A/N: Welcome! Initially, this story started out as a rewrite of the Naruto series, where Sakura is just as important to the plot and as strong as the rest of Team 7. It will follow canon events with a some major divergences later on throughout the series. (Eventual NaruHina and SasuSaku.)
I began writing this story in 2014, and I've never quite been happy with the first chapter, so you might give it a read until chapter 2 to see if you'll enjoy it. I also added the prologue as of 2023.

If you enjoy it, please leave a review!

Prologue

Four years after the Kyūbi attacked Konoha, Haruno Kenta and his wife, Tsubame, disappeared on a reconnaissance mission to the Sound Village.

They were considered killed in action, leaving behind their daughter, Sakura, and Kenta's brother, Shin.

Haruno Shin took it upon himself to go retrieve their bodies, but he returned a broken, quiet, angry man, speaking to no one and carrying only Kenta's swords and Tsubame's armor.

"Uncle Shin," an almost-five-year-old Sakura tugged on his shirt, when he'd returned and sent the genin who were babysitting her away. "Where are mama and papa?"

Uncle Shin just pushed her away. "Dead. Gone."

His face twisted. "And they aren't ever coming back."

Sakura stared at him with wide eyes. "But why?"

"Because my idiot brother got killed on a mission he never should've been on," he snarled, throwing another kunai at the wall. (There were a lot more than ten of them stuck in the wall, but Sakura didn't know numbers bigger than ten yet.)

Sakura was scared now, so she went to go hide in the blankets on her parents' bed.

Why was Uncle Shin so angry?

She started to cry. She wanted mama and papa.

Uncle Shin gently shook her shoulder. "Sakura, wake up."

Sakura blinked slowly and squinted. Uncle Shin smiled at her, but he looked sad, too.

"I have a question for you," he said. Sakura sat up and scrubbed her eyes.

"What's it, Uncle Shin?"

"I want to put a seal on you. It will help you learn how to use chakra better."

Sakura was wide awake now. She could kind of use chakra a little bit, but it was really hard.

"Really?!"

Uncle Shin nodded. "That way, you'll be a stronger shinobi when you grow up."

"Like mama and papa?"

Uncle Shin looked angry again. Sakura shrank back.

"No," he said. "Much stronger than them. I'll make sure of it." He smiled at her, but he still looked angry. "I promise."

"Okay," Sakura said.

"It's done," Haruno Shin told the figure in the mask.

"Good. Now, we wait."

"You're sure this will work?"

"Are you doubting me?"

"No, it's just…"

The figure studied Shin. "It's better not to care about her."

"Easy for you to say," Shin muttered. "She doesn't look exactly like your brother."

"No. But she's only half Haruno. It's the other half that will be useful to us, in the long run."

A blade is masked by a sheath,
the stars are hidden at first dawn.
A butterfly is born from a caterpillar,
and fire will explode from a bomb.

Sometimes…
Something different is hidden inside.

Seven Years Later: The Genin Exams

"Why, you," Iruka-sensei growled at Naruto, who had yet again transformed into a very naked woman, right in the middle of the classroom. The rest of the class was either shouting at him, laughing, or still asleep. Iruka took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and glared at Naruto. "Maybe Sakura can show you how to do a proper transformation," he ground out through clenched teeth.

After a nod from Iruka-sensei, a small girl with long, dirty pink hair pulled back into a low ponytail walked to the front. She transformed into the class's sensei without a word.

"That is how you transform!" the teacher exclaimed in exasperation to Naruto, hauling him back to his desk. The girl named Haruno Sakura shared a shy smile with Hyūga Hinata.

A day later, Sakura walked into the Academy examination room.

"You did well on the written part, Sakura. For the last part of your exam, I need you to make two clones." The chūnin who was sitting next to Iruka-sensei smiled at her.

Sakura stared at them, surprised. That was it?

They didn't look like they were joking, so Sakura formed the seals for the clone jutsu. She steeled herself against the horrible drain of chakra and the rush of lightheadedness and nausea. Once that was over, two perfect clones stood next to her.

"Congratulations Haruno Sakura, you've graduated." Iruka grinned at her.

"Thank you, sensei," she replied quietly. She bowed and took the blue hitai-ate he handed to her, but she knew her test wasn't over yet.

Sakura walked out of the classroom and crossed the academy grounds over to her uncle, who was waiting for her with his arms crossed. She stopped in front of him and bowed again.

"Sakura," Uncle Shin said coldly. "It seems that idiot Iruka thinks you can act like a true shinobi instead of just a brat playing ninja. I will decide for myself."

Sakura cleared her face of any emotion. Her uncle turned and strode back towards the Haruno complex and training yard.

When they reached their home, Uncle Shin's test was as brutal as Sakura had expected. Each time she blocked one of his hits, two more were behind it, twice as fast and twice as unyielding. For hours, he tested her physical strength, jutsu, and reflexes.

"Weak," he sneered at her collapsed form long after the moon had risen. "You aren't worthy of the title of shinobi, nor of that headband you earned." He turned his back on Sakura and walked towards the Haruno house. Sakura gritted her teeth.

"Uncle, wait, I-"

Shin turned back to stare at her small body trembling, trying to stand in a defensive position. He smirked and grabbed a handful of rocks from the potted plant on the deck of his house.

He started tossing them at the pink-haired brat before him. She dodged the first few, and then Shin began to throw them with more force and accuracy. His aim wasn't perfect because of the spar earlier, but it was good enough for now.

One small stone hit her shoulder. She flinched with enough force to make her fall to her knees again. Shin used another to knock the new hitai-ate off her head with a crack. Perhaps that would make her understand.

She fell backward and lay there, motionless. Shin sighed and walked toward her. "Sakura, can't you see it? All your enemy needs is a handful of rocks to defeat you." He shook his head. "You're still pitiful. A failure doesn't deserve to wear the leaf of Konoha."

Shin used his foot to grind her headband into the ground, then he laughed. "You're lucky. At least you'll know that you're weak and useless before you go get yourself killed on a mission you weren't ready for, like my brother," he spat. Shin turned his back on the trembling girl, heading inside.

Sakura reached for the hitai-ate now half-buried in the yard, but it was still too far away.

She closed her eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks, mixing with the dirt and blood and leaving behind trails of mud on her face.

She should've expected this.