Chapter Text
In the peaceful village of Konoha there is an old woman. Nobody living knows where she came from and as far as they know she has no family to speak of.
She sits outside the flower shop in the old ninja sector (a bucket of assorted flowers at her side) all day before disappearing as soon as the sun sets. No one knows where she goes.
There are whispers that she was a real ninja . Not like the kind they have now who you can hire to water your fields or take your kids on a trip into the forests. No, the ninja’s who used their chakra to fight and protect and kill, the ninja’s who fought gods and monsters and demons (although many contest nowadays that the stories of ninja have been over exaggerated with time, turned into fun bar stories with no real truth.)
The children call her Obaa-san and they know that if you buy her a flower from the shop she’ll tell you a story. Sometimes they’re simple folk tales, sometimes they’re stories set to song, but sometimes, if you catch Flower Shop Obaa-san in the right mood and give her the right flower, she’ll tell you a story about the ninja of old.
(No matter what the story is the children sit till the end and listen with rapt attention, everyone knows Obaa-san tells the best stories.)
_______________________________________________________
“Hello Kaori-chan, Arata-chan, what have you brought me today?” Obaa-san said in that voice which was seemingly reserved for those either old in body or spirit. The voice which is both laced with kindness as well as steel.
Kaori was holding a single red rose behind her back in a tight grip.
Arata-kun and her had debated over what flower to get for what felt like ages, finally picking the rose because he thought it may make Obaa-San tell them a love story and Arata-kun was a sucker for romance.
Kaori had, eventually, conceded from her stance on the peruvian lily (meaning friendship the cashier had said) “Which could be a story about her old ninja team, Arata-kun!” because it was mostly Arata-kun’s pocket change they were using so he was at least allowed to pick the flower.
“It’s a Red Rose, Obaa-san,” Kaori told her while twirling the flower out from behind her back in a great act of showmanship, “They mean a lot of different things but ours is dark red so it means unconscious beauty!”
“Ahh, well thank you Kaori-chan, it is a beautiful flower,” Obaa-san said with a hum placing the rose into her metal tin, “Perhaps today we do a story about a ninja I once knew? This rose reminds me of her.”
Arata-Kun began to pout, Kaori assumed because he wanted a love story and this one was, apparently, not. However, Kaori wasn’t going to have that (she had even let him pick the flower so he couldn’t be upset) and gave him a glare which quickly settled his ire.
Obaa-san smiled knowingly.
“Yes please Obaa-san!” Kaori finally spoke up.
“Well alright then,” Obaa-san cleared her throat in preparation for her ‘story voice’, “There once was a girl who could grow roses in her skin, her name was Sakura, and when she was born Sakura’s Baa-san, her mother’s mother, told her parents that they had cursed her-”
“But Obaa-san! Why would she say that? That's mean!” Arata-kun asked, cutting the story off. Obaa-san didn’t look angry however, merely amused with Arata’s antics.
“Well,” Obaa-san laughed, throaty and with the edge of someone telling a joke that’s not quite funny, “Because in some ways she was right.”
________________________________________________________
Haruno Sakura is born during the tail end of march with a full head of bright pink hair. With an omen like that how could her parents not wish to name her Sakura? It was perfect, the cherry blossoms were blooming and with them there was Sakura. Daughter of Haruno Mebuki and Haruno Kizashi.
“Don’t name her that,” Ume, Mebuki’s mother, had said, “Sakura. Pssh. A name that will bring short life.”
Mebuki was confused. Why could she not name her daughter after something she found so beautiful? What harm was there in a name she had wondered.
“Mebuki, please, you will curse her with a name like that.” Ume had pleaded with her daughter.
But, in the end Ume had no choice in the decision. Haruno Sakura is given a name to match her attention catching hair and a curse to go along with it.
In the winter of Sakura’s third year Ume dies.
In the winter of Sakura’s third year she makes all the flowers in the garden bloom for her Baa-san (Ume had never liked to see a flower wilted).
Her father sees her playing in the garden, chrysanthemums and lilies and snapdragons popping up behind her. He yells at her, tells her to never ever do that again, to never let anyone know what she can do, tells her that if she does she will die, that her Kaa-san and Tou-san will die, that her baby sister (still in her Kaa-san’s belly, still growing) will die.
The next day all the flowers have been ripped out of the garden.
_____________________________________________________________________
“Obaa-san!” Kaori shouted, completely aghast, “Why would he say that to Sakura?! She’s just a little girl! She didn’t mean to!”
Obaa-san nodded in agreement, “Yes, Kaori-chan,” she said, “Sakura didn’t mean to. But things were very different back then. Then, if there was ever a very talented child they were,” Obaa-san paused in thought, parsing through her words, “scouted. Or taken in the night. Or coerced. Into becoming a ninja.
