Sakura Haruno, the heiress of the Haruno clan; the only clan with ninjas that are possible to have cherry blossom as their chakra nature. Only a selected few in the clan has such an ability. Sakura as the heiress is of course one of them and beyond that, she has the same shade of pink hair as the founder of Haruno clan which reserves the right to be named Sakura Haruno. It was a rule passed down from generations to generations; the elders believed that Sakura Haruno has the pure blood of Lady Sakura.

Being a noble is tough, but being a royalty in a noble clan is even tougher. It is inevitable that there will be extremely high expectations of one, not only must one be strong, but one must be very disciplined and well-behaved as well. Every one of them must walk on eggshells, especially in this generation where a trio prodigy will be arranged.

Sakura understood this and she knew she would be one of them, it is a known fact that a woman's sixth sense is sharp. She loves freedom, she wants it, but she cannot have it even when the sky crashes down. There she stood in front of her full-length mirror, staring at her own reflection and softly combing her pink hair in the shade of what brought her a greater burden as the descendant of Lady Sakura.

A polite knock came from her wooden sliding door. "Sakura-hime, Kizashi-sama requests your presence." A man said in that familiar voice; Kizashi's right hand man. Kizashi is from the main house of the Haruno branch in Konoha.

"Hai."

She walked to her father's room in a quiet pace and knocked the door just as softly.

"Come in." He ordered with his usual arrogant voice.

"You requested for me, Otou-sama?"

"Yes, I am aware that today will be the day where the trio prodigies will be announced so therefore there are things I must remind you of."

Sakura slightly frowned at the choice of words her father used. It's not only the trio prodigies, father. All the new ninjas will have their teams announced as well, you speak of them so lightly. She replied to her father in her mind, not daring to say it aloud because it would definitely enrage him.

"Sakura, you are carrying the name of Sakura Haruno. You are a legacy and soon might be the prophecy of the trio prodigies. Behave yourself and be the best of the best. You cannot risk anything that effects your name, our clan and Lady Sakura. You hold a very big responsibility, Sakura."

"Hai, Otou-sama. I understand. I will think before each and every word and action, I must prioritise my name, our clan, the name and pride of Lady Sakura." She repeated the words she has been saying ever since she was a child, it was kept in the back of her mind, at the tips of her fingers.

"Very well, you may go now."

"Hai." She left the room in relief after giving him a deep bow as a sign of respect to the Head of the Haruno clan of Konoha.

As soon as she left his room, she headed to the academy while recalling all the times she spent with her father; not a really family-type of quality time. Her father has been heavily pressuring her about the responsibilities of being the heiress, the Sakura Haruno. All the memories of them together are training and lecturing. Most would think it is great pleasure to be born a noble, but almost always she wishes to be just a normal civilian.

On her way to the academy, she met her "unofficial" cousin, Shikamaru. He is from the Nara clan, also one of the prodigies. Although they are from different clans, they are cousins by blood because her mother's sister married into the Nara clan which is Shikamaru's mother. This is how things work between some noble clans. The main house—heir especially—must be married to someone of the same clan. The only way one can marry someone from another clan is when the other person is unable to inherit the signature techniques of the clan; thus, that person will be banished by their original clan to enter a different family.

"Nara-san, good morning." She greeted formally, a habit she has gotten ever since she was younger when her father taught her about greetings and speech.

"Good morning Sakura." As they walked side by side, they kept a distance between them to avoid gossips. Although the Nara clan is not very strict and pretty open minded about it, Sakura's clan is a completely different story. Only three clans in Konoha are very strict with discipline and their prides: Haruno, Uchiha and Hyuga. We can only be ourselves when we are completely alone in nobodies' sight.

"Who do you think will be the next trio?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't know, Nara-san." She answered politely while shaking her head.

"It would be a drag if I was chosen.." He sighed and folded his arms behind his head.

The walk to the academy became quite after that, neither of them continuing the conversation; but there was not an awkward silence, both of them are just very quiet people, a trait found in most nobles.

Once Sakura stepped foot into her class, a group of guys gathered around her; quickly filling her ears with buzzes and shrieks. She exhaled, trying her best to not let her emotions get the best of her.

