Sakura Haruno: Game of the Year Edition
Disclaimer: I am making no money from this fan fiction, nor do I own any of the characters or settings.
Mega thanks also to the 13 people who have reviewed, – you have seriously inspired me to keep writing
Thanks to my beta MinaBlahBlahBlahAnimeFan for reviewing my work despite my prolonged absence, and being super supportive and an excellent advisor – so yeah, just generally being a lifesaver!
On with the story!
Sakura's Stats
Health points (HP): 50
Chakra points (CP): 25
ATTRIBUTES
Beauty: 17
Control: 30
Dexterity: 25
Endurance: 18
Intelligence: 27
Luck: 22
Perception: 19
Social: 19
Speed: 18
Strength: 17
Willpower: 14
ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: LOCKED
NINJUTSU: None
GENJUTSU: None
TAIJUTSU: None
KENJUTSU: None
FUUINJUTSU: None
KENJUTSU: None
PERKS: Cherry Blossom Ballet
RELATIONSHIPS
Parents: 60 / 100
Iruka: 50 / 100
XP to Next Level: 200
Sakura sat at the desk in her bedroom, studying furiously. Thankfully one thing that had not changed in this new Konoha was her personality as a child. Therefore it was completely unremarkable that Sakura was studying most of the time. Her mother had even remarked several times about how nice it was that she was not running off and getting into trouble with other kids her age. While the praise had made Sakura happy initially, the feeling did not last long. Apparently this meant that Sakura had no friends at all, as she had discovered after some innocent sounding questions about her previous schooling.
"We took you out of the civilian primary school because of those nasty children. They were always being rude and violent. You hated it remember, you requested to be home-schooled and you have done so well darling. Your father and I are so proud of you! You even passed the entrance exam to Konoha Central Ninja Academy on your first attempt; do you know how rare that is?"
Even so she was worried about what would happen at the academy. Beforehand she had been friends with Ino, although they had fallen out over Sasuke which effectively ended the friendship in their later years.
"Well think of it as a brand new start," Inner chipped in. "Sure you don't know anyone but nobody will know you either. So what is there to be scared about?"
There was quite a lot in Sakura's opinion. Not only would she have to keep up with her studies, she would have to navigate a whole new world. She also was not used to the video game that her life had become. All of these unknowns were daunting alone, and positively terrifying together. But she would face it. And she would win. And right now she had to study. She would have preferred to have been working on practical subjects, but with no Jutsu to study she could not work on that. And her parents had been horrified at her attempt to practice throwing kunai and shuriken, so much so that she had had them confiscated until her first day at the Academy. She did not want to even consider what their response would be if she tried tree walking!
She had over the past five days read every non-fiction book she possessed, including her textbooks. All she had gained was more information that would be common knowledge in this world, nothing that would be of use to a ninja. The Ninja Encyclopaedia was aimed at children under twelve, and only contained stuff that she already knew. A Comprehensive History of Fire Country contained a basic historical background as well as lots of facts that had taken her a whole three days to memorise, but nothing else. Sakura had been excited about Taijutsu Tricks for Beginners. She had thought that it would teach her a Taijutsu style. Sadly that book was a disappointment as well. While it was full of basic moves, they were the academy ones – which she knew were not the best. She did however practice them in private.
Throughout her practice she found out that she did not tire so quickly, and that the various techniques she tried seemed to be easier to learn. "It's probably due to the points on Strength and Dexterity." Sakura agreed with Inner Sakura on that. Though she was still far below an acceptable level in Taijutsu, as she had no practical experience in the skill her struggling was understandable. Rather the difference seemed to be in her physical fitness and flexibility, which Sakura could have trained in during her previous life if she had bothered. That thought had been quite upsetting for her, but she had resolved to get better and so she had started doing stretches daily in the garden as well as doing more errands for her parents. Doing the errands had multiple benefits as not only was Sakura able to exercise she was also able to gain a basic map of the immediate area. So far the furthest she had been was to the civilian shops and to the park but she had been able to gather information.
