[Chapter 1]

Sakura ran across the yard, zigzagging as if someone was shooting arrows at her from behind. Jumping and rolling behind a bush, she narrowed her eyes menacingly, pretending she was Katniss Everdeen, being chased down by the careers.

Imaginary Clove had stolen her bow and arrows earlier, but she was a horrible shot, and Katniss was far from defenceless with her hunting knife. The tree leaves rustled slightly as the hunter made note of all the tributes' positions, gauging the distance between them. Making up her mind, she darted out for only a moment from her cover, throwing the weapon with deadly accuracy and watching with satisfaction as Clove collapsed, the others immediately rushing towards her.

Katniss was faster though, sprinting and picking up the girl's dropped bow in a fluid motion, before ducking under Marvel's spear thrown at her. The girl on fire smirked, now that she had her favourite weapon no one would be able to stop her. Hidden by the foliage once again, she drew back her bow, shooting an arrow at the career closest to her with far more skill than Clove had. Cato fell as well, his humongous and powerful body pierced through the brain by a delicate, pointed, twig. Only Marvel was left now, and Katniss saw him out of the corner of her eye, struggling to retrieve his spear from where it was stuck in the ground. His own force would be his downfall, and the hunter took her time approaching before shooting that final shot into his chest.

She could hear horns blaring, and Claudius Templesmith announcing her as the victor of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, when suddenly her make-believe world was interrupted.

"Sakura!" her mother cried disapprovingly from the doorway. "You're going to be late for your first day at the academy! And have you been rolling around in the mud again? You're filthy and covered in leaves, you're going to have to change clothes now."

Sakura saw her mother leaning against the doorframe with one hand on her hip, dressed in a apron dusted with flour. She loved her mother, she really did, but sometimes the woman was a tad too overbearing.

The eight-year old sighed, setting down her bow and blunted arrows on the ground and retrieving the steak knife from where it was stuck in a tree.

"Yes mum" she said

"And don't tell me that's the bow your father bought you! Are you still playing around with it? It's not a toy Sakura, that's dangerous." her mother chided, aghast, as she saw what Sakura had been holding.

"Yes mum, I know."

Sakura had begged her merchant father for the bow for months when she was four, shortly after reading about Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games. For her fifth birthday, he had finally given in and presented the beautiful bow made from yew and walnut to her. And she knew it had been hard to find too, imported all the way across the land.

"This was a very expensive gift," Kizashi had told her solemnly, "so you better make it worth it, even if your mother protests". Sakura had nodded with all the seriousness a five year old could, and in the year that followed, she had certainly kept that promise.

"Good, now off you go! If you hurry you still have time to wash!" her mother said, waving her inside.

Sakura smiled, relieved she was getting off so easily, and ran underneath the woman's outstretched arm and into the house.

"Don't track mud all over the carpets Sakura!" her mother called after her.

The pink haired girl ignored the warnings, still grinning from the aftermath of her victory as Katniss. Taking the stairs two at a time she practically flew into her bathroom, locking the door behind her and then turning the knobs in the shower to get the water started. Quickly, she slipped out of her dirty clothes, leaving them in a heap on the floor, before jumping underneath the cold water.

She hummed as she scrubbed the dirt off her skin and out of her hair, watching entranced as the water draining away turned muddy.

With nothing else to focus on, her mind slowly wandered back into fantasy worlds. If only she was a witch like Harry or Hermione, she pondered, then she could clean herself in an instant.

"Scourgify!" she said loudly, waving her hand at herself like a wand.

She heard a voice laughing at her in her head.

"Scourgify is a fourth-year spell, I'll have you know," her inner Hermione lectured, "I doubt a six year old squirt like you could pull it off."

Sakura grinned cheerfully. But you're the brightest witch of the generation, I'm sure you would teach me how.

She knew inner Hermione was amused at that, in the same way she knew her own emotions.

She'd had voices in her head since before she could remember. Sakura remembered telling her parents about them once, thinking that everyone had them. Mebuki and Kizashi had seemed exceedingly troubled, and she'd heard whispered talks of bringing her to a therapist. That was the last she'd confided in them, and as far as they knew her "phase" of schizophrenia was over. She scoffed.

As she grew older and started reading more novels, those voices had started to take on separate personalities as well, modelling after her favourite characters. Much to her delight, Sakura had named them such, taking comfort in their continuous presence, and finding her first friends in them.

The first had been Hermione, shortly after her distant cousin had gifted her the Harry Potter series for her third birthday. She remembered he had been amused that she had learned to read so early, and he had with a straight face told her the books would change her life. And they had, if maybe not in the way her cousin had suspected.

Inner Hermione sometimes felt more like a parent than her biological ones, and she was certainly much more understanding than they were, being privy to all of Sakura's thoughts and emotions. The intelligent young witch studying at Hogwarts, constantly reprimanded and advised her, but she was always up for some trouble as well, and the ideas behind some of Sakura's most daring escapades throughout the years had come from her.

The next voice to develop was Ahsoka. The padawan of the chosen one, Anakin Skywalker, during the clone wars, the Togruta somehow had maintained a cheerful personality, despite seeing the horrors and betrayals of war. Sakura remembered skimming through pages of comics with wide eyes many years ago, entranced by how the jedi-in-training fought so gracefully with her twin lightsabers.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay in here too long."

The third and final voice belonged to Katniss Everdeen, the mockingjay. Despite having had her presence for the shortest amount of time, Sakura had always known that was who she aspired to be, even before reading about the girl on fire in the stories. She wanted to be as strong as the girl who hunted for her family's survival, and loved even fiercer than the beasts she killed.

