Chapter 4: Grit

"Edit your life

frequently and ruthlessly.

It's your masterpiece

after all."

- anonymous

Grief, Sakura thought was a strange thing. For most people the circumstances surrounding their grief tended to sneak up and overwhelm them… And Sakura noted with a sort of morbid curiosity that various people all reacted somewhat differently. Some people would demonstrate their grief in aggressive displays- sobbing, yelling, even resorting to violence… Others would cling to their loved ones, tears dripping from their face as their hands clutched each other. And then there were those who attempted to remain stoic- these people fascinated her the most. Because no matter how hard they tried, the shadows hanging from their eyes and the stiffness of their gait would always betray their inner turmoil.

The week after the massacre of the Uchiha clan Sakura had witnessed all these various types of mourning within her village. The instructors at the academy were remaining tightlipped about the incident, but their sorrow was bellied in their stricken attitude and less-than focused lessons. On her run home after the first day back, Sakura spotted a chunin girl loudly sobbing about her slain teammate. She even overheard some civilians gossiping about the incident, their tones hushed and somber.

But despite the grief, Sakura had also heard other sorts of whispers… When she passed a fruit stand on her way to the academy, she heard the vendors chatting about how the arrogant Uchihas had got what was coming to them. During lunch, one of the students from the older classes had said that the sharingan was too powerful a tool for any clan to rightfully possess and this was Kami's revenge. Even her own father had snorted 'good riddance' as he had read the newspaper article.

But with all the gossip surrounding the event, there was one thing that everyone was keeping silent about- who was responsible for it. Over a hundred people- men, women, and children were slaughtered and not a peep about their murderer was mentioned. She watched as countless people reminisced on a stray memory they had with an Uchiha- many of these memories were exaggerated in the way people tend to talk about the dead. But no one seemed particularly worried or revenge stricken on who killed their acquaintances. And this struck the little girl as odd.

But what seemed even more peculiar to her was that after the first month, the massacre slowly seemed to creep out of conversation. People who had sobbed on the street, or shook their head in disdain had appeared to forget the massive tragedy that happened just beyond their own doorsteps and moved on with their lives. People who were acquaintances, teammates, and instructors of Uchihas seem to snap back into their everyday routine like nothing had happened. It was as if their misery had an expiry date and once it was over, everyone had to go back to normal.

Things weren't normal though. Sakura logically had known that shinobi could and did die during missions; in fact she even knew the statistical rate of shinobi deaths and their average lifespan. They were not particularly thrilling numbers. But this was the first time death felt real to her. A whole group of people, some whom she knew, even if just by face were all of the sudden not there. It was a chilling reality and caused her to think about her future- her dream career in more than just rose colored glasses.

It was time that she stepped up her game.

So she devoured books during lessons and borrowed as many scrolls from the academy as they would let her. Scrolls on genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, fuinjutsi… Anything and everything that she thought could potentially help her. And while her chakra reserves were not strong enough to accomplish most of the jutsus she was learning, at least she had their knowledge in her arsenal.

The later half of her days at the academy were devoted to physical training. She didn't know what exactly had made the instructors reroute their schedule, but this extra time was Kami- sent. She became more determined, worked herself past her limits. She pushed her little body until sweat soaked through her clothes and nausea tickled her throat. Every night her muscles ached and exhaustion pulled her into a dreamless sleep. But that was okay, perfect in fact. It meant she was improving.

Sometimes she became frustrated with her natural weaknesses though. Things that were impossible to change. In many ways it was difficult being compared to your peers when you were one of the smallest people in the class. No matter how much muscle mass Sakura acquired, she could not compete with the raw size that several of her sparring partners had.

It took her six weeks of constantly being beat down, even after her new stricter training, for Sakura to learn a special sort of tactic. It was after watching an older class spar that she realized she needed to be more fluid with her movements. She may not have been physically domineering- she probably never would, but that could be used to her advantage. She focused on becoming faster, more nimble. Sakura learned the art of exhausting ones opponent and striking at precisely the right moment, in the right area to cause maximum damage. If she were going to protect her village from unseen foes like the Uchiha killer, then she needed to be better.

Two months after the Uchiha massacre Sasuke returned to the academy. Sakura hadn't been completely sure if rumors about his survival were true or not, so it was a shock walking into the classroom one morning and seeing him sitting in his usual desk at the back.

