Fanfic / Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison

Young love can be frailer than it feels. Eleven-year-old Sakura learns this firsthand when she finds herself pitted against Sasuke for a routine spar at the Academy, only for her crush to crush her heart as he completely dismisses her as a worthless, civilian-born paper ninja, declaring that she'll never be anything more than cannon fodder.

But he's wrong. Quietly, Sakura resolves to show him — and everyone else who doesn't believe in her — just how wrong he is.

So begins A Drop of Poison, a Naruto fanfic by Androgyninja, as Sakura sets out to prove herself by becoming a Master Poisoner and working her way up to jounin. But while her newfound ambitions help her forge new friendships and bonds, she's still saddled with a teacher and teammates who drastically underestimate their 'token kunoichi'... and theirs is not an easy world to survive in.

A Drop of Poison is the first installment of the Mithridatism series. It was completed with forty-eight chapters, to be followed by a sequel, A Dose of Venom.

Not to be confused with A Drop of Poison, another What If? scenario centered around a change in Naruto's circumstances rather than Sakura's.

---

This fanfic contains examples of:

• Adaptational Backstory Change:
  • Unlike the anime canon, Sakura's parents are both civilians here; Mebuki is a tailor while Kizashi's a merchant who's often away on business trips.
  • Her father Kizashi was born in Kirigakure, and moved to Konoha as the third Mizukage's policies grew bloodier. Sakura having Water-nature chakra alongside Earth-nature is attributed to this.
  • Kabuto lived with his parents until they died in the Kyuubi's assault on Konoha. Stuck in a poor orphanage, he used his healing abilities to earn money until he caught Danzo's eye; he was then kidnapped and forced to work for him until he caught Orochimaru's eye.
• Adaptational Badass: Sakura becomes noticeably stronger than in canon, being a consistent contributor to Team 7's victories and even making it to the finals of the Chuunin Exams.
• Adaptational Heroism: As a result of various nails in the fic's backstory, Zabuza, Itachi, and Sasori are all loyal to their villages rather than missing-nin.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Sasuke's Inferiority Superiority Complex and childishly echoing sentiments he's picked up from the adults around him out loud leads to him being incredibly callous and cruel towards Sakura, bluntly asserting that she'll never amount to anything more than a 'paper ninja' or Cannon Fodder.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Jiraiya's Dirty Old Man tendencies are toned down considerably, since as portrayed in canon he's for all intents and purposes a sexual predator.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Sakura and Sasuke's relationship sours on both sides after their fateful sparring match; on top of her crush dissolving, he becomes hypersensitive to any suggestion that she's his equal or rival in any respect, making a point of insulting and tearing her down.
  • Hinata's gentle show of support following their fight blossoms into a friendship with both her and Shino, which leads to Sakura becoming closer to Team Eight as a whole.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Genma and Raido are boyfriends here; Sakura first meets them while they're out on a date.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: Sakura has two chakra natures, Water and Earth, and gradually teaches herself how to combine them into Mokuton arts.
• Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed with Naruto; while he still learns the Kage Bunshin during the kerfuffle with Mizuki, he can't create nearly as many at once as he can canonically.
• Adults Are Useless: How much this applies depends upon the adult:
  • Generally speaking, Sakura believes this applies to the majority of adults due to her being civilian-born and thusly seen as less valuable than those who come from clans.
  • Averted by her parents; both prove to have valuable advice, insight and information, and do their best to support their daughter whenever they can.
  • Played painfully straight by Kakashi for the most part, due to him being a Sink or Swim Mentor blinded by his own biases and sexism. Many of his efforts to help her seem half-hearted at best and are hampered by poor communication. To his credit, he realizes his own failings as a teacher after the Chuunin Exams and resolves to do better.
  • Averted by Iruka, Kurenai and Genma. Iruka wastes no time in laying down the law when Sasuke disrespects Sakura after their fateful sparring match, Kurenai encourages and looks out for Sakura, and Genma acts as a mentor figure to her.
• All for Nothing:
  • Ino fears that the implosion of her friendship with Sakura amounted to this; the two of them became bitter rivals over Sasuke, and his cruel dismissal of Sakura certainly implies she has no chance... yet their relationship remains strained and distant, with neither girl attempting to bridge the gap.
  • Tsunami's cousin betrayed his village by working with Gato, trying to stop Tazuna from finishing his bridge. He insists that this was what was best for his family, including his daughter. Said daughter completely despises him, considering him to be the worst kind of Dirty Coward, not even mourning his death.
• Animal Reaction Shot: During Sakura's preliminary match with Ino, Akamaru gets a moment to express his approval at Sakura 'fighting like an Inuzuka' by biting her opponent.
• Anti-Mentor: Kakashi is gravely unqualified to be a genin teacher, and pretty much everyone knows it. He displays implicit favoritism towards Naruto and Sasuke, feeding Sakura's resentment of both him and Konoha ninja culture in general, and routinely fails to actually teach the value of teamwork to his apprentices. That said, he's not entirely useless (for example, reaming Naruto for several reckless actions he takes during the Chuunin Exams out of sheer stubbornness or comforting Sakura after the deaths of her parents during the Konoha Crush, with it being noted that he's much more used to being a grief counselor than a teacher).
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Mebuki helps solidify Sakura falling out of love with Sasuke by gently asking her how his words made her feel, followed by "Do you think that being with Sasuke would make you happy then? If he makes you feel that way?"
  • Played for Laughs when Kakashi gets into a verbal pissing contest with Zabuza, as he responds to his opponent's taunting by pointing out that Raiga was formerly one of Kiri's elite Seven Swordsmen. So if Zabuza is claiming Kakashi was weak to have been hurt by him, what does that say about the rest of their forces?
  • Following the Viking Funeral, Sakura offers her remaining ration bars to Wave's kids. When one tries to reject her offer, she retorts "Even if you don't want the bars because of your stupid pride, are you really willing to let your friends go hungry because of it?"
  • After their preliminary match, Ino gets into an argument with Sakura which finally culminates in one:
    Ino: I was trying to get you to look at me.
    Sakura: I'm looking at you. Now what?
  • After the Chuunin Exams conclude and all that follows, Hinata is shocked beyond words when Sakura asks her "Why didn't you tell me the truth about Neji?"
  • Two in rapid succession during the argument between Jiraiya and Tsunade about whether the latter should become the fifth Hokage:
    • When Tsunade balks at the idea of becoming the next Hokage, Jiraiya bluntly asks "Would you rather let Danzo take charge?"
    • When Jiraiya tries to invoke the Senju's 'legacy' to convince her to take the job, she asks "Oh, you want to talk about legacy? Do those boys you've dragged along even know their own?"
• Armor-Piercing Response: Genma challenges Sakura to tell him one thing about him based off her initial observations. Sakura stuns him by answering that he is either currently part of or previously worked in ANBU.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Sasuke was the 'Number One Rookie' in their class, and arrogantly assumes this means he's ready to take on more powerful opponents. This also fuels his cruelty towards Sakura, as he takes the idea that a mere civilian-born girl is capable of matching him in any way very personally. Tellingly, during the Konoha Crush, Sasuke chases the Sand Siblings even after being explicitly ordered to let them leave, mainly for the sake of satisfying his own ego.
