~The Aftermath~
The clean up was hard.
In the aftermath of what they were calling the Konoha crush it went like this, genin and the occasional chunin were made to clear up rubble whilst jounin (sensei and all) went on high risk missions.
It had been three days when jiraiya (pervy sage) and naruto along with a injured sasuke come back with Tsunade Senju in tow.
Who is to be the godaime hokage.
It had taken her three days to Learn of her sensei's stay in the hospital.
Even if she hated her team, some times they were somewhat important.
'Awe saku-chans getting attached.'
Kakashi was a perv and sasuke was a brooding emo and naruto was too much at times but they were her team.
She wouldn't say they were her boys because that rung sour with her, but they were at least friends.
So when she is bore witness to Sasuke and Naruto attacking each other like rabid animals, she almost sends them straight to kami-sama himself.
Luckily Kakashi intervened.
Sasuke went off to wherever the hell he does and Naruto was pouting.
He was about to open his mouth when she shut him down with a glare.
She went to the mission desk and completed a good amount of d-ranks before turning in for the day.
She had to afford her new apartment after all.
'Apartment.'
Because the land sharks decided her parents fully paid off home was now their land.
She couldn't argue because they wouldn't listen anyways.
And nobody was going to fight for a orphaned genin, who's home was taken from her unlawfully.
There were 'more important' things, after all.
Her new apartment was ¥100,000 (roughly $650.60), for rent.
The average d-rank pays ¥10,000 ($65.36)
Meaning she had to do 10 d-ranks every month, which was manageable.
Add on the electricity bill ¥5,791 ($37.85), the groceries ¥44,600 ($291.51) and water ¥2,172 ($14.20)
She was in a really bad position.
She was living in an apartment near the red lights district.
Literally one of few districts that were untouched.
'Orochimaru must like that sort of thing if you know what I mean.'
Inner commented making Sakura blush which turned Inners giggles into full blown cackles.
Sakura was currently getting ready to sleep when she felt Sasukes chakra in front of the gates.
Because she was living near the red light district, which was on the outskirts and so near the gates her limited chakra sensing picked him up.
What else was he going to do but leave?
What a fucking fool.
She didn't go to stop him.
What was the point?
He made his choice.
Her mind wandered to other things as she pushed Sasuke to the back of her thoughts.
She still hadn't been called in to become chunin.
She sighed.
Sakura was resigned to having to work hard to become a chunin.
This meant that she would just have to try in the next chunin exam.
'You and what team?'
Sakura ignored the dark thought.
Shikamaru had been promoted, he deserved it she thought.
'Pineapple haired babies.' Inner commented crudely.
Sakura blushed.
She went to bed, she was going to need all the rest she could get.
She had to convince the godaime to take her on as an apprentice the next.
It was her only chance.
~
"No." The blonde haired woman said as she finished eyeing sakura.
"If I may ask-" sakura started.
"You may not, now leave." Tsunade dismissed the girl.
Sakura new an order when she heard one.
She left.
Alright.
It would be up to her to understand and copy tsunade.
From what she had seen at moments when tsunade was angry and broke something her enhanced strength came from channelling chakra.
As with most things in sakura's life, it wasn't as simple as that.
There was the constant threat of exploding your hand if your chakra control wasn't high enough.
There was also the fact she just didn't have the reserves of chakra that tsunade did, seeing as the Senju had reserves that rivalled the Uzumaki she wasn't surprised.
Because tsunade chakra control is in the 94th percentile.
But sakura's was in the 96th.
It was the one pro in the list of cons.
She only needed a basic grasp.
The enhanced chakra strength isn't something she was going to use as her main defence.
Just a backup.
A hidden ace, so to speak.
Sakura grinned viciously.
Then she paused.
Shinobi were secretive by nature and nurture, it was only recently when the village came about that you would be able to observe clan techniques in any place other than a battle.
There has to be a fail safe.
Something to stop people from copying jutsu and techniques.
She sighed.
Time to look through all the law books in Konoha.
~
Tsunade had been working on documents for way to long.
Time for some sake.
As she drunk she thought about the pink haired kunoichi and was that different?
Pink!
Ha.
Tsunade was sure that in another life she may taken the girl under her wing.
If she was weak, maybe.
A fangirl, or just had an epiphany that the shinobi world was cruel perhaps.
And unimportant.
(Well the last part was true)
But she wasn't.
She had that fan, tsunade shivered absentmindedly and she had killed someone.
And apparently was not phased by it in the least, as her sources tell her the girl had every reason to be air headed but she wasn't and it was suspicious.
