A/N: This story is an experiment to figure out if I have the skills to write a story.

I've wanted to write a fanfic for years now, but never really worked toward achieving that goal until now. Part of the long wait to create one was not knowing if I possessed the writing ability for a story worth reading.

Any critique is appreciated. I would love to see from a reader's perspective, where I can improve.

I hope you enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of Naruto

Sakura stared in awed befuddlement of her mother as they stood in front of a merchant selling fresh tomatoes. It was the day of the week where the two Haruno women made their way to the busy market to purchase ingredients for the week's meals. Her mother stared at the groupings faced below that seemingly bore no difference to each other. Each fruit was just as big and had the same vivid red color. Feeling eyes on her, the older of the two turned around and glanced at her daughters confused expression.

"See this spot here?", she remarked, understanding the source of Sakura's confusion. "It's softer than the other parts of the tomato, which means this part is the most susceptible to decomposing. Soon, the whole thing will be spoiled"

The merchant in front of them gave a quiet, but indignant huff.

Sakura peered closely and nodded in silence. Nonverbal cues were the norm in terms of potential responses coming out of the shy girl. She would look up the meaning of "susceptible" later when they came back home.

An excited murmuring began in the entrance area and slowly brought itself to Sakura's awareness. The words weren't quite understandable, but it seemed like someone important was arriving. Sakura inched closer to the nearest gossiper only freezing when she heard mother's loud exclamation. Looking back, it was clear her mother finally found the only bunch of tomatoes that met her high standards. Losing the motivation to bring some closure to her curiosity, Sakura stepped back to her spot in front of the tomatoes and continued staring at the produce .

It seemed like a good idea until she was suddenly shoved from the side onto the ground. Shyness went out the window as she angrily looked back up to see the perpetrator who caused this. It ended up being two people as her mother was also pushed to the side, but still held on to her footing. Her mother looked so angry Sakura thought she was about to hear her mother's favorite expletive, but suddenly the woman's face shifted into a reserved expression as she seemed to recognized the pair of strangers. The fire of her anger retreated to her eyes and simmered there. Curious, Sakura shifted her view from her mother's face to the two people that separated them .

They were also a parent-child pair. The little boy looked about her height and had a head full of spiky black hair , some framing his face. 'He's cute' was Sakura's immediate thought as her face heated the faintest blush. Despite this, his expression held arrogance and disdain. This expression was shared with his mother, who bore a striking resemblance to her child. She might have been the most beautiful women Sakura had ever seen had her face not been marred by such an unsightly expression.

"None of these are satisfactory." said the woman. "We will leave Sasuke". The boy pouted and huffed in return, giving the tomatoes one last longing look.

The merchant's indignant expression from earlier was long gone. Instead his tanned face became fearful. He looked around frantically until he spotted the bag of tomatoes held in Sakura's mother's arm.

"Please take these instead. They were just hand picked for their quality".

Sakura inwardly scoffed and turned to her mother expecting her to unleash the famous Haruno anger upon all involved. Instead, her mother allowed the bag to be snatched from her hand and inspected by the raven-haired woman. The woman said nothing and just threw her coins on top of the stand.

Sakura estimated that the amount of coins could pay for more than double the amount in her hand. At least from her viewpoint. It did not seem to bother the woman however and it certainly did not bother merchant judging by his greedy expression. Straining to see how much money the woman paid, Sakura realized that she was still on the floor and had forgotten to get up because of the unusual turn of events that occurred. She began to do so, but was pushed back roughly down to the floor once more. Skin was scraped as her skin rubbed harshly against hard ground. Looking up, she saw the boy smirk at her and went to fall into pace with his mother who had already taken her first steps to leave. The crowd gave them a wide berth for their exit. Incensed once more, she finally stood up and turned to her mother, who had a defeated expression. Confusion took over anger at her mother's odd actions.

"What just happened? Who did they think they are ?! Why didn't you do anything?" Sakura exclaimed. She had so many questions, but those were the three that came out first. Sakura was never one to take initiative in a conversation, but she felt hurt that her mother did not defend her and wanted some answers.

"Not here", her mother replied sternly. "Do not mention a single word about this until we are home."

Sakura wanted to protest, but the look in her mother's face caused her to keep her mouth shut. She rubbed away the dirt that accumulated on her clothes and skin from her repeated visits to the ground and shadowed her mother who was now shopping at a much quicker pace.

.- .- .- .-

Dinner was a quiet affair. The only sounds that interrupted the silence were quick slurps of soup being sucked into everyone's mouths. Sakura attempted multiple times to ask the question that her bothered her all day. She considered backing out, but purposely avoiding information that was easily accessible to her was almost sacrilege for the well-read girl.

"Mom?"

The woman looked at her daughter wearily as if she anticipated her daughters next words. The expression almost extinguished Sakura's desire to find answers, but she persisted.

"What happened at the market today?" "Why did you let them do that to us?!" Sakura's anger returned at the memory of the event and let it influence the delivery of her words.

Her father looked at them confused and wordlessly prompted her mother for an explanation. As her mother recounted the events during their excursion, her father's face became grim. Sakura shifted uneasily in her table.

"So what happened? Why did you let them bully us? " Sakura asked again, bringing the focus back to her. The tension in the room was very apparent and growing.

"Those people are from the Uchiha clan". Her mother began.

Sakura stared with her mouth open wide with wonder. She had never seen anyone from one of the most famous clans in Konoha. The Uchiha, like most clans, almost never stepped a foot out of their own district unless they were ninja. She almost felt privileged at experiencing such a rare sighting until she crossed her legs and the sting from the contact made by the scrapes reminded her of what happened.

"Well we settled in a Hidden Village, Sakura. Konoha is run by ninja. They hold all the power in the village and extend this power to people who are almost similar to them. This means that ninja have more privileges than civilians like us. That includes preferential treatments by merchants, Sakura. If I were to have resisted Mikoto's action, I would have certainly be punished. An especially harsh punishment as she is a ninja and a member of the Uchiha clan."

Sakura bristled at the injustice of the situation "That's not fair".

"That's how it is," her mother responded. "Ninja have the most power physically and thus also control the power politically".

"So that's it?", Sakura began, "We are always going to be the bullied ones?"

"Well that's one way to put it" her mother said with some humor in her voice. "Civilians will just be inferior to ninja, but we also are protected by them."

"Not for free though, " Her father countered thoughtfully, "We compensate them with financial payment."

Her mother turned to Sakura who was moodily stirring the components of her soup. She pushed the pink hair behind her daughter's ear as it was dangerously close to dipping into the soup. "We settled in this village because it was easier to establish our business here. The added protection of ninja made it more enticing. Being seen as inferior is only a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things."

"It's still not fair." Sakura started, "The town can't run without people like us!"

"Well the only way to get the same treatment you want is if you became a ninja, dear ." He looked at her mother and they both started laughing at such a preposterous thought.

Sakura held a thoughtful expression. Briefly she imagined herself as the heroes in the countless ninja storylines found within the books that adorned her shelves. She felt excitement in the moment, relishing in vivid scenes of heroism within her fantasy. However, she reverted her focus back to the most important point: She did not want to be cast aside like what had happened in the market anymore. Both figuratively and literally. If the only way that was going to happen was through power then power is what she desired. She felt her parents gaze and looked up at them, humor leaving their eyes as they realized that their daughter was not laughing with them. Sakura stared at them seriously and spoke the words would forever deviate her from the path of the life that was laid out for her.

"I want to be a ninja."