Sakura Haruno The Gaming Addict, and Her Gamified Life [Naruto]
- Thread starter Sendicard
- Start date
The Stormbringer
Worm Fanfic & Crack Connoisseur
- Location
- Spaaaaace~!
The perception of Sakura being "Kakashi" is so fucking good. What a great twist there, I love the Kakashi POV.
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I mean, Kakashi would be right to doubt the source of such reality-changing powers. Just having a bloodline capable of bringing you back from the brink of death in a few hours is amazing enough, but imagine having that as merely part of the obvious starter pack.
At that point, forget bloodlines, Kakashi's only next logical conclusion is that something or rather someone took a special interest on Sakura, drove her insane from a young age, and is even now warping her world view for some reason to so horrific levels that she naturally thinks her life is something to be used for a greater purpose.
With those facts if I were him I'd be more worried about the fact some king of demons from the underworld is trying to make Sakura their vessel or some other wild stuff lol
At that point, forget bloodlines, Kakashi's only next logical conclusion is that something or rather someone took a special interest on Sakura, drove her insane from a young age, and is even now warping her world view for some reason to so horrific levels that she naturally thinks her life is something to be used for a greater purpose.
With those facts if I were him I'd be more worried about the fact some king of demons from the underworld is trying to make Sakura their vessel or some other wild stuff lol
- Location
- Lake superior, Minoc
That is an amazing line. It really fits the story going along. And Kakashi dealing with this generations version of him.
Canon Side-Story: A Son Obtained
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
This is the first of two canon side-story Omake, the other will be released on Friday.
This is a little smaller than I'd like but these were written during my week off.
Starting next Monday you'll start seeing a 1600 or more length chapter every Monday and Friday, but forgive the shrinkiness of this side story. I couldn't figure out a way to boost this short story without harming it.
As the previous word count was 3100 per week, and the new minimum starting next week is 3200 per week, I don't expect too many problems, but I do know some people like to read a lot at once.
My suggestion if the size bothers you is wait til Fridays and read em both at the same time every week.
I suggested the same kind of idea to patrons, except to wait for Sunday, so they could read the 4800+ at the same time.
Obviously I'd rather have your love right away but-
Enough of this, the short story is too small for me to have this big an author's note.
"So are you just not going to leave?" Mebuki asks, staring down at the vivid blond boy as he eats a sandwich at their table. He looks happy today. "I thought you left for a mission with Sakura like, yesterday."
"Oh, I'm gone." Naruto explains between bites of PB and Fluff. He seems to enjoy that a lot, she always stores a little bit of extra sugary nonsense for when she realizes Sakura forgot to eat again. "I'm a clone, the original wanted me to go through all the paperwork to start that cleaning business while they're gone, and maybe read a few books while I'm at it."
"Ah…" Mebuki pales at that, how much chakra could the boy possibly have? She knows his secret, every ninja her age does, but they've been assured over and over again that he's not the beast incarnate and the evidence in front of her doesn't speak to the validity of that claim. The beast isn't supposed to have any access to him, so why… Why does he have a clone that can think, and eat, and talk? "So why are you eating, I didn't know clones had to eat?"
"Most clones aren't around for days." He shrugs. "I got hungry."
"Oh…" Well, she couldn't argue with that. The Shadow Clone Jutsu splits someone's chakra between all the clones, so if this is his only clone, half his chakra is in Konoha right now, which means there's probably several dozen Jonin of Naruto in Konoha right now. "Can you make clones?"
"Haven't tried." He shrugs mid-bite of fluffy goodness. "Should I? I wouldn't want to accidentally pop."
"He's only a day away, if you pop he can send another." She says, "if you wait to test it that might not be possible."
"Right!" He brightens right up at the idea, and makes what appears to be a fake hand sign she's never seen the likes of. A mere moment later there's four more Naruto's in her kitchen. "Yep, I can make clones." They all assure her at the same time, resonating just beyond her ears into the perfect pitch. It's unreal, and not like anything one would normally experience in life. Even twins are unlikely to hit the exact same pitch in the exact same order at the exact same time..
"Oh dear, well, let me help you get the registration done so that we can make sure it's all ready." She says.
"You think I could surprise them by getting it started and running before they're back?" Naruto asks.
"... Yes, I think you could, and I think that'd be a wonderful idea." Mebuki gives the boy a hug as she passes by, on her way to leave and go to the Hokage tower to make sure the boy can even run a business as a child.
