Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was exhausting, the lying, the hiding, the secretiveness of it all really. Sakura knew it was for the best that no one found out about her little arrangement with the two of most powerful men in the village, she knew it was logical to pretend that her life was unchanged and mundane, however, the risk of getting caught, the risk of having her reputation dragged through the mud, the risk of the eyes of judgement upon her was starting to feel unbearable.

Minato, a mini god in the eyes of the villagers, and most definitely above reproach or scrutiny, enjoyed Sakura as a form of stress relief – on the days where the paper work piled up too high and the interclan politics took its toll on the blonde, he’d summon her to his office, recline regally in his chair with hood eyes and watch languidly as the pinkette made magic with her mouth.

Itachi was different, his interactions with her was borne from obligation – an obligation to ‘train’ and prepare her missions that would require intimacy. Sakura was fairly certain it was all a farce, a tactic to enforce control and to punish her for thinking she could outsmart her way into gaining more power. She didn’t think Minato would actually send her out on any of these missions, she hoped anyways.

Sakura been foolish and failed to heed the warnings given to her by Tsunade, the looks of worry from Kakashi and the sighs of irritation by Shikamaru; she thought she was cleverer than she actually was, and in her pursuit of a power that would equalise her with Naruto and Sasuke, Sakura had researched and experimented a little too deeply with seals. Specifically, the seal on Naruto. 

Sakura was skilled in ninjutsu, but her recurring issue was never having the chakra reserves to pull of the tricks she knew she had in her. The seal on the forehead was great and all but was reserved for critical emergencies; it wasn’t something to be activated on a whim, especially since it took so long to restore it back to acceptable levels.

Sakura wasn’t a stranger to hard work; but in this case hard work couldn’t overcome the insurmountable obstacle that was her lineage. Coming from a civilian background meant that her chakra pathways were less advanced and developed than those from clans. She was the first ninja in her ancestry and unfortunately for her, chakra advancement came from at least 2 generations worth of ninja. She couldn’t outstudy this obstacle; she was simply unlucky.

But Sakura thought she was smart, she thought she was resourceful, and curiosity edged her towards gaining an expert level of understanding how chakra worked, what it was made up of, how it interacted with and subsequently changed the body. It led her to seals, storing chakra in seal. It led her to the biggest chakra storage she knew.

It led her to Naruto.

Tsunade had cocked her head in curiosity when Sakura had approached her and asked to learn about Fūinjutsu but had initially chalked it up to having an eager student with a healthy taste for knowledge. The seal of 100 on Sakura’s forehead was testament to the level of skill the young girl already had, but sealing using the soul and body was unfamiliar territory for the pinkette. Tsunade, being the good teacher that she was, answered all of her students’ questions and even recommended scrolls that would be useful.

It went on for months before Sakura thought aloud, “Shishou, could someone, hypothetically speaking of course, adjust the seal on Naruto to utilise a little bit of the Kyuubi’s chakra to develop their own chakra pathways? Sort of like a gentle siphon?”

Tsunade was taken aback by the abruptness of the question but outwardly showed no sign of this and carried on drinking her sake before responding, “Heh, anything could be done hypothetically, but the Kyuubi is the strongest and wouldn’t allow anyone to ‘siphon’ its chakra.”

And as an afterthought she added on “also Minato would probably kill anyone that even attempted to tamper with Naruto’s seal.”

The conversation ended there, and Sakura never asked anymore questions about it, Tsunade thought her student’s curiosity had been sated and that she had moved on to other things that caught her interest.

She was wrong. So wrong.

Not that Sakura would ever admit it, but the persuasion of strength whispered to her like a lullaby on her loneliest nights and sang her sweet melodies in her moments of despair. The constant chant of ‘what if’ was her personal playlist of who she could be, if only she had family tree in her favour. So, no, she didn’t simply move on. She did what she had always done, stuck her nose into a book until the excellence of her intelligence produced ideas that she could bring to life.

On a random summer day that was too hot and felt too sticky, Sakura invited Naruto over to her place; she told him she was doing some research and needed his help.

