Title: A non-believer of the heart
Summary: Sakura has a kekkei genkai. A rather useless one, if she says so herself: she can see the red strings of fate. That's right. She can see who is tied to who and sometimes, you'd be surprised to know who's on the other end of your string. AU.
Words: 6,209
A/N: You guys spoil my story for yourselves haha! Hopefully this chapter will clear up some stuff about Sakura's kekkei genkai 😉
The Red Strings of Fate were just that: they indicated who you are tied to. Someone you are bound to meet at some point because fate had decided your two destinies were intertwined.
What it did not mean was that it secured love between the two individuals. Having coexisting futures did not equate to predestined love, as romanticized as the trope had led many to believe.
Sakura knew that what tied one person to another would be completely different in context from individual to individual. Izumi and Taro had been a case where they fell deeply in love with each other, but Sakura had seen others where it was harder to grasp their relationship. Like the two men she had seen at the market whose connected string fell slack as they approached each other, both of their wives at their sides as they exchanged greetings.
When she had saw it all those years ago, she had been confused. She still clung to the idea of eventual romance with the strings and it was not until she grew older that she realized that love can be many things, and the string was but an easy perception of the complex relationships held between two people.
She then wondered if multiple strings could be attached to one person. Surely there were enough people in the world, let alone in Fire Country, that someone would have more than one destined meeting. Yet in her limited range of just Konoha, she has so far never once encountered such an occurrence.
It's probably for the better, she thinks to herself, there would be too many strings on one road alone if people had two or three of them.
Sakura kept this thought in mind, however, as her team worked on their first D rank mission. Pulling weeds became tolerable when you could easily let your mind wander as she could.
"Man, this blows!" Naruto screamed from the other side of the field. His forehead drenched in sweat even with a towel wrapped around his head, "We should be out there kicking ass and saving people!"
Sasuke held back an insult for once and even seemed to agree as he shot an accusing stare at their teacher, who was lounging under the shade of a nearby tree. Sakura felt her throat too parched to add in her own opinion.
"Everyone had to do these missions at one point. Think of this as an exercise for patience." Kakashi replied easily, his face still buried in his book.
"Screw patience!" Naruto screamed back, "How's this supposed to help me be a legendary ninja?"
And so, the rest of they day went, though Sakura did not mind much since she was left daydreaming in peace.
Kakashi arrived at Konoha Hospital. Inside, he waited until a nurse noticed him, promptly blanched, then turned to him again, "Hatake-san. What a surprise to see you here voluntarily."
"It's nice seeing you, too, Nurse-chan," He responds to her blandly, "I'd like to see the medical records on my students."
"You've taken on a team?" She hesitated to ask.
Kakashi held no pleasantries for small talk nor did he want to explain himself, so he pushed, "The records, if you would."
Blanching yet again—and for being in a hospital, she should take better care of herself—the well-intimidated nurse left to collect the records after Kakashi told them their names.
"Thanks." He says with a smile in his voice before disappearing.
At first glance, the files held little value unfortunately enough for Kakashi. Naruto and Sasuke's files were expectedly thin and even the scraps left inside were mostly crossed out. Sakura's file also held nothing of note, except for a small annotation on the bottom of a page.
Preliminary interview for kekkei genkai identification conducted with Hyuuga Nitori. Concluded with failed manifestation of kekkei genkai. No further testing required, deemed likely a childhood illusion.
Though short and concise, the evidence laid clear. Sakura had gone in to be tested for a kekkei genkai when she was younger but was ultimately deemed to be some kind of imaginary delusion for her age.
Furrowing his brows together, Kakashi felt his instincts kick in. Something was telling him that there was more to this seemingly insignificant event, and there was one name he had as a lead in this investigation.
Sakura stood alone in a small open field. Kunai littered the ground, each one attached to ninja wire that glinted as it caught the sunlight.
She double checked each kunai's placement before roughly jerking her arm, a smile already creeping onto her face as she realized her hand had barely moved. Giddy at her success at marking the kunai in a way that the wire overlapped themselves and her red string, she failed to notice the shadowed person making their way towards her.
"Nice set-up, though I don't really get it." A voice sounded as a greeting. Sakura immediately swiveled her head towards the voice in surprise. The voice belonged to an older looking girl with brunette hair styled into two buns.
