Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
The only ninja that favor subtlety are ANBU and Nara. The former are there to be mooks for loud shounen ninja. The latter are there to slack off and avoid work.
Sakura Haruno The Gaming Addict, and Her Gamified Life [Naruto]
- Thread starter Sendicard
- Start date
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Drunk me approves of this message.
You're a hero.
"Why not just use a gun?" Because she's a ninja, and guns are never silent unless magic gets involved, which is likely much more expensive than just using a crossbow, even an enchanted crossbow.
"fleeting feelings that have left her shaken, but not stirred." Really Sendicard? Really? *smh*
Yeah, Sakura really should have given her more information about the weapon before leaving it...
"fleeting feelings that have left her shaken, but not stirred." Really Sendicard? Really? *smh*
Yeah, Sakura really should have given her more information about the weapon before leaving it...
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Sometimes you gotta shake but not stir, all I gotta say."Why not just use a gun?" Because she's a ninja, and guns are never silent unless magic gets involved, which is likely much more expensive than just using a crossbow, even an enchanted crossbow.
"fleeting feelings that have left her shaken, but not stirred." Really Sendicard? Really? *smh*
Yeah, Sakura really should have given her more information about the weapon before leaving it...
I'm fucking hammered right now, so disclaimer, but it feels accurate.
Kakashi: Already has a plan to kill everyone he meets. Just added to impractical, flashy plans file.
Sakura: Already handles human interaction like monster/npc statblocks. She knows theres good xp in there.
Sasuke: If its not about Itachi it gets drowned out by whats already there. If its about Itachi its pissing in the ocean.
Naruto: Cannot shout louder than the Kyuubi. Too dense to hear it anyway.
Chapter 38: Arc 4 - Brawling In The Streets: A New Mission
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Arc 3 is over and onto Arc 4 we go.
This one is going to be a little different from the rest of the story. Up to this point we have followed canon entirely. Even the AU bits had the concept of canon behind them.
Arc 4 is entirely original, and it shows. It's not as strong as Arc 3, and to top it off I was moving and in a depressive state when I outlined it, so it had a worse foundation.
I still love the arc, and it's pretty long as Patreon is still in it, but if you notice a difference that's why.
Sakura gets her first non-canon adventure.
Over on Patreon Sakura is experiencing a bit of deja-vu at the moment in chapter 56, so you know, that's happening.
Up, down, up down- Sakura's a big fan of push-ups these days. The stark contrast between when she started and now is astounding. Back then she spent just an hour with Naruto and it was enough to practically put her in a coma. Now, she's actually lost count of the pyramid she just completed. She's just following Sasuke's count because it's easier for her. Supposedly they just completed twenty-seven? That means, what, a few hundred more pushups to complete if they're going down?
It's ridiculous, but what's more ridiculous is just how much of a lull she's entered with it. She doesn't care, it's nothing, it's as simple as breathing and as easy as numbing her mind and moving on to the next time she'll need her attention.
Kakashi's standing there, tapping his foot on the dirt while watching them impatiently. He's pushing them to go faster and faster with every session, trying to push every ounce of strength into them he can with all of his ire and demonic might. Tenten's worried about her sword, well she's worried about Kakashi. Then again, he gave her the sword so maybe the issue is one in the same.
When the push-ups are done, it's running, when that's done it's climbing the trees, darting from one to the other on targets with precision that collapse and make you restart if you miss the mark. When that's done, it's weapons training. When that's done, it's pain training, back to weapons training, acrobatics, terrain, even some first aid and she has nothing but a blurry memory of the past several days.
They're doing something crazy soon, she's sure of it. It's not nearly as bad as the hell training back in Wave, but then she's fitter now than she was back then so it might be identical and she wouldn't know. She feels powerful, like a hidden boss that's erupted onto the scene out of nowhere. Nothing Kakashi can throw at her now matters, muahahahaha!
Except it does.
"Oof." Her face hits the dirt for the fourth time today.