Naruto loved to help, and he loved that Sakura had specifically asked him. He had the personality of a golden retriever and had a terrible habit of only seeing the good in people. When the sun had set, the blonde made his was to her abode, knocked enthusiastically on her door and practically skipped inside when Sakura opened it.

Sakura had moved out of her family home about a year ago and was living in a cosy bungalow style cottage towards the east of the village, the area was surrounded by the lush greenery of Konoha and was tucked away from the hustle and noise of the village. Sakura had a handful of neighbours but was otherwise in a fairly isolated area; she loved the quiet it provided but acknowledged that it took her longer to get to work or get groceries.

Sakura’s living arrangement was an unexpected gift from an aunt who had a few properties in the village and was allowing her to live there rent free for as long as she needed. Some called it ‘privilege’ but heck, Naruto’s dad ran the whole village and Sasuke’s clan controlled the police force, so what if she had a place to stay for free? She’d taken the time to redecorate it into something whimsy and fun. To the outside gaze, it was odd, but for her, it was home. The Konoha 12 particularly loved using it as a hang out spot for late night gatherings, random meetups, and the designated sleepover home.

Sakura, being the only one with a civilian background, didn’t really conform to a majority of the traditions and expectations that were placed upon those from ninja families. There was no pressure to rise up in the ranks, to make powerful connections, or only associate with strong ninjas. Honestly, her life was hers to live.

The most prominent and most talked about difference from other ninjas in the village were her choice of clothing and her ‘cavalier’ attitude towards her abilities.

She didn’t walk around in her ninja outfit when she was off duty, she wore civilian clothes that were less…conservative than what shinobi were used to. Demin shorts, miniskirts and crop tops for the humidity of Fire Country (which was roughly 9 months of the year). Pretty normal for the average civilian, but civilians didn’t tend to mix with ninjas socially… or ever.

It was odd, Sakura had seen kunoichi wear some pretty skimpy things for their mission outfits, things she’d even go as far as to call impractical (some of them wore heels on missions for goodness sake!), but when she wore the same things off duty the men would rake their eyes down her body, their lustful intentions barely restrained. Yet they wouldn’t blink twice if a kunoichi wore the same thing on a mission or to the training grounds or even around the village if she claimed it was her ninja outfit.

The men in her life had made attempts to speak to her about it, Kakashi had ‘gently’ suggested she dress like other ninja since it was her profession, Sasuke had implied that she only dressed like that to get his attention, and Naruto (after blushing) would ask if she was cold and wanted to change into something else. When she was young, she nearly budged and seriously considered changing her wardrobe but it didn’t seem like a rational choice – her entire family were civilians, a majority of her social interactions were with civilians, it would make sense for her to dress more like them than like shinobi.

So, Sakura endured Mikoto’s pursed lips when she entered the Uchiha home in white low cut crop top with a yellow checkered mini skirt. The Uchiha matriarch loved Sakura but did a poor job of concealing her disapproval. Sakura wasn’t too sure if the older woman was even attempting hide her feelings, but the Pinkett stood firm. Sakura knew that no matter how high she climbed or despite whatever new rank was awarded to her, that she’d never fully integrate within the shinobi community; the differences were too great, so there was no way she’d sacrifice her normal way of life for a society she’d never get to be wholly apart of.

The other difference between Sakura and the other ninja’s was her approach to her skills. Ninjas tended to reserve their powers and abilities strictly to combat or training, Sakura, on the other hand, had no reservations with using chakra to re-grow her hair, nails and even give her skin a bit of a glow. She’d done it so much that it was basically part of her beauty routine; if she felt like having short hair, she’d simply cut it and then stimulate her hair follicles with chakra when she wanted it to be long again. The whole process took less than 20 minutes.

Rosy cheeks? All she had to do was to gently pool some blood towards the top half of her face.

A better tan? A slight alternation of the melanin production in her skin.

Plumper boobs to make them pop in a top she was wearing on a night out? Too simple and too easy for someone with her level of skill when it came to chakra manipulation on a cellular scale.

