As a medic shinobi, Sakura was not meant to be a fighter on the frontlines like she was in the war. Her job was mainly to be on the side, treating the wounded and restoring chakra to the weakened. What permitted her to fight, was the diamond etched unto her forehead that signified that she had reserved an oceanfull of chakra to master the Byakugou. She had achieved what few could achieve, thus making her a big deal in the medical world.

Only the medical world.

To the rest of the world, Sakura was merely that medic shinobi that punched Kaguya in the head. Her powers weren't as flashy as Naruto's or Sasuke's. She could not fly, strike lightning with her hands, throw chakra balls or summon massive rocks from god-knows-where.

She had incredible strength though, the intelligence of a 100 year old scientist and the healing abilities of a Sannin. But could she fight alonside a beast in a flashy yellow costume? No.

So she did not attract as much attention as Naruto the hero or Sasuke the traitor. And it bothered her, it really did.

Her love for Sasuke was rejected, and as she stood in the deepest parts of the hospital library, she realised that she spent most of her good time worrying over Sasuke than actually developing herself. She spent a good number of her time in the hospitals with Tsunade than practising Taijutsu. And she spent a whole lot of time, thinking she was not good enough as Naruto or Sasuke to actually try to catch up to them earlier. Did she regret it? She wasn't sure. But she wanted so much more than what she was getting.

She wanted to train again.

Sakura grit her teeth, closed the book she was reading and exited the library.

"Hikari, take care of things for me here. I'll be back by 4."

The older woman nodded, a bit confused as to why Sakura would leave the hospital so fast. She shrugged it off, picked up a file, and got back to work.

Sakurs knew exactly what she needed to do. She had never felt more assertive in her life as she made her way through the streets. Sakura made a promise to herself that the next time Sasuke saw her, she would be stronger both inside and out. So she wanted to restart her journey, to do the things she thought she was too weak to do.

The training grounds were not empty. How could they be? Lee was always around, pushing himself past his limits and giving it one hundred and ten percent. Sakura cleared her throat, catching the attention of the bushy browed man doing a one hand stand push up. He reset to the default human position, eyes widening at the determined glint in Sakura's eyes.

"Lee! I have a request of you!"

He blinked rapidly. Was it what he thought it was? No, she couldn'tㅡ

She bowed, "I want you to train me in taijutsu!"

: :

Team Taka ㅡ or at least what was left of itㅡ and Sachiki were making their way back home. Suigetsu had used a water clone to extract the poison, and it wasn't as bad as he made it out to be.

"Bro, seriously? What do you want from me?!" The cloaked shinobi yelled, jumping away from the explosion that was thrown at him. Suigetsu smirked, then once remembering the aim of the attack, began to cry.

The rogue shinobi blinked, confused at the sudden change of expression. "Did I kill your mom or something? Because I swear I didn't mean to! My...is a little bit, okay, very, uh ...GAAAH! Forget it. Just die!"

Juugo deadpanned at the scatterbrained personality of the man before him. He was tall, with brown spiky hair, and purple paint across his face. The appearance somewhat did match the way he acted...foolish, mismatched and insensible.

Suigetsu wiped his anime tears, and shook his head to ground himself. "Shut up you... OH SHITㅡ "

Suigetsu had to dodge an endless amount of...spitballs? He wanted to punch the rogue in the face for the sole reason of possessing whack and disgusting powers.

"FOR PETE'ㅡWHAT KIND OF SHITASS SHINOBI ARE YOU?! POISONOUS SPERM AND SPIT? WHO THE ACTUAL FUCK GAVE BIRTH TO THIS? WHAT THE FUCK."

Juugo groaned, worried about the girl that watched behind him. "Language."

The attacker wiped his lips and stopped his next attack, "Wait, the fuck? You actually know about my dicㅡ"

"Language!" Juugo glared at the two similar people. They both ignored him. Juugo wanted to go berzerk right there, and kill everyone in the shithole. Then he dispelled the thought, disturbed by his own wishes.

"...we all know, deep down, that you crave the madness like all of us."

"Yeah we know. And we want it. So let me just use a shadow clone to..get it out, you know what I mean?"

The atmosphere changed. The shinobi watching from the hut unhinged their jaws silmutaeneously. Sachiki sweat dropped, and the man of the hour; The Great Semen and Spit Shinobi, blinked, thinking he heard wrong for a second.

He realised he hadn't when he saw the large blush on Suigetsu's face.

The brown haired shinobi recoiled. "Bruh." 

Sachiki happily trotted through with the liquid  inside a sterlized container, holding it like it was a trophy. Suigetsu grinned.

"You seem happy, Sachiki."

Sachiki looked down, feeling a bit guilty that Suigetsu gained nothing from the mission (except for an odd satisfied look on his face??? She'd think about that in another chapter.) Rather, it seemed that the mission had caused more troubles than solved. Sachiki trailed behind, staring at the two boys who had a thick tension lying between them.

She was new, so she did not know what to do to help them. Suigetsu had called himself, and the rest of Team Taka, monsters, and that confused her. If Suigetsu was such a monster, then why would he bother to help her? If Team Taka were a bunch of monsters, then why was her, an outsider, still alive and living with them?