Children who were too good were very often dead not long after. And, if they didn’t die, they became something… different… something like… a person without a heart. If Sakura had told anyone it is very possible her and her parents would have been killed for her technique.”
“But,” Arata-kun stumbled over his words, “but, it was just flowers? Why would they want a flower ninja?”
“Hmmm, Arata-chan, do you know how many flowers are poisonous?” Obaa-san asked.
Arata-kun didn’t know (neither did Kaori when he looked to her for help but Obaa-san had asked him and she wasn’t going to be the one to look stupid by saying no.)
“It’s alright if you don’t know,” Obaa-san said gently, “It’s actually better that you don’t. When I was young any child off the street could probably tell you a few poisons you could make from the plants in everybodies back garden. We no longer need that type of lifestyle. It is a good thing that we don’t.
However, Not only could Sakura-chan make countless poisons she could also grow flowers anywhere she wanted if only she had a seed. I imagine it’s quite hard to live with stems running through your body, ne?” She continued.
“Oh,” Kaori breathed, “But, Sakura became a ninja, you said so! So, she told somebody?”
“Very perceptive Kaori-chan! She did tell someone, but that’s not quite why she became a ninja.” Obaa-san said, steering them back towards the story.
__________________________________________________________________
Haruno Sakura is four when she meets Aburame Shino.
She is playing in the back garden (her parents had only recently let her out alone again sufficiently assured that she could control the flowers, that she could ensure they would not bloom).
Sakura was a good girl, she listened to all of her parents rules even the ones she thought were stupid, never straying from the confines of the garden and always, always making sure that the dandelions didn’t decide to suddenly creep higher and higher reaching toward Sakura like children to their mother.
On this day however, Sakura was… somewhat distracted. Her Kaa-san had had to go to the hospital early in the morning. Sakura’s Tou-san with her, leaving Sakura with strict instructions to be good and not touch the stove.
“Don’t worry Sakura,” Her Kaa-san had said, “Your Tou-san is just being a worrywart we should be home in a few hours.”
But Sakura was still worried. It was noon when it happened, Sakura’s parents were not yet back and she wasn’t paying enough attention and the Weigela bush she was playing by started flowering, red petals floating around Sakura like a hug.
From the tree’s on the edge of her garden Sakura heard someone take a deep breath. In her panic Sakura quickly made the flowers close back into buds but in many ways, she would soon come to realise, this was worse as the action confirmed her curse to whoever was watching from the trees.
“Who are you?!” Sakura shouted, “Come out!”
For a while there was silence, the world seemed to freeze, every plant in the vicinity seemingly coming to a standstill.
And then, a boy. A boy who looked Sakura’s age wearing a big coat and circular shades that covered his eyes completely.
“Hello. I am Aburame Shino-desu.” The boy, Aburame-san, said.
“What… What’re you doing there?! Were you watching me?” Sakura asked angrily. She didn’t know what to do (he had seen he had seen he had seen) her parents were going to be so upset with her and Sakura was so, so afraid.
“What am I doing here? I am walking home. I was watching you. Why? Because I was passing by and saw you making the plant bloom.” Aburame-san explained without censure.
“Ok,” Sakura said slowly, “Are you… are you going to tell anyone?”
“No. Why? Because the stealing of clan techniques is illegal by Konoha and Clan law and, while sharing the intricacies of such is not necessarily banned, it is greatly frowned upon by those who have secret techniques or Jutsu.” Aburame-san outlined in depth leaving Sakura reeling.
“But, I don’t have a clan.” Sakura told him unwisely (Sakura would learn later on in life that if people had a notion benefiting her that letting them believe it was all the better.)
Shino hummed thoughtfully. He had no reason to tell anyone of this girl's technique but she seemed overly worried that he would. He wished she wasn’t so distressed, before all this her pheromones had been quite pleasant for his Kikaichu and now it was disturbing them.
“All ninja in the village of Konohagakure have all rights to their Jutsu so long as it is being used in the good of Konoha interest as stated in the original peace treaty between clans at the founding.” Aburame-san shared.
“Oh!” Sakura said. This was great! If she became a ninja then her technique would be just hers. She could let everyone know and everything would be fine. Sakura nodded. As soon as her parents got home she was going to ask them to sign her up at the academy. Sakura was going to be a ninja!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DISCONTINUED HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Basically Shino is just kinda there while sakura is lost in thought and being her weird ass self and then shes like… youre still here??? And then they have a conversation about Sakura’s shit and Shino’s bugs and theyre like huh. Friends? Kinda.
