Fighting did come after lunch, and Sakura had never been more grateful she'd eaten a light lunch. She'd probably have thrown up otherwise, and Sakura didn't want to do that. It wouldn't give a very good impression of her to all her potential classmates. Renka and Itachi had vanished back off to whatever they were doing before, and she was oddly bored as she watched the others spar. It was a tournament style melee, meant to gauge their ability. Clan children and civilians had been separated in order to make things fair. Not that it was particularly fair with Sakura in the rankings with the civilians.

Sakura sighed, swinging her legs back and forth as she sat on a bench at the edge of the makeshift sparring rings. She'd already had all her fights and had unsurprisingly won them all. She knew where to hit them to make them hurt, and she did so with lightning fast strikes and unnerving precision. She'd rank top out of all the civilians. That much was certain. A quick glance over at the clan children told her that both Naruto and Sasuke were dominating. For the boys at least. Not only had they been separated by parentage, but by gender as well. Though Sakura had thoroughly questioned Mizuki, the boy watching over them, and it had been confirmed all the sparring practices would merge together by their final year in the academy.

"Sakura-chan?" a nameless chunin called her over, and she blinked in surprise. It seemed she still had a few fights to go. "We'll now be testing the gap between the best students of each group."

Her eyes locked on Sasuke as he stood there, smug as ever, his eyes occasionally darting over to where Mio stood. But more than not Mio was looking at her. Sakura was only fortunate she hadn't had to face either of her siblings in any of her fights. Not that they'd made it exceptionally far with their meagre fighting abilities. She'd been too focused on teaching them how to run away – to run away and survive, no matter how cowardly it might seem.

She blinked, hands tucked into her pockets, her steps languid and silent as she strode into the ring, eyeing the civilian boy standing on the other side of the slightly larger ring.

She wondered what to pick up from the market to cook for dinner. She bit her lip. Tomoe would likely be out, but she'd probably come back around ten o'clock, once she'd tucked the rest of her sisters in.

"Sakura-chan, pay attention," the chunin overseeing the next set of fights barked, glaring at her as she stared off into space. The sky was a pretty shade of blue. "Now Daisuke-kun, give it your all."

One pink brow arched. "No encouragement for me?" she mumbled, eyeing up her next opponent – a chubby boy who knew how to use his extra weight to his advantage. What was the bet he bullied people to figure that out? She tilted her head. She'd seen him doing it around the village.

"Go Saku-nee!" Akira yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

A smile curved at her lips underneath her velvety soft mask. Tobirama definitely knew the best masks to purchase. Her eyes glittered, her stance deceptively relaxed even as the chunin proctor looked on, unimpressed. Probably wasn't expecting too much from her. "Ready," he called, and Sakura rocked forwards onto her toes, anticipation clawing through her as she pulled her hands out from her pockets. "Fight!"

Sakura grinned, practically dancing out of the way of the sloppy, yet somehow decent attack – for a five-year-old that was. But she wasn't just an everyday five-year-old. She sidestepped his next punch, stepping into his range, dropping low as she swung a foot around and into the backs of his knees. A smirk fought its way onto her lips, thankfully hidden in all its Uchiha glory as she knocked his legs out from under him. Lunging forwards, her fist stopping millimetres away from his throat, and she looked at the chunin overseeing them, eyebrow raised.

"The match goes to Sakura-chan. Please stand and make the seal of reconciliation," he said, voice unusually blank as he watched her.

"Need a hand?" she offered, nearly rolling her eyes as her hand was battered away and the grumpy boy stood on his own. The sound of sniggers coming from all around them weren't helping either. Though that might soon change, she mused, watching as Hinata stepped into the ring.

"Quieten down please," the chunin spoke, looking between the two of them. "Are you alright to continue, Sakura-chan, or would you like a break?"

Sakura glared at him witheringly. "I'm fine. Proceed."

He bristled at her tone ever so slightly. "Very well. Are you both ready?"

She nodded.

"Y-Yes," Hinata stammered.

Sakura almost scowled at the stutter. She'd forgotten how shy Hinata was before everything. Her hands curled into fists unconsciously. Hinata wasn't supposed to be weak. Those pale lavender eyes weren't supposed to remind her of those irritating green ones burnt into her mind.

"Fight!"

She leapt away from the gentle fist strike, blinking placidly in surprise. So they were allowing clan children to use their specific styles to gauge their abilities. That made sense. Though all the gentle fist strikes that had been directed her way had been far faster than Hinata's current speed. And Hinata made the fatal mistake of not thinking out her next move – should she miss her first strike. But then Sakura, when she'd actually been five, hadn't been the greatest at planning a battle strategy. Tsunade had to punch those thoughts into her skull, quite literally in her case too. And if Hinata was going to use the slightest bit of chakra with her strikes, then so was she. A wicked grin stole her lips, hand clenched into her fist as she ducked down just as had before, ploughing her fist straight into her opponent's gut.

Hinata stumbled back, gagging, and Sakura – being the well-trained shinobi she was – made full use of that fact, forcing the slightly taller girl to the ground. She was irritatingly short for her age, though she supposed it meant there was less of her available to hit.

"You're awesome, nee-chan!" Akira called, and Sakura knew her sister was grinning as the chunin once again called. She'd never had any siblings calling out encouragement or anything of the like before. Then again, she hadn't known the joy of having siblings. Even if she'd had them, she doubted she would've appreciated them as she should.

Sakura turned, gaze softening as she met the black-eyed gleaming stare of her triplet, her eyes flickering over to where Mio stood. Mio was smiling widely too, even if she wasn't yelling out like the youngest of their triplet group.

"Well then," the chunin spoke, reclaiming her attention as one Uchiha Sasuke stepped into the ring with her. "Are you both OK to proceed?"

Sakura nodded along with Sasuke.

"Today's the day I beat you, Sakura!" Sasuke hissed, charging forwards on the signal, and Sakura grinned. Ah, baby Sasuke was really so adorable, she thought to herself, easily avoiding his wild swipes as he tried to throw her off balance. Not that it worked. Not that it ever worked. She darted to the side, his fist whistling past her cheek. Baby Sasuke was so adorable, she thought once more, lifting her arm, elbow and all, slamming her fist into his face. And so very stupid too.

Blood spurted from his nose, and the chunin called the match. Yet again in her favour. She smirked, watching as the adult fussed over Sasuke's very broken nose. There was no way in hell she was ever going to go easy on the kid when it came to fighting. He was a total brat. A sister stealing brat. Plus there was that small vindictive part of her that whispered: this is what you get for running off with Orochimaru and leaving me unconscious on a damned park bench. Her heart ached every time she thought about that. About those times before the world went to hell in a handbasket.

Hairs on the back of her neck pricked, a slow clap resounding through the air, and Sakura turned to face Senju Tobirama as he walked out from the shadows of the Academy. "Nice fight," he said, red eyes locked with hers even as Sasuke was whisked to the nurse's office. "And that concludes all the academy tests," he continued, and Sakura shivered as his eyes remained locked on her own. Had she done something phenomenally stupid or something? Well, aside from winning the damned tournament fight thingy. Though it was hardly like she could've lost on purpose. Tobirama had seen her take down adults with bricks and her fists. Children were child's play, funnily enough. "Your results will be mailed to you within the week, and I hope to see many of you in lessons starting next Monday."

There were no doubts she'd passed. Sakura couldn't be any more certain after her performance. Her smile faded, eyes darting over to where her sisters stood. They were the ones she needed to worry about, especially with that nervous expression on Akira's face as the chunin dismissed them. No doubt she'd have to spend the night reassuring her sibling. But first, she needed to visit the market to pick up dinner with the scant amount of money she'd brought to the academy for that very reason.

"Saku-nee, you were super awesome out there! You were like bam, and then they were down," Akira chattered excitedly, having materialised next to her as she made her way towards the gate. "Wish I was as good as that…"

Sakura mussed her silky long locks. "One day, Aki-chan… one day," she murmured. "Right, Imma head to the market to pick up what we need for dinner, so you two should start heading back. I'll catch up in fifteen minutes."

"Nee-chan, we'll be home in fifteen minutes," Akira complained.

"Then I'll meet you at home."

"But I wanna walk home with you—"

"Come on, Aki," Mio said, yawning as she pulled on their sister's arm. "We need to get home before Sora and Seiren break the apartment."

Sakura turned her head, walking towards the marketplace in the very heart of Konoha, watching out of the corner of her eye as her sisters headed home. Sighing quietly, she upped her pace, barely blinking as a familiar figure fell in step with her. "Did you really have to break his nose?"

"Nice to see you too, Itachi," she mumbled, smothering her own yawn as she arrived at the markets and made her way towards the cheapest, decent fish she could find. "An to answer your question, it was Sasuke, so yes." She glanced over at him. "Where's your shadow by the way? He's been missing for a little while."

"Shisui is currently on a C-Rank mission."

"Let's hope it doesn't turn into an A-Rank, then," she murmured, ignoring Itachi's confused stare as she purchased the fish and moved on to find some vegetables. They already had rice at home. "You got a reason to be at the market, or were you just following me?"

His sheepish expression told her everything she needed.

"Well," she said, hefting the bags of food up. "I've got everything I need, so I'll be heading on home. You're welcome to tag along, if you want to for some stupid reason, but you can't stay for dinner. I suspect your mother will be expecting you back anyway, so no loss there." She didn't wait for a reply, simply walking away and back to her home. She had sisters she needed to take care of, just like how Itachi had a brother to console after his hundredth or so consecutive loss to her. Sakura smirked. There was no way in hell Sasuke was catching up anytime soon.

She trudged through the streets, making her way to the seedier parts of Konoha, arriving home after her scheduled fifteen minutes, knocking on the door, smiling at her clone opened to door. "I'm home," she called, surveying the living room. Everything appeared to still be in working order.

"Nee-chan!" Seiren popped her head out from the bedroom. "Welcome back!"

"Saku-nee's here?" Akira poked her head around the doorframe.

One pink brow rose. "There's a wonderful thing called ears. You should use them sometime," she said, pinching Akira's cheek as she was engulfed in a wide hug. "Now you can either play with the others, or you can both help me make dinner. It's rice and fish with vegetables."

"Eww. Yucky vegetables…"

"But you're still going to eat them," Sakura said, smiling sweetly at her sister. "Even if I have to force them down your throat."

"Nee-chan, you're kinda scary…"