I know, I know! Sakura thought back.

Her skin tinged a bit pink, from scrubbing the dirt off, she quickly turned the water off and toweled her small body dry. She wrinkled her nose at the muddy clothes on the floor and decided to leave them there, wrapping the towel around her small frame before walking across her bedroom and rifling through her drawers for a new outfit.

A minute or so later, dressed in a simple, red long sleeve shirt and loose pants to fit the cool autumn weather, Sakura dashed down the stairs and out the door, with a hurried goodbye to her parents.

The girl smiled, feeling the small thrill from being outside that never faded. Being inside, while not exactly provoking a trapped feeling, would never measure to the sheer joy she took from feeling the warm sun on her face, or the cool rain during a thunderstorm.

Making her way down the small avenue to join with the stream of people walking down Konoha's main street, Sakura pretended she was back in another adventure. She ducked under arms and weaved her way between groups, taking advantage of her small frame.

This time she was Ahsoka Tano, trying to prove she was ready to be a jedi and that she didn't need her master for everything. Her mission was to fly across the galaxy to a newly discovered planet. The trip was hazardous of course, like most were, and Ahsoka had to avoid the many small asteroids and space junk floating around. But the jedi-in-training knew the hardest part was yet to come. After all, her mission entailed meeting and trying to form a friendship with an alien species. Light years away from her home, she would be alone with creatures never before studied.

Ahsoka fearlessly guided the sleek spaceship she was currently flying in between two large chunks of rock, narrowly missing the tips of its wings from being clipped off. Spotting her destination in the distance, she finally began to slow down her reckless pace, and began a slow descent. Studying the dusty planet as she got closer, she noted that most of the population seemed to be waiting outside a large building with an intricate facade, inside which she imagined most of her mission would take place.

Sakura was momentarily drawn out of her illusionary world as she felt a slight hint of nervousness at coming alone. All the other students seemed to be standing with their parents, talking in small groups which didn't seem in the least bit inviting. She didn't doubt they already all knew each other.

Perhaps I shouldn't have protested so much against mum and dad coming with me yesterday she thought nervously, biting her lip the tiniest bit.

"Sakura, remember. I am Ahsoka Tano, and now you are Ahsoka Tano, on the path to becoming one of the greatest jedi. We will not fail this mission." Inner Ahsoka said.

Sakura took a deep breath, entering back into the mindscape of being someone else, someone strong and not insecure and not weak.

The girl boldly took a few steps into the courtyard where everyone waited. She mingled among the others, trying not to look out of place. She leaned down and pretended to tie her shoelaces at a snail's pace, knowing that having busy work to do made you seem less suspicious.

Finally, after an indeterminate amount of time filled mostly with tying shoelaces and braiding and unbraiding hair, the doors of the ninja academy opened, and so Sakura entered the space with the rest of the first years, determined to make the best of it.

Walking through the hallways behind a tour guide with some of the other students, she felt a bit out of place to be sure, seeing as how all the other kids seemed to be outrageously interested in exploring the relatively boring building.

"As you should be too. Where are the nearest exits? How do the stairwells prevent movement?" Inner Katniss whispered to her.

Sakura didn't blame her. She knew no one survived the hunger games without unconsciously cataloguing these seemingly unimportant facts, and being a shinobi would be the same. She needed to train herself to have constant vigilance.

She felt inner Hermione smile warmly at that, remembering her fourth year at Hogwarts.

Glancing around, Sakura made sure to note the things inner Katniss had instructed her too. She found no illuminating 'exit' signs anywhere, which was curious, since civilian buildings were required by law to have them. However after peering down some hallways as they toured the first floor, Sakura noted that there seemed to only be two entrances; one lead to the front of the school and the other to an outdoor field behind it, where she assumed their physical training would take place.

She narrowed her eyes. There was also an odd lack of windows. And despite the teacher now showing them around not having mentioned anything about the basement area, she had clearly seen stairs leading down to some sort of cellar.

"This is a shinobi academy, Sakura. Expect that the building was designed for protection." Inner Katniss said.

Sakura tried to imitate the emotionless mask she had seen some older ninjas wearing and focused. Now that she thought about it, there were other little signs she had missed. Even the hallways had doors, most likely to cut off fire; there were an odd number of seals scribbled on walls or over doorways, and although Sakura had no idea what they did, she was sure they weren't random graffiti; not only that, but what she had first thought was a broom closet, was actually filled with various weapons.

"Not a very cozy school, that's for sure" inner Hermione snorted.

Inner Ahsoka shushed the witch. "Shh, you can bore us with more tales about the grandness of Hogwarts later. Let Sakura work on her observational skills."

The pink-haired girl smiled to herself and tried to take in as much of what their teacher was saying while also memorizing the layout of the building.

"-elcome to the Konoha Shinobi Academy," he said without looking back as he continued to lead them through the school, "my name is Iruka Umino, and I am going to be your sensei for the year."

The walls of the boys' and girls' washrooms were ugly shades of dark blue and bright pink she noted with a tiny amount of disgust.

"Today, since it's our first day I'll try to show you as many aspects of training as I can, which means we're going to head to the main classroom first for a small knowledge test. As well, the main classroom is where you'll come first period every morning, after which the schedule for the day will vary, so make sure to remember where it is!" Iruka said.