"What do you mean a genin can't run a business?" Mebuki drawls, her eyes narrowed at the registry Chunin, "there are so many cases where that's not true I can't even begin. You're being a dick because of his prisoner." Most wouldn't expect her to call someone out like that from looking at her, but Sakura didn't get her assertiveness from her father. She looks a little timid, a little meek, but she doesn't let that stop her. She stomps her foot down and glares her hardest while crossing her arms together. It's childish but it's effective, she watches him flinch.
"I'm, ugh." The man sighs, rubbing his forehead. "That's not it at all, there's rules on how long you can be a genin before you're considered responsible enough to supersede rank limitations. It requires a test and-"
"So I can take the test?" She asks.
"... Yes?" The man winces.
"Good, get me the test." She taps her foot against the floor, the clack harshly ringing out from a little metal plate on the bottom of her toes meant for exactly that purpose..
"Ma'am, I can't just-"
"Snap to it." She growls, brooking no argument, let alone a pointless stalling.
She'll be getting Naruto his damn business, whether he uses it to help his teammates, pay them back, or just get a lofty retirement fund for himself, it doesn't matter to her at all.
Her daughter decided that boy was her brother, which makes him her son, and she'll beat the shit out of a Chunin for her son if she has to. It's not like she couldn't, there's a huge difference between a combat genin and an office Chunin, the ranking rules are very relaxed and she has a shoe to beat him with so she automatically wins by default by being a pissed-off mom.
In fact… He hasn't moved yet. She reaches down for her shoe.
"Here." Naruto has to question why Mebuki has a black eye and a cut on her cheek and a grin on her lips, but she doesn't seem particularly bothered by it so maybe she's like Sakura and doesn't care about bodily injury at all. They've all been through pain resistance training, so it's not like he'd expect her to be whining and crying, but Sakura takes it a bit to the extreme and he's now pretty sure her mother does too.
"What's um…" He begins, only to be interrupted by her smirk. She points at the thing she slapped on the table before he can point to her eye.
"I registered your business under my name, when you advance to Chunin you can have it in yours." She says. "You'll have to get funding to buy an office and storage for supplies, but I can't do everything for you."
"Ah…" He looks at it, rolls it over, and quickly wraps the woman in a hug so warm and tight he'd worry about hurting her if he didn't know for a fact she's stronger than him. "Thanks, mom!"
It's forced, Mebuki can tell, he's not ready to take that step with her and it'd be fine if he never did. But at the very least his clone thinks he should, and that's enough for her to be happy he's shorter than her so he can't see the massive flush overtaking her face. Her heart beats faster, and her body shivers a little with an electric tingle that flows up her body from her toes to her scalp. That's just way too much. She's a grown woman though, she can't just show her excitement in real time that'd put pressure on him to try harder and continue. "You're welcome." She acknowledges it with a gentle touch, and a huge smile he can't see.
Even when he lets her go she holds a stoic but bright smile to put him at ease and ensure he knows nothing is wrong. "I have to go tell my husband the news, please read over the forms so you know the rules imposed on both of us, before I make lunch."
"I will!" He's so excitable, it's really hard to hide it.
The moment she's out of sight though, she shows just how far Sakura fell from the tree, by throwing her hands up in the air and wiggling her hips. She drops them, throws them up, drops them, throws them up, and all the while holds in a scream so he doesn't come to check on her.
She did it, she has obtained a son! Clone or not, she got one!
Woo! Screw you doctor and your 'you won't have more kids' speech. She's gonna write him a letter, it's gonna go like this:
Fuck off
Proving you wrong,
Mebuki Haruno.
This is a little smaller than I'd like but these were written during my week off.
Starting next Monday you'll start seeing a 1600 or more length chapter every Monday and Friday, but forgive the shrinkiness of this side story. I couldn't figure out a way to boost this short story without harming it.
As the previous word count was 3100 per week, and the new minimum starting next week is 3200 per week, I don't expect too many problems, but I do know some people like to read a lot at once.
My suggestion if the size bothers you is wait til Fridays and read em both at the same time every week.
I suggested the same kind of idea to patrons, except to wait for Sunday, so they could read the 4800+ at the same time.
Obviously I'd rather have your love right away but-
Enough of this, the short story is too small for me to have this big an author's note.
"So are you just not going to leave?" Mebuki asks, staring down at the vivid blond boy as he eats a sandwich at their table. He looks happy today. "I thought you left for a mission with Sakura like, yesterday."