The aesthetics and fun side of her skills were often overshadowed by her quiet march towards power. And in this pursuit of power, Sakura found herself ushering Naruto into her home, watching quietly as the blonde took his shoes off at the entrance. The main living space was richly decorated with pastel purple walls and black flooring covered in a large brownish grey hybrid of carpet. The walls were hung with red sun scrolls, bookcases, books and flowers. In the centre of it all was a long brown sofa, and two smaller seats of the same colour with a coffee table between them and lush blue patterned rug. Naruto had been here countless times before, mostly to unwind and chill, usually to stare at Sakura (but he kept that to himself).

They made their way into her bedroom, where Naruto plopped himself on the edge of her bed. Her bedsheets were a swirled pattern of purple blue and yellow, there were files and girly things he couldn’t name scattered across different shelves and surfaces.

“So, what can I help you with Sakura-Chan?” He shot her his signature smile.

She took a seat next to him; she was in a set of green silk PJs with her hair tied up in a messy bun. “Well, I’ve been trying to gain more knowledge on seals and their interactions with chakra, and I was hoping to just take a quick peak at one in your stomach.”

Naruto’s demeanour instantly became guarded, and he leaned away from her slightly, the blonde was careless but of all the things his father had emphasised to him, it was to guard the seal even at the cost of his own life. Heck at the cost of everyone else’s life too.

The kyuubi had killed thousands in its one-hour rampage when he was born, and the price of resealing the beast if it got loose, was another human life. The stakes were too high to just let anyone understand the inner working of the seal.

“Oh, uh, sorry Sakura, I can’t let you do that… its… it’s not safe.” He leaned away further.

“Narutoooo, just a look! Please? I’ve read through all of the scrolls, and I’ve reached the point where they’re not that complex to understand anymore, yours is the final piece of the puzzle for me.” She pleaded with him and even pulled out the puppy dog eyes for extra effect.

The hyperactive blonde wanted to resist, he tried, but he was wrapped around her little finger in all the worst ways, so with a begrudging sigh he took off his flak jacket, followed by the white shirt under it and lay himself back on her bed with his head propped up on her pillows so she could get a good view. Sakura leaned over him, she didn’t see anything.

“Where is it?”

“Uh, its invisible unless I use some of the kyuubi’s chakra.”

“Okay… can you do that then?”

Another sigh escaped the blonde, before he closed his eyes in concentration and entered a mini version of sage mode – there was none of the usual transformation, but it allowed greater synchronisation with the tailed beast within him. Sakura gazed on in wonderment as the spiral shape took form around his belly button and circled about a quarter of his lower abdomen. The seal looked solid, the lines were thick and confident and the kanji around the spirals were beyond her comprehension, “Just a moment Naruto, I’m going to get some paper so I can copy it down and study it later!” he merely nodded absentmindedly.

Rushing from her bedroom into the conjoined study, Sakura rummaged on her desk, grabbing a pen and a notebook, before quickly making her way back to where she’d left the blonde.

However, as soon as she took two steps back into her room there were 5 ANBU ninja surrounding her; the pen and notebook dropped from her hands and Sakura was frozen on the spot; it’s not that she didn’t want to move, it’s that she couldn’t. Whatever jitsu they used, kept her tightly immobilised.

Naruto attempted to sit up in but also quickly found himself unable to move from his position on the bed, “Oi, let me go! What are you guys doing!” his screams went ignored as an ANBU in a Dog mask stood at the head of the bed, bent to place a hand on his shoulder and poofed them both away. Another ANBU member in a weasel mask stepped directly in front of Sakura, his presence engulfed the entire room with intimidation and authority.

The pep in her step she’d gained at the prospect of studying Naruto was gone. In its absence was a whirlpool of dread.

“Haruno Sakura, Chuunin. What were you attempting to do with the seal which contains the 9 tailed beast?” The voice was male.

“I-I was just taking a look! Nothing more, I swear!” the words tumbled out of her mouth discordantly, and the pinkette felt lips tremble slightly in distress. She couldn’t move; her green eyes were locked onto the hollowed mask of her interrogator.