In this expanded universe ninja's and civilians lived largely separate lives. It was not discrimination, she knew that for sure – it was simply that the ninja's tended to live in separate clan compounds, or in areas with a lot of other ninja families. Ninja areas were usually built with defence in mind, and maze like streets with no maps available were common. In turn the civilians preferred to live in the more open districts, which were scattered with parks and other open areas. There was also the fact that many ninja families were ancient, and the ancestral homes that they lived in were in the older part of Konoha, compared with the newer developments built by civilians.
The academies for children were spread throughout Konoha, and Konoha Central Ninja Academy was located in-between the civilian area that she lived in, and the main ninja area. As Sakura mused on the new Konoha she could not escape one fact: she was nervous with waiting. She had studied all she could, and had practiced Taijutsu, but she was still shaking at the thought of attending the academy. It was not that she did not want to see her friends, because she missed them greatly, it was because she did not want to see if they had changed. If this world had changed so much, her friends and teachers might have as well. The curriculum was different enough, what if the people were as well? Her mind filled with sad memories Sakura fell into an uneasy sleep.
The next morning Sakura woke up early, and began to get her bag ready for her first day. Even though she would not need her Shuriken and Kunai she still packed them as she would be able to practice with them in break time at school, if that remained the same as before. After she had eaten breakfast she noticed a small gold question mark had appeared at the door. When she walked up to it the games text appeared once again.
NEW QUEST: Rogue Ranged Weaponry!
Objective: Your Kunai and Shuriken have fallen out of your bag, find them all!
Bonus Objective: Arrive at Konoha Central Ninja Academy on time!
Sakura gritted her teeth. The stupid game was doing this on purpose to make her life difficult, she just knew it! Inner Sakura echoed her sentiments as she lifted one of her Shuriken off of the butter. The following search of the house made no sense to Sakura whatsoever. The weapons were not even in realistic places! Honestly, kunai and shuriken could not move on their own – so how did they get into the fish tank, her sock drawer and the lampshade to name but a few places she located them in! It was luck she had gotten up early, because a full hour passed before she once again had twelve shuriken and twelve kunai in her possession.
The time was now eight thirty, which gave Sakura 15 minutes to get to school in time for registration, a journey which would normally take her 20 minutes. This was not good. Saying goodbye to her parents hurriedly Sakura started running towards the Academy. Luckily the map was still working, and that she had mapped the area so thoroughly that she knew several shortcuts she could take. 13 minutes later Sakura Haruno, gasping for breath, arrived outside her classroom.
QUEST COMPLETE: +50XP!
BONUS OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: +25XP
Having regained some of her breath, and straightened her clothes she walked into the classroom. Noise surrounded her as 32 other children chatted, laughed and argued. Sakura could not remember feeling so isolated before. After taking a few deep breaths she found a desk towards the front of the classroom and sat there. It was just all so overwhelming, and the expanded universe was not helping by doubling her class size – there had only been 20 other students in her class previously. How were the teachers going to cope? Then Iruka-sensei walked in and the noise slowly dimmed as the other children noticed his presence.
"Good morning class. I am Iruka-sensei and I will be your teacher for this year. We will start off with registration and self-introductions. When your name is called please stand up and introduce yourselves."
Some of the names were familiar to Sakura, and some were not. What she was really waiting for was the "U" surnames as Naruto and Sasuke would introduce themselves then. She was so focused on this that she must have missed her name being called.
"I repeat myself, Sakura Haruno" Iruka-sensei announced.
Social Check 19\18: PASSED: +25XP
"Sorry Sensei," Sakura replied before standing up and introducing herself with skill that she had not known she possessed. Like most of the other introductions there was a light applause from the other students when she finished. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as Iruka-sensei moved on to the next student, which happened to be Hinata Hyuuga.
It was then that she saw Naruto. He sat two rows behind Hinata and looked surprisingly serious, and was apparently rehearsing his introduction speech from the way that he was muttering under his breath. Hinata was speaking now, Inner registered, but all Sakura could focus on was her former teammate. He was here! He was alive! And her second chance really was happening!
