103rd day since entering the Academy

There was an infantile, insufferable brat occupying his table. She slapped his desk and shrieked in his ears.

...What did I do to deserve this…

"What, Ino?" Yawning exaggeratedly, Shikamaru dragged his head off the table. He was sure there was a red imprint on his cheek from where it'd been resting against the desk. "It's recess."

"Get up, lazybones! Sakura's doing magic," The vivacious blonde was unusually restless. "I can't go near because she's not cool anymore but you can go! Then tell me what she's doing!" With a toss of her golden ponytail, Ino stalked off with a few followers in tow.

Magic… Shikamaru couldn't help but be intrigued when he heard that, voluntarily getting out of his seat and shuffling over next to Sakura. What could the pinkette demonstrate that would impress a girl whose father could read minds?

Haruno Sakura. A timid, quiet, and utterly uninteresting girl that happened to be in the same class as him. After being pestered by some schoolyard bullies, his childhood friend Ino had chosen to take her under her wing and the two slowly became inseparable. Interesting considering how quickly their relationship fell through. The way Sakura looked at the blonde with eyes conveying idol-worship could almost be touching, but…

...Ino just thinks of her as her pet, doesn't she? His narrow black eyes observed the cheeky grin on the pinkette's face as she and Naruto elbowed each other back and forth. But she changed a lot.

Haruno Sakura, who came from a civilian merchant family and had utterly, completely average everything, couldn't measure up to the heiress to one of the most prominent ninja clans in all the Elemental Nations. Not if she trained for a hundred years. And he thought the girl had enough sense to know this, but something about her was different. Her gaze didn't reflect those of their innocent peers, but that of a person who's had a gruesome lifetime of experience. Shikamaru had to grudgingly admit that the once plain girl now intrigued him.

Her eyes are old like dad's.

"I'll begin now," Her impatient voice tore him from his internal monologue. Pulling his hands out of his pockets sheepishly, Shikamaru made sure to be visibly paying attention. "I'm looking." There were three cups on the table in front of him. There was a crowd of children surrounding the table, two of which included Naruto and Hinata—her latest friends. The Nara had no clue how these three could get along in any way but they seemed to be inseparable at school.

"Look at this." Sakura crumpled up a piece of paper into a ball and hid it under one of the three down-facing cups she procured. Everyone watched carefully from across the table as she began swapping the position of the cups at a heightened pace before stopping. "Now where's the ball?"

"...That one," Shikamaru pointed to the cup in the middle. He'd been watching her movements carefully and was sure that he had made no mistake.

Yet his brown eyes widened when the pink-haired girl lifted the cup on the far left, revealing a crumpled paper ball. "But…"

Hinata's white eyes widened in surprise. She too had been watching her movements and had drawn the same conclusion as Shikamaru. I was sure it was in the middle cup...how did she do that?

The children who murmured to each other in confusion and wonder gasped in unison as Sakura lifted the middle cup, revealing a second paper ball under it.

"I had a ball in my sleeve to begin with," Sakura explained, her sharp emerald eyes flitting through the group, making sure she had successfully conveyed her point. "So I slipped it into another cup while swapping them. That's why you didn't see it."

"Ohhh! You're so smart, Sakura-chan!" Naruto praised, finally understanding the situation. "I would've never thought of that!"

"Idiot," A classmate muttered, only to regret it a moment later when the blond began pulling his hair. "Ow ow ow! Sorry!"

"Listen," Sakura insisted, bringing everyone's attention back to her. Hinata quietly gazed at the other girl whose impactful voice had a way of calling order to chaos, silently wishing she could do the same. The heiress had asked her clan librarian about the other girl once and was told to stay away from her because she was a simple civilian with nothing special of note. Hinata just nodded and excused herself, but she knew he was wrong.

The girl before her wasn't just any civilian. With jade eyes so full of emotion that they nearly glittered, the Sakura who had extended a hand of friendship toward her also knew who Naruto was past the rumors and had an interest in gardening. She loved the sky, the sunshine, the earth, and the air around her. Everything in the world was a beautiful blessing, and Hinata envied her attitude.