The tension swirled in the air with an unspoken promise of violence if she even hinted towards non-cooperation. The ANBU merely stepped back and nodded to the remaining five agents that surrounded her.

In the blink of an eye, the other agents were gone, and only the two of them remained. Sakura didn’t speak; she couldn’t - feelings of anguish and despair rocked tumultuously within the pits of her stomach. It was in this moment that a realisation dawned within her; she had tampered with something beyond her, greater than her, and without a doubt she would pay the price for it.

She would not go unscathed.

___

Sakura's Green Silk Pyjama's and hair for the night

Here are some other images creates using Sim 4 to give you an idea of the type of clothes Sakura wears for different occasions.

A few ideas of her civilian clothes:

Club/Bar Outfits:

Formal Outfit Ideas

Ninja Outfit Ideas:

Chapter Text

The man took more steps back until his back was pressed against the wall adjacent to her windows. He didn’t speak another word, but his gaze never left hers.

The silence was deceitful as it implied peace or calm proceedings. What happened next was far from either of those things.

In a flash, Sakura found herself face to face with none other than Minato himself. The warmth of his blue eyes that she was accustomed to were replaced with cold steel, he wasn’t frowning but there was a look of deep contemplation of his face.

Sakura couldn’t stop herself; fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried and failed to stifle her sobs. She knew deep in her gut, he was contemplating whether to kill her.

“H-H-Hokage-sama,” she sniffled pathetically, “please forgive me! I’ve clearly, clearly, overstepped – I just wanted to know more about seals a-and chakra a-and it was just research!”

The pinkette, cried and cried and cried until her throat felt hoarse and in all that time, Minato never spoke a word or moved his gaze from hers. Eventually he sat on the edge of her bed and asked a single question, “Haruna Sakura, are you a spy?”

“No! N-No!”

“Haruno Sakura, have you been tasked to extract the 9 tailed beast?”

“No! I-I just wanted to study the seal! That’s it, b-b-but I understand that was foolish and dangerous, I’ll never do it again!” She couldn’t shake her head even if she wanted to, Sakura was still frozen to the same spot.

“You’re not a spy, and you haven’t been tasked with extracting the tailed beast, so why on earth did you think it was wise to meddle in something as big as this? Aren’t you Tsunade’s apprentice? All Naruto ever speaks about is how intelligent you are, how bright you are, but all I see is a foolish civilian girl, that has made a mistake so big she might never recover from it.” His voice was cold and cutting, there was no empathy, sympathy or compassion.

“Prove to me that you aren’t a spy.”

The invisible shackles that bound her dissipated and Sakura fell to her hands and knees in a disgraced heap on the floor. “Y-Yes, I’ll prove it… h-how?”

 “That’s not for me to decide, what are you willing to do to prove your loyalty to your village? To me?”

Sakura frowned, she didn’t understand his question, “Hokage-sama, I-I have made a grave error, and I’ll do anything to correct it, I’ll do anything to prove my loyalty! Please believe me!”

“Even if I asked you to kill your parents?”

Sakura sucked in a sharp breath and shut her eyes tightly. She couldn’t reply to that, there’s no way she’d… kill her own mother and father. Why should they die for her crimes?

In a whisper she replied “they are innocent…what type of daughter would I be to let them die for my mistake? I’m sorry, I-I-I can’t!” tears welled up once more in her eyes.

“So, what would you do, to prove to me that you aren’t a spy? You just told me you’d do anything.”

Sakura was silent; he was right – she wouldn’t do anything.

“You lured my son here, under false pretences to do something with his seal, and now you can’t even make the proper amends for it. I must say, I’m actually disappointed.” Displeasure dripped from his voice like acid, burning into her skin. Minato felt sick to his stomach, he liked Sakura, Naruto liked Sakura, heck the whole village loved her. She tended to him during his long stay at the hospital, she was gentle, kind and compassionate. Had he been blinded by her sweet nature? Had she always been this way and had cleverly fooled them all?