"Kakashi, fucking, why?" She groans, while a Naruto clone splashes her with a bit of water just in case she falls asleep.
"Why what?" The madman asks, kneeling down so he can pick her head up by her hair and look directly into her red eyes with his singular gaze. "Is there a problem, Sakura?"
That's another change recently. Two, really. He's been treating her more brutally, and her sword's influence just won't leave her eyes anymore. She hasn't had pretty greens since before she got her sword back from Tenten.
It's sad, she kind of misses how her eyes looked. She didn't appreciate it before, now she does, but she hasn't wanted to let the sword go from her side either. She even sleeps with it, letting it go feels like a crime now. Tenten made it seem so bad that she's got an irrational fear that someone might try to steal it and seal it or something.
It's absurd, but she can't shake it, and it's not messing with her thoughts like it did Tenten so she's not particularly worried about it. Well, okay, it might be messing with her thoughts to protect itself but not in a bad way, she'd pick up on wanting to eat people all of the sudden.
"Yeah, you're being a dick." She's surprised to find she's not decked for that.
"That's fair." The man drops her, sliding to his feet and clapping her hands. "Everyone, lunch in twenty minutes. We're going to a BBQ place so have your manners."
"We're covered in dirt." Naruto reminds.
"That's why I gave you twenty minutes." He says, and the boys leave to go clean up, while she's stuck laying there feeling bad about herself. Yeah okay so she's not totally strong enough to handle this, but she's getting there!
Meeting Kakashi and the boys at a BBQ while still covered in dirt feels a little awkward, but it's dirt borne from her efforts so she has very little to complain about. She's proud of herself, and she won't be deterred from that.
The place is nice, and she stands out quite a bit in training gear. The scent of fresh food in the air makes her body practically vibrate in anticipation. Working up an appetite is hard to describe for her, but Haku's made sure she hasn't missed a single meal recently so she's starting to get used to feeling hungry.
It's funny how little parts of being human like that disappear if you ignore them long enough.
She catches the eye of someone at another table, who immediately grins at her and shoots a thumbs up her way. That's another thing, recently, going anywhere public has resulted in one extreme reaction or the other. It seems there's no getting away from kissing Ino in a public place before picking her up bridal style and running through the village with her.
It's so awkward. It only takes a moment to order before the food is out, and it's one of those places they have to cook the food themselves so, she readies herself to figure out what she wants before Kakashi starts putting out their meats in orderly manners along the hot plate. "I'm not doing that bit." He says starkly, "we have much more important things to discuss without one of you three giving yourself food poisoning."
"I feel like we can cook some meat…" Sakura trails.
"Can you?" Kakashi challenges her, and her flushing cheeks and awkward sideways gaze is enough for him. "As you may have noticed recently, our training has been stepped up." Sakura can't help but wonder if she'd get a cooking skill if she put her all into it. Could she get really good at it and show him?
That's what she's gonna do. On whatever this next mission is, she's going to learn how to cook so she can stick it to Kakashi. She'll blow his mind!
"We noticed," Naruto says, "Sakura's been wondering if the village is about to be invaded or something."
She has the shame to not look back yet, just let that one wash off her.
"Kind of." Kakashi says as if he's talking about going for a brisk snack.
"I'm sorry what-" She can barely start before he's got a finger up in front of her face, waggling from side to side. He's so mean to her…
"The chunin exams are in a couple of months." Kakashi explains, leaning back while watching meat sizzle. It should be done very soon, this stuff is cut so thin that it cooks in seconds. "You'll all be going since it's hosted in Konoha, so many other nations will be arriving to try and show us up. We need our best and brightest at the forefront."
"Isn't it a little soon to be sending us?" Sakura asks, "I thought the exams were for second years at the least."
"Yeah, Sakura, if you think your team is normal…" Kakashi lets that one sit, and lets her complete it in her head.
