Everyone who knows anything about ninjas will be able to tell you that the more powerful they are, the crazier they become. What they don't realize is that it's generally the other way around.
Sakura always knew she was a little different. It was like the difference between having a funny quirk and children side-eyeing you at lunch. Sakura was always a step to the side of normal. It wasn't the hair. It wasn't the forehead. No one could quite put a finger on what made Sakura Haruno so different while still looking and acting like everyone else. It wasn't until Sakura stood over her first dead body years later that she herself knew the answer. Instinct.
Her parents were civilians which meant they saw but never understood the signs. Why did their bubbly daughter who had never known hunger take care to eat all her food at every meal, sometimes even while complaining of the taste? Why did she have bags of jerky, nuts, and dried fruit stashed around her room and the house as if they didn't have a bowl constantly full of fresh fruit? Why did all the paring knives she used to cut apples (Sakura was very independent) always disappear and end up scattered in her bed, backpack, or jammed in a pocket? Why did she always walk silently, even as she chattered loudly about her day? Why did she shy away from the lady across the street, a bustling mom of three who had a soft spot for Sakura, but happily attach herself to the side of the grumpy shop owner two streets over who only spoke to complain about her being in the way?
"She has a habit of picking up strays" they'd say to people wondering why anyone would be willing to endure the presence of the frigid, harsh old man.
It was true, Sakura did have a habit of picking up strays. Of putting herself in the path of people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone and have them buying her ice cream by the end of the week. She was the same way with cats. She wouldn't leave one alone until she was sure it liked her, it didn't matter if it was feral and dirty or pristine and belonged to somebody else. She regularly came home with scratches but, like clockwork, the cats would come around and tolerate (enjoy) her presence.
It wasn't until she joined the academy that she realized people usually had friends their own age rather than a motley assortment of wild cats, old people, and adults with PTSD. She couldn't quite figure out why though. The kids were strange. They yelled at their parents. They would rather not eat food if they didn't like the taste. What the hell does taste matter if you're hungry? She would ask them. She never got a good answer, just a stream of whining about how beans are gross and "but mom knows I hate carrots!" They didn't quite seem real to her. They were like those tely programs where people are continually obsessed with things that don't matter. She couldn't connect.
Sakura decided to stick with the things she understood. She knew what mattered and what didn't and since her peers obviously didn't…well, she'd wait. They'll figure it out eventually.
It took Sakura a while to find her chakra but when she did, it was such a core part of her and her body that she knew she'd never lose it again. It was like people telling you all your life about blood but using a different word until the first time you get cut and people point and use the word and you feel incredibly silly for not realizing they had been talking about blood the whole time. I mean, how could you not know about your own blood? Sakura had been using chakra her whole life, when she tried to swim upstream in the Naka river, when she screamed really loudly for her mom that time she broke her arm in the park, when she ran as fast as she could to catch the stupid kid that stole her candy. It had always been there instinctively, the conscious knowledge of it only made it that much easier to manipulate.
She spent all her time messing with it. What happens if I poke this with chakra? Can I poke things with chakra from anywhere on my body? How much chakra do I need to use to be able to see it? Can I feel other people's chakra? I can feel my chakra so if I poke something with chakra can I feel that too? How far away from me can I send my chakra? If I can move things with my chakra, can I make it move ink and use it to write my homework? Flip pages of my book while I'm in the bath? Tie my shoes? Brush my hair? Dry me off? Can I use it to read people's minds? Chakra was her newest obsession and she was determined to know absolutely everything about it and its applications before moving onto the next thing that caught her attention.
She could do a lot with her chakra, she realized. She could move objects, use her chakra to explore the structure and components of objects, use her chakra to feel the people and objects within a certain range, feel other people's chakra, stretch her chakra like a rope, and so much more. It was exhilarating. She spent class time trying to move her pen with her chakra and weapons classes learning how to direct her weapons with chakra (completely baffling her teachers with her terrible stance and high accuracy). In taijutsu she used her chakra like a second skin to soften blows, to increase her own strength, and to mess up her opponent's chakra, decreasing their strength and balance. Later, she learned how to slip her chakra inside her opponent and freeze their muscles with a touch. Again, the instructors were confused. They thought the other kids were holding back on her.
