Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It will rain at some point during the day, or at least, that’s what it looks like based on the clouds. Their hues are more soft blacks and dull grays than its usual pearly whites. Not that the fact it will rain matters all that much, but it was an observation like any other. Although, if it was, truely, going to rain, it was safe to assume that Shikamaru’s first day at the academy would be spent inside. Again, not that it matters anyway, the first day was apparently just an overview of what is to come and what to expect. Just the usual indoctrinations.

Potential rain or possible but unlikely sunshine, either way, today is going to be a drag.

“Maru-chan! Have you gotten up yet?” His mother called from somewhere down the hall. It was most likely the kitchen she was calling from, since that was where she tends to hover around in the mornings and evenings, but there have been a few occasions where she was down the hall in the opposite direction, so who knows. “It’s almost time to go!”

With a sigh, Shikamaru looked away from the clouds, uncrossing his legs to stand up. He closed the shoji door and walked back across the hall and into his bedroom to finish getting ready. Although it only took a few minutes, his mom must have thought he had been taking too long and came to check on him as a knock rang through the otherwise quiet room, then the soft sound of the fusuma door sliding open.

“Oh good, you’re up. I thought you might have gone back to sleep.” His mom huffed, gesturing down the hallway. “Come along. Breakfast is ready.” With that said, she turned around and left, leaving the fusuma open as she presumably went back to the kitchen, if that was where she had been originally to begin with. Of course, wanting both breakfast and to avoid any and all early morning shouting, at least in his direction, Shikamaru obediently trailed after his mother after one last check that he had everything he would need for the day.

Arriving in the kitchen, he was met with an empty sight, meaning that his mother had disappeared off to somewhere else between the few moments it took to collect any stray items he needed for his first day at the academy. A moment later, there was the sound of a loud, sharp, yelp. It seems that while Shikamaru’s attempt to avoid getting yelled at was successful, the same could not be said about his father. The Nara head in question appeared from out of the hallway, rubbing at the side of his head, where he was most likely whacked for something he said or did that got on the Nara matriarch’s nerves. Either way, it isn’t Shikamaru’s problem, so he simply chose to take his seat at the chabudai, slumping his head against the cold wood.

“Sit up, Maru-chan! That is not where you sleep.” His mother chides as she enters the kitchen, grabbing a few bowls of food that she had made, bringing them over to the chabudai.

Eating didn’t take long, and was filled with little conversation, just the usual poking from his mother to see how he was feeling about something. In this case, to see how he was feeling about his first day at the academy, and if he was excited, or nervous, or something. This, of course, was met with his usual shrugs and mumbled neutral responses. Then they were cleaning up the dishes from breakfast, putting on their shoes in the genkan, and leaving the compound.

Shikamaru latched onto his parents the moment they were outside of Nara clan grounds, holding onto his mother and fathers hands like he’d seen other five-year-old kids doing. If Shikamaru, as clan heir, was indulging himself with this supposedly immature and childish action, as the elders call it, then it was no one's business but the head family’s own, seeing as the Nara clan head was allowing the action. That being said, this will be the only day that his father will be specifically walking him to the academy, unless Shikamaru wants to wake up at an ungodly hour of the morning to join him on his way to work. Although, if Shikamaru was being fair, his mother won’t be joining him for the walk to the academy very often either. Most likely, the Nara matriarch will only tag along when she has errands to run at the same time. Not that walking him to the academy is all that important. It is just a detail in their schedules that he had noticed, with his brain being overactive as it is. A bit of a drag to think about, making him already want to head back to his nice, comfy bed and sleep.

At least the walk to the academy was nice, if a bit chilly, which was expected with the growing coverage of the clouds overtaking the sun. It is definitely going to rain, but as long as it wasn’t during his walks to and from the academy, Shikamaru couldn’t be all that bothered by it.

A squeeze of his left hand drew the Nara heir’s attention out of the clouds and back down to earth. When he looked up to see what his father wanted, he was met with an eyebrow raised in a silent question. He looked away and over to his right to see his mom watching him with an amused, upwards, tilt of her lips. Looking back in front of himself, Shikamaru found that they had, sadly, arrived at their destination while he was stuck in his head debating the weather. Sad, because it meant that Shikamaru lost his excuse for holding his parents’ hands, so he lazily released them, said his tired goodbyes that were interrupted by a yawn, and walked inside his new school.

His first impression is that the class was far noisier than he would have liked, but he can’t really complain all that much when his clan’s not the one with enhanced hearing, and the Inuzuka seems to have no issue being just as loud as everyone else, if not louder. Not to say that Shikamaru wouldn’t be complaining, just that his complaints would lose any validation the minute someone else thought to point out the Inuzuka in the room. His second complaint was that there were far too many children in one concentrated space for his liking. It’s a complaint that wouldn’t last all that long, given what he knows about academy drop out statistics. Whether they drop out themselves, get pulled out by a parent, or simply don’t make the cut, the number of academy students slowly dwindles down to a much more serious and manageable bunch.

The third thing was more of an observation than anything else. There are way too many civilian children in the room, even taking the civilian dropped-out-pulled-out-kicked-out rate into consideration, there are far too many in comparison to the recorded previous five years he looked into, which can mean one of three things. Option number one, there was a war brewing somewhere with one of the other villages. Option number two, Konoha’s shinobi ranks took a major hit of some kind. Option number three, all these civilian children who usually only have enough chakra to live, tested with high enough chakra levels to pass the entrance exam. All the options are a bit odd, but this many civilian families having a random spike in chakra levels seems the most unlikely, so he’s down to two reasons. Either one of the two remaining reasons means the same thing, Konoha needs more shinobi within the next few years, and they need them quickly, with no regards to the canon fodder most will become.

Shikamaru sighed, it wasn’t his place to say anything. It’s their choice to make if they don’t end up being pulled or kicked out, so he simply shoved his hands into his pockets and walked to the desk farthest from the front, all the way into the far back corner. Taking a seat, he promptly laid his head down on the desk and proceeded to fall asleep. Although, it was more so dozing than actual sleep, and even then, those who aren’t from the Nara clan would probably consider it closer to meditation then anything else. Still, it allows him to rest his eyes, so he has no issues with it, just letting his body go limp, even as he continues to take in his surroundings via flickering shadows as best as he could. Shikamaru isn’t the best at this, his dad is far better, if not the master of this, but the Nara heir can still try to keep track of everything through their shadows, even if it was tiring.

Their sensei came into the classroom, calling them all to attention, and then proceeded to go over a list of rather basic things that they would be learning this year in the academy. Most of the topics would only be skimmed over, despite the fact that Shikamaru had to sit through multiple sessions with different elders to learn each of the topics in depth, which was rather unfair in his opinion. The other clan heirs, if not the clan kids, might have gone through the same thing, so it was going to end up just being a review year for them, but the civilians would end up learning nothing with how they would be going over the topics in class. It was a strange sort of middle ground that left Shikamaru wondering who exactly they were trying to cater the lessons to, because it looks like they are trying for the civilians but don’t want to bore the clan kids so they’re going through the topics in a fast manner. Trying to accommodate both, but succeeding in neither.

A bell rang, signaling the start of their lunch break, and the civilian children already started turning towards each other to chat and make friends. Then a whistle was blown, first in a low short tone, then sliding into a higher tone that was held out. All attention turned towards their sensei, the room falling quiet.

“Were you dismissed?” Kagawa-sensei inquired in a bland tone, practically telling them the answer. A round of No’s echoed through the class as their sensei had them sit in silence. This is the true first thing they were being taught today, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the first two things. That one, there will always be a commanding officer to differ to, and two, that actions have consequences. In this case, the ignorance of rank protocols, such as ignoring their sensei, means they will have less time during lunch to eat or mess around. Not that it matters to Shikamaru who had stayed where he was, with his head down on the desk; face buried into his arms. He had no plans on moving, not when it was finally quiet.

“Dismissed.” Kagawa-sensei called out, gesturing for the students to leave the classroom, and most of them did, not realizing it was more so a suggestion to play outside than an order. The ones leaving seemed all too embarrassed to do anything but leave the classroom, quickly and quietly.

