Chapter Text
Sakura hadn’t really participated in the fight, instead opting to stay on their little ship. Sakura thought this might be a good time to find out more about this place, but then, she had decided it would be better to try and summon Katsuyu with her now stable chakra.
It seemed like the trip here had messed up her chakra because of the pure amount that was ripped from her. Sakura had already begun lightly shoving chakra into her forehead, starting (again) the beginning of her seal.
But, enough of that! Sakura bit her thumb, drawing as much blood as needed. Delicately drawing the symbols on the wood, she slowly directed her chakra and did the necessary hand signs. (Ignoring the yells and pure chaos going on in the island,) Sakura watched the smoke fade in excitement.
Only that her blood turned black and began chipping away, no slugs in sight.
Sakura groaned, falling back to sprawl out her legs and arms. She should’ve known it wasn’t going to be this easy.
Sakura knew her friends were safe, she knew the war was over and everyone was most likely working to build up kohona again. She knew Naruto would be labelled as the next hokage, and would train his ass off to get the title at least a year earlier.
She knew Ino was working out her clan, and also hopefully working on the flower shop. Maybe it was already up, shining bright in the still half rubble village. It sounds a lot like Ino to open up and give a flower to all the residents, advertising for after the war damage was taken care of.
She imagined Sasuke completing mission after mission, maybe already fixing up the dusty Uchiha compound. She knows he will never live there, but Sakura will hope he can stop inside his house and breathe.
Sakura Haruno hopes that her team is getting along well, and hopes someone out there is smacking her teammates for getting so injured or fighting over nothing.
She hopes that they will go on, laugh and cry, live and thrive in the village they dream of.
Sakura just wholeheartedly hopes that she can make it home, she can laugh and cry with them. She dreams of sparring with her team and going out to new diners with Ino and Hinata. Sometimes she wonders if her dreams are just dreams for a reason.
Luffy and Zoro come back with the orange haired women, who remind them she isn’t a pirate, will never EVER be a pirate, and that also apparently implies to joining their crew of a measly two.
Sakura wonders if the small raft will hold four people, before pushing herself off the floor. Zoro steps almost steps on her before yelping and twisting it mid-step. Luffy just laughs his weird laugh, clutching his hat.
“Almost forgot! This is Sakura, Sakura this is Nami! She gonna be out navigator” He grins, stretching his leg to hop over her, and Nami just raises a brow.
“You said it was only you and Zoro… So she isn’t a pirate?” The girl, Nami rolls her eyes, muttering about “these crazy people go onto sea with no maps or anything!?” or “Idiots” and Sakura likes her already.
Luffy just seemed so set on picking random people up, because on the next island, after being faked out by some long-nosed kid, he asks if the tan kid wants to join his crew.
This island was as crazy as the last, and Sakura doesn’t mind it. She opts to stay back at the raft, or so she told them. Now, the pink-haired girl is hedged into a short brown-haired traveller. Looking for her dad and getting some supplies from village to village.
Tanaki Haru is what she introduces herself to the women at the vegetable stall.
“Aww! You are just such a doll, Haru!” She laughs, packing up a few items.
“Be careful getting back home, I wish you all my luck in finding your father!”
Haru smiles shyly, ( Sakura is an expert at this, she swears all those pranks with Naruto, who was hedged into a busty woman at the time, will never go to waste.) Grabbing the bags of veggies, she hands the women the needed amount and waves while walking away.
Skipping to the next stall, one that sold travelling supplies and clay dishes. The wallet she swiped didn’t have much, so she didn’t bother on anything other then
Sakura got a lot of information here, about the long-nosed kid who was called Usopp, and he was sounding a bit too much like Naruto to be necessary. Both pranksters for attention, both have big dreams, both are mostly scorned or rejected because of their parents and because of the chaos they cause. Both help a sad girl, but instead of Hinata’s little sadness, this girl, Kaya, is actually diagnosed with severe depression.
When Sakura hears the calls of treason and backstabbing, she doesn’t even turn her head. Sakura walks back to that dinghy raft, takes one look at that weird island and bows a quiet thank you.
Sakura pushes the raft back out to sea, knowing that this Kaya will most likely build them a new ship so sparkling that they’ll forget this one even exists. In the chaos of a fight, Sakura lets herself drift off, into the blue sea.
The food she had swiped from the town would last her a while, and she had plenty of water. Sakura could just waterwalk, leaving no traces of leaving, but if she had a perfectly good raft, why waste the chakra?
Sakura hummed a familiar toon as the waves carried her, far, far out to sea. The Strawhat pirates have a bright future it seems, gaining members left and right. Sakura Haruno wonders if they’ll make it, but she knows they will. The straw hatted boy, Luffy, has an… air around him. It makes you want to believe he will be the “pirate-king” as ridiculous as it sounds.
Sakura wonders what their next adventure will be, and what people they will collect and bond with.
‘Huh,’
Sakura pauses, the more she thinks about it the more it seems to click in her head.
‘They remind me a lot like The Kohona 12, how… odd?’