Title: Time to Pretend

Summary: An actress is reborn as Sakura Haruno—and promptly decides that all she can do is what she does best. She acts. [OC-Insert]

"All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages."

~ William Shakespeare

She had been famous.

Young, proud and so, so naive. That's what had gotten her killed, being naive. Being kind and trusting to all the wrong sorts of people. It had been quick, though.

The cold metal of a gun pressed against the back of her head, bang, and then she had tumbled to the floor, dying in a pool of her blood.

Her tears had not been fake, that time. They had not been crocodile tears, not for a specific scene or movie. No. They had leaked from her eyes and ran down her cheeks, mixing with snot and blood as she had prayed for someone to please help, please please please not me, idon'twanttodie!

Her prayers had not been answered.

Or, well, they had, but in a rather unorthodox way. She had been reborn.

Reborn as a helpless baby, crying out with whimpers and tears as her mind had overloaded with information and memories. She could barely see, objects only being sorted into little groups in her mind based on color and size. And then she started to grow. Birthday after birthday after birthday, full of cake and laughter and parents.

Parents, a mother and a father who tried to care for her. It was difficult to understand them because they were not her real parents, not her real mama and papa who had raised her to be the best person she could be. It hurt, sometimes, to be so disconnected from the world.

She only called them mother and father, maybe the occasional mom or dad sprinkled in because they were not hers and it felt so wrong.

They had tried to understand her, their only daughter, but they could not.

She would not let them.

She had not truly grasped her situation until the day her father had brought her to the market, her sitting on his shoulders as he pointed out specific landmarks to her. His finger had swiveled around and around until he had pointed up, right across from her and at the mountain that sat on the side of the town they lived in. Four huge faces had been carved into the rock, and her father listed out the names of the Hokages to her as she stared up in a stupefied daze.

At that point, her mind had blanked out because she had known what that was. She knew what that was. And she was absolutely terrified.

That had been the moment that she had realized that this 'world' was a manga. Naruto.

But, she had to admit, it had made everything make so much more sense. It explained the itchy feeling under her skin that had begun as she grew, as well as the people she could sense (Sense! She could sense! Was she a sensor?) jumping across the rooftops or flickering about the village. It was chakra, the mystical energy that was in every single living thing here. It was just so strange.

Surreal, even.

Growing had been an interesting endeavor. Her mind had stayed the same but her body had been constantly changing, from baby to toddler to slightly bigger toddler. She remembered days of boredom and other things, terrible, terrible things, like the Kyuubi attack.

She had only been a baby, only a few months old when it had happened. When everything had gone dark and felt so, so terrifying. When the air had stopped going into her lungs the right way even as she tried to scream at them to work, work goddammit but her mouth had refused to open. It had not been a fun time.

No, not at all.

And, sometimes, she knew that her parents had noticed that she was just a bit too attentive or smart.

That she was abnormal. Unnatural.

Their stares would linger a little longer and they would pay a little more attention to what she did. That was okay because if there was one thing she was good at, it was acting. And while acting as a child was not the easiest, she could manage. She had to manage because if she didn't then she would be a prodigy and then she would be the center of attention.

It's harder to act, to lie, when everyone watches your every move. She knew that if she was being watched to closely to often her facade would crack for one tiny moment, and something would slip out that was not meant to slip out and then things would escalate until she was dead, or worse. She did not want to be dead from a stupid mistake.

Not again.

And she didn't want too many high expectations, because that would mean work and she had already done enough of that for a lifetime.

She was terrified, honestly. She hadn't even finished the series because her former acting career had gotten in the way of almost all of her leisurely activities. There were too many dangers in this world and she wasn't strong enough to fight any of them. Too many unknowns, and far too many details she had forgotten over the years.

Life as a ninja was a daring game, one that included walking across a tightrope that hung between death and even more death. But she had chosen to play because she had nothing to lose.

Nothing at all.

And, so, here she was in all her glory, Sakura Haruno with pink hair and green eyes and an oversized forehead.

Today was her first day at the academy, her first step forward into the suicidal career of a ninja. And she would have fun, even if it killed her.

(It probably would.)

AN: I partially know where I am going with this and may or may not continue, because writing fanfic is kinda just a hobby for my bored brain - I probably will keep updating slowly or I might spurt out a few more chapters and give up. Who knows? (Please review if you see a grammar mistake or have input for me to improve on something! Thanks!)

Anyways...

Thanks for reading! Have a happy late Thanksgiving!

Edit: 12/02/19 - small grammar mistakes.