Time goes by, and it, thankfully, stays quiet. Only the sound of pages turning, the scratch of a pencil to paper, and someone quietly eating could be heard. More time passes and the sound of footsteps reaches his ears, meaning it wasn’t their sensei, pulls him out of his dozing state, but not by much, seeing as Shikamaru didn’t care to interact with anyone today. Of course, that doesn’t mean that others won’t interact with him, as evident by the soft, polite, tapping on his arm, which he ignored. There was a pause, and then another set of polite but more insistent tapping. After the third set of tapping Shikamaru opened his eyes with a groan. Rolling his head to the side, the Nara heir blinked tiredly up at the nervous looking girl who has soft pink hair, dull green eyes, and is hugging a book to her chest.

“My apologies Nara-san, but lunch will be over in five more minutes, and you should really eat something.” The pink girl explains apologetically with a perfectly polite bow that he’s come to expect from the people who know of his clan status. Then, to his surprise, instead of continuing the conversation, she turned around and went back to her previous seat. Her book was placed down onto the desk and opened as she sat down and began reading as if the interaction didn’t happen at all. Interesting but overall unimportant.

Yawning, Shikamaru did as the girl had suggested. Sitting up fully, he pulled his lunch out and began to eat. Five minutes went by, and just as the other student said, the bell rang and everyone started coming back to the classroom. Once they were settled, Kagawa-sensei called them back to attention, then began handing out a packet of tests to each student. It was just a placement test to see who knows what and who to partner with who in the future. Shikamaru debated whether it was even worth wasting effort on, but ended up doing it because Kagawa-sensei called him out for trying to sleep through it. Only after making direct eye contact with Kagawa-sensei, who looked just about as bored as the Nara heir felt, did he actually sit up, for the second time that class, to take the test. He flipped open the test packet and began working his way through it, marking down his answers to each question as they came up, so it was a rather boring affair.

Overall, it was a fairly simple test about some extremely easy concepts so it didn't take all that long to finish the test. Since he had been able to nap for the first portion of the test, the assumption would be that everyone else would be done either before him of around the same time. Except, a glance around the room showed that most of his classmates were still working on their tests by the time he had finished his. The struggling ones were, unsurprisingly, civilian born children, while the ones that seem confident in their answers where unsurprisingly clan born children. And so the pattern he had seen in the previous entrance exam testing continued, uninterrupted.

Or at least, the pattern would have continued uninterrupted had he not caught a pair of jade green eyes scanning the room in the same manner that he was, assessing the group population to see who was done and who was not.

There is an outlier this time.

Obviously there must have been outliers during the other exams as well, but when it came down to the actual grading of the exams, everything was in their self-assigned places.

She’s a civilian born. A merchant one at that. Shikamaru recognises the clan crest on the back of her red qipao dress when she had walked back to her seat after lunch. She’s a civilian, but she’s confident in her answers on the test, and was able to finish before the rest of their classmates. Either she’s very book-smart, or guessed on all of the answers. Given that she was reading a book during lunch, Shikamaru is willing to bet that she is in fact book-smart.

What the book was about is something Shikamaru would like to know. It wasn’t a book on the basics of anything they tested on. No, it was something about something, something, chakra points, something protection and prevention. So a medical textbook then. What kind of five-year-old girl reads a medical book for fun?

Jade green eyes blinked at him slowly, head tilting to the side curiously, but shoulders curling in on themselves self-consciously. Right, he was staring, the Nara heir realized and promptly turned back towards the front of the class and laid his head back down on the desk for another nap.

Someone burst into the classroom yelling and the rest of the class went quiet. At least, they were quiet until the new kid that had entered the class yelling introduced himself. Then there were attempted whispers and hushed conversations about the monster and demon fox, and how everyone's parents seem to have said to stay away from the kid. Out of curiosity, Shikamaru looked up just to see what the kid looked like, and there, in the front of the classroom, yelling at the kids who were being incredibly rude, stood the spitting image of the Yondaime Hokage.

Now wasn't that interesting? From what Shikamaru could remember, there was nothing about the Yondaime Hokage being married or having a kid, but here stood the mini replica of their former Hokage. He'll have to look into that when he gets home. It could just be a coincidence after all, but something told him that his first guess was right on target.

Their sensei ends up giving the Uzumaki kid detention and sends him to the principal's office, so there was a possibility that this was the first and last they would see the mini Hokage, but something was telling the Nara heir that he would definitely be seeing more of the blond in the future.

Academy got out a few hours later, and unsurprisingly, all they did today was paperwork and introductions. Who could have guessed that's all they would do on their first day? Oh wait, he had guessed exactly that, so all in all, it was an incredibly boring day, with the exceptions of the Uzumaki mini Yondaime Hokage and the civilian merchant's daughter who was reading a medical book for fun.

Yoshino met Shikamaru outside the academy gates with her arms full of grocery bags. His father was nowhere to be seen, which means that his earlier hypothesis was correct. His mother would go with him if she has errands to run and his father probably won't walk with him to or from the academy unless something was going on.

"How was your day?" Yoshino asked as they began the walk back home.

"It was all review and placement tests," Shikamaru answered with a shrug, unsure what else to say. He had technically slept through the majority of it.

"Oh? And how do you think you did on the test?" His mom asked, beginning what was most likely going to be a full-on interaction about everything that happened today.

The question and answers continued back and forth until they got back to the compound and his mother allowed him to escape. The first thing he did with his 'freedom' was head over to the library to see what was going on with the Uzumaki kid.

He looked up the name Uzumaki first, tracing it in the Konoha clan archives; there were two names listed. The first, surprisingly, was the Shodaime Hokage's wife, a woman named Senju Mito, formerly Uzumaki Mito, one of Uzushio's princesses. (He makes a note to look at Uzushio next.) The second name was Uzumaki Kushina. There was nothing notable about the second Uzumaki. She had the traditional red hair and large chakra stores that made her a tank during the war, but that was all so he moved on to find records of Uzushio.

It took a bit, but he eventually found the book containing Uzushio's history. Apparently, the Uzumaki originated from Uzushio and were both the Daimyo and Uzukage of Uzushio. They were known for their fiery red hair, their longevity, their seemingly bottomless pit of chakra, and their mastery of fuinjutsu. However, it had been their mastery of fuinjutsu that led to them being targeted and ultimately, their demise. Interestingly enough, while Uzushio had been Konoha's ally and sister village, Konoha hadn't gone to aid Uzushio against Kuno and Kiri. Even more surprising, the Uzumaki had a kekkei genkai. Using their never-ending charka, the Uzumaki could form it into chains, which could be used for restraining opponents or killing them.

A folder fell out of the large dust-covered book, drawing Shikamaru's attention away from Uzushio's history. Bending over, he picked up the folder and luckily, right before he opened it, he noticed the seal placed on it.

Fuinjutsu wasn't Shikamaru's best subject but from the looks of it, this was a blood seal, and seeing as the Nara crest was mixed into the seal, it would only open for his family. Weighing his options of, stopping here and having a constant itch of never knowing, or opening the folder and satisfying his curiosity, his curiosity won out, so without any hesitation the Nara heir bit his thumb, swiping the blood over the seat, and opened the folder. When nothing disastrous happened he began reading over the papers inside the folder. One of which was Uzumaki Kushina's marriage record, which clearly names Namizake Minato as her husband, and a birth certificate naming Uzumaki Naruto her son.

Well... that's that solved... except- why were these files hidden away, and why was Uzumaki Naruto called a monster and a demon fox when he's the kid of the Yondaime Hokage and Uzushio royalty.

Looking through the files he found the answer surprisingly fast. The word jinchuriki was written on three files. One for Senju Mito. One for Uzumaki Kushina. One for Uzumaki Naruto.

But why were they labeled human sacrifices?

A few more minutes, maybe an hour or so more research, and Shikamaru found out what a jinchuriki's job was, and that a certain blond Uzumaki child had been born on the same day as the nine-tails attack on the village. The same day the previous jinchuriki died.

With that, all his questions about the mini Yondaime Hokage were answered for the time being, so he resealed the folder and hid it back between the pages of Uzushio's history. If something else pops into his head, he can always come back to look up the answer, but for now, his curiosity was sauteed... on the Uzumaki at least. The pink-haired girl was still a mystery and he really wanted to know the answers to all his questions.

Peeking outside the Nara archives, Shikamaru found nothing but a burning sky and rain. Even with the sun covered by stormy gray clouds, you could still tell that it was sunset by what little color bled through the clouds. A drop of water hit his nose so he ducked back inside, deciding that he had enough time to find his answers.