"Uh, thanks," Sakura replied though quickly berating herself for her awkwardness. Ino had always made fun of her inability to continue a conversation. "I guess."
She pulled out another kunai and leaned down to cut a few of the wires as the older girl prodded, "So ya mind explaining why you have random kunai and ninja wire lying around?"
"Um," Sakura mutters, as intelligent as her scores would prove, "Just practice."
The brunette sighed, her shoulders dropping in defeat, "Alright, I get it, I'll leave you alone then. My name's Tenten. If you finally decide you wanna open up about—all this," She gestures wildly at the field, "Walk on over to training ground five, it's right over there."
Sakura follows the direction towards where the other girl, Tenten, points. Her red string dangles easily from her finger, and Sakura quickly averts her eyes when the girl turns back to her.
"I'm Haruno Sakura, nice to meet you, Tenten-san." She bows her head lightly and blushes when the other girl barks out a laugh.
"I like you, Haruno. You better come to training ground five soon!" The brunette hollered, though she was already walking away.
Huh, Sakura thinks, maybe she just made a new friend. One that had a hitai-ate and various nicks and scars dotted across her exposed arms. Weapon reliant, she surmises. Definitely worth making friends with.
'Soon' became the next day as Sakura quietly approached the training ground. Even before stepping into the field, she heard the telltale clang and grunts of a spar. The noise could hardly compare to the actual experience of seeing the full thing, however.
"Leaf drop!" A green clad boy shouts as his foot rapidly descended onto another, dark haired boy.
The other boy strains his eyes—Hyuuga, her mind supplies—and dodges only to swiftly turn and strike a palm at the other's shoulder. This continues as the two boys trade blow for blow until Sakura spots the girl she met earlier, Tenten, appear in the sky unfurling a scroll.
The next thing she knew, multiple kunai and shuriken were flying downwards towards the boys, and startlingly, herself. Widening her eyes, Sakura dived outwards and ended up rolling into a nearby bush.
"Nice of you to join us, Haruno!" The brunette yells as Sakura stood and tried to remove the twigs from her hair. Looking over to the boys, the Hyuuga simply pulled his sleeve back into place while the other snapped from a defensive position to rigid straight. Of course, she thinks sarcastically, these must be her teammates and they were already used to sharp objects raining down on them from the heavens. She stomps down the feeling of annoyance at having to wash her hair again today.
"Hi, Tenten-san," Sakura finally greets, "Sorry for intruding. I can leave you to your guys' practice—"
"Nah, you can stay! We're basically done here, right, Gai-sensei?" The older girl turns her head to the side and Sakura gapes.
Green jumpsuit and a pristine bowl cut meet her eyes. She switches from glancing at the smaller version to this 'Gai-sensei' and tries to make sense of what she was seeing.
"There's two?" She inquired.
"Huh?—Oh! This is Gai-sensei," She pointed at the larger man before pulling the smaller version towards her, "And this is Rock Lee. And that other guy is Neji."
Before she could offer her own name, a blur of green appeared in front of her and suddenly her hands were enveloped by another, "Beautiful flower, this chance meeting… It must be FATE!"
Knowing a thing or two about fate, Sakura glanced down at their joined hands and instantly breathes out a sigh of relief. Lee's string did not connect to hers. Though if she did not have that ability, just the sheer amount of conviction in his eyes may have her think otherwise.
"Leave her alone! Geez, respect a girl's personal space, would ya?" Tenten stomped over to pull the boy away by the ear. Sakura watched as he reached his arms out towards her like a kid. At least she was not the only person with absurd teammates. Releasing another small sigh, she turns to the others in Tenten's team.
"My name is Haruno Sakura, I'm part of Team 7—ah, Team Kakashi." She introduces formally to the stoic faced Hyuuga and their teacher.
The jounin leaps towards her—was she simply a magnet for men like these?—and says in a voice much too loud for their company, "You're sensei happens to be my ETERNAL RIVAL! My wonderful student must be right! This is FATE!"
Glitter dances in the man's eyes as he raises a thumbs up, "And now you will carry on tradition, with you becoming Tenten's own ETERNAL RIVAL."
Lee shakes himself from Tenten's hold and gets on his knees right next to Gai, tears already spilling from his eyes, "Oh, Tenten, you're so blessed to find a rival so soon! How a lotus BLOOMS!"
