The morning before her genin test Sakura ate a wholesome breakfast full of slow-releasing energy and essential vitamins, content in the knowledge that it would be well and truly digested by the time Hatake showed up. She enjoyed a showing of love and support from her parents and set off for the training ground in her favourite, pastel purple qipao dress- the one that looked cutesy and delicate but was actually made with shinobi grade materials and discreetly fitted to ensure her the full range of movement and reduce excess fabric; courtesy of her genius chūnin mother- freshly washed with shinobi grade, scentless soap, her equally scentless pink hair stylishly pulled up into a practical, senbon decorated bun and carrying a backpack prepared for a potential week in the wilderness. She had a weapons pouch strapped to each thigh and the familiar weight of her chokutō on her hip.
(She had been saving her allowances and working part time jobs since she'd turned seven to afford it. A beautiful grey colour with white finishings, the almost black metal blade was chakra conductive and would shape itself to channel hers better and better throughout her career.)
As she walked through the village she greeted the people she passed with a brilliant smile and usually by name, not stopping to chat as she usually would but leaving a good impression with the people around her all the same. She arrived at the training ground right on time to the sight of the Uchiha and Uzumaki sitting at opposite sides of the clearing and both mulishly glaring into the distance.
As she cheerfully greeted the pair Sakura considered the merits of attempting to establish some kind of team dynamic between them, before watching the way the Uzumaki reddened and stumbled over his words and the Uchiha scoffed and turned away from her, and decided that since they weren't officially a team yet it wasn't her responsibility. Instead she passed the time reading an interesting breakdown on the Land of Lightning's main agricultural exports and performing her morning stretching and warm up routine.
When Hatake finally showed up, over three hours late, she felt adequately mentally stimulated and physically limber.
"Hey guys, good morning!" The jōnin said, body language completely nonchalant as he waved at them.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Screamed Uzumaki as the Uchiha glared.
"Good morning, sensei." Sakura waved back, a dreamy smile on her face.
Sakura understood, she did. Hatake was a really great actor, he'd really perfected the ability to give a sense of Drama and Importance to his words. It was just… well…
Every genin team in Konoha was a three man cell. Hell, practically every team in Konoha was a three or four man cell. It's what Konoha was famous for, why places like Kiri called them the 'nice village'. Economically, it made their requests a touch more expensive and lead to them being outdone by Lightning during times of peace, but it's what lead to their overwhelming victories during times of war. The other villages sent waves of solo fighters who had to learn to function together on the fly, but Konoha sent shinobi who thrived when they fought with their comrades.
To graduate the academy and still believe "only two of you can pass", was a level of obliviousness Sakura couldn't even comprehend.
Were all preteens this self involved? She certainly couldn't remember being like that as Tristan, but then she supposed that could just be the self-involvement talking.
Either way, Hatake sent her a clear 'roll with it' look when she went to call him out on his bullshit, so she made sure to act suitably worried and decided to follow the lead of the other two. She figured he wanted to set them against each other, test their capabilities individually, and the see if they could come together as a team in the end or remain self involved idiots.
Sakura eyed the other two boys. If it were anyone else she'd say the Uchiha would flat out refuse, but he and the Uzumaki had a weird bond that fluctuated wildly between best friends and undying enemies. She figured it was a fifty fifty chance that they worked together at some point today.
"You're free to use every tool at your disposal." Hatake said. "You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill."
"WHAT?!" Uzumaki squawked, alongside a cocky snort from the Uchiha. "But you're so slow you can't even dodge a blackboard eraser! We'll definitely kill you!"
"Yes, sensei." Sakura nodded. "We just graduated! You'll be in danger." Hatake's mask may have been a black void that seemed to suck in the light from the surrounding area, making it impossible to discern any actual features, but Sakura could have sworn she saw his mouth twitch upwards at her just slightly too-deadpan-to-be-serious delivery.
"In the real world, those with no talent bark the loudest." Hatake continued with what was actually quite sound advice for the blonde. "Ignore Mr. Deadlast and start when-"
Naruto had only just drawn out the kunai when, in a rush of air and a blur of movement so fast Sakura could have blinked and missed it completely, his own blade was aimed at the back of his head. Hatake nonchalantly centimetres away from killing the blonde effortlessly.
Sakura had moved instinctively, drawing her chokutō into a defensive position and settling onto the weight of her heels, but it was clear in a real fight she would be dead before she had even thought in the man's direction. She felt her heartbeat increase and her breathing quicken. The beautiful thrill of adrenaline spread through her system.
"Hehe, it seems I'm beginning to like you guys." Kakashi said, his tone entirely sadistic. "Lets get going. Ready…" Sakura was grinning as she shifted her weight, a feral light in her eyes. "Begin!"
