Read Or Die Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ So Near, Yet So Far ❯ From Bad to Worse ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Summary: An ROD/Naruto crossover. They're both twelve year olds with pink hair and green eyes, but that's where the similarities end.

...that was the original tag line. I'm not sure it fits anymore. Eventually, I'll get to the point where this is applicable:

Sakura vs. Anita!

But since they haven't even met yet, here's my summary: After a stressful day of dealing with her team, Sakura learns that her day actually _can_ get worse.

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A/N: Different perspective from the last chapter, but I like the flow. No one's really worried about consistency in writing style here, are they? I didn't think so.

This chapter is in the Naruto world, and I've decided it will take place after the Wave country arc. Not that you can really tell. Just know that it's before the chuunin exam.

Again, there's a glossary at the bottom.

Chapter 2:

From Bad to Worse

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Sakura was not having a good day.

She glared at two of her male companions, and barely refrained from glaring at the third.

All three remained oblivious.

Sakura decided to settle for just glaring at Naruto, in the hope that he would eventually notice and shut up. After all, it was his fault, as usual, that she was having a bad day. Well, Kakashi-sensei's too. She glared at him briefly before realizing that even if he did notice her frustration, he wouldn't acknowledge it.

She glared at Naruto some more.

Stupid Kakashi-sensei and his "missions." Normally, she didn't mind them, but at the same time, Sakura didn't think that most of them really deserved to be classified as "missions." This time the team had needed to retrieve a book from the library for a visiting daimyo. Sakura didn't think that a book required a shinobi team to escort it, but the Hokage had given them the assignment nonetheless. She had recognized the title of the book as one that her father had in his library, and expected that she and her team would have been able to find it in the library and leave within a matter of minutes. Of course, nothing was ever that simple when Naruto was concerned.

As she continued to glare at Naruto, she remembered how everything had gone wrong so quickly. She had gone up to ask the librarian where to find the book and Naruto had been practically tripping on her heels, looking around the huge building with his mouth agape. Sasuke was also looking around, but with much more dignity, and an air of apparent boredom. Kakashi, with his usual method of hands-off leadership, was leaning against a wall by the door, having decided that a library was a great place to read his book.

The librarian had been looking up the row where their book could be found in a massive cabinet that housed the card catalog. Naruto had been concentrating chakra to his feet and legs and jumping up and down to see if he could get high enough to see over the top of the enormous bookshelves. Just as Sakura had been about to put him in a headlock to stop him, he pushed too much chakra into his right leg and ended up leaping sideways into the card catalog, knocking it over, and spilling the cards everywhere.

Sakura remembered the librarian turning a shade of red disturbing for someone so old, before glaring at her and fiercely whispering at the team to remove themselves from the premises and never return. Returning to the present, Sakura continued stalking rigidly down the street. How could _she_ have been kicked out of a library? It's not like it was her fault. Stupid, stupid Naruto. She was acknowledged as the smartest person in their class and now she couldn't go to the library!

Naruto suddenly stopped talking.

Sakura almost sighed with relief, but continued to glare.

Naruto stared right back at her. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes, then switched her gaze to the road to her house. After Naruto had gotten them kicked out, Kakashi had informed them that they still needed to complete the mission, so she had told her team that her father owned the book. Now the entire team was going to her house to retrieve it, despite her protests that she could manage by herself if she had just a little help, mainly from Sasuke. She glared at Kakashi briefly. Stupid teamwork.

Naruto had started talking again. Sakura's eyebrow twitched.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

"Naruto, you moron!" she yelled, accompanying her words with a punch to his jaw. The boy quit talking with a yelp of pain as he flew sideways briefly before crashing into the wall of a building. "This is all your fault! You got me kicked out of the library! The library!! I think you've done enough for one day, so would you at least SHUT UP?!"

Kakashi and Sasuke wisely stopped a few feet away from the entrance to the alley where Sakura had cornered Naruto.

Kakashi decided to intervene before the pink-haired kunoichi strangled the the blonde boy into unconsciousness. "Maa, maa, Sakura-" He stopped talking and glanced down into the alleyway. Sasuke took a step toward them as Sakura let Naruto slump to the ground from where she had him pinned to the wall.

"You guys-do you feel that?" she whispered.

Neither answered, and she reached nervously into her kunai pouch and gripped the handle of her weapon. Naruto stood up dizzily and joined her at the entrance to the alley, along with Sasuke, who was frowning into the darkness. Their sensei, who appeared far more interested in his surroundings than normal, stepped in front of his students. Together, the four of them stared intently into the darkness, trying to pinpoint the reason for their unease.

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If you watch Naruto, these terms are probably familiar, but if you don't, here's my little glossary for your convenience

daimyo: feudal lord

shinobi: another term for a ninja

Hokage: leader of the Hidden Leaf shinobi

chakra: energy that a ninja concentrates to parts of the body or into jutsus (techniques)

kunoichi: female ninja

kunai: ninja dagger

shuriken: throwing stars

genin: beginner ninjas...the first level out of the academy

chuunin: the rank of captain in ninja squads

jounin: elite, advanced ninjas

Konoha: the village this story takes place in, home of the Hidden Leaf shinobi

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And, just in case anyone is completely lost at this point, the characters from the first chapter are from the anime ROD. Michelle (oldest), Maggie (middle sister, 19), and Anita (youngest, at 12) are three sisters who can manipulate paper into doing stuff like forming shields, bow and arrows (Michelle), animals for fighting or flying (Maggie), or using each sheet for a dagger-like weapon (Anita's specialty). Of course, they can do other things with the paper too, but those are the basics. Nenene is an author in Japan who the sisters are staying with and protecting from further assassination attempts like the one that occurred in the first episode.

The characters from this chapter are from Naruto. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are twelve year old rookie genin who make up one team, headed by the jounin teacher Kakashi. Sasuke and Naruto both have special abilities, and are quite strong, especially for their level, but Sakura is a fairly undeveloped character, whose only real practical asset in battle so far is her intelligence and chakra control. I have a feeling that most people reading this story will be familiar with Naruto, so it probably doesn't require as much of an explanation. Plus, I think I did a better job of portraying characters and relationships in this chapter than I did in the previous one.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a review and I will definitely respond to you. It's not like I have an overwhelming number of them... :::checks empty mailbox::: Constructive criticism is most assuredly welcome. I'm an English major, so editing is important to me. I also tried to keep everyone in character, so if I've failed in either of these aspects, please feel free to let me know.

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Next chapter: Face to face! Nenene's San Shimai vs. Kakashi's Team Seven!

...actually, not much happens. They just meet, yell at each other, etc... But reactions are fun. It's not written yet, so it could go up in a week or two.

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