"Oh, I'm gone." Naruto explains between bites of PB and Fluff. He seems to enjoy that a lot, she always stores a little bit of extra sugary nonsense for when she realizes Sakura forgot to eat again. "I'm a clone, the original wanted me to go through all the paperwork to start that cleaning business while they're gone, and maybe read a few books while I'm at it."
"Ah…" Mebuki pales at that, how much chakra could the boy possibly have? She knows his secret, every ninja her age does, but they've been assured over and over again that he's not the beast incarnate and the evidence in front of her doesn't speak to the validity of that claim. The beast isn't supposed to have any access to him, so why… Why does he have a clone that can think, and eat, and talk? "So why are you eating, I didn't know clones had to eat?"
"Most clones aren't around for days." He shrugs. "I got hungry."
"Oh…" Well, she couldn't argue with that. The Shadow Clone Jutsu splits someone's chakra between all the clones, so if this is his only clone, half his chakra is in Konoha right now, which means there's probably several dozen Jonin of Naruto in Konoha right now. "Can you make clones?"
"Haven't tried." He shrugs mid-bite of fluffy goodness. "Should I? I wouldn't want to accidentally pop."
"He's only a day away, if you pop he can send another." She says, "if you wait to test it that might not be possible."
"Right!" He brightens right up at the idea, and makes what appears to be a fake hand sign she's never seen the likes of. A mere moment later there's four more Naruto's in her kitchen. "Yep, I can make clones." They all assure her at the same time, resonating just beyond her ears into the perfect pitch. It's unreal, and not like anything one would normally experience in life. Even twins are unlikely to hit the exact same pitch in the exact same order at the exact same time..
"Oh dear, well, let me help you get the registration done so that we can make sure it's all ready." She says.
"You think I could surprise them by getting it started and running before they're back?" Naruto asks.
"... Yes, I think you could, and I think that'd be a wonderful idea." Mebuki gives the boy a hug as she passes by, on her way to leave and go to the Hokage tower to make sure the boy can even run a business as a child.
"What do you mean a genin can't run a business?" Mebuki drawls, her eyes narrowed at the registry Chunin, "there are so many cases where that's not true I can't even begin. You're being a dick because of his prisoner." Most wouldn't expect her to call someone out like that from looking at her, but Sakura didn't get her assertiveness from her father. She looks a little timid, a little meek, but she doesn't let that stop her. She stomps her foot down and glares her hardest while crossing her arms together. It's childish but it's effective, she watches him flinch.
"I'm, ugh." The man sighs, rubbing his forehead. "That's not it at all, there's rules on how long you can be a genin before you're considered responsible enough to supersede rank limitations. It requires a test and-"
"So I can take the test?" She asks.
"... Yes?" The man winces.
"Good, get me the test." She taps her foot against the floor, the clack harshly ringing out from a little metal plate on the bottom of her toes meant for exactly that purpose..
"Ma'am, I can't just-"
"Snap to it." She growls, brooking no argument, let alone a pointless stalling.
She'll be getting Naruto his damn business, whether he uses it to help his teammates, pay them back, or just get a lofty retirement fund for himself, it doesn't matter to her at all.
Her daughter decided that boy was her brother, which makes him her son, and she'll beat the shit out of a Chunin for her son if she has to. It's not like she couldn't, there's a huge difference between a combat genin and an office Chunin, the ranking rules are very relaxed and she has a shoe to beat him with so she automatically wins by default by being a pissed-off mom.
In fact… He hasn't moved yet. She reaches down for her shoe.
"Here." Naruto has to question why Mebuki has a black eye and a cut on her cheek and a grin on her lips, but she doesn't seem particularly bothered by it so maybe she's like Sakura and doesn't care about bodily injury at all. They've all been through pain resistance training, so it's not like he'd expect her to be whining and crying, but Sakura takes it a bit to the extreme and he's now pretty sure her mother does too.
"What's um…" He begins, only to be interrupted by her smirk. She points at the thing she slapped on the table before he can point to her eye.
"I registered your business under my name, when you advance to Chunin you can have it in yours." She says. "You'll have to get funding to buy an office and storage for supplies, but I can't do everything for you."
"Ah…" He looks at it, rolls it over, and quickly wraps the woman in a hug so warm and tight he'd worry about hurting her if he didn't know for a fact she's stronger than him. "Thanks, mom!"
