Last Time ....
"A bunch of incompetent scoundrels!" Madara Uchiha spat.
Although they all understood that what these people were saying was nonsense, Sakura in the Tsukuyomi seemed genuinely affected. A week later, after her condition stabilized, she strongly requested to be discharged from the hospital.
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If the sarcastic remarks and ridicule could keep Sakura strong, the pitying and sympathetic looks from some neighbors after her discharge from the hospital deeply affected her.
Many of the neighbors were ordinary people, so naturally they wouldn't call her by her name affectionately. They all politely called her Uchiha-san. Every time she was called that, Sakura felt a tremendous irony. She didn't have Uchiha blood, wasn't Sarada Uchiha's biological mother, and now wasn't even Sasuke Uchiha's true wife. What right did she have to be called Uchiha?
Sakura filed for divorce. Sasuke was surprised but quickly agreed. Sarada was unwilling, but faced with her estranged parents and her suffering mother, she couldn't bring herself to say no.
Leaving the village office, seeing her name revert to Haruno Sakura, Sakura felt like she had come full circle, only to return to where she started.
Ino, having heard the news, rushed over. She cautiously asked… "Are you really not going to regret it?"
Sakura's face held a desolate indifference, as if she'd lost all hope. "I'm not worthy of the Uchiha clan, so don't call me Uchiha anymore."
These words caused several Uchiha—Madara, Izuna, Obito, and Itachi—to frown simultaneously. Sasuke was a bastard, but Sakura was absolutely qualified to be a member of their Uchiha clan. Her current expression of utter despair left the Uchiha members feeling uneasy.
Of course, much later, they would realize that Sakura becoming an Uchiha could also be because it wasn't Sasuke, but one of them. After all, who doesn't bear the Uchiha surname? Although by then, the competition for Sakura's surname wouldn't just be between the Uchiha and others.
Ino was stunned for a moment, then slammed her hand on the table in anger. "What do you mean, 'not worthy'? It's Sasuke who's not worthy of you!"
Sakura's face was expressionless, yet withered. "It was all my fault, my wishful thinking. If the Uchiha clan hadn't been massacred, I would never have married Sasuke. Marrying into the Uchiha clan, the main branch, was already a huge advantage for me. But I've been dreaming for twelve years; it's time to wake up."
Kakashi and the others were alarmed by Sakura's complete loss of confidence and extreme inferiority complex. It seemed as if Sakura had utterly denied everything about herself.
Ino, initially happy for Sakura's liberation, suddenly felt indignant thinking about Sakura's sacrifices over the years.
"But are you content? You worked so hard to be with Sasuke! You raised Sarada for so many years; Sasuke should make it up to you!"
Sakura suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with irony and helplessness.
"Yes, I've been trying all these years. Trying not to fall behind Naruto and Sasuke, trying to become an excellent ninja, trying not to be outdone by the clan ninjas, trying to be worthy of Sasuke, trying to marry Sasuke, trying to be a good mother, trying to achieve something at work—trying, trying, trying every single day, never daring to relax. But what has all that effort brought me? Fine, I've tried enough. I don't want to try anymore."
Ino choked back tears.
Uchiha Madara and the others also sighed. All their efforts had come to nothing. Life had reached a point where only tragedy could describe it. They now completely understood why Haruno Sakura had struggled so desperately to break free of the Infinite Tsukuyomi; it was utter despair.
But even this self-pity and despair were denied to Haruno Sakura, who was instead pushed into an even deeper abyss.
Sakura's body was no longer suitable for ninja; she was even weaker than an ordinary person. Therefore, she couldn't protect herself. Kakashi and the others witnessed Sakura being ambushed and knocked unconscious. When she awoke, she found herself in an ordinary inn, facing a woman in her thirties of average appearance.
The woman looked at Sakura with hatred and glee. Sakura felt the woman looked familiar, but couldn't quite place her. She asked warily,
"Who are you? Where is this? Why did you knock me unconscious and bring me here?"
The woman's jealous face twisted even more, speaking in a sarcastic tone.
"You really have a bad memory, don't you? You don't even remember your ninja academy classmates?"
Ninja academy classmates? Sakura desperately sifted through her hazy childhood memories, and then, finally, she remembered. She was somewhat surprised.
"Are you Amy?"
Tsukuyomi's memories also conveniently presented a childhood flashback: Sakura Haruno, around five or six years old and still a little dumpling, was being mocked by this woman's younger version and a group of others. They said she had a wide forehead, looked strange, and kept pushing and shoving her, making Sakura cry.
Amy smiled maliciously.
"Remember now? Hmph, thought you were different from us just because you'd climbed up to the clan heirs? Wanted to achieve upward mobility and enter the upper echelons of society? In the end, you still fell back down, beaten back to where you started? A bald chicken pretending to be a phoenix!"
Amy and the others who bullied her were commoners, so after Ino offered her a helping hand, they dared not bully her anymore. They couldn't afford to offend the clan heirs. Because of Ino, Sakura integrated into Ino's clan circle, and afterwards, she only interacted with clan children and heirs, never again interacting with her commoner classmates.
Sakura was already in a state of complete self-doubt, and Amy's words only intensified her feelings of inferiority. But quickly, she calmed down and coldly asked...
"What do you want from me now? We haven't seen each other since graduation."
Amy looked at her with intense jealousy.
