Chapter Text
“And so, to my my beloved daughter, the jewel of my life, I now pass on this treasured Haruno family heirloom as my father, your grandfather, once passed on to me.”
Sakura stared at the object in her father’s hands. For a precious heirloom passed on from generation to generation, it didn’t invoke much awe. Honestly, looked kinda plain if you asked her. What even was this thing?
Wait.
As her dad brought the object closer to her, she started to get a better idea of this thing’s identity.
“Dad,” She finally said after giving it an extended blank look. “That’s literally just a big egg.”
“Yup!” Kizashi Haruno cheerily said, shoving it towards her. “And now it’s your big egg!”
Sakura pushed it back. “I don’t want it!”
By virtue of having the strength of a grown adult, Kizashi easily withstood his pre-teen daughter’s shove. “You don’t want a generations-old Haruno family heirloom? The Haruno Big Egg that was passed on to me, your loving father, from your grandfather, who received it from your great-grandmother, who got it from her great-great-grandfather, who obtained it through a fierce inheritance battle after your great-great-great-gra-“
“I get it!” Sakura interrupted angrily, grabbing the egg out of her dad’s hands. “It’s a super great egg and I should be grateful to have it, ok?”
“Hmm, grateful? I don’t know about grateful.” Her dad happily said as he shoved his now free hands into his pockets. “Maybe more eggs-cited.”
“Get out.” Sakura snapped back. She rested the giant egg that now apparently belonged to her on her bed and then emphatically pointed at her bedroom door. “Right now.”
“Alright, alright!” Kizashi merrily went on his way. “Guess it’s time for me to make my eggs-it!”
“Shut up!” Sakura yelled at her father’s back. He gave a quick wave good-bye as he slipped away.
Sakura huffed in exasperation. Now alone, she looked at what was apparently known as the Haruno Big Egg. Honestly, a pretty good description. It was a big-ass light green egg. The egg was roughly the size of a medium-sized dog and weighed about the same as well. Considering its age, the egg looked fairly clean and polished. She guessed that her dad took pretty good care of it. Was she also expected to polish this freakin’ egg? Ugh, if it was a “treasured heirloom”, maybe she was…
“Wait,” She murmured to herself. “Maybe this is like a test or something…”
Yeah? Yeah! She quickly agreed with herself. There was no way that this was an actual family heirloom. What kinda family seriously kept a treasured egg in the family. Not hers! No way! Her dad may be a grade A moron, but he wasn’t a lunatic. This had to be some kind of test. Maybe it was a test of responsibility? Like if she took care of this egg well enough her parents would finally get her that dog she’d been asking for? Oh obviously! That had to be it.
“Well, if that’s the case, Mr. Egg.” She said, holding the egg up to get a better look at it. “I’m going to take the best care of you!”
And so she did. Sakura’s “Mr. Egg” was carefully put to bed each night, tucked in right next to her. She polished it every morning. She even brought it to the occasional D-rank mission if it seemed basic enough, to show her parents how she’d balance missions with the responsibility of owning a dog.
The rest of Team 7 was pretty confused when Sakura first arrived to a lawn-mowing mission and pulled a big egg out of her backpack. The three watched in bemused silence as she carefully placed it in a baby harness.
“Hey, uh, Sakura-chan?” Naruto eventually spoke up after sharing a confused look with Kakashi. An equally confused Sasuke chose to express his emotions through stoic nonchalance.
“Yeah?” Sakura responded, looking over to her blond teammate after sturdily securing Mr. Egg to a fence. “What’s up?”
“What’s with the egg?”
“Oh yeah,” Sakura responded, absentmindedly patting the egg with casual fondness. “My parents are testing my ability to take care of a dog by seeing how well I can take care of this egg.”
Naruto looked at her with full-blown skepticism. Kakashi even lowered his book enough for Sakura to also see a more muted look of doubt. Sasuke raised a single eyebrow.
“Uh,” Naruto responded. “What?”
“What do you mean ‘what’?”
“I mean,” Naruto responded hesitantly. “I’ve heard about that with like plants and stuff. I think Konohamaru is in charge of a bonsai at home. But, like… With an egg?” Sasuke gave a grunt of concurrence.
“Listen,” Sakura huffed. “If you have a problem, take it up with my dad. I’m just handling the cards I’ve been dealt here.”
While this didn’t actually answer the question, the rest of Team 7 couldn’t really argue with this. In time, Mr. Egg gradually became part of the team dynamic when they were working on D-rank missions. Naruto eventually began helping Sakura polish the egg and sometimes tucked it in its safety harness. Kakashi would secure Mr. Egg in a safer location if it looked like it was in danger. Sasuke… didn’t really do much for it directly, but he did seem to avoid doing anything possibly dangerous near the egg. It seemed Mr. Egg had become a part-time member of Team 7.
It was months after Mr. Egg’s initial introduction to Team 7. Through the combined efforts of Sakura and the rest of the team, it was suffice to say that the Haruno Big Egg was the most treasured egg in the village, maybe even the world. Sakura was doing a pretty good job if you asked her. In fact, it seemed Mr. Egg had a particular shine to him these days. Maybe that new towel she was using was particularly good at polishing eggs?
Wait.
She looked more closely. Mr. Egg was literally shining.
Indeed, the Haruno Big Egg, which was currently settled on Sakura’s bed, was in fact glowing. The pale green shell of the egg was growing more translucent by the second. When Sakura looked more closely, it almost looked like there was a dark shadow in the center of the egg. She hesitantly took a step towards.
“Uh,” She said, brows furrowed. “Mr. Egg?”
The egg cracked with a sound like breaking glass. Sakura shrieked and threw herself back away from it. She plastered herself in the corner of the room in a steady crouch. Keeping her hand over the kunai pouch attached to her thigh, she kept her eyes on the egg. She looked in horror as two clawed limbs slid their way through the cracked shell. Almost delicately, an emerald green scaly head followed soon after. Serpentine eyes blinked and fixed on her. She let out a strangled gasp and fell to the ground as the reptile swiftly flew directly for her, trailing its serpentine body behind it. Paralyzed, Sakura watched with wide open eyes as the creature slowed down the closer that it got to her. Until finally, it curled its long, scaly body in a ball and nestled in her lap.
She stayed frozen, looking down upon the sleeping reptile. “Oh my god.” She couldn’t stop herself from breathing out in a soft murmur. “Mr. Egg is a freaking dragon.”