Honestly, such a demonstration would be super impressive. Collect a dozen genin, give them 100 kunai each and watch the fireworks. Translated into the "real world", Sakura's defense would be at least an A-Rank jutsu. It would show people that Sakura is built different without having to drag them into a dungeon first.
Sakura Haruno The Gaming Addict, and Her Gamified Life [Naruto]
- Thread starter Sendicard
- Start date
Honestly, such a demonstration would be super impressive. Collect a dozen genin, give them 100 kunai each and watch the fireworks. Translated into the "real world", Sakura's defense would be at least an A-Rank jutsu. It would show people that Sakura is built different without having to drag them into a dungeon first.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
I think "A Rank" may be a little high, because it isn't even that helpful for actually Genin attacks.
If I recall it's an automatic Academy Student attack block,
Yeah.
So it worked perfectly fine for the enemies in that dungeon, because blocking a kunai is an easier challenge than throwing one accurately in a way to avoid blocking it. (I've actually done a lot of throwing and blocking over the years for a few mostly casual reasons and know a lot about this mechanic realistically) and they were out of practice, and they didn't have a Tenten there that specializes in the things to fuck her up.
But I don't think any defensive technique that any Genin that's learned an attack jutsu can completely negate is um... strong.
Conceptually. Like on a ranking basis. I think the actual ability itself is really strong, and that Sakura can lean into the movement to make it more effective - at least within the realms of her own focus and abilities - is huge.
I think what raises the jutsu's rank is the fact that Sakura's speed goes way up. As in, maybe some enhanced lightning user could pull this off but not many others. Perhaps not A-Rank but it's still super impressive that she can basically face tank anything below Genin and the special effects that result from it all happening within a few moments are something to behold.
Still a fantastic party-trick though.
Canon Side-Story: Ino's Charm, Tenten's Expertise
New
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
So this is Wednesdays. I went through a bit of a depression spike for a few days there, that sucked. Uh, I feel better now. Have a side story. I'll probably post Friday's chapter later today, then Sunday's Chapter on Monday, Monday's chapter on Tuesday, then the Wednesday side story. Wow that'll be a lot in a row, maybe this isn't a bad thing.
I got a 3rd $10 patron to vote on the side stories now so, I've decided to start doing it like a wheel, you know the spinny websites the streamers use and stuff.
I figure that way every vote matters, we don't have that weird thing that happens when you only have a few voters where the same group always wins and everyone else can get fucked.
So you know, if you were worried about that, don't. Also you know, if the thrill of the wheel calls to you, join us.
Enjoy, I know I did, this was a fun side-story to write. I just wish I had more ideas and could have made it crazier, sadly Ino's wholesome and Sakura's adorable.
Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
"Sakura, this just feels like more of the same." Tenten stares at Sakura a little awkwardly as the pinkette now blonde practices stabbing forth with a shiny dagger. She's been smithing practice weapons recently, mostly for experience but also because Kakashi has given her a lot of crap about learning new styles. It only makes sense to try some of them out.
Tenten is of course all for that idea, since she would love for more people to be so varied they're an expert of nothing at all. It evens the playing field, and makes the world less like a sword fight and more like a complex game of ever changing rock paper scissors. She can kinda get into that. "Well yeah, it's just another stabbing tool." Sakura says, "I could probably get this effect by just using a kunai."
"Yep, so let's try something a bit different." The blacksmith says, pointedly handing her another of her practice weapons. A metal staff, it has thick ends and grip points built into it so that she can feel comfortable grabbing it wherever. The idea of a good staff would be to ensure it's smooth so that you can properly flow with it from movement to movement, but Sakura's a bit clumsy and at least while getting a feel for it she would like to not accidentally kill someone.
So she made it with grips, and she has no regrets. Feeling it in her palms, it's natural and weighty and doesn't feel like it'll slip and go through a wall or someone's skull at all. She's happy with it, and spinning it around at Tenten's instruction feels good too. Swing it this way, slash it like a sword that way, she finds it only smashes into her hip a little bit which is an improvement on how she figured this would go. "I may need to practice this."
"That is what we are currently doing." The weapon mistress says dryly, pulling out her own staff to show off a few practice motions. "Just repeat after me, it should feel natural soon enough."
"Okay… Can we do the hammer after this? I really liked it during that dungeon but it always felt awkward. I bet with a little bit of instruction it would feel awesome."
"Yes, Sakura, we can practice with the giant hammer."
"Yay!"
"So, I've called you here today because I'd like to test out how the charm mechanic actually functions." Sakura explains, sitting behind a fancy desk she borrowed from Business Naruto and placed in the middle of her room. It allows her to clasp her hands together in front of her face while looking very natural, resting her elbows into the wood feels good too.
"Sakura, you don't have to call me to your house, we're friends, you can just say 'let's hang out,' it's not that significant." Ino snarks, giggling at her in a way that most would consider rude but Sakura likes the sound so she lets it pass uncontested. Ino should giggle more, it's pure.
"Yes, well, I have a goal today. I do not just want to 'hang out' with you." Sakura declares, lips twitching upwards and fingers creating air quotes.
"But you do want to hang out." Ino points out.
"That is besides the point." Sakura allows, not denying Ino's words at all. Why wouldn't she want to hang out? Time spent with her friends is time well spent, especially if she can keep reading or playing a game or just zoning out to the right music while doing so.
True friendship is existing next to someone and finding it okay if you forget to talk for a while, it's not awkward or strange, it just is. At least, she thinks that's true friendship, others probably find that weird. At least Shikamaru probably agrees with her. She should talk with him more, or maybe not talk with him more, he'd like that.
"It has come to my attention, mostly through recollection, that your charm score is a hundred ten. Mine is twenty three." Sakura explains.
"Oh, yeah, that would have some implications…" Ino trails, looking away towards the floor as if she has much to say, but no desire to say it. Sakura decides to let that pass. Ino's tact probably means there's many things left unsaid in a given day, and it'd be very rude to pressure her about that. It would defeat the purpose entirely, and the least she needs is to accidentally lower Ino's charm by rubbing off on her somehow.
"I think the best way to figure out the mechanic of Charm is to try and manipulate these two extremes. It'd be better if mine was still in the single digits, but I've put a lot of effort in and I'm too happy with the results to start regretting that now."
"You really have gotten so much better." Ino admits, sheepishly rubbing her wrist with her other hand. "I haven't wanted to say anything but it really shows. Like a lot… like every single interaction with you is better."
"Quite…" Sakura chooses not to say the other things on her mind, she's learning. Truly.