The two spandex wearing men then embrace in a tearful display including sparks and flowers. Sakura could only gulp as her senses are overloaded by the sheer amount of healthy masculinity. Neji finally pitches in by calling them all idiots under his breath.
"Sorry about them—they mean well, they do," Tenten clasps a hand on Sakura's shoulder, "But I'm really glad you've decided to come by."
"Your spar was really good." Sakura compliments, a placid smile on her lips at the older girl's assurance.
"Aw, shucks, thanks. But I know why you're really here, Haruno," Tenten laughs, her eyes squinting back at her, "Why don't you show me how you handle your kunai?"
Sakura continues to smile even as she pulls out a kunai from her waist pack, "Don't need to tell me twice."
"Ever bothered with a door?" Hyuuga Nitori grumbles as a few of his papers float out of place by the sudden shunshin. He goes to grab them to shuffle the sheets back in order.
"Six years ago, a girl with pink hair walked through that door. Tell me everything you remember from your interview with Haruno Sakura." Came the demanding reply. The pale eyed man fully lifts his gaze to the Copy-nin, worry working its way up his bones. The newer generation would never know just how intimidating the Copy-nin truly was.
Even if the man put on an easy-going front these days, his and Hatake's era had been one of blood and war. Ultimately, Nitori's sense of preservation overshadowed his desire to ask why and thus he goes to his filing cabinet to pull out a sheet.
"Haruno Sakura," Nitori repeats, after finding what he was looking for, "Came in requesting to register her supposed 'kekkei genkai'. Her current sensei at the time—Yaotome, chuunin—had accompanied her for the formal interview as she had been too young to fill out the form."
Kakashi glances down at the paper, as if making sure he was telling the truth. The Hyuuga's frown deepened, "We concluded that the girl had an overactive imagination that led her to believe her imaginary constructs were real. Understandable, as most civilians still entertain the thought that such a thing fosters creativity in a child."
Ignoring the man's latter opinion, Kakashi continued to question in the same impassive tone, "What were those imaginary constructs."
The Hyuuga raised a brow, having expected the line of questioning to stop after showing his brief notes on that day. Nonetheless, the pale eyed man continued, "It's been years, but if I remember, she had seen these 'red strings' which could have possibly been connected to another person. Obviously, her parents had read her too many bedtime stories and it had embedded itself into that child's mind as real."
Kakashi stayed silent for a moment, digesting the information. He replayed the events of that day to remember his standoff against his students, trying to catch a moment where there had ever been some kind of 'red string'. His female student had only thrown out those wire-attached kunai, he recalled. The only time his attention had been fully preoccupied away from her she had released a genjutsu, and even then, he was still able to break past it and keep her in his peripherals. No red string in sight.
"Are we done here?" The Hyuuga scowls, already filing away in his cabinet.
"Yes, and I'd recommend investing in some décor by the way," Kakashi squints his lone eye, "Your office just seems to lack imagination." Then disappears in an awful flurry of leaves, leaving sheets to scatter across the room even messier than before.
Being alone with Sasuke still made her feel uneasy. The weight of knowing what had happened that night even before the official announcement made her feel privy to something that should not have involved her this deeply.
Even now she hesitates to look at him as they lay pressed up together, hidden behind the trunk of a large tree.
"Sakura." The Uchiha says, his tone on the verge of annoyance and worry. Being caught distracted made her blush so she shook her head and refocused on the target.
Just on the other side of their tree was Tora, curled up and seemingly asleep. Not planning on falling for that ruse again, Team 7 had split to encircle the cat when it inevitably wakes and runs. Naruto had several other clones ready and all at once, genin and clones alike pounced on the cat.
The mission ended as it did the last two times they had done it, with each member of Team 7 littered with thin red lines and all manner of debris on their person. Except for Kakashi, who had simply supervised at times like these where his help would have greatly been appreciated. What mattered was that the cat was back in its owner's arms, as temporary as it was.
Still, Sakura gives a small smile to her team after receiving their pay for a job well done. Eyeing the other boys, she wondered if they were patching themselves up properly after their missions. Unlike her, they did not have a nagging mother nor doting father to force her to treat her injuries more seriously.
"You guys want to come over to my house?" She finds herself saying, although she quickly regrets her hasty offer, "I mean, if you want, that is. I've got a ton of medical supplies back at home, and—uh, I can make sure your wounds don't get worse?"
