THE WHAT IF THEORY | sasukarin

12 : In This World, We Blossom Together

As a medic shinobi, Sakura was not meant to be a fighter on the frontlines like she was in the war. Her job was mainly to be on the side, treating the wounded and restoring chakra to the weakened. What permitted her to fight, was the diamond etched unto her forehead that signified that she had reserved an oceanfull of chakra to master the Byakugou. She had achieved what few could achieve, thus making her a big deal in the medical world.

Only the medical world.

To the rest of the world, Sakura was merely that medic shinobi that punched Kaguya in the head. Her powers weren't as flashy as Naruto's or Sasuke's. She could not fly, strike lightning with her hands, throw chakra balls or summon massive rocks from god-knows-where.

She had incredible strength though, the intelligence of a 100 year old scientist and the healing abilities of a Sannin. But could she fight alonside a beast in a flashy yellow costume? No.

So she did not attract as much attention as Naruto the hero or Sasuke the traitor. And it bothered her, it really did.

Her love for Sasuke was rejected, and as she stood in the deepest parts of the hospital library, she realised that she spent most of her good time worrying over Sasuke than actually developing herself. She spent a good number of her time in the hospitals with Tsunade than practising Taijutsu. And she spent a whole lot of time, thinking she was not good enough as Naruto or Sasuke to actually try to catch up to them earlier. Did she regret it? She wasn't sure. But she wanted so much more than what she was getting.

She wanted to train again.

Sakura grit her teeth, closed the book she was reading and exited the library.

"Hikari, take care of things for me here. I'll be back by 4."

The older woman nodded, a bit confused as to why Sakura would leave the hospital so fast. She shrugged it off, picked up a file, and got back to work.

Sakurs knew exactly what she needed to do. She had never felt more assertive in her life as she made her way through the streets. Sakura made a promise to herself that the next time Sasuke saw her, she would be stronger both inside and out. So she wanted to restart her journey, to do the things she thought she was too weak to do.

The training grounds were not empty. How could they be? Lee was always around, pushing himself past his limits and giving it one hundred and ten percent. Sakura cleared her throat, catching the attention of the bushy browed man doing a one hand stand push up. He reset to the default human position, eyes widening at the determined glint in Sakura's eyes.

"Lee! I have a request of you!"

He blinked rapidly. Was it what he thought it was? No, she couldn'tㅡ

She bowed, "I want you to train me in taijutsu!"

: :

Team Taka ㅡ or at least what was left of itㅡ and Sachiki were making their way back home. Suigetsu had used a water clone to extract the poison, and it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be.

"Bro, seriously? What do you want from me?!" The cloaked shinobi yelled, jumping away from the explosion that was thrown at him. Suigetsu smirked, then once remembering the aim of the attack, began to cry.

The rogue shinobi blinked, confused at the sudden change of expression. "Did I kill your mom or something? Because I swear I didn't mean to! My...is a little bit, okay, very, uh ...GAAAH! Forget it. Just die!"

Juugo deadpanned at the scatterbrained personality of the man before him. He was tall, with brown spiky hair, and purple paint across his face. The appearance somewhat did match the way he acted...foolish, mismatched and insensible.