant teasing voices of the other children of Konohagakure filled her mind. She thought of the days to which everybody teased her for being so weak and, stupidly, for having a huge forehead. Her turquoise eyes narrowed. That was over now, she would prove them wrong. Every single one of them. She could remember the day she made this decision, that night to which she finally decided that she was tired of the mental abuse, of staying up late at night crying because she had to be liked, tried to be as pretty as Yamanaka Ino, and tried to get Uchiha Sasuke to like her instead of focusing on her skills as a ninja. She wanted to be strong, she didn't want to feel inferior and timid anymore. So she made her choice.

Right now, she didn't need friends to fulfill what she wanted. What she needed was to show she had ability, that she was a great ninja and she promised herself she would. Not to mention that she already found a companion in the brave, wise voice that lived in herself. It'd been like this for exactly a year now, a new blank expression decorated on her pretty face and it came naturally instead of being as hard as she thought it'd be. She kept to herself, paid complete attention to everything Iruka-sensei explained in class and on her own time went to do some research on other techniques that she would try to teach herself. She worked herself harder than anyone else had ever done before, sometimes refusing to go home for a couple of days to eat and sleep. She'd tire herself out until she couldn't move, until she would pass out on the ground below her and stare up at the sky above her with extremely heavy lids. Until she was positive that without those two essentials, she wouldn't be able to do a thing and it showed.

She didn't look so delicate any longer, in fact, she looked somewhat intimidating big forehead, cute face and all. Out of all the girls in her class, she now looked like she could actually kick somebody's ass, instead of being too afraid to break a nail. In fact, she could more than hold her own against the people in her class now, but she wasn't going to stop until she was completely sure. As well, she hardly spoke, something that rather took the others by surprise. Her parents understood, but worried for her and everyone else just wondered what triggered her apparent one-hundred and eighty degree change. Some even had asked her, but she would give them a blank look all the while never saying a word, each time hearing the inner voice in her head answer to remind her;

"Because now, it's every man for themselves. That's what it comes down to, no matter how many friends you have or how pretty you look. Beauty isn't everything in this, but strength and skill is. Most of the kids here find you annoying and weak and with the way you are now, it's the truth. So it's time to get off your ass and stop worrying about boys, or about what other people think about you! It's time to stop powdering your nose and trying to fix your appearance! If you want to be a real ninja, than you have to work hard for it! You have to change your outlook on certain things and grow up. An ideal ninja is a coldhearted one, after all."

While in the process of doing just that, she reminded herself everyday that this was what she wanted, this was what she was going to do. She wasn't so much of a coldhearted ninja as of yet, but she was somewhat impassive about certain things that would usually set her off. It was going to be a long trip to make it where she wanted to and indeed it would take some time, but she was patient enough to figure this kind of thing out. Everything took time, after all.

Sakura didn't notice it just yet, but she'd finally made it on the ground and only continued to walk, deeply lost in a train of thought.

"There are no shortcuts,"

It came out of her own mouth, as soft as a feather's touch as she collapsed on her hands and knees while looking at the ground beneath her. Her mind was too overrun with so many thoughts that it still hadn't hit her, she accomplished something today. She walked on water. However, instead, she willingly fell on her back, chest rising with tired breaths and sweat covering every orifice of her body.

"That's right, no shortcuts." It was said in a proud, booming voice. "Though you're just getting started and I shouldn't lay all this depressing stuff on you. You've already decided what you're going to do, and all that's left to set the wheels in motion. I mean, it's your life. Basically, you gotta do what you think is right!"

That's right. When all was said and done, it was indeed her life.

"I'll tell you one thing though. You're gonna have to get a lot tougher if you want to make it."

"I'm trying my best."

Her voice was still strained from all the exhaustion. Still so low.

"I know you are. This last year you've gotten a lot stronger, I have to hand it to you."

Sakura nodded again.

"But let's face it—you're only thirteen," the voice went on. "Your life's just begun and there's a ton of things out there and even here that you've never laid eyes on. Things you could never imagine."

"But I have to get stronger for myself too," Sakura began. "There's no way around it."

"I know that and I'm glad that it's finally come to your attention."

Sakura let out a small sigh, as she looked up at the full moon. Her inner self rested a fingertip on each of her closed eyelids and spoke to her from the darkness within.

"How about we play our game?"

"All right." Sakura said.

She closed her own eyes and quietly took a deep breath.

"Okay, picture a terrible sandstorm. Get everything else out of your head."

Sakura did what her inner self said, get everything else out of her head. Even forgetting who she is. She was a total blank. Then things had started to surface. Things that—as she lay on the dirt floor of Konohagakure terribly exhausted with another self in her mind—both of them could see. "Sometimes, fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions…" She started, then paused. Inner Sakura decided to take it from there.

"Sometimes, fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over, you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn't something that blew from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. There's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine."

And that was exactly what Sakura did. She imagined a white funnel stretching up vertically like a thick rope. Her eyes were closed tight, hands cupped over her ears, so that the fine grains of sand didn't blow inside of her. The sandstorm drew steadily closer. She could feel the air pressed on her skin. It really was going to swallow her up.

It was then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, her eyes snapped open, and with that the storm vanished. Sakura sat up, looking around her, but nobody was there.

"From now on—no matter what—you've got to be one of the toughest ninjas here. That's the only way you're going to survive. And in order to do that, you have to figure out what it really means to be tough. You got me?"

Sakura once again laid on her back, closed her eyes and didn't say anything in reply. She was too tired. She just wanted to sink off into sleep, with that feeling of warmth that hand left on her shoulder. She could hear the faint flutter of wings.

"You're going to be the one of the toughest ninjas. And you really will have to make it through the violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how violent, metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others. And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one damn thing's certain. When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. That's what this storm is all about…"

-o-o

Hm. Tired of those oh-so-cliché I'm-a-little-weakling-who's-obsessed-with-Sasuke fics? Or the badly written older!Sakura who's sexier running away from home, suddenly getting stronger and kicking ass? Then you've come to the right fic. Personally, I won't lie, Sakura can be an annoying character. BUT, the same can be said for Naruto and Sasuke. In fact, every character has their annoying points, but I do like Sakura. And I just wanted to do something a little different with her. An story that follows Naruto, though, in a alternate way.

That's the thing I love so much about Naruto, it's so vast and you can really have fun with it if you want. This is my first Naruto fic, and while this does focus on Sakura, I'm not going to make her stronger than Naruto (he has the damn nine-tails in him!) and ruin everyone else's character. I'm not going to bash other's either. In fact, most of everyone's favorites is going to be here, interacting with Sakura and/or various others in different ways. So, yeah, this is going to be long.

As for pairings, I don't really know who I'm going to be having Sakura with. Maybe it'll be Sasuke, or Gaara, or even Naruto. Maybe, in the end, she won't end up with nobody. Or, just maybe, she'll be with someone that'll make a serious CRACK pairing. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it and if anything in a review tell me what pairing you would like to see and I'll consider it.