✓ 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 ≡ sakura haruno

12 | future's gonna be okay

↪ 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭? ↩

Sakura walks along with girls she met a few days before. Ino drifted away from her as she was still chatting about Sasuke with two girls while Sakura nodded politely at them as she zoned out their conversation. She had no time to waste on useless things such as love.

They walked together around the whole village, although it was true that she wanted to go to her house as soon as possible so she could train as much as she could but it was important for her to her future contestants.

To them, she might be an acquaintance or even a fellow friend but to her, they were nothing but tools, only used as stepping stones for her success.

She would say that they would be her rivals in the future but they weren't worthy of her, weren't worthy enough for her to consider them as her rivals. They were too weak for them to fight against her and win, after all, she simply didn't waste her time perfecting all her jutsu, her taijutsu, her chakra control, her everything.

She was always observing her surroundings and the people around her. She knew the smallest of details about someone because of her observing skills, that's the reason she could rile up Ami, that's why she could make Ami and Akumu lose Kizashi's favour, that's why she could expose them. That's why she won.

But her greatest weapon was her mind because always pretended to be someone she wasn't, she hid her own personality in the depths of her mind. Her other self only revealed itself when necessary, her other self was ruthless, cold, calculative, sadistic and manipulative.

To her, winning was everything. 

One way or another she will win, she will always find different ways of winning. To others, it may look like she lost, but inside she was always planning, scheming against them, then she would win.

Sakura only paid attention to the other girl's gossip when the topic of their conversation shifted from their oh-so-cool Sasuke to the village's most hated person, Naruto Uzumaki.

They were laughing at him, mocking him. Why? Because he was the only one who failed every exam up till now which was fairly easy for a normal person, but he wasn't a normal person.

Did the higher-ups of the village really think they could hide the fact that Naruto was a jinchuuriki? She could sense the immense amount of chakra he had, it was even greater than herself and a normal jounin.

She needed to keep her eyes on him, so she quietly observed him every day. She then noticed she wasn't the only female paying attention to him, there was another.

Hinata Hyuga, heiress to the Hyuga clan.

Sakura gritted her teeth in anger, Hinata was annoying to her. She had a huge clan backing her up. Though her father was strict with her at least he wasn't abusive like hers, at least her mother wasn't a coward like her mother, at least she had a sister who didn't always mock her, and at least she had a family!

Hinata had almost everything she wanted: a loving family, a great Kekkei Genkai [or bloodline limit], and a powerful clan backing who would support her. Naturally, Hinata wasn't having the best life, no she wasn't perfect, her life wasn't perfect...

... but at least she didn't have to pretend to be someone she wasn't, she hated being like that. She wanted freedom! That was her goal in her life.

She then noted that Hinata would blow a fuse every time Naruto was mentioned, she smirked. If they would ever have a match in the future, she would mention something related to him. It would be easier to win against her, without her feeling to show her real abilities.

She wouldn't show her real abilities to anyone until she was sure that it would be okay for her, okay for her to show them her abilities, she wouldn't gamble away her future like that.

After all, she knew how they treated those with great abilities, they would exploit her. They would make her their puppet, one without any freedom, then they would use her to their own will.

She would never let anyone control her, the only one who could control her thoughts, her actions, her everything was none other than herself.

In the game of chess, she would be the queen who has more freedom than anyone, the most powerful piece, while everyone around her would be her pawns, one which would be discarded after use.

"What are you thinking about Sakura?" Ino glanced at her.

Sakura simply smiled, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Nothing, just considering some things," 

'Considering how to use you and everyone around me.'

After all, she wasn't scheming, she was simply securing her future.