"Eheh-fair…" She scarfs some delicious protein down when Kakashi expertly brings the meat to their plates with ninja precision. It's not something that should look better just because a ninja did it, but it sure does, ninja drama is just great in all places.
"The issue is that because enemy nations may participate, some will be out to kill you, and killing is completely allowed," Kakashi begins, "the chunin exam is a substitute for war plain and simple, and I want you all ready for war."
"Mm.." Sakura gets that, nodding to herself mid bite, it's so good! It's all juicy and meaty and the savory flavor overtakes her mouth. Well, maybe she just needs something in her mouth after all that training.
"I see where this is going." Sasuke says, his eyes flashing with recognition.
"Correct, I need to give two of you one-on-one training to prepare you for a death game. The other is already more than ready, and needs some more hands-on experience in a very different way."
"I dunno if Naruto is ready for that." Sakura ponders, "I guess he has infinite lives with his clones, that'd make it a lot better, is it Sasuke?" It's not for several seconds, that she realizes there are three male gazes focused directly on her. "Did I get something on my face?"
"Ahem, sooo, who wants to explain it to Sakura?" Kakashi asks, faking a cough.
She watches her boys play rock paper scissors out of nowhere while she looks between them, feeling very left out of something.
"So not fair…" She grumbles, "my charm is high enough for me to be embarrassed now but not high enough for me to understand. This is bullying."
"Right, so, take this." Kakashi slips a note across the table to her.
"Is no one going to explain it to me?" She asks, while the boys get on with their sixth game of rock paper scissors.
"Give this to Gai Maito, understand?" Kakashi asks.
"Like right now?" She looks down at the food, all the sizzling meat that's, all on her side how did she miss that?
Kakashi then plates it all in a tupperware he got from somewhere- "go, now, yes."
"Erm, okay…" She's not sure why she feels like she's on a walk of shame but she's not going to a famous jonin covered in dirt, she'll hit up the shower at home first before figuring out where he even is, most likely? Screw them for still playing rock paper scissors! They're so mean to her. "I just, could I get a little explanation?" She whimpers pitifully with wide vulnerable demon eyes and the best version of a puppy-like pout she can manage.
"Fine, I'm going to be giving the boys one on one training to make up a bit of the gap, while you needs to see how more advanced ninja your age deal with varying tactical situations, preferably, observing methods that don't involve running up with a sword and chopping the problem in half and then coming home covered in blood."
"So…" Sakura trails.
"You'll be joining team three for a Low B rank mission. It should take you out of the village for about two weeks, prepare accordingly. You'll find them at training ground thirty-seven."
"Team three…" Sakura trails, thinking- "weren't they a veteran genin team?"
"And yet." Kakashi starts with no small amount of exasperation, "the amount of times they have climbed onto a guy with a sword and 'started stabbing'," he uses his fingers to give her quotes, "is probably less. I'm sure you'll have plenty to bond about."
At least hell training is over.
This one is going to be a little different from the rest of the story. Up to this point we have followed canon entirely. Even the AU bits had the concept of canon behind them.
Arc 4 is entirely original, and it shows. It's not as strong as Arc 3, and to top it off I was moving and in a depressive state when I outlined it, so it had a worse foundation.
I still love the arc, and it's pretty long as Patreon is still in it, but if you notice a difference that's why.
Sakura gets her first non-canon adventure.
Over on Patreon Sakura is experiencing a bit of deja-vu at the moment in chapter 56, so you know, that's happening.
Up, down, up down- Sakura's a big fan of push-ups these days. The stark contrast between when she started and now is astounding. Back then she spent just an hour with Naruto and it was enough to practically put her in a coma. Now, she's actually lost count of the pyramid she just completed. She's just following Sasuke's count because it's easier for her. Supposedly they just completed twenty-seven? That means, what, a few hundred more pushups to complete if they're going down?
It's ridiculous, but what's more ridiculous is just how much of a lull she's entered with it. She doesn't care, it's nothing, it's as simple as breathing and as easy as numbing her mind and moving on to the next time she'll need her attention.
