Sakura Haruno's father brings home a gift for his young daughter. A strange clockwork jewel. And within that jewel she finds the entrapped soul of a young woman. Or is it perhaps a Devil?
Shoulder Devil (Youjo Senki/Naruto)
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Chapter 1
Summary: Sakura Haruno's father brings home a gift for his young daughter. A strange clockwork jewel. And within that jewel she finds the entrapped soul of a young woman. Or is it perhaps a Devil?
This story started life as a Patreon commission, but enough chapters have been commissioned to justify its own thread. All credit to my generous patrons Hangwind and Akitsu91.
Chapter 1
Konohagakure law officially classified the Haruno family as civilian, but that did not mean they had never produced any shinobi for Konoha. In fact, it was not at all unusual for civilian families to send a second or third son into Konoha's shinobi forces. They rarely achieved high rank, but when the village's chief export was chakra-powered mercenaries, having one in your own family was seen as being socially responsible, patriotic, and even fashionable. Kizashi Haruno himself had been a second son who had done five years as a genin, survived the Second Shinobi War by virtue of never facing an enemy shinobi without more powerful allies, and then quietly retired and used his aura as a war veteran to marry well and set up a successful merchant business.
When birth complications left his wife unable to bear a second child, both he and his wife had assumed their darling daughter Sakura would grow up to either marry well by virtue of being his sole heiress, or perhaps do the daring thing and take over the business. Then when she was almost six, Sakura had to go and declare her intent to become a shinobi.
His wife Mebuki thought being a kunoichi was an uncivilized path for a lady of breeding. Kizashi had far more solid reasons for refusing. He remembered his own days as a shinobi well enough to know it was no life to wish on his daughter. The lunatics who specialized in combat operations rarely lived to see thirty. The more sane shinobi who spent most of their time in non-combat roles had careers that were long, tedious, and underpaid - until something like a war forced them into combat where they would then be summarily butchered by enemy combat specialists. And that's leaving out things like tailed beast attacks. Bad as the civilian casualties had been, that was nothing compared to the shinobi who had been stuck trying to fight the nine-tailed demon fox.
Unfortunately, refusal had not been an option. Their daughter had somehow made friends with the heiress to the Yamanaka Clan, and she had made her declaration right in front of said heiress. While refusing to let her attend the ninja academy was still within their rights, it would have been social suicide. When the daughter of a major shinobi clan head tells you she was looking forward to seeing your daughter at the academy, you let your daughter attend the academy. The excommunication and suicide of Sakumo Hatake was still held as an example of what awaited those who tried to swim against the cultural tide.
In privacy, his wife did everything possible to persuade their daughter away from her course. When that didn't work, she entered a state of denial where she convinced herself her daughter was simply going through a phase she would grow out of. Kizashi was more pragmatic, and focused on doing what could to maximize his daughter's chances of survival. Unfortunately, the natural of his far flung business meant he could never give his daughter the personal attention and benefit of his own experience. He did his best, encouraging her to study every theoretical aspect of shinobi work and purchasing all the necessary books in the hopes that she might be tapped for a non-combat role right out of the academy. And in his quest to give his daughter every advantage, he came across what he thought was a very useful little toy.
It was on a trip to Sunagakure that he came across the jeweled brooch in the market. It was a large semi-precious stone set in a casing composed of ridiculously intricate clockwork. It was apparently a curio obtained from the strange lands far to the west of the Great Desert. The merchant who possessed it could mold a bit of chakra, and he used this to demonstrate how the clockwork would spin and move in dizzying patterns when exposed to chakra. Kizashi immediately recognized it as an excellent tool for encouraging his daughter to work on her chakra control. As such, he did not hesitate to spend his entire profit margin for the trip on acquiring it.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sakura Haruno loved her new toy. She did not reveal it to anyone because it felt so childish, but in private moments she loved watching the intricate movements of the clockwork. She was also a very bright child, so it took less than a month for her to figure out that the number of gears that would move depended entirely on the pattern in which she entered her chakra into the device. It became a game for her to try and enter her chakra in a way to create the most complicated movements. Then she realized that the device had gears that were not only invisible, but didn't actually exist. Enter chakra in just the right way, and she'd feel gears start to move in her very soul.
Sakura was hooked. What started as a game became a minor obsession. She didn't realize it, but trying to divine the device's secrets pushed both her chakra capacity and control to far beyond normal levels.
It was shortly after her ninth birthday that she found a very complex pattern that moved every single gear.
----------------------------------------------------------
"It has been so long. Who are you?.... Ah. I see. You are the holder of my prison."
"Prison? You are trapped here? Who are you?"
"Trapped. Yes. After I died, my soul was trapped in this infernal device. As for me, I had many names while I lived. Some called me Shining Silver. Others called me The Devil. But you can call me Tanya."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sakura was at heart a kind girl. Her first instinct was to be sad that Tanya was trapped in the brooch, which was apparently called the Type 95, whatever that meant. Once it became clear that even if she could free Tanya it would mean her soul would simply disappear into the afterlife, she got used to having the little voice on her shoulder. Tanya, Sakura realized, was not a very nice person. But she had a wonderfully dry wit that made her laugh even as she felt guilty for all the mean things Tanya said.
Tanya was also encouraged her to study and train hard. In fact, Tanya was absolutely brutal. Once she understood what being a shinobi meant, Tanya drove Sakura to train and work to levels that Sakura thought insane. But unless Sakura wanted to leave her newfound friend behind, she had no choice but to do at least some (most) of what Tanya required of her in order to keep the peace between them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You really think I can help free you one day?
Yes. It is clear that your people have developed magical abilities - yes, yes, I know you call it chakra - far beyond what my own people ever achieved. There might even be a method to create a body that my soul can be transferred to. But I doubt it's going to be easy. Which is why you need to be the best shinobi you can be.
So you are helping me just for that?
Of course. Understand Sakura, true friendship and loyalty takes years of effort to build. I had friends like that, but it came to pass only after we had gone through years of hell side by side. In time, we may become friends like that. Until then, the only trust we have is our desire for a common goal. You want to be a great shinobi. Creating a body for me will most likely require a great shinobi. Thus, our goals align for now, which is why we can trust each other.
------------------------------------------------------------------
However, Tanya acted as more than a drill instructor in her head. While she acknowledged her own powers were far less flexible than what chakra could offer, she mentioned one thing that set fire to Sakura's imagination. In her past life, Tanya could fly.
The only shinobi that Sakura could think of who was known to fly was the current Tsuchikage. Even a month of research only turned up mention of a Land of the Sky, but their ability to fly must not have been very good, Tanya pointed out, because they were wiped out during the Second Shinobi War.
Attempts to fly using the Type 95 met with failure. After many trials, they both concluded that the jewel's power was almost entirely tied up in keeping Tanya's soul prisoner.
Still, even though it could no longer be used to fly, the Type 95 did allow Sakura enough power to perform a few useful tricks. Physical reinforcement and reflex enhancement, the basic spells from Tanya's life, and the basic abilities of any shinobi. With Tanya's help, Sakura learned how to enhance herself to match any of the clan ninja in her class.
It wasn't all fun and games though. There were some serious arguments. Particularly when around the age of 10 Sakura developed her first crush.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sakura, you will go back tomorrow and apologize to Ino! And you will make it convincing! I can't believe you're throwing away a friendship like that over some pouty brat!"
"He is not a brat! Sasuke is the coolest most awesome guy in class! He's the last Uchiha! He's a super-talented ninja! His story is so tragic... he's like a prince from some great saga!"
"The only tragedy I see here is you throwing away an alliance with the heiress of a great shinobi clan in order to chase after damaged goods."
"SASUKE IS NOT DAMAGED GOODS!"
That was the first time Sakura had willingly thrown away the device from herself, sending it clattering to a corner of her room. For a full week the only attention she paid it was to throw it the occasional glare. However, since she had also broken ties with her closest friend in the physical world, it wasn't long before the loneliness got too much to bear. Finally, Sakura swallowed her pride and took up the Type 95 once more.
"Tanya? Are you there? I'm sorry for shouting at you."
"You were upset. I forgive you. Perhaps my own words were rather harsh."
"So you don't really think Sasuke is damaged goods?"
"Sakura, think about it for a minute. The boy's entire extended family got murdered when he was eight. It would be unbelievable if the boy wasn't mentally damaged. I lived and fought through a war, Sakura. I've seen trained adults break with only a fraction of the loss Sasuke suffered. And no amount of sympathy will change this fact."
"Well then it's even more important for me to get close to him! Love will help him heal from his loss!"
A groan echoed out in Sakura's mind. "Sakura, love isn't some kind of bandage you slap on a wound and just wait for it to make things better! Besides, my people had a saying - love is a two-way street. It doesn't matter how much you love him, it's completely useless if he doesn't love you back."
"Well that just makes it even more important for me to get close to him! Then he will realize his love for me!"
"Just like you've realized your love for Naruto?"
"W-WHAT?! Ewww! Why would you say that? I thought you hated Naruto!"
"I do. Which is why you can imagine my disappointment to see you acting like him. Trying to force your attention on poor Sasuke with no respect for his feelings..."
"But... but then how can I make him love me if I don't capture his attention?!"
"You're really hung up on this brat, aren't you?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, alright, I suppose Sasuke is still rich even with his clan dead, so pursuing him isn't a total waste of time..."
"I don't care about that.... wait does this mean you approve?"
"No, I don't. But I will make you a deal. You make up with Ino, and I'll help you draw Sasuke's attention."
"Wait, why should I make up with Ino-pig when she's my love rival!"
"Sakura, this is non-negotiable. Ino is the heiress to a major clan. And unlike the Uchiha, her clan is still alive. So if she decides to ever get serious about your little rivalry, she can create all sorts of problems, not just for you, but your future career, and maybe even your family. How hard would it be for a clan of information specialists to spread a few rumors wrecking your father's business reputation? Or for the head of the Yamanaka to arrange for one pink-haired genin to be assigned to permanent sewer-cleaning duty?"
