Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sakura was thirteen, a late bloomer, when she had her first heat, marking her as an omega. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke were in a coma after something happened. No one would tell her anything. It wasn’t a gradual thing, like how the books said it would be. It was sudden and so much cramping. She hid herself away in her bed, under the covers because she didn’t nest. Like how the books said she would be right before she experienced a heat. Her worry over her team made her forget about making a nest or it overrode her desire to make one. She couldn’t tell. All Sakura knew was that she was hot, thirsty, tired, and wanted cuddles. The rosette did sleep through a good chunk of it. When she was awake, the cramps hurt. What shocked her was that her parents were both betas. A pang of grief shot through her. Sakura tried not to think about them in her bare apartment because she did not have time nor the patience to decorate.

Both of her dead parents. She wanted to cry but didn’t. They died in the Crush. Like so many others. Not only was she dealing with the loss of her parents, selling their house (she couldn’t afford the upkeep), finding an apartment for herself, worrying about whatever happened with her team (Naruto went off with a sannin and did not tell her she heard someone else talk about it), but also being an omega. She rolled around on her bed, cuddling a pillow, wishing that someone would show up and hug her. Why was she an omega? Stupid body. Stupid issues. Her apartment did not feel safe or secure. Or warm. She felt so—Sakura wasn’t sure—vulnerable? Unsafe was a certain word.

She had no one. Parents dead. Sensei was in a coma. Her teammates were scattered. Any friends she might’ve had been as a good source to turn to, but they were away doing important things for the village. She was here. Alone and feeling useless. Like their mission in Waves. A tree could have been a better replacement than Sakura. Hiding Tazuna in a henge was a better plan that what they did. She was a stupid emotional, crybaby. Just like she was in the chūnin exam. Stupid crybaby. Who shouldn’t have passed the first round of the chūnin exams. She knew seven minutes in that they needed to cheat but didn’t.

Whatever.

So, here she was. Being a useless, emotional crybaby in her not-a-nest of a bed. Like any other omega out there in the world. Sit still and look pretty. Sakura didn’t want to be pretty. Nor useless. Or even a crybaby. She was a sissy of the highest order, and she needed to change that. Like yesterday. Or even three months ago. As she lay there, crying into her pillow, she realized that she should have gotten her head into the game from the get-go. There was no one to blame but herself. Instead of staring at Sasuke, she needed to work on her bukijutsu.

Once it was safe enough, she planned on going on heat suppressors, which might be in a year or two because her heats needed to be regular. The rosette realized that she actually knew next to nothing. Ignorance could get her, and especially her teammates, killed. Meeting the Suna siblings before the chūnin exam was proof enough of that. If they were anywhere else, that could have been instant death. At least she knew Sensei took rut suppressors; she saw the bottle during their mission to Waves, it made her feel a little bit better. Maybe that’s why he made her feel so safe. because Sensei was an alpha. A part of her wished he was here. There probably wasn’t much he could do, but his presence would be nice.

~🎃~

The first thing she noticed after her heat finally passed was that Sasuke stunk. Even as a beta. His scent was far too savory for her now sensitive nose. Kakashi-sensei’s scent was beautiful compared to Sasuke’s. Probably because he was an alpha, unlike Sasuke. When she first entered the room where they were placed, whatever crush and emotional connection she had with the raven-haired boy died right then and there. His scent made her queasy. The rosette couldn’t place what they smelled like, but she knew Sasuke was gross and Sensei’s was lovely.

Her teammates weren’t the only ones she visited in the hospital, Lee, another beta. He was friendly and kind. But he smelled off to her too. Maybe Sensei’s scent was just that good to her, that it ruined other people for her. Because there were a few nurses and hospital staff that made her feel sick. Oh well. Lee chatted about all the things that Gai ‘made him’ do with training. It was baffling.

