"Remember that failure is an event, not a person."- common saying

"Bullshit, I call Haruno Sakura!"- Naruto fans reply.

Chapter 01: Apprenticeship Denied

Tsunade hadn't changed much about the Hokage's office since she'd taken the position. The desk was the same, the artwork unchanged, even the shelf's seemed to hold the exact same scrolls and books. Sakura hadn't been in the office nearly as much as Naruto but every Academy Student spent some time visiting the third hokage in his office…which now that she was older actually made her wonder a bit about the old man.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like he diddled us or anything." Inner Sakura said. As usual Sakura ignored the voice, a habit she'd practiced since she'd discovered other children didn't have voices that talked to them. It had gotten to the point where the voice barely spoke at all. Then during the exams after it defeated Ino's ninjitsu it had started talking again with a vengeance.

"I was surprised when you applied to become my apprentice." Tsunade said. The fifth cut a far more intimidating form than the grandfatherly third. From the scowl on the woman's face she cared far less about children than the old man. Or at least she didn't care about Sakura at all.

"Blink already Lady!" her inner voice shouted. Sakura forced herself not to look away from the world's strongest Kunoichi and settled for a nod.

"I looked at your record," the Kage continued, finally breaking the awkward staring contest and looking into a file on her desk. "It's very impressive. Second in your year at the Academy, not to mention the top student in the kunoichi arts, one completed A-rank Mission. During the invasion you were part of the team that defeated Suna's jinchūriki. You even managed to survive an encounter with an S-rank missing-nin. A record anyone could be proud of."

"Hell yeah!" Inner Sakura shouted with a fist pump.

"A little too impressive actually," Tsunade said still staring down at her report. "So I asked Kakashi and Naruto to go over all of the events with me. It was… enlightening."

"…yeah, we're screwed." Inner Sakura chimed in.

"The A-Rank Mission to wave country had three encounters with enemy ninja. Uchiha Sasuke defeated two chunin rank missing-nins in the first, assisted with Zabuza, in the second encounter, and was nearly killed fighting Zabuza's Apprentice in the third. Uzumaki Naruto was injured fighting in the first, fought Zabuza in the second, and defeated Zabuza's apprentice in the third. You were uninvolved in any of the combat. During the chunin exams when you encountered Orochimaru, Sasuke was nearly killed and given the cursed seal, Naruto was rendered unconscious, and you emerged without a scratch. During the encounter with Gaara of the Desert, you were reduced to being a hostage. Perhaps the most damning thing was a report from Nara Shikamaru. When he raised an emergency team of all the genin he could find he deliberately chose not to take you even though you were at the gate when his team departed. When I asked him about it, he said it would have been more troublesome to take you." Tsunade's voice was flat as she finished. "Needless to say, I won't be taking you as an apprentice."

"I understand Hokage-sama" Sakura said, feeling the familiar crushing weight of her uselessness settling back on her shoulders. Tsunade's attention finally rose from her reports to look at Sakura. It's amazing how expressive her eyes are Sakura thought, seeing nothing but kindness in the gaze of the older woman.

"Since the invasion," Tsunade continued, "our manpower situation has become a little hectic. The truth is I need every ninja I can get in the field far more than I need an apprentice. My advisors and I are still arguing about how we're going to shuffle everyone around to meet the issue. For now just report to the mission assignment office everyday to see if we have orders for you."

"Ah, thank you for seeing me Hokage-sama. I'll do my best" Sakura said as she bowed and left the office.

"Who needs her anyway? We'll figure something ought. Besides who ever heard of a badass medic? It's better that she didn't take us on!"