• Ascended Extra: Kin Tsuchi goes from a random Otogakure mook to a recurrent and very personal enemy of Sakura.
• Assassin Outclassin': During the Chuunin Exam Finals, Sasori tries to assassinate the Kazekage, only to learn he's already been replaced with Orochimaru.
• Awesomeness by Analysis:
  • While initially limited in what kind of research materials she can access, Sakura strives to compensate by teaching herself everything she can about plants and venomous animals.
  • Sakura also theorizes that it's possible for somebody with the right elements and precise enough chakra control to teach themselves advanced Nature Release techniques, such as the Mokuton.
  • Sakura convinces Genma to take her on as an apprentice by observing that he has worked in ANBU.
  • Watching Sakura fight Ino enables Gai to immediately deduce that she studied under Genma; his observational skills are further highlighted in how he quietly takes note of the crowd's reactions.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Combined with Asshole Victim; during the Konoha Crush, Kabuto goes after Danzo, taking out four ANBU guards and rendering him comatose. This has the pleasant side effect of ensuring Danzo can't immediately exploit Konoha's weakened state for his own gain.
• Big Damn Heroes: Help unexpectedly arrives during the Wave Mission in the form of Zabuza and Haku, who came after Raiga.
• Bittersweet Ending: A Drop of Poison concludes with Sakura getting promoted to Chuunin by Godaime Tsunade. But this came at a heavy cost: both of her parents were killed in the Konoha Crush, Team Seven has imploded — and so has her friendship with Team Eight, after what Neji revealed — and it's further implied that said promotion was due to backroom deals and politicking.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Naruto clings to his childish "heroes don't kill" mentality even when he learns Sakura has been forced to kill in the line of duty, and refuses to acknowledge the fact that Sakura would have died followed by the innocents she was supposed to protect if she didn't do what she had to do.
• Bleed 'Em and Weep: Sakura struggles with this after her first kill, mainly because they were Tsunami's cousin, Shota.
• Break the Cutie: Sakura goes through hell as the story progresses. Her crush completely dismisses her worth as a human being, she is stuck with said former crush, a bull-headed naif, and a barely functional Anti-Mentor as teammates, she is forced into multiple life-and-death situations that force her to kill enemy combatants, her home is invaded, and her parents are killed.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: During an argument, Sasuke responds to Sakura snapping that "We're not just cannon fodder for the clans" with a blank look, spurring her to realize that he'd forgotten about the way he treated her back at the Academy. Downplayed in that Sasuke had referred to her repeatedly as cannon fodder since then, and had only changed his tune after learning that she'd killed to protect them; his confusion is rooted in her still holding a grudge over that, not realizing just how deeply his insults wounded her or that her parents were dead.
• Cannon Fodder: Sakura is driven to succeed by the fact that she is the only civilian-born shinobi on Team 7, causing her to conclude she's there to be an expendable pawn to protect the two clan-born shinobi.
• Cat/Dog Dichotomy: Discussed; Kiba notes that many incorrectly assume that Inuzuka hate cats due to their association with ninken.
• Combat Breakdown: The preliminary match between Sakura and Ino devolves into a savage brawl after Sakura breaks out of Ino's Mind Transfer Jutsu.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Tenten chides Lee for doing push-ups in her room, Lee apologizes, explaining that the hospital staff forbid him from practicing in the courtyard. The reason why that was forbidden seems to have flown completely over his head.
• Commonality Connection:
  • Kabuto tries to invoke this with Sakura, commenting that "us civilian-borns gotta stick together". This only increases her unease around him, given that she hadn't introduced herself or done anything to indicate her status.
  • Following Sakura's match with Ino, Gai mentally compares her to both Tenten and himself: all three have faced underestimation, with Gai also acutely familiar with being scrutinized and rejected for not fitting the mold of what the majority believe to be a 'model shinobi'.
  • Sakura and Tenten bond over feeling like the Only Sane Members of their respective genin teams, though Tenten warns her upfront that she won't give her any information on Neji.
  • Kabuto uses this same tactic when approaching Kin, telling her that like her, he wants both Sakura and Orochimaru "in the grave".
  • Naruto uses his shared history as a jinchūriki with Gaara to talk him out of going berserk.
  • Played tragically in the wake of the Konohan Crush attempt: as the result of the attack, Sakura lost both of her parents, something Kakashi empathizes with due to how he lost his father.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Sasuke refuses to admit he needed Sakura's help during the bell test, even after she digs him out of the earth.
• Create Your Own Villain: Late in the story, this gets Discussed in regards to Sakura. Several of her mentors fear that she has the potential to turn against Konoha, especially after losing so much.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • During their spar, Sakura manages to catch Sasuke's wrist and land two blows before he knocks her onto her back and pins her down. It's implied this wounds his ego enough to fuel his vicious dismissal of her potential.
  • Tenten and Temari's preliminary match still ends with the former's loss, but she isn't completely thrashed during the fight, with Temari's fan ending up lightly cutting her neck rather than getting slammed into her back.
• Cynicism Catalyst:
  • While Sakura was already aware that there weren't many measures in place to help civilian-born shinobi access resources comparable to those clan-born shinobi possess, Sasuke's excessively cruel insistence that she'll never be anything more than cannon fodder swiftly builds into her believing that most see her that way.
  • Naruto lacking one of these becomes a problem. While the Wave Mission originally serves as a wake-up call, his experiences here are just different enough that he fails to realize just how harsh and unforgiving the lives of shinobi can be, further complicating his relationship with Sakura.
  • Sakura gets hit with another one of these during the Konoha Crush attempt, when her parents are killed not by an enemy ninja, but by her fellow Konoha-nin deliberately keeping Orochimaru's summons contained within the civilian district where they lived. This reinforces all of her fears about her fellow shinobi considering civilians to be 'less important'.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Downplayed; Sakura finds that she was so used to following Sasuke around that in the first few months after the sparring incident, she finds herself occasionally slipping into autopilot and towards those old habits. She makes a point of stopping herself every time.
• Deadly Euphemism: When Sakura notices that there are no civilians at the soup station she's visiting, Kotatsu explains that there are separate ones set up for ninja, as the shinobi are pretty jumpy in the wake of the failed Konoha Crush and they want to prevent any 'accidents'. Sakura thinks 'Ah, so that's what they call civilians being killed by paranoid shinobi.'
• Deal with the Devil: Sakura sees her agreeing to be trained by Uchiha Shisui this way; the chapter where her apprenticeship with them begins is even titled "A Deal With a Demon". This is primarily because she presumes the absolute worst of her would-be teacher, convinced they have ulterior motives for offering their aid.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • According to the Chapter 35 author's notes, "Obito is not alive in this fic. He's a dead motherfucker and will remain that way."