She promised her parents, to herself, and to Konoha, that she would protect her village with everything she had. Except, Sakura was a genin, and unable to take missions outside of Konoha bound D Ranks (stuff needed to be done). Her musings during her heat still held true. The rosette needed to get better. Maybe it wasn’t too late. She wanted to catch up with her teammates. Prove to them all that she wasn’t just another ‘pretty omega.’ She just wasn’t sure how. She had no guidance.

~🎃~

Chakra control was her best arsenal at her disposal. She was able to walk up walls, trees, and water, stay on ceilings for long periods of time, and she even figured out how to time a jump so she could make great leaps across rooftops. It required great timing to jump over several buildings. She enjoyed running across the rooftops at her top speed, which compared to others, was slow. Her only mission was to deliver the mail. People hated it, but Sakura enjoyed it. The mission was actually hard, despite it being labeled a D Rank.

When they handed her a satchel, the mail was so disorganized. So, before she went out, she organized it. To increase her speed, she used Lee’s advice and added weights as she ran across the rooftops. The one compliment she got from Gai-sensei (an omega. Yay. There was hope for her) about using chakra to boost her speed during her fight with Ino gave her a high and she wanted more of it. Only after she finished her mission ‘on time’ would she get paid. It was a stupid five p.m. deadline. Shinobi ran on a twenty-four-hour schedule, but when she put two seconds of thought into it, it made sense. Shinobi weren’t the only ones she was delivering to. After the mission, she headed to the library, grabbed whatever her rank would allow her to get, and go home to study. Sakura was right, there were large gaps in her knowledge. The Academy set her up for success by giving her a decent starting point, now she needed to follow through on her training.

That was how she spent her days. She got up at six in the morning, head to grab her satchel, or packages, organize them, and then go off and deliver them. After her mission, she’d go to the library, drop off anything that she finished (with colored coordinated notes!) and get more material to read. Get food, if she got paid, and then go home to eat and study. As a way to get better and faster, Sakura made it a personal rule, she could only get food if she could get paid from the mission. Which meant she had to finish before five p.m. If she was a minute late, no money. No money meant no food. The rosette had her own personal funds, but she refused to touch them. It was a shitty system, people learned best with positive motivation, but with Sakura and her massive fear of failure, this was good for her and her alone. She just would ensure her improvements didn’t affect her body’s ability to train for too long of a period, since humans needed proper nourishment to build muscle. Having a starving body wouldn’t help her grow as a kunoichi, nor would it help her keep the promise she made. She’ll work around her self-imposed rule, it’ll get her to think outside the box.

At some point, she got different kinds of maps of Konoha, learned far more about her village than any normal person probably should or would. Quickly learning the ins and outs of her beloved village. Sakura became familiar with every nook and cranny weren’t lost to her. She even used the underground evacuation tunnels just to help her get around. The more she traveled all over the place, the more she learned the patterns of daily life in her beloved village. She already knew that shinobi ran on a twenty-four-hour schedule, and civilians did not, what she also learned was that a lot of civilian artisans would open early or stay late just for shinobi. She learned that some civilian merchants were only open at night. She found a civilian run cafe that did not have posted hours, but she learned that it was only for shinobi. She found places that were the opposite. Shinobi run places that only catered to civilians. She got to know them, retirees, either by disability or age, who wanted a quiet life.

As days trickled by, she noticed that less people were doing the mail. She heard that it was because they were needed somewhere else. Sakura remained. A genin without a team. It felt like she was the only one who was consistent. She stuck to her personal rule anyway. If she didn’t finish, then she didn’t eat. Sakura got up earlier, organized multiple satchels, and packages, based on locations, and took off. Some of the packages were so heavy that she had to use chakra to lift them.