"So we're going to have you convince me to do things you don't think I'd normally want to do. We'll see how far the difference can push me past my normal will." Sakura explains, thumping the inside of the desk with her foot. It's so huge, it takes up like a solid third of her room, getting it in here sucked but it was so worth it for Ino's giggle, which was probably half because of the giant desk. Why Business Naruto needs something like this, she has no idea.
"Sakura… I don't think you've ever said no to me." Ino points out, "and I don't think that's because of my charm."
"Well, we'll be testing that today, now won't we."
"So let's go over the list." Ino does not seem very impressed with her, which is odd because she's done everything Ino's said, so she should be very happy with her. It's almost like she's forgotten something along the way…Oh well, it can't be too important.
"I have gotten you to delete your saves and start over on several games, including an RPG," Ino starts, poking a paper with her pencil, "not a great start."
"Sometimes it's nice to start fresh." Sakura shrugs.
"I got you to intentionally make bad food, and then I got you to eat it in front of Haku til he pouted." Ino cites.
"That was funny, I wish I'd thought of that myself… Pouty Haku would probably be very popular, I should hire someone to make it an emote for his stream."
"I made you challenge Lee to an exercise-off."
"That was painful, but nice. He was very happy." Sakura sighs happily to herself, wiggling her noodly arms. At least they feel noodly, after all that nonsense.
"You flirted with Shikamaru." Ino says, "notice I didn't say 'I made you,' I didn't, that was weird."
"You implied he needed a pick-me-up, I just complimented him a bunch." Sakura gives her an indignant glance.
"That's flirting, Sakura." Ino bites her lip.
"Since when is being nice flirting?"
"... Okay, that's fair. I need to get you a few books on the subject but I can see why you'd make that mistake. Just uh, future reference, six compliments in twenty seconds is flirting." Ino holds in a difficult breath.
"Five is okay?"
"... No." She has to resist laughing, it's incredibly hard. Sakura is so cute sometimes.
"Well, I think we can conclude that you're a push-over when it comes to me, but we haven't figured out if that's charm related or not… I'm going with not, I can't make Sasuke do anything and I bet he's worse than you at this point."
"Oh yeah, that's probably true. That means we need to test it with Sasuke next." Sakura points out.
"No."
I got a 3rd $10 patron to vote on the side stories now so, I've decided to start doing it like a wheel, you know the spinny websites the streamers use and stuff.
I figure that way every vote matters, we don't have that weird thing that happens when you only have a few voters where the same group always wins and everyone else can get fucked.
So you know, if you were worried about that, don't. Also you know, if the thrill of the wheel calls to you, join us.
Enjoy, I know I did, this was a fun side-story to write. I just wish I had more ideas and could have made it crazier, sadly Ino's wholesome and Sakura's adorable.
Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
"Sakura, this just feels like more of the same." Tenten stares at Sakura a little awkwardly as the pinkette now blonde practices stabbing forth with a shiny dagger. She's been smithing practice weapons recently, mostly for experience but also because Kakashi has given her a lot of crap about learning new styles. It only makes sense to try some of them out.
Tenten is of course all for that idea, since she would love for more people to be so varied they're an expert of nothing at all. It evens the playing field, and makes the world less like a sword fight and more like a complex game of ever changing rock paper scissors. She can kinda get into that. "Well yeah, it's just another stabbing tool." Sakura says, "I could probably get this effect by just using a kunai."
"Yep, so let's try something a bit different." The blacksmith says, pointedly handing her another of her practice weapons. A metal staff, it has thick ends and grip points built into it so that she can feel comfortable grabbing it wherever. The idea of a good staff would be to ensure it's smooth so that you can properly flow with it from movement to movement, but Sakura's a bit clumsy and at least while getting a feel for it she would like to not accidentally kill someone.
So she made it with grips, and she has no regrets. Feeling it in her palms, it's natural and weighty and doesn't feel like it'll slip and go through a wall or someone's skull at all. She's happy with it, and spinning it around at Tenten's instruction feels good too. Swing it this way, slash it like a sword that way, she finds it only smashes into her hip a little bit which is an improvement on how she figured this would go. "I may need to practice this."
"That is what we are currently doing." The weapon mistress says dryly, pulling out her own staff to show off a few practice motions. "Just repeat after me, it should feel natural soon enough."
"Okay… Can we do the hammer after this? I really liked it during that dungeon but it always felt awkward. I bet with a little bit of instruction it would feel awesome."
"Yes, Sakura, we can practice with the giant hammer."
"Yay!"
| Short Blade Moderate Obtained |
| Great Hammer Expert Obtained |
| Staff Novice Obtained |
"So, I've called you here today because I'd like to test out how the charm mechanic actually functions." Sakura explains, sitting behind a fancy desk she borrowed from Business Naruto and placed in the middle of her room. It allows her to clasp her hands together in front of her face while looking very natural, resting her elbows into the wood feels good too.
"Sakura, you don't have to call me to your house, we're friends, you can just say 'let's hang out,' it's not that significant." Ino snarks, giggling at her in a way that most would consider rude but Sakura likes the sound so she lets it pass uncontested. Ino should giggle more, it's pure.
"Yes, well, I have a goal today. I do not just want to 'hang out' with you." Sakura declares, lips twitching upwards and fingers creating air quotes.
"But you do want to hang out." Ino points out.
"That is besides the point." Sakura allows, not denying Ino's words at all. Why wouldn't she want to hang out? Time spent with her friends is time well spent, especially if she can keep reading or playing a game or just zoning out to the right music while doing so.
True friendship is existing next to someone and finding it okay if you forget to talk for a while, it's not awkward or strange, it just is. At least, she thinks that's true friendship, others probably find that weird. At least Shikamaru probably agrees with her. She should talk with him more, or maybe not talk with him more, he'd like that.
"It has come to my attention, mostly through recollection, that your charm score is a hundred ten. Mine is twenty three." Sakura explains.
"Oh, yeah, that would have some implications…" Ino trails, looking away towards the floor as if she has much to say, but no desire to say it. Sakura decides to let that pass. Ino's tact probably means there's many things left unsaid in a given day, and it'd be very rude to pressure her about that. It would defeat the purpose entirely, and the least she needs is to accidentally lower Ino's charm by rubbing off on her somehow.
"I think the best way to figure out the mechanic of Charm is to try and manipulate these two extremes. It'd be better if mine was still in the single digits, but I've put a lot of effort in and I'm too happy with the results to start regretting that now."
