Look at you go, I just adore you.

I wish that I knew what makes you think I'm so special?

If I could begin to do something that does right by you,

I would do about anything, I would even learn how to love.

Anything can be learned.

That's the motto by which Sakura lived her life by. She had never been terribly athletic nor talented in any kata, her ninjutsu was poor and her taijutsu worse due to her having no prior training. As a child she had resorted to books due to her failure to make friends seeing how all any of the other children picked on her mercilessly for her large forehead and abnormal pink hair.

The last factor of herself which lead to her further exclusion was the fact she was from no clan; the Haruno's were a simple civilian family made of a construction worker father, a stay at home mother, and a pink haired freak of a daughter.

Their family held no real history, no true significance, and no jutsu their own.

Sakura thus stuck to her books, she grew up adoring the old fairytales her mother would read with her, she found an almost solace in the pages of books and the unraveling of scrolls. So when she entered the academy it was of no surprise to her family that her booksmarts ranked her at the top of her class and carried her through all her studious classes.

If ever she sought an answer for any question then she need only find the right scroll or book. There was a comfort she found that even though her lack of clan left her at an enormous disadvantage with no prior ninja training, she could learn any of it through the right scroll. Seeing all her other classmates excess ahead of her would leave her with a sense of inadequacy, yet when she put her mind to it and found the right scroll then she could match them.

However her smarts would help her, they also made her a bigger target for mockery now she was perceived as a 'know-it-all'.

The bullying never silenced, the tune just changed to mock another feature of hers.

Even though it never ceased, once Sakura met Ino, she learned that she shouldn't take any of it sitting down. Ino was like a beacon in her little world; she brightened up her days and helped her stand on her own two feet, she was always so confident and strong that she couldn't help not inspiring Sakura to try and be a better person too.

The day Ino gave her that red ribbon, it instilled in Sakura the desire to grow to be a stronger kunoichi that stood an equal with her dear friend who would no doubt stand tall and proud as a leaf kunoichi.

That doesn't mean it was a quick process to blossom from a shy, booksmart child into a strong kunoichi.

It took time to build her confidence enough to even match Ino in playful banter. Ino adored dressing the two of them up to prepare for when they were both beautiful ninja. She also loved gossiping which lead to them both discovering Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura was wandering through the forest near the training ground as she waited for Ino to get out of her clan family meeting, she was hopping over large roots with her large ribbon bobbing along with her movements when she heard the sound of metal thumping against trees.

She froze behind a tree and carefully peaked around to see a familiar face from her classes. Sasuke Uchiha was carefully spinning a kunai on his finger - Sakura took notice of the glint of the weapon, the shine was different from the kunai they used in class so he was practicing with a real one, she clutched her small hand atop her chest in surprise. He turned to the target hung on a far off tree and quickly threw the weapon, it landed on the ring just outside the centre and Sakura felt her face light up in shock. He missed the centre but he was using the heavier real weapon so it was amazing her could get it so close at all.

"Tch," His eyebrows scrunched in obvious frustration.

She watched him readjust his stance back to the primary position, she recognised the stance from one of her scrolls she borrowed for class, he readied his kunai and threw. A sudden rustle from the targeted tree sounded, Sakura covered her mouth in a gasp as a cat fell from the tree. Sasuke was quicker than her and he instantly threw another kunai at his previous one, dislodging it from its coarse, and letting the animal fall unscathed. Sakura loosened her tense shoulders and sighed quietly in relief. She watched as the young boy walked up to collect his kunai, she briefly wondered if all clan children were allowed to train with real kunai, he briefly knelt down and cave the small can a stroke on their head of which the cat leaned appreciably into before he made his way back to his previous position.

Sakura felt her cheeks heat up as she watched the kind boy resume his stance. She wanted to say something, she clutched her baggy green dress and calmed herself before she began to take a step out from behind the tree to speak to him.

"Time to come home, Otouto-" Sakura froze in place and ducked back behind the safety of the tree, "Mother says lunch is ready." She carefully peaked out and felt the head return to her cheeks when she saw Sasuke's face brighten up with a dazzling smile as he turned to his older brother.

"Coming, Nii-san!" He pocketed his kunai and ran to join his brother. Sakura turned back behind the tree and pressed her palms to her cheeks, praying the redness would vanish and her little heart to slow its beating.