Sakura begun to go more days without eating. There was too much to do and not enough of her to go around. Even with the early-morning organization she got up early for and the routes and even the leaps did not help to finish the routes on time. So, she taught herself to fish. No money meant no food; she was starving and wouldn’t be able to improve herself if she had no energy. And rivers were unguarded. She struggled at first. A fishing rod was expensive even if she dipped into her savings, but if she persisted then she’d break down and get food. She needed to stick to her personal rule as much as possible, or at least reasonably modify it, like getting a fishing rod or ‘no money earned; no money spent of food.’ If she were being honest with herself, a fishing rod would only take up space, she didn’t know how to use it and the manuals did not help. If she were on a mission outside of Konoha and ran out of food, it’d be extra unnecessary stuff that was being lugged around. So, she tried catching them with her hands. She broke down in tears after spending a few hours trying to catch a fish with no success. She was getting desperate. Her stomach hurt so much, and she was getting dizzy quickly. Sakura’s mail delivery was slowed. Her chakra reserves weren’t filling up as much as they are supposed to be. After a stupid crying fit, because she was a stupid crybaby. Although, it did help ease her panic, because an idea hit her and helped ease her panic.

She got into the water, using her chakra to give off nonpredator feel. Essentially, matching her chakra to the fish. Some came right up to her, and with chakra on her hands, she caught two fish. Quickly, she went to the grass. With a heavy heart, she used a kunai to cut off their heads. She cried again. But she made a fire and cleaned the fish. She ate well that night since she caught and ate a total of four fish. That did not solve her mail issue. However, it got her thinking about plants that could be edible. So, she harvested some of the wild berries and dandelions, pinecones, and some katniss. She took them home and prepared them for a broth. She needed to eat more than just protein.

The next day, out of desperation, she dropped off the books at the library and went to a nearly abandoned training field and practiced making one of Naruto’s infamous shadow clones. It cut her chakra in half, and she hated it. The worst part, the further the clone moved away from her, the more it drained her pathetic reserves. She needed a way to keep up with what she had to do. Yes, she could always not follow her personal rule, but what was the point? If she couldn’t have the fortitude to do that, how could she do something else? Something far more serious—like solo missions as a higher-ranking shinobi. She had experimented with the shadow clones and realized that the more she made, the division of her chakra was split between her and the clones. So, if she made four, her chakra was cut down to a quarter. That wasn’t good. Her reserves were already pathetic. Naruto’s reserves were an ocean compared to hers. If she stuck to the water theme for comparison, Sakura’s reserves were a kiddie pool. Still, the rosette couldn’t fathom the number of clones Naruto could make and still be functional. The only good thing about making a shadow clone was that she got the memories. No matter how many she made. Although, it got her thinking about why that was. It was just chakra. Sakura went back to her apartment; the shadow clone really messed her up.

A jōnin had chased her off the training ground because it wasn’t properly reserved for her to use. Without her sensei, she couldn’t. Which made no sense to her because how can she be considered an adult as a genin, but unable to reserve training ground without a sensei? Why would they care about some abandoned one? Besides, no one was really using the training grounds, not with when it was every hands on deck for missions.

She did think about it when she was out delivering mail (the next day). How could she make a clone that could do the job assigned without her retaining the memories and (most importantly) not eat her chakra up? In the creation of the clone as well as when it parted from her person. She needed it to be durable and to make many. She was one person, delivering all Konoha’s mail, from low effort mission scrolls, heavy and light packages, personal letters, and even advertisement mail. It was a lot, and she was one person.

She stopped going to the library because she was experimenting with the idea of clones instead and trying to find a new place to train. Because Sakura was one person, the rosette often went without pay. But she caught fish. Killed the fishy, cooked them over a fire, threw them into her weird broth (that she made while she caught the fish), and ate. If she took the fish home, then she’d be tempted to get something like rice to add in some starch to her weird dinner. It had been two weeks since her first heat when she came up with the idea of clones that would fit what she wanted to do. It wasn’t actually her idea. It was Naruto’s. He kept called yin chakra ‘brainy chakra,’ which, for one was hilarious, and two he was right about it. There were the elemental releases, and there were clones of each one. But how did they come to be? Sakura really wished Sensei was awake so she could ask him.

Was she a kunoichi or not?

She could figure it out on her own.

Just like a real kunoichi.

Which, she was.

Kind of.

