A/N: I do not condone that my writing or development is better or worse than the creator of Naruto or others. This is just my imagination / take of that I wish to see Sakura do and how she develops. Some events, characters and places may be out of order or changed due to the story / how I feel Sakura would interact or feel. I will do the best of my ability to keep everyone IN character. I hope you enjoy! Some drama, action, and maybe even some other type of romance will be in store for her. How will it turn out for this new Sakura Haruno? Come take a look!

This was it, team 7 had officially been assigned, and she had been assigned with the boy she had sights on ever since she was a young girl. She was only twelve now, but her first meeting with young Sasuke Uchiha seemed so long ago, yet the memory was so fresh in her mind's eye.

She first met him in the local Konoha market. He was attached to Itachi like honey, desperate to not let go. Their eyes met, her green eyes sparkled with wonder, as if she could see his future. His eyes black as onyx, but filled with so much curiosity.

When they met again in their ninja school, they had become filled with rage, so dark that even a star couldn't even be seen.

She returned back to the present, as she tied the new shiny konoha headband that replaced the red ribbon she wore in her elementary years. This was it, she was now a ninja. She had overclocked her brain so many times, she had passed out right at her desk so many times from exhaustion. The flack she received from her rival, Ino, just motivated her more. Brains before beauty, she told herself. Not like she was that petty anyway, definitely not compared to Ino. She would never admit that in front of her. She knew she wasn't the best looking, especially with someone like Sasuke. Who could charm just about anybody by merely taking a stroll down the main road of their village. Vendors will drop what they're doing just to hand him a free sample. Then a pack of girls like wild dogs would soon begin to stalk him.

She never stooped that low, but she wouldn't lie, she had thought about it. But she knew better to not act on certain impulses. I'm not that pathetic, she said to herself as she tightened the headband behind her hair.

It took hours for their sensei to arrive, Kakashi Hatake. She's heard rumors and small whispers about him in their village. Even a small name drops here and there from their ninja school in one of Iruka's lessons even attended the same class together. This man was a whole other level of Iruka. He was childs play, this was a real ninja on real missions. She sure embarrassed herself with her obvious confession about Sasuke. Their first meeting after they were assigned was not the best.

There's a 66 percent failure rate, which means only 9 of the 27 academy graduates can pass.

Right after that, her feelings of love faded and determination had set in. If she wanted to make it to be a ninja she had to start to get serious. She immediately went home and studied as hard as she could. Prepping for anything and everything. She wasn't the best with her skills, she knew that. Her family line didn't have any special jutsu or anything to inherit like the sharingan or even shadow possession. She was the only one in her family who had decided to become a ninja.

I will not fail, I will not fail, she chanted to herself, flipping through pages of essays she had previously written in the academy. This was all she had, filling her brain as much info as she possibly could.

Even her parents were wary of their daughter's decision of becoming a ninja so young. Her father even tried talking her out of it, but just like her mother when she had a goal she had to set to achieve, Sakura went for it head on regardless of her inability. It was enough for her father to sign up his only child for the ninja academy.

"Remember, my dear Sakura." Her father Kizashi had knelt down to her height on her first day. "The academy will not show mercy." He warned with a shaky finger. "Ninja are the frontline defense and offense of the village. They are the first to go, first to leave and the last to come home. Do you understand? We can go home right now."

She looked at her reflection one more time coming back from her memory. Her long pink locks flowed elegantly down her back. This wasn't suitable for a ninja, as much as she liked having her long hair down and free. Her fathers words began to get to her. She imagined running through the forest and she could already feel her hair being tugged and pulled by the branches. She easily untied her headband, gathering her thick locks and used the headband to tie it up in a neat high ponytail.

She was out the door with her large overstuffed bag of supplies, and walked to the training grounds with the sun just barely rising. She gave a silent greeting to the sun that soon made the sky into pinks and oranges with mixes of purple.

She was the first to arrive at the training grounds around 4:50 as she anticipated. Exactly at the dot of 5:00 AM, Sasuke had arrived. Her heart had begun to pound, she was alone with Sasuke for once. Calm down , she told herself, you have to focus today. He's not the priority .