"You really have gotten so much better." Ino admits, sheepishly rubbing her wrist with her other hand. "I haven't wanted to say anything but it really shows. Like a lot… like every single interaction with you is better."
"Quite…" Sakura chooses not to say the other things on her mind, she's learning. Truly.
"So we're going to have you convince me to do things you don't think I'd normally want to do. We'll see how far the difference can push me past my normal will." Sakura explains, thumping the inside of the desk with her foot. It's so huge, it takes up like a solid third of her room, getting it in here sucked but it was so worth it for Ino's giggle, which was probably half because of the giant desk. Why Business Naruto needs something like this, she has no idea.
"Sakura… I don't think you've ever said no to me." Ino points out, "and I don't think that's because of my charm."
"Well, we'll be testing that today, now won't we."
"So let's go over the list." Ino does not seem very impressed with her, which is odd because she's done everything Ino's said, so she should be very happy with her. It's almost like she's forgotten something along the way…Oh well, it can't be too important.
"I have gotten you to delete your saves and start over on several games, including an RPG," Ino starts, poking a paper with her pencil, "not a great start."
"Sometimes it's nice to start fresh." Sakura shrugs.
"I got you to intentionally make bad food, and then I got you to eat it in front of Haku til he pouted." Ino cites.
"That was funny, I wish I'd thought of that myself… Pouty Haku would probably be very popular, I should hire someone to make it an emote for his stream."
"I made you challenge Lee to an exercise-off."
"That was painful, but nice. He was very happy." Sakura sighs happily to herself, wiggling her noodly arms. At least they feel noodly, after all that nonsense.
"You flirted with Shikamaru." Ino says, "notice I didn't say 'I made you,' I didn't, that was weird."
"You implied he needed a pick-me-up, I just complimented him a bunch." Sakura gives her an indignant glance.
"That's flirting, Sakura." Ino bites her lip.
"Since when is being nice flirting?"
"... Okay, that's fair. I need to get you a few books on the subject but I can see why you'd make that mistake. Just uh, future reference, six compliments in twenty seconds is flirting." Ino holds in a difficult breath.
"Five is okay?"
"... No." She has to resist laughing, it's incredibly hard. Sakura is so cute sometimes.
"Well, I think we can conclude that you're a push-over when it comes to me, but we haven't figured out if that's charm related or not… I'm going with not, I can't make Sasuke do anything and I bet he's worse than you at this point."
"Oh yeah, that's probably true. That means we need to test it with Sasuke next." Sakura points out.
"No."
Last edited:
Next moment:
- Oh Sage, Ino can make Sakura do literally anything.
Like it's okay that they have a handle on her. But, you know, screw over Sakura and Ino may very well just say "kill them all". Cause for all of her flaws Sakura also has very high tolerance for bullshit since she either doesn't know that it shouldn't be happening or just missed what you were talking about.
Yeah but since Ino is the daughter of who they have testing peoples for treason there's really nothing that they can do to either test Sakura for treason or dispose of her for being untestable by proxy for fear of implying thing about the daughter of their tester.
Shit happens; don't stress yourself.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
It's a Yamanaka based government now.
Chapter 78 - Arc 5 - Trauma Diving - A Well Needed Break
New
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Here you go, CH 79 should be here shortly.
Patreon just entered Arc 7, as Arc 6 was rather small.
The Chunin Exams are starting very shortly into Arc 7, after a small amount of random fluff, as was in canon. I plan to do some fun stuff with it.
Woo, Ch 101 is nice... It's not often I get to reframe an entire canon scene and actually feel good about how much nicer I made it. That scene was fucked up for no reason in canon. Genuinely had to pause after watching it, WTF canon Sakura.
Enjoy Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
"Hey, so this is concerning, right?" Ino asks with no small amount of waver to her reassuring voice. Her fingers poke and prod the status menu floating in front of her face with a curiosity unlike anything she's seen grace Ino's countenance. Ino's always been smart, but she's never been the curious, exploratory type. She knows what she wants, and she's headstrong about it. She's got the full screen in front of her, and lays both palms along it, pressing against the oddly cool texture and taking it in for the first time. Sakura can admit she spent a bit of time doing that as well, truly just, getting into the vibe that this is her reality now.
Ino has the advantage of knowing this isn't a Genjutsu, or a mind art, because it's her specialty to know that stuff.
"A bit." Sakura admits, nodding along while very focused on the moving box in front of Ino. Anxiety is one feeling she has while looking at the break in reality. Gratitude is another, Ino knowing her weaknesses will help keep her alive. Any tools Ino can get to keep herself safe is something Sakura would move the world for. She also can't help but feel a strong desire to go to sleep and let someone else think over the implications of all this, as she'd very much like it to be someone else's problem.
Whatever the case, things have changed drastically. Like astronomically so. The world isn't the same as it was before, and she has no idea how to deal with it or its insane implications.
Because they're not in her head right now. They had to leave, the shields wouldn't stop getting in between them and they couldn't move onto the next memory with them there. Her entire mind locked down and refused to let Sakura go anywhere near Ino, which was necessary for them to move on through the same gates, and it was required for Sakura to be there for Ino to be sure of what she was looking at going forward. There was also the issue that the odds are high that her brain would have considered Ino an invader and attacked if Sakura wasn't there to contextualize the mindwalker being there and having free access to where she needed to go.
Or, more accurately, it might attack if Sakura wasn't contextualizing 'this is Ino' for her depths in real time. She's pretty sure that part about her being there isn't really the issue with how fiercely protective her mind seems of the girl.
"What do I even do with this?" Ino asks, moving it around in front of her, looking at all the numbers, contemplating her relative level. So many things are clearly running through Ino's head, but Sakura can only really think of one thing.
"Well, my life is over." It's simple, and yet despite her earlier panic, she finds she barely cares. Looking at the status screen, she finds she's barely lucid. "Your dad's going to rip me open and let all of Konoha enter my head to touch that thing. I'm going to be drooling frothy braindead juices."
"Don't be so dramatic," Ino rolls her eyes, "that's not going to happen."
"Really? Why not?" Sakura asks, giving her best friend a furiously doubtful look while contemplating her own doom.
"Because I'm not going to tell anyone about this." Ino says, using her fingers to loop-de-loop the status box and admiring the way it moves up and around and side to side. It's so customizable, Sakura can't help but feel a little awkward; she never tried to resize the boxes. She just assumed the UI was fixed! "Also, because this proves nothing. I can see my statistics, so what? It doesn't mean it'll function for me like it does you, and even if it does, there's no guarantee that it'd work for anyone else."
"There's a chance." Sakura points out.