A terrible one, but one, nonetheless.

After her long day, she caught fish, cleaned and cooked them. And threw them into her broth, once done. As she sat there eating her fishy soup, she thought about clones and clone making. The shadow clones were pure chakra, which divided the user's chakra reserves. Make one, chakra was cut in half. Make four, it’s a quarter. Water clones were clone making but with a water release. There were other elemental clones. From what she understood, they all function similarly to the shadow clone. But the bunshin wasn’t real. It was an afterimage, one that couldn’t even take a single hit without popping. Sakura took a bite of her weird soup as she chuckled to herself at how she used it against Ino; it felt like one glance, and they’d pop. Sakura continued to eat her weird soup, at least it had calories and nutrients.

A part of her was now jealous of her team’s nearly infinite chakra reserves. Sakura did wonder why Sensei thought he had such average reserves. Must be his sharingan. It’s probably always active. She knew nothing about the eyes or any dōjutsu, except that Sasuke unlocked the sharingan. So, she wasn’t going to touch that even with a ten-foot pole. Still, she was jealous. Stupid chakra reserves for the stupid crybaby. Sakura finished her fish soup. She wanted to study. She also wanted to train and get better. No more hiding behind her teammates and watching only their backs. Standing shoulder to shoulder. Like a real team!

But she had no way of getting there. No sensei. No real guidance. Sakura stared down at her now empty container. She was clever as she was smart. What if she used yin or yang releases and combined the bunshin to make a clone? It wasn’t an elemental nature. Jutsus that used one or the other often needed precise chakra control, like genjutsu. Maybe . . . maybe she could do that. But how? Sakura put the bowl down and performed the bunshin. The rosette put her hand through the afterimage of herself. Although, she managed to get a good hard look at herself. Damn, she was skinny. She needed more calories. And muscle.

She released the afterimage clone. Then performed the jutsu again. Getting a good feel of her chakra as it flowed through her to make the bunshin. Sakura released the clone as she walked over to the nearby tree. She walked up the trunk. Minimal chakra. It was to the point where she didn’t need to think about it. But she stood there, parallel to the ground. Feeling how her chakra was sticking her to the tree. It felt like chakra to her. She really needed to get a feel of the very thing she had near perfect control over.

“I can do this.” Sakura whispered as she closed her eyes, breathed in for four seconds, held her breath for four seconds, and then exhaled for four seconds. “I can do this.” She stood on the trunk, trying to feel her chakra. Analyzing how it moved and pulsed inside of her. Like a heartbeat. Chakra was life.

The chakra on her feet was extraordinarily minimal. Naruto had issues with staying on the tree because he wasn’t using enough chakra. One step up. Her chakra rescinded, just enough to not waste it when not in use. When her foot was on the tree, stinking to the trunk. Keeping her parallel to the hard ground, well mostly her core was aching badly. Sakura took another step, analyzing her chakra. For a moment, she was confused. Why would such little chakra keep her upright? But the more steps she took up the tree, the more she felt her chakra, she felt stupid. It was pure yin chakra that she was using. Minimal amount. She super jumped from the tree towards the river, flipping part way and landed on the rushing water. At the last second, her body switched from yin to yang and back to yin. It was such an unnoticeable change. Maybe a super sensitive sensor like the Second would be able to pick it up. She didn’t even notice, and it's her body.

But why so little? Because it's pure yin chakra. According to Naruto, it’s the sticky and brainy chakra. Sakura smiled as she made her way to shore. She can do this. The rosette pulled the yin ‘thread’ of her chakra and performed the hand signs of the bunshin. Out came a clone, that waved. Independently of Sakura, who picked up a rock and tossed it at the clone, which immediately popped. No endurance. Got it. Except, she got the memory of a rock being tossed at her by Sakura.

She did it again, but she pulled on the yang ‘thread’ of her chakra. Out popped another clone. Sakura throw a rock at it. The clone stayed. “Walk on water.” The real Sakura said.