"Ino wouldn't do something like that!"
"Perhaps not right now when she's too young to think of such things. But as she grows older and starts wielding actual influence? And the worst part is, even if you succeed in capturing the Uchiha's heart, he won't be able to protect you. Not without a clan of his own."
"So what do I do?"
"As the first step, you will apologize and reaffirm your friendship with Ino. It's only been a few days, it shouldn't be hard at all you retake your old position as her best friend. And you will be her best friend. You will support her in all endeavors, you will sympathize with all setbacks, you will become her closest confidante. You will be such good friends that when the day comes and you steal Sasuke Uchiha out from under her, she will be too busy being happy for you to feel jealous."
"Um... that doesn't sound very nice..."
"Why? It's not as if you'll be lying to her. You really will stop chasing the Uchiha. Hell, if she asks, you'll even help her with her own attempts on him."
"What? WHY?"
"Because, Sakura, the real trick isn't getting the Uchiha. The real trick will be surviving the backlash from all the others looking to get their hooks into him. And the way to do that is to get Sasuke to come to you."
"Huh?"
"It's simple. Chasing Sasuke will make you enemies you can't afford. But if Sasuke is the one chasing you, then your friendship with Ino will mean she will be more inclined to help rather than hinder. Particularly if you appeal to her pride by turning to her for advice when it happens. If you play it right, Ino will not only help you, she will think it's all her own idea. But for any of that to work, Sasuke will have to approach you entirely of his own volition."
"But how do I get him to do that? He never seems to pay attention to anyone!"
"The same way any business goes about marketing a product. First, you need to research your customer, and determine his utility and preferences. Then you need to customize the product according to demand."
"So... I need to spy on Sasuke?"
"What part of 'you need to stop chasing him' did you not get? No, what you need to do is study the Uchiha clan."
"Why the clan?"
"Because, Sakura, members of prestigious shinobi clans marry not for love, but politics and genetics. Sasuke was eight when the Uchiha died, which means he was old enough to have picked up on their ideals and prejudices. You want to attract the last Uchiha? You need to find out what the Uchiha usually looked for in their spouses. Most of the really juicy info will be locked away in private records, but given how famous the Uchiha were, there should be some useful stuff available in public."
"So... the library?"
"No. First Ino. Then the library. And maybe the village records offices. This is not going to be quick, Sakura. But information gathering and patience are both important skills for a shinobi to learn."
Sakura thought about it for several minutes. Although it seemed sketchy, she realized Tanya was right. As long as she was a good friend to Ino and never actually tried to do anything behind her back, then it was perfectly fine. Turning herself into Sasuke's dream woman, she'd be doing it right in front of Ino, so was it her fault if Ino didn't notice? And Tanya had a point, even if things didn't work out with Sasuke, at least she'd still be best friends with the heiress of a major clan.
Thus decided, Sakura headed out. She had a best friend to make up with.
This story started life as a Patreon commission, but enough chapters have been commissioned to justify its own thread. All credit to my generous patrons Hangwind and Akitsu91.
Chapter 1
Konohagakure law officially classified the Haruno family as civilian, but that did not mean they had never produced any shinobi for Konoha. In fact, it was not at all unusual for civilian families to send a second or third son into Konoha's shinobi forces. They rarely achieved high rank, but when the village's chief export was chakra-powered mercenaries, having one in your own family was seen as being socially responsible, patriotic, and even fashionable. Kizashi Haruno himself had been a second son who had done five years as a genin, survived the Second Shinobi War by virtue of never facing an enemy shinobi without more powerful allies, and then quietly retired and used his aura as a war veteran to marry well and set up a successful merchant business.
When birth complications left his wife unable to bear a second child, both he and his wife had assumed their darling daughter Sakura would grow up to either marry well by virtue of being his sole heiress, or perhaps do the daring thing and take over the business. Then when she was almost six, Sakura had to go and declare her intent to become a shinobi.
His wife Mebuki thought being a kunoichi was an uncivilized path for a lady of breeding. Kizashi had far more solid reasons for refusing. He remembered his own days as a shinobi well enough to know it was no life to wish on his daughter. The lunatics who specialized in combat operations rarely lived to see thirty. The more sane shinobi who spent most of their time in non-combat roles had careers that were long, tedious, and underpaid - until something like a war forced them into combat where they would then be summarily butchered by enemy combat specialists. And that's leaving out things like tailed beast attacks. Bad as the civilian casualties had been, that was nothing compared to the shinobi who had been stuck trying to fight the nine-tailed demon fox.
Unfortunately, refusal had not been an option. Their daughter had somehow made friends with the heiress to the Yamanaka Clan, and she had made her declaration right in front of said heiress. While refusing to let her attend the ninja academy was still within their rights, it would have been social suicide. When the daughter of a major shinobi clan head tells you she was looking forward to seeing your daughter at the academy, you let your daughter attend the academy. The excommunication and suicide of Sakumo Hatake was still held as an example of what awaited those who tried to swim against the cultural tide.
In privacy, his wife did everything possible to persuade their daughter away from her course. When that didn't work, she entered a state of denial where she convinced herself her daughter was simply going through a phase she would grow out of. Kizashi was more pragmatic, and focused on doing what could to maximize his daughter's chances of survival. Unfortunately, the natural of his far flung business meant he could never give his daughter the personal attention and benefit of his own experience. He did his best, encouraging her to study every theoretical aspect of shinobi work and purchasing all the necessary books in the hopes that she might be tapped for a non-combat role right out of the academy. And in his quest to give his daughter every advantage, he came across what he thought was a very useful little toy.
It was on a trip to Sunagakure that he came across the jeweled brooch in the market. It was a large semi-precious stone set in a casing composed of ridiculously intricate clockwork. It was apparently a curio obtained from the strange lands far to the west of the Great Desert. The merchant who possessed it could mold a bit of chakra, and he used this to demonstrate how the clockwork would spin and move in dizzying patterns when exposed to chakra. Kizashi immediately recognized it as an excellent tool for encouraging his daughter to work on her chakra control. As such, he did not hesitate to spend his entire profit margin for the trip on acquiring it.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sakura Haruno loved her new toy. She did not reveal it to anyone because it felt so childish, but in private moments she loved watching the intricate movements of the clockwork. She was also a very bright child, so it took less than a month for her to figure out that the number of gears that would move depended entirely on the pattern in which she entered her chakra into the device. It became a game for her to try and enter her chakra in a way to create the most complicated movements. Then she realized that the device had gears that were not only invisible, but didn't actually exist. Enter chakra in just the right way, and she'd feel gears start to move in her very soul.
Sakura was hooked. What started as a game became a minor obsession. She didn't realize it, but trying to divine the device's secrets pushed both her chakra capacity and control to far beyond normal levels.
It was shortly after her ninth birthday that she found a very complex pattern that moved every single gear.
----------------------------------------------------------
"It has been so long. Who are you?.... Ah. I see. You are the holder of my prison."
"Prison? You are trapped here? Who are you?"
"Trapped. Yes. After I died, my soul was trapped in this infernal device. As for me, I had many names while I lived. Some called me Shining Silver. Others called me The Devil. But you can call me Tanya."
-----------------------------------------------------------
Sakura was at heart a kind girl. Her first instinct was to be sad that Tanya was trapped in the brooch, which was apparently called the Type 95, whatever that meant. Once it became clear that even if she could free Tanya it would mean her soul would simply disappear into the afterlife, she got used to having the little voice on her shoulder. Tanya, Sakura realized, was not a very nice person. But she had a wonderfully dry wit that made her laugh even as she felt guilty for all the mean things Tanya said.
Tanya was also encouraged her to study and train hard. In fact, Tanya was absolutely brutal. Once she understood what being a shinobi meant, Tanya drove Sakura to train and work to levels that Sakura thought insane. But unless Sakura wanted to leave her newfound friend behind, she had no choice but to do at least some (most) of what Tanya required of her in order to keep the peace between them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You really think I can help free you one day?
Yes. It is clear that your people have developed magical abilities - yes, yes, I know you call it chakra - far beyond what my own people ever achieved. There might even be a method to create a body that my soul can be transferred to. But I doubt it's going to be easy. Which is why you need to be the best shinobi you can be.
So you are helping me just for that?
Of course. Understand Sakura, true friendship and loyalty takes years of effort to build. I had friends like that, but it came to pass only after we had gone through years of hell side by side. In time, we may become friends like that. Until then, the only trust we have is our desire for a common goal. You want to be a great shinobi. Creating a body for me will most likely require a great shinobi. Thus, our goals align for now, which is why we can trust each other.
------------------------------------------------------------------
However, Tanya acted as more than a drill instructor in her head. While she acknowledged her own powers were far less flexible than what chakra could offer, she mentioned one thing that set fire to Sakura's imagination. In her past life, Tanya could fly.
The only shinobi that Sakura could think of who was known to fly was the current Tsuchikage. Even a month of research only turned up mention of a Land of the Sky, but their ability to fly must not have been very good, Tanya pointed out, because they were wiped out during the Second Shinobi War.
Attempts to fly using the Type 95 met with failure. After many trials, they both concluded that the jewel's power was almost entirely tied up in keeping Tanya's soul prisoner.
Still, even though it could no longer be used to fly, the Type 95 did allow Sakura enough power to perform a few useful tricks. Physical reinforcement and reflex enhancement, the basic spells from Tanya's life, and the basic abilities of any shinobi. With Tanya's help, Sakura learned how to enhance herself to match any of the clan ninja in her class.
It wasn't all fun and games though. There were some serious arguments. Particularly when around the age of 10 Sakura developed her first crush.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sakura, you will go back tomorrow and apologize to Ino! And you will make it convincing! I can't believe you're throwing away a friendship like that over some pouty brat!"