The three broke off in different directions, each preteen quickly losing track of the others as Kakashi stayed, positioned in the very centre of the clearing. Sakura headed into the trees, jumping from branch to branch and flipping through the hand signs for a henge instinctively. It settled over her like a ripple of cold water on her skin and she fitted herself to perch in between a mass of leaves.
The problem with using a henge for disguise was that it required a steady stream of chakra to maintain. As with every technique, slightly too much chakra would naturally be used, causing some to bleed off into the surrounding environment and acting like neon lights to trained senses. It was why henges were rarely used against shinobi, they were simply too easy to spot.
For Sakura, with her natural talent in chakra control that she'd been training from the moment she'd found out what chakra manipulation was, she could regulate her chakra consumption exactly until there was zero bleed off. Something that was unheard of for most jōnin, let alone a genin.
She wouldn't change her physical form- she still needed to move as quickly as possible at a moments notice- but she could borrow from Tristan's world and change her colours to blurs of different browns and green. Break up her outline and blend herself further into the background as she dropped her chakra signature to something similar to a squirrel's. It wouldn't hold off against Hatake's well-trained senses, but it would at the very least be a good depiction of her potential.
She perched perfectly still, and watched the figure in the clearing to see who would make the first move. Unsurprisingly, it was the Uzumaki.
"COME HERE!" The orange blob cried, standing a few metres away from an exasperated Hatake. "AND FIGHT ME!" Naruto dove towards the man, insulted his haircut, only to freeze when he shoved a hand into an obvious pouch on his hip. Sakura watched as Hatake- hilariously- pulled out a copy of 'Icha Icha' instead of a weapon, only working to completely piss of the orange blob, and then soundly beat the idiot up without once looking up from the page.
It was only really when eight fully solid Uzumaki's burst from the water that Sakura's interest was caught. She didn't know what that technique was but she could tell how chakra intensive it must have been. With her own reserves she was pretty sure just making one of those things with kill her and the Uzumaki made eight without even flinching. This was why the jinchūriki were considered weapons. If he could do this without even touching the bijuu's chakra then he would be able to level entire countries when he reached his prime.
Sakura watched- slightly incredulous- as he even created a reasonably smart plan. If the kid could be taught to think more than only one step ahead then he would be a force to reckon with. Instead, he fell straight into the jōnin's trap and Hatake was attacked by Sasuke, launching the pair of them into an overly dramatic showdown whilst Uzumaki continued to swing wildly from the trap he'd gotten stuck in.
Sakura's mind raced. She could stay put, hope the jōnin wouldn't find her (impossible) and when he did would subsequently attack her rather than just keeping tabs on her location (unlikely), or she could try to get closer to the boys and find an opening to go on the offensive.
She smiled and launched herself to the next branch, heading for the sound of throwing weapons in the distance. She arrived within eyeshot in time to see a flare of fire and Sasuke to get pulled down to his neck in the ground. There was something innately hilarious about using an incredibly deadly assassination technique- usually something that would crush the victim's body completely, leaving only a severed head behind- to harmlessly bury upstart genin.
"Shinobi lesson number three: ninjutsu." Hatake said, crouched in front of the head. Sakura leapt to the next branch, trying to edge around the two to the jōnin's side with the bells. "Well, you're already way-" Hatake's head snapped upwards, eye zeroing in on her position with a frightening intensity, before he disappeared completely.
Sakura gritted her teeth and rushed through the kawarimi hand signs, executing three random jumps through the woods in record time and settling in behind a bush, chokutō drawn and eyes darting around rapidly. Her pulse was hammering and her breathing was quickened but her hand was steady on the hilt of the blade as she searched for any sign of the wayward jōnin.
"Behind you." A voice said and she spun, coming face to face with the silver haired man.
The leaves around her began to spin unnaturally, but she was already forming the hand sign and saying "kai" as she leapt towards him. Her sword slashed towards his pulse point but he blocked it with an armoured hand. She stabbed at a kidney, forcing him to dance sideways as she threw a trio of shuriken that he blocked. She pressed the attack. Her blade flashing through the air as the jōnin ducked and dodged and weaved. A manic grin was stretching her face as she pushed herself faster and faster and faster.
She loved being a shinobi.
Kakashi shifted mid movement, apparently bored with dodging and planning to go onto the offensive but Sakura had been waiting for it and she sent a too-big pulse of chakra to her foot, causing the earth beneath it to explode outwards and send a wave of dust straight into his line of sight.
A flickering of hand signs sent a clone jumping through the mess and another- almost instantaneous set- kawarimi'd with a bush behind the jōnin, hand reaching for the bells tied to his waist.