But the most important thing of note was probably that Sakura couldn't use chakra. It might be a stretch to say she couldn't use chakra because Hinata knew she could perform the simple Academy jutsus, but her Byakugan told another tale. Something's different about her chakra. Rather than an average balance of physical and spiritual energy, the pinkette had an overwhelmingly large amount of spiritual energy compared to physical. Though the girl herself likely didn't know, this imbalance rendered her unable to utilize her chakra past simple jutsus and altercations.

Was it rotten of Hinata to think that it was because God was fair?

Shaking her head to rid herself of her jealous thoughts, Hinata gave her attention to the girl in front of her who was currently delivering a speech.

"So now that I explained it to you, what didn't make sense a moment ago is now clear to see," Sakura continued. "The ball was replicated, hence, it could exist in two different places in your mind. With that said," She ran to a corner of the classroom. "How does a person teleport and reappear somewhere else?" She ran to the opposite end of the classroom. "Look! You saw me run! Here I am!"

"'Cause they use chakra!" Naruto yelled. Although his tone was rude, everyone knew that the duo were best friends and nearly inseparable. "They use chakra to teleport to the other side of the room!"

"They literally disappear and reappear," Sakura stressed, making her way back to the group. "So their body passes through a different dimension before reappearing in this one in the exact location they please? What if their body gets lost while passing through the other dimension? What if-" The girl cut herself off when she dodged a pencil thrown at her face by a bored Uzumaki. "Blah blah blah! Let's go get lunch." Taking her hand, the blond boy forcefully dragged her out of the classroom with a timid bluette in tow.

Shino muttered something about freaks as he followed suit. Shortly after, everyone besides Shikamaru and Choji had filtered out of the room, with nothing tethering them together after the spectacle finished.

"...She seems curious," Choji said kindly, carefully keeping all his negative opinions to himself. "She could be brilliant one day."

"Shikamaru! Choji!" Ino scampered back into the room once it cleared out. "What happened?! What did Sakura do? Why's everyone so impressed?"

Shutting out the incessant chattering of his blonde friend, Shikamaru pondered about the points brought up by the strange civilian with the vivid pink hair. Teleportation was a strange thing. How could a person disappear from existence for an instant and reappear somewhere else? Did their body really pass through another dimension? If not, where did they go in the instant before they appeared in their desired location?

And why the hell did all this seem so normal before Sakura questioned it? The girl had changed a lot since she last tagged along behind Ino. Was she always so brilliant? How had he never noticed her before?

"I'm getting a headache," The Nara muttered as Ino kept chattering in his ear, slouching off to find a good cloud-watching spot.

The sky is light blue today...

Him again…

"Hey, squirt!" The brunet delivered another punch in Naruto's direction that nearly caught the blond off guard. He personally didn't know who this brown-haired kid was, but he'd recently taken up the hobby of cornering Naruto during recess and kicking him around. Though it was cruel behavior, no witnesses cared to stop it. Besides…

...I'm used to it already.

But there was something different about this bully.

"Who do you think you are to hang out with Sakura?!" The brunet fumed as he tried to land a few more blows on Naruto. "Stay away from her!"

It was that.

The thing that set this brunet apart from other bullies was his motivation. This little brat, who could barely land a hit on him with his clumsy swings, had a crush on Sakura. His Sakura-chan. One of the few, if not only, people that didn't fear or loathe him. What did this brown-haired brat think beating him up would do anyway? Sakura-chan didn't like bullies; he knew that from her own experience dealing with such people.

"Hey, Naruto." Having finished saying hi to her friend from a grade above, Sakura strolled toward the blond and the brunet trying to pummel him into a pulp. "...Is this your friend?"

"Gross! No way we're friends." The bully quickly released Naruto's shirt as if he'd touched something filthy. "I'm protecting you from the dead last, Sakura-chan! A brilliant, beautiful girl like you shouldn't lower yourself to his level."

Naruto vaguely registered a few crows in his peripheral vision as they settled in a branch above them.

"..." Sakura leaned back and glanced the brunet up and down, the quirk of her brow conveying that the results came out negative. "First of all, Naruto's not my friend. He's my servant. I haven't lowered myself." The blond nodded energetically at her words. See? Nobody was forcing Sakura-chan to be with him! She accepted him on her own.

"Second, who are you?"

The brunet's bottom lip quivered for a moment before he burst into tears and ran off. Sakura gave his retreating back a judging look until he turned the corner and disappeared behind the school.

