Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of its characters. I am not profiting off of this fanfiction.

A/N: Thanks so much for the favorites, follows, reviews, etcetera! Here's another chapter for you all. Usually, I will try to update weekly, sometimes biweekly if I don't have much time. Addressing concerns, I do not plan on nerfing Naruto or Sasuke nor giving Sakura a random power-up. Instead, I'm going to try to work with her base abilities in canon and take them down a new direction. She probably (I don't have everything planned out) will not have the raw, impressive, endless power that endgame Sasuke and Naruto have, however this does not mean that she can't be just as effective in a fight. As a female, 110 pound fighter myself, it is impossible for me to match the strength of men much bigger than me, but I can still win fights against them. You just have to fight differently. This is how Sakura will prosper as well. She'll have to fight much differently than the boys do, and she'll have to have a shit ton of willpower.

Also, I'm working on writing these voices! Never wrote these characters before. Hopefully, I'll keep improving. Let me know what you think!

Part I: The Forge, Chapter I

Trust me, it will drive each and every one of you mad.

The wooden rafters creaked with a forceful sway of the wind. They needed repairs. Everything in that cursed house needed repairs. Dust cluttered the rusted floorboards. Broken glass. Torn sheets. The village had offered to clean the house for him, but he had refused. Uchiha Sasuke sat on the floor of the main house in the Uchiha Compound. He closed his eyes, and he could almost hear the voices in the wind. Okaa-san's lullaby stretched the silence. Otou-san's stern voice reprimanding Shisui for something foolish the boy had done. The village had offered Sasuke medication to ease the pain, but he had refused. He hugged his knees to his chest and buried his face against his legs. He was closer.

But he was still too far. Itachi had already become an ANBU by age thirteen. Sasuke hated himself. As much as they called him a prodigy, he was only an Uchiha. A mediocre Uchiha. Nothing like Itachi. He stood up and with practiced expertise, sidestepped all of the tiny shards of broken glass across the main room to his bedroom. Wind blew his dark hair about his face as he listened to the voices. He could almost feel his mother embrace him as a gust of wind burst forth from the deprecated building. His own room was different than the rest of the house. Clean. Meticulously dustless. Obsessively polished. He laid down on the blank white bed and stared up at the ceiling. The hatred within him mixed with the despair. In the end, all he could feel was numbness. He would kill his brother, but after? He claimed that he would restore his clan. But with who? All the girls in the village were insufficient. Weak. Selfish. Annoying. Sasuke wondered what the void felt like. Killing Itachi would bring his family justice, but would it ever bring him happiness? Yes, Sasuke thought, but part of him recognized that happiness would be impossible. All of his human bonds had disintegrated into ash. Nobody understood. Nobody could understand. The village had offered him therapy, but he had refused.

The madness would eventually take hold of him. He welcomed its embrace. The bloodlust…he willed it to come so that he could stop being pathetically mediocre. He hated weakness.

Rummaging through the fridge proved futile. Nothing. He had ran out of ramen as well. He groaned in agitation. He only had a couple of hours to sleep, and he needed food! Waiting for your sensei for twelve hours kind of made you hungry. Uzumaki Naruto ran a hand through his unkempt hair. It looked like he would not be able to eat that night. He backed away from the fridge and glanced at the tiny overrun table in his apartment. It was littered with his kunai, dirty dishes, dirty laundry, and a daunting pile of papers. He walked over and scratched his leg with his foot as he read the bills. He was months overdue on rent. Naruto sighed. He would be homeless again soon.

He shook his head. "No way, no way is Uzumaki Naruto the next Hokage going to become homeless, believe it!" He declared sleepily to a room filled with…no one. Naruto sighed and placed the bills down. He walked into the bathroom and stared at his reflection in the cheap, plastic mirror. He wanted to be Hokage, and he wanted to be respected. He believed he could be. Repeating the mantra over and over again in his head, he smiled at his reflection. He could totally be Hokage! Part of Naruto recognized that his optimism was primarily therapeutic. Part of Naruto recognized that he was the loser, deadlast that everyone in the academy mocked. Part of Naruto wondered if he ever could be strong enough to be Hokage, and if he did get strong enough, would the village ever like him enough to let him lead them. He turned on the sink and splashed cold water onto his face.

