#genjutsu au

[equill]

The Warden

Panel: No escape.

Ok, now just some silly ideas to share (playing around with the au)

Comic 1: Invading dreams

Extra: no thanks.

Comic 2: Unwanted attention

[no-nic]

⚔️ misty sakura 🌸

outgrew her training sword (knockoff kubikiribocho)

draws in the air by infusing mist with chakra

has pouches full of poison and snacks, only an expert can tell the difference. she has stubbornly built immunity to all poisons she uses. her arsenal is small but potent.

genjutsu + hallucinogenic mist = uh oh you're in danger

genjutsu + hallucinogenic mist + huge ass swords to finish you with = The Dream (of one haruno sakura)

#pink tsunami au; the namesake 🌊🍒

[bees-honey-death-and-song]

Fuck it, frustrated with the blue demon au comic. So I’m kinda scraping it.

Still gonna be posting about it and stuff. I’m still hyper focused as fuck no doubt.

Here’s the original part two and three in full before I started trying and failing to edit things to my liking

My idea being…

gai was exceptionally well adjusted and sunshine and strong and sweet and a bit ready to die for his precious people.

And I just wondered if he wasn’t as well adjusted as everyone thought.

Main part being, he had an obvious temper growing up and being an outcast does not do wonders for the soul. And then his dad died saving the village from a group of swordsman who were a really big deal and gai was THERE when it happened. Manga lowkey implies he saw it happen from what I remember.(definite possibility I’m wrong.)

So I had a bunch of what if about his character. And THEN I found out he tried to join ANBU to save kakashi and couldn’t be he was told eh didn’t have ‘enough darkness.’ And I wondered what happened if he did.

I wanted to show kakashi lashing out and it having consequences, maybe showing a real sore spot for gai.(which through artistic representation lowkey looks like kakashi genjutsu’ed his ass. He wouldn’t but I thought was funny.)

And the following stuff I make for this will probably just expand on those ideas I had about gai. Just /how far/ does his love and devotion and loyalty go.

[void-tiger]

An Idea that is also admittedly OOC but wdyd is…

Kakashi actually tracking down Itachi immediately after the Uchiha Genocide ‘cause let’s face it, he’s that good of a tracker/shinobi (even if Itachi can completely kick his ass) and single-minded when in mission-mode and was clearly not one of the ANBU/Root or S-Rank jonin enlisted for this. (If he’s going rogue instead of bending the rules for a half-hearted sanctioned pursuit? Call it his Obito&Rin Guilt Complex + remaining guilt over not keeping a better eye on his “junior” when Minato literally dragged Kakashi out of that life for a time so he could recover a bit mentally.)

Anyway. Kakashi catches up to Itachi.

But instead of finding the tween prodigy hypervigilent in bloodlust and ready to engage him in a battle, he accidentally finds the kid mid-breakdown absolutely losing it in grief and guilt once Itachi presumed he was a good distance away from any Konoha or Atasuki pursuers.

And well. This is awkward. And not at all what Kakashi expected.

Does this finally knock Kakashi a bit out of his avoidant apathy to take a more active interest in Sasuke’s and Naruto’s lives? Maybe? But well, it’s a start. Only trash abandon their comrades.

[pomelo-heart]

"Illusions in shadow"

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔.Sakura Genjutsu AU.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ϟ ⚡︎ ϟ ˖ ݁ 𖥔.

Pt 1. In which Sakura finds a loophole

“The existence of consciousness is both one of the most familiar and one of the most astounding things about the world."

The words jumped out at her, stalling her reading. It was a simple sentence on a piece of paper, yet it felt to Sakura as if she was uncovering a truth for the first time.

Which came first, the mind or the body?

As she twisted and tossed the thought in her head, a wave of chakra washed over her, tingling at the tips of her fingers, as if reminding her of its existence. Chakra was a shinobi's greatest weapon; yet few had studied enough theory of it to adequately manipulate it. Through the pile of books she had pored over, not one chakra theorist could claim themself to offer any comprehensive theory. It was still one of the mysteries of the world, neither mind nor body, and not quite both.

Could thoughts, attitudes and feelings be reduced to fundamental physical matter? At least two of them did; but what of the former?

In all her long twelve years of life, Sakura Haruno had experienced about multiple instances of dissociation between mind and body.