Guilt welled in her for a moment as she took in his shockingly pale skin and deep bruise like bags that clung to his eyes. She wondered if perhaps she should have tried to visit him in the hospital- or wherever else he was staying… But then again, how did one console someone over the loss of their entire family? Especially when she had trouble relating to people in the first place…

Sasuke's dark eyes caught her pitying stare, and narrowed hatefully. She quickly turned and faced the front of the classroom. It was then that she vividly recalled her first meeting with him- at the spring festival with his beautiful and curious mother… his mother who was no longer alive.

By the time the rest of her classmates trickled in, each paused to stare at Sasuke for a moment. She wondered if some of them, like her had thought he was dead too. But her second shock of the day came when Ami took her customary seat next to her and started gossiping with Yuri, who was in front of them.

"Did you see? Sasuke is back!" Ami leaned forward and whispered to Yuri.

Sakura pulled a scroll on water style ninjutsu out of her bag, trying to dismiss the conversation. But her unrolling stopped at Yuri's next words.

"Yeah, I wonder where he went..."

"I'm not sure. He looks pale- maybe he was sick?" Ami mused.

Sakura stared at the girls incredulously. Surely they couldn't be dense enough to not know about the Uchiha massacre? It was printed in the newspaper! Everyone from their fellow classmates to street peddlers were talking about it.

She turned in her seat and noticed Shikamaru also giving the girls a disbelieving stare. He caught Sakura's eye and rolled his own in response to the two girl's foolishness before laying his head down in customary 'nap' position.

Sakura tuned out Ami and Yuri's conversation as it strayed to fashion, but her mind stuck on the earlier topic. She had always assumed that everyone in class knew about the Uchiha massacre, but now that she thought about it, she supposed that wasn't true. The only people that Sakura had actually overheard discussing it were older students, and a couple of clan children in her own class. Not even Ino, who was the Yamanaka heiress had mentioned the massacre when she mused at how long Sasuke would be gone for.

Sakura's class was just about split evenly between children that hailed from shinobi clans and civilian ones. She quickly figured that for most civilian children their parents might have shielded the news about the massacre from them in some latent attempt to preserve innocence. She internally scoffed- they were going to be shinobi for Kami's sake- it was doing them a greater injustice to let them drown in their ignorance. Sakura also figured that parents in shinobi clans would be far more pragmatic about death. But as she quickly peeked over at Ino who was mindlessly running her fingers through her lush blonde hair, she considered that maybe that wasn't the case.

"Hey TEME! Where the hell have you been?" Naruto suddenly shouted as he skidded into the classroom, barely a moment before the bell rang.

Every single head in the classroom, including her own whipped to the back to see how Sasuke would react. And even if not everyone knew why Sasuke was away for so long, the menacing aura that cautioned anyone from coming close pretty much spelled out his bad mood.

Sasuke's lip curled up in a harsh sneer, "Tch, dobe."

"Naruto," Iruka- sensei barked at his least favorite student, "find your seat now!"

Naruto grumbled, his whiskered cheeks scowling before he plopped himself down next to Sayu who positively sneered at him.

Iruka-sensei lectured the class on how to properly take care of weapons before leading everyone outside to the training grounds. But this time the training ground had a new addition- a table with an assortment of every kind of weapon a shinobi could ever want was on it.

Iruka-sensei picked up the standard shuriken, "What is this?" he quizzed.

Kiba's puppy barked and Kiba answered before Iruka-sensei could pick a hand. He shot the boy a warning look before moving on to some less familiar items. An axe, a scythe, a broadsword…all very impressive looking, and all very heavy looking. Sakura couldn't help but feel like the weight of some of the weapons would cost their users some much needed strength in battle. But the intimidation factor was striking nonetheless.

"Come up for a closer look, but do not touch anything unless you ask for assistance. Anyone who does will be running laps around the Hokage Mountain." Iruka-sensei warned.

Sakura waited patiently as her classmates all swarmed upon the weapons. Their chatter turned thunderous as they each bragged about which weapon they would master.

"Not eager to find yourself a weapon?" Iruka-sensei asked, a wry grin curving his lips as his eyes stuck to the crowing eight year olds.

Sakura watched as Riku pointed to the giant battle-axe and loudly proclaimed he would master it. "I can wait my turn."