“Okay.” The clone said and it did. But it quickly ran out of chakra and fell in. Then popped out of existence because Sakura panicked. Although, she kept no memory of it. At least the clone's memories.

“Wow. How am alive?” Sakura asked the voice in the most sarcastic tone she could muster. Sakura made the yang clone again but used just a drop of yin. “Go walk on water.” The clone nodded and walked on water. This time, it held its place. It even began to do cartwheels. Like how the real Sakura did in Waves. So, she experimented. She made another pure yin clone. “Pick something up.” It tried and immediately popped out of existence. Sakura retained the memories. She made another yin one, but this time with the tinies drop of yang. “Pick something up.” It did. “Yes!” Sakura cheered as she pumped her fists into the air. “Hey! Guys! Guess what I-” She stopped herself. Remembering that Naruto was out in the world, Sasuke and Kakashi were in a coma. There wasn’t anyone there to celebrate with her. For the first time, she felt very, very alone.

~🎃~

Come to find out, her yin and yang clones were exactly what she was looking for. Yin clones had barely any durability. One stubbed a toe, and it popped out of existence, but on the plus side, they gave Sakura excellent memories of whatever study material the real Sakura ‘threw’ at them when she was off delivering mail. Yang clones gave Sakura zero mental memories, however the more they did something, like a super jump or running, the easier it got for Sakura to do. It wasn’t a big push in physical conditioning; it just made it an itty-bitty easier to do. Her yang clones could never replace proper conditioning, but it did make it easier to truly master the lackluster skills she picked up. Whoever said that her fight against Ino wasn’t flashy had gotten under her skin.

With her yang clones, she was able to divide the work. She broke Konoha down into different sectors. The yin clones helped organize said mail, cutting what Sakura had to do down significantly. After that, she sent the clones into any given direction with their mail bag. Sakura, herself, delivered the heavier packages, and set up success for the next day. At night, she go home, grabbed the books that the clones read, and got new ones. Whatever reading she got her grubby hands on, it wasn’t much. Or high ranking. But it was enough. Filling in the gaps of her education as a civilian born kunoichi. She might accidentally stick her foot in her mouth again, and she didn’t want that to happen.

She had a routine now. Sakura would get up early, do the organizing with her clones, and send them off. She delivered the packages. Afterwards, she would turn in her mission report and get paid. Then she’d go the hospital to visit Sasuke (who had so many flowers), Sensei (who had no flowers), and Lee (he had some flowers, probably from his team). Then after her visit, she did the book exchange.

The loneliness didn’t go away when she visited Lee. He was cheerful and happy, but he wasn’t what she was looking for. She wanted a companion. At least she had a friend. Of sorts. She felt bad about what happened to him. Gai-sensei should never have approved him using the gates. But still, she visited him. When she could afford it (she refused to dip into her savings), she bought Kakashi-sensei flowers, including a glass one just to show that someone cared for him. He might never know it was from her, but at least he’ll know that someone cared. Was it because of his scent? No. Did it help? Yes. Sakura couldn’t figure out why her alpha sensei smelled so nice to her. Or what the smell was.

~🎃~

Sakura sat in her very empty one-bedroom apartment, with her back against the wall, and her flat butt on the cold wood floor. At least she had rice now. A large ten-pound bag would last her ages. She still foraged for most of her food and fished. Mom and Dad taught her to always remain within a budget. Always have savings that were worth at least three months’ rent (or a mortgage). Never splurge when she couldn’t afford it. Her father was a merchant. Some months were hard. Some months were great. She knew all too well the importance of staying within a budget. She missed her parents. Missed their laughter. Their hugs and words of encouragement. She missed Mom’s home cooking.

She had the money. But spending outside of what she earned was giving her a weird feeling inside her stomach. Anxiety, she thought it was called. It was odd. She hardly had any decorations, maybe a few nicknacks from her home. She kept her bed, her clothes, but hardly any furniture. She sold the house completely furnished. As it was. Her heart couldn’t bear to go through the house. There were pictures she did grab. All of them. They were her parents.

