Break Me

I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

So this will be my first new fic in a really long time. I'm aware there is another fic out there like this one, I suppose you could say that my fic will be loosely based on that fic, at least… the beginning is in some ways. I'm not sure what it's called but when I figure it out I'll give all credit where credit is due. Sakura is a bit OOC, but only a little and I doubt you'll really notice. I'm a die-hard Sakura fan, but I really wished that after the Chunnin exams she would realize that she REALLY needed to work on her skills.

So without further Due, here it is.

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Chapter One; Change

Soaked to the bone with water, stood Sakura, Little weak, defenseless Sakura, who was unable to fight off three genin level grass nin. Who needed the help of people who weren't even on her team, who didn't have the responsibility to care for her teammates, to fight for her. Whose only skill seemed to be holding a kunai and freezing up whenever she got scared.

She snorted, folding her knees up beneath her chin and glaring pointlessly at the sky. She was useless, now Sasuke had that- that thing on his neck and Naruto was hospitalized. She did nothing! Absolutely nothing! A loud whimper escaped her lips, her slender fingers digging into her choppy pink hair. The only useful thing she's done for her team since the chunnin exams started was identify that it was the second floor, not the third.

"Why am I so useless?" She asked herself, looking hopelessly at the ground before her. Even Kakashi didn't bother to train her; in fact, he pretty much told her genjutsu was all she would ever be good at. It was true… so she couldn't even be mad about it. She knew little to no ninjutsu, her taijutsu was sloppy and pretty much useless.

Face it; we're a paper ninja… everything looked so much easier in the books. The voice of her inner mind brought her back to reality and she raised her head to the sky, the sun was beginning to set. She closed her eyes and sucked in a slow breath, gathering the books and scrolls she had lying around her.

She needed to get home soon, her mom would worry.

She folded the books against her side and began her trudge to the civilian housing district of Konoha, where she and her mother lived together. Sakura always wondered why she looked nothing like her mother. Her mom was tall with short blonde hair, her dad had the pink hair… a pang in her chest kept her off that thought.

She faintly wandered what Sasuke and Naruto were doing right now. Kakashi-Sensei had taken Sasuke out to train and Naruto was probably still in the hospital. Guilt slowly spread through her chest, should she have gone to see him? He came to see her after her fight with Ino…

Closing her eyes she tried to push all of that back, she had a month to at least learn a new trick for the final part of the exam. She knew it was unfair that Sasuke got all of Kakashi-Sensei's attention, but didn't have the guts to say anything about it.

Her hand had unconsciously clenched into the spine of a book she had been carrying.

It was always about them… Naruto and Sasuke, that's all she ever seemed to hear. Naruto was going to be some big bad Hokage when he grew up, Sasuke was the last Uchiha. Yada yada yada. It wasn't fair! They always saved her, sometimes… she wished they would just let her get hit so that she didn't have to pretend she had no pride and thank them.

A tear escaped her eye as she reached the front door of her house, she wiped at it furiously, she didn't want her mom to see her like that. She pulled her sandals off at the door and quietly entered her house, she didn't want to wake her mom up in case she happened to be sleeping.

She set the books down on the coffee table in the small living room of their two-bedroom apartment, making her way to the small kitchen to see what they had to make dinner with. She knew she needed t go to the grocery store soon, but they had enough vegetables and a little meat to make an okay stew.

Sakura washed her hands and began peeling and cutting the vegetables, placing the diced foods into a pot of boiling water.

Once she was finished she put a lid over the simmering pot, and quickly hurried upstairs to jump in the shower, the stew should be ready once she was finished cleaning herself off and changing her clothes. As she peeled off the soaking red dress, she took the time to look over it, touching the fabrics, watching how they swayed and moved.

Why did she wear this? It was so restrictive, perhaps… perhaps she could go look at some more battle attire tomorrow. Only experienced ninja get the option to have setbacks like restrictive clothing… and long hair. She touched her short, choppy pastel locks. Ino hadn't done a very good job of evening them out, but she appreciated the effort nonetheless. Why did she grow out her hair anyway?

Why did she even think that was a good idea? She knew she would be going into battle at some point, well… not so soon, but still… she closed her eyes, sighing when she realized she hadn't ever thought about it.

I've never even tried to prepare myself for battle… when was the last time I trained without Kakashi-Sensei making me? She wandered miserably to herself as she jumped into the cold waters of the shower, suppressing a shiver at the freezing water.

What the hell has she been doing all these years? She wandered to herself, washing the grime out of her short pastel locks, hurriedly washing her body and jumping out of the shower. It had always taken her a little over thirty minutes to shower, she now wandered why, it only took her five minutes or so to wash herself and her hair.

She dragged a hand over her face, Kami! Has she always been this useless? She dried herself off quickly, wrapping the towel around her wet hair and heading to her faded, peeling dresser. She opened up her underwear drawer to find ridiculously stringy and lacy bras and underwear. What the hell did she need these for?

Growling, she shoveled the articles of clothing into her arms, tossing them to the floor, the next drawer was filled with ridiculous clothing, formal gowns, shorts, restrictive clothing, useless! She snarled as her eyes filled with tears, she searched through her clothing for something not utterly useless.