Sakura frowned. A knowledge test? But she had just started here... how could she be expected to know anything? She wasn't one of those clan kids who had been trained from birth.

The entire group of about twenty-five or so students and Iruka entered a spacious area with a blackboard at the front and tiered desks arranged in rows.

Iruka gestured towards the empty tables. "Sit wherever you want for now, but if you choose to sit next to friends I'm warning you I might have to break you up later."

She scoffed, well that wouldn't be a problem. Not like she had any friends.

"Yet. Not like you have any friends yet" inner Ahsoka reminded her positively.

Sakura grumbled and gloomily made her way down the rows to choose a seat near the back. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy learning or wanted to escape the teacher's attention, quite the opposite, but her self-confidence had just been dwindling more and more throughout the day.

She remembered playing around in the backyard as Katniss earlier in the morning and sighed. Katniss would never be this scared of failure or rejection.

"No that's right, I wouldn't, Sakura. So get a hold of yourself and man up." her dark haired inner growled.

But the words didn't have the intended effect on Sakura, and her shoulders instead drooped further.

She felt inner Hermione sighing. "Sakura, don't listen to Katniss. Everyone feels like these fears, even a strong warrior like her. But speaking from experience, there comes a point where you just need to decide if the risk is worth the possible benefit." she said quietly.

I know, Hermione, and do you think I want to be lonely? I know the benefits outweigh the risks, but I'm just not strong enough like you guys to put my fears aside Sakura thought miserably.

"Sakura," inner Ahsoka said seriously, "you don't see it, but I do. You have strength, believe me. And if you really can't find it, draw it from us. Pretend this is another adventure."

Sakura sniffled quietly, ignoring the chatters from students in the rows in front, and nodded resolutely.

Turning to a blond boy with blue eyes sitting two seats down from her, and also looking a bit lonely, she smiled at him.

"H-Hi, my name is Sakura Haruno. What's your name?" she said nervously.

The boy seemed to ignore her for a moment, and Sakura felt her hopes plummet and an awful feeling come into her chest, before he suddenly looked up and around him, and she realized he had assumed she was talking to someone else.

Catching sight of her and meeting her own eyes with impossibly bright blue ones, he looked incredibly surprised.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ignore you, Sakura-chan! I'm Naruto! Uh- Uzumaki, Naruto Uzumaki!"

She smiled softly, feeling as if she might possibly have a chance after all.

"It's nice to meet you, Naruto-san." She said, biting her lip a tiny bit, "I hope we can be friends."

Naruto nodded expressively, and Sakura saw some unknown emotion swimming in his eyes.

"Me too, Sakura-ch -oh right, sorry, -Sakura-san" he said, giving a wide smile back.

There was an awkward pause during which neither of them said anything, and Sakura was on the verge of just turning her head back down to her table.

"Don't just quit now! Say something! Ask what he likes doing, or what his favourite food is!" Inner Ahsoka hissed.

"Um… Naruto-san, what's your favourite food?" she said shyly.

The blond smiled even wider if it was possible.

"Ramen! Ramen, Ramen, Ramen! I could eat it all day! And old man Ichiraku's is the best of all!" he said, exclaiming with wide gestures.

Suddenly Sakura felt a lot less lonely, and she laughed with him.

"I'm not even joking! His ramen would make anyone want to build a shrine to the ramen gods! You have to try it at some point! I'll take you ther-" Naruto's face fell suddenly.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be intrusive, it's just this is the first time any of you guys have wanted to be friends with me" he said quietly.

"Oh the poor boy!" Inner Hermione exclaimed.

All the fear from before was gone, and Sakura would have hugged her inners with tears if she could. It was at times like this that she loved and valued them so much she could barely believe it.

Sakura shook her head firmly at Naruto. "I would love to go with you to Ichiraku's sometime, Naruto-san" she said.

Naruto's eyes widened almost comically, and in that moment he looked so happy that Sakura knew all she wanted was to make him that happy again.

The blond boy happily scooted over the empty chair between them and came to sit next to her. "Thank you, Sakura-chan! I would love that too! And there's this other place called Yoshir-"

Sakura let him ramble on for a few more minutes, nodding along and smiling at the boy, and she felt contently happy in having made her first friend.

She heard Naruto stop talking soon enough though, halfway through a speech about why ramen was better than udon, and she turned curiously to see what had made him do so.

Another boy with black hair and eyes had sat down on the other side of her, and was looking at them shyly.

Smiling at him, and desperately hoping to make another friend, Sakura introduced herself. "Hi, my name is Sakura Haruno. What's yours?"

This time she didn't stumble over the name. With a feeling of surprise, she realized she had shed the character of Ahsoka, not needing the padawan's bravery and extrovertedness anymore.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," the boy said softly, "it's nice to meet you."

"Much more well-mannered than Naruto," inner Katniss noted, "he's probably from one of the ninja clans. This one would be a good one to befriend."

Sakura smiled widely at Sasuke. "It's nice to meet you too, Sasuke-san."

She gestured to the blond on the other side of her, "this is Naruto-san."

Naruto grinned cheerfully at the black haired boy as well. "Yeah, I'm Naruto Uzumaki! Me and Sakura are going to get ramen from Ichiraku's later! Do you wanna come as well?"

Sasuke nodded eagerly.

"It's 'Sakura and I', not 'me and Sakura'" Sakura said to Naruto chidingly. But her tone was soft and humourous and Naruto could tell she didn't mean anything by it.

"Okok," the boy said, "Sakura, Sasuke-chan and me are going to get ramen from Ichiraku's. Better?"