After all, her affinity and (recent) interest for genjutsu had taught her just how important subjugation of the mind could tilt the tide in battle. A shinobi could overpower their enemy by intercepting communication (and thus rendering the opponent factually blind), or misleading them to think all hope was lost.

Yet, sensor-type training had never been encouraged in her days at the academy, much less taught. Ninjutsu and taijutsu were all the craze.

Another realization hit her head-on, one that was perhaps more fundamental. A thought that had been running at the back of her mind for years: shinobi, who prided themselves on a rather outdated system of honour and duty, had yet to embrace any kind of conjunction at all between mind and body.

Putting significant effort into her training with Lady Tsunade meant that she had to not only physically build up her strength, but also fight daily against exhaustion, pain, failure, and even more so, her vast ignorance. A doctor's battlefield was a never-ending line of tents where knowledge and practical skills were erected as law. Every day, she had learned to push the mental and physical boundaries of her body, until her chakra became not only a physical manifestation of her vital energy, but also an effective, usable vector for her mind.

Yet how many of her classmates, other chunins, had healthy, well-adjusted lives? How many knew basic arithmetic?

She made a point of counting.

Baffling.

Whenever she suggested stress management to her shinobi patients, it was almost always met with a shrug and a face that suggested they definitely were not "considering it".

If anything, history had shown, three great wars and waves of mass psychosis later, that the shinobi world had an aversion to open communication, diplomacy, and work-life balance. Or, at the very least, an aversion to nurturing them with the same level of care put into drilling children to become weapons of mass destruction, all in the namesake of peace.

She kept reading.

"No conception of the natural order that does not reveal [consciousness] as something to be expected can aspire even to the outline of completeness.”

In other words: there was a lot of work to do.

Perhaps the world of shinobi was lacking something fundamental.

Research, for one. Sakura closed the book and set out to ponder about how she might bring change to the straight and narrow-minded village of the Leaf.

[plinkcat-gif]

HEY I TELL YOU WHAT I CAN PROVIDE MORE. also to answer ur reply to the og post :D they’re dreaming ab nsmap! it’s my fic that’s basically just a fix it kkobrin universe hehehe <333

here are some copy-paste msgs btwn me and levi (cocreator of all aus w me actually dwksjdksjdj)

cw: general angst, suicide, bad-ish ending

- ooohhggghhhh my god genjutsu au in my head rn so much. so angst ahead be warned <33

obito with the rinnegan he stole from madara’s corpse about a year after the rincident, long enough that he’s learned about what the infinite tsukuyomi is and how to modify it to fit his needs. kakashi with the sharingan after being woken up years later while sakura says, “you had every means to escape” and all he can see, feel, smell, is momo and mosu who are leaning against his legs. these hallucinations arent only his own, the sharingan is contributing every piece of memory it can to keep them up. a survival reflex, i think, because so soon after being woken he needs something to keep him grounded to the genjutsu.

obito, while they’re taking kkrin out of the genjutsu trying to break free from his detainees because you’re hurting them you’re hurting them you don’t understand and did you know that keeping people under a genjutsu for extended periods of time can cause brain damage? nothing so damaging that he can’t function, but there’s a distinct loss of focus, loss of control, and it’s not only the damage that’s made him so hell bent on getting kkrin back into the genjutsu, it’s this ugly sort of devotion that he’s had for so long.

obito who goes to kkrin’s graves and drops off flowers routinely, but he smiles because he’s not mourning, and he’s certainly not upset about their deaths. but what’s buried there is their old selves, who were unsatisfied and scared and just kids who had lost so much, and it didn’t have to be this way, it didn’t. and it’s not anymore.

minato says “you’ve gotten over their deaths far better than they got over yours.” not easier, obito still put on a show of grieving, not faster, he can still hold some grief with him. but better. and he says “yes, i did. it’s no way to live life seeking revenge because if i did, i would’ve hated kakashi for what he did to rin.” besides, he had a goal to work towards. he still does.

- also considering obt is put up for the death penalty bc he’s taking up space in the prison or smth/takes too much management. and rin’s like “i’ll do it but only if you let me kill us all”

AND NO!!! HE LITERALLY IS LIKE NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. but also. i think he’s just. he’s tired. and i don’t think he wants to keep obt alive anymor. like i think he has wanted obito dead since he found out ab what happened but he can’t bc that’s the only thing keeping kakashi from dying. but it finally comes down to it like years down the line. and rin is like i’m doing this with your blessing or without and i think you know this. she doesn’t really let minato make the decision and i think minato’s also very grateful for that because if he had to choose to put all his children down he would go insane. minato wants to say goodbye to kks but like. obv he can’t, in or out of the genjutsu, and so rin asks obt to make it so minato says a farewell in the genjutsu

- it ends in rin just killing obkk and then herself (all three of them disappear into the ocean <3). this is both to put everyone out of their misery but also because obito’s long-term holding of the genjutsu without any additional power (juubito) is causing him brain damage.

