"Ha! Hya! Ha!" With each shout, Sakura was throwing a punch.
"She looks cute when she practices," Kizashi Haruno said, watching his daughter with a proud smile.
"It looks to me like she's venting her anger," Mebuki replied. Mebuki had a similar personality to Sakura in her childhood. So, she could easily guess what Sakura was doing, and she was correct. Sakura was beating an imaginary person (the system) to relieve her anger caused by the useless system. It had all started a week ago, when she regained the memories of her past life and became aware of the system. Since then, despite a full week of hard work, she had gained absolutely nothing.
The system had informed her that she had been given an ability that would make her more powerful as she became angrier. The ability didn't just increase DPS and ability, but it will also increase the level of her skills for a short time. Then the system will help her by retaining some of the power-ups she gained when her ability gets activated, in other words, when she is angry.
According to it, it was more of an invisible screen showing her skills with built-in AI than an active, helpful system, so she shouldn't expect much from it. But after a full week of occasionally getting angry and working hard, she got nothing, not even a skill. She had tried throwing a rock, and paper kunai, but she didn't gain any skill related to throwing Kunai or simply a throwing skill. So, her status looked like this for now:
(Look at the auxiliary chapter for more details.)
[Sakura Haruno]
[Status: Civilian]
[Rank: Civilian]
[Strength: Average civilian kid]
InnatePerks:
1. Intelligent I (I is better than II and III)
2. Greater chakra control I
3. Average Chakra
4. Greater Chakra affinity: Yin and Yang release
5. Chakra affinity: Earth and Water
Ability (Given, obtained):
1. AngrySakura: She gets stronger when angry.
"Why haven't I gained a kunai-throwing skill yet? You said that you will show me the skills I have and their level." Sakura asked the system. She had practiced all week and can now hit the target 10 m away with an accuracy of 7 hits out of 10 times, but she hasn't gained the skill. Wasn't the system supposed to grant a skill after a certain task was performed repeatedly?
[I have told you before, I'm more of an AI that monitors your progress and informs you about your status than a gamer system. You will not gain a skill by repeating an action because I can't give you a skill.]
"Even then, shouldn't you show Kunai throwing proficiency level 1, since I have learned how to throw kunai properly. Aren't skills supposed to work like that? With improved accuracy, the level increases, right?"
[The skills I show are your actual proficiency, so it must reflect that. Therefore, they're based on the ninja rank. Level 1 skill matches the proficiency of an average Ninja Academy student, Level 2 a typical Genin, and so on. The skill levels are shown so that you can know your true strength and you don't overstimate or understimate yourself.]
"Wouldn't I have to wait two or three years to gain the skills if I must be as good as average ninja academy students? Can't you help?" She hoped that she could grind the skill or that the system had another method for advancing the skills. Otherwise, skills like medical ninjutsu and fuinjutsu would be very difficult to learn and master.
Canon Sakura had mastered medical knowledge and ninjutsu within three years and had some knowledge of fuinjutsu, but she was certain she wouldn't be able to do the same, as it required patience, hard work, dedication, and whatnot.
"[I can prevent skills from regressing if you stop using them. When your ability 'Angry Sakura' temporarily upgrades a skill, I might be able to make that boost permanent, but it depends on luck and only works occasionally. That's the best I can do.]"
"No, why is this system so useless? Those Chinese systems give their hosts more power the lazier they get, and I'm stuck with one that's more of an AI than an actual system. And to top it all off, this world might just be the hell known as Boruto." Sakura began to wail, mentally, of course. Physically, her fists were getting faster and faster.
"Wait, how could I forget to ask the most important question till now? Please, tell me my life struggles end with Kaguya." Sakura asked with every bit of hope she had collected for 6 years.
[I don't know. But considering the ability you were given isn't too overpowered, this might be the world that more than half of Naruto's fans believe is the real one.]
"Thank God," she breathed a sigh of relief. At least the story of action and adventure that Boruto would one day tell his son would still be Naruto's, not his own.
***** (While Sakura was busy talking with the system)
"It looks to me like she's venting her anger," Mebuki said.
"No, you are wrong. Today is her first day in the ninja academy. So, she is practicing to beat all the brats in the academy to become an excellent Kunoichi like Tsunade-sama." His overprotective dad instincts kicked in. He clenched his fists and started throwing a few punches of his own.
