Sakura's Determination
AN: This used to be part of a story named "Death of a Hero" but there was too much paraphrasing so I took it down. As having way too much paraphrasing is not good.
Though the Sakura parts I kept and tweaked, got rid of the paraphrasing. Ironically, the paraphrasing left the story with stilted dialogue.
Sakura Haruno went through the hand signs again. "Flying Mist Nail Soaring!" She exhaled and hundreds of tiny blue nails flew out of her mouth, embedding themselves in a nearby tree.
Her long, bright pink hair was sweaty from the training. Her green eyes focused on the task at hand. Her fair skin, qipao dress inclusive of zipper on front and tight dark green shorts were also sweaty.
After all, it had been hard training, training for a life or death battle.
Sakura Haruno, like her teammates Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, were given the Tree Climbing Practice by their sensei Kakashi Hatake to prepare for their second inevitable battle against Zabuza and Haku in less than a week's time.
Sakura aced the test, Naruto and Sasuke...not so much.
Kakashi, deciding that having Sakura just sit around and not learn something new wouldn't do, and considering her skills, taught her the Flying Mist Nail Soaring technique. He had noted her lack of offensive techniques. Naruto had Shadow Clones. Sasuke had Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. While Sakura didn't have anything near that level.
The technique was very valuable, and as one gained experience and strength, the strength of the technique increased.
Several days after starting her training with the technique, Sakura went with Tazuna to guard him while he and others worked on the bridge. There, the kunoichi witnessed one of the men working with him, Giichi, quit due to his fear of the possibility of the assassins Gatō had hired coming after him.
She and Tazuna headed to the town so the old man could get food.
Hours later, at sunset, Sakura and Tazuna walked through the town along the dirt streets.
Tazuna was easily in his fifties, maybe sixties. His hair and beard were gray, his eyes hid inner pain. He wore a straw hat for protection from the sun and his tan and black clothes and sandals were well worn, the color faded from the sun and time.
Sakura couldn't help but notice the state of the town. A man walked by in dirty clothes and looked too thin with a sign containing the words 'I will do any job'.
That wasn't the only heartbreaking sight she saw. As they walked, they saw more. Children sitting by the sides of one of the many wooden buildings, some groaning in hunger. No one stopped to help them.
When the two entered the store, it was as miserable as the outside.
Sakura looked at the wooden shelves illuminated by the rays of the setting sun. There was almost nothing. Some were completely empty, others were close to empty. Something's wrong here...outside and here...
She walked to one of the shelves and picked up what was left of a celery. This wouldn't even feed a small child...
She put the vegetable back. Her heart sinking from all she had seen. She soon felt a hand touch her bag.
On reflex, she spun around and kicked the man away with a chakra infused kick. "Pervert!"
The man flew into the wall with a thud and slid down. He grunted in pain. "N-No I'm not...I-I haven't eaten in weeks. Weeks!" The man's voice grew shaky. "I-I'm starving. No one wants to help..."
Sakura could tell the man was most likely very poor. His hair was very greasy, his clothes were tattered and faded, and it appeared he wore them every day.
Not eaten in weeks, not good at all. She reached into her bag. "I'm very sorry, was caught by surprise." She pulled out one of her rice cakes and approached the man. "Here, have this." She handed it out.
The man took the cake. "T-thank you, no one else would help." He started to eat quickly.
Tazuna stood by the entrance.. "Sakura, are you ready?"
Sakura quickly caught up. "Yes." She followed to the side. "Something's up with the town, do you know why it's this way?"
Tazuna hesitated. "Yes." He told the story of what happened to the country.
The tale begun with hope, and had ended in despair.
Gatō...we must stop him. Sakura felt sorrow for the people in the Land of Waves, suffering under such a terrible, greedy man
Sakura looked down the street and heard someone cry out 'Thief!" A kid ran out of the store carrying a loaf of bread.
Kids driven to stealing. Sakura knew it was awful. They hardly had that kind of problem back in the Hidden Leaf. The people were truly suffering here.
Moments later, she felt a hand grab her butt. Her eyes shot wide and her mouth turned into a frown. Again? Her eyes narrowed and she snarled. She spun around, intending to punch the person. "You-!"
She froze and let out an out an audible gasp. Her brows dropped slightly.
In front of her, was a little boy. His clothes were dirty and indicted they had not been washed for a long time.