  • Sakura's parents are killed during the Konoha Crush.
• Defiant to the End: The eighth of the eight Oto-nin Sakura kills during the Konoha Crush curses Sakura out until she finishes the job.
• Detrimental Determination: Shown by all three genin in Team Seven:
  • Naruto's belief that one can just power through any situation through sheer stubbornness alone causes him to butt heads with the more realistically-minded Sakura, especially when he pushes for them to go on the offensive against the obscenely more powerful Orochimaru. He also refuses to let Sakura bow out of the preliminary battles for the Chuunin Exams simply because he doesn't want her to quit, and loses his match to Kiba via Mexican Standoff because neither is willing to concede.
  • Sasuke is an arrogant Glory Hound who prioritizes chasing the retreating Sand Siblings over fighting the enemy-nin who are actively trying to kill everyone they can because he'd rather fight the former than protect innocent civilians.
  • Sakura's desire to prove herself puts her at odds with those who rather dislike how she's challenging the status quo, as well as causes her to read insulting implications where none are intended, isolating her from potential allies in the process.
• Deus Exit Machina: The author's notes for Chapter 45 note that with the Third Hokage dead, Tsunade missing, and Jiraiya having no interest in leadership, Danzo is the most logical candidate to become the Fifth Hokage. Since the author does not want that, Kabuto puts him into a coma during the Konoha Crush.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation:
  • Kinuta Dosu dies much sooner here, when Sakura slits his throat in the Forest of Death.
  • Abumi Zaku also meets their end far faster, courtesy of a log Sakura covered with explosive tags.
  • The squad of nine Oto-nin that pursues Shikamaru and Sakura's group meets a different fate during the Konoha Crush. Rather than being beaten by Sarutobi Asuma, Sakura slits the throats of all but the leader.
• Dirty Coward: Sasuke accuses Sakura of being one when she suggests following protocol and reporting back to Konoha about the situation in Wave. This hints at how he's been taught that civilian-born ninja are untrustworthy, regaled with horror stories about them losing their nerve and abandoning their teammates.
• Double Standard: Kakashi leaves Sakura to play peacemaker for her quarreling teammates, doing nothing about the boys acting up... only to step in afterwards and chide her for losing her temper and snapping at them.
• Dramatic Irony: Played With during Gai's brief POV section during the Chuunin Exam preliminaries. While reflecting upon Sakura's circumstances, he muses that she's likely making a lot of enemies by challenging the status quo, and hopes that his Eternal Rival will provide the staunch support she'll require to weather the coming storm. Readers know that Kakashi has proven to be an Apathetic Teacher towards Sakura... however, this also doubles as Foreshadowing, as Kakashi slowly starts extracting his head from his own rectum and paying more attention to what's happening, showing that Gai's faith in his friend is not entirely misplaced.
• Dramatically Missing the Point:
  • Iruka tells Sasuke outright that he underestimated Sakura, only for him to scoff and tell his teacher "She's not even close to being a threat, so why would I treat her like one?" Getting further warned and subsequently punished teaches him nothing, as he continues to insist he was right.
  • Sasuke similarly scoffs at her declaration that she's going to become a jounin. Not only does he assume she can't reach that level since she was born into a civilian family, completely missing the point of her vowing to prove otherwise, he takes for granted that he will reach that level simply because he's an Uchiha.
  • Sasuke accuses Sakura of cowardice when she wants to follow protocol during the Wave Mission, ignoring how her suggested course of action is what they're meant to do.
  • When Kakashi notices that Sakura is teaching herself water-walking, his takeaway isn't that he should work with her more to help hone her skills, but that she would have done well on another team.
  • When Naruto learns about the body count Sakura's been racking up in order to keep herself and her teammates alive, he tries to call her out on it. Even after she bluntly points out that she couldn't afford to spare their lives and likely would have been killed if she'd tried, he still doesn't understand why she did it.
• Driven by Envy: Kakashi encourages Sasuke and Naruto to resent Sakura whenever she performs better at any kind of chakra control exercise in order to motivate the boys to push themselves further.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Sasuke firmly establishes himself as a Jerkass and destroys Sakura's regard for him by bluntly declaring that she's nothing more than expendable cannon fodder, refusing to relent even as Iruka angrily calls him out on it.
  • Kakashi is introduced while reviewing the basic profiles for his future genin team, and reacts as though Sakura being civilian-born is just as big a problem as Sasuke and Naruto's respective issues.
  • Kiba and Kurenai are officially introduced into the story after the teams are formed; Kiba calls Sakura over after picking up on how his quieter teammates wanted to spend more time with her, and Kurenai immediately empathizes with her plight after learning how she was assigned to Kakashi's 'care'.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Sakura feels hurt and betrayed when she learns that Team 8 kept the knowledge of the Hyūga cursed seal from her, information that would have significantly affected her relationship with Neji Hyūga.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Sakura realizes how to compensate for her lack of any bloodline abilities or special techniques after witnessing a black snake fell a wild boar with its poisonous bite.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Tsuchi Kin flies into a vengeful rage after Sakura kills her teammates.
• Everyone Has Standards: Played With through Kakashi. Though entirely sincere in his beliefs about the importance of taking care of one's teammates, he isn't very good at teaching his young charges, making him come off as a massive Hypocrite. It takes Naruto nearly getting his teammates killed by trying to fight Orochimaru coupled with his stopping Sakura from opting out of her preliminary match for him to step up and address the glaring issues presented there.
• Evil Counterpart: Kabuto is set up as a narrative foil to Sakura in this fashion, being another civilian-born shinobi ready to go to extreme lengths to achieve his goals.
• Exact Words: Kakashi refuses to teach Sakura how to conceal her chakra by stating Team Seven wasn't ready to learn yet. She then asks Genma for help, noting that he'd specifically said their squad wasn't ready, not that she wasn't.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: A mental version occurs during the bell test when Sakura realizes that Kakashi is trying to test their teamwork. Her momentary glee over figuring this out swiftly gives way to the horrified realization that success hinges on getting Naruto and Sasuke to cooperate.
• Eye Scream: In a Downplayed version, Sakura hits one opponent in the eye with the juice from jequirity beans, buying herself enough time to stab him in the gut before slitting his throat.
• Face Death with Despair: The sixth of eight Oto-nin Sakura kills during the Konoha Crush is visibly terrified and cries the entire time.
• Face Death with Dignity: The third of eight Oto-nin Sakura kills during the Konoha Crush looks Sakura in the eye the entire time.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Sasuke's is his arrogance, selfishness, and Lack of Empathy. He routinely dismisses anyone who he feels is beneath him, cares more about his own personal glory than the mission or those he's supposed to protect, and has an absurdly inflated sense of his own invincibility. This repeatedly leads to his teammates having to bail him out before he gets himself killed.