No clones tonight. She did her mission. Her heart couldn’t take it tonight. A break was necessary. She hoped. So, the rosette sat there. In her cold apartment, sitting on the cold floor, staring at a very blank wall. She should splurge and make a nest. A proper one. Would her parents be proud of her? Sakura hoped so. Just like how she hoped that Naruto would come home soon and how Sasuke and Sensei would wake up. Would they be happy she ended up being an omega? Yes, they would. They were always supportive of her. She missed them. All her precious people.

Even though she brought nothing to the table as a team member. She really needed to change that. She missed her team as much as she missed her parents. A tiny, innocent part of her still expected her dad to come through her door and make some cheesy dad joke. Mom would playfully slap his arm. But they won’t. Because they died. She wasn’t there to protect them. Just like how she couldn’t protect her teammates. Ever. Sakura was a very useless kunoichi. She couldn’t live up to her promise. That needed to change. But for now, she’ll sit in her cold, dark apartment.

~🎃~

Sakura found a spot. There was an abandoned house, and the grass was tall with many, many weeds. No one was around. An abandoned property. It felt like home. The place smelled like home. It smelled good.

~🎃~

It had been three weeks since her first heat and she noticed that she was slowly building muscles and saw a tiny increase in her speed. So, she added more weight, not a lot, but enough that it made her muscles scream. Lee didn’t know. She wanted to surprise him. Although, with her latest visit, of his own accord (seriously, she just asked about what he thought of his limited view and she was thinking of renting a movie for them to watch together), he was telling her about all the ways Gai had given his team endurance training.

That’s what she added on her slowly increasing tasks. Except she did the endurance training after she dropped the books at the library. Just so she could add more to her tiny (but ever growing) list of things she could do bukijutsu, focusing specifically on shurikenjutsu (because she didn’t need someone to help her with this) while two yin clones were studying in the background. The rosette grabbed everything she could get her hands on. Anything and everything. It did not matter to her how random everything was. Sakura wouldn’t be an idiot again. Or try not to be and stick her foot in her mouth. She might not be a politician nor an ambassador type, but she’s not stupid, and she’ll use her intelligence.

Although yesterday one of her clones did read to not overuse her chakra. It was just as bad as not engaging her chakra (she had no idea what that meant). So, she did rest last night. Despite having the itch to allow one clone to keep on working. Resting every night would probably be the best course of action. As a mild compromise, she would only use the yin clones during the day.

When she dropped off the books she finished, Sakura did seek out the information she was lacking. In the shinobi world, ignorance was not bliss. It meant death. Team Seven was lucky that their sensei was as skilled as he was. It took her an hour to actually find what she was looking for. But she read it right there in the library. ‘Not engaging with one’s chakra’ meant actively using it outside her body. Her heart felt like it exploded.

Did she fuck up? Her breathing became short. It was hard to get a good lungful. How badly did she fuck up? The room spun as she stood there. She wanted to stand side-by-side with her teammates. Her skin felt hot, but she was shivering. Shaking so badly that she dropped the book. The sounded bounced in her ears. So, she didn’t have to look at their backs as they put their lives on the line. Why couldn’t she get a good lungful? Her stomach twisted as her clothes stuck to her. How badly did she fuck up? It felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach, stealing her breath. She gasped for air. Each breath felt shallow. Even with every breath she tried to take. Her terror of her accidental fuck was not helping her additional panic of not being able to breathe properly. She tried. She really did try to keep herself calm. But it felt as though a hand of ice had reached inside her chest, piercing through her ribcage, gripping her heart like a vice. It was an unshakeable fear, one that seemed to seep into her bones. It wasn’t helping. Nothing was helping. She wanted Sensei. She wanted her mom. She wanted her dad. It was a never-ending abyss of despair. The world seemed to warp around Sakura, like a bad blanket, as though she were looking at it through a fun-house mirror. Her thoughts spiraled out of control, each one more distorted than the last, amplifying the panic that was already coursing through her veins.