She felt a giggle bubble up from her chest and it took all her will to not bolt to where Ino was meeting her with this burst of energy she's gotten. Ino had told her how Sasuke was to coolest kid in their class, how he and Sakura were usually neck-to-neck when it came to written tests, but he was so cool when he got to do taijutsu and his clan even taught him how to breath fire! Sakura had agreed but she had no idea he was also had such a kind heart, and the way he radiated happiness when he smiled, he was indeed such a cool person, Sakura giggled to herself as she saw Ino taking with some other girls. She just had to tell her.

"Ino!-" The blonde spun around at her voice -"I've got a crush! You'll never guess who." Sakura smiled brightly as she came to a stop.

"It's totally Sasuke, isn't it?" Another girl voiced, Sakura tilted her head.

"How'd you know?" All the girls looked to each other and Ino had yet to speak, she just starred at Sakura who was unable to decipher the meaning behind her look.

"That's cause every girl in the academy has a crush on him! We're all rivals for his love - Hell, Ino has a crush on him too!" A girl laughed and Sakura saw her friend's shoulder's stiffen.

"You do?" Ino ducked her head, she soon straightened her posture.

"Yeah." Sakura furrowed her brows and felt her fingers lace themselves in front of her nervously.

"Then I guess we're rivals too." They met eyes and in silent agreement they felt their rivalry begin. Sakura had begun to grow outside of Ino's shadow, this would help her stand on her own, they knew they were still friends but this would help them grow as two separate ninja.

They continued to meet up and play together, but now they allowed themselves to be more competitive; they would race to class together, they competed to see who could master a jutsu faster, or who would get a better test score. Everything became a competition, Sakura would get better test scores, Ino would ace a lot of Kunoichi lessons, and when word got around that Sasuke liked long hair then that too became a competition. Sakura carefully grew her hair longer in the hopes that the boy might possibly share that bright smile she'd seen with her. Ino was still her only friend; she hoped someday Sasuke might want her friendship too. She still tied her red ribbon in her hair, knowing her best friend was her rival and the two could playfully insult each other didn't mean she didn't still treasure the gift.

But one day, Sasuke's smile disappeared.

Sakura noticed the immediate change. His bright black eyes darkened considerably and he held himself so tense and alert, but his body expressed so much distress. Sakura saw him sitting in class and he just seemed so sad and angry, she didn't know what to do, she'd never talked to him before and didn't think comforting words from a girl he probably didn't even know existed would help him.

It was during a spar between Sasuke and the loud mouthed kid Naruto when she saw how hurt he really was.

Sakura didn't like Naruto that much; he was loud, constantly playing pranks, he'd distract the sensei's when she was trying to learn and was overall really annoying. So when she and the rest of the class watched them spar, she stood beside Ino who loudly cheered for Sasuke to pummel the blonde, Sakura quietly watched to see if that smile Sasuke had when he trained that time ago would return. Sadly his sadness and hurt was so palpable that when he threw Naruto to the ground and threatened him, Sakura felt herself tense in worry. She may not like Naruto but she didn't want Sasuke to continue when the blonde lost. If Sasuke truly was hurting then he should pull back and focus on healing his heart.

Time had passed and to Sakura's joy she had been teamed up with Sasuke, maybe now she could help him get back to his bright self. Naruto was a downside since he'd grown to be louder and more annoying, she'd heard that he was the one to graffiti the Hokage monument! Talk about disrespectful!

As the days blended together, their low rank missions began to pile up, she found herself slowly warming up to Naruto. Sure he was still loud and picked fights with almost anyone, she had begun to see the genuine sincerity in him. He wasn't so proud and dumb that he wouldn't ask for her help or opinions.

When she'd demonstrated her excellent chakra control, he had asked for her help, she hadn't expected that from him and seeing how much the boys of her team excelled in the physical ninja requirements where she shined in the strategical and theoretical side. It had honestly felt nice that he came to her for help. Sakura had started to feel down on herself seeing how impressive her teammates were. She didn't think he was aware that this made her a little happy but it still felt nice none the less.

Their mission in the land of the waves was like a cold slap to the face. It was one thing to read all the books and scrolls on what it means to be a ninja but when presented with the real world experiences and life threatening scenarios, Sakura was struck with the realisation that her booksmarts could only show her so much. She couldn't let herself hold her team back.

She couldn't watch Sasuke and Naruto get so close to dying again.

Then they were thrown into the Chunin Exam.

She'd nearly lost them both again.

She'd sliced off her hair and sworn to herself there to get stronger.

She'd sharpen her mind until it was her most valuable weapon.

But there wasn't enough time. Sasuke's cursed mark worried her enough since no one else seemed to be taking it seriously enough. The invasion with Gaara the one tailed Jinchuriki nearly killing her. The Sandaime dying. Tsunade returning and becoming the next Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke nearly killing each other on that hospital roof. And now... Sasuke was gone.