- levi: he doesnt really remember why kks in a genjutsu or why rin looks so angry sad or why sensei wont talk to him or why he IS where he is but rin says this will make them happy and kks needs to be in the genjutsu to be happy so he can do it :) we're going on a vacation to the beach? sure! sounds fun :) thats where he wants to be and who he wants to be with

its so easy for rin to do a lethal injection because he remembers being 12 and her training to be a medic and wow its strange he forgot that much, but she must be super good now right? he's glad she got to achieve her dream. she needs to inject him with something? of course, she's their medic, he trusts her implicitly and rin feels Nothing.

kirpy: obt dies and kakashi is released but i don’t think he goes insane because i think he knows. i think there have been some signals to him thru the genjutsu and i think he comes out of it still broken, still not able to talk or feel, but he understands and he lets rin take his hand and hug him and then let him go

📓📓📓!!!!

i am going to give u. my super mega fucked up genjutsu au bc i see ur stsg angst and i think u will like it DKSKSKDKDK <333 but if these tws aren’t ur thing send me another and i’ll give u a better one <33

tw: genjutsu, technically torture but without the intent to torture, self harm and attempted suicide

cw: more angst :3 also bad-ish ending

so. this is an alternate end i plan to write to nsmap+the kids’ story. like not canon in any way to the au, but.

obito is a leaf shinobi, comes back after the rincident. however he is still insane and deranged and takes his knowledge about the infinite tsukuyomi and applies it to the two people he wanted to do it for in the first place: kakashi and rin.

he puts them in a genjutsu where they experience nsmap as a whole. they stay in rooms without windows in nice beds, separate but together in the genjutsu. obito keeps them fed and watered and cared for. they are like this for years, assumed kia in a mission where rin lost control is isobu. obito keeps up appearances in the meantime.

he’s found out of course, because he keeps slipping up about things that aren’t happening (he’s controlling the genjutsu so he knows what’s happening there and it’s affecting him too!) and an investigation is conducted. he is arrested after anbu find out where he’s keeping kkrin, and team 7 is the one leading the investigation. sasuke is the one who releases rin from the genjutsu first.

she doesnt even react at first. she and isobu are just waking up. she’s crying but they’re not her tears, they’re so salty and she is going to throw up. she does. she throws up saltwater onto the floor, and cries, and mourns and mourns and mourns. but she’s not trying to hurt herself, so they station a couple anbu with her to help her back.

kakashi is different. sasuke releases kakashi and despite how. i mean. malnourished and weak he is, kakashi still tries to kill himself. he is Gone. he rolls out of the bed and he is screaming and trying to tear his hair out and gouge his eyes out and bite his tongue off and sakura and naruto have to forcibly restrain him from hurting himself. obito is witnessing the whole thing, and he’s upset because he can help. if they would let him put kakashi back, everything would be normal again and kakashi would be happy again and so would rin, and he can fix this.

he is violently fighting between “i hurt them i did this to them” and “i can fix this i can fix them if they would just let me” but he is also. still very deranged. so obito is imprisoned. kakashi and rin are put through extensive therapy. rin takes it better because she’s always just been more grounded and she knows herself and she’s very. her.

kakashi doesn’t speak again. he barely even reacts to anything. he is so emotionally traumatized and gone and broken, and it is hopeless to get him to do anything. he wants to be dead all the time.

they finally let them visit obito, just once. rin wants to speak with him; they hope seeing obito will get kakashi to do something.

rin asks obito why. she thinks maybe that figuring out his intentions, knowing he was malicious will make her hate him. (she can’t hate him.)

kakashi stumbles to his knees immediately, asks to be put back. begs to be put back. it’s the first thing he’s said in months. he’s quickly taken away and is never allowed to see obito again.

he sneaks in soon after anyways, because he’s kakashi hatake and can do whatever he wants because he’s that good of a shinobi. and obito puts him back. because even after all this time, the war between the knowledge that he can help his special people but he’s hurting them too, the help always wins. he can do good for them in the end. he is doing good for them now.

rin doesn’t think kakashi should be taken out again. she does, she wants him back, she wants them normal. she wants the dream. but that’s all it was; a dream. and she hasn’t seen kakashi close his eyes so peacefully since he woke from the dream so maybe at least one of them can be happy.

additional:

- team seven hates obito. they hate him. they hate that he taught them teamwork and care and love and then treated his most special people like this.