Kakashi's standing there, tapping his foot on the dirt while watching them impatiently. He's pushing them to go faster and faster with every session, trying to push every ounce of strength into them he can with all of his ire and demonic might. Tenten's worried about her sword, well she's worried about Kakashi. Then again, he gave her the sword so maybe the issue is one in the same.
When the push-ups are done, it's running, when that's done it's climbing the trees, darting from one to the other on targets with precision that collapse and make you restart if you miss the mark. When that's done, it's weapons training. When that's done, it's pain training, back to weapons training, acrobatics, terrain, even some first aid and she has nothing but a blurry memory of the past several days.
They're doing something crazy soon, she's sure of it. It's not nearly as bad as the hell training back in Wave, but then she's fitter now than she was back then so it might be identical and she wouldn't know. She feels powerful, like a hidden boss that's erupted onto the scene out of nowhere. Nothing Kakashi can throw at her now matters, muahahahaha!
Except it does.
"Oof." Her face hits the dirt for the fourth time today.
"Kakashi, fucking, why?" She groans, while a Naruto clone splashes her with a bit of water just in case she falls asleep.
"Why what?" The madman asks, kneeling down so he can pick her head up by her hair and look directly into her red eyes with his singular gaze. "Is there a problem, Sakura?"
That's another change recently. Two, really. He's been treating her more brutally, and her sword's influence just won't leave her eyes anymore. She hasn't had pretty greens since before she got her sword back from Tenten.
It's sad, she kind of misses how her eyes looked. She didn't appreciate it before, now she does, but she hasn't wanted to let the sword go from her side either. She even sleeps with it, letting it go feels like a crime now. Tenten made it seem so bad that she's got an irrational fear that someone might try to steal it and seal it or something.
It's absurd, but she can't shake it, and it's not messing with her thoughts like it did Tenten so she's not particularly worried about it. Well, okay, it might be messing with her thoughts to protect itself but not in a bad way, she'd pick up on wanting to eat people all of the sudden.
"Yeah, you're being a dick." She's surprised to find she's not decked for that.
"That's fair." The man drops her, sliding to his feet and clapping her hands. "Everyone, lunch in twenty minutes. We're going to a BBQ place so have your manners."
"We're covered in dirt." Naruto reminds.
"That's why I gave you twenty minutes." He says, and the boys leave to go clean up, while she's stuck laying there feeling bad about herself. Yeah okay so she's not totally strong enough to handle this, but she's getting there!
Meeting Kakashi and the boys at a BBQ while still covered in dirt feels a little awkward, but it's dirt borne from her efforts so she has very little to complain about. She's proud of herself, and she won't be deterred from that.
The place is nice, and she stands out quite a bit in training gear. The scent of fresh food in the air makes her body practically vibrate in anticipation. Working up an appetite is hard to describe for her, but Haku's made sure she hasn't missed a single meal recently so she's starting to get used to feeling hungry.
It's funny how little parts of being human like that disappear if you ignore them long enough.
She catches the eye of someone at another table, who immediately grins at her and shoots a thumbs up her way. That's another thing, recently, going anywhere public has resulted in one extreme reaction or the other. It seems there's no getting away from kissing Ino in a public place before picking her up bridal style and running through the village with her.
It's so awkward. It only takes a moment to order before the food is out, and it's one of those places they have to cook the food themselves so, she readies herself to figure out what she wants before Kakashi starts putting out their meats in orderly manners along the hot plate. "I'm not doing that bit." He says starkly, "we have much more important things to discuss without one of you three giving yourself food poisoning."
"I feel like we can cook some meat…" Sakura trails.
"Can you?" Kakashi challenges her, and her flushing cheeks and awkward sideways gaze is enough for him. "As you may have noticed recently, our training has been stepped up." Sakura can't help but wonder if she'd get a cooking skill if she put her all into it. Could she get really good at it and show him?