"There's also a chance that we could figure out how to give everyone the Byakugan if we tore the clan apart and gave the data over to Tsunade and Orochimaru in a joint research endeavor." Ino snickers at her. "We don't do that because, well first of all it'd set a bad precedent which would cost us a lot, second because we don't like human experimentation, and third, because losing the Byakugan isn't worth the attempt."
"..." Sakura has to think about that. Really think, it's a lot to take in. That bit about Orochimaru is true, they kicked him out for experimentation, it's unlikely they would turn around and decide that's the way to go now. Too much is racing through her head, and it's not all necessarily valid or reasonable. Panic and rationality smash together as quickly as physically possible, pressed on by her high mind stat and her willingness to doubt even herself.
"All we know right now is that I, your best friend, was able to march into uncharted territory and press my hand to a hidden device that revealed itself to us because you trust me enough it didn't care that I was there. I can also now see a few little meaningless tidbits about myself. We have nothing else." Ino explains, expertly attacking Sakura's nerves with years of practice.
"There's a chance it self destructs if we force our way in, there's a chance this info isn't even usable, there's a chance it doesn't work on literally anyone else. There's a chance it can only work on two people, and there's a chance it's hereditary but won't be passed down if we screw you up and ruin everything. Even beyond all that, it even being a problem to solve relies on me spilling the beans about this. I don't plan to do that."
"Wouldn't not telling anyone about a valuable asset be treason?" Sakura asks.
"Ninjas have secrets, Sakura, we're allowed to keep them. What goes on inside your head, unless directly a danger to the village, is a Yamanaka clan secret because we have to use our arts to access your head," Ino shakes her head, "so stop worrying about a stupid status screen and tell me what all this means. I never did get into games and stuff like you did. Almost everything I know is from listening to you talk."
Ino tabs into her skills and traits, looking through them. "And why does whatever this thing in your head is look down on me so much? I do more than look pretty, you know. Are we even sure this information is accurate? This could just be what you think of me."
"Impossible," Sakura denies with a firm shake of her head, "you'd be a lot stronger than that if it was what I think of you."
"That's… flattering." Ino decides to land on, after a few seconds of looking around.
"Well, I didn't see anything on the surface that'd be considered treason or dangerous, so I'm going to have daddy sign a few papers and release you for today. We can meet back here on the weekend."
"... What?" Sakura squeaks in surprise.
"You're a citizen of Konoha, you were only held against your will because we had reason to believe that you might be a danger to yourself, others, or the residents of Konoha. Now that your frontal memories have been investigated and don't seem to hold anything extremely concerning, you are to be given your rights back." Ino clarifies for her. "You'll be required to report back here this Saturday so we can continue. Do not take any missions that would take you outside of the village until we are done."
"Ah… Your father made it sound like I'd be stuck here." Sakura admits, her fingers scratching at her arm.
"We thought you would be," Ino admits with a shrug, closing her statistics screen to look into her eyes, "we thought we'd find something incriminating we'd have to investigate, not a bunch of childhood memories and a game system."
"Errr. what'd you expect to find?" Sakura can't help but ask with a wince at the implications that they genuinely thought she'd be some kind of loose cannon.
"Something," Ino shrugs, "literally anything besides what we found. We didn't expect to discover you're a little girl with a gaming problem… We probably should have though. That's just kind of how I would have described you before being given this mission."
"But um, you made it seem so much worse inside…" Sakura trails a little pitifully, giving her a long and effort filled pout..
"Oh, no, as your friend I am absolutely terrified." Ino clarifies, throwing a hand up to stress the statement, "make no mistake, your issues are far worse than I could have possibly imagined. We need to do something about that before whatever it is inside you that's malfunctioning causes you to snap and kill yourself or worse."
"Worse?" Sakura asks, only to watch Ino shake her head and not answer her in the slightest.
"But, as far as the village goes, you've passed the preliminary testing and are allowed to go back home with restricted rights. Please use them." Ino hops out of her seat, stretching lightly before approaching quickly and pulling a key from her pocket. She wastes no time inserting it into the lock on Sakura's chains. "Go home, hug your mom, take a shower, and please tell Kakashi you're free. I fear he's continuing their training while you're in here and I'll move the underworld itself if it means getting in the way of that asshole."
"He is kind of a dick, yeah." Sakura agrees with a smirk.
"Kind of?" Ino asks with a loud scoff, "give me five minutes and then you're free to go."
Sakura's left wondering what any of all this means while watching Ino go.
And also like, what to do about Ino seeing her stats and skills?
Will the others see it the way Ino does if they find out? Should Ino even hide it? She said it'd be fine but, Kakashi said surprising the Hokage was the dumbest way to die.
She has so much to think of, but for now, she needs to do some stretching and then go take a long shower.
Patreon just entered Arc 7, as Arc 6 was rather small.
The Chunin Exams are starting very shortly into Arc 7, after a small amount of random fluff, as was in canon. I plan to do some fun stuff with it.
Woo, Ch 101 is nice... It's not often I get to reframe an entire canon scene and actually feel good about how much nicer I made it. That scene was fucked up for no reason in canon. Genuinely had to pause after watching it, WTF canon Sakura.
Enjoy Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
"Hey, so this is concerning, right?" Ino asks with no small amount of waver to her reassuring voice. Her fingers poke and prod the status menu floating in front of her face with a curiosity unlike anything she's seen grace Ino's countenance. Ino's always been smart, but she's never been the curious, exploratory type. She knows what she wants, and she's headstrong about it. She's got the full screen in front of her, and lays both palms along it, pressing against the oddly cool texture and taking it in for the first time. Sakura can admit she spent a bit of time doing that as well, truly just, getting into the vibe that this is her reality now.
Ino has the advantage of knowing this isn't a Genjutsu, or a mind art, because it's her specialty to know that stuff.
"A bit." Sakura admits, nodding along while very focused on the moving box in front of Ino. Anxiety is one feeling she has while looking at the break in reality. Gratitude is another, Ino knowing her weaknesses will help keep her alive. Any tools Ino can get to keep herself safe is something Sakura would move the world for. She also can't help but feel a strong desire to go to sleep and let someone else think over the implications of all this, as she'd very much like it to be someone else's problem.
Whatever the case, things have changed drastically. Like astronomically so. The world isn't the same as it was before, and she has no idea how to deal with it or its insane implications.
