Ok, here's the real first chapter. This is AU and OOC!Sakura (according to manga/anime standards), and I hope everyone likes it! Also: 10 ryo equals 1 US dollar so that means 370,000 ryo is abou $37,000. Really good. I know this skips around a bit, but it's really establishing Sakura and who she is for the real action to start. I promise.

Third Person POV (Sakura)

Five year old Sakura Haruno is no fool.

She is advanced by two years in the Academy, and can read, write, and understand life just as well as anyone.

So she sees.

She sees that her Kaa-san hasn't gone shopping in awhile. She overhears her parents whispering about "salary" and "taxes", then goes and looks it up at the library, when she goes and hides from Ami and the other girls. Sakura notices when her meals get smaller, and her parents stop eating altogether. It doesn't surprise her anymore when they move from their big, warm, happy, house into a much smaller, dirtier, and colder apartment on the other side of Konoha. When her parents' promise of new ninja gear and clothes for her 6th birthday is never mentioned again. She is remarkably perspective for her age, and pays attention in class much more then the seven year olds around her. It didn't take long for her to calculate the tuition of the Ninja Academy. Small, but still a significant drain on her parents' dropping income. Their store must be failing. Sakure judged that soon she would be pulled out of the Academy, and go to Konoha public school, and work in the store to bring in more money. A solution is desperately needed; of course, she keeps it all to herself. Everyone must think like her, right?

Then she gets the forms. They hand them out in class once a year, ages 5 through 12, the graduating age for the Academy. It is an extraordinarily thick packet; full of death and injury waivers, forms for housing and food, and forms that legally emancipate you from your parents. All necessary for the Trade.

Everyone knew the Trade. It happened every ten years, and it would be coming up in 5 months, soon enough for her parents to sign all the forms. It worked out perfectly in her young, five year old head. Her Kaa-san and Tou-san would be happy again. They would smile more and eat more and the store would be better. And she'd be able to come back soon, right? If she didn't like it, she could go home. This played out in her head perfectly. She would volunteer for the Trade, her family would get 370,000 ryo every two months.

-PAGE BREAK-

She likes her new family. She has two loving parents, and a new sister. The Heathrowes, she remembers. That must be their last name. Jules and Velma Heathrowe. One child. Olena Heathrowe. Dauntless. Ollie (she hates being called Olena, she recalls from their first conversation) has pretty, long, black hair. Her Mom and Dad have beautiful tattoos arching up their arms and necks. Sakura never wants to leave Dauntless. Here, she is valued. She has friends, and no one is mean to her. Sakura learns so much more, from how to punch and kick properly to building strength to the most important thing of all. Conquering your fears. She still goes to Erudite school, but advanced intelligence is the farthest thing from her mind. Leave cowardice to those Erudite shrimps. She has been here a year, and the only thing she cares about are her faction, her family, and her friends. In that order.

-ANOTHER PAGE BREAK-

It is her 13th birthday.

"Sakura, get moving! We gotta make the parlour before it closes."

"Shut up, Ollie. We'll get there in time. Stop worrying so much." Ollie and her are the same age, and as a joint present Mom and Dad are letting them get their first tattoos. They've chosen matching ones, down to the ink and place on their bodies. The fire symbol of Dauntless, in black, on their left outer upper arm. Just below the shoulder. Only fitting that Sakura's first real proof that she is Dauntless, right down to the bone, is the symbol itself, proudly displayed.

-YET ANOTHER PAGE BREAK-

"Shut up, bitch."

"Make me, fucker." Ollie never could keep her mouth clean.

It is Choosing Day. Sakura remembers her Aptitude. Dauntless and Erudite. No question where she's going. Her parents (her real ones, not the "Kaa-san" and "Tou-san" she can barely remember) have a special Welcome Home meal planned out for Ollie and her. She can just picture it: slicing delicately into her palm, the sound of her blood spitting on the coals. She belongs only here, her faction. Her faction of the brave.

"Oh, girls. I know how you like your little ritual there, but we gotta get moving. Good seats to see my babies become initiates." Her mom, Vell (Velma), has a proud smile on her face, her hand on Ollie's shoulder. It says everything, how she knows she'll see the both of them tonight back at the Dauntless compound. It shows her absolute faith in their loyalty. It is not misplaced.

Sakura smiles, gently gliding her fingers on the rest of the tattoos on her body. The first, the beautiful fire of Dauntless. Her family's names, done in beautiful black calligraphy, upon her right ribs. Her right arm, covered like a sleeve (AN: It is a full sleeve btw) in colourful tattoos showing a giant fire breathing dragon, magnificent and powerful. A small, less noticable one of the Aries constellation symbol on her inner left ankle. She plans on one more, when she gets home tonight. A stark, simplistic ink of wind, tumbling along her left shoulder blade. She loves the wind, and what's left of her chakra does too.

Sakura Haruno, nee Heathrowe, is Dauntless. Nothing can stop her.

Reviews, please? They give me motivation, and I might even be able to get out a second chapter today! That would be awesome. And um, just look up "full sleeve tattoo color dragon" if you want an idea of Sakura's sleeve. NOTE: Sakura has some chakra (obviously) but it's definetly not developed past Academy student. I'm kind of hinting at a Wind affinity, but y'know. Never gonna happen. Also, I'm fast forwarding through her life in Dauntless. Next chapter will be a few months past the completion of training. If anyone wants me to write some one shots about her time before or during initiation, drop me a review, k? Kay!