"He is not a brat! Sasuke is the coolest most awesome guy in class! He's the last Uchiha! He's a super-talented ninja! His story is so tragic... he's like a prince from some great saga!"
"The only tragedy I see here is you throwing away an alliance with the heiress of a great shinobi clan in order to chase after damaged goods."
"SASUKE IS NOT DAMAGED GOODS!"
That was the first time Sakura had willingly thrown away the device from herself, sending it clattering to a corner of her room. For a full week the only attention she paid it was to throw it the occasional glare. However, since she had also broken ties with her closest friend in the physical world, it wasn't long before the loneliness got too much to bear. Finally, Sakura swallowed her pride and took up the Type 95 once more.
"Tanya? Are you there? I'm sorry for shouting at you."
"You were upset. I forgive you. Perhaps my own words were rather harsh."
"So you don't really think Sasuke is damaged goods?"
"Sakura, think about it for a minute. The boy's entire extended family got murdered when he was eight. It would be unbelievable if the boy wasn't mentally damaged. I lived and fought through a war, Sakura. I've seen trained adults break with only a fraction of the loss Sasuke suffered. And no amount of sympathy will change this fact."
"Well then it's even more important for me to get close to him! Love will help him heal from his loss!"
A groan echoed out in Sakura's mind. "Sakura, love isn't some kind of bandage you slap on a wound and just wait for it to make things better! Besides, my people had a saying - love is a two-way street. It doesn't matter how much you love him, it's completely useless if he doesn't love you back."
"Well that just makes it even more important for me to get close to him! Then he will realize his love for me!"
"Just like you've realized your love for Naruto?"
"W-WHAT?! Ewww! Why would you say that? I thought you hated Naruto!"
"I do. Which is why you can imagine my disappointment to see you acting like him. Trying to force your attention on poor Sasuke with no respect for his feelings..."
"But... but then how can I make him love me if I don't capture his attention?!"
"You're really hung up on this brat, aren't you?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, alright, I suppose Sasuke is still rich even with his clan dead, so pursuing him isn't a total waste of time..."
"I don't care about that.... wait does this mean you approve?"
"No, I don't. But I will make you a deal. You make up with Ino, and I'll help you draw Sasuke's attention."
"Wait, why should I make up with Ino-pig when she's my love rival!"
"Sakura, this is non-negotiable. Ino is the heiress to a major clan. And unlike the Uchiha, her clan is still alive. So if she decides to ever get serious about your little rivalry, she can create all sorts of problems, not just for you, but your future career, and maybe even your family. How hard would it be for a clan of information specialists to spread a few rumors wrecking your father's business reputation? Or for the head of the Yamanaka to arrange for one pink-haired genin to be assigned to permanent sewer-cleaning duty?"
"Ino wouldn't do something like that!"
"Perhaps not right now when she's too young to think of such things. But as she grows older and starts wielding actual influence? And the worst part is, even if you succeed in capturing the Uchiha's heart, he won't be able to protect you. Not without a clan of his own."
"So what do I do?"
"As the first step, you will apologize and reaffirm your friendship with Ino. It's only been a few days, it shouldn't be hard at all you retake your old position as her best friend. And you will be her best friend. You will support her in all endeavors, you will sympathize with all setbacks, you will become her closest confidante. You will be such good friends that when the day comes and you steal Sasuke Uchiha out from under her, she will be too busy being happy for you to feel jealous."
"Um... that doesn't sound very nice..."
"Why? It's not as if you'll be lying to her. You really will stop chasing the Uchiha. Hell, if she asks, you'll even help her with her own attempts on him."
"What? WHY?"
"Because, Sakura, the real trick isn't getting the Uchiha. The real trick will be surviving the backlash from all the others looking to get their hooks into him. And the way to do that is to get Sasuke to come to you."
"Huh?"
"It's simple. Chasing Sasuke will make you enemies you can't afford. But if Sasuke is the one chasing you, then your friendship with Ino will mean she will be more inclined to help rather than hinder. Particularly if you appeal to her pride by turning to her for advice when it happens. If you play it right, Ino will not only help you, she will think it's all her own idea. But for any of that to work, Sasuke will have to approach you entirely of his own volition."
"But how do I get him to do that? He never seems to pay attention to anyone!"
"The same way any business goes about marketing a product. First, you need to research your customer, and determine his utility and preferences. Then you need to customize the product according to demand."
"So... I need to spy on Sasuke?"
"What part of 'you need to stop chasing him' did you not get? No, what you need to do is study the Uchiha clan."
"Why the clan?"
"Because, Sakura, members of prestigious shinobi clans marry not for love, but politics and genetics. Sasuke was eight when the Uchiha died, which means he was old enough to have picked up on their ideals and prejudices. You want to attract the last Uchiha? You need to find out what the Uchiha usually looked for in their spouses. Most of the really juicy info will be locked away in private records, but given how famous the Uchiha were, there should be some useful stuff available in public."
"So... the library?"
"No. First Ino. Then the library. And maybe the village records offices. This is not going to be quick, Sakura. But information gathering and patience are both important skills for a shinobi to learn."
Sakura thought about it for several minutes. Although it seemed sketchy, she realized Tanya was right. As long as she was a good friend to Ino and never actually tried to do anything behind her back, then it was perfectly fine. Turning herself into Sasuke's dream woman, she'd be doing it right in front of Ino, so was it her fault if Ino didn't notice? And Tanya had a point, even if things didn't work out with Sasuke, at least she'd still be best friends with the heiress of a major clan.
Thus decided, Sakura headed out. She had a best friend to make up with.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Sakura had to admit, there were times she found herself in agreement with Tanya's more caustic observations regarding Konoha's administration. In this particular case, it was the observation Tanya had made, months ago, that the chief purpose of Konoha's library (at least the civilian-accessible sections) was to spread propaganda and disinformation rather than educate the public.
Her initial foray into the library had been to find information on the Uchiha clan in order to try and determine what sort of women ended up marrying into their leadership. That had been months ago. She was now well past her eleventh birthday and in her last year in the academy, and she had finally found something pertaining to her original quest.
It was a record of births and marriages in the higher ranked houses of the Uchiha clan, stretching back to shortly after the Village's founding. You'd think such a record would be in the section of the library dedicated to the Uchiha clan. Or maybe the section on village history and politics, or even a genealogical record. But no, she had found it of all places in a medical text discussing the inheritance of bloodline traits. She hadn't even been looking for it, instead having borrowed the book merely out of curiosity in between studying up on battlefield medicine.
During her research on the Uchiha, the few genealogies in the library dealt almost exclusively with clans that were already extinct. The section on village history seemed to pretend that the Uchiha did nothing of real significance other than steal other village's techniques with their special chakra-detecting eyes, run the village Police Force, and produce the arch-traitors Madara Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. The section specifically dedicated to the Uchiha seemed to alternately brag about and condemn the clan for their seemingly overwhelming obsession with combat prowess and their Sharingan eyes. There were practically no works authored by Uchiha other than a few texts on fire jutsu theory, and some commentaries on Konoha politics that were blatant even in Sakura's inexperienced eyes for their pro-Uchiha bias. It was telling that the most cited work on the Uchiha Clan was written by Tobirama Senju the Second Hokage, a man who was openly accepted as one of their harshest detractors.
Sakura had at first been intimidated and confused by the seemingly contradictory nature of much of the material available on the Uchiha. Then Tanya had suggested she line up the references based on publication date, and a pattern emerged. Books at or around the First Hokage's time were harshly critical of Madara Uchiha, but positive towards the rest of his clan, almost as if all evil in the world (or at least, Konoha) was carried by Madara and died with him. Once the Second Hokage came to power, that tune changed. The Second's own polemic on the Uchiha quickly became the go-to reference, and the oft-quoted phrase 'The Curse of Hatred' came into being with regards to the Uchiha clan.
With the death of the Second, there was once more a more positive outlook on the Uchiha, at least during the first half of the Third Hokage's reign. Then came the Second Shinobi World War, and commentary on the Uchiha went from praising them to damning them with faint praise. The books noted the superior performance of Uchiha soldiers, but also noted how few of them there were, since large parts of the clan never left the village as they were part of the Police Force. This was a pattern than continued right up until the Uchiha massacre. After that, all mention of them stopped with a startling suddenness. A few records referenced the massacre as the cause of the massive shrinkage in Uchiha numbers, but reading the latest work (her own academy history textbook) you'd get the impression the Uchiha numbers had simply faded due to natural causes.
Tanya had then made Sakura find the casualty lists for the Second Shinobi War, before pinpointing what Tanya claimed was the reason opinion seemed to have turned against the Uchiha halfway through the Third's reign. The Second Shinobi War had inflicted enormous damage on the Senju and their allies. Both Senju and Sarutobi clans had taken serious casualties, and the Uzumaki had been wiped out entirely. In contrast, the Uchiha had come through mostly intact. Starting a propaganda campaign suggesting they had done less than their share was an obvious ploy to damage their political standing.
A lengthy trawl through the books mentioning other clans showed that the Uchiha were perhaps unique in how the history books had treated them. While not all clans were acclaimed, no other shinobi clan had been so publicly accused of holding back on their commitment to Konoha. Even the disgrace and suicide of someone called Sakumo of the Hatake clan had been treated as an aberration. Tanya had a ready explanation - no other clan in Konoha had posed a threat to the Senju and their allies' preeminence in the village, so naturally there was no point vilifying them.
At that point, Sakura had given up getting anything actually useful out of the library on the Uchiha. However, she had picked up one clue. The Uchiha prized power, that was something almost very source agreed on. Which meant the best thing she could do was make herself the strongest shinobi she could be. Which was what Tanya had wanted, and what she could have been doing if she hadn't spent weeks studying the Uchiha.