She almost got one. Felt and gripped the string beneath her fingers before he completely disappeared and a weight was pressing on her back, pinning her to the dirt. Before she could register what had happened she was bound and slung over the man's shoulder as he sped towards the centre of the training ground.
"That was a good use of the main three." Hatake said. "You almost got me, but your hold on your chakra loosened as you got absorbed into the fight, making it too easy to follow your position."
"Thank you, sensei." Sakura smiled at the praise, letting the henge drop and her chakra signature unravel fully- and the jōnin was right, it had brightened as she'd lost concentration, something she'd have to work on- as she slumped into her position, watching the blurred trees pass them by as she carefully fiddled with the ropes binding her hands.
Soon they made it to the centre, launching from the trees and landing gracefully on top of the memorial stone, where a laughing Naruto was sitting over the as of yet unopened bento boxes.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hatake asked and Naruto shrunk into himself. In a blink of the eye, the blonde was kicked across the clearing and the bentos were safely balanced on the jōnin's free hand.
Five things happened at once. The Uzumaki jumped up and roared with anger, the Uchiha burst from the tree line, Sakura finished wriggling out of the ropes on her wrists and snatched towards a bell, a pale, gloved hand plucked the bells off his belt and out of her reach and the alarm signalling the coming of noon went off.
"AH DAMMIT!" The jinchūriki screamed.
Ten minutes later and an extremely indignant Uzumaki was tied to the stump, Sakura and the Uchiha on either side. Uchiha had simply stomped over to his spot and had scowled indignantly at the ground ever since, but Sakura had been placed there. A bento pushed into her hands and her head pat. She recognised it was meant as a bribe to go along with the act, Hatake was clearly setting things up for the Uchiha to accept teamwork and subsequently pass them, but it was so blatantly obvious the man had had no actual interaction with children before that she had to stifle giggles. He had defaulted into treating her like a particularly well-behaved dog.
"About the training." Hatake said, arms crossed and an overblown look of disappointment on his sliver of visible face. "Well, there's no need for you three to go back to the academy."
Predictably, Uzumaki begun loudly celebrating their success prematurely, only to begin loudly protesting when the jōnin told them they shouldn't be ninjas. Sakura looked between the overdramatic scene- which had lead to the boys evidently forgetting her existence entirely as they traded angry glances and acted like idiots, only to get some much needed advice- and the bento in her hands.
She may have eaten breakfast but she had worked up a killer appetite.
It was an easy choice to fade into the background and begin eating, savouring the high quality Akimichi bento. It was like watching a particularly entertaining tennis match, Naruto kept putting his foot in his mouth and making a fool of himself as Hatake kept giving quality life advice in the form of insults. She finished her two thirds of the bento just in time to watch Sasuke thrust his food towards the tied up and physically unable to take it Naruto and clumsily try to justify his sentimentality with logic.
Sakura smiled, snorted, and stood to untie the Uzumaki.
"Hey, Hey! Sakura-chan what are you doing?!" Uzumaki cried even as he immediately launched himself towards the food. Sakura chuckled.
"We'll just tie you up again before sensei comes back." She said but the boys were already round cheeked and fully concentrated on scarfing down food.
Hatake was kind enough to let them finish before he came rolling in like a natural disaster, a careful combination of Killing intent, sheer speed, and a brilliant glare to kick their flight or fight instincts into high alert.
"YOU GUYS…" His genjutsu distorted voice screeched, sending a wave of goosebumps down Sakura's arms. Uzumaki was screaming in pure terror as he scrambled backwards into the pole, whilst the Uchiha had shifted into the beginnings of a taijustsu stance, but one noticeably designed for evasion and retreat.
"… pass " The jōnin finished, eye smile in place and radiating sheer, sadistic enjoyment at them.
Sakura, pumped full of adrenaline and still riding the high of a good meal, broke down into giggles. High pitched, girly, slightly hysterical giggles. She blamed mess of hormones her pre-puberty body had become. Hatake used one hand to ruffle her hair and the other to give a Maito Gai worthy thumbs up.
"That ends training. Tomorrow team seven will take its very first mission!"
"WHAT?!" Uzumaki screamed. Sakura managed to calm down. Uchiha looked like he might be in shock.
"You all pass. You guys are the first." Hatake explained. "Everyone else would just blindly do whatever I told them. A ninja must see underneath the underneath." He leaned in and his voice turned serious. "Remember, those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
"Though pinky here gets an A." He said as they collected their bags. "You two get a C minus."
"What, why?!" Uzumaki spluttered, puffed up and red cheeked with indigence. The Uchiha made a particularly offended sounding huff.
"She did her research." Hatake said matter of factly, leading them into the village like a pack of baby ducklings. "You two went into unknown territory blind."
"What does that even mean?!"