It's forced, Mebuki can tell, he's not ready to take that step with her and it'd be fine if he never did. But at the very least his clone thinks he should, and that's enough for her to be happy he's shorter than her so he can't see the massive flush overtaking her face. Her heart beats faster, and her body shivers a little with an electric tingle that flows up her body from her toes to her scalp. That's just way too much. She's a grown woman though, she can't just show her excitement in real time that'd put pressure on him to try harder and continue. "You're welcome." She acknowledges it with a gentle touch, and a huge smile he can't see.
Even when he lets her go she holds a stoic but bright smile to put him at ease and ensure he knows nothing is wrong. "I have to go tell my husband the news, please read over the forms so you know the rules imposed on both of us, before I make lunch."
"I will!" He's so excitable, it's really hard to hide it.
The moment she's out of sight though, she shows just how far Sakura fell from the tree, by throwing her hands up in the air and wiggling her hips. She drops them, throws them up, drops them, throws them up, and all the while holds in a scream so he doesn't come to check on her.
She did it, she has obtained a son! Clone or not, she got one!
Woo! Screw you doctor and your 'you won't have more kids' speech. She's gonna write him a letter, it's gonna go like this:
Fuck off
Proving you wrong,
Mebuki Haruno.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Not the same as Sakura's POV, but I can see the family resemblance.
Dopplerdee
Accident Prone(Yes the caps are necessary)
- Location
- Happy Place
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Loved that side story on Patreon and I love it here.
So is Mebuki a manga addict or did she get that trope from her mom?
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Manga? That trope's from the black community.
Is that a thing in Manga too? I guess I have seen that.
I grew up in poverty, I had a lot of black friends, they feared their mama with a shoe, let me tell you.
Arcane Howitzer
Serial Arcanist
- Location
- United States
When a Shadow Clone poofs, everything that came with the clone poofs with it, but anything that wasn't stays. So...
What happens to the food they eat?
Where it came from originally is nigh-impossible to determine. It, or variations of it, show up in a whole lot of places and have for quite some time.
All comes under the general heading of 'Mama Bear'.
- Location
- Victoria, BC
Also a part of Latin culture. "La chancla" refers to Latin moms taking off their sandal and hitting their child with it.
Please do not hit children. I feel the need to make my opinion clear.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Hey look, I feel ya, but I really don't think anyone beating their kids is gonna be convinced by a post on page 29 of a Sakura Centric fic.
If you feel that strongly about it, make a blog or something.
That was wonderfully heartwarming, I'd like to see more in the same vein.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
How the hell does Naruto being Kyubey's jailer stay classified with so many witnesses, anyway?
- Location
- Here
A shoe is conveniently near at hand and has a decent structure and weight distribution for a minor improvised weapon. I wouldn't be surprised if the idea has been independently invented countless times dating all the way back to the invention of footwear.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
It's not classified.
The canon law states that you can't tell those of the younger generation about it.
Or, more specifically, those that don't know.
But how in the fuck do you measure if someone knows something without giving it away?
There's a reason Akatsuki knew exactly where to fucking go.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
How many hints does Sakura need to pick up before Kakashi is allowed to just tell her?
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Funnily enough, while I won't go into detail, the "conversation about Kyuubi" already happened on the Patreon.
So, more than you'd like but less than you'd think.
They seemed to love it.
Moms everywhere needed something to smack disobedient kids with thats flexible enough not to cause injury.
Its usually a shoe. You always have a shoe
Omake: Sakura and the Root of the problem - By KnightOwl
- Location
- Ohio
Sakura and the Root of the Problem
"You know," Sakura spoke up as she leaned against the tree. "that was a strange dungeon..."
"Yeah..." Sasuke murmured as he kept looking at the skull he had taken from the Boss, the strange old guy that future Sasuke had killed.
"Was that...him?" Naruto asked Sasuke, as he turned his head to him.
"...What happened to make you look so bad in the future?" Sakura interrupted her boys. "I mean you didn't look that bad in the cloak and stuff, but you looked really sad..."
"..." Sasuke just looked blankly at her.
"..."Naruto on the other hand looked at her like he was baffled.
"...Maybe we should watch you and make sure you take care of yourself better..." Sakura responded, wondering if they hadn't put everything together yet.
"Let's just talk about what you got..." Sasuke replied after a few moments.
"You mean the little minion game?"
"Yeah..." Sasuke replied, while wishing he could talk to someone else sane... Maybe Hinata would be a good sounding board, he needed someone to unload all the trauma he suffered.