Tanya had been unbearably smug for days.
The pursuit of power had seen her returning to the library, though nowhere near as often. The most useful part of the library had been the chronicles on foreign shinobi (information on whom Konoha was relatively free with). Not because these chronicles contained any actual skills, but because it gave Sakura an idea of what was possible for a high level shinobi to achieve. The answer, it seemed, was almost anything...
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"Please remember, Sakura, even though your chakra seems to be at least rooted in magecraft as I knew it, there are distinct differences. Magecraft was ultimately about manipulating direct physical forces and raw energy. Chakra is far more conceptual in nature. Chakra seems to work in certain ways because you think it ought to work that way. The entire elemental cycle, for example, is clearly a human construct having no basis in nature, but is accepted as universal truth because all current ninjutsu seems to have descended from a single source. Magic's advantage is that because it consists of simple, direct manipulations, it did not have to struggle against the natural laws. For example, a flight spell was nothing more than sustained thrust directed at your own body. Like throwing a kunai, only you were throwing yourself. Otherwise, everything was happening within the bounds of nature. With chakra on the other hand, every technique is a concept that you are trying to enforce on the world, often running directly in the face of natural law. This lowers the strength of your effects, but it does drastically increase the versatility, so there's no reason you shouldn't be able to do this."
Sakura rolled her eyes at the pompous lecturing tone of the voice inside her head. "Because throwing yourself through the air is so natural! I tried that with chakra and I nearly broke my neck!"
"I warned you that sustained flight required constant minute thrust adjustments that no human mind can easily keep up with, which is why we used computation orbs. Besides, what are you complaining about? You got a new movement technique out of it didn't you? You might not be able to fly, but how many shinobi can bounce off nothing and change direction in midair?"
"I still end up falling flat half the time," Sakura grumbled.
"You're getting better. By the time graduation comes, it will be second nature."
"Are you sure I can't show off to Ino?"
"Not until you have it down flawlessly. You don't want to embarrass yourself."
"Mm-hm," hummed Sakura happily. "She will be so surprised when I show her!" Her face grew a bit sadder. "Do you think Sasuke would be impressed as well?"
"He's ignored you even though you've made enormous strides in your physical and combat scores. I think at this point the only thing he'll notice past his self-centered brooding is you kicking his ass."
"Are... are you sure that's the way to go about it?"
"Positive! That genealogy said every wife to a senior Uchiha has been at least a chunin by age fifteen! Of course, their family tree is more like a ladder, but at least that's one challenge you don't have to overcome."
Sakura directed a frown at her inner voice. "Are you sure it's not because you're upset he refuses to acknowledge our improvement?"
"Of course not! Would I be that petty?"
"Yes."
"Well, if I am being petty, it is on your behalf, my apprentice. Now, enough goofing off. With the increased flexibility of chakra over magic, it should be perfectly possible to convert the Clone technique into a more generalized optical illusion."
"It's not that easy! The clone technique echoes the user's own body to create the illusion! Now I'm replacing that ready-made model with a construct I have to create in my head! Just getting the technique to use a mental image as a source rather than my physical body was a nightmare! You should know, you helped me put the theory together!"
"Yes, well, unless you can get yourself apprenticed to a genjutsu specialist anytime soon, this is the only way we're going to get some decent illusions under our belt."
"I could just wait until I graduate and get a jounin-sensei and learn genjutsu properly from him, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel."
"Now you're arguing just for the sake of it. You read the duties of jounin-sensei in the manuals. They are there to provide leadership and guidance - but absolutely no mention that they are obligated to teach genin new techniques. If we're particularly unlucky, we'll end up with a jackass who does the bare minimum and otherwise leaves us to our own devices."
Grumbling to herself, Sakura returned to her training. Perhaps sensing her lowering mood, Tanya spoke a few minutes later. "Look on the bright side. The teachers are already permitting you to spar with the boys. Give it a couple more weeks, and you might get put up against Sasuke. That's your chance to make sure he can no longer ignore you."
Sakura immediately brightened up at the reminder of her recent success. Normally, the boys and girls were segregated for taijutsu spars. But after Sakura had spent months thrashing every girl in class including the Hyuga heiress, the teachers had finally acquiesced to her demand to spar with the boys.
Of course, her success had come with downsides. Both Ino and Hinata seemed to have been inspired (or shamed) by her success, because they were throwing themselves into their training much harder than before. Ino had already declared her intention to join Sakura on the boys' side, and though Hinata was as quiet as ever, there was a determined air about her that suggested similar thoughts.
Sakura scowled furiously and focused even harder on her training. She was not going to lose this contest! Her true love was at stake!
----------------------------------------------
It was taking everything she had not to gloat. There was only four months left until graduation, but Sakura had done it! Iruka-sensei had just signaled her to step into the ring with her true love!
"Thank god we didn't get that suck-up Mizuki today," grumbled Tanya.
Sakura agreed, Mizuki was annoying. He always seemed to enjoy putting Sasuke up against Naruto and then fawning over the inevitable victory. Even more annoyingly, no one could really complain, since Naruto was always eager to fight, and technically he was in the top quarter of the taijutsu class. Naruto had no skill and would use his incredible toughness to win battles of attrition against any opponent lacking finishing power, which made him absolutely hopeless against an opponent with actual talent.
As they entered the sparring circle, Tanya spoke crisply, "All right, break it down. What are his advantages over us?"
"Superior strength, speed, talent, training, experience, and stamina. And he probably eats better," Sakura snarked back mentally.
"And his weakness?"
"Overconfidence?"
"His or ours?"
"I'll take what I can get." Sakura considered it a small victory to get a genuine chuckle from Tanya.
"So. Plan A?"
"Plan A," Sakura agreed. Truth be told, plans B through D amounted to, 'Plan A, but sneakier'. Not that sneakiness was likely to work if Sasuke figured them out. "And don't forget your promise!"
There was a long moment of silence, and then Tanya replied, "I won't."
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The fight, when it happened, was over quickly. Sasuke started the fight the same way he did with any opponent he didn't respect - a lightning fast blitz.
Sakura immediately fell into a heightened mental state - the very first of Tanya's spells she had learned - and picked her moment to countercharge, letting Sasuke's fist brush by her face.
Sasuke immediately switched to defense, not that it mattered. Sakura wasn't looking to hit him, only to establish a firm grip. Before Sasuke realized what was happening, Sakura had stuck her feet to the ground with chakra, and heaved.
Even a girl as small as Sakura could lift an impressive amount of weight if she had picked up the trick of strengthening herself with chakra. Combined with a weak Reinforcement spell running through the Type 95, she could deadlift way more than Sasuke's body weight. Credit to him, Sasuke flipped through the air and stuck a perfect landing. He also did it over a foot outside the arena.
Iruka-sensei seemed almost disbelieving as he declared Sakura the winner. Sakura though was far more interested in Sasuke's reaction. Her heart fell as she read frustration, anger, and resentment, but not an ounce of admiration.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sitting alone in her room, Sakura listened as Tanya tried to comfort her. Sakura could always tell when Tanya was trying to be sympathetic, because she was so bad at it. ".... and really, what does it matter what a little boy thinks of you anyway? It should be mature, intelligent men you should be looking for...."
"Enough, Tanya." Sakura cut her off. "I'm not that upset. If Sasuke can't appreciate my strength, I'll find something else. In the meantime, you have a promise to keep. You said you'd tell me a bit about how you got stuck in the Type 95."
"Ah. That. Well, the simple answer is I failed to heed the lesson of Arachne."
"Arachne?"
"An ancient tale. It goes something like this. There was once Arachne, a weaver of such great talent that she thought herself equal to Athena, a kami of weaving. Athena didn't like that, and challenged her to a weaving contest. During the contest, Arachne wove a tapestry depicting the many true tales of how the local kami had tricked and hurt humans - and she did it with skill surpassing Athena's. Athena, however, was a very sore loser. She destroyed Arachne's work and hurt her and shamed her. When Arachne tried to kill herself to escape her torment, Athena cursed her into the form of a spider to live out her life a mindless insect."
"So... the lesson is, don't piss off kami?"
"That. And also, it doesn't matter if you're in the right. The powerful can only be held accountable if you have power of your own. I used to live in a world of rules and laws, so I'd forgotten that lesson. But you, Sakura, live in a village which peddles violence for cash. So either become powerful, or accept being the plaything of the powerful. Otherwise you'll end up like Arachne. Or me."
There both sat in silence for a long time. Then Sakura said, "You know Tanya, I like to think I've come to know you quite a bit."
"So?"
"So, I don't think you've learned your lesson at all. You're still fighting, aren't you?"
Tanya did not reply. She did not speak for the rest of the night. It would be a long time before either of them brought up the topic again.
Sakura had to admit, there were times she found herself in agreement with Tanya's more caustic observations regarding Konoha's administration. In this particular case, it was the observation Tanya had made, months ago, that the chief purpose of Konoha's library (at least the civilian-accessible sections) was to spread propaganda and disinformation rather than educate the public.
Her initial foray into the library had been to find information on the Uchiha clan in order to try and determine what sort of women ended up marrying into their leadership. That had been months ago. She was now well past her eleventh birthday and in her last year in the academy, and she had finally found something pertaining to her original quest.
It was a record of births and marriages in the higher ranked houses of the Uchiha clan, stretching back to shortly after the Village's founding. You'd think such a record would be in the section of the library dedicated to the Uchiha clan. Or maybe the section on village history and politics, or even a genealogical record. But no, she had found it of all places in a medical text discussing the inheritance of bloodline traits. She hadn't even been looking for it, instead having borrowed the book merely out of curiosity in between studying up on battlefield medicine.