  • Naruto's is his naivete, idealism, and stubborness. He has a very romanticized view of ninja in general and takes very poorly to the grim reality of Sakura being forced to kill in self-defense, especially since his connection to the Nine-Tailed Fox allows him to get away with stunts that would probably kill most other ninja. His refusal to give up and his belief that sheer grit can overcome any obstacle also get him and his teammates into trouble several times, even leading him to prevent Sakura from quitting the Chuunin Exams just because he doesn't believe in folding.
• Foil:
  • Iruka immediately calls Sasuke out when he berates Sakura, punishing him when he refuses to relent or apologize. Kakashi makes no such effort, letting him spit bile completely unchallenged and leaving her to assume he completely agrees with the Uchiha.
  • Shibi, like Kakashi, conducts several Secret Tests of Character on Sakura. Unlike Kakashi, none of these put her in any kind of danger, and the results are rewarded rather than ignored.
  • Naruto and Sasuke have several points of contrast:
    • Both prove to be difficult teammates whom Sakura finds hard to work with. In Naruto's case, this is due to him frequently being oblivious to how she feels; Sasuke, by contrast, does not care about Sakura's feelings at all and is simply arrogant. Making matters worse is how he often eggs Naruto on, playing on his Pride to make him defensive and turn him against Sakura.
    • Sasuke starts begrudgingly respecting Sakura after learning how she's killed. Naruto, on the other hand, is horrified and acts as though she committed an unspeakable crime, ignoring the fact that they're shinobi and are expected to kill others when necessary.
  • Team Eight directly contrasts Team Seven as a whole by virtue of being supportive and attentive towards Sakura, sympathizing with her troubles and closing ranks around her when she's threatened by Kin.
  • Genma proves to be an attentive and thoughtful teacher, while Kakashi continues neglecting Sakura in favor of the boys.
  • Neji and Sakura are both privileged and oppressed in differing ways, creating two characters who are similar enough to understand each other but still very different.
    • Neji is part of a major clan and has plenty of support in the form of training, gear, and political connections. However, he is completely beholden to said clan and they can kill him at any time should they choose to.
    • Sakura is from a civilian family and has no meaningful support, forced to make do with inferior training and equipment along with having no political power. But she isn't beholden to anyone except the Hokage and can largely do what she wants to a far greater extent than Neji ever could.
• Go Through Me: During the Konoha Crush attempt, Temari pulls this against Sasuke in order to protect her little brother. Notably, the assailant invokes this themselves: "If you don't move, I'll go through you."
• Got Volunteered: The second time she runs into the Sand Siblings in Konoha, Temari interrupts her attempt to give them directions towards the immigrant district, blithely declaring that Sakura will clearly be happy to lead them to the area in question instead.
• Heroic Safe Mode: Sakura goes into safe mode after the Konoha Crush, focusing on helping the cleanup and solving her own immediate problems so that she doesn't have to sit down and prcoess her parents' deaths.
• Hesitant Sacrifice: Sakura fears that this will be her ultimate fate; despite not wanting to die, she's equally reluctant to abandon her teammates, along with believing/fearing that if she did bail out of a bad situation and they were hurt or killed as a result, she'd meet an even worse fate in Konoha.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Ino continuously self-sabotages any ability to repair her friendship with Sakura by denying any desire to do so, loudly rejecting Shikamaru's advice to simply talk to her. When the two finally do sit down and chat after their preliminary match, Ino digs herself deeper with angry accusations and insulting her new friends Hinata and Shino.
• His Story Repeats Itself: Sakura's preliminary match with Ino echoes her sparring match with Sasuke, as somebody she once cared about viciously mocks her efforts with a Breaking Speech about how inferior she is to them. Both times, this cruelty ends up motivating Sakura; in the latter case, she's able to continue the fight and emerges victorious.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: During Sakura and Ino's match, Ino's attempt to slap Sakura backfires when the momentum drives one of her opponent's senbon deep into her hand. Following this, Ino using the Mind Transfer and drawing out her words to savor her victory gives Sakura the chance to force her out before she can finish, turning the tables.
• Hourglass Plot: Downplayed. At the start of A Drop of Poison, Naruto respects and admires Sakura, while Sasuke sees her as nothing more than trash. They effectively flip positions after learning about her body count; Sasuke respects her ability to kill, while Naruto is horrified and disgusted.
• Hypocrite:
  • Kakashi claims that those who abandon their allies are worse than trash. Yet he offers minimal guidance to the genin under his care, and worse than ignoring Sasuke's treatment of his teammates, he actively encourages him to get jealous of their accomplishments.
  • Ino resents how Sakura didn't reach out to her after the incident with Sasuke, accusing her of throwing her aside and ignoring her. As Sakura immediately points out, Ino herself did nothing but stew in her own envy and resentment until it finally boiled over.
• I Hate Past Me: Sakura regards her past fangirling over Sasuke with increasing disdain as time goes on.
• I'll Kill You!: Sakura threatens to shove Sasuke's silver spoon down his throat and kill him if he ever talks dismissively about civilians again in the aftermath of the Konoha Crush.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • While Sasuke wasn't traumatized by losing his family, he remains a smug Jerkass due to a mixture of coming from a powerful and influential clan and being stuck in Itachi's shadow.
  • The team placements remain the same, though Sakura is privately horrified at being stuck on Team Seven with Sasuke and Naruto.
  • Raiga Kurosuki replaces Zabuza as the Kiri missing-nin employed by Gato that attacks Team Seven and Tazuna. Zabuza and Haku still appear during the arc, but as Kiri bounty hunters who came after Raiga, and Zabuza still personally cuts down Gato.
  • Lee still challenges and curb-stomps Sasuke while their teams are trying to register for the Chuunin Exams.
  • Several of the matches for the Chuunin Exams' preliminary battles remain the same, despite the deaths of Zaku and Dosu and the order being switched around. Of particular note, Shikamaru still eliminates Kin, Gaara beats Lee (though less severely), and Sakura still faces Ino.
  • While Hayate isn't killed outright, he's still too injured to continue proctoring the Exams, forcing Genma to take over.
  • The Sand Siblings do not participate in the Konoha Crush, choosing to retreat instead. Despite this — and despite being explicitly ordered not to pursue in favor of focusing on actual threats — Sasuke still goes after them, necessitating others being sent after him in turn.
• Internalized Categorism: Following the sparring incident, Sakura struggles with this, as she becomes acutely aware of the disadvantages she faces as a civilian-born ninja. This also leads her to suspect that she's constantly being judged and looked down upon due to not coming from a clan or having any special, innate talents; this is not always the case, but she keeps assuming the worst.
• It Gets Easier: Sakura finds herself having much less trouble killing Dosu and Zaku than she did in the Wave country. By the time the Konoha Crush occurs, she's capable of executing subdued enemy soldiers in cold blood.
• It's All About Me: Sasuke is astonishingly selfish. It's exemplified during the Konoha Crush when he abandons the civilians he was supposed to protect in order to chase after Gaara in the hopes of fighting him and getting a promotion.
• It's Personal:
  • After Sakura kills her teammates in the Forest of Death, Tsuchi Kin makes clear that they're gunning for her.