"G-good morning." She stuttered at her greeting, stupid!

Sasuke gave a mumble in return. She couldn't tell if it was him greeting back or that he wasn't a morning person. Possibly both, she considered. It was only the sound of the breeze that played its tree leaves. The birds began chirping their soft morning song, slowly waking up their young and alike around them.

"Your hair." Sasuke broke the silence between them, her head turned a little too quickly, too excitedly at the sound of his voice. He kept his eyes focused on the ground, his hands stuffed in his pockets, not daring to look toward her.

"Oh. Yeah, I know. I wanted to do something a little different, you know," Word vomit, she couldn't stop. "Cause you never know what we'll be facing…and stuff." She finally made herself quiet, her inner rage already lecturing her of how dumb she sounded. A small smirk tugged at his lips and she could feel her heart flutter, he turned, as if he didn't want her to see the rest of his face.

"It's good." Was all he said, and the birds twittered between them till Naruto had arrived an hour late from their agreed meeting time. Luckily, their teacher hadn't arrived yet, he was late last time. Was this gonna be a reoccurring thing?l

Sakura and Naruto sat upon the ground. She was tearing the small pieces of grass to pass time. Naruto used his own bag as a pillow, snoring and catching on sleep. Sasuke still stood waiting but getting impatient by the minute. She didn't know how he could stand for so long, and her stomach protested in hunger. She had considered skipping dinner as well. However, she'll need as much fuel as possible. So she ate her meal in full that her mother prepared carefully.

This was a set up, he wanted them to go hungry on purpose. Now she was getting irritated.

Poof!

The masked jonin appeared. Naruto startled from his sleep, but Sakura stood up straight in full confidence, pointing her finger at their teacher.

"You are hours late. We expect you as a jonin to arrive in a timely manner. How could a jonin as powerful as you go on S-Ranked anbu missions?" Sakura said with a challenge in her tone. She didn't even hesitate for a second to hold him accountable.

Kakashi, only slightly taken aback by the sudden change of his new student. Very interesting, what he said to them seemed to get her riled up. Good, very good. But is it enough?

"You've done your homework, I see." He paused, "I apologize about my lateness. You see, there was a black cat that crossed my path, and well, you know how that works."

One of Sakura's eyebrows twitched in irritation. Before she could protest and debate with his pathetic excuse he placed a hand up, silencing her. She bit her tongue before she would get them in more trouble.

They walked to one of the training stumps with an alarm clock, Kakashi setting the time. "You all have till 12'o clock to get these bells from me." He held two small jingling bells in front of him as they gave a small chime.

"There's only two when there's three of us. Plus, that's only two hours. We've been here since 5, just like you asked, we could have had way more time if you weren't late." Sakura had placed her hands on her hips, she was already fed up with this jonin. Was he really even a teacher? Was he really assigned to their team?

"How observant of you, Sakura." Kakashi said with sarcasm that oozed with each word. Without his tone or body language she couldn't really tell how serious he was with that mask. Even the single eye that he leaves open was always just filled with boredom. Even then, his whole attitude gave off 'I have something better to do' .

"One of you will be sent back to the academy. You won't be able to get past me unless you have the intent to kill me. Better work fast. If you can't, then no lunch for you guys and more for me."

Kill?

She shuddered at the thought, she should have expected this though. She was becoming a ninja, and becoming one shouldn't be easy either.

"So by all means. Use your kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs, whatever tickles your fancy. Don't think I'll be going easy either just because you're a couple of genin or your students. Now, when I say start —"

Suddenly, Naruto sprang into action. However, Sakura had caught herself between them. She didn't realize how fast she was herself or even got in front of Naruto. It was just pure instinct. Both Kakashi and Sakura had their kunais sliding against each other. She knew her strength wasn't as superior, he was merely just holding back her strength. Her piercing green eyes gazed into his, having a stare off.

