I woke up from a nap and wrote this in 2 minutes. I have no idea where it came from…But here it is, I guess.
Sakura is in her early 20s here.
The anime/manga Naruto and its characters do not belong to me.
It is often said that a team will pick up or adopt certain traits of their sensei. Kakashi never believed this to be true until team 7.
In Naruto, he recognized his fierce loyalty to his friends, now family. Naruto also had a similar easy-going attitude that was simultaneously infuriating and comical.
He recognized his raw pain and anger in Sasuke. Pain so hot it would cause a lesser man to keel over. Anger so red it's still a mystery how he was able to now reside in the village that ruin his whole family and clan.
And while it was always Susake he identified with the most, he now realized it was the pink haired kunoichi he hadn't paid much mind to that was practically his duplicate. Not a duplicate in skills or abilities, but when it came to her personality? It was like a mirror was being held in front of his face.
He recognized the perfected fake smile that puts Sai's to shame. He couldn't remember the last time her eyes shined with her smile. Probably before Sasuke drunkenly impregnated a pretty civilian woman. All hopes of one day receiving the last Uchiha's affection utterly pulverized.
He recognized the technique of dodging she would often showcase when it came to dinner plans with teammates and friends. Sakura had always been a hard and busy worker, however work was seemingly the only thing she did. Team 7 would meet up once a week for a ramen at Ichiraku, however the lunch date hadn't included Sakura in three months.
He recognized her circling answers that never really answered anyone's questions. If one asked anything that didn't related to a mission's goal or a patient's wellbeing, they would walk away from the conversation only to realize they had no new information. No one knew where she went when she wasn't at the hospital. No one knew where she lived now after her apartment was demolished in the war.
He recognized her lack of genuine emotions. Along with her apartment, her parents were also lost in the war. While she had never been particularly close to them after she decided to train as a ninja, it was still a difficult loss for her.
He recognized her self-created isolation. Sakura didn't go to ramen luncheons with team 7. She didn't go clubbing on Saturday nights with Ino and TenTen. She politely declined every dinner invitation from her doped up male patients.
And he was positive if Sakura would be honest when asked if she was okay, then he would recognize a deep, heart stopping, bone rattling pain.
But how was he supposed to save her? He had yet to even save himself.
So he stands back and watches her self-destruct hoping and praying she finds the answer or cure he's been desperately seeking for almost four decades now.