That's what she's gonna do. On whatever this next mission is, she's going to learn how to cook so she can stick it to Kakashi. She'll blow his mind!
"We noticed," Naruto says, "Sakura's been wondering if the village is about to be invaded or something."
She has the shame to not look back yet, just let that one wash off her.
"Kind of." Kakashi says as if he's talking about going for a brisk snack.
"I'm sorry what-" She can barely start before he's got a finger up in front of her face, waggling from side to side. He's so mean to her…
"The chunin exams are in a couple of months." Kakashi explains, leaning back while watching meat sizzle. It should be done very soon, this stuff is cut so thin that it cooks in seconds. "You'll all be going since it's hosted in Konoha, so many other nations will be arriving to try and show us up. We need our best and brightest at the forefront."
"Isn't it a little soon to be sending us?" Sakura asks, "I thought the exams were for second years at the least."
"Yeah, Sakura, if you think your team is normal…" Kakashi lets that one sit, and lets her complete it in her head.
"Eheh-fair…" She scarfs some delicious protein down when Kakashi expertly brings the meat to their plates with ninja precision. It's not something that should look better just because a ninja did it, but it sure does, ninja drama is just great in all places.
"The issue is that because enemy nations may participate, some will be out to kill you, and killing is completely allowed," Kakashi begins, "the chunin exam is a substitute for war plain and simple, and I want you all ready for war."
"Mm.." Sakura gets that, nodding to herself mid bite, it's so good! It's all juicy and meaty and the savory flavor overtakes her mouth. Well, maybe she just needs something in her mouth after all that training.
"I see where this is going." Sasuke says, his eyes flashing with recognition.
"Correct, I need to give two of you one-on-one training to prepare you for a death game. The other is already more than ready, and needs some more hands-on experience in a very different way."
"I dunno if Naruto is ready for that." Sakura ponders, "I guess he has infinite lives with his clones, that'd make it a lot better, is it Sasuke?" It's not for several seconds, that she realizes there are three male gazes focused directly on her. "Did I get something on my face?"
"Ahem, sooo, who wants to explain it to Sakura?" Kakashi asks, faking a cough.
She watches her boys play rock paper scissors out of nowhere while she looks between them, feeling very left out of something.
"So not fair…" She grumbles, "my charm is high enough for me to be embarrassed now but not high enough for me to understand. This is bullying."
"Right, so, take this." Kakashi slips a note across the table to her.
"Is no one going to explain it to me?" She asks, while the boys get on with their sixth game of rock paper scissors.
"Give this to Gai Maito, understand?" Kakashi asks.
"Like right now?" She looks down at the food, all the sizzling meat that's, all on her side how did she miss that?
Kakashi then plates it all in a tupperware he got from somewhere- "go, now, yes."
"Erm, okay…" She's not sure why she feels like she's on a walk of shame but she's not going to a famous jonin covered in dirt, she'll hit up the shower at home first before figuring out where he even is, most likely? Screw them for still playing rock paper scissors! They're so mean to her. "I just, could I get a little explanation?" She whimpers pitifully with wide vulnerable demon eyes and the best version of a puppy-like pout she can manage.
"Fine, I'm going to be giving the boys one on one training to make up a bit of the gap, while you needs to see how more advanced ninja your age deal with varying tactical situations, preferably, observing methods that don't involve running up with a sword and chopping the problem in half and then coming home covered in blood."
"So…" Sakura trails.
"You'll be joining team three for a Low B rank mission. It should take you out of the village for about two weeks, prepare accordingly. You'll find them at training ground thirty-seven."
"Team three…" Sakura trails, thinking- "weren't they a veteran genin team?"
"And yet." Kakashi starts with no small amount of exasperation, "the amount of times they have climbed onto a guy with a sword and 'started stabbing'," he uses his fingers to give her quotes, "is probably less. I'm sure you'll have plenty to bond about."
At least hell training is over.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
After putting up with a torturous nut job like Kakashi for so long, it'll be good to have a normal male Jounin figure.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
I did say Tenten was about to become very important.
