Imagine Naruto picking the village over Sasuke. Sakura becoming a medic nin and absolutely fucking killing it in her field and figuring she can accomplish anything put in front of her even if she doesn’t end up with Sasuke. She became a ninja for herself not for a boy.
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𝙣𝙚𝙥𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙨 & 𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 : 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘞𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘫𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘢𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘢’𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 !
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𝙎𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙧𝙖 𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙤 ⟳
⤍When Sasuke leaves the village for the first time Sakura, of course, is distraught. For a certain amount of time, the young girl feels devastated that he has left and it will take her a bit of time to recover from the shock. Keeping in mind that Sakura had the biggest crush on Sasuke for the majority of her childhood, it would not easy for her to let go of him at first.
⤍ After seeing Naruto’s determination, Sakura decides that she won’t be left behind either. Due to how Naruto returned after his fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, Sakura finally sees that she can’t continue to wallow in her own self-pity and feelings of unrequited love at losing Sasuke. She realizes that she needs to move forward in order to support the people that she has left.
⤍At first, Sakura has no real idea about how she wants to go about making herself ‘useful’. Without Sasuke around anymore, Sakura had no real sense of being, since she basically lived and died for his approval. Without him, she is aimless. Unfortunately, her own autonomy had been nixed, and instead, what remained was the shell of a demure character she created and played for so long.
⤍She now has to find her own target and goals that directly benefit herself, and her own happiness, accomplishments and worth, though this is not easy either. In the beginning, she finds herself thinking back to Sasuke, wondering if he would approve or disapprove of what she is trying her hand at.
⤍With Sasuke out of the village, one of Sakura’s first steps towards becoming her own person is to reconcile with Ino. Without his presence for a shallow rivalry, Ino and Sakura are able to foster a healthy friendship, which both of them needed, and missed due to the rivalry.
⤍With Naruto now out of the village and Sakura mostly alone, save for the other Konoha 11, she has a lot of time to think about which route she can take. She settles on training in medicine, with Tsunade being one of her biggest inspirations.
⤍One of Sakura’s biggest motivations on being a medic ninja is that she likes the idea of being able to help save lives, a nonexpendable skill. We could always see that she took up the role of a medic on missions even before coming to her conclusion to train exclusively in medicine, in the way she would always bandage up or take care of those who could not help themselves.
⤍Sakura’s smart, no-one can deny that, but comparing her to Naruto and Sasuke is a big disservice. We have to look at the fact that Sakura came into the academy as a nobody and managed to be top of the class with excellent chakra control and intelligence rivaling Shikamaru. But she was also misguided, following behind Sasuke, and to a lesser extent, Naruto, since both were much stronger than her.
⤍Sakura immediately asks Tsunade to train her in medicine, which Tsunade accepts upon seeing Sakura’s determination. She could see a likeness in Sakura that she once had, the determination to do something and to better herself, not only to help others but herself.
⤍When Naruto returns to the village, Sakura has a better sense of her self-worth, which surprises Naruto, since the last time he saw her, she seemed lost. Now she seemed confident and sure of herself, and most of all, happy.
⤍However, as they met Sasuke again for the first in 2 years, Sakura would feel a small pinch in her heart. Sasuke was standing there again, bringing up so many feelings and memories from their childhood and for a moment, those nostalgic feelings would cloud her judgment. During this brief moment of relapse, Sakura would then remember that it was Sasuke’s decision to leave and no one forced him out and that no amount of pleading between herself and Naruto would bring him back. This thought alone made her realize that while she could miss Sasuke, she didn’t need him because if he had stayed in the village, she would not have become a medic ninja or made so much progress. She would have still been that demure character following after Sasuke instead of the strong and independent medic ninja she became.
⤍Though she could not deny that still, in her heart, there was a place for Sasuke that belonged to only him for so long, and still in some way belonged to him, but she would not let it control her.
⤍She met Sasuke’s steady gaze with one of her own and did not plead with him as Naruto tried. Nor did she feel anything other than acceptance when they were not able to retrieve him. Instead, she consoled Naruto, who still couldn’t believe Sasuke would not return.
⤍After the encounter with Sasuke, it’s clear to her that they all have difficult decisions that they have to make, and while Sasuke made one that hurt them, Sakura chose to make a decision to help herself and others. She realizes that no boy should affect her ambitions and goals in life, and as a result of this epiphany, she would continue to strive to become the best in her field.