  • Ino's anger at Sakura seemingly ignoring her after Sasuke's brutal rejection boils over and makes her particularly vicious during their preliminary match.
  • Sakura notes that there was obviously some kind of personal beef driving Neji's brutal takedown of Hinata. It's also clear that several others are taking the matter personally, which benefits her when they easily agree to help her prepare for her match with Neji.
• I Was Beaten by a Girl: Kakashi deliberately invokes this by taunting the boys when Sakura's the first to figure out tree-walking. It backfires; Sasuke goads Naruto into trying to prove he can master it without a girl's help, while Sakura's takeaway is that he only cared about using her accomplishment to motivate the others without recognizing her success on its own merits.
• Kansas City Shuffle:
  • Team Seven pulls one off against Raiga: Sakura disguises herself as Kakashi, then baits him into an argument with her about whether or not she's the real deal in order to distract him from Naruto's ambush, which breaks his concentration enough to free their teacher.
  • Sakura sets up several traps in the Forest of Death, then tricks Zaku into stepping into one by disguising herself as Orochimaru. But the real trick is how she rigged things up so that freeing oneself from the snare causes a log covered with explosive tags to swing in.
  • During her match against Neji, Sakura utilizes a number of smoke bombs. While they do nothing to the Byakugan, Neji can tell they're filled with pepper and keeps his eyes closed to avoid irritation. After the match is over, he collapses because the bombs were also filled with poison.
• Karma Houdini: Played With regarding Sasuke's circumstances in the wake of the Konoha Crush. Although Kakashi warns him that he will be punished for his actions, by the end of A Drop of Poison, said consequences have taken the form of his being forced to accompany Naruto and Jiraiya on their hunt for Tsunade, followed by leaving with them for a training trip. While this is coupled with him being unable to even attempt to earn any promotions for at least a year, said training trip ensures he won't be able to make any such attempts, rendering that punishment effectively meaningless. Unsurprisingly, this comes off to Sakura as nothing more than a slap on the wrist.
• Kids Are Cruel: Played With; invoked Word of God is that Sasuke's cruelty and Lack of Empathy is due to him mimicking the attitudes expressed by adults around him without understanding why they rarely express such sentiments so openly.
• Killed Offscreen: Sakura's parents are killed in the chaos of the Konoha Crush. None of the viewpoint characters directly witness this, and the deceased's next of kin has to be informed by an enemy combatant.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • Serves as a point of contention between Sakura and her teammates, due to Naruto's Determinator attitude, Sasuke's desire to prove himself, and his belief that civilian-born shinobi are commonly cowards.
  • During the preliminary bouts, Sakura is furious when Naruto refuses to let her tap out. His inability to recognize this also comes into play when he and Kiba get into a standoff and are both eliminated.
  • Sakura also gives this advice to Hinata when Neji is berating her during their match:
    Sakura: Knowing your limits doesn't make you weak. Just because some asshole with a superiority complex sneers it enough times doesn't make it true.
• Lack of Empathy:
  • Sasuke is severely empathy-challenged:
    • He legitimately sees nothing wrong with repeatedly telling Sakura that she's effectively doomed to die. He also sneers at her supposed 'cowardice' whenever she suggests exercising caution, convinced of his own invincibility and not caring about anyone else's safety.
    • During their mission in Wave, Sakura notes that Sasuke doesn't care about the villagers' plight; the only reason he wants to stay is to feed his own ego by 'proving' how strong he is.
    • During and after the Konoha Crush, Sasuke shows no concern for the civilians he abandoned to go off chasing Gaara for a shot at glory.
  • Naruto struggles with a Downplayed version; while he is more naturally empathetic, that doesn't mean he's always good about understanding another's point of view, especially when it clashes with his own. Such as his failure to comprehend that there are times where it's better to back down.
• Last Disrespects: Discussed; when Tsunade is less than respectful to the recently deceased Sarutobi Hiruzen, Naruto furiously lashes out, only for her to bluntly declare that "Disrespecting the dead is one of shinobi's oldest traditions. You should get used to it."
• Laser-Guided Karma: During the Chuunin Exams, Naruto thoughtlessly overrides Sakura's agency by refusing to let her drop out before the preliminaries, despite how she's clearly injured and exhausted. His stubbornness and short-sightedness bites in him the butt shortly afterwards, when he ties with Kiba.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Played for Drama; despite Sakura's friendship with Hinata and Team Eight, Hinata is unwilling to share any information about Neji with her. This creates a rift between them after the Chuunin Exams, as Sakura takes this as evidence that even they see her as 'lesser' for not coming from a clan.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Kakashi tells his students that they'll fail the bell test when the clock he set hits noon. Sakura exploits this by tampering with the clock so that it stops entirely.
  • Despite her teammates being killed in the Forest of Death, Kin makes it to the preliminaries by teaming up with another group which lost one of their own members.
  • After Genma is put in charge of the last stage of the Chuunin Exam, he's unable to help Sakura with her preparations for the finals. Sakura gets around this by asking Raido for help instead, with Genma remarking on her being "damn good at following the letter and not the spirit of the rules".
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: Raiga taunts Team Seven's genin by claiming "It's a shame I can't play with you more. I've always liked hearing the young ones scream."
• Loving a Shadow:
  • Sakura realizes that she'd fallen into this trap with Sasuke; after he insulted her for being civilian-born, she starts recognizing just how arrogant and self-centered he is.
  • Naruto struggles with loving his romanticized views of both being a ninja and Sakura personally, which causes him to be extra taken aback when he finally learns about Sakura's body count.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Abumi Zaku is unfortunate enough to meet this fate, courtesy of being splattered by Sakura's exploding log trap. Team Seven is badly shaken upon seeing the results.
• Man Bites Man: During the preliminary match between Sakura and Ino, Sakura bites Ino's arm when the latter tries to put the former in a hold.
• Master Poisoner: Sakura sets out to become one, as a way of compensating for her lack of bloodline or clan-based skills.
• Mexican Standoff: One of the preliminary bouts ends this way when one of Naruto's bunshin has a kunai at Kiba's neck while Kiba is positioned to tear out his jugular. Ultimately, Hayate calls it a tie.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: During the Konoha Crush, the majority of the Suna contingent refuses to fight for the Kazekage, with Sasori attempting to execute him, as his actions will only make things worse for their village.
• More Expendable Than You: Played for Drama. Sasuke asserts that Sakura is nothing more than Cannon Fodder, being less valuable than clan-born ninja like himself. Sakura fully believes that this is why she was assigned to Team Seven, and is desperate to avoid being forced to make that kind of sacrifice.
• Mundane Utility: According to Tenten, Neji uses the Byakugan to spy on others by reading their lips from a distance... and also to cheat at cards.
• My God, What Have I Done?: While Kakashi slowly starts to have a Jerkass Realization over the latter half of A Drop of Poison, this really kicks in during "Unfinished Business", when he finally confronts the fact that he'd projected his old team onto his genin charges and let that blind him to everything that was actually going on. In particular, he noticed how self-sufficient Sakura is and assumed she didn't need attention whereas her teammates basically screamed for it, causing him to neglect her and reinforce her beliefs that she was expendable.
