Subway Striders

A Naruto Fanfiction

By xoanneox

In a world were Subway Stride competitions are forbidden but are held almost every night Sakura tries to survive every night. Run competitions, try to win them, try to get away without the cops catching her and still live through school? Pretty hard but Sakura absolutely loves her live. Sakura trains even harder - she wants to get to the top like her friends. AU: Subway Stride

Prologue

"She has a 70 meter lead!"

Step. Step. Jump. Jump. "A perfect landing! If she holds up this speed she'll win!"

And she did. Sakura ran the last 20 meter like it would save her life. Once she reached the finish line a bell ringed. She had won. Finally. After all those extreme training sessions she finally won. Her first victory.

Her best friend and sister figure, Ino, came running to her. Before Sakura could even greet her she was engulfed in a pair arms. "You did amazing! Your first victory! You totally deserved it after training so hard," Ino said to her. Sakura untangled herself out of the hug and smiled at the blonde. "Yes I did! But god now I'm tired."

She really was. She had done a few friendly competitions with friends of hers but she never won those. How could she? She somehow had managed to befriend the best subway striders of Konoha. Wait. Correct that. She had friends who somehow were the best subway striders of Konoha. She had only found out about their "secret" sport when she started herself.

Sakura wanted to say more to her but she didn't say anything when she saw her best friend looking around like crazy. "What's wrong, Ino?" she asked. Ino looked around for one more time and then answered. "I heard some people say that they thought that people had called the cops, but I haven't seen any yet." They made Sakura look around too.

When she had only watched subway stride competitions she had been many times in such a situations. People who lived near had called the police to arrest the, like they called it, suicide runners. She had made it out of there both times without getting caught but she heard of others who had been caught.

Hm. Suicide runners. They said it like it was a disease. It was forbidden by law, but it was a much-practiced sport at night by many teenagers, young adults and a few adults here and there. That name hadn't been there for nothing. You ran between and jumped on and of old trains, train rails, small buildings and other obstacles, without any security and risking your life.

Many had died, but Sakura didn't let that stop her. She loved doing it and she wouldn't stop being a subway runner anytime soon. "Sakura! Sakura!" It was Naruto, another good friend of her, a bit of an idiot at times, but one of the best striders. "You gotta get out of here! They're really here," he finished when he stood in front of her. She understood. "Okay Naruto. Which way are they coming from?" "I don't know exactly but you should go east. That's the only thing I know, believe it!" Sakura nodded. "Alright. Go home straight," she gave him a stern look, "and don't get caught." "I won't, Sakura-chan! You know I always get out of it," he said. She rolled her eyes. "Just because you're the mayor's son doesn't mean they won't arrest you. But okay, I gotta go!" They said goodbye to each other and Ino ran with her to the east "exit".

They would have to go through the woods but that was the only way to go if they didn't want to be seen by the cops, and then if they were seen they would be able to get away because they were way faster and way more familiar with the woods than them.

They ran for a bit more and the two girls said goodbye to each other. Sakura ran the last 500 meters as fast as possible after such a tiresome race. She climbed over the fence, landed as soft as possible on the grass and walked to the back of her house. No lights. Good, her mother wasn't up yet. She stood on the windowsill, took a hold on the drainpipe and climbed a bit. She tossed her body up and set her feet on the windowsill of her bedroom. Her window was on a crack so she was able to open it from the outside. She set it as wide as possible and stepped inside her room. Getting out of her stride clothes and into her pyjamas she looked at her nightstand. Her alarm said 05:17 so she would be able to sleep for a bit more than an hour.

She got into bed and fell asleep with a smile on her face, thinking of her victory.