Sakura was going to correct him once again when Sasuke huffed from beside her.

"I'm not a girl dobe!"

Naruto stuck his tongue out and pulled down one of his eyelids. "Teme!"

"Dobe!"

Sakura sighed and sunk down in her chair, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.

"Teme!"

Thankfully Iruka decided to start his lessons at that moment, and so Sakura quickly shushed both boys before turning her attention back to the front.

A tiny bit of the fear from earlier had returned as she remembered something about a knowledge test, and she fiddled with her hands nervously under the desk.

Beside her, both Sasuke and Naruto had finally fallen silent, and were focused in the way only students on their first day of school could be.

"Now, as I explained before, we will be starting the year with a knowledge test. Don't worry if you get any of the answers wrong, since it won't be counted towards your grade" Iruka said.

The young teacher starting walking down the aisle, handing out papers to desks on both sides, and pretty soon he made it to the three in the back, nodding at them and giving them copies as well.

Sasuke passed two for her and Naruto down without hesitation, and almost instantly started writing down answers. Sakura frowned as she gave one to Naruto and began to read over the questions on the other one.

1. By who was the village of Konoha founded?

Cursing herself for not having better prepared to enter the academy, she suddenly wished she had read some books about shinobi and not only the fantasy ones she always had her head stuck in.

2. What was the signature jutsu of the fourth Hokage, and how did it help Konoha during the second shinobi war?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions! she fretted internally.

Instantly she could feel a peculiar sort of guilt and sadness from inner Hermione.

"I'm sorry Sakura. My supposed intelligence is useless. I know no more than you. I wish I could help" inner Hermione said.

Sakura didn't know what to do. She'd always relied on Hermione for answers, the bright witch knowing seemingly everything. Reading through the rest of the questions, her spirit sunk even more.

3. Name three major shinobi clans in Konoha

4. What is the meaning of the word Konohagakure?

5. What are the different ranks of a shinobi, in order from weakest to most powerful?

6. What is Shinobi rule #4?

7. Name at least two of the previous Hokages

8. If your opponent was a wind-type ninjutsu user, what would be the most effective element against them?

9. Name at least five jutsu you know of

10. State the 'Will of Fire'

Sakura grimaced. She knew the answers to question four and seven, which she quickly wrote down, but the others were completely unknown to her. Was she really this far behind the clan-born kids?

"Don't let this get to you Sakura. I promise we'll go to the library tonight and see what we can learn" inner Hermione said.

Sakura flipped her paper back onto the blank side and sunk back into her chair, hoping Sasuke or Naruto wouldn't see how few of the questions she'd filled out.

To her shame, Iruka was looking around the room and he caught her eye, noticing that she had finished way too early to be done the questions. He gave her an encouraging smile, but Sakura quickly turned away, cheeks flushing. She didn't need his pity.

To her side, she saw Sasuke also finishing and flipping over his page. But in contrast to hers, she saw neat writing in every single blank space, all the questions answered. Her lower lip trembled slightly, and she bit it to stop herself from showing the weakness.

By now Naruto had finished too, not bothering to flip his over, and even though he hadn't filled out all the questions, she saw that it was still more than she had.

Iruka came around again, collecting the sheets from all the students. Sakura purposely made sure not to meet his eyes as she handed him hers.

"That was so much easier than I expected" Sasuke said laughingly to her and Naruto. Sakura smiled at him as Naruto laughed along, but it felt forced.

Iruka hushed the class and made his way back to the front, stacking the papers in a neat pile on his desk.

"I'm sure everyone did very well," he praised, and Sakura gulped, "so now we're going to move onto some Chakra control exercises before going outside for a little bit of training and a special surprise to end our first day."

Sakura glanced at the clock hanging by the door. Barely fifteen minutes had passed, so how long would the Chakra control exercises and 'surprise' take? She knew the academy lasted about six hours, from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon, so perhaps they would be getting dismissed early today?

"Ok, now I would like everyone to please sit on top of their desks, with both legs crossed. Can everyone do this?" Iruka said, instructing them while demonstrating himself by climbing on top of his own desk.

The class shifted uneasily at his unorthodox instructions, and looked hesitant to follow in what they had been taught was an improper thing to do.

"Come on now, everyone up on their desks" Iruka said, compelling them.

Sakura was one of the first to do so, awkwardly climbing onto her on desk and sitting with her legs crossed. Sasuke and Naruto followed her example and soon everyone in the room was sitting cross-legged on their desk.

It wasn't that easy actually, at least not as much as she'd thought it'd be. The desk, while relatively stable when she had used it to write on earlier, now swayed slightly on its legs with every motion she made. The pink haired girl found herself unconsciously gripping the edges of the desk to remain balanced.

Sasuke seemed to be balancing on top of his with no problems, although Naruto was holding on just as tightly as her, and so resolving to not be beaten Sakura slowly pried her hands away from the desk and focused on staying very, very, still.

"Great job everyone! Now, I'm sure everyone can feel their chakra pulsing through their systems," Iruka said.

Indeed, it was as if there was some sort of warm and comforting substance travelling throughout her entire body like veins, flowing from her head to her toes and back again. Even as a newborn child, Sakura knew it had been there, and it was much like how she knew there was blood flowing through her veins, except with more awareness.

"but this exercise is something that will hopefully help you channel that chakra at will, and I'm expecting everyone will practice it at home as well" he continued. Iruka got off his own desk while gesturing for them not to, and came around the room again, this time handing out leaves instead of paper.