• Never My Fault: Ino convinces herself that Sakura is solely responsible for repairing their relationship, and that her former friend is the one who has to approach her and apologize for the rift that formed between them. Sakura calls her out on this.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Played for Drama during the Konoha Crush: Shisui follows orders and helps keep Orochimaru's summons contained... within one of the civilian districts. Sakura's parents are killed as a result, and Kin gloats about how Konoha-nin were responsible for their demise.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
  • Naruto leaps in to try and defend Sakura's honor from Sasuke after their fateful spar; this leads to him landing in detention right alongside Sasuke.
  • In much the same fashion, Sakura's decision to offer the Sand Trio a little help getting around Konoha puts her squarely on their radar, along with catching the attention of their jounin instructor.
• Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Sakura has trouble seeing just how much she's grown over her brief career until she has to fight five bandits at once not long after the Chuunin Exams. She easily crushes all five in open combat, killing three of them and badly wounding the other two, whereas her first kill against a single civilian man had been the hardest fight of her life at the time.
• Point of Divergence: Several throughout both the backstory and the main story.
  • The Uchiha Massacre did not take place in this universe; the deciding factor there is that their police force focused largely on evacuation during the Kyuubi's rampage. As a result, Danzo wasn't able to foster as much suspicion and resentment towards the clan, since the civilians were grateful for how hard they'd worked to save and protect them.
  • Kaguya and the Zetsu do not exist; Madara died for real in his final battle with Hashirama, and Obito was Killed Off for Real.
  • Sasuke's casual cruelty after their spar shreds Sakura's former admiration for him, and makes her determined to prove just what 'civilian-born ninja' are truly capable of.
  • Hinata's compassion towards Sakura after the sparring incident leads to the two forming a tentative friendship. She also winds up growing closer to Shino, especially after they start training together; this builds into a bond with Team Eight as a whole.
  • Zabuza never rebelled against Yagura's rule; as a result, he never works for Gato.
  • Sasuke doesn't activate his Sharingan during their mission in Wave. Instead, it first activates in the Forest of Death, during their fight with the disguised Orochimaru.
  • Sakura's quest to master poisons leads her to apprentice under Genma.
  • Rather than Baki, Sasori serves as the Sand Siblings' jounin instructor, though Baki is still involved with their training.
  • Due to the Forest of Death claiming the lives of Zaku and Dosu, Kin teams up with a pair of Kusa-nin who lost one of their own teammates, leading to a different roster for the Chuunin Exams' preliminary matches. Kabuto also doesn't drop out, and takes the place Dosu would have in the finals.
  • Gaara's preliminary match ends with Lee only suffering a broken leg.
  • Naruto's match with Kiba ends in a tie, while Sakura's match ends with her winning over Ino.
  • While Sakura and Neji's match ends with her forfeiting, something he'd suggested she do at the start, it's specifically pointed out that their decision to fight first made a major difference. This comes back to haunt them later during the Konoha Crush: Sakura's injuries from her match with Neji slow her down enough that she's unable to prevent Enko's death.
  • During the Konoha Crush, Kankuro winds up fighting a different member of Team Eight: Kiba.
  • Due to the differences in how the Wave Mission and Chuunin Exams unfolded, Naruto retains his naivete for much longer, missing out on his canonical realizations about how harsh the shinobi life can be. This has a terrible impact on his relationship with Sakura when his blind idealism puts them at odds.
  • Hayate reflects upon this during "Unfinished Business", lamenting the fact that they were unable to prevent the Konoha Crush thanks to Kabuto sending him into a five-week coma.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Rather than admitting that she wants to be friends with Sakura again, Ino makes a point of loudly insulting her, straining their relationship further.
  • Kakashi's sink-or-swim teaching methods, lackadaisical airs and casual sexism towards Sakura leaves her convinced that he won't lift a finger to help her under any circumstances, including life-or-death. His tendency to sit by and let Sasuke insult her without interrupting or intervening only further reinforces that belief.
  • Fugaku's poor social skills lead Sakura to assume the worst of him, culminating in an angry callout that catches him completely off-guard. She also misreads their focus on Naruto as an intentional slight, unaware of their personal history with his parents.
  • Highlighted during Ino and Sakura's match, as Ino's misinterpretations of Sakura's behavior boil over until both reach their Rage-Breaking Points.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: The actual climax of the story is the showdown between Sakura and Kin Tsuchi. The final battle between Sakura and five generic bandits is more of a quick errand for her to mop up so she can get to her real goal to bury her parents.
• Post-Victory Collapse: The first match of the Chuunin Exams ends with Neji forcing Sakura to forfeit, only to collapse due to a poisoned smoke bomb seconds later.
• Precision F-Strike: Sakura loses all self-control and drops two verbal f-bombs when Sasuke implicitly dismisses the civilian casualties of the Konoha Crush, including her parents, and Naruto fails to comprehend why she has killed enemy combatants.
• Psychological Projection: Kakashi realizes during his My God, What Have I Done? moment in Chapter 45 that he projected the dynamics of his own team onto Team 7 and failed to account for the ways they were different from him and his friends, with disastrous results.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of A Drop of Poison, Naruto and Sasuke leave Konoha to visit Mount Myoboku, both for training and so the latter can have his cursed seal treated by the toads.
• Pyrrhic Victory: During the Chuunin Exam finals, Neji defeats Sakura, only to collapse from poison seconds later. This is later described by others as effectively a simulated mutual kill.
• The Quisling: Several of Tazuna's fellow villagers have joined Gato, including Tsunami's cousin Shota. He tries in vain to convince Tsunami to join him.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Sakura hits one when Fugaku tells her that she should transfer out of Team Seven, spurring her to go off on the Uchiha head.
  • Ino hits hers near the start of her match with Sakura, and swiftly hits several of her former friend's Berserk Buttons until she goes off as well.
  • After the invasion, Sakura truly hits hers when Sasuke unknowingly dismisses her parents' deaths and Naruto acts as though Sakura was wrong for killing to defend herself and others. She ends up breaking Sasuke's nose while screaming at him and giving Naruto a "The Reason You Suck" Speech for his naivety.
• Rank Up: A Drop of Poison ends with Sakura being promoted to chuunin.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Gender-neutral and Played With.
  • Sasuke first shows something akin to respect for Sakura when he learns she's killed in the line of duty. She calls him out on it:
    Sasuke: That was before—
    Sakura: Before what? Before you knew I'd killed? Why does your respect of me hinge on that?!
  • Tsunade mocks Naruto for refusing to believe that killing was a major part of being a shinobi, stating that every Hokage had "rivers of blood" on their hands, to the point it was basically a requirement.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite starting out as an Anti-Mentor, Kakashi shows shades of this in the middle of the Chuunin Exams and in the wake of the Konoha Crush, stepping up and delivering several accurate criticisms towards Naruto and Sasuke and starting to act more like a mentor towards Sakura.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Sasuke's Breaking Speech isn't even aimed directly at Sakura; instead, he's addressing Iruka, defending his dismissive attitude towards her by insulting her even further.