Naruto had tried overenthusiastically to make friends, but nobody wanted to befriend him. He turned off the sink and stared at his reflection. What was wrong with him? The harsh glances and angry whispers of the villagers tugged at his memory. He had grown up alone. As soon as he could make instant ramen, he ran away from the orphanage and never returned. Apparently, they did not care enough to chase after him.

He left the bathroom, ignored his stomach's painful twisting, and hopped into bed. He would make genin tomorrow. He had to. Somehow, they all would respect him.

Her mother sat at the table with stern eyes. "Why are you getting home just now? What happened?" Her kitchen, even in the late hours of night, seemed picturesque with its light cream-colored walls, clean white tiles, and sleek mahogany cabinets with glass on the doors.

"My sensei showed up late. I am sorry, okaa-san" Sakura replied whilst half-bowing to her mother.

"This ninja business, Sakura. Don't you think it's time to stop playing this game? It's dangerous, and you have nothing to prove."

Sakura clenched her fists. "No, okaa-san. This is what I want to do."

"For that Uchiha kid?"

Sakura glanced down at her feet and shifted her weight. She tried hard to keep her tears at bay. "No, okaa-san. For me. Please let me do this."

"Fine. Go to bed then."

Sakura nodded and retreated to her room. With her current skills, she doubted that she could pull anything impressive out. Along with a small bed and a dresser, her room housed a bookcase with various romance novels, fantasy novels, and the like. At the bottom of the bookshelf, Sakura pulled out an old textbook filled with low-level jutsus. It was not much, but she had to try something. Sleep would not come that night anyway. She forced herself not to cry as she read through techniques.

Obsession. For most of her life, she had obsessively chased after Sasuke, despite acknowledging the reality that he probably would not care if she suddenly vanished. Of course she knew he cared nothing for her. Yet, in her mind she would craft endless stories that warped her reality into a fairytale. She chased Sasuke, not so much for Sasuke himself, but for him to act out the role she gave him in her mind. Strong, loving, protective, silent but devoted to her… Sakura understood obsession. Her pursuit of Sasuke had defined her among her peers. She would have to retrain her obsession. Instead of Sasuke, she would focus on getting stronger. Training would define her. It would become all she thought about, all she hoped for, all she craved and desired. She just needed to force the obsession on herself. Sakura's brain basked in obsession. Who was Haruno Sakura? She still did not know, but for awhile why did it really matter?

Mebuki stood and walked over to the window. She stared off into the night beyond. How do you tell a loved one that they can't? Mebuki pondered over her decision as she watched a Sakura tree swaying outside. "Please, please don't let my daughter die."

Five AM found two bloodshot, sleepless ninjas standing at the edge of the Konoha forest. The wind had died down from a few hours ago. However, the cold was still bitter.

Sakura had abandoned her usual outfit in favor of black nin-pants and a red shirt. She had her hair gathered up into a messy, tangled ponytail. No pretty lip-gloss or mascara adorned her face. She sat against a tree with her forehead pressed against her knees.

Sasuke had arrived shortly after Sakura.

She glanced up to him. "Hi, Sasuke-kun." Her voice was cheerful. Old obsessions die hard, and she had not quite rewired her focus yet.

He grunted at her and turned away to stare off into the forest. He wondered what his sensei could teach him. How effective would he become at being a killer?

Naruto arrived half an hour late. "I'm here! Did I miss anything?" He sprinted out of the gates and skidded to rough halt near his teammates.

Sasuke glared at him. "You're late, dobe."

Sakura frowned. Naruto, like her, had been told of what he could not do again and again. Yet, he still defied those expectations. She bit her lip. Maybe she could train with Naruto, and they both could improve. "Hi, Naruto. You didn't miss anything. Sensei is not here yet."

Naruto, who had been glaring at Sasuke, turned to face Sakura. "Thanks for telling me, Sakura-chan!" He glanced at his crush's new outfit and hairstyle. "I like the new look, Sakura-chan. You look all serious and awesome." Objectively, no, she did not look as good as she usually did, but Naruto understood that people needed encouragement. He wondered what Kakashi had asked her to stay after for.

"Baka, I didn't even brush my hair today. I'm wearing what I slept in." She rolled her eyes.

Naruto laughed. "Really!? Cause you always put a lot of work into how you look, especially when you're drooling over teme!" He half-screamed.