Because they're not in her head right now. They had to leave, the shields wouldn't stop getting in between them and they couldn't move onto the next memory with them there. Her entire mind locked down and refused to let Sakura go anywhere near Ino, which was necessary for them to move on through the same gates, and it was required for Sakura to be there for Ino to be sure of what she was looking at going forward. There was also the issue that the odds are high that her brain would have considered Ino an invader and attacked if Sakura wasn't there to contextualize the mindwalker being there and having free access to where she needed to go.
Or, more accurately, it might attack if Sakura wasn't contextualizing 'this is Ino' for her depths in real time. She's pretty sure that part about her being there isn't really the issue with how fiercely protective her mind seems of the girl.
"What do I even do with this?" Ino asks, moving it around in front of her, looking at all the numbers, contemplating her relative level. So many things are clearly running through Ino's head, but Sakura can only really think of one thing.
"Well, my life is over." It's simple, and yet despite her earlier panic, she finds she barely cares. Looking at the status screen, she finds she's barely lucid. "Your dad's going to rip me open and let all of Konoha enter my head to touch that thing. I'm going to be drooling frothy braindead juices."
"Don't be so dramatic," Ino rolls her eyes, "that's not going to happen."
"Really? Why not?" Sakura asks, giving her best friend a furiously doubtful look while contemplating her own doom.
"Because I'm not going to tell anyone about this." Ino says, using her fingers to loop-de-loop the status box and admiring the way it moves up and around and side to side. It's so customizable, Sakura can't help but feel a little awkward; she never tried to resize the boxes. She just assumed the UI was fixed! "Also, because this proves nothing. I can see my statistics, so what? It doesn't mean it'll function for me like it does you, and even if it does, there's no guarantee that it'd work for anyone else."
"There's a chance." Sakura points out.
"There's also a chance that we could figure out how to give everyone the Byakugan if we tore the clan apart and gave the data over to Tsunade and Orochimaru in a joint research endeavor." Ino snickers at her. "We don't do that because, well first of all it'd set a bad precedent which would cost us a lot, second because we don't like human experimentation, and third, because losing the Byakugan isn't worth the attempt."
"..." Sakura has to think about that. Really think, it's a lot to take in. That bit about Orochimaru is true, they kicked him out for experimentation, it's unlikely they would turn around and decide that's the way to go now. Too much is racing through her head, and it's not all necessarily valid or reasonable. Panic and rationality smash together as quickly as physically possible, pressed on by her high mind stat and her willingness to doubt even herself.
"All we know right now is that I, your best friend, was able to march into uncharted territory and press my hand to a hidden device that revealed itself to us because you trust me enough it didn't care that I was there. I can also now see a few little meaningless tidbits about myself. We have nothing else." Ino explains, expertly attacking Sakura's nerves with years of practice.
"There's a chance it self destructs if we force our way in, there's a chance this info isn't even usable, there's a chance it doesn't work on literally anyone else. There's a chance it can only work on two people, and there's a chance it's hereditary but won't be passed down if we screw you up and ruin everything. Even beyond all that, it even being a problem to solve relies on me spilling the beans about this. I don't plan to do that."
"Wouldn't not telling anyone about a valuable asset be treason?" Sakura asks.
"Ninjas have secrets, Sakura, we're allowed to keep them. What goes on inside your head, unless directly a danger to the village, is a Yamanaka clan secret because we have to use our arts to access your head," Ino shakes her head, "so stop worrying about a stupid status screen and tell me what all this means. I never did get into games and stuff like you did. Almost everything I know is from listening to you talk."
Ino tabs into her skills and traits, looking through them. "And why does whatever this thing in your head is look down on me so much? I do more than look pretty, you know. Are we even sure this information is accurate? This could just be what you think of me."
"Impossible," Sakura denies with a firm shake of her head, "you'd be a lot stronger than that if it was what I think of you."
"That's… flattering." Ino decides to land on, after a few seconds of looking around.
"Well, I didn't see anything on the surface that'd be considered treason or dangerous, so I'm going to have daddy sign a few papers and release you for today. We can meet back here on the weekend."
"... What?" Sakura squeaks in surprise.
"You're a citizen of Konoha, you were only held against your will because we had reason to believe that you might be a danger to yourself, others, or the residents of Konoha. Now that your frontal memories have been investigated and don't seem to hold anything extremely concerning, you are to be given your rights back." Ino clarifies for her. "You'll be required to report back here this Saturday so we can continue. Do not take any missions that would take you outside of the village until we are done."
"Ah… Your father made it sound like I'd be stuck here." Sakura admits, her fingers scratching at her arm.
"We thought you would be," Ino admits with a shrug, closing her statistics screen to look into her eyes, "we thought we'd find something incriminating we'd have to investigate, not a bunch of childhood memories and a game system."
"Errr. what'd you expect to find?" Sakura can't help but ask with a wince at the implications that they genuinely thought she'd be some kind of loose cannon.
"Something," Ino shrugs, "literally anything besides what we found. We didn't expect to discover you're a little girl with a gaming problem… We probably should have though. That's just kind of how I would have described you before being given this mission."
"But um, you made it seem so much worse inside…" Sakura trails a little pitifully, giving her a long and effort filled pout..
"Oh, no, as your friend I am absolutely terrified." Ino clarifies, throwing a hand up to stress the statement, "make no mistake, your issues are far worse than I could have possibly imagined. We need to do something about that before whatever it is inside you that's malfunctioning causes you to snap and kill yourself or worse."
"Worse?" Sakura asks, only to watch Ino shake her head and not answer her in the slightest.
"But, as far as the village goes, you've passed the preliminary testing and are allowed to go back home with restricted rights. Please use them." Ino hops out of her seat, stretching lightly before approaching quickly and pulling a key from her pocket. She wastes no time inserting it into the lock on Sakura's chains. "Go home, hug your mom, take a shower, and please tell Kakashi you're free. I fear he's continuing their training while you're in here and I'll move the underworld itself if it means getting in the way of that asshole."
"He is kind of a dick, yeah." Sakura agrees with a smirk.
"Kind of?" Ino asks with a loud scoff, "give me five minutes and then you're free to go."
Sakura's left wondering what any of all this means while watching Ino go.
And also like, what to do about Ino seeing her stats and skills?
Will the others see it the way Ino does if they find out? Should Ino even hide it? She said it'd be fine but, Kakashi said surprising the Hokage was the dumbest way to die.
She has so much to think of, but for now, she needs to do some stretching and then go take a long shower.
Chapter 79 - Arc 5 - Trauma Diving - Talking to Kakashi
New
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
This chapter was posted almost immediately after CH 78. If this is your first update in a few days, go back to 78.
I'll be making the weekly side-story poll in a few minutes here, that's $10 patrons getting a vote.
