Chapter Text
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/theaimerchant/art/Sakura-Haruno-Team-7-joins-the-Akatsuki-1031846732
I clearly don't own this picture and I know it's AI but it perfectly portrays the way I imagine Sakura in my story 🤧
I think I'll commission something similar (but not AI) soon ✨
Material Girl
Sakura was fed up.
She was fed up with performing miracles by the hour, basically retrieving her comrades directly from the clutches of the Shinigami, only to be dismissed whenever she opened her mouth because she was just a medic.
‘You don’t need to worry about that Sakura-chan’
‘Please stay behind, we’ll take care of it, Sakura-chan’
‘Maybe next time Sakura-chan’
‘Kakashi you’re being just like Sakura right now, just be quiet for a bit’
Gee thanks a lot for the vote of confidence everybody, not like I’ve been the Hokage’s right hand for the last couple of years or anything!
She was also fed up with war. Not because she was a pacifist, no, her reasons were certainly not of the altruistic kind...
But war sucked. Big time.
Everybody was practically starving, deprived of the most basic amenities, hell- she hadn’t even seen a shower in forever.
More than three hours of sleep?
Less likely than Madara spontaneously deciding to become a gardener.
Relationships? Romance?
Nada.
Sakura had stopped being the lovesick, boy-crazy, useless kunoichi ages ago (not that her teammates had gotten the message but whatever), but presently? She didn’t want to be dramatic, but even a nun's life involved more intimate touching than Sakura was currently experiencing.
The situation was serious.
Sakura was so hypersensitive, that even her sensei innocently changing his clothes in front of her had triggered an existential crisis. In her defense- the man was smoking hot! And those defined abs... that V-shape you could catch a glimpse of when his trousers hung just low enough on his hips…
Nope.
Nonono she was not having another sleepless night over this!
Back to the topic; there was no respect, no running water, no dating and worst of all:
No sweets!
If she had known how things would turn out, she would never have given something as stupid as dieting a second thought.
Why had she lived so frugally before the war? Never treating herself to anything, always saving her money for-
Right. For what exactly?
If she was lucky enough to survive this bloody war, she’d spend every single coin she owned on the most superfluous luxuries. She would buy those fancy glittery strawberry cakes- the ones she had only admired through the bakery window from afar.
‘One day I’ll buy one’ she had said.
There would probably no longer be a 'one day'- neither for her nor for anyone else. But if she ever did get the chance, she’d definitely treat herself to as much cake as she could eat, and to one of those high-end massages at a hot spring resort, with peach or lavender scented oils that made your skin all glossy.
And who knew what else the future held in store for Sakura? Maybe after the war she’d meet a nice guy, he would be playful and sweet (and not suffer from emotional constipation that made him incapable of feeling anything but a thirst for revenge). They would be all lovey dovey and adopt a cat and a dog and raise five children and they would live in a cozy house with a huge garden, and the veranda would offer the perfect view to watch the sun slowly rise over the treetops of Konoha’s vast forests.
He wouldn’t even have to be particularly handsome.
Just… kind.
Above all, Sakura certainly wouldn’t choose a man again who didn’t even like her back.
She was a go-getter. Ergo, she would go and get some-
happiness. Go and get some happiness, yep.
Well, it’s always darkest before the dawn- at least that's what her mother used to say. She had been a ray of sunshine in Sakura’s stormy life, grounding and gentle and
dead, hit by the wall of a collapsing building during the Konoha Crush.
Her father never got over the loss- or maybe he had. Sakura wouldn’t know. After all, he had decided to leave his old life and his hometown behind.
And his twelve-year-old daughter.
Technically, as a graduated genin, she had been a legal adult, but still… who did that?
It might have been the lack of sleep which led her to this bizarre thought, but Sakura decided that she would never be like him, no, her hypothetical five future children would feel cared for and loved.
Nonetheless Sakura had forgiven her father long ago, not for his sake, but for her own. She had also forgiven her teammates for constantly underestimating her and leaving her behind. Holding a grudge was more trouble than it was worth- you only needed to look at Sasuke to see what it did to people.
That doesn’t mean I can’t still be pissed about it. I mean- really! Don’t they realize how much I’ve grown and how hard I worked to step out of their shadows in order to stand side by side with them?!
“Huuk- Kh – Kh-“ Ah, forgot about him.
The soldier to Sakura’s feet was coughing violently and red splashes landed all over her clothes. She needed to get a grip. Green chakra flickered around her hands, much thinner and weaker than it was supposed to be- not that she was surprised by that fact, this was number one-hundred-and-something today.
Or two hundred… maybe… she couldn’t be sure anymore.
The fighting had intensified, leaving her with a never-ending load of injured shinobi. They hadn’t even had the time to evacuate anyone from the battlefield and she had switched from one person to the next without pause. Katsuyu had vanished hours ago, and on top of her own depleted reserves, the chakra from the byakugou was used up as well. Sakura would need to meditate, sleep and eat for days to replenish her empty reserves at least somewhat, which was, quite frankly, nothing short of impossible at the moment.
At this point, the only thing keeping Sakura conscious was a mix of sheer willpower and petty spite.
And the prospect of better times, of course.
Things were going to change for Sakura once the war was won! The first thing on her agenda was a long, looong vacation. Someone else could take over- not that there was anyone else, but that wasn’t going to be her problem to solve.
Just as Sakura imagined all the awesome things she was going to do while traveling, something curious happened:
The previously cool air around her heated up so much that Sakura’s view was almost instantly blurred by heat haze. She tried to get up, but the ground shook violently, and her shaky legs gave out from underneath her.
Was it a jutsu from an ally? A foe? Fire? Lightning?
Did it even matter?
The sky was illuminated by a blinding beam of light, and Sakura had to squint her eyes in order to not damage her eyesight permanently. Realistically, she probably had only seconds left to save herself… but where to? Where was the attack coming from? Could she move fast enough?
…Did she even want to?
Someone screamed her name, and all the pink haired medic could think about was how tired she felt.
Maybe it was the exhaustion or the chakra depletion.
Maybe she just didn’t have enough time to escape the blazing inferno that was coming her way.
Or maybe…
possibly…
Either way, at the tender age of sixteen-
Haruno Sakura died.