She phrases that last part as a question, a blush already radiating off her cheeks hotly. Stupid, stupid, she berates herself, just shut your idiot mouth up, Sakura.
"Oh man, do I?" Naruto, bless him, agrees readily. The blinding smile on his face a steady reassurance for Sakura, "'Course I'd want to, Sakura-chan!"
"Hn." Sasuke grunts, which isn't a direct no so the dark haired boy must be okay with it. Sakura finds herself smiling, too, not caring how dopey she must look right now.
"Inviting everyone except your dear, old sensei? Gasp," Kakashi clutches his heart, "To be betrayed by my own student."
Naruto teases back that it was what he got for being late all the time, but Sakura offers him the invite as well, "It'd be my pleasure to have you, Kakashi-sensei! My parents wanted to meet all three of you!"
"Huh? Really?" Naruto tilts his head. She bites back her instinctual reply that most parents would be interested in their child's shinobi team. So instead she nods her head, her heart thumping in her chest happily.
When they reach the Haruno residence, Sakura gauges the reactions from her teammates. The two-storied house was a familiar sight for her; her eyes took in the slightly patchy grass around it, the way the outer walls seemed dull with age, and how it would hardly win any sort of award other than for it being 'homely'.
So Sakura is a bit precautious, watching their faces closely for any hint of negativity. Being a kunoichi did not do much to shield her from the throes of puberty, including her need for validation from her peers.
"You live here, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asks while looking away from her, instead his gaze on her home, though his voice held no meanness.
"Obviously." Sasuke counters. Sakura risks a steady look at her Uchiha teammate, sensitive about his reaction especially. The Uchiha compound had been one of the most architecturally beautiful places in Konoha. At least, it had been before that night ended with a single occupant, which made upkeeping appearances the least concern.
Thankfully, Sasuke held no distinct emotion on his face other than his usual scoff at the blonde. To which said blonde insulted back. Kakashi merely heaves a deep sigh. Their usual bickering and their teacher's put-upon resignation had somehow become a relief for Sakura; she could always count on them being unchanging and familiar in that way.
Heading inside, she calls out, "I'm home! And I brought my team with me!"
A smiling Mebuki pops her head out of the living room to greet them, "Welcome home, sweetheart. Oh, just look at all of you! I'm so glad you can all stay for dinner, though you'll have to wait bit since we weren't expecting you all so soon! You hear that, honey? Sakura brought her ninja team!"
And from the kitchen, "Already started on a second pot!"
"Uh—" Naruto starts, but Sakura already has a hand around his face to quiet him.
"We'll be down in a minute! Tough mission today, gotta go lick our wounds and all that!" She managed to babble before pulling both boys upstairs with her to her bedroom, leaving a defenseless Kakashi alone with her parents. He's a jounin, she thinks, he can handle small talk with other adults.
Kizashi managed to catch them on the way up, his apron still on and holding a ladle, "Leave the door open, young lady!"
"Always!" She answers back, her face set ablaze. Sasuke, being the more cognizant of the two boys, blushes just as brightly.
"Ugh, sorry." She apologizes as they all settle on her bedroom door. She pulls out a medical kit out from under her bed, "My dad doesn't mean anything by that, he's just teasing."
"Wait, your mom said we were staying over for dinner. But you said it was just for band aids and stuff." Naruto reminds her, his hands already thrown behind his back as he gets comfortable on the carpet.
"Um, haha," Sakura laughs awkwardly, having been caught, "So, maybe—actually—my mom and dad wanted you guys over for dinner and like, formally meet you all one day. And today's the day."
"Then just say so in the first place." Sasuke grunts, rolling his eyes. He would never get why girls always had to go at everything in a roundabout way.
"I really meant to look at your guys' injuries, though! And not just for 'band aids'. We gotta disinfect your wounds so that they don't fester." She goes to Naruto first, though to her surprise, most of his cuts have already healed. Weird. She still goes over them with an alcohol wipe to which Naruto complains at the cold feeling but obviously clings to her even as she tries to inspect him.
Shuffling over to her other teammate, Sasuke pointedly looks the other direction. From this close, though, Sakura can see a faint blush color his cheeks. Also weird.