  • Sakura goes off on Fugaku at the end of their dinner, calling him out on his perceived slights against her:
    Sakura: You can keep your fake concern and shove it, because we both know the real reason you want me off that team, and it has nothing to do with my health.
    Fugaku: I find your tone disrespectful—
    Sakura: Well so do I! I find your tone, and your words, and your implications insulting. I am not shinobi-born, Uchiha, and where I was raised respect is earned, so it looks like you're all out of luck.
  • Sakura gives one to Naruto after he gets upset with her for killing to defend herself, her team, and their clients, shouting at him that maybe he's strong enough to have the privilege of showing mercy, but she doesn't. If she doesn't kill her opponents, she will die.
• Rejected Apology:
  • After her match against Neji, Sakura accidentally overhears his talk with his uncle. Despite his expectations otherwise, she actually suggests he not forgive Hiashi, citing that while the man didn't murder his father, he still chose to seal Neji and the rest of the Branch Family. Just because the man didn't commit one slight against him doesn't mean Neji should forgive the lifetime of slights he'd suffered.
  • Naruto attempts to apologize to Sakura for their friendship imploding before leaving on a training trip with Jiraiya, but Sakura flatly dismisses him.
• The Resenter: Sakura struggles with this whenever she sees evidence of the various privileges that clan-born shinobi enjoy compared to civilian-borns like herself.
• Revealing Skill: Sakura helping Wave's orphans with their funeral barge catches the attention of Haku, who notes her familiarity with their rites. In particular, it's noted that Sakura sang the funeral song confidently, rather than mumbling or humming like someone unfamiliar with it would.
• Revenge by Proxy: Kin decides to get revenge on Sakura for killing her teammates by killing Sakura's parents. Too bad they have already been killed in the chaos of the Konoha Crush.
• Sadist Teacher: Kakashi becomes one in Sakura's eyes due to his love of sitting aside and reading Icha-Icha while running them through drills, calling out mocking encouragement.
• Saying Too Much: During an argument, Sasuke complains that he can't believe his parents actually want to meet his teammates. He had no intention of informing them of this, or that they'd been invited to dinner, until after the date had passed; his thoughtless remark forces him to own up and leads to them attending.
• Second Place Is for Winners: The first match of the Chuunin Exams ends with Neji winning the fight, but Sakura winning the night. The fact that a civilian-born ninja managed to push a major clan member as far as she did speaks volumes, and Sakura also gets the last laugh by knocking him out with a poisoned smoke bomb after the match. The last impression the viewers get is Sakura walking away under her own power while Neji is carted off on a stretcher.
• Secret Test of Character:
  • Shibi's offer for Sakura to join his clan for dinner turns out to be one; he suspects she's only befriending his son to boost her own standing. Seeing how she hesitates before accepting quells his fears.
  • Deconstructed with Kakashi; Sakura is disgusted at how he treats the suspiciously out-of-place puddle they encounter on their way to Wave Country this way, as he recklessly endangers their lives by using an unknown situation as a 'teaching moment'.
  • Shibi conducts another one when Sakura asks if she can take a sample of one of their vines, noting that they're a favorite of the kikaichu. Rather than being repulsed, Sakura eagerly asks questions about why they're so favored, much to his private satisfaction.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: A hero-on-hero variant when Kakashi berates Sasuke for selfishly abandoning the village during the Konoha Crush. When Sasuke attempts to justify himself, Kakashi barely lets him get five words in edgewise before flatly stating "I don't know what your reasoning was, and I don't care."
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Sakura says as much towards Naruto, outraged at his idealistic insistence against killing when she had been fighting for her life.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Kakashi combines this with Apathetic Teacher, repeatedly forcing his genin to muddle along without any guidance, letting Naruto and Sasuke squabble with each other, then criticizing Sakura's attempts to meditate by claiming she needs to be 'nicer' about it.
• Skewed Priorities: Played for Drama during the Konoha Crush. Sasuke considers boosting his own ego to be more important than protecting others, ignoring how genin are meant to help evacuate civilians during times of crisis. This parallels how several adult shinobi treated the safety of civilians as less important than other concerns, resulting in Sakura's parents being killed when Konoha-nin kept Orochimaru's summons contained inside a civilian district.
• Slashed Throat: A frequent threat and cause of death; in particular, Shota attempts to kill Sakura this way before she manages it first. She later finishes off Kinuta Dosu in the same fashion, and later still executes eight enemy Oto-nin by way of slit throat.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Seen in Wave when Zabuza enters the picture. Sakura reflects that her father warned her that Kiri shinobi enjoy engaging in this, and that a good way to impress them is by showing that you refuse to be cowed without being too insolent.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Since the Uchiha Massacre didn't occur in this universe, this applies to Fugaku, Mikoto, Shisui and the rest of the clan.
  • Hayate survives his ill-fated fight with Baki.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Shikamaru tells Ino that she can likely fix her strained friendship with Sakura by simply talking to her. Ino loudly denies wanting any such thing, insulting her further.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Naruto is able to talk Gaara out of going berserk during the Konoha Crush.
• Teacher's Unfavorite Student: Subverted. Sakura sees Kakashi focusing on Naruto and Sasuke while neglecting her and only acknowledging her own accomplishments as fodder for the boys' progress and comes to the natural conclusion that he doesn't care about her. However, Kakashi's own viewpoint reveals that he saw her independence and took her for granted as the "easy" one, while Naruto and Sasuke wore their issues on their sleeves.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Between Naruto's naivete, Sakura's bottled-up resentment, Sasuke's arrogance and ambition, and Kakashi's laundry list of issues, Team 7 is a ticking time bomb that explodes after the Konoha Crush.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Played With; While reviewing his new genin team's files, Kakashi thinks to himself 'At least it can't get any worse' before looking at Sakura's. He treats the revelation of her being civilian-born as though it's on par with Naruto and Sasuke's respective situations.
  • During their spar, Ami taunts Sakura by claiming someone with "that big of a forehead" won't ever amount to anything. Sakura immediately responds with a headbutt, breaking Ami's nose.
  • When they meet Gaara and his siblings, Sakura mentally thanks her lucky stars that Kakashi wouldn't be stupid enough to enter them in the Chuunin Exams.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted; it's standard procedure in Konohagakure for shinobi to consult with counselors or other verified shinobi in the wake of traumatic events like making their first kill. That said, it's Downplayed in that they aren't particularly concerned in one's health as an individual, so much as assuring they won't snap and prove a liability during battle.
• These Hands Have Killed: Sakura goes into emotional shock after becoming the first member of Team 7 with a confirmed kill.