She couldn't have someone like that as a student.
It was a decision made from a political and moral stand point.
It would cause way too much uproar and the girl was already so apathetic she just couldn't find anything good about her.
She'd be a good soldier, yes.
Of that fact Tsunade was certain.
She might even make it into the books of legends.
But she would do it through being ruthless.
Tsunade sighed and shook her head dispelling her thoughts.
When she looked, absentmindedly, out of the window in the hokage office she hadn't expected to see training ground seven covered in fist shaped craters.
Not very big but deadly if they made contact with the softer parts of the human anatomy.
She sighed.
Technically there was no rule against it.
And if there was? she didn't care.
So she turned away.
If she thought in the back of her mind that this girl might be somewhat like Orochimaru, well no one needed to know.
Did they?
~
Sakura's hand was shattered.
She knew she should have stopped when it started to fracture!
Fuck!
'Oo that looks like it hurts'
She flipped the bird at inner though it looked quite dumb seeing as nobody could see inner but it was the intention that count.
She really really couldn't afford to be caught.
So going to the hospital was a no go.
People would ask questions and then there go's any ace that she might've had.
She had read books about medical ninjutsu, naturally.
But mending bones is something that she hadn't gotten to.
She does it like this; she uses slivers of chakra to nudge the fragments of bones into the correct place, she knows where each and every bone had to be courtesy of reading anatomy books as a childhood hobby.
'you were a weird child.'
'we were the same child'
She slowly pours her chakra into the cracks and might've added to much in some places as she feels it cramp.
She's going to have long lasting hand damage she knows.
It doesn't matter.
She then continues soldiering on through the pain.
When she is done and the tiny slivers of chakra that held the bones in place are retracted she feels and odd sense of vindication.
She has no idea where it came from nor what she is so vindicated about but it's there and she decides that she doesn't wish to tempt fate more.
She was on her way walking home whilst contemplating the question.
How to use the technique without crippling myself?
Temporary as it would be she didn't fancy having to fight her way out of a situation with one or no hands at her disposal.
'Maybe when you punch you should get fast enough at healing your hand it won't look like it even needed healing.'
'You know, that might have been the smartest thing you have ever said.'
Sakura thought.
She ignored Inners squawk of protest.
~
She was drained and exhausted, it had been months of non stop training and missions to stay afloat.
Now she was heading back to her dingy little apartment.
Inner wrinkled her nose.
Sakura wanted to do the same but people were watching.
Well, fuck.
People were watching her like she was a piece of particularly juicy meat.
She palmed a kunai.
'Your 12 if these bastards even try I'm gonna I'm gonna...'
Even though inner meant the best sakura knew that she wouldn't be able to do anything.
She couldn't kill these people.
They weren't the enemy.
But as she entered the alley way to get to her shitty apartment complex she felt a tug at her pants.
'Fuck'
"Civilian-san" Sakura said voice pleasant but there was an undertone of danger.
"I suggest you walk away before things get unpleasant." She finished.
"Ne ne kunoichi-Chan don't you think you should relax? I'm not gonna do anything, and those nifty weapons of yours are sure to keep you safe."
The man taunted, his breath smelled like liquor.
'Fuck'
She swore as she was backed up against a wall.
With no one in the general vicinity of her sensing she was truly and utterly fucked.
She thought of all possible things that she could do, everything that could happen.
That didn't prepare her for what did though.
She didn't know why she hadn't thought of it.
But her body reacted on instinct and months of training didn't just go down the drain in a situation such as this.
She was shinobi and shinobi had reflexes.
On instinct her hand filled with chakra, and made contact with the mans head.
The result would be nightmare fuel for sakura's dreams to come.
Blood, skin and sinew poured from the mangled upper body of the man.
It covered her very essence.
She reeked of blood, a coppery iron tang stuck in her tongue.
Weirdly she didn't feel bad, sad, disgusted with or even guilty about it.
'Right now you don't' inner scoffed
It happened and she needed to do clean up before anyone realised.
She cut the man, or what was left of him, into parts then she preformed the hand signs for a wind bubble jutsu that while made for combat or easy separation of people had an added benefit of confining smell inside a specific area.
With the limited Katon jutsu she knew she set the man's body on fire piece by piece.
Using all these elements that were not hers made her tired to the bone.
Yet she stood, still and lifeless but with a strong set to her posture.
The smell invaded her nostrils taunting her, trying to get her to admit her sorrow and anguish at killing the disgusting man.
But the mystery was she didn't, feel anything that is.
She washed away the remaining blood and Ash with a water jutsu and watched as all the grime trickled down the sewer.