And then like Sakura finds out that her mom miscarried and like theres all the sad there of like??? Was that me???
-
This is where I imagine another cut in with Obaa-san and Kaori and Arata would be and then in that cut Obaa-san explains about Sakura’s academy days-
Ami and getting bullied (and there’s a whole thing where Obaa-san talks about how sometimes kids are mean or something with Arata and Kaori and Arata and Kaori had just been making fun of each other idk.), meeting ino (a girl who loved flowers almost as much as her), Sakura and Shino are kinda friends in this world so that's added, and then some stuff with Sasuke but I feel like Sakura wouldn’t be broken from Ino as easily in this world.
-
Cut to the bell test (except Sakura’s a little bit more prepared than in canon because she had like… an actual reason for becoming a ninja and her friendship with shino) + Sakura who has never used the flowers offensively not really hiding them just not using them and being super hyped to learn under Kakashi but then Kakashi is Kakashi and she’s like,... fuck
So sakura kinda tries to figure things out on her own and then shes like…. WAIT FUCK. I am not the most physically strong so why would I try and brute force like the first hokage or smthin and she starts looking into POISONS!
Sakura who can grow any flower on a dime and asks ino for help and they start making poisons together.
-
Another Obaa-san Kaori Arata break
-
Wave missions with a Sakura who while still not the most physically strong, has light poisons on her kunai and shit.
When the water brothers or whatever the fuck attack and get naruto she’s like!!! Shit and then goes to try and pull the poison from his bloodstream and the boys are all like???? Dude wtf??? You can do that and she’s liek…. Fuck i forgot to tell you.
Anyways she cant get it all out because its got more than just plant as its base and so naruto still bloodlets but then sakuras like maybe i should learn how to heal poisons if im going to make them and starts looking into medical jutsu and shit but its not really something she can do with the current state of everything.
BUT anyways wave happens pretty close to canon except when sasuke gets like accupunctered by haku and she sees it shes like brooooooo. And the seeds she carries on her bloom and vine away to strangle/grab haku cause she thinks he’s dead.
This has the accidental effect of Haku not being able to get in the way of Zabuza’s chidori and Zabuza dies and then Gaku shows up ready to fucking fight and kakashi has to kill all of his goons which shows the kiddos like… how fucked everything is (seeing your laid back teacher kill a bunch of people definitely hits harder than some random scary fuck)
Now they have Haku who has nothing to live for and he’s like just kill me and they all still think sasuke is dead and Naruto is still half fucking tailed beast and theyre like????? And Haku is just begging them to kill him and they're like… but killing people no and Kakashi tells them that one of them has to do it. That sometimes people die before their dead and that Haku is an enemy and shit (which like I do not personally agree with gamers but this is ninja child soldier bullshit) and Naruto could never do it sasukes fucking sleeping so sakura takes one of her poisons and one of hakus senbon and its a peaceful death but she killed him alll the same.
-
Cut to Obaa-san and the kids and like theyre shocked cause death and all that and theres a whole discussion about things that were horrible and how then they werent horrible they were just a part of life (except really they were still horrible)
-
Cut to chunin exams pretty similar to the og except theyre all definitely closer now than in canon. killing people will do that. Kakashi asks Sakura to not use her technique overtly unless absolutely possible and sakuras like ?K? Anyways pretty similar cause no matter how strong Sakura could have gotten at this point Orochimaru is still Orochimaru and fear is still a very strong inhibitor.
The Sound genin fight goes slightly differently but not by much because sakura’s trying not to use her technique until the last minute (and then she gets saved by INoSHikaCHo) BUT she wins her battle against Ino during the prelims because if they were evenly matched in canon Sakura would be stronger than her now.
Kakashi gets Genma to help Sakura during the month break because poisons and they fuck around and its funky fresh.
During the finals Sakura gets paired up with Temari (which makes her wonder about how nearly all of the girls got paired in girl v girl fights and then on how the fights seemed pretty rigged) ALSO I think if the fights WERE rigged (which they totally were) then they would put Sakura instead of Shikamaru because he’s a clan kid and she’s a ‘nobody’ so if she gets knocked out it’s not too bad.
Anyways temari is kicking sakura’s ass and then she’s like fuck it I’m becoming a Chunnin with my team and uses her technique and everybody in the crowd is like wtfffffffffff.
Except then Sasuke v Gaara and the invasion happens so it kinda gets pushed to the back burner.
-
INTERLUDE TIME Obaa-san and the kids part 2 electric bugaloo.