Sakura felt like a magician, a sorceress. She was pulling strings people hadn't even realized existed. She felt powerful, giddy. She was eight and on top of the world when she learned that it didn't even matter. The kids didn't like her. She hadn't thought that mattered. There was only so much a second skin of chakra could do when some brat's genin big brother and his friends ganged up on you. Witch, they called her. They had realized she was doing something they didn't understand and it scared them. Freak, they said. They accused her of pulling cheap tricks being different.
"If you represent Normal…" she spoke with mud on her face and blood on her teeth "I will happily be your Witch."
And that's what she was after that, the Witch. The classes were moved around the next year to account for the civilian kids that always drop out (and one boy who came to regret sending his brothers after anyone). Her new class was full of clan kids and the civilian-born who made the cut. It didn't take long for the stories to spread. With the Witch and the Demon in the same class, it was a wonder they didn't just start giving everyone nicknames.
Sakura was a quick learner and the last year had taught her two things. 1- Don't dismiss anyone because even the weakest can pose a threat. 2- Chakra isn't always the answer.
Her taijutsu and accuracy were woefully pathetic without chakra so she studied the books and lessons and painstakingly perfected her forms. She studied anatomy texts and learned where to hit, how to use every bit of force her body could offer, what to organs to prioritize when blocking. A hapless, overworked doctor with a coffee addiction let Sakura trail behind her on her shifts, taking notes, bandaging, and learning how to diagnose ailments and injuries. Sakura's parents encouraged it as a backup in case the shinobi path fell through. By the time she was ten, she was using the mystical palm jutsu for basic healing constantly and Riku-san had been introducing her as an apprentice since she brought her first fish back to reasonable health. Sakura still loved the chakra exercises and took such care with every minute detail that Riku-shishou quickly moved her on to burns, torn muscles and tendons, and even simple bone fractures. Sakura thrived in those dry, sterile rooms with nothing but her and her latest puzzle.
School was a different matter. She had stopped being to obvious about her chakra manipulation because she didn't want the teachers to realize what she was doing. Instead, she learned to use it subtly. Little things. Ino would scream at her to go find a new seat and get away from "her" Sasuke-kun. The next day, Ino's hair tie broke in taijutsu and she walked away with a black eye. A boy would try to intimidate her on the street or on a forest path and she'd make her sharp green eyes glow ever so slightly and let a bit of green healing chakra flicker across her hands like poison. They learned to leave her alone.
Sakura did have friends, they just weren't in her class. Riku-shishou and the hospital staff liked her, so did Tendai-san who owned a weapons shop and his daughter Tenten. She had some friends in the civilian side on the Nara clan, the ones who dealt with medicinal herbs. She even knew genin, chunin, and jounin who liked her! Though that was probably cause they were usually high on pain meds and therefore had happy feelings associated with her but they were generally willing to give her advice if she saw them afterwards. She often felt like she learned more from five minutes with a chunin or jounin then she did in a year of academy.
By the time the final exams and team assignments came around, Sakura was thoroughly and utterly bored of the academy. Her classmates had simply become screachy-er and more hyper focused on utterly useless things while the academy told her to be proud to know a grand total of three jutsus despite having learned far more useful ones in the hospital (you know, where she was saving lives). She wanted to learn to use her chakra damnit, who the hell cares about boys. She was still a step to the side, disconnected from her surroundings.
Then she ended up with the two most problematic of the aforementioned boys on her team. Three if you counted her sensei. The bell test was a sham, they all got beaten into the dirt and Kakashi berated her for not knowing how to release a genjutsu. When she told him they hadn't learned much of anything about genjutsu he gave her a look, a softly patronizing look saying you're and intelligent girl, you should have gone to the library once in a while. She clenches her fists and realizes that he knows nothing about her. When they end up passing simply because she shared some rice with her teammates she ends up more angry than relieved. Apparently that was all she was worth to Kakashi, simply a body ready to serve her teammates but not so much a shinobi in her own right.
She goes to the library and doesn't leave until she's found every single scroll on genjutsu she has clearance for. Then she reads and practices. And practices. Some of the ninja patients in the hospital agree to be test subjects and a few know enough to give her pointers and teach her new jutsus. She doesn't tell Kakashi, not yet, not until it's perfect and she can completely shatter his stupid preconceived notions.