I'll be doing a spinny wheel system from now on so, every vote matters. If you want in, go for it.
Enjoy the chapter: Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
Being released on terms of 'probably not being dangerous' isn't the feel good moment she was expecting to have when she left the facility. There's a lot to be said about her friend expressing deep concern for her while also reluctantly letting her go. She knew it'd be bad, but her conversation with Ino inside of her head won't leave her alone. She doesn't hate herself, she swears she doesn't hate herself.
Why does her head consider her an enemy? It'd be one thing if it attacked Ino too, then it's just a very hostile landscape and maybe they need to figure out what's up with that. Protecting Ino proves that her brain is capable of recognizing that something belongs, and it's also very capable of considering that thing benevolently. So why did those shields refuse to leave? Why did she get cut up on entry to her mind in the first place? Why did her nerves attack her directly, and is there anything more to Ino possessing the glowing sword which free'd her from the attack?
Symbolisms have never been her forte, and now she's expecting herself to decode her actual brain. That's dumb, she's being dumb. She could never do that, she needs to leave that to Ino and her father and people that actually know what they're doing.
She has people to visit, but first she needs a shower and a long nap.
"Sakura!" Naruto greets her the moment she steps out of the bathroom, the boy practically attacking her with a hug that slams her back first against the wall with a thud. She doesn't miss two other blonde entities joining the hug almost immediately, or the suit the main boy has on. "Business Naruto," she greets, patting his back with a surprised rub while looking down at the other two and finding Naruto's experimenting with clones of different ages and genders, "where is the real you?" She has two little sister clones now, that's very interesting, she should figure out if it's weird to treat them that way later when she has a good chance.
"He's with Kakashi, I haven't seen him the entire time you've been gone, but I've gotten a lot of memories sent my way. The amount of clones that have died…" Business Naruto pouts quite visibly for her.
"I suppose it would be more meaningful to you to lose what could have been you." Sakura ponders, thinking of whether Business Naruto would have experienced her substituting with normal Naruto's clones to avoid Gato's attacks in Wave. It was very far away, can the memories travel like that? She should ask, or maybe look into it, but not now.
Now, whatever Ino was referring to needs to be stopped. "Where?"
"Sakura." Kakashi greets her as her feet step onto the perimeter of the Forest of Death. He's not even trying to hide where they've been, he affixes her with a smile behind the mask like he's done nothing wrong. He looks like he's been on vacation the entire time, clean and in fresh clothes and looking very well fed.
"You hurt Ino," Sakura accuses him, stomping her foot into the dirt and packing it in, red eyes shine brightly at the man with her inner malevolence, "Naruto and Sasuke make sense, but you should know Ino's not ready for your crap."
"Her sensei signed off on including her in their training." Kakashi defends himself, hands in his pockets, he walks up to her without a care in the world. She bats him away when a lone hand slips out of that pocket and speeds towards the top of her head. The smack is loud and resounding, the man symbolically letting her smack solidly connect. "I never put her in any real danger, Sakura, I promise you."
Her glare focuses itself, staring right into his eye with a swirling heat that threatens to overwhelm her at any moment. This time, she lets his palm land on her head and rub the 'cute Genin' he's been 'put in charge of.' "You really promise?" She asks, a feeling she can't explain makes its way up her esophagus, and she finds her voice cracking and wavering, like something heavy and solid is blocking the way of her words. It's thick, and hurts more than she'd like to admit.
"None of them were ever in any real danger, nothing in the Forest of Death could pose a threat to me, and I have a medic ninja on retainer in the event I need to race them somewhere. At this point they're just doing basic survival training, I haven't touched them since Ino left." Kakashi confirms, rubbing in circles that make her feel like a little girl. To him, she is, so it makes sense. She can accept that. "I hear you were detained and interrogated, how did that go?"
"You say that like you weren't already given a report." She grumbles lowly.
"I want to hear it from you," he dismisses her point, "do you feel okay, Sakura?"
"I don't know." She has to admit, because it's Kakashi, and she's supposed to be talking to him even if she doesn't want to. "Ino thinks I hate myself, and I don't think I do, but what if I just don't know it? How do I deal with that? How do I deal with any of this? And why is one of the most supportive feeling people in my life my freaking demon sword?"
"Okay, there's a lot to unpack there." Kakashi admits, taking his hand away finally, he looks away a little, frowning, biting his lip, looking back and giving her a serious gaze. Shifting from the playful man she's used to, to someone who's giving her focus. "Why is Hunger a person now?"
"Ah, well, um…" She looks down at her hands, she doesn't really know how to answer that.
Slip of the tongue maybe? "I dunno, it doesn't make me feel bad, while everyone else does. I'm always wondering what's wrong with me or trying to step around eggshells when I talk to people, but the sword doesn't do that. It tells me I'm right, and supports my decisions, and makes me feel strong. I feel good about myself with it, and without it I'm always so worried."
"Okay, uh, gonna nip that one in the bud. Sakura, that's not how people feel like, that's how drugs feel like."
"What?"
"Drugs." He explains, poking her in the forehead. "Drugs make you feel good, and right, and strong. People make you feel scrutinized and judged, that's just how they are. Never confuse the two. If people don't make you feel a little bad sometimes, that's called a hallucination, sometimes it's a Genjutsu."
"Ah…" She nods to herself, glumly but understandingly.
"Any relationship worth keeping is going to have disagreements, and sometimes those disagreements are severe enough they can come off harshly. When you're messed up there's added layers to it too, like that they want you to be less messed up. It's hard for someone that has a brain that works right to accept that it feels good when you slit a throat, or understand the excitement of Henging into the corpse you just made to trick their teammates and execute them when they look away."
"Err-" She gulps as he keeps talking.
"They won't get what it means to lay back in a puddle of blood and let it seep into your clothes so you can feel at one with your actions, or how good it feels when the blood on your hands is real for once so you don't have to question yourself." Kakashi gives her a solid thumbs up that clashes heavily with his words, "and that's okay, that's good for them. They judge you because they don't understand and they want better for you. Their judgment means they're healthy and you should be happy about that. Misery loves misery, you shouldn't wish that they understand you, you should cherish that they don't. Their judgment feels good, Sakura. You just have to change your mindframe and accept that not understanding can be a good thing. Because the less they understand, the better a job you've done ensuring they never can."
"Okay, I think I can do that." She takes a deep breath, hissing through her teeth only to take another. "So they're judging me because they want me to be better, not because they think less of me?"
"It's a bit of both." He says.
And she expects more.
He doesn't give more.