His whole attitude about this training really grinded her gears. What kind of teacher behaves this way? What kind of teacher is this? Sure they're only just a bunch of kids but how else are they supposed to learn? So many doubts ran through her mind, was this really the talk of the Copy-Cat ninja?

"Don't be so hasty. I didn't say start yet..." He trailed, and the Jonin glanced between all three of them. "I think I'm starting to like you guys. Now…Start!"

A cloud of white smoke dissipated. He was gone, it was her turn to hide. All three of them sprinted off in separate locations. What was his game? Think , she yelled at herself, use that big forehead of yours, c'mon .

She stopped in her tracks, ducking low underneath a large bush, catching Kakashi patiently waiting by the river.

As she was lower to the ground she spotted her teammate, Sasuke. The beautiful boy, hidden in the tree leaves. He did well to cover himself, even though she can barely see the tips of his spikey hair.

Naruto, of course, decided to make a fool of himself. She kept down, keeping a watchful eye for Kakashi's guard to lower. Once he had Naruto in one of his traps, she scoured the perimeter. Before she could even free him, he had already fallen into his second trap. She exasperated a sigh. She was so hard on him before, now she understood how heartless and careless she was. She needed to expand her mind, keep it open in the future. Her heart sank at her own crass words that she said to Sasuke, how careless. Especially to someone whose family was entirely massacred by their own brother. She couldn't imagine what kind of pain he's going through, and how she wished she could ease that. Who even could? And Naruto, born into a world with no one by his side. Nobody to guide him or be there for him. She remembered the times her mother would bad mouth him, drag her away from the 'dirty boy'. And she basically said the same things about him. Her own behavior disgusted her. That wasn't his fault, she vowed to herself that she would take more consideration of Naruto and not only his teammate but also his friend.

A hand on her kunai, before she could free her knucklehead of a teammate, Kakashi began his lecture on him. Even when Naruto acted like this, it was really hard to not be annoyed. He just wanted to be heard, and she didn't blame him for that. Kakashi on the other hand, couldn't tell if he was just being an ass or giving tough love, or even both. She listened to him intently on his lecture of how a ninja must be deceptive and must see through it. That was one of the very first rules in the academy, of course Naruto would need a refresher for that. Was it really necessary though?

As he lectured, her eyes locked onto the masked ninja. His guard was down, it had to have been.

Now!

She was too slow, because Sasuke had already revealed himself with his own attack of shuriken. Oh no.

Not him, not him. Sakura B lined towards his location but stopped, her shoes sliding against the fine, soft dirt.

Naruto would be stuck, alone . But Sasuke was a distraction. This was just a test, no way their teacher would physically harm him. She had no time to properly think it through. But this was probably the only chance she would get while Kakashi chased out Sasuke. She turned back, running towards Naruto who still hung upside down.

"Sakura? What are you—"

"Shh!" She hissed at him, disarming the other traps around and releasing him. He knocked into her clumsily. She started to think this was a mistake now. He clumsily got off of her, profusely apologizing, then saying,

"Wow, that was really cool of you, Sakura."

"Be quiet!" She hissed again, her temper was rising. She had to calm down, why did she react like that to him? Definitely a habit that she needs to break ASAP. She took a breath, and calmly told him, "I think he's setting us up."

"How?" Naruto asked in his raspy voice a little dumbfoundedly, his head tilting in thought.

"I don't know." She admitted, as she still thought of other speculations she had, but none of them were adding up. "Stay here, I'm gonna try to find Sasuke."

"Sakura. Behind you." Her head snapped behind her with a kunai to guard. His voice was different. Kakashi had already released his jutsu holding his hands together to form the sign. Which was it? She couldn't see, she was getting so tired. Where did Naruto go? Was it just a clone? So tired, she felt her eyes becoming extremely heavy. So drowsy. Her inner rage screamed for her to wake up but his jutsu was too strong for her to go against. The leaves rustled around her. She could feel the breeze caress her cheeks, gently asking her to wake up.

Sitting up straight, she woke in a cold sweat. What did he do? On her feet, she guarded herself with her arms. Where? Where could he be?

"Sakura." Her head turned hesitantly behind her, shakily gripping her kunai tightly. "Help me."