• They Just Dont Get It: Played for Drama in Chapter 44, "Snapped Thread". Faced with Sasuke and Naruto Dramatically Missing the Point in different ways, Sakura decides both are equally clueless and walks away from Team Seven.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The in-universe author's notes express this opinion on Sakura, noting that she had lots of potential as an Only Sane Woman without the emotional baggage that her teammates carried but that she was squandered.
• This Is Reality: Sakura calls Naruto out for his misplaced bravado against the Kusa-nin this way:
  Sakura: This isn't the Academy! This isn't someone you can win against by trying harder, or getting back up. If you don't stop trying to play the hero we are going to die.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Deconstructed with Naruto, whose refusal to even consider the use of lethal force is treated as a sign of naivete and contrasted with Sakura and multiple veteran ninja who are keenly aware that sometimes a ninja will have to dirty their own hands in pursuit of the village's best interests.
• Trauma Button: Naruto refusing to let Sakura bow out of the Chuunin Exams rubs salt into Kakashi's old wounds, as Kakashi has seen too many of his own friends die to let Naruto's reckless disregard for his teammates' well-being slide.
• Unreliable Narrator: Sakura is the main viewpoint character, and as a result her own biases and presumptions color the narrative in ways that may not be quite the reality of the situation.
• Use Your Head: Sakura uses her signature big forehead to mash in Ami and later Ino's noses.
• Vagueness Is Coming: In a moment of solidarity, Kabuto warns Sakura about Danzo in a rather cryptic manner.
  Kabuto: Beware the roots of Konoha. They never see the light and if they grasp you, neither will you.
• Viking Funeral: Following the battle in Wave, Sakura comes across several kids piling the bodies of their friends onto a barge for one.
• Villain Respect: An Otogakure captain Sakura captures mocks her and assumes she doesn't have the guts to kill. Eight dead Oto-nin later, he revises his opinion and acknowledges that she isn't soft after all.
• Villain Takes an Interest:
  • After Gato and his thugs are taken care of, Haku and Zabuza are shown to be intrigued by how Sakura conducted herself.
  • Happened twice over to Kabuto in this universe: Danzo noticed him first and forced him to work for him, which eventually led to Orochimaru taking an interest in him as well. Kabuto, in turn, shows signs of finding Sakura intriguing with how she's clearly warier of him than her teammates, along with how she handled Orochimaru sending Dosu's team after them.
• Weak, but Skilled: Sakura lacks the raw power of the old ninja clans, so she compensates through technical discipline. When discussing her abilities at the end of the story, Shisui notes that she's making herself into a potential assassin who can take out high-value targets.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Sakura downplays this when Kakashi praises her for her actions during the Konoha Crush; she inwardly thinks that she doesn't need her sensei's approval, but it's still nice to have it.
• Wham Episode: "There is No Such Thing as a Balanced Scale" covers the Konoha Crush attempt, featuring major shockers like the demise of Sakura's parents... because Shisui and other Konoha-nin kept Orochimaru's summons contained within the civilian district where they lived.
• Wham Line: Chapter 45, "Unfinished Business", has Anko revealing just what Kabuto did during the Konoha Crush:
  Anko: No, actually. No, he went after Danzo. Oh, he did more than try. Danzo is in a coma and there are at least four ANBU that Kabuto went through to get to him.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Rather than praise Naruto's guts when he decides to fight Orochimaru, Sakura calls him out on fighting someone who's clearly above their weight class over an exam of all things, when they should be handing over their scroll and retreating.
  • Following the preliminaries, Kakashi takes Naruto aside to discuss his recent behavior, particularly how he tried to challenge Orochimaru and prevented Sakura from opting out.
  • After the Konoha Crush, Kakashi quietly and Sakura not-so-quietly ream Sasuke for abandoning the mission to go fight Gaara for his own selfish glory.
  • Naruto attempts to give one to Sakura over killing Tsunami's cousin and later several Oto ninja, but she turns it back on him as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Downplayed; While Sakura researches poisons, paralytics and other methods of expanding her repertoire, she also focuses on strengthening the Academy Three and the handful of other techniques she knows so that she can use them more effectively.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Naruto has a very romanticized view of shinobi and hasn't yet acknowledged the grittier reality. He believes grit and determination will let you overcome a superior opponent and that backing down makes you a coward, something that gets him into trouble multiple times against opponents like Orochimaru and forces him into a draw against Kiba. Naruto also doesn't grasp that killing is a very fundamental part of being a shinobi and is horrified to learn that Sakura has killed people, even though she did so to defend herself and others.
• Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Sakura asks Shino if they can train together; seeing his brow furrow, she assumes he's about to reject her and starts considering alternatives, only to be caught off guard when he agrees.
• The Worf Effect: After the Konoha Crush, it's noted that Danzo is an old man in a profession where men tend to die young. The fact that Kabuto was able to blow through four ANBU and put Danzo in a coma is a testament to his sheer skill and power.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Kin takes sadistic pleasure in rubbing in the state of the corpses of Sakura's parents when she found them.
• Wrong Assumption:
  • Played for Drama: Sakura assumes that most people share Sasuke's sentiments that she's nothing more than 'cannon fodder' and innately disposable.
  • In a moment of Dramatic Irony before they're first attacked on the Wave Mission, Sakura tries reassuring herself that Kakashi will protect them, only to chide herself that it's best if she doesn't make any assumptions, doubting that he'd do anything to help her.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: Played With. Sasuke respects Sakura after learning she's killed, but he assumes she's an exception rather than admitting that civilian born shinobi aren't useless cannon fodder like he always believed. Given that her parents and hundreds of other civilians recently died, Sakura goes off on him for his attempt to compliment her.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • Hinata quietly encourages Sakura after the sparring incident, stating that she fully believes in her ability to become a great ninja and that she deserves respect.
  • Sakura similarly helps Naruto feel better about freezing up when they're first attacked on the Wave Mission, pointing out that they've never faced real opponents like that before and lack the level of training Sasuke received from his clan.
• You Are Too Late: Hayate awakens from his coma a week too late to prevent the Konoha Crush or the Third Hokage's death.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Naturally, Neji espouses this viewpoint during his match against Sakura. At the end of the fight, he tries to claim that despite her struggle, the outcome was still the same (Sakura forfeited to Neji). However, Sakura points out that's not the case at all - instead of forfeiting at the beginning as an act of cowardice, she forfeited at the end as an act of good threat assessment after forcing a ninja who is theoretically superior to her in every way that counts to go all-out against her, and then managing to knock him out after the match with the lingering effects of a poisoned smoke bomb. It's noted that in a real battle, she would have taken him down with her. Later on, the match has further reprecussions when an injury Sakura sustained fighting Neji prevents her from saving a civilian woman during the Konoha Crush.
• You Killed My Father:
  • Averted when Sakura meets Reiko; while she quickly realizes that Sakura was the one who killed her father Shota, she doesn't hold it against her, having already written him off as a traitor.
  • Similarly Averted with Kin, though not for lack of effort on her part.
• You Monster!: Kin to Sakura after she kills Zaku and Dosu.

---