Light applause followed introduction after introduction, in varying degrees of loudness. Then Iruka pointed at a black haired boy and called out...
"Sasuke Uchiha"
Sakura's fingers twitched as Sasuke stood up, and introduced himself in a monotone voice. Her emotions were in chaos. The problem was she now felt two very different things about Sasuke. Her mind was almost indifferent, thinking of him merely as a former teammate. Her heart however was a very different matter – it was beating so hard, her breathing was shallow, and her cheeks were flushed bright red if the heat she felt on her face was any indication!
Her mind screamed at her... Inner screamed at her... but all that Sakura could do was to restrain her wayward body before she ran forwards and hugged him. No! Not this time! She was going to be a strong kunoichi this time. "Must not be a fan girl, must not be a fan girl," Inner was especially vocal right now. Sakura grimaced, like Inner could understand, Inner didn't even have a body to restrain from rabid fan-girling! Her only consolation was that she at least was not drooling like half of the girls in the class. She was better than last time in that, and that was something wasn't it?
But the feeling was so familiar, it was almost like her body remembered... That was it! The reason why she was feeling like this! Having only just arrived in this new Konoha her new body did not have the maturity of her significantly older mind. That... kind of sucked. She made a mental note to avoid fighting Sasuke until she managed to overcome this. Something told her that ninja did not hug her enemies to death.
"Unless you're Mitarashi Anko" Inner interrupted. "That woman was scary,"
Sakura grumbled before telling Inner that sadists did not count as normal ninja, and there was no denying that Anko was a first class sadist. The game chose that moment to chime in.
Common Sense Check: Perception: 19/15: PASSED +25XP
Now that was not fair. Why would the game reward her for common sense unless... Oh no it had better not be implying... It couldn't possibly be saying that she had no common sense. She temporarily forgot that she was still in class and gripped the chair as hard as she could.
Strength Check 17/20: FAILED: You have a splinter! -5 HP
Sakura let out a small gasp. That splinter hurt! A lot... Could this game be a sadist as well...? If so that was just what she needed – a sadistic unknown being controlling her life sounded just wonderful. "Resist urge to throw chair," Inner ground out "The game WILL get revenge!" So as much as Sakura fancied grabbing her chair and attempting to smash the words that were still floating in front of her, she did not. Instead she would beat this game, so, so, so badly that it would beg for forgiveness!
Sakura was so lost in her own thoughts that she was completely taken off guard when she looked up into a face with a pair of bright blue eyes and distinctive whisker marks.
Perception Check 19/21: FAILED: You fell off your chair! -7 HP
Looking up into Naruto's eyes from her position on the floor, Sakura wished that a hole would open and swallow her up. Naruto had managed to sneak up on her, wearing bright orange, and from what he was saying, she had managed to miss him talking to her – at normal Naruto volume. Which was comparable to a fire alarm - or near that level anyway? So Sakura did the next best thing and hid her head in her hands. That way nobody would see her mouthing the rudest words in her vocabulary. It was official. Her new life sucked!
Sakura's Stats
Health points (HP): 38/50
Chakra points (CP): 25
ATTRIBUTES
Beauty: 17
Control: 30
Dexterity: 25
Endurance: 18
Intelligence: 27
Luck: 22
Perception: 19
Social: 19
Speed: 18
Strength: 17
Willpower: 14
MONEY
200 Ryo
ELEMENTAL AFFINITIES: LOCKED
NINJUTSU: None
GENJUTSU: None
TAIJUTSU: None
KENJUTSU: None
FUUINJUTSU: None
KENJUTSU: None
PERKS: Cherry Blossom Ballet
RELATIONSHIPS
Parents: 60 / 100
Iruka: 50 / 100
XP to Next Level: 75
One last thing after the story, if anyone has any ideas they would like to see in the story feel free to mention them in a review/pm. Ideas could be a slight crossover quest, a Taijutsu style or Sakura's elemental affinity. I am also still deciding whether there will be religion's in this fanfiction, with different Gods giving different bonuses and quests... So review!
I am also open to pairing suggestions, though since Sakura is only 9 it will obviously not occur for some time.