"But I've been watching you all along. Becoming one of the twelve genin back then, you felt so proud, didn't you? Being teammates with Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, then being trained by Konoha's top ninja, Hatake Kakashi, you were so smug, weren't you? After the Uchiha clan betrayed the village and Uzumaki left, I thought you were finally going to be abandoned. But you shamelessly went to the Fifth Hokage to become his apprentice, and the Fifth Hokage was truly fooled by you, actually accepting you as a disciple." "As your disciple, don't you think you're so great? After the Fourth Shinobi World War, you became one of the new Sannin, married an Uchiha, and became the hospital director. You're an elite Jonin, the Fifth Hokage's last disciple, the Sixth Hokage's student, and the Seventh Hokage's teammate. You're a true member of Konoha's upper echelons. Don't you think you've reached the pinnacle of your life?
But do you know how I've been watching you with gritted teeth every day, anxiously waiting for your downfall, hoping you'd suffer? Hahaha, heaven has eyes! This day has finally come! I'm so happy, so thrilled!"
Amy burst into hysterical laughter, her joy emanating from within, morbid and malicious.
Kakashi and the others were stunned by Amy's madness. Did she harbor some deep-seated hatred for Sakura?
Sakura was equally chilled. She had never imagined that someone had been watching her from the shadows, constantly hoping for her misfortune. She asked incredulously,
"Why do you hate me so much? What did I do to offend you? You bullied me when we were kids, and I didn't settle the score, yet you're holding a grudge against me?"
Amy's smile vanished, and she suddenly slapped Sakura hard. Sakura, weak, couldn't dodge and took the full force of the blow. Amy wasn't satisfied, though. She grabbed Sakura's hair, lifted her face, and spoke viciously.
"Why? You still have the nerve to ask why? You're just a useless piece of trash I bullied, why is your life so glamorous? Why are you so lucky, while I have to live such a miserable life? My life is a complete mess!"
Sakura was stunned, then retorted angrily. "Are you crazy? What does your misfortune have to do with me? Besides, I'm not doing well either, aren't you happy and satisfied now?" Sakura's face showed pain.
Amy slapped her again in a fit of rage.
"I hate this about you the most! You act like you're the most miserable one. How dare you think you're pathetic? You're already lucky enough; at least you had it! Losing it now is what you deserve! Even if you were dying now, abandoned by the Uchiha, you could still live a decent life.
And me? After you graduated, it took me three more years to graduate from the Ninja Academy, joining a team full of commoners. The instructors were genin, so I couldn't get any resources. I did trash missions every day, barely making ends meet. I finally bribed a chunin to get into a new team, but I'm constantly being used as cannon fodder..." "These suicide squad jobs are basically being sent out on seduction missions, to be with one greasy, disgusting ugly man or old man after another! You should be like me! Just because you had a good teacher, a good master, you don't have to do these missions at all! Why?!"
Izuna, Tobirama, Kakashi, Itachi, and Minato suddenly understood why Amy hated Sakura Haruno so much. As the second-in-command of the Uchiha clan, handling dirty work was part of Izuna's job. Tobirama was the one who established the Konoha Anbu, and the others were all from the Anbu themselves. They fully understood that besides the glamorous, heroic side of ninjas, there was also darkness, cruelty, and gloom.
Dirty missions were countless, and seduction missions were commonplace. Female ninjas using their bodies as weapons was commonplace.
Although Obito and Sasori weren't from the Anbu, their lives as rogue ninjas exposed them to even more darkness.
While Hashirama and Madara weren't often involved in these things, they were also aware of the situation.
Sakura was utterly stunned. She had never encountered the gloomy, dark side of ninja life. Sakura had been too well protected; she was resilient and brave, yet also naive and innocent.
The circle of clan heirs she had been exposed to meant she would never see this darkness. The ninja world was sharply divided into classes. There was a huge chasm between ninjas of clan origin and those of commoner origin, and another huge chasm existed between ninjas of different ranks. Beneath Konoha's seemingly warm, harmonious, loving, and fair facade lay a cruel, clearly defined military hierarchy, layer upon layer, with distinct barriers. Lower-ranking ninjas could never reach higher-ranking ones, a difference as insurmountable as an insurmountable chasm.
Yes, what was even crueler than Kakashi's original plan was that if Sakura hadn't joined Kakashi's team, but instead ended up in an ordinary squad composed entirely of civilians, with their teacher being just a regular Chunin, Sakura wouldn't even be guaranteed a safe and monotonous life as a low-ranking ninja. She might be sent to her death as cannon fodder, but more likely, like Amy, she would be assigned to one seductive mission after another, moving from one man to another like a prostitute, all to extract information and complete missions.
Sakura suddenly didn't know what to say. Compared to that terrifying path, her current pain seemed indeed pretentious. But just because she hadn't experienced that kind of life, did she not even have the right to suffer?
Amy, however, didn't want to know any of this. She only wanted to drag Haruno Sakura down with her. Suddenly, she clapped her hands, the door opened, and three or four shady-looking men walked in.
Amy laughed gleefully. "This is my seduction mission for this time. Now, I'll give it to you. You can keep them company, okay?"
Sakura's face changed drastically. She tried to leave, but she was no match for the violent resistance of the active-duty ninja Amy and three or four men.
Amy said to the men, "It's settled then. I found you a beauty. After you're done, remember to give me the information. I need to report back~"
"We know, we know," one man waved impatiently, then smirked. "She's a great beauty, but unfortunately, she's a bit too old."
To Be Continued .....