Having all the secrets of the Uchiha fed into his mind was not something he wanted, especially finding out that the one known as Zetsu was behind most of his Clans misfortune. Largely by actually listening to the fool.
Like how this Obito was manipulated by Madara and Zetsu...
Notes: So now Sasuke largely has his head straightened by knowing his clans sins, and Sakura now owns Root.
"You know," Sakura spoke up as she leaned against the tree. "that was a strange dungeon..."
"Yeah..." Sasuke murmured as he kept looking at the skull he had taken from the Boss, the strange old guy that future Sasuke had killed.
"Was that...him?" Naruto asked Sasuke, as he turned his head to him.
"...What happened to make you look so bad in the future?" Sakura interrupted her boys. "I mean you didn't look that bad in the cloak and stuff, but you looked really sad..."
"..." Sasuke just looked blankly at her.
"..."Naruto on the other hand looked at her like he was baffled.
"...Maybe we should watch you and make sure you take care of yourself better..." Sakura responded, wondering if they hadn't put everything together yet.
"Let's just talk about what you got..." Sasuke replied after a few moments.
"You mean the little minion game?"
"Yeah..." Sasuke replied, while wishing he could talk to someone else sane... Maybe Hinata would be a good sounding board, he needed someone to unload all the trauma he suffered.
Having all the secrets of the Uchiha fed into his mind was not something he wanted, especially finding out that the one known as Zetsu was behind most of his Clans misfortune. Largely by actually listening to the fool.
Like how this Obito was manipulated by Madara and Zetsu...
Notes: So now Sasuke largely has his head straightened by knowing his clans sins, and Sakura now owns Root.
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Owning Root could work, it's already filled with faceless minions with no personalities. Could just spawn more and no one would know the difference between the originals and NPCs.
Canon SideStory: That Time Ino Pranked A Teacher So Hard He Tried To Kill Her
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Watching Sakura has been a pastime of Ino for as long as she can remember. The pink-haired girl has always been incredibly different, and she noticed it from moment one. She can still remember the first time they met. Spotting Ami, Kasumi and Fuki cornering the girl during a Kunoichi lesson was an event that would change her life, but in different ways than she would have ever expected.
"Your forehead is so huge! I'd drop dead if I was caught looking like that!" Ami taunted, and Sakura shrugged.
"Drop dead then. We all look weird, we're kids." Sakura hadn't even looked up from her Gameboy, a little green device with strange buttons and lights held in her hands. She'd waved the girl off and continued without a single care.
She'd watched Ami deck her and had the urge to get involved and put a stop to that before it got serious, but something stopped her. Specifically, the mellow, bored look on Sakura's face even as her lip split open, stopped her. She should stand for those that can't defend themselves but what about those that just didn't feel like it?
Sakura didn't care. She took the blows and didn't even bother to fight back, she set her Gameboy under her to protect it, laid back and yawned, and let them hurt her, and when it was over, they looked more disturbed by the act than she did.
It wasn't until they left that she approached, finding Sakura picking her Gameboy back up while her forehead bled. "Are you okay?" Ino asked, kneeling beside the downed girl and digging into her pack for some of the medical supplies they'd all been assigned for practicing with. "You should tend to your wounds before you get back to playing."
"Why?" It was a question that opened Ino's eyes in several ways. It was absurd, strange, and somehow managed to create a crack in her reality that would one day become both admiration and adoration. "It doesn't hurt much, the academy pain training is a lot worse."
"Uh… what uh, pain training?" Ino's senses tingled in a lot of ways, not liking any of them.
"The one Mizuki runs." Sakura raised a brow at her. "You know, with all the pins and stuff."
Ino would later refer to this as her first 'what the fuck' even though she didn't know the words.
As Ino would find out the following day from her parents, pain resistance training is a legitimate part of the curriculum for every student, it starts out with little things and slowly progresses. It's assigned by teachers on an individual basis when they deem that person ready, and while it does get rather crazy it doesn't tend to until the final year of the academy for even the most die-hard, super talented students who might benefit from an even greater edge.
Sakura starting so early and so extremely had Ino asking a lot of questions, and the answer to those questions largely brought her to one conclusion.