Sakura examined the leaf he had given her. It hadn't been plucked off a tree too long ago, and the colour was a healthy green instead of the duller, browner, colour a dead leaf had.

"I would like everyone to hold their right hand out, palm upwards, and place their leaves in their palm" Iruka said, instructing them.

Sakura did as she was told, and saw everyone else doing it too, with a few students like Naruto almost accidently dropping the leaf.

"Now try your best to channel the chakra you feel through your palm and into the leaf. It doesn't need to be too much, but once you feel you've accomplished this, turn your palm towards the floor. You want the leaf to stick to it" the teacher said.

Sakura focused on the task and tried to channel her chakra into her palm and the leaf, but it was made harder by the fact that her desk kept wobbling as she tried to keep her balance. She supposed that was the point.

Focusing harder, she managed to guide her chakra to her palm without jolting its natural flow, and with a sense of joy she saw the leaf being surrounded by a faint green glow. Taking this as a sign she should continue, she slowly but surely turned her hand around, making sure the glow didn't suddenly disappear. She could feel the rough texture of the leaf still on her palm, and Sakura grinned at having completed the task so quickly.

Feeling more confident now than after the written test, she tried the same thing with the leaf using her other hand.

This really isn't that hard! She thought to her inners. Sakura knew they were all smiling proudly at her.

Looking around the room, Sakura noted with surprise that no one else seemed to have finished yet. She had expected at least the clan kids to finish before her, but it seemed their previous training didn't give them an edge in this. Her head lifted a bit and she found herself unconsciously puffing out her chest in pride.

To her left, Sasuke was staring with intense concentration at his leaf, as if he could will it to stick, but Sakura didn't see the same green glow on his hand that she had had. On the other side, Naruto was also concentrating, except unlike Sasuke, his leaf was producing a huge amount of green glow. Sakura almost felt bad for his poor leaf, which seemed to be in pain, shrivelling up and stretching at the same time. She watched as it finally tore in half, and Naruto slumped dejectedly, the green glow disappearing.

"Naruto-san, I think you need to use a bit less chakra" Sakura said, whispering to the blond boy as she leaned over slightly. The desk swayed a bit in the same direction and she had to hurriedly regain her balance. Naruto smiled at her in thanks and tried again, this time with only half the leaf.

He tried again but Sakura could tell he was still using way too much chakra. Soon his leaf was practically unusable, torn down into tiny little bits, and so Sakura gave him hers to try with, since she'd already finished.

Her leaf was quickly destroyed too, and Sakura sighed, exasperatedly amused.

Her and Naruto spent the rest of the chakra control session chatting about different things, and after a while Sasuke joined in, having finally completed the task.

Finally once all the others had finished as well - with the exception of Naruto - Iruka directed them outside and into the backyard of the school, a large courtyard covered in grass. He lead the class to a small section in the corner furthest away from the building, and here he handed out targets, telling them to pin the circular boards on the nearby trees.

Sakura carefully hung hers on a tree that wasn't too far away, while a few eager students put theirs up much further. She wasn't sure if they really just had that much skill or they were just overconfident in their abilities. Probably a mixture of both.

"The next activity we will be trying is kunai throwing" Iruka explained, as he demonstrated the proper way to hold one of the small ninja projectiles. Sakura rubbed a bit of sweat off her hands and onto her pants.

"Sakura, you've thrown knives before during your adventures as me. In a way, you have been trained just as much as the clan-born children" inner Katniss said thoughtfully, not seeming at all worried.

Civilian steak knives, not kunai Sakura protested.

"A weapon is a weapon" inner Katniss replied.

Sakura picked up one of the kunai in the small pile Iruka had handed out to her. It did look a bit like a knife, albeit with a circle at one end and a narrower handle. She held it in her right hand like Iruka had shown. Surprisingly enough, it fit comfortably in her grip, as if it had been made for her.

Iruka was talking again. "Everyone needs to make sure they are standing behind the line I just drew on the ground, and once I give the signal you can start to throw them at your target. Make sure-"

Sakura didn't listen too closely, switching the kunai from her right hand to her left and feeling the same comfortable grip, although her arm was more awkward. She grabbed the kunai with her right hand again and looked down to make sure she was behind the line.

"When you're ready go ahead" Iruka said, waving towards the line of targets.

The first kunai she threw was way off, not cutting through the air but instead spinning, and it hit the edge of the training board with its flat side, before falling to the ground with a 'thunk'.

Sakura heard Sasuke snickering from his place to her right, and she blushed a tiny bit. Sasuke made his first throw with more skill, the kunai landing solidly within the second inner ring.

This is like when Katniss couldn't shoot properly with the new bow during her private training score session. All I need to do is get used to it Sakura thought, taking a deep breath and picking up another kunai to throw.

"Turn your body further away from the target and raise your elbow" inner Katniss advised.

Her next kunai landed with a satisfying sound in the second outermost ring. Sakura smiled and threw more, with inner Katniss pointing out what she was doing wrong.

Within a few minutes she had gotten used to the slightly different weight and shape of a kunai, and they were now hitting the inner circles almost every time. Reaching to pick up the last kunai in her small pile, she felt eyes on her. She turned to see Sasuke, who had already exhausted his own supply, watching her, and so Sakura took her time with the next throw.

"Relax your arm and make sure to flick your wrist more this time" inner Katniss said quietly.

The girl took a deep breath, allowing her tense body to relax a bit, and following her inner's suggestions threw the kunai.

