Chapter Text
Sakura is 13 years old and she’s just failed the chūnin exams. Naruto and Sasuke are gone. Tsunade-sama has rejected her as a student. Kakashi-sensei is nowhere to be found. (What happened to those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash, huh?)
She is nothing.
Nobody in her family has ever made it past genin.
Her cousin Emika failed out the the Academy. Tou-san never made it past his jōnin-sensei’s test, and he was in the genin corps for seven years without ever moving forward. Mihana-oba-san quit a few months in when she realised she could make more money selling clothing and armour.
And Sakura’s going to be pulling weeds forever.
Or she’s going to die.
Or she’s going to give up.
The Haruno Clan is well-respected amongst civilians; her grandmother, Asuka-obaa-san, built it up when she moved into Konoha, a penniless immigrant from a torched farming village, and now they’re almost two dozen strong, with a focus on high-quality clothes. She was supposed to be a tailor—she made her own ninja qipao, albeit with some help from her aunts.
Everyone in her family…
It’s not that they haven’t been supportive about her becoming a ninja. She even managed to convince Naruto and Sasuke to shop at the Fujimoto-Haruno Ninja Clothing Store (for all the good that did for the business) and no one has ever told her to stop.
But maybe it’s time to give this silly little dream up.
“What do you think, Tou-san? Kaa-san?” she whispers hoarsely. The stone is clean and fresh, carved with delicate vines and the Haruno circle. The wet earth presses against her bare shins, and her qipao is rusted with grass stains, and the sky frowns down at her, heavy and uncompromising and cruel.
IN LOVING MEMORY
HARUNO KIZASHI AND MEBUKI
“I just don’t think I can cut it.”