Sakura saw Naruto's bandaged and broken body in the hospital and it broke her heart all the more. He'd gotten so hurt because of the promise he made to her; that he would bring Sasuke back. She held her tears in and swore to him the next time they tried to bring him back, she would be right by his side, she'd make sure she'd be there to fight with him and heal him when he needed it.

And then Naruto left too.

Swearing he'd get stronger during his training and travelling with Jiraiya so he could keep his promise and bring Sasuke back.

Everything was happening too soon. Team 7 was splitting apart too soon. Everyone was leaving too soon.

Kakashi was the last one to leave her. Off to do solo missions since his team had fallen apart.

Sakura was left to fall apart by herself.

She had confronted Tsunade, the strongest Kunoichi in the world, to train her. By some miracle, Tsunade looked at this weak young civilian girl with no accomplishments other than some good test scores to her name and decided she be her disciple. The start of her training was what Sakura prided herself in; studying.

To be a medical ninja meant Sakura had to learn everything possible with the human body. While Tsunade began her work taking over as Hokage, Sakura spent almost all her time in the library studying everything and taking in all the information there could possibly be that she'd need to be a medical ninja. After all; Anything can be learned.

She studied until her eyes throbbed and the taste of coffee became as neutral as water to her. She memorised, bones, bacteria, infections, from the most common of illness and injury to the worst diseases known to the world. She worked and worked and worked until she was able to pass Tsunade's test to heal a fish. The feeling of euphoria was amazing knowing that her studying had taught her the beginnings of being a medical ninja. That day Tsunade began teaching her to pool most of her chakra to where her seal of 100 would be should her training go successfully.

Sakura kept herself as busy as possible. She needed to fill her days with her studying or else she'd be stuck thinking about her own loneliness now team 7 had disbanded. However, she couldn't avoid it. It was the day Tsunade had announced a make-up Chunin exam that Sakura had been forced to confront her isolation.

Sakura fuelled by routine instilled in her by the last few months had begun her day by walking to the library. She dropped her head recalling Tsunade's words the day before.

"Sakura. With the make-up chunin exams coming up, I'll need your answer by tomorrow, will you be entering again? As your Shishou I can enter you as my disciple so you can enter as an individual. It's not as common as teams entering but in special cases it's permitted. I'm also Hokage so it's not like anyone has the spine to question me." She leaned back in her chair.

Sakura forced her nervous hands to her sides and looked to the floor uncertain. "I know it's a tough decision. But if you want to advance further, for you or your team, you're going to have to advance to chunin."

Sakura sighed and turned from the library, she should think her decision over. No studying as a distraction today. Sakura wasn't sure if she had enough confidence in her current skillset that she could carry herself through the exam again; this time alone.

Her feet carried her around the village until she wound up at the bridge her team would often meet at. Sakura dropped her shoulders and sighed against the railing as she watched the water move below.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed until she heard a familiar voice.

"Tired already, Forehead? I thought it would've taken longer for you to drop out of Tsunade's lessons but that just shows what I know." Ino teased as her footsteps came closer along the bridge. Sakura tucked her head in her crossed arms.

"Hey, c'mon don't tell me you actual quit already." Ino came to a stop at her side.

"Not now Ino. I'm really not in the mood." Sakura voiced dejectedly, she must have sounded even worse than she thought because Ino was quick to drop her teasing tone.

"Are you okay? Sakura, I haven't seen you around in days," The blonde turned to rest her back against the railing. "Was starting to think you up and left too."

Sakura's shoulders tensed and Ino was quick to take notice. "Crap, sorry, touchy subject. I'm just worried about you is all."

"I know, thanks Ino. I haven't quit my training by the way, just been a lot of reading and some minor application so far."

Ino waved her hand, "Well at least that's some stuff you at least like to do, y'know, be a bookworm and stuff."

"Yeah I guess." Sakura rested her head on her chin. In truth, she had missed these easy conversations with her best friend.

"Meanwhile you've got me-" Ino dramatically dropped her head back to look at the sky, "Asuma-sensei's not letting us use our clan jutsu in training now! Making us focus on applied weaponry more now. Which I totally get, but it's annoying as hell! My mind-transfer jutsu is the best jutsu I've got!"

Sakura turned and rested her cheek on her arm and give the blonde a small smile. "I hear you Ino, I do, but it's probably for the best that you branch out your skills. You might find you've got an aptitude for something else along with your mind-transfer jutsu. Look at me, my chakra control has lead to me pursuing medical ninjutsu, something I never really had any interest in before."