During her research on the Uchiha, the few genealogies in the library dealt almost exclusively with clans that were already extinct. The section on village history seemed to pretend that the Uchiha did nothing of real significance other than steal other village's techniques with their special chakra-detecting eyes, run the village Police Force, and produce the arch-traitors Madara Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha. The section specifically dedicated to the Uchiha seemed to alternately brag about and condemn the clan for their seemingly overwhelming obsession with combat prowess and their Sharingan eyes. There were practically no works authored by Uchiha other than a few texts on fire jutsu theory, and some commentaries on Konoha politics that were blatant even in Sakura's inexperienced eyes for their pro-Uchiha bias. It was telling that the most cited work on the Uchiha Clan was written by Tobirama Senju the Second Hokage, a man who was openly accepted as one of their harshest detractors.
Sakura had at first been intimidated and confused by the seemingly contradictory nature of much of the material available on the Uchiha. Then Tanya had suggested she line up the references based on publication date, and a pattern emerged. Books at or around the First Hokage's time were harshly critical of Madara Uchiha, but positive towards the rest of his clan, almost as if all evil in the world (or at least, Konoha) was carried by Madara and died with him. Once the Second Hokage came to power, that tune changed. The Second's own polemic on the Uchiha quickly became the go-to reference, and the oft-quoted phrase 'The Curse of Hatred' came into being with regards to the Uchiha clan.
With the death of the Second, there was once more a more positive outlook on the Uchiha, at least during the first half of the Third Hokage's reign. Then came the Second Shinobi World War, and commentary on the Uchiha went from praising them to damning them with faint praise. The books noted the superior performance of Uchiha soldiers, but also noted how few of them there were, since large parts of the clan never left the village as they were part of the Police Force. This was a pattern than continued right up until the Uchiha massacre. After that, all mention of them stopped with a startling suddenness. A few records referenced the massacre as the cause of the massive shrinkage in Uchiha numbers, but reading the latest work (her own academy history textbook) you'd get the impression the Uchiha numbers had simply faded due to natural causes.
Tanya had then made Sakura find the casualty lists for the Second Shinobi War, before pinpointing what Tanya claimed was the reason opinion seemed to have turned against the Uchiha halfway through the Third's reign. The Second Shinobi War had inflicted enormous damage on the Senju and their allies. Both Senju and Sarutobi clans had taken serious casualties, and the Uzumaki had been wiped out entirely. In contrast, the Uchiha had come through mostly intact. Starting a propaganda campaign suggesting they had done less than their share was an obvious ploy to damage their political standing.
A lengthy trawl through the books mentioning other clans showed that the Uchiha were perhaps unique in how the history books had treated them. While not all clans were acclaimed, no other shinobi clan had been so publicly accused of holding back on their commitment to Konoha. Even the disgrace and suicide of someone called Sakumo of the Hatake clan had been treated as an aberration. Tanya had a ready explanation - no other clan in Konoha had posed a threat to the Senju and their allies' preeminence in the village, so naturally there was no point vilifying them.
At that point, Sakura had given up getting anything actually useful out of the library on the Uchiha. However, she had picked up one clue. The Uchiha prized power, that was something almost very source agreed on. Which meant the best thing she could do was make herself the strongest shinobi she could be. Which was what Tanya had wanted, and what she could have been doing if she hadn't spent weeks studying the Uchiha.
Tanya had been unbearably smug for days.
The pursuit of power had seen her returning to the library, though nowhere near as often. The most useful part of the library had been the chronicles on foreign shinobi (information on whom Konoha was relatively free with). Not because these chronicles contained any actual skills, but because it gave Sakura an idea of what was possible for a high level shinobi to achieve. The answer, it seemed, was almost anything...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Please remember, Sakura, even though your chakra seems to be at least rooted in magecraft as I knew it, there are distinct differences. Magecraft was ultimately about manipulating direct physical forces and raw energy. Chakra is far more conceptual in nature. Chakra seems to work in certain ways because you think it ought to work that way. The entire elemental cycle, for example, is clearly a human construct having no basis in nature, but is accepted as universal truth because all current ninjutsu seems to have descended from a single source. Magic's advantage is that because it consists of simple, direct manipulations, it did not have to struggle against the natural laws. For example, a flight spell was nothing more than sustained thrust directed at your own body. Like throwing a kunai, only you were throwing yourself. Otherwise, everything was happening within the bounds of nature. With chakra on the other hand, every technique is a concept that you are trying to enforce on the world, often running directly in the face of natural law. This lowers the strength of your effects, but it does drastically increase the versatility, so there's no reason you shouldn't be able to do this."
Sakura rolled her eyes at the pompous lecturing tone of the voice inside her head. "Because throwing yourself through the air is so natural! I tried that with chakra and I nearly broke my neck!"
"I warned you that sustained flight required constant minute thrust adjustments that no human mind can easily keep up with, which is why we used computation orbs. Besides, what are you complaining about? You got a new movement technique out of it didn't you? You might not be able to fly, but how many shinobi can bounce off nothing and change direction in midair?"
"I still end up falling flat half the time," Sakura grumbled.
"You're getting better. By the time graduation comes, it will be second nature."
"Are you sure I can't show off to Ino?"
"Not until you have it down flawlessly. You don't want to embarrass yourself."
"Mm-hm," hummed Sakura happily. "She will be so surprised when I show her!" Her face grew a bit sadder. "Do you think Sasuke would be impressed as well?"
"He's ignored you even though you've made enormous strides in your physical and combat scores. I think at this point the only thing he'll notice past his self-centered brooding is you kicking his ass."
"Are... are you sure that's the way to go about it?"
"Positive! That genealogy said every wife to a senior Uchiha has been at least a chunin by age fifteen! Of course, their family tree is more like a ladder, but at least that's one challenge you don't have to overcome."
Sakura directed a frown at her inner voice. "Are you sure it's not because you're upset he refuses to acknowledge our improvement?"
"Of course not! Would I be that petty?"
"Yes."
"Well, if I am being petty, it is on your behalf, my apprentice. Now, enough goofing off. With the increased flexibility of chakra over magic, it should be perfectly possible to convert the Clone technique into a more generalized optical illusion."
"It's not that easy! The clone technique echoes the user's own body to create the illusion! Now I'm replacing that ready-made model with a construct I have to create in my head! Just getting the technique to use a mental image as a source rather than my physical body was a nightmare! You should know, you helped me put the theory together!"
"Yes, well, unless you can get yourself apprenticed to a genjutsu specialist anytime soon, this is the only way we're going to get some decent illusions under our belt."
"I could just wait until I graduate and get a jounin-sensei and learn genjutsu properly from him, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel."
"Now you're arguing just for the sake of it. You read the duties of jounin-sensei in the manuals. They are there to provide leadership and guidance - but absolutely no mention that they are obligated to teach genin new techniques. If we're particularly unlucky, we'll end up with a jackass who does the bare minimum and otherwise leaves us to our own devices."
Grumbling to herself, Sakura returned to her training. Perhaps sensing her lowering mood, Tanya spoke a few minutes later. "Look on the bright side. The teachers are already permitting you to spar with the boys. Give it a couple more weeks, and you might get put up against Sasuke. That's your chance to make sure he can no longer ignore you."
Sakura immediately brightened up at the reminder of her recent success. Normally, the boys and girls were segregated for taijutsu spars. But after Sakura had spent months thrashing every girl in class including the Hyuga heiress, the teachers had finally acquiesced to her demand to spar with the boys.
Of course, her success had come with downsides. Both Ino and Hinata seemed to have been inspired (or shamed) by her success, because they were throwing themselves into their training much harder than before. Ino had already declared her intention to join Sakura on the boys' side, and though Hinata was as quiet as ever, there was a determined air about her that suggested similar thoughts.
Sakura scowled furiously and focused even harder on her training. She was not going to lose this contest! Her true love was at stake!
----------------------------------------------
It was taking everything she had not to gloat. There was only four months left until graduation, but Sakura had done it! Iruka-sensei had just signaled her to step into the ring with her true love!
"Thank god we didn't get that suck-up Mizuki today," grumbled Tanya.
Sakura agreed, Mizuki was annoying. He always seemed to enjoy putting Sasuke up against Naruto and then fawning over the inevitable victory. Even more annoyingly, no one could really complain, since Naruto was always eager to fight, and technically he was in the top quarter of the taijutsu class. Naruto had no skill and would use his incredible toughness to win battles of attrition against any opponent lacking finishing power, which made him absolutely hopeless against an opponent with actual talent.
As they entered the sparring circle, Tanya spoke crisply, "All right, break it down. What are his advantages over us?"
"Superior strength, speed, talent, training, experience, and stamina. And he probably eats better," Sakura snarked back mentally.
"And his weakness?"
"Overconfidence?"
"His or ours?"
"I'll take what I can get." Sakura considered it a small victory to get a genuine chuckle from Tanya.
"So. Plan A?"
"Plan A," Sakura agreed. Truth be told, plans B through D amounted to, 'Plan A, but sneakier'. Not that sneakiness was likely to work if Sasuke figured them out. "And don't forget your promise!"
There was a long moment of silence, and then Tanya replied, "I won't."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The fight, when it happened, was over quickly. Sasuke started the fight the same way he did with any opponent he didn't respect - a lightning fast blitz.
Sakura immediately fell into a heightened mental state - the very first of Tanya's spells she had learned - and picked her moment to countercharge, letting Sasuke's fist brush by her face.
Sasuke immediately switched to defense, not that it mattered. Sakura wasn't looking to hit him, only to establish a firm grip. Before Sasuke realized what was happening, Sakura had stuck her feet to the ground with chakra, and heaved.
Even a girl as small as Sakura could lift an impressive amount of weight if she had picked up the trick of strengthening herself with chakra. Combined with a weak Reinforcement spell running through the Type 95, she could deadlift way more than Sasuke's body weight. Credit to him, Sasuke flipped through the air and stuck a perfect landing. He also did it over a foot outside the arena.