It turns out she's good at genjutsu, really good. Not like a prodigy though, she still messes up on all the normal things, but she has an affinity for the art. The world never really felt real to her, not the happy middle class house and family, not her peers, not even the village itself so she takes to illusions like she's been living and breathing them her whole life. The best thing about genjutsu isn't even bringing impossible scenarios to life, it's that the other person is completely convinced that whatever they are seeing is realistic. It's so easy to alter something and watch everyone accept it as fact. She can convince their minds that their own hair and skin is a different color or that they really want to give her ice cream or tips on her taijutsu form. It makes her Witch intimidation even more effective. She practices holding small illusions constantly throughout the day.
The team drag their feet through D-rank after D-rank. There's so little action that Naruto's ADHD is making him explode which drives both Sasuke and her through the roof. Sakura starts giving Naruto little challenges, things against himself. Do this section and see how fast you are, then beat that time sort of thing. Stuff that leaves her and Sasuke a little peace to work. Though, of course, Sasuke is a whole 'nother issue. She knocks him flat into the dirt a few times when he mouths off and sometimes they leave Naruto to race himself through painting the fence while they try to beat each other's faces into the street. Sasuke's anger is an ugly, snarling thing (it's like he's trying to punch his sadness away). Sometimes it's Naruto and Sasuke at each other's throats. Sometimes Naruto and Sakura team up against Sasuke and sometimes Naruto decides he can take on the entire world and yells at the other two to "Come at me, dattebayo! I'm gonna be the strongest ninja in the whole village one day!" Strangely, she only ends up fighting Naruto one on one in spars.
When they recieve the mission scroll telling them to catch a cat, Sakura is pretty sure it's just another prank (only being played on Naruto for once), when she watches grown chunin shudder as they remember when they were assigned the same mission, she is convinced the whole damn village have lost their minds. Because you see, Sakura loves cats. When they caught sight of the overweight fluffball she hissed sharply at her teammates to leave this one to her. Naruto is confused because he's thinking of this like a fight and hurt because he knows she thinks he'll mess it up. Sasuke narrows his eyes like she just called him weak and is ready to snap out a cutting remark when she raises her hand. Kakashi doesn't even glance up from his book.
"Guys chill, I'm not putting you down I'm just saying I have a lot of experience getting downright hostile cats to love me like I'm the patron goddess of food. You guys should cover escape routes in case it doesn't work but I'm gonna go in and make that fat cat love me." Now they just look confused but are mostly sure she isn't insulting their honor and cat-hunting skills. Kakashi arches his eyebrow and she sends him a dismissive, scornful glance. She's only become increasingly pissed at him for constantly prioritizing the boys.
The cat recognizes her as a ninja instantly. It stands up and poofs even more, spitting in warning like an angry cloud with needles. It doesn't run however, because Sakura is still pretty far away and cats are lazy by nature. Sakura sits down. She keeps talking with her team over the microphone, explaining that she's only speaking to get the cat used to her presence. Once the cat relaxes she moves closer, and again, and again. Soon she's just out of arm's reach and still chattering, only now she's talking to the cat. Picking up a long thin tree branch she had found, she starts playing with the cat, distracting it. Then she gives it some food and eases it into petting. Once the cat decided she was a friend, it curled up in her lap and started purring. She picked up the mound of vibrating fluff with a triumphant air and told her team they could walk out now but Naruto had better be quiet because she did not want to get scratched.
"Man! Those kids were right Sakura! You really are a Witch!" Naruto joked as they walked back to the Hokage Tower. "Those chunin told me that cat was pure evil!"
Sakura thought it was hilarious that her moniker gained from being creepy and intimidating was now being applied to her cat skills.
"Witch?" Kakashi asked (more like wondered out loud).
"Oh yeah! Apparently our classmates thought Sakura was real scary or something cause stuff happened around her! I dunno, she's always been pretty okay to me." Naruto shrugged again, completely brushing off years of bullying for the both of them as if it was just a long week.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi prompted "is Sakura a witch?"
"A Witch!" Naruto corrected. Kakashi ignored him.
"...Hn" was Sasuke's delightful insight.
Giving up, Kakashi finally turned back to Sakura. "So, how'd you earn that name?"
She sighed, reliving memories of being curled up in the dirt and learning that people reacted badly to the unknown. "People attack what they don't understand unless they know it's stronger than them."
Kakashi narrows his eye, realising (perhaps for the first time) that he had missed something.
Apparently they were the first team ever to complete that mission unscathed.