Ino let out an exaggerated sigh and slid down the railing, "Ugh! You sound just like Asuma-sensei!" Sakura found herself giggling.

"Well at least Asuma-sensei is preparing you for the re-take," Sakura lowered her gaze.

Ino straightened up and gave her a concerned look, "Is Kakashi-sensei not training you? Even though you're learning from Tsunade-sama you're still his student."

Sakura shook her head. "The teams disbanded, Ino. He's probably just disappointed that I'm the one that's left. He seemed happy to teach..." She hesitated, "the others important lessons that I already read about. Maybe I was too prepared."

"-That's no excuse!" Ino interrupted. "Sure you've always been smart but he still should've taught you something! He taught Sasuke that lightning move, and Naruto's learned how to link his jutsu into what could pass as an actual thought out plan! Did Kakashi-sensei teach you anything you hadn't already read about?" The blonde huffed, getting more annoyed the more she spoke. Sakura shook her head.

Ino stomped her foot and pushed herself from the railing, "Well. Are you re-taking the exam?" Sakura turned to peer down at the flowing water. She watched in contemplation as a cherry blossom flowed slowly along from under the bridge, she blinked as two leaves flowed up to the flower before flowing away, stretching along with the blossom left to continue its slow course.

"Thank you..."

"It's okay. I'll bring back Sasuke for sure! That's my promise of a life-time!"

"But if you want to advance further, for yourself or your team, you're going to have to advance to chunin."

Sakura clenched her fists on the railing and stood up straight, a determined look in her eyes. Ino's annoyance slowly melted and a smirk began to grow. "Yes. I will."

"That's what I like to hear." Ino held her hands behind her back an spun around. "Let's go then!"

Sakura blinked and stepped up to her side as the blonde began walking away. "Wha- Where are we going?" Ino tilted her head to her, smirk still in place and an eyebrow arched.

"You're gonna need to train aren't you? I'm sure Tsunade-sama's teaching you some important lessons, but she's Hokage too! You're gonna need a Sensei's help too." Ino flicked her fringe back as they strolled through the marketplace, chatter and noises sounding around them but Ino weaved through the crowd with a practiced ease.

"But Kakashi-sensei's off doing solo missions now."

Ino rolled her eyes as they came to a stop outside a restaurant holding the sign 'Yakiniku Q' and a welcoming atmosphere surrounding the building. Sakura blinked as Ino didn't even hesitate to step inside, greeting the owner and workers quickly as though this place was a common home to her. Sakura sped up to her side also greeting the workers as Ino's strides took her to a particular table.

"Asuma-sensei!" Ino smiled and seated herself beside her sensei. Sitting across from them was Choji occupied with the barbeque on his plate and Shikamaru leaning back on the booth chair with his arms behind his head. Said sensei let out a long breath of smoke into the air both before putting the cigarette out in an ash tray and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ino, we were wondering when you'd join us." He grinned lazily.

"Were we?" Shikamaru sighed, clearly annoyed by her loud voice already. She stuck out her tongue at him before scooching closer to their sensei and crossing her arms beside him.

"And Sakura, what brings you here?" Asuma nodded his head to the pinkette who stood awkwardly at the side of the table. Ino grabbed Sakuras' hand and tugged the girl down to sit in the booth by her side. Sakura sat nervously not really sure how to converse with Ino's team, she knew the blonde had more friends than her and the Ino-Shika-Cho families had always been close but Sakura had never hung out with them.

"Asuma-sensei, as your favourite student-" Shikamaru scoffed and Ino sent him a quick glare "-I've got a favour to ask. Sakura here is going to be entering the make-up chunin exam and she'd like some help getting ready for it, and-"

"-Let me guess. Kakashi's gone missing." Asuma voiced and leaned back further against the booth chair.

Sakura looks down at the barbeque skillet on the table sizzling with what smelled like a cut of pork. "Yeah, he's gone to do some solo missions."

"I knew it," Asuma sighed. "I told him putting Kakashi in charge of a genin team was a bad idea. That man's got too much baggage, you can't unload that on your students, especially leaving one. I'm sorry to hear that Sakura." His deep voice sounded very sincere and Sakura didn't know how to handle it.

She waved her hand dismissively, "It's alright, Asuma-sensei! I'm handling it fine. I mean Tsunade-shishou's been teaching me medical ninjutsu along with applied chakra precision so it's not like it's been too bad."