Iruka-sensei seemed almost disbelieving as he declared Sakura the winner. Sakura though was far more interested in Sasuke's reaction. Her heart fell as she read frustration, anger, and resentment, but not an ounce of admiration.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sitting alone in her room, Sakura listened as Tanya tried to comfort her. Sakura could always tell when Tanya was trying to be sympathetic, because she was so bad at it. ".... and really, what does it matter what a little boy thinks of you anyway? It should be mature, intelligent men you should be looking for...."
"Enough, Tanya." Sakura cut her off. "I'm not that upset. If Sasuke can't appreciate my strength, I'll find something else. In the meantime, you have a promise to keep. You said you'd tell me a bit about how you got stuck in the Type 95."
"Ah. That. Well, the simple answer is I failed to heed the lesson of Arachne."
"Arachne?"
"An ancient tale. It goes something like this. There was once Arachne, a weaver of such great talent that she thought herself equal to Athena, a kami of weaving. Athena didn't like that, and challenged her to a weaving contest. During the contest, Arachne wove a tapestry depicting the many true tales of how the local kami had tricked and hurt humans - and she did it with skill surpassing Athena's. Athena, however, was a very sore loser. She destroyed Arachne's work and hurt her and shamed her. When Arachne tried to kill herself to escape her torment, Athena cursed her into the form of a spider to live out her life a mindless insect."
"So... the lesson is, don't piss off kami?"
"That. And also, it doesn't matter if you're in the right. The powerful can only be held accountable if you have power of your own. I used to live in a world of rules and laws, so I'd forgotten that lesson. But you, Sakura, live in a village which peddles violence for cash. So either become powerful, or accept being the plaything of the powerful. Otherwise you'll end up like Arachne. Or me."
There both sat in silence for a long time. Then Sakura said, "You know Tanya, I like to think I've come to know you quite a bit."
"So?"
"So, I don't think you've learned your lesson at all. You're still fighting, aren't you?"
Tanya did not reply. She did not speak for the rest of the night. It would be a long time before either of them brought up the topic again.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3
"He didn't even look at me," came the sad whine. "Even though I fought so hard!"
Sakura sighed and gave her best friend a hug. "Come on Ino, don't be sad. He doesn't look at anyone. But at least the teachers let you spar with him! That shows how much you've improved!"
"Hmmm..." Ino melted into the hug, then muttered, "It hurts."
"Where?"
"My back from when he knocked me down."
Sakura snorted. "You just want another backrub." Sometimes Sakura regretted using Ino to test the tips on using pressure points that she'd picked up from a medical text. Now the girl would use any excuse to talk Sakura into giving her a massage, and she was utterly shameless about it.
Sure enough, Ino was smirking at her, "Well then, you shouldn't be so good at it." Then she was pouting at her with watery eyes. "Besides, the love of my life just beat me up in a spar. As my best friend, isn't it your job to help comfort me?"
Sakura didn't bother holding back her eye roll. "And where were you when Sasuke kicked my butt two weeks ago?"
Ino turned up her nose. "That's entirely deserved after the way you cheated him out of a victory that first time."
Before meeting the soul inside the clockwork jewel, Sakura would either have left in a huff or meekly accepted that remark. Now she placed a hand on Ino's shoulder and squeezed down on her collarbone with chakra-enhanced strength.
Ignoring the resulting whimper Sakura cheerfully said, "Ino, you're right. Perhaps I should take this opportunity to train my pressure point technique. After all, there's so many interesting points on your body I haven't tried yet."
"Ow ow ow I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't mean it!"
Sakura huffed and relented. Ino scrunched up her face as she rubbed her shoulder. "Mou, so mean Sakura! Can't you take a joke?"
"My tolerance for your jokes is at about the same level as your tolerance for pain." Sakura teased.
"Hmph. What happened to that sweet shy girl I used to know? I want old Sakura back!"
Sakura only chuckled. There had been no heat in Ino's words, only artificial whining. Over the last several months Sakura had asserted herself more and more within her social circle. She had not noticed it at the time, but some of Tanya's mannerisms - particularly her attitude of taking absolutely no shit from anyone - had rubbed off on her own. However, instead of offending Ino, it only seemed to make her happier. The two of them regularly traded barbs that would send any other girl running in tears, yet their friendship only seemed to grow stronger for it. Even their newfound ambition to climb the taijutsu rankings only brought them closer together instead of causing more rivalry.
Sakura mentally sighed as she started carefully working on the muscles of Ino's back. "At least one of my relationships is working out." she mentally commented to the Type-95 jewel hidden under her clothing.
"Well, it's arguably the more important one." came the voice of Tanya von Degurechaff. "Besides, I told you the reason Sasuke is probably ignoring all girls is because he simply hasn't gone through puberty yet. He's probably still at the 'girls are icky' stage. Late bloomers are a thing, you know?"
Sakura tried not to let her frustration show on her face. Since that first time she had been up against Sasuke twice. She had lost both times. The trick with the sparring ring would only ever have worked once, so she didn't embarrass herself trying to repeat it. But without it, her defeat was almost assured given Sasuke's massive advantages in talent and training. Even so, she had surprised herself. She'd managed to drag out both spars for minutes, landing several solid hits before going down. Furthermore, she'd managed to rack up wins against every other top taijutsu ranker. It was a far better performance than she had ever believed herself capable of, yet instead of finding it attractive Sasuke just seemed frustrated at her growth.
"Maybe he doesn't like strong girls after all? Maybe that's not his type?" Sakura sent.
"Since he's never shown any interest in any girl, there's no way of actually knowing his type. I'd say you'd have an easier time proving he prefers his own gender."
"Don't even joke about that!"
"Ah, not a fan of yaoi? Strange, I always thought girls were into that sort of thing."
"Ugh! Don't tell me you like that stuff?"
"No. But then I was never a very normal girl."
As Sakura continued working the kinks out of Ino's back and bantering with Tanya, she appreciated how both her friends helped distract her from her romantic problems. Still, she couldn't help but keep an eye on the calendar. The date of the final exams was only two months away. After that, they'd all be broken up into teams and it would be much harder to catch Sasuke's eye then. She really hoped Tanya was right about him being a late bloomer, because she refused to accept the other theory.
-------------------------------------------------------
"HEY SAKURA!"
"ARGH!" The dark green glow around her hands flew out of control, and the apple she'd been working on withered and fell apart. Sakura whirled around in a fury. "GODDAMIT NARUTO! Can't you ever learn to talk in a normal voice? I'm not deaf!"
In a fine twist of irony, Sakura had actually developed some tolerance to the loud and annoying boy over the last year. This was not because he had improved his behavior, but because of how virulently Tanya hated him. So vitriolic were Tanya's rants about the blond boy, Sakura had actually found herself defending him, pointing out that many of the faults that Tanya identified could only ever be fixed by a good role model, something Naruto, as an orphan, lacked. Since then she'd tried to be a bit more patient with him, but sometimes, like now, he made it very hard. Medical chakra was dangerous enough without someone yelling in her ear.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Sakura! But I saw you and I just wanted to say hi! And hey, you want to come Ichiraku Ramen with me? They're having a special sale! It could be our first date...."
Of course, the trouble with trying to be patient with Naruto was just how quickly he could burn through it. He was almost as frustrating as Sasuke. Sometimes, Naruto could show flashes of genuine insight. And then he'd almost immediately regress to being a buffoon.
"Naruto," Sakura bit out. "We have been over this before. Just because I'm willing to talk to you doesn't mean I want to go on a date with you! What sane girl would?!" She hadn't meant to add that last line, but annoyance loosened her tongue.
"Hey! I'm going to be Hokage you know! Everyone will look up to me then!"
Sakura felt something snap. Today had been a day of ninjutsu practice in class, and Naruto had again demonstrated he couldn't do the Clone technique to save his life. That he would have the sheer unmitigated gall to make such a boast when Sakura was finding so much difficulty self-teaching anything beyond the Academy basics was a step too far.
Her voice was steady and calm as she spoke. "I don't believe you."
"Huh?"
"I don't believe you when you say you'll be Hokage. I've never believed you. Do you know why?"
"Look, just 'cos I'm last in class - "
"No Naruto. It has nothing to do with you being last. It's because you. Never. Try."
"What? 'Course I try! Naruto Uzumaki never gives up! That's my ninja way!"
"Liar." Sakura's hiss was almost serpentine, and her face must not be any better, judging by how Naruto took a step back. "All you do is the exact same thing, over and over again, and then acting surprised when it doesn't work. That's not trying! That's just being lazy! You tell everyone that you never give up, but the truth is, you're too lazy to try anything new!"
"T-that's not..."
"You keep asking me out for a date in the exact same way. I say no every time, yet you never even try to figure out what you did wrong. I've called you too loud a hundred times, yet you still can't control your volume! There's only six weeks left until the finals, and you still can't do the Clone! Yet instead of practicing or trying to get help from Iruka sensei, you're here wasting my time!"
Naruto was looking down at the ground now. As Sakura paused to take breath, he mumbled something. "What was that?" Sakura asked.
"I said, I've tried the Clone tons of times. I just can't make it work," Naruto muttered.
Sakura raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "So you just gave up? I thought Naruto Uzumaki never gives up?"
Watching Naruto's face turn red with shame, Sakura decided to drive home the point. "Naruto, do you know I spend an hour each day working on my chakra control and techniques, even on school days?"
"Oh..umm..."
"Do you know why I spend an hour a day on it?"
"So you can get real good at it?"
"No Naruto. The reason I spend an hour on it, is because I can't spend more time training without getting chakra exhaustion. I have so many things I want to train, and I can't because of my natural limits. Do you know how jealous I am of you?"
"Of me??"
"Yes, you! You can't sense chakra can you? Well I can, just a little bit, and even that's enough for me to tell that you have more chakra than anyone in the academy! Even Iruka-sensei!"
"R-really?"
