To Live For Others

Chapter 7

I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does.

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"I can't wait to show of my skills! Me and Akumaru are going finish this mission fast and easy!" Kiba yelled, as his large animal companion barked in agreement. Sakura let out an annoyed grumble, why did it have to be Kiba? She didn't particularly dislike him, but she did find him beyond annoying and rude. Naruto could be annoying, but Kiba always found a way to surpass him. Not with louder words, more from his arrogant attitude. As far as Sakura could tell he was one of the weaker shinobi from her graduating class. Possibly still stronger than her, but since Sasuke left Sakura sees herself as the weakest. Yet she still believes that a fight between her and Kiba would still be a tossup.

Sakura sighed, she hated the idea of being weak, she's spent so much time training the past year to only feel like she wasn't any stronger. After she was able to start using medical ninjutsu and enhance her strikes with chakra, she felt proud; until a spar with Tsunade left her battered and bruised. She knew her taijutsu wasn't great, she needed to improve in that area to compliment her new strength so she asked the only one who would help her: Rock Lee.

She has trained with him for the last several months, yet he still handedly defeated her each time they sparred. She didn't see that she was making any progress with taijutsu, so she then asked Kurenai to help develop some genjutsu to surprise her opponents long enough to hit them. While she did feel a progress in her genjutsu afterwards, she needed far too much time to set it up. Therefore, another pointless endeavor to help make herself stronger. Even though she didn't feel like she was getting better, she still has kept up with her training for the off chance that she did start improving.

Which helped bring her another set of problems in the form of her parents. Civilian merchants, who have strongly opposed her decision to become a kunoichi from the start. They first didn't believe she had the ability to graduate from the academy, which forced her to dive into studying to prove them wrong. She was so worried about being caught by her parents reading the academy study material that she would only study at night, underneath her covers. Yet she did graduate from the academy, and as one of the top kunoichi to top it off. Her parents did come on graduation day, her father managed to put on a fake smile for her, but her mother refuse to acknowledge her accomplishment. Sakura pretended that it didn't bother her, but when she was being honest to herself it hurt her deeply. More so than the constant rejection from Sasuke.

But she continued on with her dream of being a kunoichi, she was put on a team with Sasuke no less. She was happy, even with Naruto being there. As much as she said she disliked being on a team with him, she did enjoy her time with Team 7 more than she did being at home with her parents. Neither would ask her about her day, her father would talk about anything else other than her being a shinobi. Her mother would give her a cold smile and a plate of food, otherwise she ignored her completely. When she failed the chunnin exams, her mother came up to her and told her to give up, that this failure; her only failure to that point, was proof enough that she wasn't meant to be a shinobi. Sakura refused. Then Sasuke left the village, Sakura realizing she was not strong enough to bring him back was forced to stay waiting on news of the Uchiha. After the team returned injured and the hospital, her mother once again pleaded with her to quit. This time however, it was different she didn't sound condescending as she normally did; she explicitly informed her daughter of everything wrong with her with a series of yells. By the end of it Sakura was in tears, she found herself running to the hospital where she found out Naruto was awake. When she saw him injured, wrapped in so many bandages that he looked like a mummy, all she could feel was guilt. It was her fault he went after Sasuke, it was her fault she wasn't strong enough to help him. She then decided to beg the Hokage, the strongest kunoichi in all of Konoha possibly in all the elemental nations, to train her.