It was Sasuke, covered in his own blood and kunai pierced into him like some voodoo doll. Her eyes began to water, and her knees shook.

"Sasuke…?" Her heart pounded, her voice faltering with fear.

"Help me." He begged once more, coughing up blood that had spurt across the ground before her feet.

She dropped to her knees, she wanted to faint. How could someone go so far?was he really—? This couldn't be real, it just — then it came to her, a light going off in her head. No way their own teacher would physically harm this far. Kakashis lecture to Naruto from earlier gently echoed in her mind.

A ninja sees through deception.

She clapped her hands together focusing her chakra and clearing her mind. Build up the chakra, then when ready, you must let it burst open like a firecracker. Her brows furrowed in concentration. A little more. She heard Sasuke groan more in pain, louder than before. Just a genjutsu, it's okay, it's just a genjustu . She told herself, refusing to open her eyes to see her worst nightmare. Concentrate . The chakra inside her spirit began to bubble, the more she raised her chakra the more energy she felt. It was time.

RELEASE!

She didn't want to open her eyes just yet, she didn't want to see that image again but she had to. She must. Face your fear, Sakura.

She flashed open her green eyes, and now there was just his head above the ground. Did it not work? She had to have been clinically insane now.

She put hands on her head in distress, wanting to rip her own hair out, "I was so sure I cleared the genjustu. I—"

"Sakura, it's me. He's trapped me."

After some reassurance from Sasuke. Him verbally trying calm her and explain his circumstance, so much relief had lifted off her shoulders. She couldn't help but sob a couple tears from the image, even telling Sasuke the whole illusion even though she was sure he didn't care. Everything was so vivid, but her mind started to become clear and way less foggy from their teachers genjustu. She dug out Sasuke from the earth with her hands. Shelling out the large rock boulders until he was able to move his arms freely.

Why was it so silent between them? She wanted to fill that air between them so badly, but she felt talking would just make it worse.

"How'd he trap you?" She asked. He ignored the question. As suspected of course.

A scream, and they glanced for a moment at each other, it had to been Naruto falling for another trap. Then, the alarm went off. They've failed.

"I've almost had it too." Sasuke huffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets, and she didn't even have a chance at all. Love or becoming a ninja. She was sure she was going to be the one sent back. All that hard work she put in, seemed meaningless now.

They were all sitting like children in trouble with their parents. Heads down, gloomy faces, empty grumbling stomachs filled with disappointment and just waiting for more disappointed commentary from their teacher. Naruto was tied to one of the training posts. Kakashi stood still, arms crossed and completely unbothered by reading his book. A moment later when he was done with his chapter, he snapped it shut.

"Alright you three, I've decided." He paused, "That I'm not going to send you back to academy. You'll all be dropped from the program entirely."

Naruto was the first to shout out what exactly they were thinking, "That means we'll never become ninja! That's not fair. Why would you do that?"

"Because you don't think like ninjas, you think like little kids. Like brats ."

He was right. And it stung Sakura even more. Her fingers clenched the grass, scrapping the dirt and fine grass fibers underneath her nails that she'll be picking out later. Her eyes stung, tears filling her vision. They were just kids, of course they wouldn't understand becoming a ninja yet. None of them were good enough.

Sasuke failed to attack their teacher, already pinned with a foot on his back and kunai to his neck. "You think this is a game?" Kakashi's voice became firm, fed up playing with children and having to teach bratty kids that their parents shelter them constantly. He was sick and tired of parents who don't tell their kids the real harsh truth. No matter, that's why he's here, to break that to them. "Did you ever even think about why you were assigned to squads? Hm?"

Three, that's always been the magic number that Sakura had recognized. Almost every mission that was assigned had at least three squad members, one of them being a medical ninja. In her opinion there should be at least two ninja that know medical jutsu.

