Most people seem to think that developing a doujutsu is a wondrous, unspeakably lucky occurrence. Considering that she now has to deal with an ability she has no idea how to use, family drama, fashion crises, and the world's most rude and vulgar doctor, on top of getting to know her new genin team just after graduation... needless to say, Sakura begs to differ.
Mostly a strange but well-written fanfiction by Shana the short
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The story itself demonstrates what would realistically happen if Sakura had mysteriously awaken with a new dojustu. Can be found here . As a result of the new dojustu, Sakura eventually joins Kurenai in a newly formed Team Eight which consists of Sakura herself, Kiba and Shino.
This fic contains examples of the following tropes, in addition to those already present in the source material:
- Action Girl: Unlike Canon Sakura grows into one over time and the progress is quite notably well done.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Part of the premise of the story. Rather than civilians, Sakura's mother is the firstborn child of the head of a very prestigious noble samurai clan based in Iron Country, and her father is a famous Konoha Jounin. These relationships play a huge role in shaping Sakura's career as a Konoha kunoichi.
- Adaptational Badass: Team 8 becomes an exceptional sabotage team due to Sakura's presence and her possession of a powerfully disruptive doujutsu. Their training and experience enable them to completely Curb Stomp all of their competition in the Chuunin exams, and by the time the story picks up after the three year Time Skip, they have all been promoted to Jounin.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Though it's never explained how, Hinata's assignment to Team 7 was apparently enough of a change that Sasuke never ended up defecting to Orochimaru. He's still a pretentious prick though.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Sakura's friendships form differently due to her being placed on Team 8 rather than Team 7, and she also forms a close bond to Hinata due to both of them coming from prestigious families and being doujutsu users who had a bad encounter with Kumo shinobi. Another major change is that Choujuro, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, becomes her primary Love Interest as a byproduct of her samurai background.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Occasionally happens. While most of the story is from Sakura's perspective we do get dribbles and bits of pieces from the perspective of other characters such as Shino, Kurenai and Asuma.
- Been There, Shaped History: Team 8 specializes in sabotage, which means most of their assignments are focused on destabilizing foreign powers in various ways to maintain Konoha supremacy. Their exploits shift the political landscape of the Elemental Nations to such a degree that the Fourth Secret War develops completely differently from canon, and several of Akatsuki's goals are thwarted before they can even begin.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sakura's uncle Yutaka turns out to be one of these early in the story when she reveals her new doujutsu and unwittingly uncovers his strong anti-shinobi bias. It gets reinforced later as she realizes he never cared about her so much as he wanted to lure her into a marriage with one of his sons to increase his standing within the clan. Subverted much later in the story when Yutaka reveals that his primary reason for trying to discourage Sakura from pursuing a ninja career was that she was too special to die young.
- Booby Trap: Team 8 does this once at the Jounin bar. Most of the Jounin and other Shinobi realize there's a harmless booby trap in the doorway but are unable to find it and thus keep setting it off. In reality, Sakura is testing her new doujutsu (which causes momentary loss of motor control) on people entering or leaving the building.
- Comically Small Demand: Hinata thinks Sakura is selling Kiba into slavery for knowledge of some seals. Sakura is actually selling the Kiba swords, but admits she'd sell her teammate for a half empty jar of umeboshi.
- Cool Shades: Sakura wears a pair after her larger pupils make her eyes more sensitive to light. Eventually Kiba wears some too so their entire team has a set.
- Cool Teacher: Kurenai and Asuma are both this for Team 8 and Team 10.
- Break Them by Talking: In the sequel, Sakura does this to Pain.
- Defector from Decadence: Sakura's mother Mebuki was this in her youth, choosing to abandon a noble samurai clan with extremely high standing in Iron Country to marry a Jounin from Konoha. It's downplayed in that she remains a member of the clan's main family with good standing (and even got her husband adopted onto the clan roll), and Sakura was in the running to be named heir to the clan head had she desired the position.
- Disaster Dominoes: Sakura's doujutsu grants her the ability to mess with someone's motor control, which can lead to comically disastrous consequences. Her first proper use of it in the field led to one man crashing into a produce stand and setting off a chain reaction that resulted in significant property damage throughout an entire town block.
- Dr. Jerk: Dr. Onimeno is the doujutsu doctor for Konoha and a complete prick. He tells Sakura he calls her Patient 719 because he doubts he'll ever see her again. In reality, he continues calling her that for every one of her visits, of which are many. It's later shown that he calls everyone by either their patient number or, if they're a patient's friend/teammate/family, by a patient number plus an addendum. For example, Sakura's teammate Kiba is 719-C. He's later shown to be considerably ruder to people who don't make appointments outside extenuating circumstances (Sasuke's Sharingan developing further doesn't warrant an immediate visit but Sakura's developing doujutsu causing her pain does).
- Expy: Dr. Onimeno is basically Demon Eyes Kyo mixed with Gregory House.
- Eye Scream: Downplayed but still painfully apparent as Sakura's eyes start to hurt once her dojustu enters the next stage due to her pupil growing larger, thus taking in far more light than she's used to.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Sakura's team is considered completely average despite having two clan members and a new doujutsu user due to them being a sabotage team, and thus not taking visible or well documented missions.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Making people trip seems rather lame, but the mechanics behind it are very important. Because it momentarily disrupts a person's chakra (thus tripping or similar), Sakura uses it in the sequel to permanently deactivate Pain's Deva path.
- Irony: Sakura gives up on Sasuke when she learns that their doujutsu are most likely incompatible and would result in horribly crippled children or stillbirths. In the sequel, Sasuke is pursuing Sakura because of her doujutsu.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: After Sakura runs away from home (due to her uncle declaring her a "freak"), Dr. Onimeno lets her stay with him and his girlfriend.
- Loner-Turned-Friend: Shino plays this straight with Team Eight.
- Magical Eye: Sakura develops one a the beginning of the story and it effects the rest of the world around her immensely.
- Mugging the Monster: A random villager throws a can of paint at Sakura's group during a mission, thinking them "fancy shmancy samurai". Sakura compares it to watching a drunk kick a bear.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kurenai and Asuma like to pretend they are not an item, though it's very clear to anyone watching that they are deeply involved.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sasuke suffers from this due to being Konoha's last Uchiha. This is one of the factors that cause Sakura to stop liking Sasuke altogether. Onimeno lampshades this by pointing out that while Sasuke may be regarded as big stuff by the village by being the last living legitimate Uchiha, his development as a shinobi is actually below average compared to the rest of the clan when they were still alive.
- The Stoic: Many of Sakura's extended family behave this way in public due to their standing as a highly respected noble clan of samurai. The clan head (and Sakura's grandfather) plays it straight all the time, though his private scenes with Sakura make it clear that his affection runs deep.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Sakura's team gets hired to sabotage Chuunin taking the Jounin exam by using their bloodlines to trip up the examinees.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Kurenai has a doujutsu that lets her zoom in slightly (1.5x magnification). She admits it's largely only useful for reading fine print.
- Winds of Destiny, Change!: Subverted with Sakura's doujutsu. What it actually does is send a burst of chakra into someone's body that results in momentary loss of muscle control when it's ejected from the body. Which results in things like someone randomly tripping or dropping something.
- You Are Number 6: Dr. Onimeno refers to all his patients by their patient number and any of their friends or family as the patient number plus an addendum.