Mizuki picked Sakura because it'd be okay to abuse her. She wouldn't say much because it was framed in an educational way and for her benefit, and he wasn't so much hitting her as causing systematic pain so she wouldn't register it under conventional rules as scary or harmful. The concept of abuse isn't particularly well defined in Konoha, and rules aren't set up very firmly in place around them. What you're doing is either messed up enough the enforcement of Ninja law gets involved or it doesn't so it's fine. He wasn't doing anything illegal, and she couldn't do anything to stop it, Sakura would probably be a better ninja for it one day and to rob her of that would be treachery in the eyes of the masses. Ninja skills are worshiped, suffering is glorified, and dignity is swept under the rug the moment it can be discarded. It was enough to leave her a bit disheartened, and woefully pissed off.
What this meant is that Mizuki had entered her shit list, even before she called it a shit list. He was the first person properly there, and she wasn't even completely sure why. Conflicting emotions raged within her, and that caused problems. As a little girl, Ino wasn't particularly good or skilled in any way to get back at the man, but she knew who was, and it turned out after a little observation that he was hurting Naruto too so the boy had a lot of reason to screw him over.
"Naruto." She'd poked his shoulder one morning during class, slipping him a note while Iruka spoke. The boy read it quickly, proving he could read, it was something she was slightly worried about. Reading isn't required until the second to last year in the Academy, and orphans frequently lacked skills like that. He looked back at her and nodded, giving her a thumbs up, and she smiled right back.
Their plan was set in motion, it was that simple. Naruto would figure something out, and she'd support him in making Mizuki regret his actions enough he'd cool it with her new friend Sakura and her possibly new friend Naruto.
What she didn't know at the time, was just how far Naruto was going to go with this. In hindsight, mentioning Sakura was also a victim probably wasn't very smart of her.
She still didn't know what Naruto's plan was even when they met after school. The boy was just rubbing his hands together while menacingly chortling. She knew he'd set something in play, but she was afraid to ask what. She knew Naruto was a trap mastermind, he did some kind of crazy nonsense almost every single day. She'd been the victim of a few of his pranks, nothing major, just small things that added up to create some annoyance at the boy. She still checked her seat every day to ensure she didn't end up with itching powder where she absolutely did not want itching powder.
She wouldn't say she deserved his wrath at any given point, but at their age he was still lashing out at random for attention, and she could understand that in her own way. She once ruined a batch of flowers because her father was giving it more attention than her…
"Do you think he'll learn?" Ino asked.
"Mmhmm, just um, here." He handed her a slip of paper, which she read over slowly.
`I totally helped plan this awesome prank and am equally responsible.` There was even a place to sign. "Naruto, why do you know how to make this?" It wasn't a complex legal document or anything, several of the words were misspelled even if she could easily tell what they were, and whether a 'contract' written in marker was valid was dubious at best, but she probably wouldn't have done much better in his place at her age. "Better yet why did you make this?"
"Because this is going to be really, really big." Naruto explained, using his hands to mime a huge explosion. "And if it falls entirely on me I'll be in really, really, really big trouble."
"But as a clan heiress, I can take some of the brunt." She realized, looking down at it. "Okie." With a quick scribble of her name, she handed it back, smiling brightly. "He needs this, so, what's the plan?"
"Oh, um-"
Boooooooom!
An entire classroom exploded behind him, paint flowed out the windows, chalk dust spread into the sky, and that was before she heard it, springs activated, and metal pings started flying in all directions around the room leaving holes in the wall that she could see from here.
"Narutooooo!" She was not ready for their teacher to jump out of the room colored like the rainbow, bleeding from several holes in his torso and holding a kunai in his hands. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with rage, and he was approaching with murderous intent she could feel.
"Run?" Naruto asked.
"Run." She agreed, and together they took off running, barely dodging a kunai thrown at him that missed due to Mizuki's mixed vision, one that almost hit her right in the eye instead.
"For attempted murder of a clan heiress, not to be forgotten that said heiress is your student, you're stripped of your rank and position at the academy, and will be under watch when within Konoha proper for the next ten years." He hadn't stopped at one kunai, and it had become really clear, really fast, that he had snapped and was fully intending to at least kill Naruto over it. "The extenuating circumstances have been noted, and taken into consideration to ease your sentence, but should you approach the Academy, or her home, or interact with any child within that time frame outside of the basics of politeness, you will be immediately persecuted to the fullest extent of the Yamanaka's discretion."
