Sakura Haruno died because she was supposed to die. She no longer had to deal with the crazy things in her world because fate had finally put an end to her. Maybe fate also had a few other things in mind too.
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Sakura Haruno, possibly the most done person out in the world. Like anyone at her age, she questioned the fact of her mere existence and why she happened to have been born in the first place. Sure, she was a medical shinobi but that could only take her so far. Sakura relied on her chakra for a physical advantage, but could be easily taken down by someone with more wit and strength. It was obvious for being a civilian-born shinobi.
As far as she recalled, there was never any talents in her. Fate was what tied her together with Sasuke and Naruto. It was pure luck. Had she been placed on a different team, she never would've made it far as a kunoichi or trained under the Godaime Hokage, one of the legendary Sannin.
It was all shock that Sakura had learned to deal with later on. The pinkette had finally discerned her powers to given ones from earned, which were practically none. No one but her could understand how fate tied things together and manipulated certain events to come to the future.
Now Tsunade was going to call her to her office to talk about a mission. About her up and pending death. Naruto was training his heart out and needed a little push of motivation. Her death was supposed to cause it. She had felt all those little pings with Gaara, Neji, and Sasuke, but the tremor in her body was worse than before. It was definitely her time.
What was even the point of training when Sakura knew that she was only a tool in the masterpiece of making Naruto the greatest shinobi in history? There wasn't but it gave one ray of hope. Her life was a gear in the cog but was still useful. However, anyone could've filled her spot and still have gotten the same results.
"Hokage-sama?" she gently called out after rapping on the door several times.
"Come on in, Sakura."
Opening the large door to the office, she bowed her head, "I assume that there is a mission?"
"Yes, " Tsunade breathed out and tossed a scroll into the air, "It should be a simple enough mission for you without a team. Just some reconnaissance on the border, nothing more. We've had alerts of some bandits and you were one of the few to not be booked with missions."
'It should be easy enough for you to not rely on Naruto. All our other capable shinobi are out, so I'll have to stick with you.'
"Hai, Hokage-sama, "she murmured in reply before snatching the scroll.
Why weren't her nerves causing her to shake? ... It was because it was her fate.
Carefully, Sakura slipped a few letters in her diary as if she had meant to give them a long time ago. If she was going to die, she might as well increase the potency of the emotions. She didn't dare write to everyone of her friends or suspicions would rise. In somewhat good calligraphy, she addressed them to Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Tsunade Senju... And Sasuke Uchiha. For no particular reason, she wrote to him, the one who she knew would run away from the start.
Maybe Sasuke also felt trapped by his fate and longed for a way to break free, but her death had to mean something. She kept it short and clipped, as though she had developed some sort of coldness to him. Perhaps she had, knowing that he would achieve a happy ending alongside Naruto, but who was she to ruin it?
Walking out of home, there was a odd wave of tranquility surrounding her. A small smile had made their way to her lips and she hummed along to a lullaby her mother sang to her as a child. When she had crossed the gates, she no longer had the dangerous aura of a kunoichi but someone who knew they were going to die and welcomed it. It definitely wasn't the mood of a C-rank mission.
No one had even noticed how empty her backpack was compared to other missions where she stuffed it to the brim. They weren't supposed to after all. Any interactions were like clockwork and needed to a certain degree. None were needed for a dying girl.
"The sky is fairly pretty today."
It was in its cerulean color that was dastardly close to her Uzumaki teammate. Maybe in her dying breath she'd actually begin to miss everyone and wish for something more, another chance.
Two days had passed, more than what the time would've been if she was serious. She was going to fight with her all and die with her name engraved on the K.I.A. stone. It was an honor.
Smoke billowed out from the trees and she could feel the chakra signatures there pulse. They certainly weren't shinobi and wouldn't normally obtain the upperhand on a ninja like her. The armor they wore was made of simple leather and still susceptible to kunai. Dirty tricks were stamped all over them because of the premonition. However, she couldn't sit around and wait for them to notice her.
She held her two kunai and channeled chakra into both of her fists. Rushing forward, she threw the weapons at her farthest opponents and proceeded to break the ground at the ones nearest to her.
"Get her!" one screamed out and the rest prepared their Naginata.
She continued to pummel them, knocking them unconscious one by one, but although it seemed like a victory... It was supposed to be a tragedy.
Her sandal had caught onto the earth she had broken up and one of their blades was successful in cutting her. It was a simple wound on her arm that was a fourth of an inch deep, nothing more to it, but the grins on their faces said otherwise.
A colorless poison had been put into their blades so it slowly dripped out as the battle goes on. From the complexity, she could tell that the late Akasuna no Sasori had developed it, but who had modified it was still in question. It took effect almost immediately and effected her balance.
That was only stage one. Her movements became slower and sloppier as the battle went on and more and more of the poison began to circulate through her bloodstream. Images began to blur and she began to attack the after-images of the bandits.
Finally, she collapsed into a heap on the ground, breathing heavily and sweating profusely from the side-effects. Her body was facing toward the sky and she could barely make out the white clouds in the same blue sky she had seen earlier.
She knew that the circumstances were too drastic and it was almost cheating for how they won, but it was fate.
A sharp pain flooded into her gut and her eyelids grew heavier. "What kind of medic am I... If I succumb to poison?"
She laughed softly at the irony and smiled, wondering if the coldness was actually a friend rather than foe.
"Maybe next time I won't be bothered by those red strings of fate."
At last, a blade entered her heart and the last things she could hear were the cheering of the bandits echoing loudly through her throbbing ears.