Sakura sighed. I almost punched out a little kid. Her lips compressed. "I'm terribly sorry."
The kid reached his hands out, palms up. "Gimme." His eyes were closed with a big open mouthed smile.
Sakura's brows dropped and her mouth quivered. This poor kid's probably starving. She reached into her bag and withdrew several pieces of candy and three rice cakes. "Here, have these." She placed the food into his hands.
The kid smiled. "Thank you."
Sakura smiled and nodded.
The kid ran off into the crowd of people ahead.
Tears welled up in Sakura's eyes, she wiped them away before they could roll down.
Sakura looked down, her mouth turning to a frown; she closed her eyes and looked up. She opened them. Sasuke, Naruto, hope your training is going well. We need all the strength we have. And with my new technique, we will succeed.
Tazuna continued walking, Sakura quickly kept pace.
Minutes later, a scream rang out.
A voice shrieked. "No! Please don't hurt me!"
"Tazuna, stay here." Sakura dashed off, not noticing Tazuna's nod of approval, and headed towards the alleyway where the scream came from. She gasped and her eyes widened.
A kid, no older than seven, cowered by the side of a wooden building, tears streaming down his face amid his sobbing. Sakura recognized the light blue shirt and brown pants of the kid from earlier she saw running from someone shouting at him for stealing.
Surrounding him were five adult men, two carried planks of wood, one carried a small mallet, one carried a paddle, and one carried a staff with a ball shaped end on both sides.
The man with the paddle sneered. "Brat! Consider this a lesson for stealing!"
The man with the staff stomped his foot on the ground, gaining a startled response from the child. "Doesn't matter how young, you've got it coming!"
"Please don't hurt me! Please!" the kid bawled, tears streaming down his face. He curled up tighter into a ball, covering his head with his hands. "My family hungry! No food! Please!"
One of the men with a wooden plank spat. "No mercy for thieves!"
The kid was in hysterics. "No! No! No! Please!"
The man with the mallet raised the hammer. "Here it co-!"
Sakura clenched her hands into fists. "Stop!" Her eyes narrowed. "You lay one finger on him, and there will be no mercy!"
The five men turned their attention to the lone girl in the alleyway. The one with the mallet walked to the front of the group. "You and what army, lady? You should be in the kitchen, not out here."
Sakura's insides boiled with anger. "That's it!" She formed three hand signs. "Kid, keep down!" Flying Mist Nail Technique! Sakura inhaled.
"Kunoichi?!" one of the wooden plank wielding men took a step back. "We pissed off a kunoichi!"
The kunoichi exhaled. Thousands of flying light blue nails flew out of her mouth.
The men were stung seconds later. The pain akin to thousands of bees stinging. They screamed in agony, dropped their weapons, and ran the opposite direction in retreat from the unending barrage of nails, looking like human porcupines.
Sakura ended the technique and ran to the kid. She sat down on one knee. "Are you okay?"
The kid, seeing that the danger had passed, sat up with his back against the side of the building. "Why did you come?"
"I heard screaming." Sakura turned to where she had entered the alley from earlier. "And as a ninja, I couldn't ignore it." She looked where the men had ran then the kid again. "You should go home now, before it gets dark." Sakura paused. "Though I have one question, why did you steal?"
"Family hungry, no money. So I stole to get us food." Tears welled up in the kid's eyes. "No one wants to help."
Sakura frowned, her eyelids lowered. So much suffering here. Sakura reached for and opened her bag. Ten rice cakes and five pieces of candy left. Was going to save them for later.
Tazuna peered into the alleyway. "Sakura, are you alright?"
Sakura looked up and saw the older man. "Yes. You have a spare bag?"
"Sure." Tazuna reached into his pocket and withdrew a smaller cloth bag. He threw it to Sakura.
Sakura quickly caught it. She took out all the rice cakes and pieces of candy and placed them in the bag, she gave it to the kid. "Here, take this home. It's not a lot, so tell your family not to eat it all in one night."
The kid took the bag and hugged the kunoichi. "T-thank you." He ran out of the alley and down the street.
Sakura stood up on her feet. "Tazuna, let's go home. I need to get more training in, and see how Sasuke and Naruto are doing." And help them stop Gatō and his hired thugs.
The two continued to Tazuna's house.
AN: Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.