“Hokage-sama, I’ll do anything as long as my punishment doesn’t bring harm on those who are innocent. I-I can’t bring anyone else into this!”

“But then how will I know you are not a spy!” Minato’s composure crumbled as he roared out in frustration causing Sakura to flinch at the rage in his voice. She was pissing him off and the little patience he had for her had clearly run out.

“Unless you are willing to hurt those closest to you in order to prove your loyalty, you have two choices – either I kill you here and now or I hand you over to Ibuki who will torture you and then I’ll kill you.”

The lump in her throat felt like a golf-ball, she couldn’t believe that it would all end like this, “I-I won’t kill my parents.” She whispered, head bowed to the floor. Sakura heard him move towards her and felt a rough hand grab a fist full of her hair before her head was yanked back harshly, forcing her to lock eyes with him were sea green clashed with sea blue. He then used his free hand to strike her with a cruel backhand that reddened her cheek immediately.

“So, you choose to die?”

“…I won’t kill my parents.”

“There are worse things you could do, that would make that seem like child play.”

“I won’t kill my parents!”

A slight sneer danced on his lips, “I’ve heard. So, if instead I ask you to undertake a classified mission to Kumogakure, and spread your little legs for the Raikage, you’d say yes?” It was a test. Minato didn’t care to send Sakura on such a mission.

Sakura hesitated. Was he testing her?

“So now you have 3 options, kill your parents, entertain the Raikage or death.”

“I-I can do that, I’ll e-e-entertain the Raikage, I’ll earn your trust again.” She gulped anxiously, searching his eyes for mercy.

Minato didn’t have any forgiveness to give her; he was furious at whatever she’d been attempting to do. The intricacy of Naruto’s seal was a closely guarded secret and despite the solid lines of kanji, it was frail. Minato and Jiraiya had to reenforce it together every six months just to stop the Kyubi’s chakra from leaking out, Naruto had to enter Sage mode at least once a week just to stay in control – she had put too much at risk for the sake of her own curiosity. She had selfishly risked the lives of every single person in the village.

The Kyubi had killed Kushina. Minato didn’t think he had it in him to forgive this transgression, if he didn’t put things in place that alerted him every time Naruto was utilising the beast’s chakra, only Kami knows how this would have ended. He could have lost his only son. His last link to the love of his life.

He wanted Sakura to regret forgetting that she was a civilian in a ninja’s world. Sakura was an anomaly in the domain of ninjas and bloodshed. Civilian children didn’t rise up in the ranks; virtually all of them went into teaching, a desk job or retired from service after a predictable number of years – this was Sakura’s fate too; however, her chakra control was operating at such an elite level that she had caught the attention of Tsunade. Being under the tutelage of the last Senju came with perks and unspoken agreements that Sakura was blind to – the pinkette had lived a life assuming that hard work could get you where you needed to be, since that’s how things had always worked out for her; but in her naivete, she had failed to consider that closed doors only opened for her because she was regarded as the unofficial heir of the Senju clan.

There was a whole underbelly that Sakura had been protected from by Tsunade, it bothered Minato to no end, but he respected her request since she had saved his life after all. However, it was clear to him that having this civilian girl run around, unbound and utterly unaware of the inner workings of ninja traditions and expectations was becoming a true danger to them all.

At Tsunade’s request, Sakura had the same level of privileges of a clan heiress; no seduction missions, no red scroll missions and no undercover missions that permitted the possibility of using intimacy to extract information. The pinkette was completely blind to the fact in the Konoha 12, only she, Lee and TenTen came from undistinguished backgrounds; yet TenTen was given a red scroll mission at least 3 times a month, while Lee was regularly sent on these missions at double the rate. Sakura? Zero to date.

Minato was going to change that; he needed to restore order through the use of unrelenting force and made a mental note that a mistake like this could never occur again. Ninjas and civilians were socially divided for a reason. He respected Tsunade, but this respect had led him to turn a blind eye to tradition which was an error on his part.