Sakura stopped punching when she learned it was useless and went inside her house to have a relaxing bath, a delicious breakfast, and get ready for her first day of ninja academy.
*****(After some time)
Sakura and her mother were standing in front of their house, waiting for Kizashi, who was locking the door.
"Let's go!" Kizashi said with a grin as he closed the gate behind them. Honestly, he looked more like a new student on his first day than Sakura did. He was walking with pride written on his face and telling everyone on the way that Sakura was going to enroll in the Ninja Academy. After all, not everyone can enroll in the ninja academy. (Just trying to fill the 'plotholes' of Naruto.)
Konohagakure was more like a city without skyscrapers than a village. With a large population, many children applied to the Ninja Academy, but only those with strong chakra or high intelligence were accepted. Ninja clans train the children who aren't selected themselves, while civilian children attend regular civilian schools if they don't make it into the Academy.
But, the look on Sakura was quite opposite to Kizashi; she looked annoyed, shy, and also irritated because of her father. Truth be told, if it weren't for the need to grow stronger to survive, she wouldn't have wanted to attend the Ninja Academy at all. After all, she is a mentally grown adult who has to spend her next 6 years with hyperactive, overconfident, or emo kids who want to be ninjas but don't know what it means.
As if the company of wannabe ninjas wasn't bad enough, she also had to sit through basic lessons all over again, things she already knew, aside from some history and ninja-related subjects. She was pretty sure she'd be dozing off in class like Shikamaru, except he would sleep through everything, while she'd only sleep in a few.
She had to thank whoever reincarnated her for not dumping all her past-life memories on her at birth. If she'd already known other languages, it might've messed with her baby brain's ability to learn Japanese. Sure, watching anime had taught her a few words, but speaking, reading, or writing? Totally out of the question. Gaining her memories gradually let her pick up the language naturally. After all, no one here was about to translate every Japanese word into English so that she could learn Japanese more easily.
As they walked, Mebuki glanced at Sakura several times, as if debating whether to say something." Sakura, you should try to make some friends at the Academy," she finally said. "I know you struggle with your temper, but try not to pick fights with your classmates, especially not on the first day. And never with kids from the ninja clans."
Her gentle reminder pulled Sakura out of her thoughts. Because of her quick temper and inability to control her anger, she had fought back against bullies on the playground multiple times. So, most kids began to avoid her, thinking she was violent, except for Ino, who admired her fearlessness and confidence, and chose to become her friend.
"I have friends, and I also don't want to fight, but they always start it. I just can't control when someone provokes me, my fists move faster than my brain," Sakura defended herself.
"I know, I know, you have a hard time controlling your anger. But please, try not to fight, okay? Especially with kids from the ninja clans or your seniors. They're not like us civilians; they're stronger, and you'll only end up getting hurt. If anyone tries to bully you, go to the teachers instead."
Mebuki knows that children from ninja clans are different. They start training at a younger age and are often much stronger than civilian students. She didn't want Sakura to get hurt, especially knowing how arrogant some clan kids could be, and how likely Sakura was to fight back with her personality and short temper.
"You don't have to worry," Kizashi said with a grin. "Sakura's strong and smart. Once she joins the Ninja Academy, she'll become even stronger than those clan kids. She'll be just like the Fourth Hokage!" He tried to lift both Mebuki's and Sakura's spirits with his usual cheerful enthusiasm.
"We've arrived!" Kizashi exclaimed excitedly. "Look at all the parents and kids! The ninja clans are already here. I heard the heirs of the Hyuga, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans are enrolling this year. They might even be your classmates!"
"Sakura, let me introduce you the ninja clans of Konoha," Kizashi said enthusiastically. "See over there? The ones with the stoic faces, that's the Hyuga clan. And the ones who look like they're angry? They are the Uchiha." He pointed at different groups, identifying each clan for Sakura. Of course, she already knew thanks to the clan symbols on their clothes. Meanwhile, Mebuki stood quietly beside them, clearly embarrassed by her husband's uncivilized habit of pointing at people in public.
Sakura also began to look around the crowd for the future Konoha twelve.