- rin goes on to live. she’s not happy, she thinks, but she’s living. and she dedicates herself entirely to the medical field and becomes a legend there, because she wants to help somebody somehow.

[sardonicfactory]

beast of burden

[madarah52]

[manzkageking]

I wanna talk more about my DC x Naruto AU, so here's nothing.

•Jason, Cass, and Damian are the only members in the Batfam that can mold chakra.

•Jason is a descendant of the Uchihas from his father's side and Cass is a descendant of the Hyugas from her mom's side.

•Jason can use fire, water, lightning, and earth nature releases.

•Damian can use all five nature releases and yang release. He likes to use lightning release the most.

•Jason unlocked his Mangekyō Sharingan moments before his death.

•Once Jason came back to life, he swore to never use his MS abilities (until he found a way to get his EMS), due to him not wanting to go blind.

•Damian knows how to do the mystical palm technique. He told his mother that it was just in case he was in a dire situation, but in reality it was just in case he came across a wounded animal.

•When Jason was Robin, he tried to learn the mystical palm technique, but he just never got it right. He also tried again when he came back as Red Hood, but he still wasn't good at it.

•Anyone with a meta-gene, can do magic, or an aliens cannot mold chakra.

•Jason later gets his EMS from his father after he dies.

•Jason's right eye ability is a genjutsu called Kangiten, and his left eye is a lightning style ninjutsu called Raijin.

•The majority of people who know medical jutsu, usually become doctors or vets.

•Jason's susanoo is red.

•Cass doesn't use the eight trigrams, she could if she wanted, but she doesn't.

•Before Jason unlocked his MS, Bruce was resistant to his genjutsu.

[evilkitten3]

#let me add that Hinata and Neji becoming medic nins together would have started to heal their relationship and the Hyuuga clan#they're equals in something they choose they're doing something TOGETHER they're swearing to not repeat their dads' mistakes#also Hyuugas already have the chakra control for that#also?? acknowledging Sakura is a freaking prodigy when it comes to medical ninjutsu???#I think the line up of Hinata Neji Shikamaru Sakura would be so interesting#Especially to develop Hinata's potential and self-confidence#Imaging Neji healing Hinata after she went to fight Pain#or Neji not dying and Hinata healing him on the War arc#Shikamaru writing the injury report on Asuma

hinata becoming a mednin alongside neji would certainly be an improvement but tbh i still don't love it. hinata is a gentle person but the manga doesn't really have her show much interest in healing, and i would argue that what evidence we do have of her interests outside of naruto is still pretty combat-orientated (also, quick side note, i don't think giving hinata even more people to feel inferior to is going to help her confidence that much tbh - neji is self-explanatory, but both sakura and shikamaru are all noted to be incredibly smart academically - tho shikamaru doesn't apply himself in school - and hinata is just kinda average afaik).

however, i think it would be interesting for her and neji to attempt to take up mednin training together only for hinata to learn that she's actually pretty good at it but doesn't like it all that much. meanwhile neji has the opposite problem - he fucking loves it, but he struggles with it in a way he's really not used to at all. so instead, they use their respective strengths to help the other overcome their respective weaknesses.

concerning the post-pain healing, neji iirc wasn't actually in konoha when hinata needed healing. also, as a yuri fan, that is one of the only canon sakuhina moments and i will defend it to the death if i have to, sorry.

lastly, about sakura - i have conflicting feelings on applying the term prodigy to her. on the one hand, she's certainly an incredible medic, and it's annoying that just about everyone who gets called a genius in naruto is a guy (with the exception of medical ninjutsu, which tsunade is a genius at - tho idk if she's ever called that explicitly, come to think of it), but on the other hand... sakura worked really hard to be able to do that stuff. it wasn't natural talent (the og manga has kakashi explicitly note that sakura does actually have natural talent - in genjutsu. which is basically the only thing she never uses at all, which could very well imply that sakura wants to be able to show what she accomplished through hard work rather than what she just happened to be good at. it could also imply that kishimoto didn't care and immediately forgot as soon as he wrote that, which is probably more likely).