"Oh, okay, um… So the sword is drugs, and the bad feelings people give me are good?" She winces at the thought, she really doesn't like that.
"Yep." He lets his answer hang just like that.
"... Why did you give me drugs?" She can't help but ask, after a long moment of awkward silence.
"Dead people told me to." He answers her with a deathly seriousness, in fact it's more firmness than such a statement should ever contain.
"Ah… Iruka's right, I think I did need to talk to you." She remembers her little conversation with Iruka, her old teacher said she'd end up like Kakashi. Kakashi's batshit and she doesn't want to end up that way. She needs to figure her shit out before that happens.
"And I thought you could handle it," Kakashi continues, after a long moment to let her doubt her everything, "I've kept watch. You're handling the sword better than anyone in history. Besides, you could use some validation when in combat, doubting yourself is fine at home, it's terrible when you're in a life or death situation. And I don't think I've ever seen you confident about anything besides when you hold onto that sword, so, I don't regret giving it to you. Just, measure it and ensure you form meaningful bonds while you're at it. The kind of bonds that make you feel good because they're judging you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yep, Kakashi's batshit. That sounds a little better though, she can kind of accept that.
"You're amazing Sakura, keep on the path you're going and one day you won't need a sword like that to feel strong, you'll get everything you need from those around you, and from deep inside," he turns towards the forest of death, "at least that's what Gai's message about you said. He likes you a lot, you should see if he'll train you any."
"You think he would?" She shifts her feet a little, clacking her toes together.
"I know so." He nods.
"And he'll be better at helping me feel okay than you?" Sakura asks.
"Oh no, Gai's crazy."
I'll be making the weekly side-story poll in a few minutes here, that's $10 patrons getting a vote.
I'll be doing a spinny wheel system from now on so, every vote matters. If you want in, go for it.
Enjoy the chapter: Sendicard/WitchAtTheEnd | Linktree
Being released on terms of 'probably not being dangerous' isn't the feel good moment she was expecting to have when she left the facility. There's a lot to be said about her friend expressing deep concern for her while also reluctantly letting her go. She knew it'd be bad, but her conversation with Ino inside of her head won't leave her alone. She doesn't hate herself, she swears she doesn't hate herself.
Why does her head consider her an enemy? It'd be one thing if it attacked Ino too, then it's just a very hostile landscape and maybe they need to figure out what's up with that. Protecting Ino proves that her brain is capable of recognizing that something belongs, and it's also very capable of considering that thing benevolently. So why did those shields refuse to leave? Why did she get cut up on entry to her mind in the first place? Why did her nerves attack her directly, and is there anything more to Ino possessing the glowing sword which free'd her from the attack?
Symbolisms have never been her forte, and now she's expecting herself to decode her actual brain. That's dumb, she's being dumb. She could never do that, she needs to leave that to Ino and her father and people that actually know what they're doing.
She has people to visit, but first she needs a shower and a long nap.
"Sakura!" Naruto greets her the moment she steps out of the bathroom, the boy practically attacking her with a hug that slams her back first against the wall with a thud. She doesn't miss two other blonde entities joining the hug almost immediately, or the suit the main boy has on. "Business Naruto," she greets, patting his back with a surprised rub while looking down at the other two and finding Naruto's experimenting with clones of different ages and genders, "where is the real you?" She has two little sister clones now, that's very interesting, she should figure out if it's weird to treat them that way later when she has a good chance.
"He's with Kakashi, I haven't seen him the entire time you've been gone, but I've gotten a lot of memories sent my way. The amount of clones that have died…" Business Naruto pouts quite visibly for her.
"I suppose it would be more meaningful to you to lose what could have been you." Sakura ponders, thinking of whether Business Naruto would have experienced her substituting with normal Naruto's clones to avoid Gato's attacks in Wave. It was very far away, can the memories travel like that? She should ask, or maybe look into it, but not now.
Now, whatever Ino was referring to needs to be stopped. "Where?"
"Sakura." Kakashi greets her as her feet step onto the perimeter of the Forest of Death. He's not even trying to hide where they've been, he affixes her with a smile behind the mask like he's done nothing wrong. He looks like he's been on vacation the entire time, clean and in fresh clothes and looking very well fed.
"You hurt Ino," Sakura accuses him, stomping her foot into the dirt and packing it in, red eyes shine brightly at the man with her inner malevolence, "Naruto and Sasuke make sense, but you should know Ino's not ready for your crap."
"Her sensei signed off on including her in their training." Kakashi defends himself, hands in his pockets, he walks up to her without a care in the world. She bats him away when a lone hand slips out of that pocket and speeds towards the top of her head. The smack is loud and resounding, the man symbolically letting her smack solidly connect. "I never put her in any real danger, Sakura, I promise you."
Her glare focuses itself, staring right into his eye with a swirling heat that threatens to overwhelm her at any moment. This time, she lets his palm land on her head and rub the 'cute Genin' he's been 'put in charge of.' "You really promise?" She asks, a feeling she can't explain makes its way up her esophagus, and she finds her voice cracking and wavering, like something heavy and solid is blocking the way of her words. It's thick, and hurts more than she'd like to admit.
"None of them were ever in any real danger, nothing in the Forest of Death could pose a threat to me, and I have a medic ninja on retainer in the event I need to race them somewhere. At this point they're just doing basic survival training, I haven't touched them since Ino left." Kakashi confirms, rubbing in circles that make her feel like a little girl. To him, she is, so it makes sense. She can accept that. "I hear you were detained and interrogated, how did that go?"
"You say that like you weren't already given a report." She grumbles lowly.
"I want to hear it from you," he dismisses her point, "do you feel okay, Sakura?"
"I don't know." She has to admit, because it's Kakashi, and she's supposed to be talking to him even if she doesn't want to. "Ino thinks I hate myself, and I don't think I do, but what if I just don't know it? How do I deal with that? How do I deal with any of this? And why is one of the most supportive feeling people in my life my freaking demon sword?"
"Okay, there's a lot to unpack there." Kakashi admits, taking his hand away finally, he looks away a little, frowning, biting his lip, looking back and giving her a serious gaze. Shifting from the playful man she's used to, to someone who's giving her focus. "Why is Hunger a person now?"
"Ah, well, um…" She looks down at her hands, she doesn't really know how to answer that.
Slip of the tongue maybe? "I dunno, it doesn't make me feel bad, while everyone else does. I'm always wondering what's wrong with me or trying to step around eggshells when I talk to people, but the sword doesn't do that. It tells me I'm right, and supports my decisions, and makes me feel strong. I feel good about myself with it, and without it I'm always so worried."