The reception of Tenten in this arc on Patreon was uh, poor.
So I realized that maybe it'd be a bit better if I wrote the side story before you guys got to it.
People are still free to fucking hate her, but like, it should be informed hate.
Thozmp
Gets my kicks above the waistline, Sunshine.
Does Sakura still have the blonde hair? So she looks like an alt skin of herself or something? Blonde hair and Red eyes as opposed to Pink hair and Green eyes?
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Pink, actually somewhat effective combat outfit too, instead of her normal red like fuckin dress from Canon.
Actively glowing red eyes.
Blonde hair with pigtails...
Yeah alt version alright.
She looks less like Sakura and more like Naruto trying to pretend to be Sakura, but Kurama gave advice.
Spectrum
Tell me a secret~
- Location
- Behind you~
...is Team 3 really the example to hold up here? They're not coming home covered in blood only because Tenten throws shit, Neji is touch of deathing people, and Lee isn't yet strong enough to just turn someone into a bag of parts on a hit. But they're totally 2/3 of a team that would just square up with some dudes and throw down.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean, canonically Kakashi didn't know shit about Gai's team. Lee astounded him and despite how mouthy Neji is about fate and hating the main branch he didn't know what was up until the first monologue against Hinata, so…case of unreliable informer.
I wonder if/when she'll talk to Kakashi about the cursed sword he gave her.
That aside, I look forward to Tenten's joy at their new temporary teammate
That aside, I look forward to Tenten's joy at their new temporary teammate
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
"But I don't wanna talk to Kakashi, Kakashi's a dick!"
A valid argument for which there can be no counter, even if a demonstrably evil sword may or may not be corrupting her mind and/or soul
Evaunit02mark1
S-s-smell the Prey, S-s-start the Hunt.
The sad thing is they're still better at restraint that Sakura is right now. Yes they'll throw down but they have enough self control to decide when to throw down.
Sakura on the other hand starts at "Kill you dead" and goes on to "make a dungeon to keep killing you because I want loot."
Ninja aren't murderhobos, they're murder-artisans. There has to be a level of professionalism before the stabbing can commence.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Well, I don't know about hating Tenten in this arc, but I found her amusing in the sidestory.
Low-key, Gai's team is the one for straight-up geniuses. Neji is an intuitive master of the Gentle Fist, Tenten is a sealing specialist because math, and Lee's training method would just kill most people.
Now, if you wanted a team to teach you how to not fight, that would be Team 8. Not only do they specialize in tracking, not combat - but after two weeks of trying to get a read on Shino and Hinata while Kiba makes a consistent ass of himself, your self-control will either reach new plateaus or you'll be wanted for the murder of three Genin trainees.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
I counter you with fucking lasers.
Hinata can shoot lasers.
I'm not shitting you. I don't know why she doesn't do it later on, but at around this point in the story she can shoot fucking lasers.
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
Because she can't actually do it outside of filler, I'm assuming.
...where was that, again? Sounds like filler, something from one of the video games, or something someone else did. I don't remember any filler from before the chunin exam offhand. Was there any?
Searching through the wiki, the closest match I can see is a different character doing that, much later in the series.
Though if it means that this story's Hinata can shoot lasers, neat? Sakura is probably going to want to learn that at some point. (And would it cause her eyes to change to a different color?)
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
It's after the chunin exams but we see no growth of any team between now and then, besides the main cast, so we can't assume what they can and can't do, and Hinata gets knocked out before she can show anything in the chunin exams so, we'll never know.
As for the fact that it's filler... Yeah, but like, 90% of the original series was filler. We either are accepting filler, or there's nothing to work with.
They managed to squeeze 200 episodes out of like 4 events. It's all filler.
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Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
The note just says something like, "My genin needs to learn how to not act like a total disaster all the time. As I lack this skill, and my other students have other educational need that I can meet, I must entrust this part of her education to you, Guy," doesn't it?