ok so like i know the reason is just. sexism but one thing that really irks me about how the post-timeskip naruto manga handled which characters became medic nin bc it makes absolutely no sense to me

sakura's decision to train under tsunade makes sense, and i love that she got a super strength power up, so no notes there, but the other teams.... yeesh

so first off, team ten. we're told that ino decided to follow sakura into mednin land to keep being rivals with her... despite that at no point factoring into their rivalry at all beforehand. ino never showed any interest in that, nor was the yamanaka clan ever mentioned to have anything to do with healing as far as i can remember. it's like going to art school to stay with your bestie when your goal is to become a dentist. why are you there. find other ways to spend time together. it also kinda goes against her family's whole thing as. the guys who do the torture stuff. and it's barely ever relevant anyway

for team ten, i think the team medic should've been shikamaru, and i think this not just bc i think it makes more sense skill-wise (something about the way the nara clan's various shadow jutsu work just screams "you need good chakra control for this" to me), but also bc i think it would make asuma's death a thousand times more painful. bc shikamaru is a slacker. he's not learning medical ninjutsu bc he wants to, he's learning it bc someone on the team has to in order to stick together. they're all chuunin now; one of them has to be a medic. them's the rules. but he doesn't really care that much, even when he is trying to learn, and he's so used to being smart enough to not have to pay attention in lessons anyway that he's not prepared for classes that require his full focus. and then asuma dies and shikamaru is doomed to spend the rest of his fucking life wondering if he could've saved him by paying just a little more attention to those medical ninjutsu lessons (he could not have (but he'll never know for sure))

team eight makes some sense, since giving the girl who struggles with fighting the healing job isn't exactly out of nowhere, but i do feel it was the lazy choice. kiba already had a sister involved in the medical business, even if she deals more with animals, so he could've started learning from her and found that he liked it. plus kiba's goal is to be hokage, and the current hokage is a mednin, so it's not like it wouldn't support his goal. or shino could do it; would add another layer to his character. hinata works fine but. it's just not a very interesting development imo

but what really gets me is team gai. good freaking grief. out of every single team, team gai was the one with the most obvious choice. bc there was only one choice. lee can't do any kind of ninjutsu, and tenten's only real backstory is that her chakra control isn't good enough for her to be a medic nin. so it had to be neji. canon establishes that every team has to have a medic; this is a policy tsunade got passed even before she became hokage, so no way in hell is she going back on it now.

moreover, neji becoming a medical ninja - especially if hiashi encouraged it - would show some development for the hyuuga clan maybe starting to suck a bit less. bc as a medic, neji would be bound by oath to stay alive for as long as possible. imagine a world in which hizashi came back and hiashi was able to tell his brother that not only was their family starting to change, but his son had chosen a path that would prevent him from ever following in his father's footsteps. it would be the first step (of many) to show that the hyuuga clan was freeing itself from its own bullshit.

also it would've made sakura catching the zetsu pretending to be neji a thousand times funnier. like that's her coworker. they've shared shifts at the hospital together. she's seen neji drink vodka straight from a bottle and then crash on her couch after they got out of a twelve-hour surgery on the fucking dumbass chuunin who managed to step on his own boobytrap. she knows him.

[no-nic]

kiri!sakura & kiri!kakashi

🌸🌊🐺

Sakura, like any average shinobi of Kirigakure, loves swords. It is practically a tradition to fall in love with one of the Seven Swordsmen and imagine yourself becoming their apprentice. Little Sakura used to roll her turtleneck up and pretend to be the Silver Fang, complete with wielding two sticks. There’s also the part where you kill them and take up their weapon. For some this is half the appeal. Little Sakura thought the bloodless solution was obvious: The Kiba is actually two swords, you can just each use one and become the bestest of friends. The latest trend among the Swordsmen seems to be getting the hell out of Kiri. Momochi, Hoshigaki, and Hatake all left, the rest is being closely watched. The upper shinobi ranks are in disarray. There are whispers of a rebellion. Yagura is destroying their country drop by drop. Little Sakura never thought she would become a missing-nin. Tokubetsu jonin Sakura is ready to throw away her headband, track down the Silver Fang, and claim one half of his sword duo. (And maybe climb him like a tree.)