When she finally got a good lungful of air, by forcing her body to do the Box Breathing technique that Iruka-sensei taught the class; she noticed that she was by herself. In the library. Shaking far more than a leaf during a hurricane. She was on the floor. No one was around. She wanted there to be someone. She wanted someone to notice her. No one would. Unless they were an alpha who just wanted her body. Because she was an omega. Not because she was funny or smart. A cute omega. Eye candy. Something to show off. Gai-sensei and Shikamaru broke the mold. They made higher ranks. They weren’t paper-nin. Pencil pushers. Even if Shikamaru really wanted to be. So, what if she might’ve screwed up. Just a weee bit. With hesitant, and a shaky hand, she grabbed the book and forced her body to remain calm as she continued reading.

According to this, since she was still in puberty, for any of the sub-genders, and just had her first heat, and only one, she still had time to fix things. Her chakra reserves might never improve in terms of volume, but she could still get her chakra to perform regular jutsu, with workarounds. Hopefully. There was time to correct herself. All she needed to do was use a significant amount of chakra outside her body. The clones and the various forms of walking were not going to cut it. Also, according to this book and Iruka-sensei, finding her native element would be a good start for learning jutsus. It'll be easier for someone to learn with their affinity.

She’ll be okay. Right?

Right?

~🎃~

After some searching in the many different shinobi run shops that catered to shinobi and their needs, she managed to get her hands on some chakra induction paper. She went to the abandoned field, and she found out that her natural affinity was water. She really wanted Kakashi-sensei. He knew many different water jutsus. Especially after his fight with . . . Zabuza. That she witnessed both times. Sakura swallowed. Yin chakra was called the brainy chakra by Naruto for a reason! Maybe, she could—it would be a giant risk. There was a strong possibility that she could damage her brain. No one knew that she was here. She’d be reported as missing, and possibly labelled a missing nin when she didn’t report in. No one would find her body, because she’d died of dehydration, and no one would know where she went off too. Maybe Sensei could track her down. Once he woke up. But he was an elite shinobi. Konoha wouldn’t risk such an asset on another genin flak. A lot of genin fled after the Crush. She’d be another one. She hoped that Sensei liked her enough to at least try and track her down. Maybe not. He hadn’t really taught her anything.

Sakura kicked some dirt up in a dead zone of the tall grass. Was she a kunoichi or not? Being one meant danger. Being a kunoichi meant taking risks. But also, they had to be necessary risks. No unnecessary risks. Which one was this? Sakura swallowed as she kicked up more dirt. Her inner omega was screaming that this was very much a necessary risk. She sat down on the patch of dirt. This was going to be a giant risk for her own mind and body. Do or die. Just like in Waves as she taught herself how to water walk. She experimented with pure yin chakra, with her heart pounding her chest, as she sent it to her brain. Her stomach knotted onto itself as she went through her memories of Waves; specifically, the two fights between Sensei and Zabuza. Using yin chakra to calm her mind, as she continued to use the Box Breathing to calm her body, and to see through the haze of fear. With her eyes shut, she felt her eyes prickle. Sakura was extraordinarily cautious as she made her brain remember the hand signs that Zabuza used for each jutsu he had and Sensei’s. So long as he didn’t copy them from Zabuza. When she opened her eyes, it was dark out.

Great.

With her limited reserves, most of the jutsus would eat away most of it. The water clone seemed to be the best use of what she needed to do. Funnily enough, when she first made a water clone with just her chakra, it came out small, like an eight-pound cat size. She was able to let out a small cheer before her vision went spotty and she knew that her body was passing out because of chakra exhaustion.

When she awoke, probably hours later, it was still dark out, she tried again. Another mini water clone. Honestly, she had no idea what to do with the mini clone. She just needed to send it away. She released the water clone, got up, and went back to empty apartment. As she cuddled a pillow, she thought about what to do. She could send it away while she was delivering the mail.