"Boys..." The pinkette was entirely unfazed as she rolled her eyes and set her lunchbox down under the tree. "Hinata is in the bathroom but she'll get here soon. Was that guy bothering you?"

Naruto shook his head and grabbed his portion of lunch from her hands, unable to suppress a wide grin from blooming on his face.

One day, when I surpass that bastard Sasuke, I can finally stand at Sakura-chan's side as her equal. And when I'm Hokage nobody will be able to bother either of us again. I'll protect her til the end.

"Uzumaki Naruto has a new friend. They're nearly inseparable and do nearly everything together."

This was a very interesting development. What kind of child would disobey the social conditioning from adults? Hiruzen watched in amusement as the pinkette in his crystal ball squealed and burst into a sprint, having startled over nothing in particular. "Stay away from meee!"

The girl had apparently been frightened by something to her left, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing there. Perhaps a small bug…

Haruno Sakura was, like her report, nothing special. There was nothing that made her stand out from the abundance of civilian children in the Academy; nothing especially kind or generous about her personality. I'd rather say it's the opposite. So how did this utterly boring girl catch the attention of children from numerous prominent shinobi clans?

Caw. A bird tapped its beak on the window.

"This child doesn't seem to be anything special." Just as expected. Handing her file back to one of his ANBU agents, the Hokage's eyes lingered on his crystal ball. "She couldn't have any ulterior motives."

Caw. Caw.

"I hardly think a normal child would catch the attention of Nara Shikaku," Cat retorted, slipping the file away. "She intends to manipulate Naruto into doing her bidding."

"Not everyone's a born genius like you," Hiruzen chortled as he waved the accusation aside. "Besides, she-"

Caw!

Two ANBU flashed to their Hokage's side as the windows behind him shattered, blocking the broken glass with their bodies. However, trained assassins as they were, they had no protocol for this situation which had never occurred before.

Caw! Caw! What could've been as much as a hundred crows flooded in through the window, scattering paperwork and pecking at the ANBU. The shinobi covered their heads with their arms, confused at the lack of a prominent threat. The birds wreaked havoc in the room and filled their ears with their cries.

"Orders, sir!" Rabbit shouted but could not be heard over the cacophonous noise. "Hey!" He soon became occupied with trying to wrestle his shiny necklace away from the greedy breaks of the ebony fowls.

To everyone's relief, the murder disappeared as quickly as it'd come, leaving in its wake a flurry of feathers and scattered paper.

"...What was that?" Cat broke the silence, running his hands through his disheveled hair. The other ANBU members were just as startled and confused, straightening their clothes and their masks.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the crystal ball that lay shattered on the ground.

"Crows like shiny things," Rabbit, who noticed his leader's stare, offered. "They probably dropped it because it was too heavy for them."

The Hokage nodded absentmindedly as the last of the feathers in the air fluttered to the ground.

So why did it feel like they were deliberately trying to break? Stroking his goatee, he signaled for the room to be cleaned up.

No, birds are not that intelligent.

The black bird fluttered to rest upon a branch overlooking a pink-haired girl who was screaming her lungs out and running in the opposite direction from a soul. It ruffled its feathers in amusement at the display.

Caw. Another crow landed behind it, having just arrived from the other side of the village.

The first crow's eyes burned bright blue for a moment before they dulled to a dimmer turquoise. At the same time, every crow in the village flew into the sky and dove for the Hokage Tower.

The blue-eyed crow cocked its head at the little girl struggling to open the door to her own house.

I wonder, when will my little blossom learn to stop running from the dead?

"Tou-chan! Open the door!" She shouted as she pounded on it.

She has forgotten that she too is one of them. And I am not so merciful as I may seem.

"Coming, Sakura!" A male voice sounded from inside the house as footsteps approached the girl.

If she proves her continued disobedience, I will dispose of her.

The strange crow fluffed its feathers one more time before going completely still. The blue drained from its eyes as its cold, stiff body fell from the tree and landed on the ground with a soft thump.

It was dead long before it hit the ground.

A/N: Some important information and clues were in this chapter. And Sakura's alive on 'probation' as long as she keeps harvesting souls, but if she keeps running from every soul she sees, she may return to her natural state soon.

The state of death.