[Red Sands: In Search of the Scarlet Dawn]

It all started, in hindsight, with the release of the game called [Red Sands: In Search of the Scarlet Dawn], something of a ridiculous ‘otome’ game featuring the prominent shinobi of Konoha in an odd feudal systems of sorts. A game in which Haruno Sakura was cast as the villainess, her legacy made light of, and her appearance twisted until she was practically unrecognisable. It wasn’t a flattering game to her, and yet it was popular – popular enough for some diehard fan to go out of their way to kill the villainess standing between Sasuke and Hinata’s happiness.Yet that wasn’t the end of it, rather, death was the beginning of it: of the real Haruno Sakura waking up within that strange world of a game and refusing to follow the so-called ‘plot’ no matter how far along it is.(or; in which Haruno Sakura becomes a protagonist in the popularised ‘reincarnation as a villainess’ trope, and ponders on why in the seven dimensions did someone create a Madara Route – and how can she get off it, pretty please?)

This is the full first chapter from the snippet which was in 'Rabbits on the Blue Moon' plot bunny work, because, as you might have figured out by now, I have zero self control when it comes to my muses and posting new works.Anyway, this is the whole 'reincarnated as a villainess of an otome game' shindig featuring Haruno Sakura, and I hope you'll enjoy, because I don't recall seeing many of this particular genre in the Naruto fandom at least. Here's to hoping I do this right.