Here's the new chapter. They set off to find and bring back Tsunade.


As they were travelling, she mulled over the events of the past few days. Kiba had been injured, while she was helpless to stop it. Then, the other 2 Konoha rookie teams beat really strong teams and won the whole event, showcasing levels of power that surpassed her team's strength. The worst part was that the difference between them and the other teams was the difference between her and the other 2 aces, Naruto and Sasuke. Maybe it was a little presumptuous to call herself the ace, but she was the strongest in a fight and the main strategist, and her teammates agreed to that and followed her lead.

So it was up to her to get stronger. Which was why she went to Kakashi, who'd been casually walking following the group from the back, while Jiraiya was at the front with Chouji, to ask for the next step of her training. She figured he'd planned that out already. As much as Kakashi liked to pretend to be going with the flow, by this point she could see past his deception and knew that he was one of the most methodical ninja alive. Each action had a purpose.

But to her surprise, his response wasn't to tell her about a jutsu that would make her stronger. He didn't even talk about what she needed to get her to think about what she should do. Instead, he simply looked at her with a pointed look and asked "Sakura, why do you desire strength ?"

Well that was strange. She asked "What do mean sensei ? Why wouldn't I want to get stronger ?"

Kakashi sighed and said "I want to know the specific reasons you have Sakura. Power without purpose is meaningless. The truly strong are those who have power, a clear nindo, and the will to follow through on that nindo no matter what. So Sakura, what is your nindo ? What kind of ninja do you aim to be ?"

She didn't really know how to answer that, so she stuttered for a bit, before finally settling on and answer of "I've told you I want to be a ninja like the Yellow Flash. I want to be a strong shinobi who can protect her comrades and loved ones, like you taught me."

He didn't pause before replying, as though he'd been expecting that kind of answer. He asked "And what if you fail ? No matter how much power you have, there is no guarantee that you will be able to protect anyone. I haven't been able to protect a lot of people. Even the Fourth Hokage, the yellow flash himself has failed to protect some people who were important to him."

That hit her like a ton of bricks, but Kakashi wasn't stopping. He continued speaking and said "And speaking of the yellow flash, do you know what made him truly dangerous ? It wasn't his raw power. In that sense, he is not the most powerful Kage. But he was one of the most ruthless killers Konoha has ever produced. He spent most of his career working as an assassin, taking out high profile targets. He spread so much fear and dissent into the other villages that anyone who encountered him and was lucky enough to get away was kicked out of the village out of fear they'd been marked. The death mark, they called it. Is that the kind of Shinobi you want to be ?"

Kakashi paused there, and ruffled her hair a little. His eye crinkled as he said "Don't get me wrong Sakura, I don't expect you to be able to fully figure out your nindo immediately. And I certainly don't want you to lose respect for the Fourth. His actions benefited the village massively and he played a huge part in the end of the war. I just want you to start thinking about the way you want to live. If you were planning on becoming a normal Shinobi of the village, caring for your family while taking on simple missions assigned to you, then I wouldn't be talking to you about this. The level of strength you want to achieve is incredible, and I want to make sure you're able to handle it. Just look at the Sannin. They might just be the most powerful Shinobi team to ever exist. But Orochimaru, the famous prodigy turned traitor, committed heinous experiments and ran from the village. Tsunade, who we're going to see, couldn't handle the burden that was on her shoulders. She was kind and good She is the greatest medic to ever come out of Konoha, and so she felt responsible for every death she couldn't stop. The pain of losing her loved ones got to her, and she quit the Shinobi life. Jiraiya is the only active and loyal Shinobi of the Sannin, and even he has his quirks. He's gone through a lot in his long life, which is probably why he doesn't stick around in the village much. You don't need to have all the answers, you just need a base to build on."

He ruffled her hair again and motioned for her to get catch up to Jiraiya and Choji, as they were about to enter the town of Tazuna, an area famous for gambling where Tsunade apparently was.


Her master Tsunade had been particularly grumpy lately. The appearance of the snake certainly didn't help matters. Orochimaru offered to bring back her uncle and Nawaki in exchange for having some white-haired kid healed. She wasn't buying it though. Orochimaru might have once been a valuable member of Konoha, but he was now nothing more than a creep who did disgusting experiments without any moral reservations.

But despite her reservations, Tsunade didn't try crushing the snake on the spot and chose to take a couple of days to think about the deal.

Just then, Jiraiya showed up, along with 2 kids and Kakashi. It had been a while since she'd seen Kakashi. But 2 Sannin in one day, what were the odds. What would happen next ?


A/N

Hope you enjoyed that. I'm trying to flesh out Sakura's character as much as possible. I'm taking some influence from a webtoon called The Epic of Gilgamesh for some stuff. It's not available on webtoon,com, but there are translations available online. The sequel that's called Ember Knight is available on webtoon,com and is also excellent. It works as a standalone series. I recommend both. I'm trying to emphasize on the world of grey aspect of Naruto. It did actually have a lot of that, but it kinda pussied out of having the main characters do any dark stuff and kept them largely heroic. I've tried to change it a little here. Minato in canon was basically a cold-blooded killer when he needed to be one. His jutsu is basically made for assassination. They will still be heroic, but will have to do dark stuff and will have to agonize on what the best decisions to take are.