-
Sasuke Leaves but Sakura is sent on the retrieval mission with them. Naruto leaves with Jiraiya and then there’s just Sakura. EXCEPT in this timeline Kakashi has more interest in sakura’s abilities and is like fuck. Gotta find a new teacher for this kid.
So, kakashi knowing sakura had some interest in learning to heal reaches out to the best medic he knows personally (and one of the only one he trusts)
Theyre an old ANBU medic ofc. And Kakashi also asks Genma to occasionally help Sakura with her poisons so now Sakura has these two teachers who are ex anbu and super badass.
ANYWAYS Sakura winds up in ANBU gains a place as a poison specialist and medic but because ANBU is all about secrecy she doesn’t get to use her technique because it is linked to her name as Sakura.
Lots of ANBU missions and such
-
Obaa-san kaori arata interlude
-
Naruto comes back + Reunion + Skipping around kinda to get to getting sasuke back + Meeting Yamatou who is like her crazy wow + destroying Danzo + Sai
-
Yada yada yada anyways
Something felt… wrong. Kaori had been thinking all night and something wasn’t right with what Obaa-san had told her and Arata-kun. There was another piece to the puzzle that Kaori hadn’t had yesterday, but now she thought she understood.
When Kaori walked to the flower shop she almost expected Obaa-san to be gone. As if that story was her last. It felt like Obaa-san had already done what needed to be done and that she should, obviously, disappear into the night like a spirit (that was typically how the folk tales went).
Alas, Obaa-san was seated exactly where she had been everyday since before even Kaori had come into the world. Kaori approached Obaa-san without even glancing at the flower shop. Standing in front of Obaa-san with no flower felt strange, but Kaori wasn’t looking for a story today, just answers.
“Obaa-san,” Kaori said in a… not timid, never timid… quiet voice, “What did you name your daughter?”
“My daughter?” Obaa-san asked with a smile, “Well, I never had one.”
“And if you had?”
“I would have named her Tsubaki.”
“Sakura-Baa… What happened to your teammates?” Kaori asked.
“Ahh, you’re a smart girl Kaori,” Sakura told her, “They both died a long time ago, happy, at peace, with family and friends surrounding them. Naruto and the rest of the jinchuriki all came to agreements with their tailed beasts. When they died the beasts went with them disolving into the natural chakra in the world. In a couple hundred years they will reform and the world will have to figure itself out again but for now they are at rest.”
“And Sasuke?”
“The old Gods of the Uchiha, Ameratasu, Tsukoyomi, and Susanoo... they let him go. The Gods are not kind Kaori, but sometimes they are giving if you have impressed them. Uchiha Sasuke, the boy with demon eyes, died as the last of his kind and he was happy for it.”
“And will the flowers die with you Sakura-Baa.” Kaori said. She already knew the answer but this felt like… a tea service… a ritual that needed to be completed.
“The flowers never die Kaori. Nature has this nasty habit of coming back.”
“But, Sakura-Baa,” Kaori sounded as close to lost as she could for a girl who knew herself so well, “Why now? There is no one left to fight, there’s no need for them.”
“Now dear, there is never any ‘need’ for the flowers. People take them and do as they please with them but they aren’t here to hurt or help or anything in between. They just are. When I was young I needed the flowers so that I could fight but you, you may just need them to give your garden a little shove, to make life a little more beautiful.”
“They were never a curse, were they?” Kaori asked but didn’t (she already knew she already knew she already knew).
“The line between a curse and a gift is all in how the pieces fall.”
“And how did you know?”
“Sometimes, if you are kind and determined and you listen hard, the world will tell you what you need to know even if it’s not what you want to hear.”
Kaori bowed deeply. The ceremony was over. This was it. Kaori was twelve years old and she had known Sakura-Baa for just as long.
“Thank you Obaa-san and goodbye.”
“And why do you think this is goodbye Kaori-chan?”
“When spring turns to summer the cherry blossoms wither and die Obaa-san. That is simply the way the seasons work. It is nature's course.” Kaori was not going to cry, she was fine, this was natural.
“You’re a good girl Kaori. Just think about it like this, my Baa-san was wrong. I lived a long, long life and I was gifted, never cursed. Goodbye.” and the sun set, Sakura disappearing into thin air with it as she did every night.
That night Kaori did not go home even though she knew her family would worry. She sat in the chair Sakura-baa had used for as long as anyone could remember and cried through the night.
When the sun rose in the morning Sakura-baa did not appear as she had every day for years.
When the sun rose in the morning Kaori grabbed a single red rose (Arata-kun and hers red rose. The red rose which reminded Sakura-baa so much of herself) from Sakura-baa’s tin and found herself able to make roots grow from the bottom.
Kaori planted the flower in her family's back garden and they both lived.