Iruka chuckled. "I've noticed that you have become very interested in ninjutsu. Shinobi who master its uses have several advantages, but circumstances can prevent them from using it. It is always best to master some sort of weaponry. You're aim has improved a lot."

Sakura flushed slightly at the praise. She had always felt like Iruka-sensei unfairly pointed out her flaws to the class, but it finally seemed like he was finally taking note of her improvements.

"I hope you don't mind that I used you in my demonstrations, Sakura," Iruka said, watching the little girl out of the corner of his eye. "Its just that I knew you could handle the criticism better than others."

He watched as she nodded resolutely. He had always thought she was such an odd little creature. Bright green eyes, pink hair, the tiniest frame, and the most level head that he had ever seen on a child. She was more stoic than some of the Uchihas… Iruka shook his head. He looked down and watched her scrutinize her classmates' childish antics. She was in many ways a little adult- it would serve her well in the line of work she was going down, but only if she could learn to interact better with others.

"Why don't you look over here," Iruka said, guiding her over to the less popular side of the table, where all of the smaller, less imposing weapons lay.

Sakura took in the various different types of senbon and kunai before her eyes settled on a familiar object. One that even an untrained civilian child would recognize. One that made her think of that day two years ago in the basement. A whip. It was curled up in several loops, away from the sharper pointed weapons. The leather material was thick near the wrapped handle, but tapered out thinly and it seemed to be coated with a shiny substance. Her fingers itched to touch it, but she heeded Iruka-sensei's warning. Intrigue burned within her.

"NARUTO!" Iruka-sensei bellowed.

Sakura whirled around to see Naruto grinning as he tried to grasp the broadsword. The weight of the weapon quickly tipped the boy over and Sakura winced as Iruka-sensei gripped him by the scruff. The entire class was given laps after that. Sakura took this in stride, but as she ran, she watched as several of her classmates hissed at Naruto.

The next day Sakura arrived and once again noticed Sasuke sitting in the back of the classroom, hunched over and surly. She averted her eyes. Approaching him and speaking to him would be out of character- they had never been close. And she had a feeling that Sasuke would see it for what it was- sympathy.

So she quickly took her seat, but instead of pulling out a tome or scroll, she chose to instead look out the window. It was a practice she engaged a lot in when she was younger- daydreaming. But today she watched as Naruto slowly ambled through the gate. Some of the older students pushed him aside, and in typical Naruto fashion, he started cursing them out. Sakura shook her head with a wry grin- sometimes it seemed like he would never learn.

That month Iruka-sensei, along with some other chunins allowed the students to practice with some of the weapons. For some reason Sakura found herself drawn to the whip again. It was not the most practical weapon- it could be cut, or get tangled and training would be an art in itself, but the weapon carried a raw sort of elegance- it almost felt wrong calling it a weapon instead of a tool.

"I see you are looking at the whip," a girl wearing the standard green chunin vest remarked.

Sakura gazed at the girl out of the side of her eye, as she tentatively picked the whip up. It was surprisingly light in her hand. After brushing her finger over the leather-like material, she fully turned to face the girl. "Do you know much about using one?"

"A little, there aren't many people that utilize them. But my brother used to. He always said it was dead handy. Good for movement, binding, destruction, and of course if you couple it with a ninjutsu technique, a whip can be deadly."

Sakura let the whip uncoil, it was so long that the end of it pooled on the ground. But holding it felt right. She turned to the girl. "Do you suppose there is someone that could teach me?"

The girl smirked. She had a good feeling about this.

Despite the Uchiha massacre, the rest of the year passed relatively normally, with only a few exceptions. Sasuke had never bounced back to his reserved but cheery demeanor, though Sakura never really expected him to. Sometimes she watched him before she left the academy at the end of the day while he would continue to ruthlessly train. She wondered how late into the night he would stay.

Sakura had also added yoga to her morning mediation routine. She had gathered her courage and asked one of the older girls who she had frequently watched spar how she had become so flexible. And once the girl explained yoga, Sakura checked out the nearest book on it. It was a type of exercise that made her feel intimately familiar with her body-inside and out.

Her newfound flexibility also helped her with learning how to master the whip. Misa-sensei, the chunin who had introduced her to the weapon had agreed to meet her three times a week when she wasn't busy with missions. The training had gone slowly at first- it took her a while to adjust to such a long instrument. And the backlash had caused her to go home nursing lash marks more often than not. But she was beginning to get a handle on the weapon- she used it to grasp objects before tearing them apart with her kunai, restrain Misa-sensei and even propel herself. After eight months of diligently working Misa-sensei had even gifted Sakura with her own whip.

At nine years old, three years into the academy, it seemed as if her routine was set. Until of course things changed. Usually during the last hour of school, Mizuki-sensei let them outside to train, read, or work on homework. It was essentially a free period as long as they were productive. But one day instead of just their white-haired sensei standing at the front of the class, Suzume-sensei was there too. The normal classroom chatter died down as everyone stared at the woman, confused.

"Girls, please come to the front of the classroom. You will begin your kunoichi classes with me in room 208."

Sakura rose from her seat and gathered her bags, interest peaked. She did love the extra training at the end of the day, but special classes seemed exciting!

She was wrong...

Kunoichi classes were in Sakura's grand opinion, pointless. Everyday she was forced to give up worthwhile training and learn useless things like flower arranging or how to walk and talk like a highborn lady. The girls practiced how to properly tie an obi, apply makeup, and pour tea. All lessons that Grandmother Satomi would have highly approved of if Sakura had actually been a Haruno. But she wasn't a Haruno, and she didn't care to pretend at being a pampered princess. She wanted to be a shinobi. So suffice to say, these classes were her least favorite.

This was not a popular opinion shared by her classmates though. Ami and Yuri would squeal at the end of the day about what messages they were going to send in their bouquets. Ino would always smirk as she made the most beautiful arrangements, and even Hinata flushed at being praised over her eloquent skills with a kimono.

Sakura's arrangements were adequate and Suzume-sensei could not fault her on her flawless impression of a young lady. This was a disguise that she donned the moment she stepped into her family home. But despite her success, she still internally grumbled about having to attend these lessons. Suzume-sensei warned them that as they got older, more difficult topics would be introduced to them, but Sakura couldn't imagine what other pointless things kunoichi were expected to learn.

Another unexpected downside occurred the year she turned nine. She really should have expected it, what with the kunoichi classes teaching them how to arrange flowers that could mean anything from sympathy to eternal devotion. But Sakura was wholly taken by surprise when she sat down in room 208 and heard a few girls discussing whom their crushes were. And while that in itself was not so shocking, it was the massive fight that followed that was truly astounding.

"I think he's dreamy," Ami said, sighing happily.

"Whose dreamy?" Ino demanded as she and a few other girls swept into the classroom.

Ami blushed at being overheard, but tilted her chin up defiantly, "Sasuke-kun of course."

Sakura watched with growing trepidation as Ino snorted in derision. "Like Sasuke-kun would ever go for a girl like you. Obviously Sasuke-kun is going to be with me." She said it like it was the most honest statement in the world.

Ami's face flushed with rage, but Sayu beat her response. "He doesn't like either of you! Sasuke-kun is going to marry me!"

It was after this statement that the violence escalated. And by the time Suzume-sensei made her way to the classroom only two minutes later, some of the girls were brawling on the floor, flowers and makeup lay scattered and broken in their midst. The entire class was scolded on fighting with each other- they were going to be kunoichi and expected to support each other. But as she watched Sayu, Ino, and several other girls scowl at each other, she figured the lecture was falling of deaf ears.

Sakura had thought that because she harbored no romantic feelings towards Sasuke- or anyone else in the class for that matter, she would be spared his fan-girl's ire. But she was unfortunate enough to be paired up with Sasuke for taijutsu sparing one day.

Sasuke's dark eyes scanned her dismissively as they faced each other- as if he didn't even think she was an opponent worthy of his time. Anger burned within her for a moment before she dismissed it. Iruka-sensei called for them to begin and Sasuke was behind her, before she could barely move. But Sakura bowed her back, missing his hit and kicked her leg out, just grazing his side as Sasuke dodged. Sakura bit her lip in frustration as she found herself on the defense more than offense. Usually she would try to use her speed and size to exploit her opponent, but Sasuke was even faster than her. She blocked a particularly vicious jab, before flipping around and managing to hit Sasuke full on in the face. Surprise flashed in his dark eyes for a moment before rage took over. He had Sakura pinned to the floor before she could ready herself for his next attack. Blood from his nose dripped onto her face as he pinned her arms, his knees gripping her thighs.

"Call. Winner- Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka-sensei announced.

Sasuke didn't move off her for a moment, his dark eyes still biting into her own. But Sakura wasn't sure exactly what he was seeing, as the rage burning in his eyes couldn't being intended for her. But still, she felt uncomfortable under his stare, so she wiggled her arms, hoping he would take the hint.

"Sasuke," Iruka-sensei barked.

His head snapped up, and more blood poured out of his nose. He was off Sakura and on his feet in a flash, as if the contact had burned him.

But when Sakura got to her feet, wincing slightly at her sore neck and side, she looked over to where the rest of the class should have been sparring. But almost all of them where staring at Sasuke. It only took a few seconds though for Yuri to send Sakura a scathing glare. And when she took her usual seat in class, Ami stomped in, huffing as she sat next to her.

"I don't know what your trying, but it's not going to work," Ami hissed at her.

Sakura was startled out of her reading. She frowned at the purple-haired girl, "What do you mean?"

"You were trying to impresses Sasuke-kun during sparring," Ami said, dark eyes narrowed.

Sakura scowled, "No I wasn't. I was trying to win."

Ami huffed, "Like you could ever win against Sasuke-kun! And he will never notice you either! You're too ugly, with your big forehead and stupid pink hair!"

Suzume-sensei entered the classroom and cut off Ami's hushed rant. Sakura quietly thanked Kami for that as she listened to the lesson on how to properly use a fan.

But as her sensei began droning on, she caught her reflection in the window. Sakura cocked her head studying her face. Sure she wasn't obviously beautiful like Ino, but she hadn't consider herself ugly either. Her brows pinched together- her forehead didn't look particularly large to her. Her eyes were not wide and doe like, but almond shaped and bright green. She had a small nose, and full lips. Sure her hair, and maybe even her eye colour made her look a little exotic, but if you took away the bright colors she thought she looked perfectly average. Shaking her head, at her own foolishness, Sakura refocused on Suzume-sensei. Appearances didn't matter anyways.

But for the next three years as kunoichi classes continued, Sakura was forced to reevaluate her opinion. While physical appearances may have made no difference to her, they did to the rest of the world. Suzume-sensei would allude to seduction, or 'honeypot' missions kunoichi would have to complete in the most delicate way possible, but Sakura could read the subtext. If you were a beautiful woman, it was a simple matter of asking the right questions to the right people to gain important information.

"A kunoichi will only be asked to be a part of honeypot missions when she turns fifteen or under very strict circumstances. They will undergo a mental evaluation and special preparation," Suzume-sensei explained. "But that doesn't mean that you have to wait. As females, many of you will be underestimated- use that to gain the advantage over your enemy."

It was an interesting notion- but slightly distasteful. Sakura had always pictured herself a heavy hitter when she imagined being a shinobi. She wanted to be on the front lines, tearing through her foe, while standing next to her heroes. Not slinking around in the shadows with a painted smile and beguiling eyes. But she was to be a tool of the village, what choice did she have?

"Suzume-sensei?" Sakura questioned, raising her hand.

Suzume cast her annoyed look, "Yes, Sakura?"

Some of the other girls giggled at their teacher's annoyance with her. She ignored them, "Do boys have to be trained for this too?"

All the girls, even Hinata tittered at her question. Suzume-sensei did not laugh, but her mouth was twisted in a half grin.

"No Sakura, they don't. The boys have a free period right now. It is unnecessary for them to learn."

Sakura frowned, "But why? Don't men have to go on honeypot missions too?"

This time Suzume-sensei did laugh, "No dear girl! The criminals that kunoichi are interrogating, stealing from, or assassinating are men!"

Sakura remained silent and allowed Suzume-sensei to move on, but she silently fumed. Surely the Hokage didn't think that all criminals and missing-nin were men! Women were just as capable of committing evil deeds- and if anyone needed convincing she would happily introduce them to Grandmother Satomi.

She spent the rest of the class internally fuming about the inequality that was present in their military system. It wasn't fair that the boys got to spend the last hour doing whatever they wanted when she was forced to learn how to flatter a man. And at the end of the day, Sakura was not fully able to reign in her temper as she stomped out of the classroom. Unfortunately, Naruto had decided to join her. He had been doing that a lot lately.

"Hi Sakura-chan!"