Here were two paired people, a single string between the two of them, and it seemed both boys blushed whenever Sakura got close. She did not think herself overconfident in her looks like Ino, nor was she even actively flirting with either of them, but she knew what these small, private moments meant. Besides that, she had always had an inkling that the boys were not headed towards a destiny of love, but instead one of friendship, or at least deep camaraderie. In what she has seen with the strings, her hypothesis is that if the strings are tied to the same finger it will most likely lead to a romantic pairing. Her observations with her teammates proved it true. Naruto's was on his right index, Sasuke's on his left ring.
Sakura's on her right pinky.
Her hypothesis still needed more data, however, quickly ignoring that last train of thought. She had not paid enough attention to untied couples to see if matching fingers were significant in that way either.
"We should probably head back down and save Kakashi-sensei." Sakura decides, standing up and leading the way. Tonight she was going to focus on her parents meeting their team, not on her silly kekkei genkai ideas.
Down beyond the stairs, the three of them heard the distant sounds of a commotion.
"Maa, I'm fine sitting where I am. Truly." The jounin's usual blank tone now colored with rising panic. Mebuki pulled on his arm further, trying to drag him off the couch.
"Nonsense!" The woman pushed, and upon seeing her daughter, "Sakura! Come help me get your sensei to the dining table!"
Just as she was going to protest—since she cared about her teacher and had to stick up for him, after all—her father announced, "Dinner's ready!"
"Sakura, a word." Her teacher motions her over after practice one sunny afternoon. She hesitates at his command at first, the part of her that was used to always being at the top of the class with perfect attendance shuddering. Good kids do not get a 'talking to', that corner of her mind echoes.
"Of course, Kakashi-sensei." She acquiesces, the two heading off away from the two boys who were competing against each other as usual.
Alone, Sakura is the sole focus of her teacher for once. She finds that it leaves her feeling antsy, and maybe it had been better when he ignored her for the boys instead. She waits until he speaks, despite her discomfort, since she is a stickler for rules and the Ninja Handbook said to always defer to a superior officer.
"Is there anything you want to tell me, Sakura-chan?" The jounin asks, reverting back to the familiar honorific. He even curves his eyes in his own fashion of a smile. Coercive tactic, she thinks and guilt rushes into her at thinking her teacher would do such a thing to his student. He wouldn't, would he?
"I-I don't follow. Did I do something wrong?" She asks outright. She racks her brain for anything that stood out in the past few weeks. Other than dinner with her family, nothing out of the ordinary. She would even go to say that the dinner bonded them closer.
His eye remained curved, but Sakura can feel the temperature dip lower and lower. Concern starts to prickle at her gut, more demanding than before as her teacher lapses into silence.
A horrid moment later, he says, "What did you do, that first day where the three of you rushed at me?"
Realization dawns on her and she uses every ounce of willpower within her to hold back a flinch, anything that would tip him off of her recognition. He's onto me, she thinks. Yet that corner of her mind echoes again, but what do I have to hide?
The larger man drops his façade and the smile smears away into an intense stare. "I shouldn't have passed you."
Shock fills her face, "W-what?"
"If there was an easier way to get the bells, you would have done so without getting Naruto or Sasuke's help. That's the issue here, Sakura." The jounin's accusation strikes her like blow. Caught in a whiplash at his sudden hostility, she fails to make any sort of defense for herself.
"You don't work with people for the sake of teamwork, you just did whatever you had to to finish the objective." He pushes on, seeing the tremble in the girl's hands, "And whatever you did that day, you're not telling me. That's enough of a reason to alert the Hokage, let alone allow you to be on a genin team."
Sakura cowers into herself, shame and fear and panic amassing into a single emotion of chaos. Closing her eyes, she forces herself to calm down. Kakashi was trying to force a self-incrimination out of her, his words could merely be a bluff to do so. He wanted to know about the red strings.
But does he deserve to, the echo in her mind protests and immediately it starts screaming NO! NO! NO! NO—
She shut the wailing echo up, pushing it even further into the recesses of her mind. After so many years of hiding and faking, someone had taken notice. She used to fantasize about this moment, hoping it would validate her existence, but instead it left her anxious. The red strings were her own private comfort. A secret with herself that despite what anyone believed about her, she was special. These strings made her special. No one could ever take that truth away.
Sakura eyes the jounin now with a new standpoint. He wanted to unravel the only thing that made her worth something in the ninja world. She knew what he would do if she divulged her kekkei genkai to him. Unlike a six year old civilian child, the Hokage would listen to the Copy-nin. They would run tests on her, pick apart every aspect of the strings, and even turn her into breeding stock to 'continue her line'. She knows this because she is not stupid enough to fail to see how Konoha treats its clans and bloodlines.