"Naruto, you did everything on your own. Literally. Such a one track mind and refused to ask for help or even acknowledge your need for it. Sasuke, you thought the other two were weak and beneath you. Pathetic." His only revealing eye were filled with wrath. "Sakura was the only one who seemed to almost get the gist of this exercise. She was the only one to free the both of you once after I trapped you. She even freed herself to help you, Sasuke." He gave a glare down, placing a bit more weight onto his foot that Sasuke tried to wiggle out of.

"Get on with it, we didn't make up the rules!" Naruto groaned. The masked teacher exasperatedly an annoyed and dissatisfied sigh. This is why he never wanted to teach kids, he was better suited for the ANBU. However, the Hokage didn't believe in that. And of course, he would get assigned to Naruto of all people. "It's so simple." He palmed his own face, and glared back at the young ninja brats.

"Teamwork." Both Sakura and Kakashi said at the same time.

"Thank you, Sakura. If you were all working against me, you could have taken the bells."

"You pitted against each other on purpose." Sakura stated, now understanding more of his point.

"Seems like you had some suspicion, but you still failed at concluding that, didn't you?"

She kept her mouth shut. He was right, she still was even hesitant about saving Naruto whether she liked it or not. And she had lost her temper with him too.

"Every ninja understands this. If a member puts themselves above their team it puts the others lives at risk. An example, Sakura." He called for her, grabbing her attention and placing his sharp kunai closer to Sasuke's neck.

"Kill Naruto now or I'll kill Sasuke." Naruto panicked, wiggling in the tight bound ropes around him. Sakura didn't dare to express any emotion toward their teacher. As much as she disliked this example, she got the point. Life for a life. In the ninja world it wasn't child's play. He continued, "Every mission, someone's life is at risk and on the line. Remember that." He sheathed the kunai, stepping off Sasuke and walking toward the stone. Staring at it with grievance as he spoke "This stone resembles each ninja that was KIA. All my closest friends are on this stone."

Another thing she never considered that she now noted to herself. All of her close friends and potential family could be gone. Murdered or missing, and ninja was the only way to keep them protected or killed, like a double edged sword. She couldn't imagine what their teacher had seen or felt.

"I'm feeling a little generous today. I'm giving you one last chance." Kakashi turned as they all stood straight, including Naruto on the training post, still tied. He gave his clear instructions on not to feed their teammate Naruto.

Apparently while Sakura and Sasuke were still out on the field he tried to sneak eating without them. Kakashi then disappeared in a cloud of smoke, giving his goodbye.

Sakura took several bites in her meal, but it didn't sit right with her. Her stomach did start to settle down as she halfway finished her meal. She tried not to scarf it down all at once. However, Naruto's belly grumble even louder. He watched like a puppy begging for table scraps.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke who met her bright green eyes. She swore she saw a faint blush in his cheeks. This time, she didn't feel as nervous or shy. Their gaze was more of an understanding now. He gave her a nod, as in giving permission as he kept watch. Hurriedly, she began to feed Naruto quick bites.

"Hurry and chew, we don't know when he's going to be back."

Naruto didn't deny the bites but asked between mouthfuls, "why?"

"Naruto, you're such an idiot sometimes." Sasuke complained, his eyes scanning still for any hint of their teacher.

"We have to defeat him together . We're you not listening? It's another test, he's trying to put us against each other again. And if you don't have enough strength, then none of us do." Sakura told him as she quickly fed him more rice and chicken into his mouth. He chewed as quickly as he could, and opened his mouth as soon as he was done for more.

Narutos stomach also began to settle now. He was so grateful to his teammates. He knew how annoying he could be but he never thought they would be so selfless to him.

As Sakura was about to give him another bite of rice, Kakashi appeared once again before them.

Both Sasuke and Sakura stood in front of the tied up Naruto, arms up and ready to fight. Sasuke had his kunai, Sakura had shuriken ready at the tips of her fingers. No time to free Naruto again. But if Sakura's smarts and Sasuke's brawn, she was sure that maybe, just maybe they could somewhat handle him off. They would have to make some time to free Naruto to go all at once. Sakura began to run strategies through her mind. Kicking her brain into overdrive.

However, Kakashi only had his hands at his hips, a smile had formed through his mask.

"You pass."