She could hear Ami and Yuri giggling from behind her and internally sighed before offering him a wan smile.

"Hello Naruto-san."

Naruto's smile grew and he began passionately gushing about becoming the future Hokage while Sakura gathered her bags and prepped to run home. She didn't know where Naruto's sudden aggressive friendliness had come from, but it was slightly annoying, as terrible as that sounded. Yes, she left him some of her lunch every day and yes, he returned the clean bento box every morning. But it was their unspoken agreement. Lately though, he had taken to loudly trying to gather her attention- attention that was better spent training or reading.

"Exams are coming up," Naruto prattled on. "Are you nervous Sakura-chan? Of course you're not, you're a genius! I'm not worried at all either, you're looking at the future Hokage- believe it!"

Sakura couldn't help but grin at his optimism, even if his talent didn't quite match. Either way, she felt less angry than before. But as she ran home for the night and completed her training taijutsu, her mind strayed to Naruto's earlier words. Exams were coming up, and if she passed she would be a genin- a real shinobi.

So for the next two weeks Sakura trained almost constantly- both her body and mind. She completely shut out any form of distraction in favor of improving herself- sleep was forfeited, observation could wait- anything that did not contribute to helping her pass the exam was forgotten.

She ignored her mother's worried looks and father's suspicious stares. If she had spent more time in the house than perhaps she would have realized that the trips to the basement were happening almost nightly now for her mother. But she was busy, so she didn't notice. Green eyes that were so curious as they took in her surroundings no longer searched for stray bruises or welts on her mother and instead focused on scroll after scroll.

The morning of the exam, Sakura rose form her bed before sunrise and walked out to the garden. She shivered a bit as the dewy grass touched her bare toes, but ignored the chill and began her mediation. She started with breathing before settling into some yoga stretches. As she moved into some more complicated poses, Sakura searched out her chakra. It was humming brightly, the cords all having thickened in the years of training. But Sakura still couldn't help but frown as she noticed the core of her chakra remained the almost the same size. A small glow of spiritual energy, that hadn't seemed to have expanded much. This would be troublesome if she wanted to use any form of ninjutsu regularly, and she had been dying to test out a combination of her whip and a fire jutsu.

Sakura shifted into another position, but as she started to retreat from within, she noticed something else- the odd cluster of chakra that had always sat near her voice box had expanded almost a tenfold. Bright tethers stretched, connecting it to her core. It was strange, but she didn't have time to wonder about it. Sakura straightened herself and practiced a few more taijutsu moves- nothing to strenuous that could hinder her performance in the exam.

As she arrived at the Academy, Sakura witnessed a large gathering of parents dropping off her classmates. She supposed that they were wishing their children luck. Walking in the classroom, she noted that as usual Sasuke was perched at the back like a shadow. She never bothered to greet him anymore. Usually she would be halfway through a scroll, but today anxiety churned within her.

As the classroom filled up Sakura watched her classmates own nervous habits. Hinata was shaking slightly and Kiba's puppy, Akamaru looked like he was about to pee on the floor at any moment. When Mizuki-sensei walked in the entire class hushed.

"Good morning class," he smiled. Some offered him halfhearted greetings, but mostly everyone just tensed in nervous anticipation. "I am about to hand out the written portion of your exam. Once I do, absolutely no talking is allowed. If I catch any of you cheating, you fail. Understood?"

Everyone answered affirmative and Sakura bit her lip as a paper was put down in front of her. She scanned the questions quickly before almost snorting in disbelief. All of these questions were easy- stupidly easy. She almost wanted to berate herself for worrying so much.

She completed the simple questions quickly and raised her hand. Mizuki sensei smiled at her as he collected her exam before handing her a scroll on clone jutsu. She frowned confused- they had studied this jutsu months ago. It was one of the simpler ones that Sakura had actually completed with ease. But still, her teacher had handed it to her, so she obediently read up on the theory and hand signs. By the time she was finished reviewing, most of her classmates had finished their exams.

"The next portion of your exam will be outside on the training grounds, Iruka-sensei will be waiting for you," Mizuki-sensei announced.

This portion of the exam was slightly more difficult- they had to hit moving targets with senbon, complete an obstacle course and demonstrate basic katas. Sakura was only slightly winded when she finished. Iruka-sensei led them back into the classroom and sat down beside Mizuki-sensei for the last portion of the exam.

"Please complete a clone," Iruka-sensei stated after they lined up in alphabetical order.

Sakura's eyes widened in shock and she quickly glanced at Mizuki-sensei. He sent her a quick wink before focusing on Choji.

Sakura waited her turn, watching as almost everyone was able to complete the jutsu with ease. When her name was called, she quickly did the hand signs and transformed into Mizuki-sensei. He looked slightly surprised, as the rest of the class had been posing as Iruka.

After the entire class was tested they all lined up outside and Sakura uncharacteristically beamed as Mizuki-sensei pressed the Konoha forehead protector into her hand, with a quiet 'good job'. Her heart was beating loudly and pride welled within her. She did it.

But as Sakura looked around at all of her excited classmates, eagerly showing off their forehead protectors, she noticed Naruto sitting by the tree glumly. It didn't take a genius to realize he had failed. Part of her wanted to go comfort him, but what exactly could she say? You should have worked harder? You shouldn't have spent so much time pulling pranks? Everything she came up with sounded rude in her mind. So instead, she headed for the front of the gates. Several parents were swarmed around, congratulating their children. She ducked past them and continued home, knowing that there would be no celebration waiting, but too happy to care.

"Hello flower," Mebuki greeted her at the door. Her eyes darted to the forehead protector in her hand and dimmed slightly. Still she managed to pull her lips up in something that resembled a smile, "You are a genin now, congratulations."

Sakura knew the sentiment was false- her mother never wanted her to be a shinobi. But she smiled all the same.

And when Mebuki ushered her into the dining room, Sakura was surprised when the sight of her father met her.

"Well, did you pass?" Kizashi bit out, clutching a cup of sake.

Sakura cautiously sat down. "Yes," she quietly answered.

He grunted in response, before filling up his cup. And by the end of dinner his face had taken on a flush. "I never wanted one in the house- a kunoichi. They've already taught you all sorts of things about how to kill and deceive. Don't think I didn't notice you practicing in the garden!" Kizashi slurred.

Sakura didn't know how to answer, so she stayed silent. But the rant continued.

"Don't you dare bring dishonor to our name girl. You're not taking those missions like your mother!"

"-Kizashi," Mebuki interrupted

His brown eyes darted over to his wife, anger swirling within them. "Don't deny it, that's how she got here, isn't it?"

Mebuki sighed, but didn't answer him. She turned to her daughter, watching as Sakura stared at her, trying to put her father's words together. "Go to your room."

Sakura dutifully stood up and took her plate to the kitchen. She was barely a step out of the room before the yelling started. It got quieter and quieter as she went up the stairs. She wished that they could have just let her be excited for one night without tainting it. But than again, the implications of her father's words were starting to shred a little light on her parentage- if it was true of course.

Sakura tossed and turned all night and when she woke in the morning, she only did basic mediation and taijutsu. A small smiled lit her face as she tied the forehead protector on though. Spirits lifted, she ran to the academy- today she would learn what team she was in.

It seemed as if everyone was impatiently excited to figure out what teams they were on too, as there were more people than usual in the classroom when she showed up.

"Good morning everyone. I am going to list out each team and their jounin-sensei. Please wait here with your team for your sensei to show up," Iruka-sensei said.

Naruto barged in, "that's right, number one ninja, future Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto is here!" he announced.

Sakura's brows lifted as she noticed the forehead protector he was wearing.

Iruka-sensei didn't scold him as usual though, only rolling his eyes instead. He began calling out names, and Sakura tensed in nervous anticipation. She had never been all that good with interacting with her peers. Most of the girls still continued their cruel taunting, which never truly bothered her, she had faced much worse from her family, but it never endeared her to them either. The only person she could say with some degree of certainty was her friend was Hinata, and the two barely ever spoke. Would she truly be able to work with other people?

"Team Seven- Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto,"

Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I have a few things to say about it.

One- I have no idea how no one in their class seemed to know about the Uchiha massacre in the series. It was a big event and people talk. So this was my solution.

Two- Some people complained about me making Sakura weak again. I don't intend to have her be a weak character, but I also don't want to tread into Mary Sue territory. Sakura is different and has an entirely new set of good and bad traits now. And as for her parentage, its going to remain a mystery.

Thank you to all those who have reviewed, I really do love hearing your feedback.

Please review this chapter and let me know what you think!

-Nyx