First things first, finding out the family history of the Haruno clan, was way too easy given that the clan was rather small, with only one child per generation. All of them are born with pink hair, interestingly. They're a merchant family with no history of shinobi anywhere in their bloodline, so definitely civilians. There's no history of anyone in the Haruno family being anything but merchants, so why the medical book?

Sure, children could technically pick a different career than their parents. It happens, rarely but it does. Except, looking back at the text in front of him, there are only three Haruno clan members left in Konoha. A small family, the same size as his immediate family. A mother who had married into the clan, a father, and a daughter. There was no one to take over the family business but the daughter, so at the very least, her parents wouldn't let her switch careers without a fight. Hell, it was surprising that they let her join the academy. Maybe they thought she would take over if she retires? Though that was pretty arrogant of them to assume that their daughter would be one of the few shinobi that were actually able to retire and not die out in the field.

Flipping a few pages, he finds out that the Haruno's are originally from Kiri, while Haruno Mebuki, formerly Ishioka Mebuki, had been a war orphan and an immigrant from Iwa, making their daughter, Haruno Sakura a mix of Kiri and Iwa, so the likely hood of her chakra being earth based or water based are higher than the other elements. Both types are considered incredibly common but are also fairly useful for combat-nin.

There wasn't much else. In fact, there wasn't anything interesting in the Haruno family's file, making the most interesting thing about his classmate her reading habits. The only real question he had about the pink girl, was whether or not the habit would continue, and only time could tell.

Yawning, Shikamaru rubbed at his tired eyes and let his head fall against the wall, content to take a short nap before his mom hunts him down to eat dinner.

Decision made, the Nara heir let his eyes blink slowly shut, falling fast asleep.

Chapter Text

When Shikamaru heads to the academy in the morning, he is once again walked by his mother, but this time, only his mother. His father was already off at the Hokage's tower, working.

Just like the day before, the Nara heir used his young age as a reason to hold onto his mother's hand until they reached the academy, despite the fact the other clan heir probably didn't indulge in such a trivial thing. He said his goodbyes to his mother and walked to the classroom, once again being one of the first people to arrive. However, unlike yesterday, Shikamaru stayed sitting up and awake until a familiar pink-haired girl walked into the classroom.

Just like the day before, the pink girl walked in with a medical book and sat down to read by herself instead of interacting with their classmates. The next day they do the same thing. Shikamaru arrived first and waited until he saw the pink girl, who would show up with a new medical book, or the same book as the previous day. He waited until the pink girl was seated, reading her book, before he put his head down on the desk.

On a few occasions, their eyes would meet. Sometimes they nodded at each other. Sometimes they waved at each other. Either way, it was a habit. A habit neither broke, day after day, week after week, until a full month goes by, never once breaking the pattern of the Nara heir waiting for the pink girl with her medical book to enter the classroom before dozing off.

It's the third month of this. Waiting for the pink girl to enter the class with whatever new medical book, they shared small smiles as if the two of them were the only ones in on a secret, Shikamaru would put his head down and ignore the majority of their non-active classwork. It's the third month of this when the pattern is finally broken.

The pink girl arrives at class early, being one of the first to enter the classroom instead of arriving in the middle.

They are the only ones in the classroom, and instead of going to her seat, the pink girl walks up to the Nara heir.

"Ohayou, Nara-san." The girl greets him with a bow and the same small smile that has been greeting him for months. She then extends one of her hands, the other hugging her ever-present medical book to her chest. "My name is Haruno Sakura, but you can just call me Sakura."

"Nara Shikamaru." The Nara heir introduced himself in return, shaking her hand gently. "Just Shikamru's fine."

"Okay!" The pink girl agreed easily as if she hadn't previously addressed him with the proper mannerisms used when addressing a shinobi clan member. "It's nice to properly meet you, Shikamaru-san."

The aforementioned boy scrunched his nose in displeasure.

"Shikamaru-kun?" The pink girl amended, earning a shrug and a jerky nod from the Nara.

"Alright then. Shikamaru-kun it is!" The girl cheered, once again offering the same small smile he's been on the receiving end of for months. "Hey Shikamaru-kun, do you mind if I sit here?" She asked with a tilt of her head, gesturing to the forever-empty seat beside him.

"Go ahead." Shikamaru agreed, then added, "So long as I can ask about the books."

Considering it for a moment, Sakura shrugged and took the seat next to him.

"What about them?" The pink girl asked in return.

"Are you planning on being a medic-nin?" The Nara asked curiously, causing the girl to purse her lips. The question had been on his mind since he looked into the Haruno family and saw that this pink girl was an outlier.

"No. I don't think so." She decides after a few moments, much to Shikamaru's surprise.

"Then why read so many medical books?" He inquires because it's a reasonable question to follow up with.

Jade green eyes meet chestnut brown eyes, but this time, there's no amusement or curiosity, just a determined frown, and furrowed brows. The pink girl looked him over as if looking for some secret double meaning to his question, then shrugged as if it didn't really matter, but still looked a bit uncomfortable.

"I'm not from a shinobi family, so I don't have access to the same basic knowledge about chakra control, nin- tai- or gen- jutsu as someone from a clan. I would need to already be a genin to access that type of information in the library." Sakura explains, then taps on her medical book that had been set down on the desk when she sat down. "But, medical books have information on how chakra behaves in the body, how chakra is stored in each chakra point, and how to fix chakra points that were flooded from incorrect chakra storage. It shows how to fix problems caused by nin- tai- and gen- jutsu, and from there, I worked backwards."

Shikamaru blinks. Once. Twice. A third time.

That was not what he expected.

"You reconstruct chakra exercises off of failed jutsu attempts?" The Nara heir asks incredulously.

Sakura nodded, clearly unaware of the significance of being able to do such a thing, unaware of how impressive that is for someone not taught how to specifically do such a thing.

"It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do given my limited resources." The pink girl mumbled, fidgeting self-consciously, and Shikamaru can't figure out why, because there was nothing for her to be self-consciously about, so Shikamaru opens his mouth to say something, only for their sensei to walk in and whatever he was going to say died on the tip of his tongue. He put his head down and once again, ignored the non-active part of the academy.

The day continued as normal, well, almost. Every once in a while, the Nara heir would open his eyes from where his head laying on his arms, tilted to the side so he could see, and he would just watch as his new deskmate dutifully wrote down something their sensei said. Sometimes their eyes would catch and Shikamaru would just blink tiredly at the pink girl for a few moments, not even bothered by being caught staring, and she would purse her lips as if holding back laughter for some strange reason.

When lunch arrived, Shikamaru finally sat up to stretch, and the laughter his deskmate had been holding in since the first time their eyes met during today's class finally broke free into a round of giggles, so he turned to face her, raising a questioning brow.

"You remind me of a cat," Sakura says without any further explanation. The Nara heir shrugged, then took out his lunch and began eating.

"So, reverse engineering jutsu." Shikamaru began once he finished his lunch. "That must be a drag."

"Eh- It's actually a fun challenge if not a bit frustrating at times," Sakura informs him with that same small, almost secretive smile.

"How do you create a visual genjutsu?" Shikamaru asks curiously, earning an equally curious glance from the pink girl who sets down her chopsticks to turn her full attention to the clan heir.

"Depends. How long does it need to hold, and does it need to affect everyone or only a small group of people?" Sakura asks with a tilt of her head.

"It would need to hold until it's broken and needs to affect everyone." The Nara instructs, earning a nod from the pink girl.

"Coat the desired area in chakra from the occipital lobe's chakra points, but for a more convincing result, you should also use chakra from the auditory cortex's chakra points. Doing it this way instead of just coating the area in chakra from random points with the intention of a visual illusion is not only more efficient but also more convincing since those two areas are responsible for the brain's visual and auditory processing." Sakura explains, earning another slow blink from the Nara who leans his chin into the palm of his hand.

"Can you do that?" Shikamaru inquires with a raised brow.

"If you're speaking in general terms, then yes you can do that. If you're talking about me specifically, I don't know. Theoretically, I can, but I've never attempted it."

"Why not?" The Nara asked curiously, and that's all he seems to be when it comes to this pink girl.

"I don't have anyone proficient in chakra usage to help if I mess up." Sakura shrugged once again, but this time it was in a, what can you do, type manner.