The ninja tool whistled through the air like an arrow, managing to almost float, without any spinning at all, despite its speed. As if by a stroke of luck, Sakura watched it hit the bullseye, striking and burying in the center of the innermost circle about halfway to the hilt.

Sasuke seemed surprised if anything, as if hadn't expected her to do so well - even he hadn't managed to hit the very center yet - and Sakura childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

The black haired boy huffed, and walked up to his target to go retrieve the kunai. "Whatever, I still have more combined points" he said petulantly, sticking his tongue out right back at her.

Sakura smirked inwardly, but followed him, stepping over the boundary line to go retrieve her own kunai. As she bent down to pick up the one that had bounced off the board during her first throw though, she saw Iruka approaching.

"Uchiha-san! Haruno-san!" he said angrily, "Did you not hear my instructions to wait until after everyone had finished before retrieving your kunai? Going up while everyone else is still throwing could be potentially life-threatening, especially if you don't even pay attention to your surroundings!"

It seemed as if Iruka was directing it specifically at her, with the way she had turned her back while picking up the fallen kunai. Sakura hung her head down and hoped no one could see her face, feeling blood rush to her cheeks as Iruka glared at them.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei" she and Sasuke both said, although Sasuke with less regret in his tone.

The teacher softened a bit. "It's fine, just make sure not to do it again. And wait until everyone is finished this time before getting the rest of your kunai" he said sternly.

They both nodded, and made their way back past the dirt line.

The rest of the session passed much the same way, both Sasuke and Sakura finishing a bit earlier than the rest, and then waiting for everyone else to finish before going to retrieve their kunai and doing it again. Sakura smiled a bit as Iruka sensei gathered all the kunai back into a large storage container. Sasuke had decided to spend his time waiting laughing at Naruto, and after realizing the blond boy only laughed along and didn't seem to mind, she had joined in. Naruto really was terrible with the small weapons, and although she thought she would have wilted in his place, seeing as how everyone else was so much better, his pride curiously enough only grew with each missed throw. In fact when one of his kunai had gone so far off course it had landed in the bullseye of a neighbouring target, Naruto had done an impromptu victory dance which had everyone cracking a grin.

Now though, Iruka was leading the entire class away from the school courtyard and into the surrounding forest area, following a small well-traveled path. Sakura glanced excitedly at Naruto and Sasuke beside her as they walked, hoping that this would be the 'surprise' Iruka had mentioned earlier.

It seemed as if it might be, as they entered a pretty clearing which had a dirt circle drawn crudely in the middle and what looked like sticks of varying lengths lying around.

"Swords, Sakura! Not sticks!" inner Ahsoka cried, aghast.

A warm wind travelled through the air, rustling through her short hair, and Sakura felt oddly at peace here in the middle of the woods.

It was a beautiful place too. Although she suspected the grass had stopped growing long ago due to constantly trampling feet, the dirt was neither too dry or too damp, and the trees surrounding the area seemed in a perpetual state of green like all the other trees in Konoha, perfect for climbing into.

"This year, while not in the curriculum, I've prepared a treat for you guys! One of my old friends has volunteered to teach our class kenjutsu, one of his specialties. Can anyone tell me what Kenjutsu is?" Iruka said, seeing as how everyone had by now entered the clearing and gathered around him.

Beside her, Sasuke eagerly raised his hand.

"Uchiha-san" Iruka said, calling on him.

"Kenjutsu is techniques using swords" Sasuke answered.

Inner Ahsoka seemed to excite at that, and Sakura felt a tiny bit of that excitement catch on to her as well.

I suppose they really weren't sticks, she grudgingly admitted to herself.

Iruka smiled at Sasuke and nodded. "That is correct. Kenjutsu literally means 'Sword Technique', and pertains to techniques that entail the use of swords whether the users be shinobi, or samurai. Kenjutsu is regarded as a branch of bukijutsu." he said. "Sasuke, do you want to explain what bukijutsu is as well?"

Sasuke seemed to glow with pride from being called on again, and he answered immediately. "Bukijutsu refers to a ninja's use of weaponry in combat" he said.

"Very good" Iruka said, praisingly.

He turned to the entire class. "Now, my friend's name is Hayate Gekko, a tokubetsu jounin of our village, and I expect you to give the same respect to my friend as you would give any teacher." he said seriously, looking around at everyone to make sure they were listening.

The entire class nodded, and for a moment there was silence.

A brown-haired boy with triangular tattoo markings on both cheeks raised his hand.

"Yes, Inuzuka-san?" Iruka asked.

"Um, sorry Iruka-sensei, but where is Hayate-sensei?" the boy said, looking around suspiciously as if he expected Iruka's friend to jump out of a bush suddenly.

"I'm not sure where he is, but I'm sure he'll be here shortly." Iruka said with a nervous smile. He looked around for a moment too, as if hoping the tokubetsu jounin would appear, but when it finally seemed as if Hayate wouldn't show up, he sighed.

"I was going to let him explain our training exercise today, but I suppose since he's running late I'll have to." he said.

Iruka gestured to the large circle drawn in the dirt. "As you've probably already noticed, we have a makeshift arena right here. Once Hayate-sensei arrives, you'll all take turns fighting him with a blunted practice sword. He'll take it slower of course, since I'm sure none of you have started studying something as specialized as kenjutsu yet, but it should be a great learning experience" he explained.

"Sakura! You might finally have an advantage over the others, with me in your head!" Inner Ahsoka said exuberantly, making motions with an imaginary lightsaber in Sakura's mindscape.