"Yes! And what do you do with all that chakra? Nothing! You waste time goofing around and pranking people and bothering me! You could easily spend all day playing around with chakra and hand signs and trying to figure something that worked, but you don't! And that's why you'll never be Hokage! Because whenever something gets too hard, you just keep trying the same thing and whining about it instead of actually using your brains to come up with a new idea!"
"Y-yeah? Well I'll do it! Just watch! I'll come up with some awesome stuff!"
"Don't say it, idiot. Just do it. And while we're at it, when's the last time you sat down to study your text books?"
"Uhhh...."
Sakura sneered. "Let me guess, you had a hard time understanding the material, so you just called it boring and gave up, didn't you? You sure do give up a lot."
That stung Naruto into showing a bit of anger. "Yeah well why do we even need to learn all that useless stuff?"
"Oh? So you're suddenly smarter than the Hokage who set up the academy and all the sensei who teach in it? You magically know what is useful and what isn't?" Sakura sighed deeply, growing weary of this argument. She'd forgotten how stubborn the idiot could be. "Just... just go away Naruto. You have all the chakra in the world, you actually somehow got to be Iruka-sensei's friend... and yet in spite of all that, you never learn anything, you never try anything new, you just keep half-assing everything and then complaining when it doesn't work."
Something about Sakura's tired tone got through Naruto's thick skull when all her earlier yelling hadn't. He blinked and sniffled, then wiping his eyes he said, "Yeah? Well you'll see! I'm gonna work so hard, I'll figure out all sorts of awesome ideas! It's the promise of a lifetime!" With that declaration, he turned and ran off.
Sakura was tempted to get in the last word and point out the finals were only in six weeks, but she decided she didn't want to bother. She sighed again, feeling a bit guilty. Unlike many of the brats in her class, Naruto was never malicious. It was just that under the buffoonery she could see glimpses of genuine talent that Naruto was just carelessly wasting. It was frustrating for her and it drove Tanya into a frothing fury.
And speak of the devil... "I have to admit, I am impressed," came the spirit's voice. "I do believe you've managed to simultaneously get rid of that annoyance and eliminate what little chance he had of graduating the academy."
"You don't know that! He could actually figure out where he's going wrong. Combine it with some serious cramming, and he could get a decent grade."
"Hah! As if! This is Naruto we're talking about! If he had six months and a proper training plan he might get somewhere. With only six weeks? He'd have to literally work night and day or get ridiculously lucky to actually make any improvement. And what are the chances of that? No, he's just going to waste time experimenting instead of actually studying. With any luck, he'll be too embarrassed to talk to us any more after he flunks the final."
Sakura's guilt only grew worse. But not enough to waste time holding Naruto's hand. She had her own concerns. Like figuring out how to safely use medical chakra. Not to heal, of course. Healing someone else with chakra took months of intensive training. Trying to apply medical chakra without training would at best result in no effect, and at worst give the patient hyper-cancer. And that's leaving out the very real danger of chakra backlash burning out the medic's own coils.
But, as Tanya pointed, hyper-cancer or instant blood poisoning could be incredibly useful against enemies. If Sakura could just figure out how to rapidly shove medical chakra into someone without suffering any backlash, she might be able to mess them up something fierce. Of course, without proper medical training there would be no way of predicting what random applications of medical chakra would do to a person. And getting that medical training was extremely expensive without recommendations from higher up, meaning she would have to wait to get a jounin-sensei before asking. Still, with proper care and careful experimentation, she might have something useful by graduation.
Nodding with determination and putting Naruto out of her mind, Sakura reached into her pack and brought out another apple.
"He didn't even look at me," came the sad whine. "Even though I fought so hard!"
Sakura sighed and gave her best friend a hug. "Come on Ino, don't be sad. He doesn't look at anyone. But at least the teachers let you spar with him! That shows how much you've improved!"
"Hmmm..." Ino melted into the hug, then muttered, "It hurts."
"Where?"
"My back from when he knocked me down."
Sakura snorted. "You just want another backrub." Sometimes Sakura regretted using Ino to test the tips on using pressure points that she'd picked up from a medical text. Now the girl would use any excuse to talk Sakura into giving her a massage, and she was utterly shameless about it.
Sure enough, Ino was smirking at her, "Well then, you shouldn't be so good at it." Then she was pouting at her with watery eyes. "Besides, the love of my life just beat me up in a spar. As my best friend, isn't it your job to help comfort me?"
Sakura didn't bother holding back her eye roll. "And where were you when Sasuke kicked my butt two weeks ago?"
Ino turned up her nose. "That's entirely deserved after the way you cheated him out of a victory that first time."
Before meeting the soul inside the clockwork jewel, Sakura would either have left in a huff or meekly accepted that remark. Now she placed a hand on Ino's shoulder and squeezed down on her collarbone with chakra-enhanced strength.
Ignoring the resulting whimper Sakura cheerfully said, "Ino, you're right. Perhaps I should take this opportunity to train my pressure point technique. After all, there's so many interesting points on your body I haven't tried yet."
"Ow ow ow I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't mean it!"
Sakura huffed and relented. Ino scrunched up her face as she rubbed her shoulder. "Mou, so mean Sakura! Can't you take a joke?"
"My tolerance for your jokes is at about the same level as your tolerance for pain." Sakura teased.
"Hmph. What happened to that sweet shy girl I used to know? I want old Sakura back!"
Sakura only chuckled. There had been no heat in Ino's words, only artificial whining. Over the last several months Sakura had asserted herself more and more within her social circle. She had not noticed it at the time, but some of Tanya's mannerisms - particularly her attitude of taking absolutely no shit from anyone - had rubbed off on her own. However, instead of offending Ino, it only seemed to make her happier. The two of them regularly traded barbs that would send any other girl running in tears, yet their friendship only seemed to grow stronger for it. Even their newfound ambition to climb the taijutsu rankings only brought them closer together instead of causing more rivalry.
Sakura mentally sighed as she started carefully working on the muscles of Ino's back. "At least one of my relationships is working out." she mentally commented to the Type-95 jewel hidden under her clothing.
"Well, it's arguably the more important one." came the voice of Tanya von Degurechaff. "Besides, I told you the reason Sasuke is probably ignoring all girls is because he simply hasn't gone through puberty yet. He's probably still at the 'girls are icky' stage. Late bloomers are a thing, you know?"
Sakura tried not to let her frustration show on her face. Since that first time she had been up against Sasuke twice. She had lost both times. The trick with the sparring ring would only ever have worked once, so she didn't embarrass herself trying to repeat it. But without it, her defeat was almost assured given Sasuke's massive advantages in talent and training. Even so, she had surprised herself. She'd managed to drag out both spars for minutes, landing several solid hits before going down. Furthermore, she'd managed to rack up wins against every other top taijutsu ranker. It was a far better performance than she had ever believed herself capable of, yet instead of finding it attractive Sasuke just seemed frustrated at her growth.
"Maybe he doesn't like strong girls after all? Maybe that's not his type?" Sakura sent.
"Since he's never shown any interest in any girl, there's no way of actually knowing his type. I'd say you'd have an easier time proving he prefers his own gender."
"Don't even joke about that!"
"Ah, not a fan of yaoi? Strange, I always thought girls were into that sort of thing."
"Ugh! Don't tell me you like that stuff?"
"No. But then I was never a very normal girl."
As Sakura continued working the kinks out of Ino's back and bantering with Tanya, she appreciated how both her friends helped distract her from her romantic problems. Still, she couldn't help but keep an eye on the calendar. The date of the final exams was only two months away. After that, they'd all be broken up into teams and it would be much harder to catch Sasuke's eye then. She really hoped Tanya was right about him being a late bloomer, because she refused to accept the other theory.
-------------------------------------------------------
"HEY SAKURA!"
"ARGH!" The dark green glow around her hands flew out of control, and the apple she'd been working on withered and fell apart. Sakura whirled around in a fury. "GODDAMIT NARUTO! Can't you ever learn to talk in a normal voice? I'm not deaf!"
In a fine twist of irony, Sakura had actually developed some tolerance to the loud and annoying boy over the last year. This was not because he had improved his behavior, but because of how virulently Tanya hated him. So vitriolic were Tanya's rants about the blond boy, Sakura had actually found herself defending him, pointing out that many of the faults that Tanya identified could only ever be fixed by a good role model, something Naruto, as an orphan, lacked. Since then she'd tried to be a bit more patient with him, but sometimes, like now, he made it very hard. Medical chakra was dangerous enough without someone yelling in her ear.
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Sakura! But I saw you and I just wanted to say hi! And hey, you want to come Ichiraku Ramen with me? They're having a special sale! It could be our first date...."
Of course, the trouble with trying to be patient with Naruto was just how quickly he could burn through it. He was almost as frustrating as Sasuke. Sometimes, Naruto could show flashes of genuine insight. And then he'd almost immediately regress to being a buffoon.
"Naruto," Sakura bit out. "We have been over this before. Just because I'm willing to talk to you doesn't mean I want to go on a date with you! What sane girl would?!" She hadn't meant to add that last line, but annoyance loosened her tongue.
"Hey! I'm going to be Hokage you know! Everyone will look up to me then!"
Sakura felt something snap. Today had been a day of ninjutsu practice in class, and Naruto had again demonstrated he couldn't do the Clone technique to save his life. That he would have the sheer unmitigated gall to make such a boast when Sakura was finding so much difficulty self-teaching anything beyond the Academy basics was a step too far.
Her voice was steady and calm as she spoke. "I don't believe you."
"Huh?"
"I don't believe you when you say you'll be Hokage. I've never believed you. Do you know why?"
"Look, just 'cos I'm last in class - "
"No Naruto. It has nothing to do with you being last. It's because you. Never. Try."
"What? 'Course I try! Naruto Uzumaki never gives up! That's my ninja way!"