"Stop being so loud! You're giving me a migraine!" Sakura growled and buried her head farther into her knees as she hid the blush on her cheeks. Shame at fawning over Sasuke had arrived midway through the night after she had tasked herself with rearranging her obsessions.

Sasuke glanced from Naruto to Sakura and sighed. They had placed him on a really unfortunate team. Seriously Naruto and Sakura, the two most annoying people in his class, had to be his teammates? He just wanted silence.

Naruto's stomach growled loudly. "Oh man, I'm starving. Kakashi-sensei better get here soon so that I can eat."

Sasuke glanced to Naruto. Did the boy never know when to shut up? "Do you seriously think that he'll get here soon? He was twelve hours late yesterday."

"I can hope!"

"Baka" Sasuke replied.

"Teme."

"Dobe."

"Te-"

"Does anyone want to spar with me?" Sakura interrupted. Green eyes glanced up, hopefully, to the boys. "Just taijutsu. I wouldn't want to waste too much chakra." She bit her lip and focused her eyes on Naruto. Sasuke would reject her request hands down, she thought.

"Don't you think you should save your energy for Kakashi's test?" Sasuke responded.

Sakura shook her head. "He'll probably be late again. He's already half an hour late. Just for fifteen minutes. Naruto…please?"

"Why are you asking the deadlast?" Sasuke's brows furrowed. He had thought that her invitation to spar had been another ploy to touch him or something, but now she wanted to spar with Naruto?

Naruto's eyes widened as he too was startled by the request. "Um, sure, Sakura-chan. Why though?"

The girl stood and smoothed out her black pants. "I just want to get stronger, and I know that you do too, so I thought maybe we could help each other." As she willed her obsession with training on, idle time became something she detested. Dawn started to climb over the horizon.

Naruto grinned. "Of course we can! We'll get so much stronger than Sasuke-teme, believe it!"

"Idiots." Sasuke shook his head at the two and turned his back.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Sasuke's back and giggled with Naruto. Letting go of obsessively seeking Sasuke felt…good. Really good. She stood up and faced Naruto. "Okay, let's go!" She sent a precise but weak kick towards Naruto's chest. He blocked the kick with his forearms and sent a sloppy but powerful punch to her stomach. She twisted out of the way of the blow.

Sakura landed a decent jab to Naruto's shoulder to which he retaliated with a strong roundhouse kick that hit her square in the stomach. She stumbled back and wheezed but brought her arms up to block a flurry of punches Naruto sent at her. She dodged under one of his punches and landed an uppercut to his jaw. The taijutsu battle continued for awhile with Sakura hitting more frequently than Naruto but with substantially less power. Naruto then spun and landed a punch to Sakura's jaw that sent her sprawling towards the ground. She landed on her back in the dirt and coughed.

"Good fight, Sakura-chan!" Naruto offered his hand to help her up.

"Y-yeah. Good fight, Naruto." She took his hand with one hand and gingerly felt her jaw. Nothing was broken, but it still hurt. She got to her feet. She would have to train even harder than she expected to. She was weaker than Naruto who had almost failed his academy tests. Sakura sighed.

Sasuke watched the two with an annoyed expression. "That was pathetic."

"We tried our best, teme! Let's see you fight, huh? I can wipe the forest floor with your ass, I bet!"

"As if, loser." Sasuke turned away from his teammates. A slow rustle in the trees caught his attention. With eyes trained on the forest's edge, he caught a brief glimpse of steel. "Everybody get down!" He dropped to the dirt.

Sakura pulled Naruto down with her. Three kunai sliced through the air that the three hopeful genin had just occupied.

Extracting a kunai, Sasuke jumped to his feet. "Who are you!? Identify yourself!" he gruffly screamed out into the hazy light of dawn that just barely lit the forest.

A dark laugh followed. Sakura was frozen upon the ground with Naruto. She could see that even Sasuke was shaking as he held his weapon up.

A shadow moved inhumanely swiftly through the trees. In a second, Sasuke was unarmed and on his knees on the ground. A cloaked figure stood behind him. "Oh my cute, cute little student. Why did you hold a weapon up to your generous teacher?"

Sasuke snarled. "Why did you attack us!?"

"Simple reflex test. You passed. Congratulations." The man brought a hand up and removed his hood. Kakashi stepped away from Sasuke and glanced at the three. "Are you ready for your test?"