Sakura laughed a bit to herself. I don't know, Ahsoka, I've only ever practiced against invisible opponents, I probably won't be much good against an actual kenjutsu master like Hayate-sensei she thought to herself.

As Iruka directed all the students to form a sort of ring around the arena, Sakura heard him muttering under his breath.

"Where could that lazy bastard be. He promised he'd help me with the students and he doesn't even show up on the first day!" he said, grumbling.

As if on cue, a figure jumped down from one of the tall forest trees surrounding the clearing, landing in the middle of the clearing.

The first thing Sakura noticed about the older shinobi, was that he didn't look very intimidating. Based on the way Iruka had described him as a jounin of some kind, she had expected what most civilians attached to the word 'shinobi'. She had been prepared for a menacing, hulking brute, not a slightly-taller-than-average man with a navy bandana tied around straight brown hair and a senbon sticking out from the corner of his mouth.

"Yo, Iruka-san" the shinobi greeted, with a raised hand.

"His non-threatening appearance only works in his favour, remember that Sakura. The people you underestimate are the ones you die at the hands of" inner Katniss said.

Wearing only the standard dark green konoha vest and navy outfit, he looked completely non-descript and average, although Sakura supposed with her own pastel pink hair and wide green eyes, she would grow up to look pretty non-threatening too.

"A good thing" inner Katniss agreed.

But ninjas are supposed to be scary! Sakura complained mentally.

"You can be plenty scary when you reveal your skills to the opponent, dear" inner Hermione said, comforting her.

"Genma-san, what are you doing here? I thought Hayate-san was supposed to come." Sakura heard Iruka ask the newcomer, who she assumed was probably not their missing sensei.

Genma scratched his head. "Uh, Hayate-kun couldn't make it, so he asked me to step in as a replacement since I owe him a favour. I'm not a specialist like him but I can help if you want."

Iruka closed his eyes and groaned. "Great, just great." he said.

"I promise that Hayate-sensei will actually be here to teach you tomorrow" the teacher assured the students, with a dark look on his face. "I'll personally make sure of it."

"Hey! I'm not that bad with kenjutsu myself!" Genma whined, stepping into the dirt circle.

Iruka sighed loudly, before looking around to the students and picking up a wooden training sword from the ground. "I'm going to have you going alphabetically against Shiranui-sensei here, so first up is Aburame-san" he said.

A boy Sakura faintly remembered being called Shino walked calmly up to Iruka and accepted the wooden sword offered.

"I will do my best, Iruka-sensei," he said politely to the teacher, "why? because I see this as an interesting learning experience."

"Of course Aburame-san, go ahead. Genma, if you make any of the kids go to the hospital the Hokage will hear about it" Iruka said threateningly.

Genma, with a senbon still in his mouth, nodded to Shino, and waited for the boy to attack him.

When he did, Sakura was slightly disappointed. She hadn't truly expected any of the fights to be like the ones she had read about, like the duels King Arthur and his knights of the round table fought, or like the lightsaber battles inner Ahsoka always talked about. But she certainly hoped she would perform better than Shino, who was only able to defend against Genma's slow blows, barely having enough time to counter each one.

The rest of the fights proceeded much the same, with Sakura able to count the number of times in total a student had attacked on one hand. And they all ended similarly too, with Genma finally knocking the practice sword out of their hands after a few minutes, and the student forfeiting.

There was one of the other civilian girls in the ring now, struggling to keep up with even the jounin's extremely slowed strikes, her skinny arms not having enough strength to keep her practice blade up. Sakura wasn't paying much attention though, giggling with Sasuke and Naruto over a prank the latter had played on their third hokage himself. Finally, she heard her name being called out.

"Ok, um, next we have Haruno-san," Iruka said, squinting at the list in his hand. Sakura had expected to be going soon, since the last student's surname had started with an 'H' as well, but she still felt her heart clenching in nervousness as she felt everyone's eyes on her as she made her way to the front of the group.

Her hands were sweaty as she stood in front of Iruka, and she quickly tried to wipe the sweat off on her shirt.

"Haruno-san, I realize you come from a civilian clan, and as such I'm sure you can be exempt from these activities, considering it is your first day and I cannot imagine you've had any formal training yet" Iruka said to her in a low voice.

Sakura assumed this worry was because of how the girl who went before her was now crying, but she could feel a distinct sense of indignation coming from all three of her inners. She doubted she would have ever taken up Iruka on his offer, even without the skills of Ahsoka. While getting beaten pretty badly in the ring would be embarrassing, giving up before she started would be even more so.

She shook her head at Iruka without directly looking him in the eyes, and held out her right hand for the training sword. He grudgingly handed it to her, and she entered the ring to face Genma.

The tokubetsu jounin didn't attack, even as she got into a ready position.

"He's waiting for you to attack first." Inner Ahsoka said, "Sakura, you need to become me again. You have to be Ahsoka."

Sakura nodded to herself and tried to channel the mindset of her inner.

I am Ahsoka Tano she told herself. And across from me is my opponent.

Ahsoka turned the sword around and held it in a reverse grip, imitating the way she would hold a lightsaber. She'd been studying Form V, one of the seven forms of lightsaber combat, since she'd started training. Against a larger and stronger opponent such as Genma, Form V had the advantage of being a variant of Djem So, designed to use an opponent's attack against them.

Ignoring the voice of Iruka behind her, telling her she was holding the blade incorrectly she sprung forward. She was Ahsoka Tano, not Sakura; as if she gave a shit about how the teacher thought she should hold the practice sword.

Genma blocked her sweeping attack with ease, as she'd known he would, but she quickly retracted her blade and backed up, the purpose having been completed. He'd start attacking her now, and that was the main idea of Form V. Defense immediately followed by a counterstrike.

The jounin did as she'd expected and Ahsoka swung up her sword to meet his, at an angle from which he wouldn't be able to disengage fast enough to attack her open side. What she hadn't counted on though, was how painfully the attack would vibrate through her arm, and she barely had time to counter the jounin's next hit.

Backing up a bit, Ahsoka realized this weapon was different from a lightsaber, which absorbed vibrations. She would have to try and misdirect his attacks instead of meeting them head on.

Waiting for Genma to attack again, she knocked his blade out of the way instead of blocking it, and immediately lunged forward to swipe at him with the side of her own.

The jounin hadn't been expecting the direction the blade would come from, an advantage of Form V fighting, and as such had to jump backwards himself, with a both amused and surprised look on his face.

Ahsoka took advantage of the opening and rushed forward, sliding to duck under his blade and try and pull his feet out from under him. Genma jumped up to avoid her however, and attacked from above. She instinctively held up her practice sword to block the attack as she would have done with a lightsaber, and then immediately remembered that this wasn't a lightsaber. A moment too late, she rolled out of the way, and Genma's attack clipped her painfully on her dominant shoulder. Ahsoka switched her sword to her left hand.

Trying to flip herself back onto her feet, Ahsoka realized her body didn't have the strength to, and so she instead clambered back up to a standing position on her knees, thankful the jounin had waited patiently and not attacked. He raised an eyebrow at her as if asking if she wanted to continue and so she nodded.

Genma attacked again, slightly faster this time, as if to challenge her, and now she had a harder time both defending herself by knocking away his strikes and creating an opportunity to attack. Finally deciding to take a risk, Ahsoka didn't counter his next attack, instead sidestepping it and spinning around to attack him. He was expecting it though, and it was then that she saw just how much he had been taking it easy on the students. Within seconds he had blocked her attack and his practice sword was by her throat.

"Yield?" he asked, not even out of breath and hair perfectly in place.

Ahsoka nodded, knowing when she was outmatched, and now she was Sakura again, a shy smile in place as the other kids clapped for her.

Genma ruffled her hair and she gave the practice sword back to Iruka, walking out of the circle to go sit by Sasuke and Naruto.

"You were so good Sakura-chan" Naruto said with a smile, congratulating her. She thanked him and Sasuke grinned at her too.

The rest of the fights passed by a lot faster to her now that she'd already gone, most of the clan-born kids lasting longer than the civilians. Sasuke was being called up soon enough, and she watched him trade blows relatively well, his athletic skill making up for his lack of training in the area. Naruto of course had to one up everyone though, not yielding when Genma knocked his sword out of his hand, but instead choosing to make it a fist fight, leaping at the surprised jounin. The bandana-clad man didn't look too happy after that and tossed Naruto out of the ring by the scruff of his jacket.

By the time everyone had finished, Sakura could tell it was about three in the afternoon, judging from the position of the sun.

The day went by so fast she marveled, and here I was thinking we would have to get dismissed early.

All the other kids were starting to trudge back to the main academy building, and so Sakura fell in, following the trail through the forest all the way back to the area they had practiced kunai-throwing.

As she entered the classroom they'd had the test and chakra control exercises in, inner Hermione reminded her. "Go find Naruto and Sasuke. You agreed to go get ramen from Ichiraku's with them, remember?" she said.

Sakura gasped, looking around the room and not spotting either of them. She'd taken a while to get back, and so she assumed Sasuke and Naruto had already head out into the front courtyard of the school. Grabbing her few belongings, she rushed out of the room and out of the building, stopping at the top of the steps leading into the academy.

What if they already left without me? She thought, hoping that wasn't the case.

"Look to your right, I think I see them there" Inner Hermione said, causing Sakura to turn her head towards the mentioned area. Indeed, she quickly spotted blond and black hair, both the boys standing next to someone she assumed was part of Sasuke's family based on his dark hair.

She hurried down the steps and made her way through the crowd of parents and children towards them.

"Naruto-san, Sasuke-san" she greeted.

Sasuke smiled at her while Naruto seemed disappointed for some reason. "Hi Sakura-san! This is my Nii-san" Sasuke said, grabbing onto the third person's hand.

The older male who had features similar to Sasuke nodded at her. "My name is Itachi Uchiha. I assume you are Haruno-san, who Sasuke and Naruto were going to get ramen with?"

"Yep! You can call me Sakura though. Haruno-san sounds weird" she answered, nodding back.

Itachi gestured to Sasuke. "Unfortunately our mother wants us back home for dinner tonight, so Sasuke won't be able to go get ramen. You are all welcome to join though, and I will ask if Sasuke can go to Ichiraku's with you tomorrow" he said.

Sakura supposed that was why Naruto had looked disappointed.

"Please come with us for dinner at the compound! Itachi-nii always talks about boring stuff with dad during dinner, and I want someone to talk to too" Sasuke said, looking at them with doe eyes.

Instantly Naruto looked less disappointed.

"Dattebayo! Of course Sasuke-chan" he said excitedly.

Sasuke looked at her.

"I would love to Sasuke-san" she replied, also quite excited.

He grinned at both of them.

"Let's go then! Race you to the compound!"