Picture this: I'm about halfway through the original naruto and have just started reading the manga, and I'm sat there, enraged. 'Why does none of my female characters get to be op without the motivation, help or guidance of a male character? This isn't fair.' As I sit on my unmade bed, silently fuming but unable to tap out now because I'm too far in, too invested, too engrossed in the sound of the character's maniacal laughter in 3x speed (it's really funny though. they sound like chipmunks) and too involved with time travel fix-its for arcs I haven't even started yet, I think to myself 'well, you know. I could just write a little multi-chapter fic. It'd be a pretty good frequent writing exercise. And you DO need to get better at writing fiction in time for your English GCSE at the end of this year. So what the fuck, why not.'

Fast forward about a month or so, and here I am, doing just that.

Note: My knowledge of honorific suffixes is extremely limited, so I apologise if I get any wrong, Also, I am currently hyperfocused on this fic. I can't not add to it, and when I can't add to it, I'm thinking about it. So updates might just be frequent (which is very rare for me when it comes to multi-chapter fics). I probably just jinxed it now lol.

Currently, I have three chapters of this act planned and am in the process of writing and have the majority of the basics for the next act planned out

Haruno Sakura stood rooted to the spot as an oppressive mist started to surround her. The bodies of her teammates and teacher lay scattered on the floor, limbs splayed in positions that shouldn't be natural. This wasn't good. She was the last one standing. Sakura felt weak with fear as Zabuza's unnerving eyes trained on her. A faint voice in the back of her head shouted at her to run as far as she could and never look back. God did she want nothing more than to run as far as her weak legs could take her and then some. But something stopped her.

Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was her desperate need to prove herself and gain the validation of those closest to her, she didn't know. All rational thoughts in her brain screamed at her to run, but she refused to budge. She couldn't. Not when everyone's lives depended on her.

Sakura took out a kunai and held it out with shaky hands as the missing-nin started to walk towards her at a casual pace, obviously not even classing her as a threat. 'Why would you be a threat, though? You are nothing compared to your teammates. Why else do you think no one pays attention to you? You are weak. You are nothing.' A voice that sounded too much like herself sneered.

Zabuza was getting close, his tall muscular frame slowly becoming more and more visible as he emerged from the thick mist. She was almost in stabbing distance.'So is he'Inner whispered in her ear. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Sakura felt like a trapped mouse in its last seconds of life staring a larger, stronger predator in the eye.

The pink-haired genin suddenly remembered why she was here.Tazuna.Crap, how was she meant to get him to safety on time? Quickly, she racked her brain, what was the standard procedure in this situation? Aha! "Tazuna-san," Sakura said quietly, making sure to keep any sign of fear out of her voice, "I need you to get as far away from this bridge as you can. Please go to your house if possible. Do not stop until you are there. Make sure to lock all entrances to your house and don't invite anyone into your house until one of us manage to stay with you. Do you know your mission number - the one you were assigned when you applied for escorts?" Tazuna nodded, "Good. I am going to send a clone to escort you to your home. It will disperse as soon as you arrive at your home. Either me or my team will join you as soon as we can at your house, make sure to ask us what our mission number is before letting us in. That way you will know that it is actually us you are letting in and not an imposter." Normally, This would be done with an actual person escorting the client to their safe spot, but as she was currently the only person on her team able to fight, she figured that it would be okay to send him away with just a clone for protection.

"Okay," Tazuna said shakily as he slowly backed into a run with a Sakura clone, leaving Sakura alone with the trained killer who seemed to be planning her quick (and hopefully painless) demise.

She felt almost disappointed. Was this really how she was going to die? On her first out-of-village mission? How pathetic is that! Was this really going to be the way that her family were proved right? She would never be able to live that down, even in the afterlife. At her funeral, her immediate family would cry, sure, but the next day her aunts and uncles would look at her grave, tut and go 'what went wrong with that girl. She was doing so well until she decided to become a kunoichi and shove all our hard work down the drain.' She would be subject to their criticism at the Haruno family reunion dinner that happened every year, and with no way to defend herself? That would be embarrassing. Sakura couldn't let that happen. And with that Haruno Sakura raised her kunai, hand still trembling but less so with her newfound courage, and stared at the quickly approaching threat.

The man she was facing didn't speak. The loose gravel beneath him didn't even make a sound as he prowled towards her, his sword raised as he prepared himself to deliver a killing blow. Just as his huge sword began to make its descent towards the pink-haired genin, she quickly darted out of the way. Her survival instincts and pure adrenalin kept her safe, for now, at least. Then, the missing-nin finally spoke, "Stop playing with sharp things you don't understand, little girl." His low voice sent shivers of fear down Sakura's spine, but she held her ground.

"What makes you so sure that I don't know what I'm doing?" She faintly heard herself say through a false bravado, her dominant hand trembled and she fought through her body's natural instinct to turn heel and run.

He didn't grace her with an answer, instead, he darted forward, ready to hit her with another killing blow.

'He's faster this time,'Inner said, practically vibrating with energy inside their mindscape,'I don't think we'll be able to avoid this one.'

Silently, Sakura agreed. The last thing she could remember before adrenalin took over and she was plunged into frenzied survival skills and blind panic was her burning desire to see herself live to see the next sunrise and then, Inner's small mental hands dragging her to the front of Sakura's brain and taking control of her actions.

He was dead. Killed by her own hand, even if she didn't remember much of her fight. One minute she was seconds away from being killed, the next, she was the one killing. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. This wasn't how it was meant to go. She didn't mean to kill him. She really didn't. And to make things worse, she ran. She ran far until her legs could hold her no more and she collapsed in a heap. A small part of her brain told her that she would be okay. If she just went to her teammates and told them what happened they would help sort everything out, but she couldn't. Not when His blood had started to dry and flake from her hands and face in delicate showers. Besides. Why would her team believe that she, the weakest of their powerhouse team had killed an S-rank ninja?

A sob built up in her throat as tears streamed down her blood-caked face and she took in her unfamiliar surroundings. Shit. She had left herself open to attack. This wasn't good. This really wasn't good At All.'We were right, Sakura, you should have just stayed training to become a merchant and take on the family business. At least then you'd be useful and be able to pass on the family name. Tsk. Running away. What were you thinking, your team is just going to think you are a coward now.'Her Grandmother's voice curled through her brain, slipping through Inner's mental defences and planting a seed of hatred in her mind.Coward coward coward coward coward coward.

Sakura's breath quickened and her tight grip on Zabuza's enormous sword loosened. The blade slipped from her grasp and fell with a muffled thunk on the floor of mud and dead leaves. Slowly, The pink-haired girl felt herself side to the floor and her soul started to drift and her breathing quicker as she tried desperately to reign in her emotions. Her thoughts raced over each other to reach the front of her mind, leaving her mind jumbled and confused as a ball of steadily increasing anxiety took over her brain.

'Damnit, Sakura,' She thought. 'You are on a mission, you need to follow the shinobi code. At least until you get back home.' With that, she slowly got up, forced the steadily increasing ball of anxiety in her brain to the back of her mind. This would not stop her. Not now.

Sakura checked her surroundings to make sure that she wasn't being followed, and then set off in a direction she hoped would take her to Tazuna's home, checking around her every few minutes just to fully make sure that she wasn't being followed.

God.

She was fucked.

She was well and truly fucked.