Naruto jumped to his feet. "Yeah we are!" The statement was empty in his own ears. His sensei had tried to kill them all. This…was not what Naruto expected. How terrible would this test be? He plastered an optimistic grin onto his face while he scanned their sensei in search of more sudden, unexpected hostility.

Sakura slowly stood. She glared at her sensei. This man. She hated him. He never gave her a chance and now he almost killed them all. He would have succeeded too, if Sasuke had not been paying attention. Maybe he knew that Sasuke was paying attention, but how did that make it any better?

Kakashi leaned against a tree and reached into his pocket. He pulled out four small, silver bells. "You will each get one of these. I will have the fourth. You need to acquire two bells to pass this exam. I will make it easy for you and will just defend my bell and not seek yours out."

Sasuke smirked and glanced to Sakura. "Easy."

Sasuke's response caused Sakura to squirm uncomfortably. "B-but sensei, doesn't that mean that only one of us, maybe two of us will pass at most?"

"Yes. The losers, after a time limit, will be sent immediately back to the academy. Failed. Any questions?"

Sakura bit her lip and shook her head. Sakura thought "Sasuke will be going after me then, and Naruto will go after Sasuke, probably. Meanwhile, Kakashi will go untested. With the time limit, probably only Sasuke will pass, as Naruto will not have enough time to steal a bell from Kakashi on his own. Actually, Kakashi is a jounin. Individually, none of us stand a chance at stealing a bell from him. Not even Sasuke. But maybe together? In the end, one of us will still have to fail. To maximize the passing rate, however, all three of us will need to concentrate on Kakashi." Sakura sighed. If she could not pass, maybe Naruto could. Someone had to prove that people cannot just go around telling others what they are capable of. Naruto had to prove something just as much as she did. She could maybe get him to go forward with her plan. She was unsure about Sasuke, however.

Naruto noticed the look Sasuke sent to Sakura. He frowned. His stomach rumbled again and he fought against a wave of starvation nausea. "No questions, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good." The jounin distributed the bells amongst his students. He eyed the faces of the Uchiha and the jinchuriki. "Begin."

Sakura felt a sharp push to her side. She collided with the ground. Metal clanged against metal. Her eyes widened with horror as Sasuke's kunai slid across Naruto's kunai.

"Run, Sakura-chan! I got this! I'll help you take care of sensei when I'm done!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I don't have time for this, dobe." He turned a dark glare to Sakura. "Give me your bell, Sakura."

"No!" She scrambled to her feet and jumped back just as Sasuke's thrown kunai sliced through the air she had just evacuated from. She ran. Sasuke chased. Her heart thundered against her chest as she sprinted through the forest, jumping over roots and ducking under branches. He would not actually hurt her, right?

"Teme!" Naruto chased after Sasuke.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu."

Sakura screamed and barely dodged a fireball. Her lungs burned in her chest. "Sasuke! Stop! Listen!" She turned and weakly caught a punch he sent to her stomach. "You can take my bell after the time limit. But if you want two of us to pass, we have to focus all of our abilities on Kakashi right now!"

Sasuke snorted and kicked her feet out from under her. She stumbled.

Naruto came up behind Sasuke and punched him across the face.

Sasuke groaned and pulled out another kunai. "Why would I help you?"

"Because, Sasuke! We're a team. And we could be friends." Naruto spoke.

Sasuke turned a wild glare towards Naruto and opened his mouth to speak.

Sakura heaved in a breath. "Plus, don't you want to say that you and two lowly genin took on a jounin. Don't you want to say that?" She stood. "Sasuke…Naruto deserves a chance." She thought of herself and only felt bitter. Her whole academy days were wasted. She could barely say that she had seriously tried to be a ninja. Naruto however did. "Come on, Sasuke. What is more impressive? That you took on a jounin and succeeded or that you succeeded in one on one combat against fucking weak as hell Haruno Sakura?" She would get stronger with or without this team. While she craved to rub it into her sensei's face that she could be strong enough, Naruto's years of effort were worth more than the five hours of dedication she had just put in. If she got sent back to the academy, so be it. She needed the training.

The dark haired boy raised an eyebrow at her and at Naruto who smirked back at him. "Fine. What is your plan?"

Sakura bit her lip. She scored the highest on written tests at the academy for a reason. Now she just had to warp that knowledge into a solid, tactical plan. "Come closer." The two boys crowded around her. "Here's what we do…"