She hadn't expected that prank or what happened after, but if Mizuki was really brutal with his efforts, it made sense that Naruto might go farther than normal, and someone who could willingly abuse his position like that wasn't too far off from snapping. It made sense, looking back, but at the time it felt crazy and random. Like an event that happened to her instead of one she orchestrated. She wanted to teach the man a lesson, not ruin his life…
And yet, grown ups that know better decided for her. Ino stood tall for her age next to her father while in the court, and she'd given her tale of events. She'd even done Naruto a real favor, and left him out of it.
It'd entirely fall on her, the time Ino pranked a school teacher so hard he tried to kill her.
Her father, and the Hokage, had both agreed that it was best if she was willing to do it, and uh…
She was, so she did.
Years later the Hokage would pull Naruto aside and hand him a Jutsu scroll he'd copied some important notes onto, including the Shadow clone so he could pass his exam with a clone Jutsu. Ino would never know she'd solved a treason before it happened. And Sakura, having forgotten all about this, would ask the very same questions Ino did but with Kakashi, coming to a very different answer.
"Your forehead is so huge! I'd drop dead if I was caught looking like that!" Ami taunted, and Sakura shrugged.
"Drop dead then. We all look weird, we're kids." Sakura hadn't even looked up from her Gameboy, a little green device with strange buttons and lights held in her hands. She'd waved the girl off and continued without a single care.
She'd watched Ami deck her and had the urge to get involved and put a stop to that before it got serious, but something stopped her. Specifically, the mellow, bored look on Sakura's face even as her lip split open, stopped her. She should stand for those that can't defend themselves but what about those that just didn't feel like it?
Sakura didn't care. She took the blows and didn't even bother to fight back, she set her Gameboy under her to protect it, laid back and yawned, and let them hurt her, and when it was over, they looked more disturbed by the act than she did.
It wasn't until they left that she approached, finding Sakura picking her Gameboy back up while her forehead bled. "Are you okay?" Ino asked, kneeling beside the downed girl and digging into her pack for some of the medical supplies they'd all been assigned for practicing with. "You should tend to your wounds before you get back to playing."
"Why?" It was a question that opened Ino's eyes in several ways. It was absurd, strange, and somehow managed to create a crack in her reality that would one day become both admiration and adoration. "It doesn't hurt much, the academy pain training is a lot worse."
"Uh… what uh, pain training?" Ino's senses tingled in a lot of ways, not liking any of them.
"The one Mizuki runs." Sakura raised a brow at her. "You know, with all the pins and stuff."
Ino would later refer to this as her first 'what the fuck' even though she didn't know the words.
As Ino would find out the following day from her parents, pain resistance training is a legitimate part of the curriculum for every student, it starts out with little things and slowly progresses. It's assigned by teachers on an individual basis when they deem that person ready, and while it does get rather crazy it doesn't tend to until the final year of the academy for even the most die-hard, super talented students who might benefit from an even greater edge.
Sakura starting so early and so extremely had Ino asking a lot of questions, and the answer to those questions largely brought her to one conclusion.
Mizuki picked Sakura because it'd be okay to abuse her. She wouldn't say much because it was framed in an educational way and for her benefit, and he wasn't so much hitting her as causing systematic pain so she wouldn't register it under conventional rules as scary or harmful. The concept of abuse isn't particularly well defined in Konoha, and rules aren't set up very firmly in place around them. What you're doing is either messed up enough the enforcement of Ninja law gets involved or it doesn't so it's fine. He wasn't doing anything illegal, and she couldn't do anything to stop it, Sakura would probably be a better ninja for it one day and to rob her of that would be treachery in the eyes of the masses. Ninja skills are worshiped, suffering is glorified, and dignity is swept under the rug the moment it can be discarded. It was enough to leave her a bit disheartened, and woefully pissed off.
What this meant is that Mizuki had entered her shit list, even before she called it a shit list. He was the first person properly there, and she wasn't even completely sure why. Conflicting emotions raged within her, and that caused problems. As a little girl, Ino wasn't particularly good or skilled in any way to get back at the man, but she knew who was, and it turned out after a little observation that he was hurting Naruto too so the boy had a lot of reason to screw him over.
"Naruto." She'd poked his shoulder one morning during class, slipping him a note while Iruka spoke. The boy read it quickly, proving he could read, it was something she was slightly worried about. Reading isn't required until the second to last year in the Academy, and orphans frequently lacked skills like that. He looked back at her and nodded, giving her a thumbs up, and she smiled right back.