"Huh. Alright... how do you make chakra sharp?" Shikamaru continued as if their side conversation never happened.

Sakura nodded in thanks at the change in subject, and the two spent all of their lunch talking about how to theoretically perform different types of jutsus. Well, more accurately, Shikamaru would inquire about a jutsu, and Sakura would explain how she thinks it's done based on her reverse engineering, and wasn't that something? A civilian-born five-year-old who could already reverse engineer jutsus based on medical documents of failed attempts that caused the jutsu user harm. By her own admission, she didn't have the same resources as someone from a clan, so she had to find her own way to gather the necessary information, and in doing so, Sakura figured something out that was far more impressive than knowing complex jutsu theory.

Lunch ends and class continues. They go outside for the physical aspect of the academy, and before they know it, it was time to go home.

The next day, Sakura sits next to Shikamaru without any prompting, and they talked until class started. Then the Nara would doze off and Sakura would diligently take notes on everything until lunch. They eat and talk about chakra theories, different types of jutsus, or just plain talking about whatever was going on in their lives outside of the academy.

This became the new pattern. Their new habit mixed with their old ones when their eyes catch on each other, or when they share secretive smiles or glances. It was different but the same, and this pattern lasted longer than the last. A whole six months longer before it was once again broken, but this time, it was broken by Shikamaru and not Sakura.

"Come on." The Nara instructs, offering a hand after he finished his stretches. They were still only on physical conditioning and mental work. Though, there was the possibility that they would be moving on to jutsus next year at the academy, in a couple of months.

Sakura took the hand, allowing Shikamaru to help her up, but to her surprise, he didn't let go of her hand once they were standing. Instead, he started leading them to the academy gates.

"Where are we going?" The pink girl inquires when they stop to pick up their bags.

"My house." The Nara answered as if it was obvious.

"Wait- why?" Sakura asks, attempting to stop midstep, but the Nara just dragged her along so she was forced to continue walking.

"You mentioned onec that you don't have someone proficient in chakra usage, I do, so we're going to my house," Shikamaru explained, earning a wide eye look from the pink girl. "Come on. We can stop for dango on the way."

"I mentioned that eight months ago!" Sakura pointed out in surprise.

"And?" The Nara questioned with a raised brow.

Seemingly unsure of what else to do, Sakura took a deep breath and followed the Nara.

They did end up stopping for dango on the way to the Nara compound, just like Shikamaru said they would, and when they arrived, the Nara heir announced their arrival. The Nara matriarch walked over to greet them, drying her hands on a dish towel.

"Welcome home- who's this?" Yoshino inquired with a sweet smile that put Shikamaru on edge, and without so much as a thought about it, he took a half step in front of the pink girl.

"A friend from the academy." The Nara heir offered cooly. "We were hoping you could supervise some jutsu attempts." He explains, still standing almost protectively in front of the pink girl.

"Oh? Well, if you can get Maru-kun to practice his jutsu then you're more than welcome, friend from the academy." Yoshino teased, making the pink girl somehow become more pink.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, Nara-san." The pink girl introduced herself with a bow.

"Oh, none of that. You can just call me Yoshino." The matriarch says this in such a way that was non-negotiable. "Let me finish up in the kitchen then we can go to the training grounds." She says while walking further into the house.

"Do the two of you want anything to eat?" Yoshino offerers when they arrive at the kitchen.

"We stopped for dango on the way home," Shikamaru answers, taking a seat at the chabudai.

"Something to drink then." The Nara matriarch decides with a nod. Two cups of tea were placed in front of the children, then Yoshino returned to what she had been doing before they arrived.

The children drank their tea and continued their earlier question-and-answer game of jutsu theory, which earned a few glances from Yoshino, but she didn't say anything.

"Alright, let's go." The Nara matriarch says while hanging her dishcloth.

Both kids perked up at that, practically jumping up from the chabudai and running off to the genkan to put their shoes on. And wasn't that interesting? The little pink girl somehow got a Nara to be excited about training. Yoshino filed that information away for later.

"What are you two going to be working on?" Yoshino inquired as they leave the main house. Her eyes instinctively lock onto how her son is choosing to lead the pink girl out of the house, hand in hand, just as they had entered. Just another thing to file away for later.

"The academy basics," Shikamaru answers for both kids.

"Which one? Or are you going to try all of them?" Yoshino asks curiously. Her son looks over at his new friend and waits on her answer instead of giving his own.

"We could start with a henge? It's the first one we ever discussed, so I think it should be the first one we try." Sakura suggests, earning a nod from the Nara heir.

"Do you want to go first, or am I?" Shikamaru asks as they finally arrived at the training grounds.

"Oh, uhm, I'm fine either way," Sakura informs him with a small smile, earning a nod in return.

"Then you should go first." Shikamaru decides, and when it looks like the pink girl was going to argue he adds, "Like you, you don't have anyone to supervise and I can just do this later."

"...okay." Sakura sighed. "Who should it henge as?"

The Nara heir considered this for a moment then shook his head.

"No one specific, just focus on changing your hair color, eye color, or clothing."

"So just a slight alteration- got it... I can do that." Sakura says determendly.

Taking in a deep breath, the pink girl focused on sensing each of her individual chakra points, then pinpointing the correct ones in her brain. Pulling the chakra from the occipital lobe, she began weaving a thick layer of its chakra over her skin, pushing it up until it covered her clothes instead of her skin.

There was a slight ripple in her clothes coloration before the henge broke, leaving Sakura panting.

"That was a good first attempt." Yoshino encouraged, completely glossing over the fact that the pink girl almost did a successful henge without the use of hand signs. "Try again."

"Right." Sakura nods, taking another deep breath as she attempts to figure out what could have gone wrong.

There was no auditory point in the illusion so she only needs the visual part. That wasn't the issue. Maybe the speed at which she pulled on her chakra? When it's performed by shinobi it's a fast transition with a puff of smoke, so maybe it needs to be faster.

She tries again. Closing her eyes, she pulls on the chakra from her occipital lobe's chakra points. This time, she quickly pushes it out to go through her skin and onto her clothes instead of waiting for it to cover her skin, It would take too much time to coat both, so why not cut out the middle man?

"There you go!" Yoshino cheered.

Sakura opened her eyes ever so slightly to peak, and sure enough, her dress changed from red to green.

"I did it!" The pink girl laughed, grabbing the fabric in her hands to run her hands over the illusion. It didn't feel any different, but then again, all she did was change the color.

"You did." The Nara heir agreed with a nod of his head. "And it only took you two tries." Shikamaru huffed. "It took me at least five tries the first time I did that."

Yoshino once again decides not to mention that it had taken her son five tries with detailed explanations and the use of the whole hand sign sequence. Instead, she stood off to the side, watching.

"Well- are you a genjutsu type?" Sakura asks.

"Nope, ninjutsu type." The Nara heir answers.

"That might be why," Sakura informs him. "I'm a genjutsu type according to the chakra test the academy had us take for the entrance exam."

Shikamaru shrugged in acceptance.

Being a genjutsu type does not explain how the pink girl did what she did. All it explains is that she's already predisposed to genjutsus. She should have needed at least one or two hand signs, and there hadn't even been a cloud of smoke, meaning that the pink girl wasn't wasting any chakra.

"Well- your turn!" The Sakura decides, earning a sigh from the Nara heir.

"Fine." Shikamaru groaned, forming the sign sequence, and in a puff of smoke, the color of his outfit changed.

"There," Shikamaru says with a gesture to his clothing.

"Huh." The pink girl circles around the Nara heir. "Is that how it's supposed to be done?" She asks curiously.

"Yup. Do you want me to try it your way?" Shikamaru inquires, earning a hum.

"Sure. Then we can figure out what the difference is, well, besides the smoke cloud." Sakura explains.

"Okay, where am I pulling chakra from?" Shikamaru asks, letting Sakura closer into his personal space.

"The occipital lobe is right here," Sakura informs him, cradling the back of his head, just below where his hair is tied up. "Try to pull just from the chakra points right here."

Nodding, Shikamaru did as he was told, pulling on the chakra points in that area and only that area as he formed the hand signs. With another cloud of smoke, his outfit was once again changed.

"That- was not what I was expecting," Sakura says, once again inspecting his work. "I don't think that you did it my way. I seems more like a combination of the two techniques."

The Nara heir nodded along.