They would remove all agency from her. Sakura wanted to be a ninja that her parents would be proud of, yes, but above all else she wanted to be a ninja of her own terms. She fought to enter the Academy, she fought against the system's prejudice against civilian born ninja, and she would fight now, to maintain her strongest leverage in the world. Setting her posture straight, she levels a solid gaze on the Copy-nin.
"Chakra strings." She declares. Kakashi narrows his eye.
"Chakra strings, really," She'd be half dead to miss the disbelief in his voice. "How."
"The genjutsu was actually used to conceal them. The kunai and wire were a simple distraction, meant to divert attention away from the chakra string. Same as the genjutsu," Sakura bites back the urge to sneer at the word 'string'. She was not in a position to mock a man as dangerous as Kakashi. "Most people underestimate a civilian girl, so they don't expect it."
"Hm," He grunts, found wanting of a better reply. She was right of course. Even he had high doubts about her contribution in the actual fighting portion of that test. It was a natural assumption; where Sakura excelled in planning and intelligence, she would have to suffer with weaker jutsu and taijutsu. "Show me."
Sakura risked a moment of reluctance. She had thought herself confident enough in her answer that he would leave the issue, though the careless excuse was now backfiring on her.
At her teacher's expectant look, she musters forth chakra in her fingertips. She had read about chakra string—or chakra thread, as it was known in Suna—before. Knew the high level of control needed to create and direct the technique. In theory, she understood it perfectly and her control had always been pinpoint.
Giving a last minute prayer, she molds the chakra and forces it out of her fingertips. They edge out slowly, too slowly to have been usable in battle, so she pushes more chakra into it. As the string materializes, her eyes widen at its properties.
Red, bright red chakra strings pour out of her fingers and slither onto the ground where they almost seemed to mingle and become one with the strings of fate.
"Ah," Kakashi makes a sound of surprise before speaking to his student, his gentle tone genuine for once, "So this was what it was."
Allowing the man to make his own assumptions, Sakura quickly drops the technique and watches as the chakra strings fade away in one segment. She hoped he found her demonstration sufficient, as her chakra stores were not nearly enough to attempt it a second time.
"Happy?" She pouts, riding on the sudden lift in atmosphere. Playing up her childhood naivete could only help her now. Especially by acting like Kakashi's earlier confrontation was wiped from her mind in favor of trying to please him.
"Maa, could you forgive sensei for being mean to you earlier?" He scratches his head, bashful, "But to be fair, it's not good to hide things from me or from your team. So I expect you to tell the boys, too, soon."
"I will!" She nods her head, "And I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei. I guess I'm still getting used to the idea of having a team that has my back."
A large hand reaches out and pats her head. She is sorry, she repeats in her head, about lying like this. Maybe when she has made enough of a name of herself to be afforded more influence and power in Konoha's hierarchy she could come clean. Right now however, Sakura needed every advantage available for her to rise through the ranks and prevent anyone from trying to take advantage of her.
Kakashi regretted having to go such lengths with Sakura. He did not mean those words earlier, at least not the part of not passing her through. Indeed, the girl at that time did not truly care for teamwork, but he has seen the budding friendships between his students.
He felt guilty as well. The girl pointed out his own mistake in underestimating her. He held no ill will towards civilians or civilian born ninja but that did not excuse his own thoughts on her abilities. Abilities that she had proved were on par of the standard the Hokage wanted his team to be. Perhaps she would never be the powerhouses that a jinchuuriki or an Uchiha could become, but the fact that a genin of her age could summon an A-rank technique spoke volumes of the girl's potential.
And what a sight those chakra threads had been. Red instead of the customary blue. Chakra color was greatly reliant on the type of chakra being used and red was usually associated with bijuu, the tailed beasts, but lesser known was its ties with physical energy. Kakashi was not the type to teach through rigorous exercise—that was Gai's M.O.—but he had seen her lean muscles. Finally recalling that her Academy file had also marked her as the best in taijutsu and spars for the female students. Near perfect all-around and would have easily taken Sasuke's title of Rookie of the Year had she been taught under a clan and received training before the Academy.
Nonetheless, those red chakra threads were proof that the girl's 'imagination' stayed throughout the years.
