I really liked the dynamic of Naruto, in terms of Team 7, except for one thing - Sakura was ABSOLUTELY USELESS. Honestly, my current load of fanfic is too stale and boring, and I really need some more variety in my works, so are there any good fanfics that really develop Sakura as a character along with the rest of Team 7 (Sasuke and Naruto)? Are there any fanfics that really delve into Genjutsu in Naruto? That, I would like to see.

 

Well, there's "Kill Your Heroes" and "Five Kingdoms for the Dead". Probably the best Sakura-centric stories I know.

 

There is also Trial by Ninja. It starts in the preliminaries of the chunin exam and it is pretty much what happens from there to the timeskip with Sakura growing at the same rate as Naruto and Sasuke.
https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/naruto-trial-by-ninja.227519/

There is also Sonata and Fugue. It hasn't updated in a while but it is pretty much what you asked (team 7, Sakura, Genjutsu).
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/sonata-and-fugue-naruto.9239/

 

Loyalty by A True Radical Dreamer

While still in the Academy, she gets forcefully recruited to be a spy for Kabuto and Orochimaru. Really fascinating story, although the last two chapters have a bit of a filler-ish quality to them. Especially the tension with Kakashi is interesting (I don't mean romantic or sexual).

Effloresco Secundus by romantiscue

Yeah, following the SI reincarnated into the Naruto verse after the debut and success of Dreaming of Sunshine, now we have a story were a character from another fandom is reincarnated into the Naruto world. It's really interesting to see Hermione deal with this situation and how her relationship with her team plays out. Again, Kakashi is the highlight here, since he suspects something is off with Sakura, and to be fair, it is, and I love seeing him like this.


Trial by Ninja by jacobk

By the same author who did Applied Cultural Anthropology. It's completed and has a sequel, pretty good read.

In Fire Forged by OmgImPwned

Pretty cool concept and worldbuilding. I love Sasuke (who is a girl) and Naruto in this. The whole Team 7 is pretty awesome. The focus is, of course, on Sakura and it is nice to see such a version of her. Has been almost a year since the last update though, so, not sure if it's abandoned or not.

Once and After by Shana the Short

I actually don't really remember this one. Might be good or not.

Then there are all the SilverShine stories which have Sakura as the main character, albeit in most of them she has a romantic relationship with Kakashi, so, if you don't mind that, you're in for a few fantastic stories. Same author who did "The Girl From Whirlpool" which is still the best story that has Minato and Kushina in them. I am, of course, including the manga.

 

I enjoyed One Hundred Days:
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/2663204/1/One-Hundred-Days

It follows Sakura and Naruto when Naruto first begins his training trip. Splits focus between the two until they meet up One Hundred days later, both growing a reasonable amount stronger without hax. Takes a while to get going, but it gets really good towards the climax. I fondly remember a scene where Jiraiya is forced to team momentarily with Orochimaru against Kisame and Itachi. Give it a chance.

 

I'm still hopeful. The author writes progress reports on his site. The last update was at the beginning of October.
https://infireforged.wordpress.com/


Expectations of Development by kiraiakuma

Not quite as good as some of the other stories here and sadly abandoned, but I would still recommend trying it out.


You could also try out Time Braid, which focuses mostly on Sakura. Really hit or miss for most people. Some people love it though. (I like most of it, apart from the "romance" (which barely deserves that name.))

 

I enjoyed Time Braid, but YMMV.

Sakura gets time looped during the chuunin exams, and after a few hundred repetitions, discovers she's not the only one looping. It's complete, but it's not a Team 7 fic, though it does feature one of the most powerful Sakuras I've seen.

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Time Braid so far - finished the whole story and I want more stories like that if possible. These fanfic recs are so amazing - I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend
Styx0444, what are the most powerful Sakuras that you have seen? Interested in that now.

 

I don't remember any names, so I doubt they were any good. That said, there's one where she's a reincarnation of a dragon, one where she's the reincarnation of Ranma Saotome (from Ranma 1/2, he more-or-less kills a god), one where that Inner Sakura thing turned out to be some kind of Call of Cthulu style Dreaming Old One...

There's also one where her parents died in the Kyuubi attack and she wound up in Root, and another where instead of Root she just ends up hyper competent somehow.

The first few I mentioned were the highest on the power scale, but OldOne!Sakura is the only one I'm fairly sure ended up comparable in strength to Time Braid's version.

Never found anything similar in quality, though. A quick googling found this group, maybe you can find something decent there?