"The cloud was smaller and it was easier than the first way I learned it." Shikamaru infroms the pink girl.

"What was easier?" Yoshino inquires, stepping into the conversation.

"Creating the genjutsu was easier when attempting Sakura-chan's method than the one Dad taught me." The Nara heir explained, so Yoshino turned her attention to the little girl in front of her.

"You made your own method to perform a henge?" The Nara matriarch asked, because wasn't that interesting?

"I- uhm- don't have access to information about tai- nin- or gen- jutsus because I'm from a civilian family, so I've had to figure out my own way," Sakura explains, shifting uncomfortably on her feet.

Shikamaru once again, steps in front of his friend protectively.

"Sakura-chan reverse engineers jutsus based on failed attempts described in medical books." The Nara heir informs his mother.

"Really now." Yoshino muses. "That's very impressive Sakura-chan."

"It's really not." The pink girl mumbled, fidgeting with her hands.

"Well, I think it is, but whatever you say, sweetheart," Yoshino says before deciding to be merciful, she switched the topic. "Why don't the two of you spar while holding the henge."

Sakura took the subject change and ran with it at a full sprint, dragging Shikamaru into a sparing match.

"I'll be at home preparing dinner if either of you need anything. Oh, and Sakura-chan? You're more than welcome to stay for dinner." And with that Yoshino turned away, heading back to the main house.

The Nara matriarch calls out her arrival as she takes off her shoes and puts on her slippers.

"Welcome home." A gruff voice greets Yoshino. Her husband appears from around the corner where his office is.

"How was your day?" Yoshino asks, pressing a quick kiss to Shikaku's lips before walking towards the kitchen.

"Same old, same old." The Nara head groans, earning a chuckle from his wife. "And you?"

"Oh, me? I got to meet our son's lovely friend from the academy, and somehow, the sweet thing got Shikamaru excited to train." Yoshino informs him while pulling on her apron.

"Really?" Shikaku asks with a raised brow. "Does this friend have a name?"

"Haruno Sakura and I have to say, that little girl is something else." Yoshino pulls out a cutting board and a knife. "She tried performing a henge for the first time today and got it on the second try, without any hand signs or wasted chakra. Not only that but apparently she has a habit of reverse engineering jutsus off recorded failed attempts from old medical books."

Shikaku hummed.

"Haruno, you said?" The clan head double-checks, saying it in a way that means he's put something together.

"Yes? Why?" Yoshino asks, turning her full attention to her husband. She knows that tone of voice and it's never anything good.

"Remember when I found Shikamaru asleep in the archives a while ago?" Shikaku asks, earning a hum from his wife.

"Yes? What of it?"

"The Haruno's is the clan he was looking into when I found him in there." Shikaku informs his wife.

"Huh...Maybe he has a crush on her?" Yoshino offered good-naturedly. "He likes to hold her hand from what I've seen, and actively acts on it, unlike when he holds our hands." She chuckles. "He's also a little protective of her. The moment she got uncomfortable Maru-kun stepped between us."

Shikamaru thought it over. Turning the idea over and over in his mind as he stood there, quietly watching his wife prepare dinner.

"It could be a crush." The clan head acknowledged but he didn't sound too convinced.

"What do you think it is if not a crush?" Yoshino asks curiously.

"Nothing." Shikaku sighed. "It's probably nothing."

Chapter Text

Summer break in the Nara compound was interesting, to say the least. Shikamaru invited his friend over whenever possible now that they didn't have academy classes to attend.

They of course used this time like any child would, trying to learn as many new and useful things for their future career as possible. Meaning that depending on how they felt that day would determine what kind of activities they got up to. Sometimes they would spar or run through their katas. Sometimes they would meditate or run through chakra control exercises. Sometimes they would talk about different types of jutsu theories.

If any of the Nara shinobi happened to not be busy, they would get pulled into supervising the two children as they attempted to perform whatever jutsus they had been studying. The Nara that got stuck supervising the children's attempts at different types of jutsus often gave them hints if something went wrong and a nod of approval or encouragement when something went as it should. There was no grand celebration when they managed to perform a jutsu correctly, just an acknowledgment of their strength and hard work.

As time went by, the Naras became rather fond of the pink girl their heir had brought to the compound one day when the academy got out. The same pink child continued to visit the compound over the course of the children's summer break.

There was a reason the Naras were so fond of this outsider.

She had unknowingly created a puzzle for them to solve. Some of the Naras, while supervising or simply passing by, would steal glances at their clan's heir with questions burning on the tip of their tongues; they never asked them. No, asking took all the fun out of it, and Naras were nothing if not problem solvers. They adored having new puzzles to piece together.

One such puzzle was how their previously lazy clan heir, lazier than all other children they've had, took an interest in their clan's version of iryo-ninjutsu. Any time the pink girl wasn't visiting, and sometimes when she was, Shikamaru would be curled up with a medical book where he would once previously take a nap. That eventually evolved to following one of their medic-nin around. This led to Shikamaru spending quite a large portion of time studying with their healers when his friend wasn't present. Learning about both human and animal anatomy, along with their respective chakra systems.

The main focus of this puzzle was the fact that Shikamaru was willingly learning their clan's secret medical techniques.

It was practically a miracle to the Nara clan, and while they know who got him into iryo-ninjutsu, they don't know how one pink-haired civilian-born child could motivate Shikamaru when even his parents failed. The question burned on the tip of their tongues. Some wanted to ask the civilian child what she had done to make Shikamaru willing to learn their clan's history where he had previously refused to, but that would ruin their fun, so no one asked. Well, no one but their clan matriarch, who would rather have all the information possible with matters concerning her people, and especially her own child.

"So, how do you like shadowing our clan healers?" Yoshino asked over lunch, drawing both children's attention to her.

"It's a drag, but will probably be helpful later." Shikamaru shrugged, reaching for another onigiri.

"It can't be that bad." Sakura pointed out with a gentle nudge of her elbow to his arm.

"All of the textbooks are dry enough to suck the life out of someone." The Nara heir claimed with a yawn, earning a giggle from the pink girl next to him.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." Yoshino chastises, picking up her cup and holding the warm ceramic to her lips to take a sip.

"No, he's right, Yoshino-san. If the textbooks are anything like the ones I've read, the text would be really dry." Sakura explains in the Nara heir's defense.

"But you seem to enjoy them." The Nara matriarch says. However, it's pronounced more like a question than a statement.

"That would be because I enjoy learning new things, while Shikamaru-kun prefers puzzling them out in a hundred different ways," Sakura suggests as if that were the obvious answer.

"Oh? And how did you come to that conclusion about my son?" Yoshino inquired curiously.

"I'm right here." Shikamaru points out, only to be ignored by his mother, who gestures for the pink girl to speak.

"Well- for starters he likes shogi," Sakura says, fidgeting with her hands under the chabudai, which didn't go unnoticed by Shikamaru, who offered his hand to fidget with instead.

"And that's an explanation, how?" The Nara matriarch asked with a raised brow.

"Shogi is an entire game of moves and predictions. To win you would have to see every possible outcome for each move you make, as well as the consequences of that move."

Yoshino nods, conceding to that point.

"You said, for starters, so what are the other points?"

"Oh- uh. Well- no offense Shikamaru-kun, but you're lazy," Sakura informs the two Naras sheepishly as if they hadn't already been aware of that.

Shikamaru snorts with a shake of his head, giving the pink girl's hands a gentle squeeze, while the Nara matriarch raised a brow.

"Same question as before. How is that an explanation?" Yoshino repeated.

"Because lazy people tend to be the smartest. Not just in relation to the whole 'Naras are lazy' thing, but in general. The laziest people tend to think outside the box in an attempt to find ways to do the least amount of work possible, and in doing so, they end up doing more mental work than is probably needed and less physical work than one would expect." Sakura explains, watching as the Nara matriarch blinks at her.

"Huh. I think you have the Nara clan pretty well figured out for an outsider, and I'm saying that as someone who didn't figure that out until I had been in a relationship with Shikaku for- well- a while." Yoshino admits with a chuckle.

"But based on what you've said so far, how did you get Maru-kun to take up iryo-ninjutsu?" Yoshino inquiries.

"Still right here," Shikamaru interjected. "You know you can just ask me, right?"

Yoshino waved her son off, again, but this time with a knowing look, then turned her attention back to Sakura.

"Well?" The Nara matriarch prompted.