Sakura head off towards training ground five to blow off steam from her earlier conversation with Kakashi and the stress that followed it. She worried her lip at the possible consequences of hiding her kekkei genkai. Interrogation under T&I seemed a definite outcome and the thought of imprisonment brought a chill to her bones. It was a good thing she planned on never being caught.
She stubbornly denied any thought that accused her of being a traitor. Hiding a kekkei genkai in peacetime would hardly count as even toeing the line of treason, especially if she did not have anything outwardly destructive like the Sharingan. She only had these silly little strings after all.
Besides, if I can hide from a jounin, she thinks brazenly, I can hide from anyone!
"Hey, Haruno!" Tenten calls over to her up ahead. Pushing those earlier thoughts aside, she settles back into the easy routine of being just Sakura. Civilian, no bloodline limit Haruno Sakura.
Walking up to the older girl and recognizing the mischievous smile on her face has her asking, "What are you planning? I can see that look on your face."
"Well, I've been seeing the way you've been looking at Neji," Sakura's eyes widen at the name and Tenten's smile grows toothy in response, "And let's just say I've decided to give a little push to help ya out. Ya know, from one girl to another."
"T-Tenten," Sakura stutters, "Why? I mean—I thought, I thought that you had a crush on Neji, so why would you… And no! I do not look at Neji, in that way, I mean!"
The brunette haired girl laughs in the face of her friend's mortification, that devil. Let it be known that Team 9's kunoichi should never be considered 'the normal one', because as far as Sakura was concerned, Tenten had a mischievous streak a mile wide.
"Ehh, I'll admit he's pretty on the eyes but I'm not nearly as infatuated with him as you, Haruno," The girl laughs, "And don't get your panties in a twist, you know I'd never out you to anyone like that."
Sakura releases a put-upon sigh, though silently relieved that her friend would not become a rival for Neji, "Fine. But was it that obvious?"
"Only if you're looking for it," Came Tenten's cryptic reply. Before Sakura could ask what she meant, the other girl nudged her playfully, "Look, they're coming! Tell me you'll play along, please! Just act normal!"
"Sure, I'm good at pretending." She replies, a slow smile on her lips. Years of ignoring the strings on people's hands gave her plenty of practice, this was easy. Regarding the rest of Team 9 with a raised hand, she watched as Tenten went up to her teacher.
"Can you help me practice my new weapons, Gai-sensei? I've finally managed to seal them into my other scrolls. Oh—and, Lee should join too since I want to test my limits with them!" The brunette asks cheerfully, a bright aura around her.
"Of course, Tenten," Gai agrees and places a hand at her shoulder, "Lee, what do you say?"
"I would never rebuff a teammate's offer to strengthen her skills! Tenten, I can only endeavor to become a ninja like you and one day receive a RIVAL OF MY OWN!" Lee places his own hand at Tenten's other shoulder.
"THAT'S the SPIRIT, Lee!" Gai dips his head once, the strength of that single nod of approval spreading to Tenten.
"Uh, let's get to it then." She holds back her usual retort and turns the other way, not before sending Sakura a conspiratorial wink.
"Neji, stay with Sakura-chan," Gai instructs before heading off with his two students, "I'm sure she can impart knowledge taught directly by my ETERNAL RIVAL onto you!"
With that, Neji and Sakura stood alone. Sakura fidgets a bit, realizing Tenten's plan was to get the two alone together and of course the girl had not thought to tell her what to do after. Devil, she thinks again, though fondly.
Eyeing the older boy, Sakura tries and fails to keep the blush from her cheeks. She tried not to think too hard on their current predicament and turned her head away from Neji. Sakura had lost Ino to Sasuke all those years ago. Where Ino's crush remained, Sakura had any sliver of infatuation with the Uchiha crushed when the massacre happened. Ino had left her behind to continue pursuing Sasuke and Sakura had only her books and her strings to fall back on, as usual.
Despite that, she was a healthy, growing girl who could not deny that Neji made her eyes go all googly and her knees wobble uncertainly. Ugh, she complains in her mind's eye, just when she thought her life was complicated enough she just had to go and nurse a crush on some guy way above her league. And not just someone older and more experienced, a clan kid as well.
The echo manifests within her thoughts again, seeming to shrug. At least Sakura was not the type to back down in the face of a challenge.