#pink tsunami au; an excuse to have sakura with sharp teeth

[historias-multorum]

*hands out to L a small pumpkin in both hands*

"Aha, I heard it was your birthday. As a gift, I picked this outta my garden. An adorable white one!"

@super-kame-love

"Miroko had mentioned a visitor, I suppose that would be you." Ryuga said taking the pumpkin. "Thank you. I'll be sure to make some pumpkin bread with this."

[mechazilla94]

"So this was all a set up? You weren’t really in a relationship?! AM I REALLY THAT BLIND???"(Kaizer to Sakura)

Before the pink haired girl could respond, a grown Sasuke stepped beside the twelve year old, and grabbed the back of Kaizer's neck. "Shut up. If you reveal us to the wrong people, then you'll attract Kaguya, and she'll know what we're doing and then trap us in the genjutsu with the others. My chakra is too low to hide us. Just blend in with the students. I'm going to try to find the Kage and Madara and wake them..." he paused, catching sight of someone he hadn’t seen in years.

Itachi with a redhead male who held one dark-haired baby to his chest and shook his head as if pleading his brother. "Tachi....please... Danzo doesn't have to know... I....I'll leave... I'll return to the Cloud Village... Ay's in charge now... He'll let me hide us... No one needs to know about her. Please... Erase Sasuke's memory and spare her..." Sasuke frowned as he recognized the man as the Demon of the Cloud. "This will start a war. The Hyuuga will come for her, and Ay won't stop until the Leaf is destroyed..." Kyr whispered to Itachi. "You and Shisui were kind enough to save me, but it won't be enough if the Hyuuga attack a child."

[oh-no-its-bird]

Saw this art on twitter by @1iemak and it got me thinking ab silly things

Naruto au where everything is exactly the same in every way, but Kakashi is inexplicably a wolf. This changes literally nothing; he's just a wolf now. Not anthro or anything just. A wolf.

No one ever comments on it but its implied that he's been using genjutsu to make everyone think he's human.

The only one who has ever been able to see through this was Obito (possibly due to sharing eyes with him) and if he ever mentions it to anyone, they think he's crazy. (Crazier)

[stu-dyingstudent]

Sakura Haruno fic recs: ANBU

AHHHH!!!! I love ANBU fics, especially when they involve Sakura. It was such a cool concept, which was unfortunately never fully expanded upon. However, our lack of knowledge regarding the shadow corps allows for some really cool fic ideas since authors can take creative liberty on the structure and workings of the division.

In my opinion, Sakura had the most potential out of team 7 to join ANBU (at least more than Naruto). It's all about being discreet and efficient and although she wasn't strong during og, she possessed abilities that would be valuable for this. Her clever mind, chakra control, and genjutsu potential would've made her a good fit. Naruto was too flamboyant and Sasuke was too reckless and cocky, but this is just my take. However, with her new skill set from her training with Tsunade, I don't think she would be able to go down that path anymore.

Also, try out my ANBU ROOT list (some overlap).

Started: 2024.08.06

Last Updated: 2024.08.29

note: feel free to check out my master list which has a bunch of Sakura Haruno fic recs (all organized)!

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Masks by mads999 || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergent || complete

1. Sakura's Inner is far more diabolical than anyone ever expected 2. Crows prove to be cruel mentors 3. Sakura comes to learn exactly how much she hates Kakashi (as well as how alike they are, in the most terrible of ways)

Kakashi is a hateful turd and Sakura is spiteful! I hate this ship and I'm not a big fan of Kakashi here, but boy is this fic good. One of the best character developments I've read for Sakura and she certainly becomes of force to be reconned with. The ANBU lore in Masks is absolutely phenomenal and I love the whole system that is put into place as it adds for some drama (lol). Also, can we talk about how awesome crow summons are????

.

Five Kingdoms for the Dead - Evil Is A Relative Term || ffn || M || canon divergence || complete

After the Forest of Death, Sakura comes to realize that being weak is no longer an option. However, she finds that change is sometimes painful and that truth doesn't always come easy. Luckily, she'll have some help along the way.

It's been a while since I've read Five Kingdoms for the Dead, but I just remember it being absolutely great! I'll be honest, I found a lot of the mind stuff pretty confusing at times, but it was still enjoyable. Also, some great characters are utilized in this fic such as Neji, Sai, and Itachi. Makes me really wish that we saw more of Sakura and Neji working together in Naruto since I think they compliment each other quite well.