"Please, let me go through." She said with the best smile she could muster. All of them seemed to freeze in their place trying to stop their nose bleed. She took this chance to take her seat between Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Good morning, Hyuga-san."

"G-Good morning Sakura-s-san, Sh-Shikamaru-san.."" She greeted.

"Mornin' Hinata." Shikamaru simply greeted before resting his head on his folded arms on the table.

Hinata is a polite and shy girl from the Hyuga clan, she stutters a lot and maybe a little too much. She has a twin brother which is Neji, but they do not look much alike because her mother's ovum was not naturally fertilised. Since Neji is born 7 minutes before her and he is a male, it was obvious who the heir of the Hyuga clan would be.

I could only imagine how hard her father will be to her, I'm sure Neji has his share in giving Hinata a hard time as well, he isn't the best person in this world after all. Sakura thought.

"Hyuga-san, where is your brother?" She asked.

"I'm behind you, Haruno-san." A voice spoke with cold venom. Sakura turned and saw him taking his seat behind her. "I just came in after a short walk outside." She nodded in acknowledgment and greeted him like the others.

Right before she turned her head to the front, she spotted another guy who sat next to Neji. His signature duck butt hair was the first thing which caught her eyes.

"Uchiha-san." She nodded to him as a greeting and vice versa,"Haruno-san."

They sat in peace until an annoying crowd gathered around them again; fangirls and fanboys. Sakura mentally sighed. They were fighting for seats near us and she brushed them off, trying to calm herself down from the noise they are making.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun~" Hummed a kunoichi in purple—Ino who just entered the class. She is from a noble clan as well, but she could not be called a prodigy since it means a young person with exceptional abilities. If you had not guessed already, she has a huge crush on Sasuke Uchiha, very much like most of the class girls, fangirls. Although it is quite annoying to see her acting out of the ordinary noble families, Sakura envies her sometimes.

Suddenly, a shout too cheerful pierced across the room, successfully quieting down the crowd gathered around the prodigies. "SAKURA-CHAN!!!"

"A very good morning to you, Namikaze-san." Sakura sighed.

Naruto Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage's son and a descendent of the infamous Uzumaki clan. His mother, Kushina Uzumaki is a jinchūriki of the Nine Tailed Fox. Although Naruto is not a prodigy, it is believed that he will become a very strong ninja one day because of his family background. If Sakura was not required to marry a pure blooded Haruno, her father would have arranged her marriage with Naruto as it has been revealed across the entire village that he has a crush on her.

Alongside Naruto, another ninja with exceptional skills in taijutsu has a strong affection towards her as well.

"SAKURA-CHAN! MY YOUTHFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM~~!!"

Once again, she sighed for the nth time as she greeted,"Lee-san, greetings to you."

"May I sit next to you, my youthful cherry blossom?" He hopefully asked with his hands clasped together.

"No! I was going to ask her and I came here first!" Naruto quickly argued.

"But I asked first!"

The pointless argument continued on until a familiar adult entered the room.

"Alright. Alright. Quiet down class!" Sakura silently thanked Iruka-sensei for saving her from another headache. Everybody sat in their places and patiently waited for his speech—well, if you minus the irritating tapping of Naruto's foot.

"Alright class, as you all know you have already graduated, we will put all of you into groups of three." He continues his briefing and gave a short introduction about being a ninja. Since he was basically repeating his previous lessons in a summary, everyone started discussing about the groups.

"I hope to be in your group!" Naruto and Lee winked at Sakura, then glared at each other. Back in her mind, she was resting her face on her palms in frustration. She prayed to not be in the same group as either of them, but she also knew it is quite impossible as she without a doubt would be one of the trio prodigies. After all, she is the only female prodigy in this class.

When she snapped herself back to reality, Iruka-sensei started listing out the teams.

"Sakura Haruno.." She waited for the next two names.

==

Here's the first chapter dedicated to bellapotter29 for loving this story too much. 😂 I did read your comment in chapter 31 haha! Thank you so much for your support!

~Joelle

Published: November 2014
Rewritten: 23 February 2017