"But you still would like a sensei's help." He smiled kindly. "And you're interested in training with us."

"...Please, Asuma-sensei. I want to be as prepared as I can be. I want to learn as much as possible. I'm entering as Tsunade-shishou's disciple so I'll be by myself."

Asuma smirked and tilted his head. "I have no problem if you'd like to tag along at our training sessions when you have the time. I'll have to confer with my team though." He nodded to the two boys sitting across from them. "Thoughts?"

Choji, seeming to be still preoccupied with his plate grunted "I don't mind!"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders with a dismissive sound. Ino's smile brightened and she turned to Sakura.

"Look's like we'll be training together." Asuma grinned.

"Thank you so much, Asuma-sensei! I'll do my best!" He chuckled at her bright enthusiasm. "Tsunade-shishou's busy preparing the exam for the next five months so I'm suppose to continue my written study and basic exercises but I could easily fit in training with you guys in my schedule!" Sakura could feel her smile growing.

"Slow down there, you're suppose to be 13, why do you already have a schedule?" Asuma chuckled.

Sakura clenched her hands in front of her chest. "...My boys are working so hard, I don't want to be left behind. I don't have any time to waste if I want to catch up to them." A silence fell over the table. Shikamaru, Choji and Ino giving her sympathetic looks, seeing how talking about her far away teammates clearly upset her.

"At the rate you're planning you might just surpass them." Asuma smirked.

Sakura smiled softly, "I don't know about that. But I'm going to learn everything I can."

"Then we'll be expecting you tomorrow afternoon right here."

"Afternoon? Not morning."

Asuma chuckled, "While I like your enthusiasm, there's no way I could have this team motivated early in the morning, our best bet is to indulge in lunch first then train and reward ourselves with a nice dinner." Sakura thought it over and decided she would begin her days studying her medical scrolls and basic training before joining team 10 for their training. She smiled and nodded.

"Sounds perfect, thank you."

"Well you're not going anywhere yet! You're eating with us now." Ino smiled and was quick to start a harmless conversation about a recent argument she saw in the market place earlier that she just had to share. Shikamaru and Choji listened silently and Asuma helped himself to some of the sizzling pork. Sakura happily chatted along, already starting to feel less lonely now she had a friend to talk to and a team to train with. She wondered how different Asuma's training would be compared to Kakashi's training.

Now she was preparing to take the chunin exam alone, she needed to learn all she could.

After all; Anything can be learned.

Get ready for one hell of a slow burn. Seriously this fic is arc one of like five that I've got planned. But I'm putting a lot of thought, planning and effort into this fic which I hope shows. So Hey! Welcome to my fic!

Also at the beginning of every chapter I'll be including lyrics to a song that I feel holds some relevance either in context or tone to the chapter. AND if you're the first person to guess the song then I'm gonna give you a shout out in the end notes of the following chapter! Just for fun ^^

You're also probably wondering about the endgame pairing considering this fic has the 'Everybody loves Sakura' tag, well trying to stay spoiler free this is a polygamous fic so its ending will be multisaku! Ya girls gonna end up with a handful of partners, two of which are going to be both Sasuke and Naruto because god damn it Kishimoto you establish how much Naruto loves her, how much Sasuke needs her and how she cares for both of them so much but don't have a polygamous endgame!?

I'll be fixing that. But those two aren't the only ones she'll end up with, there's at least one Akatsuki member I've planned on her ending up with but that may change depending on feedback and how the story and interactions flow.

One last thing is everything pre-shippuden I'm counting as canon in this fic. However I am taking everything in the shippuden series with a grain of salt. By which I mean I'm rewriting all of it so you better forget everything except faces and names cause I'm going to have some fun with backstories, lore (Kaguya stuff), and overall events in general. So not a fix-it fic but certainly might feel like one.

LASTLY! The continuation of this fic entirely depends on you, the reader, because writing is hard and takes time. I'm writing this for free just so I can share this fic idea I've been planning for a long while now. But it's hard to continue a fic when it feels like no one appreciates the work a writer puts in.

So please review! I'm just asking for at least 5 reviews for this chapter before I post the next. Keep in mind I write long chapters because I want to share as much as possible. That means writing does take a while but every review gives me motivation to keep writing!

Plus I always check out every reviewers profile so I can check out their fics too.

So there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the prologue and please leave a review!

I'm also going to ask a question; What's your favourite aspect of part 1 Sakura? Personally I really liked how she was the voice of reason in Team 7, plus genin Sakura is just adorable. Let me know your thoughts! ❤