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Trials of Change - Espoiretreves || ao3 || gen || time travel AU || complete

Haruno Sakura made a promise. Looking in the eyes of her Shisou and the reanimated Hokage, she took on the most important mission of her life. Go back in time and try to prevent the 4th Shinobi War. Now, Sakura is back to her 5-year-old body, with all the knowledge and haunting memories of the future. She vows to keep her precious people safe and stop certain events from happening, without altering the timeline too much. The trials her emotions and logic put her through have her questioning her very existence, but for the sake of peace, she has to push forward. No matter what.

Trials of Change is actually apart of a time travel series and I have to say that it is probably one of the best of the genre! Now, Sakura is not in ANBU here, but she works very closely with team Ro (Kakashi's ANBU team) and it's a huge part of the story, so I'm choosing to count it anyway. I really adore all of the worldbuilding and backstories going on here in addition to the fact that there are breaks. Yes, the story keeps moving, but there are other things going on, like playdates, and not just Sakura trying to save the world. Also, if you love Shisui then definitely check this out since he has a huge role and his and Sakura's friendship is just so precious.

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bite me and see, said the fly to the spider - MirrorImage003 || ao3 || itasaku || T || non-massacre AU || ongoing

In which Sakura is not initially a part of Team 7. In which she wears her failures like armor and brandishes her fears like her most trusted weapons. In which I do what hundreds of other authors have done before me, and rewrite Sakura's story. Non-massacre AU. Canon Divergent. Slow-burn.

After Sakura's first team, consisting of the graduating class's "expendables," dies, she joins team 7 and faces backlash along her shinobi journey. Sakura doesn't join ANBU until the later chapters so fair warning that there isn't too much content in that regards (unless it updates). Nonetheless, Sakura views ANBU as vital to her career as it offers her the highest clearance she can get. Gaining her opportunities for information her civilian-born status didn't allow her privy to.

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The Sixth Shadow - thinknicht || ao3 || kakasaku || M || canon divergent - eventual time travel AU || ongoing

No one seemed to find it odd when little Haruno Sakura threw herself smack dab in front of a Chidori and Rasengan. Not even Kakashi stopped to wonder.(He really should have.)

The story of how Sakura came to be the sixth hogake despite all of the challenges thrown her way. I especially love Sakura's drive in addition to the political aspects. However, be warned that Kakashi is an absolute HATER (in the beginning), but he gets better! The Sixth Shadow is extremely long and I only just recently got to Sakura's introduction to ANBU, so I can't say too much in that regard.

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Daughter of Fire - justjstuff || ao3 || kakasaku || E || canon divergence || incomplete (maybe ongoing)

Sakura got up and didn’t bother brushing the dirt from her dress. She had a feeling she was about to get even dirtier.She looked at the memorial stone one last time, memorizing the characters without even realizing she was doing it. It would serve from that moment on as a reminder of her determination. She wouldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke join the names carved on that stone.That was her nindo.

Sakura's growth throughout Daughter of Fire is great and realistic all while pointing out aspects from the original series which were flawed and dare I say misogynistic. I struggled a bit in the beginning to justify her abilities, but overall the story is really well done and the ANBU aspects are quite intriguing.

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cut the head off the snake - itsthechocopuff || ao3 || T || time travel AU || complete

when eighteen-year-old, post-war Sakura is thrown back into her tiny, pre-Academy body, she makes a decision. she'd had a childhood once already, and this time, she's more interested in Not Dying when the inevitable shit hits the proverbial fan. so she will work harder, care less, kill more, and smile when she's done.and hey, if she ends up reviving an extinct nature transformation to attract the most corrupt, power-hungry man from her timeline, all the better for her, right?

Such a unique take on a time travel AU and Cut the Head Off the Snake executes it perfectly. Sakura decides that her first order of business is to infiltrate ROOT and that's exactly what she does. Sai, Shin, and Shisui are all great characters and team Ro is present as well. Very good!

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Flowers - Idunmy || ao3 || E || kakasaku || canon divergence || ongoing

Flowers only bloom just before they wilt When Sakura loses her fight against Ino in her Chuunin exams, she questions her ability to ever become a kunoichi, too weak to protect herself, let alone her village One wrongful promotion later and Sakura gets a second chance in the shape of a mysterious new teacher who against all odds is willing to put her faith in a young girl with potential and a willingness to fight. Or- a fix-it inspired fic where Sakura grows to be the powerhouse she was destined to become.

