Disclaimer: It's called fanfiction for a reason.

Wham

Wham!

Thunk!

Wham!

Thunk!

The two sounds repeated in a nearly seamless pattern as two eyes stared intensely into the log and the endless mantra of 'Bring the arm into the side, align with waist, relax shoulder…trust out and turn!' flowed through her mind.

Whack!

'Bring back-' the girl's thoughts suddenly came to a halt as she noticed that she'd again forgot to bring her shoulder out all the way. With a kick to the log and an angry spout of cursing the girl spun around and stalked to the other side of the field.

Again! She'd messed up again! Why couldn't she get it?! She'd been practicing this punch for two weeks now, everyday for almost three hours!! Why couldn't she get it?! These thoughts continued in an angry torrent through the girl's mind until she let out a shriek that sent the near by birds scattering.

Everyday the girl came to this ground from dawn to dusk practicing, she ran through warm ups, stretches, laps, weighting lifting, drills- if you could imagine it, she'd done it. However what did she have to show for it? Nothing but ugly bruises, sprains and cuts. Her improvement was minimal; her technique was still flawed, her strength was that of a child's and her chakra reserves made her want to cry.

The pinkette let out an anguished sigh as she sank to the ground, flinching as she came down a little too hard on one of her leg bruises. Letting her head slowly drift up to the rapidly darkening sky she noted that'd she'd have to drag her sorry corpse home soon so that she could make dinner.

After sitting for five minutes, she found the energy to push herself up and collect her stuff and slowly make her way back to her home.

As she walked down a residential district, her thoughts went back to how she got here.

Sakura Haruno had never been much a fighter. As her name implied she was a flower; her body not built for punching, throwing and killing. She'd never had good coordination (falling and stumbling her way through her childhood) and thanks to her small frame, had a very difficult time building any strength. This had not bothered her though when she was younger. Sakura had always thought that if you understood enough and learned enough, your body would eventually catch up with your mind (for she always had been a very smart girl). However after Sasuke had left her that bench, reality had been shoved in her face. Having amazing chakra control (but not very much chakra) and the ability to understand techniques just wasn't enough. A ninja was a tool, and if the tool wasn't honed, then it was useless. And she realized was what she'd been all these past years in team 7: USELESS.

When the ugly word surfaced in her mind she let out a hiss, cringing just slightly as it stood out boldly in her mind. However, once the chain of events had started, she couldn't keep her mind from reviewing the rest of the events that had occurred since that fateful evening spent on that cold concrete form.

After Naruto had left (she couldn't blame him for leaving something as worthless as her) and Kakashi had stopped talking to her (not that he'd ever said much in the first place, she knew he gave up on her after she failed to make it into the third part of the chunnin exams…maybe even before then) Sakura started to train. Originally she'd tried to find other Jounin who'd help her overcome her weaknesses (even going so far as to ask the new Hokage for help) but quickly learned that no one wanted to help someone as weak and useless as her. However other's opinions now mattered little to Sakura, if they couldn't help, she'd do it on her own.

Sakura went back to the library and took out all the books on nindo techniques and training exercises she could find (for a second time, for she'd already read them as a child…there hadn't been much else for her to do). After memorizing each volume she went and asked to be excused from missions for the year so that she could train (which no one argued against…she wasn't much of an asset really). She then found herself a secluded training ground where she proceeded to practice from dawn to dusk. And now here she was three months later…still use-

Having arrived at the door as this thought struck, Sakura shoved the key into the lock and slammed the door open and promptly wincing, 'I really need to learn that slamming doors is not good for bruised muscles'. With tired sigh she dropped her equipment on the floor and shuffled into her kitchen where she took out a salad filled with nuts, cheese and chicken that'd she'd prepared earlier in the week from the fridge (she was far too tired to cook). After quickly eating, she dumped her dishes in the sink and proceeded to stumble into her bedroom and onto the bed with the last thought of 'should probably disinfect those cuts' fluttering through her mind before she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Author Note: Um yes…So this is the first chapter of a story that I kind of came up with after a frustrating evening at Kumdo (Korean version of Kendo). I figured that Sakura must have also had a very difficult time becoming a ninja because she doesn't seem to exactly be built for fighting, so I figured why not try writing a more realistic story about Sakura getting stronger; one without her magically becoming a jounin who's amazing with all weapons and knows every jutsu or gets some random uber kekegenkai. I want this story to chronicle her getting stronger in her own right, through hard work and determination. However I'm very if-y on how good it is…if people like the story and are okay with my writing (my second time ever writing something outside of a school assignment P), I'll continue it. If people don't like it, I won't.

Anyway I'd greatly appreciate you commenting and telling me how I can improve, what I should continue doing and if I should continue the story.

Thanks for reading,

atasch