She did not believe he was what he thought himself to be. Did he have a few screws loose? Maybe. But was he a monster? No, monsters didn't tease, laugh, or play with young girls like her. Monsters did not help out without gain. Monsters definitely did not have a whole family they could rely on.

"When he got angry, I feel like it masked a lot of sadness." Heila said. "He sounded like he was trying to convince himself that being a bad guy is all he ever will be, you know?"
Sachiki nodded.

"And him," Heila turned her attention to Juugo, "dunno what his problem is."

Juugo had always been a mystery to the people he came across. Sachiki wondered if what Suigetsu had said about him was true; if he was really a wolf in sheep's clothing. She wasn't close enough to him to discern his personality or emotions, but even she knew that what Suigetsu said hurt him greatly when she saw the slightest widening os his eyes.

"I need to fix this," Sachiki rubbed her right arm. "It's my fault anyways. I stressed them out with this stupid mission."

Suigetsu looked at Sachiki over his shoulder. 'Is she mumbling to herself?'

"You're right, it is all your fault." Heila shrugged.

"You alright back there, Sachiki?" Suigetsu raised a brow, wondering why she was staring at the vast space of nothingness next to her. Juugo glanced back as well.

The cerulean eyed girl scratched her neck awkwardly, realising she had almost been caught. A bit of an embarrassed blush darkened her cheeks. "I am... tired. Can we find shelter for the night? It's dark."

Both men internally groaned. They wanted to get the mission over with so they could go back home and ignore the issues that had surfaced.

However, seeing the pleading look on Sachiki's face, they complied.

They sighed, "Alright."

: :

'Naruto, I'll be coming for a visit with Karin.'

He did not need to write more, so he placed the paper between the claws of the bird and set it to take off. Clone Sasuke dropped to the ground once he was in then abandoned hut he stayed in from time to time, tired of walking so far, and went poof! Sasuke gingerly set Karin on the small and low bed, the only thing in the hut. He wondered if it were similar to Karin's old home.

Sasuke sat on the ground, next to the bed, brought out a rice ball from his bag and started eating. When he was done, he noticed movement from the corner of his eye. Karin stirred, slowly forcing her eyes open to the sight of Sasuke staring down at her.

She tried to speak, but her throat felt hoarse. She coughed, thanking Sasuke with a smile as he offered her water, which she gulped down. Her surroundings were blurry so she took off her glasses and cleaned them with the hem of her shirt. Sasuke used the opportunity to discreetly stare at her eyes.

Karin started the conversation, "Sorry. I must have spooked you back there."

Sasuke shook his head, "You did not."

Karin did not reply; she only nodded her head. Silence befell the two, both preoccupied with the burden and gift that was their thoughts. Karin's mind was shrouded with flashes, bouncing between the light and the dark, the monsters and the angels, the past and the present.

Sasuke spoke again, "Are you hungry?"

When she replied yes Sasuke handed her a rice ball. He averted his gaze to the small window opposite him, staring at the trees that looked almost blue under the stars.

"I have a request." He told his partner and friend.

"Hm?"

Time went by as Sasuke gathered the words.

"You have helped me with problems I have had, including my tendency to do things alone. And you, there are some things that still bother you from your past." Sasuke watched her intently as he spoke, making sure she was not spiralling into darkness again. "You are my comrade, my ...friend. I.."

Karin would never be able to predict the words that followed next.

"...request that you join me on my redemption journey, so we help each other."

The Uzumaki' stoic expression changed to a shocked one.

Uchiha Sasuke, from the start, had wanted to achieve all his goals on his own. Teamwork was done only when needed, though Kakashi had tried his best to drill that one lesson into their head. Sasuke was just designed to be a lone wolf, to follow his own path and overcome obstacles, all alone.

Sasuke did not share his burdens easily, but he was challenging himself to grow, and chose the one person who could understand him on his journey.

Karin lost her mother for the sake of the village.

Sasuke lost his clan for the sake of the village as well.

No one understood each other's demons, better than them.

Karin smiled. In another world, she would have shattered, dragged her shards and slammed herself together in order to keep moving alone. But in this world, she had somebody with her to stop her from bleeding.

When she got back to the Hideout, she planned to envelop Juugo in a giant hug. He had truly saved her.

"I would like that."

It felt like forever since Sasuke saw the sparkle in her eyes.

Karin shifted, "Are you not tired?" She changed the subject, afraid she might do something crazy like kiss the dude.

Sasuke closed his eyes, "I am. I plan on going to sleep after you have."

"On the ground?" Karin chuckled. "Don't be silly. Get in the bed. It's small but, we can make space."

Sasuke gave her a weird look.

"Bruh. I literally just recovered from a panic attack. Trust me, I'm not thinking of trying anything funny."

Sasuke turned his head away.

"Okay then. Just don't complain when your neck feels like fucking wood in the morning. Bastard."

: :

Author's note.

I am actually happy with this chapter (Shocker).

So have a fucking penguck

Vote and comment if you liked it ♡ thank you for reading.