Flowers is a newer series (which has recent updates) and I love it! Critiques are made towards the medical ninja training, which I believe needed to be discussed and it's refreshing to see. In most ANBU fics I've read, Sakura is immediately put onto the strongest team, but here it's a bit different. She begins on a demolition squad, which not only suits her skill set quite well, but is a realistic approach to how she would be introduced to the corps. Anyway, it's one of my favorite reads at the moment and I really like where the story is going.

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names. - waterpllar || ao3 || T || gen || canon divergence || complete

There are no names or faces in ANBU. Everything is designed to be strictly formal, efficient and professional. A recently orphaned Sakura, however, learns that some regulations aren't meant to be followed, and finds a place in Team Ro after being shunned from her former teammates. (fic prompt from anon on tumblr: orphaned sakura in anbu with yamato, genma, and team ro.)

AHHHH poor Sakura. After her parents' death Sakura seeks Tsunade's help out of desperation to become useful. Under recommendation, Sakura's new goal is to make it into ANBU.

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Equinox - FM_White || ao3 || itasaku || M || anbu AU || complete

ItaSaku (Post Uchiha Massacre) AU: Climbing through the ranks of Konoha, Sakura finds herself with the invitation to join ANBU and a chance to learn from one of the most renowned and legendary ninja in the world. Despite her efforts to grow stronger however, she finds the world isn't as black and white as it looks and that some truths are easier to hide than others.

I don't remember Equinox very well, but I love most works by this author sooo. Anyway, Itachi stays in Konoha and instead it's Sasuke that goes rougue. Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru are newly joined ANBU members and all placed on a team with Itachi and things go from there.

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stars in our eyes as we dream of the heavens (the gods walk among us, sweet child, do not forget) - snickiebear || ao3 || kakasaku || T || age-swap AU || oneshot complete

“Kakashi-sensei,” Naruto whispered, staring at his teacher, horror plain on his face. “You’re married?” Lazily, Kakashi looked down at his gloveless hand where his ring rested, “It would appear so.”

Sakura is born in the same generation as Kakashi and turns out as a badass ANBU married to him. This is super wholesome as it's a lot of the two of them bonding with Kakashi's genin team (Sai makes three) in an effort to help them out. It's a series so you can read more of the events taking place prior to the fic.

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Anachronistic Drift  - Elesrea  || ffn || gen || T || time travel AU || incomplete

Her plan was flawless. Save Shisui. Save the world. Time-travel, Sakura-centric AU

Sakura spends years training to be sent back in time and save the world from Sasuke. She isn't in ANBU, but rather poses as one in order to keep an anonymous status on her doings both in and out of the village.

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Sakura - lilac haze || ffn/ao3 || M || minasaku || time travel AU || complete

AU. Non-Canon. Time Travel. Please see inside for full warnings. Cross posted on Ao3. On his deathbed he was granted eternal peace and place to rest for all of time. Of course that was not appealing to him. Ever unpredictable to the end he had a counter offer. One that the Sage had to consider. In which Sakura's going to have a rough time. A really rough time.

Sakura is probably one of my all time favorite fics because the emotions are just spectacular. The story is pretty heavy on ANBU and ROOT aspects, which I always enjoy, but I wouldn't say it's a major focus. However, there is an emphasis on the unfair treatment towards kunoichi. Anyway, the characterizations and storytelling are beautifully done. Please share this author some love.

Check TWs before hand!!

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Hope y'all enjoy these recs, and please feel free to send me some if you have any!!!! I really appreciate when you do :)

[mixelation]

reborn au concept: i stuck tori with the utano clan (which is where tayuya is from) at whim but kind of feel like i should do something with it? so i think tori maybe knows the theory of sound-based genjutsu, she's just like..... shit at the sound side of it. girl cannot carry a tune. you want her to learn a FLUTE? no way

anyway kushina randomly gets anxiety over tori having lost "her clan" and sometimes says things like "but don't you want to preserve the traditions and jutsu????" and tori is like. the whole utano clan thing feels like a weird side quest to her, but you know what. it IS kind of shit that your husband helped destroy the culture of my home country and kushina is like "wait hold on--"

anyway tori is like "i will simply assign this task to itachi" and then vaguely implies he couldn't do this type of genjutsu and basically tricks him into getting a hobby. maybe YOU can't learn an instrument, tori, but how hard could it be--

(he's not going to implement it in combat or, like, in public. but he thinks it's neat)