All of her clothing was now on the floor and she was panting heavily, eyes puffy red with tears as she was only able to find one thing suitable for a crappy ninja such as herself. A loose fitting black T-shirt, and grey three-quarter training pants.

She didn't take the time she normally would looking at herself in the mirror, to be honest, it really didn't matter anymore. She hurried to the kitchen to turn off the stove, relieved to realize the stew wasn't over-cooked, she quickly filled up two bowls, setting one down at the table, the other rested in her right hand as she made her way into her mothers room, wrapping gently on the door with her knuckle before opening it.

Her mother rested in the center of the room, a cloth that probably needed to be changed, hung over her forehead. She smiled weakly at her pink haired daughter, shakily propping herself up, Sakura hurried over to help her mother sit up, resting the bowl of stew on the nightstand, Sakura took the now warm cloth from her mothers forehead.

"Have you been taking your medicine?" Sakura questioned, ringing out the cloth and soaking it in a bowl of cold water, looking hopefully up at her mother, who gently touched her daughter's head.

"I liked your hair so much better long, it looks so much like your father's-"

"It was getting in the way," Sakura quickly cut her mother off, before inwardly cursing herself for being so rude, she plastered on a sweet smile and handed her mom the bowl of stew, her mother smiled sweetly back and took the bowl from her beloved daughter's hands.

"It looks delicious, sweetie." She smiled, breathing in the scent of the stew, "You're really becoming a good little cook." The blonde woman winked, before cupping a hand over her mouth to cough weakly into her hand, droplets of blood spilling from between her shaking hands.

Sakura quickly picked the bowl up from her mother's lap before it could spill and helped her mother lean back in the bed, "You should rest and I'll go get your medicine." Sakura smiled sweetly, turning on her heel, preparing to leave the room.

A hand curled around her wrist, she could have easily shaken it away, but she stood there, unable to look at her mother. She knew the tears would come if she did.

"Stay a little while, tell me about your missions." She coughed, smiling at her daughter with cloudy brown eyes, "You know how proud your father would be."

She bit down on her lip, willing the tears in her eyes not to spill as she turned and took her mother's hand, sitting down on the chair beside her bed, her voice echoing into the night as she told stories of missions and her teammates.

Lies and lies about how well she was doing as a ninja. She knew something had to change, and soon, or one day… Her mother would be left alone to fend for herself.

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"Chidori!"

Kakashi watched as Sasuke only gathered a small spark of chakra into his palm, and his visible charcoal eye narrowed. So two is his limit… the copy nin pondered to himself. Barking at Sasuke to stand and try again, the youngest Uchiha made a running start at the Cliffside, a flash of sparks and chirps built up in his hand as he struck the rock, it cracked, but didn't tumble as Kakashi had hoped.

They had lots of work to do before the final part of the chunnin exams.

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Naruto lay on the grassy earth, his chest burning, eyes drooping with the need to sleep, he panted heavily, looking at the dented trees all around him. His sky blue eyes burned with rage, he looked up to the treetops, to the flitters of moonlight streaming in.

"I'll do it… pervy sage… thirty days… and-and I'll master the rasengan!" He howled through vicious pants.

Hidden figures in the tree gave a wide smile, watching the blonde knucklehead stumble upwards and begin hitting chakra points in his hand all over again.

I'm rooting for you, kid. The toad sage thought to himself, crossing his arms and watching the blonde growl in frustration at failing the technique yet again.

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Sakura stood once her mother had fallen asleep, replacing the rag over her mother's forehead and taking the empty bowls to the kitchen to wash, she put the remainder of the stew in the fridge before mopping the kitchen and doing some laundry, taking the clothing she deemed 'restrictive' and stuffing them into garbage bags. She'd be tossing them out in the morning with the garbage.

She found that she could not sleep, she didn't think she could. Ever since that incident at the chunnin exams… she couldn't think straight. Her dreams were haunted with the snake-man and the sound ninja who had attacked her. How in the world did she think she could take them on herself…

Have I always been this oblivious? She wandered to herself, wandering what made her wake up from her ignorance, but now that she thought about it, she's never been put into a life-or-death situation before, even with Zabuza and Haku, when they attacked, Naruto and Sasuke ran off to fight and she stood back with Tazuna.

She finally understood why Sasuke was so cruel to her, she could have gotten them all killed. She was endangering her entire team every day by being nearly useless. Her eyes watered again, but this time she didn't try to hide them, she dropped her hands into her face, and cried.

Long and hard. She felt so stupid! She'd been so cruel to Naruto, when all he ever did was protect a useless deadweight like herself and even sadder, it took almost losing her teammates to realize what a shitty ninja she was…

But could she really improve herself? Sasuke had the sharringan, Naruto had that red chakra… so how could she ever catch up to them? How could she? She didn't really know anyone who could teach her anything, besides people who already had teams.

She didn't even need an edge; she needed to be taught everything. She snarled, banging her fist on the ground. It wasn't fair! Her sensei was off teaching one student! Leaving her and Naruto to fend for themselves!

Her fist then clenched, her teeth grit and she stood.

Looks like if nobody was going to train her, she would have to train herself.