"Oh, um… he's lazy?" Sakura repeated, earning a laugh this time.

"I know that sweetheart, but how did Maru-kun being lazy lead to him learning a complex and difficult form of ninjutsu?" Yoshino asked curiously.

Sakura glanced over at the Nara heir, head tilted in a silent question, causing Shikamaru to sigh, offering another encouraging squeeze of his hand.

"It's your technique. You can share it with whoever you want, Sakura-chan." Shikamaru huffed.

"Right," The pink girl mumbles, looking back to the Nara matriarch. "Pulling chakra from certain specific areas of the body is more efficient than pulling chakra from random points, so if you know which areas of the body do which functions, you can pull chakra from the correct place or push chakra into certain parts to make them more efficient," Sakura explains, receiving another slow blink for the Nara matriarch.

"And...you, came up with this?" Yoshino asked, intrigued by the concept.

"I don't think I'm the first to think of this or use it, and I can't exactly check to see if someone else has recorded the technique, but given that it's a pretty basic concept, I would assume it's been done before," Sakura answers with a shrug.

"I suppose the technique may have been created before and never transcribed." Yoshino agrees with a nod of her head. "However, I've never heard of such a technique, and I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the Naras make sure to have everything and anything they come across recorded for future reference, so it's possible you created a new technique using chakra control. Which is impressive, to say the least. "

Sakura stares wide-eyed at such a suggestion, shaking her head no as she sank in on herself.

"No? No, what?" Yoshino asks with a raised brow.

"I just- I don't think it's all that impressive, I didn't really do much, and someone had to have come up with it before," Sakura explains, lips falling into a slight frown as she furrowed her brows together, clearly lost in thought.

Shikamaru sighed, pushing himself to stand up, and after sending a quick glare at his mother, who only offered the same knowing smile in return, he offered a hand to help Sakura up.

"Come on, our lunch break is far past over, and you agreed we could hang with some of the deer while working on some of the less volatile ninjutsus." Shikamaru reminds her, causing Sakura to perk up.

"Right! Let's go." The pink girl cheered. Her forced smile caused the Nara heir to frown.

"Alright, you two go have fun and be careful." Yoshino waves them off in clear dismissal, pouring herself another cup of tea.

Sakura says a quick thank you for both the food and allowing her to stay as Shikamaru pulls her by the hand to get them to leave faster. Then off they go, only stopping in the genkan to switch their slippers for shoes. The Nara heir led them through the forest until they reached a small, almost circular clearing where a few deer were napping beneath the large trees that provided them cover.

"What are we working on today?" Shikamaru asked as he sat down on the warm, sun-soaked grass.

"Ah- well, we already have a solid grasp on the ones the academy will be testing us on, so I'm not sure what else to work on," Sakura informs him, taking a seat in front of him on the warm grass.

Thinking it over for a moment, Shikamaru shrugged.

"We could run through chakra exercises, meditate, work on genjutsu, or move onto tree walking, which, I guess, is considered a chakra exercise, but is also considered a skill." The Nara heir offers with a shrug.

"Then why don't we work on tree walking first, and that will be our new skill of the day? Then we can move on to genjutsu, and finish off with some meditation. That way our training session is balanced regarding chakra usage, at the very least." Sakura decides, receiving a nod from the Nara.

"Sound good." Shikamaru agreed with a yawn, watching as the pink girl stood back up and moved closer to one of the trees the deer weren't using.

"How does tree walking work?" Sakura asks, turning back to glance at her friend who had yet to get up from the warm grass.

"You put chakra in your feet, which is used to glue them to different surfaces. Using too little chakra will cause you not to stick while using too much chakra causes damage to the trees, so please try to refrain from doing that." The Nara explained, finally deciding to stand up and walk over to the tree beside his friend.

The tree walking went about how Shikamaru expected it to, meaning that while it took him at least a dozen or so attempts, it only took Sakura around half that many. This makes sense since Sakura had superior chakra control between the two of them. That wasn't to say Shikamaru has bad chakra control, he was learning his clan's version of iryo-ninjutsu after all. Shikamaru had just been born with more chakra to play with than the pink girl, but given how rigorously Sakura trained using chakra exercises, that will probably only be an issue for a couple of years when she'll be forced to play catch-up with the clan children in the academy.

They moved onto genjutsu like they had agreed upon, taking turns weaving what were probably very basic jutsus on their surroundings. Three of the techniques they used were E-rank and part of the academy final exam, so they weren't all that difficult. At least, they wouldn't have been that difficult if one of them wasn't such a perfectionist.

"You're creating a void in that area's chakra," Sakura informs the Nara, gesturing to what looked like air, but was actually an invisibility cloak.

Shikamaru sighed, releasing the genjutsu.

"I don't know what you want me to do about that. I can't exactly replicate natural chakra." Shikamaru reminds the pink girl for the hundredth time. Okay, maybe it was only the second time, but the point still stands.

"I don't know. Mimic a worm or something," Sakura suggests, oh so helpfully. Which actually was helpful, so long as all the chakra is condensed at his feet, so there isn't just a random floating worm, and instead of a worm, it was an insect that could jump the same distance as a normal walking pace.

Shikamaru formed the necessary hand signs and disappeared, once again, into thin air.

Sakura walked around for a little bit. Occasionally she would stop in certain areas and swipe at the air as if trying to grab something, or more specifically, someone. Eventually, she gives up.

"I think that's it!" Sakura cheered excitedly, looking around one last time.

With a relieved sigh, Shikamaru canceled the genjutsu, reappearing right behind his friend.

"Boo."

Chapter Text

Summer ended with Shikamaru and Sakura returning to the academy for their second year. Nothing too different from the previous year. The two children, once again, sat next to each other in the back of the classroom. Shikamaru slept through most of the non-active parts while Sakura dutifully took notes. Although, not as many as the year prior since they were outside a lot more this year. Their new sensei had them working on stamina and endurance, running laps or working through the little leaf katas. Nothing too interesting, just what was expected from beginning-level academy students.

After the academy let out, Shikamaru would bring Sakura home with him whenever possible, but when he couldn't Sakura would go off to train on her own. Not at home, she would get into trouble for practicing at home. No, Sakura would go to one of the training fields that were considered abandoned and practice there. The field she specifically went to was considered abandoned because it had been by its assigned caretakers. The grounds were overrun with Hashirama trees that had been left to grow wildly in whichever ways they wanted to.

It's the same train ground Sakura has been going to since her first day after the academy when she had excitedly gone home to show her parents the chakra exercise she had learned. Sakura had burst through the front door with her hands cradling a leaf that was sticking to the palm of her hand. She had immediately gotten scolded by her mother for her poor manners and bringing the leaf inside, and when she tried to explain her father had just given a disapproving shake of his head and sent Sakura to her room.

A glance around the shop showed that there were a few customers giving her weird looks, causing Sakura to duck her head sheepishly. It hadn't seemed like that big a deal so Sakura nodded her head obediently, apologizing with a promise to not do it again, and left to go practice in her room. A few minutes of practicing later, her father entered her room with the same disapproving look. He then sat her down and explained that she shouldn't use chakra at home because their shop was downstairs and they had shinobi clients that would be uncomfortable around an unknown active chakra presence, and they couldn't afford to lose such valuable customers. Which made sense so Sakura doesn't practice at home. She had lucked out finding this abandoned training ground, carving a space for herself among the overgrown trees.

Today when she arrived at the training ground, there were voices so she used a carefully placed kakuremino so she can see if the people would be there for a while or not. If so, she was going to have to find a new place to train.

"-an't go! It's obviously a trap."

"What else am I supposed to do? He's already planning on sending ROOT agents. If I can reason with him-"

"It's Danzo- there is no reasoning with him! Just following orders or getting yourself killed!"

"There has to be another way-"

The one speaking turns around and sends a kunai straight for her. On instinct, Sakura kawarimied with a flower blossom high up in the Hashirama trees, just out of view, but she apparently hadn't been fast enough as she felt the sting along her arm. A different kunai was placed against her throat when she lands where the kawarimi had sent her, someone appeared behind her.

Panicking this time, she kawarimied once again with another flower, layering a kakuremino over it, carefully weaving the illusion together to hide any sounds her movements might make as she tried to get a glimpse of her attacker.

To her surprise, she came face to face with a Konoha shinobi with their bright red sharingan eyes staring straight at her. Then she was restrained from behind once again. A look over her shoulder shows another pair of sharingan staring at her, so she dropped the genjutsu. It would only be a waste of chakra at this point.

"Who are you. Why are you here." The Uchiha who was restraining her demanded more than asked.

"Haruno Sakura, an academy student. I come here to train and have been for the past year." She answers truthfully because there is nothing else for her to do. Sure she could try fighting, but that could end with her dead immediately and she could lose her chance to reason with the shinobi.

The second shinobi that had appeared behind her in the tree jumped down to join them, nodding to the shinobi currently restraining her.

"Civilian merchant family. I've seen her leave the academy with the Nara heir." The shinobi that joined them on the ground explained, but the one restraining her didn't let go.

They seemed to have a silent conversation about something, then the one in her line of sight shakes his head.

"You are aware these training grounds are off-limits to civilians, correct, Haruno Sakura." The one behind her says, but all she could do is shrug.

"I don't have anywhere else to practice and this training ground is abandoned," Sakura explains because that's all she can do. She's in a lot of trouble anyway she looks at it so she'd rather be honest and upfront.

"There are training grounds at the academy." The one in front informs her, but it feels more like he was baiting her for information, which he probably was. She's a civilian in a restricted area, that's suspicious and grounds for investigation on its own.

"I can't use them. I'm apparently too young." Sakura shrugged, carefully ignoring the cold metal that is pressed against her skin due to her movement more so than on purpose.

"Who trains you." Is the next question asked, and Sakura answers truthfully.

"No one specifically, but a few Naras help when Shikamaru asks or Yoshino-san tells them to." She would personally, rather not bother anyone any more than necessary.

The shinobi in front of her grabbed her chin, tilting her head up slightly.

"Stick out your tongue." And while weird, she did as she was told.

"Anything?" The one still restraining her asked, receiving a shake of the head from the one in front.

"Nothing."

The answer caused them to both relax and tense up.

"Well-...now what?" The one in front asked. This means the one behind her was most likely the one in charge between the two, or at the very least, the older of the two.

"I don't know." The one behind her sighs. "How much did you hear?" He asks, turning the conversation over to her.

"I'm not sure." Sakura shurged again. "I got here when you guys were talking about someone named Danzo, ROOT, following orders, or getting killed, and trying to reason with an unreasonable person."

The two shared another silent conversation.

"Why not go to the Hokage?" Sakura suggests because apparently, she doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. "If you're having a secret meeting, something tells me you haven't, and it's the Hokage's job to protect their people, so if you're in trouble then you should probably tell him. My teacher at the academy says we're supposed to tell adults when people are bullying us, and if someone's forcing you to do things you don't want to then they're a bully." Sakura rambles on, getting incredulous looks from both shinobi, but it's too late because her nerves have finally gotten the best of her, and she's stayed a lot calmer than she thought she would have in a situation where she was attacked by shinobi from her own village and held captive with a blade against her neck, and honestly, this was just her kind of luck.

The one behind her put the kunai away and turned her around, where she was forced to meet glowing red eyes. Her mind was beginning to go fuzzy and she heard them say something about not remembering, and then she was sending chakra discreetly to the hippocampus in short controlled bursts. She stayed still waiting for the one who was either older or in charge to stop using his sharingan. When he does, she sends one more burst of chakra before promptly passing out.

Sakura woke up on the same training ground she had passed out at. She sends out a thin layer of chakra, checking the surrounding area, and she finds two vaguely familiar chakras, so she has to be careful. Yawning, Sakura stood up and starts training as if nothing happened.

Except, something happened over that weekend, after the encounter with the two Uchiha. Sakura wasn't sure what exactly it was, but from the whispers in the streets, it has something to do with the Uchiha. It took a bit of digging around for information, and maybe a bit of spying using the kakuremino but she eventually found some information about what was going on. One of the counsel-men had created their own force of shinobi similar to ANBU and sent them after the Uchiha.

Suddenly, the conversation that happened between the Uchiha shinobi made a lot more sense. She was willing to bet that the counsel-men in question was named Danzo and that the force he created was called ROOT.

The urge to go back to her training ground and look for the two shinobi made her skin itch. Sure she could go back but there was no guarantee that they would be there or answer her questions if they were there. She wasn't even supposed to remember that she saw them or heard their conversation, so she simply returns to the academy the next day as if nothing happened, deciding to forget about the Uchiha for the time being, but that apparently wasn't allowed, because when she walks into class, later then usual, everyone was fawning over Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura holds back a sigh at the world plotting against her, walks up to her seat beside a concerned-looking Shikamaru, and puts her head down, deciding to join her friend in his napping habits for the day. That plan works until it's time to go outside to work on their stamina and endurance and everyone was still fawning over the Uchiha, so this time, Sakura listens in on her gossiping classmates.

"I heard Sasuke-kun's the youngest Uchiha to awaken their sharingan." One girl bragged as if it was her own achievement.

"He's just that cool!" Another squealed.

"It's no wonder he's top of our class!" That one got Sakura to roll her eyes. He's only top of the class out of the males.

Sakura decided that was enough so she went to join her friend for cool-down stretches.

"What's the big deal?" Sakura asked her friend in a hushed voice, drawing Shikamaru's glare away from the Uchiha and his new fan club.

"There was an attack against the Uchiha that killed off their elders and a good portion of their adults before ANBU got involved," Shikamaru explained in the same quiet tone so as to not draw attention.

"And since the sharingan is activated through strong emotions, the attack triggered his." Sakura realizes, then tilts her head curiously. "Is he really the youngest to activate it?"

Shikamaru sighed, switching to a different stretch.

"Yes, on a technicality, but yes."

"What's the technicality."

"His birthday isn't for a few more days so he's technically six," Shikamaru explains.

"Huh, are you two friends?" Sakura asked with a tilt of her head, causing the Nara heir to give her a strange look.

"No, why?"

"You know his birthday." Sakura shrugs, causing him to roll his eyes.

"He's from the head family of the Uchihas, of course, I know his birthday. I know the birthdays of each clans head family members since they make a habit of inviting my family to them." Shikamaru explains, standing up, and offering her a hand as they were dismissed for the day.

"Come on. Mom agreed to supervise us today." Shikamaru informs her as he leads them out of the academy.

On the way through the gate, Sakura sees the two Uchiha she really wants to question and walks right up to her Uchiha classmate. They glance at her and Sakura immediately turns away.

Itachi looks away from the pink civilian and over to his cousin. They shared a look, not daring to speak out loud where anyone could hear them.

'She recognized us?' Shisui nods in the pink civilian's direction.

'She did.' Itachi agreed with a nod of his own.

'Talk later?' Shisui raised a brow, glancing down at Sasuke

'Later.' Itachi agreed with another nod.

Chapter Text

Sakura knew she was being watched. That much was obvious. The two Uchiha that had tried to genjutsu her into forgetting their interaction have been keeping an eye on her since she saw them for a second time at the academy. Obviously, she had messed up somewhere and they somehow knew her memory hadn’t been whiped as they had intended. There wasn’t much she could do about that though. Playing dumb and sticking close to Shikamaru has worked as a deterrent for the two Uchiha so far, but it also meant that she couldn’t get in any extra training on her own, because of the risk that the Uchiha could be waiting at her usual, abandoned, training ground. Which means that more often than not, when she had to leave Shikamaru’s side, Sakura was stuck cooped up in her room.

It wasn’t all bad as it meant that Sakura got to spend more time reading through her textbooks and attempting to figure out how the technique that had failed and injured something was supposed to be done. The ones on fuinjustsu were by far the most confusing. In fact, Sakura had spent far too long just trying to figure out what type of jutsu had created the chakra burns described in the text before stumbling across a singular mention of an overloaded seal and finally figuring out that the cause had been fuinjustsu. Sadly there weren’t any books on fuinjustu available to the civilian population, only the vague knowledge of their existence.

Sighing, Sakura collapsed backwards onto her bed. She would much rather be doing something physical right now, and not stuck in her room until tomorrow but there wasn’t anything to be done about that. Hopefully tomorrow's classes are more physically intensive then the memorisation and strategy games they had been taught today, but knowing her luck, it was unlikely. At least Shikamaru said that she could come over to the Nara compound tomorrow.

“Sakura-chan!” Her mom called through the door. Not bothering to knock as she pushed the door open rather immediately after announcing her presence.

