𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 ≡ sakura haruno

44 | crystal droplets

"Where did you find it?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, I was searching and then found it lying around with a genjutsu trap!" Sakura smiled showing her pearly white teeth, "And since I have good genjutsu skills, it was pretty easy to get them!"

Sakura was a great liar and to top it all off, her acting skills that even astonished Obito. 

She was like a puppet on strings who would do anything her controller told her to do so, except she herself was the one pulling her own strings, she controlled herself.

"Woah! You are so lucky, Sakura!" He cheered.

"Hm, give them to me," Sasuke ordered and Sakura followed him without any hesitation, after all, his ego must have really been hurt considering he was the reason they lost their own scroll and now she, a clanless child, managed to get not only one but two scrolls.

"What sort of luck do you have?" The onyx-eyed male muttered as kept the scrolls hidden.

"Let's go," He said as they all moved forward in the direction of the tower.

'Yes, I'm quite lucky to have people like you who always underestimate me and quickly buy out my lie.'

She smirked as she moved behind them.

Although Sakura was pretending and was always at an advantage it did not mean she was okay.

Her mental health was being affected. She had to fake everything about her, she was never free.

Sure, her acting skills were so great that no one would be able to find out about her true self unless she decided to show them.

"Hey, Sakura! Maybe you should take some rest, it'll be too difficult for you!"

But was it really so glamorous?

Even her identity of 'Sakura Haruno' had imperfect pieces in it, it was just that it was easier to overlook them because people would never see a civilian child going through hardships.

Sakura Haruno was a perfect child who was polite and kind, she was good at genjutsu but couldn't fight. 

With pink hair and green eyes, she looked more like a doll than a human.

Yeah, a doll, not a ninja, never a ninja.

"Some ninja you are,"

A beautiful doll.

She was once a harmless and naive child. . . but tragedies strike everyone, right?

From seeing the picture of her happy family crushed into pieces, to seeing her mother blaming her for the unloyalty of her father.

The pinkette saw her mother kill in front of her at a young age, saw how badly she was treated by her own father, and the comparison between the treatment of her and her half-sister Ami.

"I agree, Sakura isn't fit to be a ninja."

Her so-called teammates and her so-called teacher didn't believe in her.

They thought that she shouldn't be a ninja, she couldn't be a ninja.

She was a weak little person who could be killed anytime.

Sakura knew what everyone thought of her.

No matter how hard they tried to hide it, they could never completely hide the pity they had for her, the arrogance they had when they looked at her.

Because she was a civilian kid.

A paper ninja.

"Sasuke-Kun! Sakura may be weak but-"

She was tired of everything.

Tired of bowing down to others, tired of being called 'weak', tired of smiling.

Now here she was standing in the bathroom before the preliminary matches would begin.

She was alone here, all alone. With no one to hold her, other than the horrifying thoughts haunting her mind.

She looked into the mirror and saw her reflection, a perfect smile on her face. The exact one she practised, the one which made her who she was.

A perfect fake smile.

"Tears are a sign of weakness."

Sakura cast her head down as her bangs shadowed her eyes yet the smile on her face never left.

"And I'm weak."

A droplet clashed with the floor.

― They also meet Kabuto except they only need his help to reach the tower because they already have the scrolls. 

― Sakura referring to herself as 'clanless' means her identity as Sakura Haruno.

― I managed to write a chapter. Unfortunately, you won't be getting one next Sunday as I have to complete my projects.