"Okay, uh, gonna nip that one in the bud. Sakura, that's not how people feel like, that's how drugs feel like."
"What?"
"Drugs." He explains, poking her in the forehead. "Drugs make you feel good, and right, and strong. People make you feel scrutinized and judged, that's just how they are. Never confuse the two. If people don't make you feel a little bad sometimes, that's called a hallucination, sometimes it's a Genjutsu."
"Ah…" She nods to herself, glumly but understandingly.
"Any relationship worth keeping is going to have disagreements, and sometimes those disagreements are severe enough they can come off harshly. When you're messed up there's added layers to it too, like that they want you to be less messed up. It's hard for someone that has a brain that works right to accept that it feels good when you slit a throat, or understand the excitement of Henging into the corpse you just made to trick their teammates and execute them when they look away."
"Err-" She gulps as he keeps talking.
"They won't get what it means to lay back in a puddle of blood and let it seep into your clothes so you can feel at one with your actions, or how good it feels when the blood on your hands is real for once so you don't have to question yourself." Kakashi gives her a solid thumbs up that clashes heavily with his words, "and that's okay, that's good for them. They judge you because they don't understand and they want better for you. Their judgment means they're healthy and you should be happy about that. Misery loves misery, you shouldn't wish that they understand you, you should cherish that they don't. Their judgment feels good, Sakura. You just have to change your mindframe and accept that not understanding can be a good thing. Because the less they understand, the better a job you've done ensuring they never can."
"Okay, I think I can do that." She takes a deep breath, hissing through her teeth only to take another. "So they're judging me because they want me to be better, not because they think less of me?"
"It's a bit of both." He says.
And she expects more.
He doesn't give more.
"Oh, okay, um… So the sword is drugs, and the bad feelings people give me are good?" She winces at the thought, she really doesn't like that.
"Yep." He lets his answer hang just like that.
"... Why did you give me drugs?" She can't help but ask, after a long moment of awkward silence.
"Dead people told me to." He answers her with a deathly seriousness, in fact it's more firmness than such a statement should ever contain.
"Ah… Iruka's right, I think I did need to talk to you." She remembers her little conversation with Iruka, her old teacher said she'd end up like Kakashi. Kakashi's batshit and she doesn't want to end up that way. She needs to figure her shit out before that happens.
"And I thought you could handle it," Kakashi continues, after a long moment to let her doubt her everything, "I've kept watch. You're handling the sword better than anyone in history. Besides, you could use some validation when in combat, doubting yourself is fine at home, it's terrible when you're in a life or death situation. And I don't think I've ever seen you confident about anything besides when you hold onto that sword, so, I don't regret giving it to you. Just, measure it and ensure you form meaningful bonds while you're at it. The kind of bonds that make you feel good because they're judging you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Yep, Kakashi's batshit. That sounds a little better though, she can kind of accept that.
"You're amazing Sakura, keep on the path you're going and one day you won't need a sword like that to feel strong, you'll get everything you need from those around you, and from deep inside," he turns towards the forest of death, "at least that's what Gai's message about you said. He likes you a lot, you should see if he'll train you any."
"You think he would?" She shifts her feet a little, clacking her toes together.
"I know so." He nods.
"And he'll be better at helping me feel okay than you?" Sakura asks.
"Oh no, Gai's crazy."
SolipsistSerpent
Endlessly Devouring
He is, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't do a better job at helping Sakura's esteem. I think he's got a good shot at outperforming Kakashi, at least.
Drugs are bad, mmm'kay? Demon-possessed swords that make you feel like you're on drugs are even worse. Being surrounded by constructive criticism delivered by friends, a sensei with one eye who can obliterate entire squads, and another sensei who can also obliterate squads while screaming about youth while wearing green spandex is perfectly fine, however.
Good news Ino, Sakura is better than you think. Bad news, the "Sakura Game" is true and she has "died" once already.
Even just being able to see your stats is extremely useful. Ino must now experience the power of number go up.
- Location
- Victoria, BC
Ah, that's good comedic writing. An insane person labelling another seemingly more stable character as insane. That is a classic gag. The way the punchline was the very end of the chapter is the best way to do it. I read this and could hear the rimshot in my head. (two drum beats and a cymbal) Sendicard used great timing.
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
Hella appreciate it.
I didn't even include a dialogue tag because I was worried it might muddy that effect.
Gai and Jiraiya are the kind of insane that Konoha wishes it could mass produce.
Kakashi, and Tsunade are the kind of insane that they wish they didn't have so much of.
Orochimaru is the kind of insane they'd actually not accept even if he's very good at it.
No no. Drugs are not bad. Drugs have a time and a place, in combat when you need the edge to murder people.
It'll never stop being hilarious that this batshit insane Kakashi is still a better mentor than canon Kakashi ever was. This is up there with the permanently stoned Dumbledore being a better headmaster than in canon.
But to be fair, I don't think there's any "normal" Jounin. Every single one is eccentric at best or becomes so after a few years in that rank.
So did I interpret Sakura's thought about the Hokage correctly? She's going to talk to Hiruzen about her power?
But to be fair, I don't think there's any "normal" Jounin. Every single one is eccentric at best or becomes so after a few years in that rank.
So did I interpret Sakura's thought about the Hokage correctly? She's going to talk to Hiruzen about her power?
Sendicard
Writer of Sakura
- Location
- New Mexico, USA
- Pronouns
- YouPick
She is yes.
There's actually a side-story where Sakura just walks right into his office (the necromancy one) which takes place after she talks to Hiruzen in this arc. The joke is that she can just do that but the joke was kinda lost on the public because she has yet to be given permission to do that. It probably just came off incredibly rude and odd that Hiruzen said nothing.
I think that's CH 82? Something happens in 81 that makes Sakura go "Nope, I need to fuckin talk to the man now or I'm gonna die."
Could be 83.
Sunday or Monday.
Because tomorrow I'm posting 80 here. (Patreon's caught up but SV is 1 chapter behind. I just didn't want to triple post.)
Friday should be 81.
So Sunday is 82 and Monday is 83.
Side story will either be Wednesday or Thursday, depending on when I get all the votes.
Forgot to post the damn poll so, gonna do that now. But I need to give everyone a chance to vote.
Last edited:
- Location
- France
- Pronouns
- She/They
Konoha is fine with Kakashi, he still does the job. Tsunade not so much.
Taarkoth
Gentleman Squid
You forgot to add a line somewhere in here where the girls actually leave the mindscape.