“Okasan?” Sakura offered in return. Head tilting to the side in a silent question.

“Your paperwork finally got approved so we shall be heading to the capital the day after tomorrow.” Her mom explained vaguely. “Make sure to pack appropriately for a meeting with a few other merchant families! You never know who you will meet!”

“We’re going to the capital?” Sakura inquired with furrowed brows. “Wait- what paperwork?”

Mebuki turned her head to look back at her daughter as she blindly pulled out the dresses she had selected from Sakura’s closet.

“Yes, yes. We’re going to the capital for a guild meeting. And just some leave of absence paperwork with the academy. For some reason we couldn’t just pull you out, despite being your parents! How outrageous is that!” Mebuki huffed. “But they let us put you on temporary leave to fulfill family duties, so that will have to do for now.”

Sakura bolted upright, staring at her mom in complete shock.

“You tried to pull me out of the academy?!?” Sakura gasped.

“Of course we did.” Mebuki stated as she held up a dress against her daughter before adding it to the evergrowing pile. “Honestly, it’s ridiculous that they’re still making you attend! The Sato family got their second born son back from the academy after the first year of it. I don’t see why they wouldn’t give you back as not only are you a daughter, but also as the sole heiress of our family business.”

Sakura found herself speakless, opening her mouth to protest only for nothing to come out.

“Are you going to help your poor mother pack or are you going to make me do all the work for you?”

“Sorry, Okasan.” Sakura murmured, taking a dress from the pile to fold into the bag her mother had taken out for her to pack with.

Mebuki hummed dismissively as she moved onto hairpins and jewelry, carefully packing the ornament in their proper cloth pouches so as to not allow them to rub against each other and cause scratches or other damage.

“Don’t worry Sakura-chan. We’ll get you out of that dreadful school for killers and into a respectable apprenticeship in no time. Who knows, maybe one of the merchant clans we’re meeting up with will have a son near your age? Hmm?” Mebuki teased, a smile slipping onto her lips as she caught her daughter staring, her cheeks burning bright red.

Packing didn’t take long after that. Her mother spent more time teasing about boys than anything else, and Sakura found herself wishing for the conversation to turn back into the nitpicking about her wardrobe choices it usually was before guild trips. Once she was all packed, her mom disappeared back down the hall, presumably to pack her own supplies or double check that she had everything, leaving Sakura all alone in her room once more. Burying her head in her pillows, Sakura screamed, long and drawn out before switching to punching the cotton stuffed fabric over and over again until she was too tired to continue. Flopping back down onto the bed, Sakura snuggled under the sheet with a frown pulling at her lips. For once she didn’t find herself all that excited for a trip to the capital.

Waking up the next day found Sakura dragging her feet to get ready. Her dad handed her a scroll with strict instructions to give it to her teacher as soon as she arrived at the academy. She obeyed with ease despite not wanting to after reading over the content of the scroll, but it wasn’t like not giving her teacher notice of her future absence would do anything. All of the proper paperwork had been filed with the administrative office already, so this was really more of a courtesy for her teacher than a necessity.

“Ohayou.” Sakura grumbled as she sank into the seat beside her best friend. Her tone earned a raised eyebrow from the Nara.

“Ohayou?” Shikamaru mimicked watching as the pink girl buried her face in her folded arms. An action not dissimilar to what Shikamaru usually does, but that’s the thing, it was usually Shikamaru who grumbled and slouched in the mornings as if being awake was an inconvenience. “Sakura-chan?”

“Hm?”

“...Are you alright?” Shikamaru asked in concern.

“Mmm- technically?” Sakura settled on. “My parents pulled me out of the academy.”

“What!?!” Shikamaru barked, drawing far more attention than needed. “What?” he repeated at a more reasonable volume.

“Aparently we’re going to the capital for a merchant guild meeting or something so they pulled me out for an unspecified amount of time- well, unspecified to me, they had to tell the academy instructors when to expect me back. Obviously.” Sakura explained, causing Shikamaru to relax slightly.

“Obviously.” The Nara echoed with a roll of his eyes, leaning forward on his own crossed arms so that his eyes were level with Sakura’s. “So you’ll be back?”

“Mhm. Apparently I haven’t been released from the academy’s list of genin hopefuls so my parents can’t pull me out of the academy for good without proper justification such as a physical or mental medical diagnosis or something along those lines.” Sakura explained.

“Ah.” Well that was something at least. If the academy instructors thought that Sakura had the potential to stay on as a genin hopeful then they thought that she could potentially be put in the jonin track or at least make it to chunin. That was good to know, just to reassure his mind that Sakura could still come over to train and hangout without a line being drawn to divide them as shinobi and civilian. Not that he wouldn’t make an effort to keep Sakura even if she was put back into the role of a civilian, but it would make everything about their friendship infidelity more difficult and create a bunch of social rules for them to follow. No it was better for them both if Sakura remained firmly in the category of shinobi hopeful. He’ll have to look into the laws regarding what qualified civilian borns to be removed from the academy besides the vague knowledge of being dismissed by the instructors and pulled out by family after meeting the qualifications to be removed.

“Can you still come over today?” Shikamaru asked, earning a tired smile from his friend before she nuzzled deeper into her arms for a nap. Apparently she really was planning to sleep through class today.

“I should be able to. My mom had me pack yesterday.” Sakura explained. Though her voice was slightly muffled by her arms and hard to hear. He was still able to understand her just fine. Probably due to her prim and proper articulation of words. A habit she picked up in the civilian world that will serve her well when she has to give reports later on.

Sighing, Shikamaru sat up, pulling out some parchment and a pen as the classroom door opened for the last time and the instructor walked in.

Taking notes was a pain, and something he mentally swears to never do again, but then he catches a glimpse of his exhausted friend who was sound asleep at her desk instead of taking her usual meticulous notes and has to resign himself to taking the occasion notes, especially with Sakura being removed from class for a bit. At least those calligraphy lessons that his mother made him do were useful for something. He’s well aware that his hands would have cramped up if he had to all of a sudden start writing down hours of lecture after never having done it, but he has done it before, in the sense of writing for hours, not in taking class notes. Actually, Shikamaru was pretty sure this was the first time he had ever taken notes. Even at home when he’s shadowing the medics, he usually just memorises the information.

Thankfully they move on from note taking and lectures to the physical aspect of learning and Shikamaru was once again free to laze around after waking Sakura up, and, okay, he can see what she means when she claims that his mannerisms after napping through class remind her of a cat.

“Are you planning to participate?” Shikamarua inquires as they walk side by side to the training field that was reserved for second years.

Sakura hummed as she chose a spot for them to begin their stretches.

“I should.” Sakura points out. “Who knows when I’ll get to train again.” She states with a frown.

“Do your accommodations in the capital not have anywhere for you to run though our usual exercises?” Shikamaru asked while attempting to fold himself in half as his hands were pulled forward over his legs by his friend.

“That’s the thing. I’m not quite sure.” Sakura huffs, and oh, yeah, that’s a pout. With her cheeks all puffed up like that and her bottom lip caught between her teeth. She definitely reminds him of the little critters that can be found in the forest. “The last few times my parents took me to the capital with them I didn’t have anything to do that would require a lot of space. I would just find a book and sit quietly in a corner while my parents networked with other merchants. Switch.”

“Thank kami.” Shikamaru groaned as he pulled back his hands until it was Sakura who was folded in half. She has better flexibility then him so he was able to pull her farther than she had been able to pull him. “If you want something small to do in case there isn’t any space I’m sure we can find something at home.”

“I don’t know.” Sakura mumbles as she breathes through the stretch. “There’s a chance that whatever I bring will be confiscated if it doesn’t look civilian since this is a networking thing for my parents so appearances are important.”

“Then we’ll find you something sufficiently civilian looking to do so you don’t fall too far behind.” Shikamaru states with a shrug as he releases Sakura from her stretch and they move onto the next part of their warm up. “You’ll need to recondition yourself when you get back from being stationary for so long but if we can find something for you to work on that either keeps you in the same range or slightly ahead of the class in some aspect then you should be fine.”

“Thank you, Shikamaru. It means a lot that you care.” Sakura whispered as a call to attention had them ditching their spot to line up for sparring matches.

Shikamaru hummed, bumping his shoulder to hers as they watched the first round of spars commence.