“Sakura, I want you to know, things are going to change from now on. Tsunade has protected you from missions and the inner workings of ninja society” he pulled her head back further, exposing her jugular as he towered over her, “from now on, you report directly to me. All your missions come from me, and your loyalty will be with me, not the village. Do you understand?”

“Yes, H-Hokage-sama!” she squeezed out, eyes clamped shut. After a brief moment, he let her go –and turned towards the silent ANBU that was stood against the wall.

“You can take your mask off; you’ll be in charge of teaching Sakura everything she’s missed out on so far and preparing her for the Raikage.”

The masked man nodded and removed his mask; it was Itachi. Sakura stomach rolled with unease, she was ashamed. She admired him so much it nearly hurt, in her eyes Itachi was the embodiment of the perfect shinobi; he was graceful, resourceful and always kept his composure – and now he had witnessed the entirety of the worst moment in her life. “Hai Hokage-sama” his deep voice rumbled, “I’ll set up seals around the property in the meantime for surveillance.” Itachi walked out of her room without sparing her a second glance.

Minato return his attention to the pinkette on the floor, “When Naruto asks you about this, you’ll tell him that you’ve been given a stern warning but no punishment. Do you understand?”

All she could do was nod, eyes glued to the floor.

His picked up one of the notebooks stacked on her bedside drawer, it was a comprehensive study on seals. Minato couldn’t help himself to be amazed at the level of detail it was in; there was a whole section that gave a step-by-step insight into the changes that occurred at a cellular level when chakra was used to seal items in scrolls, – as Minato read on it dawned on him that in the wrong hands this information could potentially be weaponised.

His anger flared up again; research to this level was meant to be declared and handed in so that individuals could gain permission as to whether they could continue their studies or if it had to be abandoned. But no, the young kunoichi in front of him had flouted the rules again and put people at risk.

Minato regarded her analytically; Sakura was intelligent but nowhere on her record hinted towards this level of higher thinking. Sure, he knew she was book smart, he knew she was a good enough strategist – but this level of research, and sneaking around, was the same type of crap Orochimaru pulled, and it had cost Konoha greatly. Minato was determined to snip whatever this was in the bud.

He picked up another notebook, this one seemed to be a random assortment of theories and assumptions about Naruto’s seal, and Jinchūriki seals in general. Minato was captivated, some of the theories were completely off but a good number of them were very much on the right track; the human sacrifice aspect, the separation of ying and yang, the fact that it was possible to create two Jinchūriki from a single tailed beast…

He set the notebook ablaze and watched as the ashes fell at his feet.

Dangerous information in the wrong hands. More than dangerous; he didn’t want to know what would happen if this fell into the orbit of someone like Orochimaru or the villages that were hostile toward them – like Iwa.

Tempering down his anger he faced her, “Do you have any copies of that notebook?”

She shook her head.

“Are all of your files and notes kept here?”

She nodded her head.

“Where?”

“Uhm, t-there’s some here, a-a couple in the study, t-that’s it.”

Minato approached and crouched where she knelt. “Are you sure?” he whispered in a low voice.

“I-I, y-yes, I’m sure.” She looked up into his eyes, silently pleading for forgiveness once more. Sakura knew she was in deep shit; her research was just left lying around for anyone to peek at, she hadn’t gotten any approval and from just seeing Minato burn the one about Jinchūriki, she’d clearly gotten too close to information that was never meant to be public knowledge, information that had gotten people killed for knowing less. Her fingers apprehensively reached out to touch his until she found the courage to hold his hand; tenderly.

“Hokage-sama, p-please, p-please forgive me… I-I know I’ll be p-punished for this, but I need you to believe that I’m not a spy. I would never ever in my life, knowingly put Naruto in danger. I’d never do such a thing. I-I love him, and I love this village. Even if it takes the rest of my life, I’ll earn your trust again, I p-promise!” She finished with a sniffle before she let go of his hand and returned her gaze to the floor.

As Minato regarded her, his chest constricted. Only slightly.

Yeah, Sakura was in for a rough ride.

Sakura's House: Ignore the snow, in the story they are in summer time 

Kitchen:

Sakura's Room:

Conjoined Study:

Bathroom: