Everyone in the five great nations heard the stories, of a woman walking on thin air.
Sakura sighed from her place in the trees. She and her squad were waiting for Kumo to show up. They were situated in a forest in Shimo no Kuni. It was the middle of August yet the cold seeped into her bones. The Land of Frost was well known for their cold weather, the entire country being covered in snow from September to late May. The rest of the year it rained like no tomorrow. The sky was roaring above her, soaking her squad to the bone.
At the slightest movement, Sakura arched her back. She watched carefully and the moment she realized the enemy was here, she gave the signal. A bird-whistle of a sound was heard in the forest, signaling the start of the attack. The Konoha shinobi moved quickly and descended upon the enemy. Sakura launched herself into the fray, splitting the ground open and burying a dozen shinobi in the resulting earth wave. Then she jumped high in the air over the heads of everyone and landed on a Kumo kunoichi who's head she crushed under her feet. She went through the surrounding ninja like wet paper, punching them into oblivion. A Kumo shinobi came at her with a huge sword, ready to cut her head off, but she merely caught the blade and turned it into scrap metal.
She continued going forward like a machine, punch, kick, dodge, kick, dodge, punch, punch. Decimated her enemies without a second thought, because on the battle field, there was no time for thoughts. She has more than enough time to grovel in self pity about how this goes against everything she believed in as a medic, after they win the war. She tied a chakra string to a random nin before using it to whirl him around and throw him like a hammer into more enemies. Suddenly a voice that was way to close for comfort was heard.
"Doton: Tōjinbō!" An earth formation full of spikes appeared out of the ground, impaling a good portion of the Konoha forces, as well as a few unlucky Kumo shinobi. Sakura dodged it expertly by taking advantage of the rain and guiding the water droplets under her feet and literally stepping on the rain. She quite literally gave the impression of flying. Once she was at a high enough altitude, she gazed down on the fight and quickly found her target.
Yotsuki Kagen, Tokubetsu Jōnin of Kumogakure and the perpetrator of the attack. A bloodthirsty man with disregard for human life. He was here for a good fight and that was it. A loose canon. He had to be dealt with if they wanted to survive. Gathering all of the water droplets in the air, save for the ones keeping her suspended, Sakura created a huge water bubble that could rival a lake. And with a flare of her chakra, she used the jutsu that would end the Kumo force they were up against.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!"
The huge water dragon descended and decimated everyone in its path. Days later, the surviving Konoha shinobi would marvel at how, despite the torrent that covered the entire battlefield, no Leaf ninja were harmed. Her chakra control so impeccable, Sakura created air bubbles around her allies to shield them from the attack.
...
They called her the Sharinganless Uchiha, long before she married one.
Sakura led her squad away through the forest. They were being followed by Iwa troops. They ran across a huge lake in the Land of Rice Fields. Their pursuers were relentless and Sakura knew if she didn't deal with them now, they would never make it back. She told her teammates to keep going while she fell back. She remained on the surface of the lake and watched her squad leave, only once they were far away enough, did Sakura turn around to look at the enemy that arrived on the shore. The leader of the squad, Hiroshi Kamiya if she remembers correctly, looked at her with a cocky smirk.
”Staying behind to play scapegoat? Such a shame Sakura-san. It seems this is where you meet your end. Very unfortunate for Konoha to lose someone like you, but at least I'll return home with the glory of knowing I killed the Cherry Death. Do you have any last words?”
”I think there's been some confusion, I'm not the one in trouble here...” said Sakura with an emotionless expression.
”What?”
”There are only 80 of you. You'll need more than that.”
Kamiya made an enrage expression before making a sign and starting the charge. With a battle cry, the Iwa shinobi descended on her and she met the charge half way. Before they could reach her however, Sakura wrapped the perimeter in a Genjutsu. It was a very subtle one, if anyone wanted to notice it, they had to pay a lot of attention to their surroundings. The purpose was to conceal Explosive Tags that she was placing on the surface of the water as she Taijutsued a quarter of the Iwa force to death. With every move she made and weaved around the enemy, she placed a new tag on the surface of the water that she kept from getting wet with her chakra. They floated on the lake, unnoticed by the enemy as her Genjutsu hid them. Once she placed over 200 tags, she jumped high in the air and landed on the shore. With the seal of confirmation, she detonated all of them simultaneously. The resulting explosion, threw the water of the lake up in the air and blew the entire Iwa force sky high.
After that Sakura ran away from the lake, and made her way to her squad. She also wanted to cover her tracks, incase there were any survivors, she doubted but still, better safe than sorry. She made hundreds of chakra strings that circled the trees around the lake and a few more towards a path in the opposite direction her nin had ran to, once she was far enough she used Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu and lit the strings on fire. The flames followed her chakra, all the way to the trees and set the perimeter ablaze. If there were any survivors, they certainly didn't get out unscathed and her wall of flames would keep them from following. By the time reinforcements would arrive, they would only find the fake trail of burnt trees that she made and her Konoha shinobi would be safe.
...
Everyone in Suna knew to fear the name, of the one who killed the first Kazekage.
Sakura walked through the Kaze no Kuni dunes, making her way to where her target was supposed to be. Her pace was leisure, there was no need to hurry after all, the enemy will meet her half way. She was alone, no squad or battalion following her. Her white cloak fluttered in the wind, the mint green scarf she wore and hood, keeping the sand from getting on her face. A detached part of her war scarred mind told her she looked like Kakashi with the getup. There was blood caked under her nails from a meeting with a smaller Suna force near the border. The war had been going on for a few years now and Sakura was...so tired. So sick of death and killing, of blood being spilled needlessly because Kumo and Suna were too stubborn. They were the last nations at war. Iwa had to surrender two years ago, after the death of their First Tsuchikage at the hands of Izuna.
Climbing over another dune, Sakura finally reached her targets. A brigade of Suna shinobi, led by none other than their Kazekage. Five thousand shinobi vs one woman. Normally this would be a suicide mission, to go alone against that many people, but with the new jutsu she developed, it was gonna be easy work. Lifting her leg up in the air, Sakura kicked up a cloud of sand so huge, it covered half of the Suna forces. Using the newly made cover, Sakura dove in the fray, silent as a mouse, she went through each shinobi, snapping their necks or splitting their heads open. She needed a bit of time to prepare this jutsu, so this was just a distraction. Catching a kunai with an explosive tag from mid air, she ripped the tag from it and placed it on a random nin before throwing the weapon at another. The resulting explosion kicked up more sand, making the cloud bigger. A kunoichi with a fan looked ready to use Fūton to blow the dust away, but Sakura didn't allow her, taking a discarded tanto and throwing it at the fan, ripping a whole through it, before using a chakra string to bring the kunoichi close and snapping her neck. She continued her fight until the dust cloud was dissipated from a few Fūton users that were outside it. Once that happened, Sakura jumped in the air and used her new jutsu.
”Inton: Binbōgami!” Thousands of chakra strings descended on the battlefield and attached themselves to the brigade. Instantly everyone stopped moving as she siphoned their chakra, guiding it through her pathways, to a seal on her abdomen. Having this many foreign chakras in her body was dangerous, so once this battle was over she would transfer it into scrolls that she will donate to the hospital for chakra transfers. After sucking the chakra of everyone to death, Sakura landed in the sand and starred in the eyes of the only person that somehow managed to avoid her attack. The Kazekage. That man looked furious, two ornate blades in his hands, prepared for use.
”You killed them.”
”That's the nature of war Reto. People die, whether we want them to or not.”
”You'll pay for that. I'm not someone to be taken on easily, I hope you said your prayers.”
Sakura hummed. ”That's true, but your Kenjutsu prowess will not help you much. After all, you're already dead.”
”What.” Faster than lightning, Sakura moved forward and found herself behind Reto, his still beating heart in her hand. The Shodai Kazekage fell forward like a puppet whose strings have been cut. He laid dead in the sand, as Sakura let the now still organ fall beside it's owner.
”Like I said, you're already dead.”