Their plan was set in motion, it was that simple. Naruto would figure something out, and she'd support him in making Mizuki regret his actions enough he'd cool it with her new friend Sakura and her possibly new friend Naruto.
What she didn't know at the time, was just how far Naruto was going to go with this. In hindsight, mentioning Sakura was also a victim probably wasn't very smart of her.
She still didn't know what Naruto's plan was even when they met after school. The boy was just rubbing his hands together while menacingly chortling. She knew he'd set something in play, but she was afraid to ask what. She knew Naruto was a trap mastermind, he did some kind of crazy nonsense almost every single day. She'd been the victim of a few of his pranks, nothing major, just small things that added up to create some annoyance at the boy. She still checked her seat every day to ensure she didn't end up with itching powder where she absolutely did not want itching powder.
She wouldn't say she deserved his wrath at any given point, but at their age he was still lashing out at random for attention, and she could understand that in her own way. She once ruined a batch of flowers because her father was giving it more attention than her…
"Do you think he'll learn?" Ino asked.
"Mmhmm, just um, here." He handed her a slip of paper, which she read over slowly.
`I totally helped plan this awesome prank and am equally responsible.` There was even a place to sign. "Naruto, why do you know how to make this?" It wasn't a complex legal document or anything, several of the words were misspelled even if she could easily tell what they were, and whether a 'contract' written in marker was valid was dubious at best, but she probably wouldn't have done much better in his place at her age. "Better yet why did you make this?"
"Because this is going to be really, really big." Naruto explained, using his hands to mime a huge explosion. "And if it falls entirely on me I'll be in really, really, really big trouble."
"But as a clan heiress, I can take some of the brunt." She realized, looking down at it. "Okie." With a quick scribble of her name, she handed it back, smiling brightly. "He needs this, so, what's the plan?"
"Oh, um-"
Boooooooom!
An entire classroom exploded behind him, paint flowed out the windows, chalk dust spread into the sky, and that was before she heard it, springs activated, and metal pings started flying in all directions around the room leaving holes in the wall that she could see from here.
"Narutooooo!" She was not ready for their teacher to jump out of the room colored like the rainbow, bleeding from several holes in his torso and holding a kunai in his hands. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with rage, and he was approaching with murderous intent she could feel.
"Run?" Naruto asked.
"Run." She agreed, and together they took off running, barely dodging a kunai thrown at him that missed due to Mizuki's mixed vision, one that almost hit her right in the eye instead.
"For attempted murder of a clan heiress, not to be forgotten that said heiress is your student, you're stripped of your rank and position at the academy, and will be under watch when within Konoha proper for the next ten years." He hadn't stopped at one kunai, and it had become really clear, really fast, that he had snapped and was fully intending to at least kill Naruto over it. "The extenuating circumstances have been noted, and taken into consideration to ease your sentence, but should you approach the Academy, or her home, or interact with any child within that time frame outside of the basics of politeness, you will be immediately persecuted to the fullest extent of the Yamanaka's discretion."
She hadn't expected that prank or what happened after, but if Mizuki was really brutal with his efforts, it made sense that Naruto might go farther than normal, and someone who could willingly abuse his position like that wasn't too far off from snapping. It made sense, looking back, but at the time it felt crazy and random. Like an event that happened to her instead of one she orchestrated. She wanted to teach the man a lesson, not ruin his life…
And yet, grown ups that know better decided for her. Ino stood tall for her age next to her father while in the court, and she'd given her tale of events. She'd even done Naruto a real favor, and left him out of it.
It'd entirely fall on her, the time Ino pranked a school teacher so hard he tried to kill her.
Her father, and the Hokage, had both agreed that it was best if she was willing to do it, and uh…
She was, so she did.
Years later the Hokage would pull Naruto aside and hand him a Jutsu scroll he'd copied some important notes onto, including the Shadow clone so he could pass his exam with a clone Jutsu. Ino would never know she'd solved a treason before it happened. And Sakura, having forgotten all about this, would ask the very same questions Ino did but with Kakashi, coming to a very different answer.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Funny, but it does do some weird things to Naruto's growth curve that the last paragraph at least attempts to cover. I'll accept the handwaive.
Although... That means Mizuki is still out there, since they gave him a lesser sentence due to extenuating circumstances and he never got around to treason. I'd imagine that would only increase his treasonous thoughts.
Although... That means Mizuki is still out there, since they gave him a lesser sentence due to extenuating circumstances and he never got around to treason. I'd imagine that would only increase his treasonous thoughts.