"Liar." Sakura's hiss was almost serpentine, and her face must not be any better, judging by how Naruto took a step back. "All you do is the exact same thing, over and over again, and then acting surprised when it doesn't work. That's not trying! That's just being lazy! You tell everyone that you never give up, but the truth is, you're too lazy to try anything new!"
"T-that's not..."
"You keep asking me out for a date in the exact same way. I say no every time, yet you never even try to figure out what you did wrong. I've called you too loud a hundred times, yet you still can't control your volume! There's only six weeks left until the finals, and you still can't do the Clone! Yet instead of practicing or trying to get help from Iruka sensei, you're here wasting my time!"
Naruto was looking down at the ground now. As Sakura paused to take breath, he mumbled something. "What was that?" Sakura asked.
"I said, I've tried the Clone tons of times. I just can't make it work," Naruto muttered.
Sakura raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "So you just gave up? I thought Naruto Uzumaki never gives up?"
Watching Naruto's face turn red with shame, Sakura decided to drive home the point. "Naruto, do you know I spend an hour each day working on my chakra control and techniques, even on school days?"
"Oh..umm..."
"Do you know why I spend an hour a day on it?"
"So you can get real good at it?"
"No Naruto. The reason I spend an hour on it, is because I can't spend more time training without getting chakra exhaustion. I have so many things I want to train, and I can't because of my natural limits. Do you know how jealous I am of you?"
"Of me??"
"Yes, you! You can't sense chakra can you? Well I can, just a little bit, and even that's enough for me to tell that you have more chakra than anyone in the academy! Even Iruka-sensei!"
"R-really?"
"Yes! And what do you do with all that chakra? Nothing! You waste time goofing around and pranking people and bothering me! You could easily spend all day playing around with chakra and hand signs and trying to figure something that worked, but you don't! And that's why you'll never be Hokage! Because whenever something gets too hard, you just keep trying the same thing and whining about it instead of actually using your brains to come up with a new idea!"
"Y-yeah? Well I'll do it! Just watch! I'll come up with some awesome stuff!"
"Don't say it, idiot. Just do it. And while we're at it, when's the last time you sat down to study your text books?"
"Uhhh...."
Sakura sneered. "Let me guess, you had a hard time understanding the material, so you just called it boring and gave up, didn't you? You sure do give up a lot."
That stung Naruto into showing a bit of anger. "Yeah well why do we even need to learn all that useless stuff?"
"Oh? So you're suddenly smarter than the Hokage who set up the academy and all the sensei who teach in it? You magically know what is useful and what isn't?" Sakura sighed deeply, growing weary of this argument. She'd forgotten how stubborn the idiot could be. "Just... just go away Naruto. You have all the chakra in the world, you actually somehow got to be Iruka-sensei's friend... and yet in spite of all that, you never learn anything, you never try anything new, you just keep half-assing everything and then complaining when it doesn't work."
Something about Sakura's tired tone got through Naruto's thick skull when all her earlier yelling hadn't. He blinked and sniffled, then wiping his eyes he said, "Yeah? Well you'll see! I'm gonna work so hard, I'll figure out all sorts of awesome ideas! It's the promise of a lifetime!" With that declaration, he turned and ran off.
Sakura was tempted to get in the last word and point out the finals were only in six weeks, but she decided she didn't want to bother. She sighed again, feeling a bit guilty. Unlike many of the brats in her class, Naruto was never malicious. It was just that under the buffoonery she could see glimpses of genuine talent that Naruto was just carelessly wasting. It was frustrating for her and it drove Tanya into a frothing fury.
And speak of the devil... "I have to admit, I am impressed," came the spirit's voice. "I do believe you've managed to simultaneously get rid of that annoyance and eliminate what little chance he had of graduating the academy."
"You don't know that! He could actually figure out where he's going wrong. Combine it with some serious cramming, and he could get a decent grade."
"Hah! As if! This is Naruto we're talking about! If he had six months and a proper training plan he might get somewhere. With only six weeks? He'd have to literally work night and day or get ridiculously lucky to actually make any improvement. And what are the chances of that? No, he's just going to waste time experimenting instead of actually studying. With any luck, he'll be too embarrassed to talk to us any more after he flunks the final."
Sakura's guilt only grew worse. But not enough to waste time holding Naruto's hand. She had her own concerns. Like figuring out how to safely use medical chakra. Not to heal, of course. Healing someone else with chakra took months of intensive training. Trying to apply medical chakra without training would at best result in no effect, and at worst give the patient hyper-cancer. And that's leaving out the very real danger of chakra backlash burning out the medic's own coils.
But, as Tanya pointed, hyper-cancer or instant blood poisoning could be incredibly useful against enemies. If Sakura could just figure out how to rapidly shove medical chakra into someone without suffering any backlash, she might be able to mess them up something fierce. Of course, without proper medical training there would be no way of predicting what random applications of medical chakra would do to a person. And getting that medical training was extremely expensive without recommendations from higher up, meaning she would have to wait to get a jounin-sensei before asking. Still, with proper care and careful experimentation, she might have something useful by graduation.
Nodding with determination and putting Naruto out of her mind, Sakura reached into her pack and brought out another apple.
Chapter 4
This is the last chapter that's been commissioned so far. Once again, thanks to my Patrons!
Chapter 4
Sakura sighed and cracked her knuckles after putting down her pen. "That was surprisingly easy," she mentally addressed her spiritual passenger.
"Indeed. Even Naruto might have a chance of passing this portion of the test. Assuming he bothered to study," came Tanya's voice in her mind.
Sakura glanced at the blonde two rows away. Naruto was focusing furiously as he scribbled away, tongue sticking out one corner of his mouth. "He's certainly been more focused recently. Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen."
"Don't wish for that. If he passes he might end up on our team."
"I see what you mean. Naruto is best taken in small doses," observed Sakura, trying to project her amusement to her companion.
"Never mind his personality. Would you like having to place your life in his hands?" came the dark response.
Sakura thought about having to rely on Naruto to watch her back on a mission, and grimaced. "Point."
Letting the conversation lapse, Sakura took a minute to look over her paper. Even though written tests came the easiest to her, that was no reason to be careless. This was the final test for becoming a shinobi of Konoha, after all.
After the written test came the weapon and taijutsu exam. In the weapon test she came just shy of a perfect score - there were only so many things Sakura had time to train, and throwing weapons just did not come naturally to her. She was still 4th in class after Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata. Taijutsu was a simple test, requiring everyone to last a minute in the ring with an examiner who was deliberately going easy on them, with full marks going to those who lasted a full three minutes. Tanya liked it because they could get full marks with only moderate effort, and she scoffed at Sasuke who spent the entire three minutes going all out. Sakura simply ignored Tanya's snide remarks and enjoyed the show of martial skill.
However, it was the ninjutsu test they were both looking forward to. It was the one opportunity they had to show off a bit, since passing might require only the bare minimum, but your final score depended on how much you could impress the examiners. Sakura didn't plan to reveal everything, but she and Tanya both agreed that a top score was worth revealing a few cards.
First came the Transformation test, where the goal was to emulate one of the teachers. No room for improv there, so Sakura focused on making it as flawless as possible. Then she was asked to demonstrate the Clone technique. Now, each technique was only supposed to be done one at a time, but this was Sakura's chance. She performed the Clone technique while keeping the Transformation up, leaving three Iruka Umino's looking back at the teachers.
Both teachers blinked but took it in stride. Then came the request for the Substitution, and all three Iruka's raised their hands and ran through the hand signs. There were three puffs of smoke and a clatter, and when the smoke cleared three chairs had replaced the three figures. Looking around, the teachers Iruka and Mizuki saw the three transformed Sakura's further back in the room.
"That's amazing!" exclaimed Iruka effusively. "How did you get your clones to perform the Substitution?!"
"I didn't," came an excellent facsimile of Iruka's voice from one of the figures. Then there was a relaxing of tension, and the other two Iruka's disappeared in a burst of chakra smoke... as did two of the chairs. "I just created two more clones that looked like chairs." Even as she spoke, Sakura relaxed the transformation, letting her teacher's seeming fade. At the same time, her voice smoothly transitioned from Iruka's adult tones to her own childish one.
Figuring out how to modify her voice on the fly had taken Sakura almost as much training time as the rest of the tricks put together, but it was worth it to see her teachers' faces. Really though, what's the point of the transformation if you can't sound like the person you're pretending to be? Even Naruto had figured that one out, in spite of the perverted uses he put it to with his so-called Centerfold technique.
Now, though, was the time to bask in some well-earned praise, as Iruka and Mizuki both complimented her on managing to perform all three techniques at the same time.
Once she got outside, her parents were waiting to congratulate her. Even her mother was effusive in her praise, doing her best to hide her reservations about a shinobi career, at least for this one day. Ino's father Inoichi Yamanaka also came by to congratulate her. One part of Sakura was happy at having received acknowledgement from the head of one of Konoha's most respected shinobi clans, but the other part was disgruntled because she could almost feel the calculations running through Tanya's head. No matter how much the soul in the jewel might have helped her, there were times when Tanya's habit of reducing interpersonal relationships to a cost-benefit analysis left Sakura feeling dirty inside. After the congratulations subsided, Inoichi invited the Haruno's to wait for Ino alongside him, and Sakura didn't need Tanya's urging to agree.
However, one thing Sakura had forgotten was that, alphabetically speaking, Naruto was going to finish his testing before Ino. When the blonde boy bounced out of the building, shiny new forehead protector on his head, he immediately made a beeline for Sakura. "Sakura! Look! I passed! I told you I could do it!"
"W-what? How?! That idiot was hopeless!"
Hearing the normally calm Tanya splutter in shock pretty much made Sakura's day. "Not so useless now, huh?" she thought smugly, before replying out loud to Naruto, "Congratulations, Naruto! Did you get the Clone technique working after all?"
"Heh heh, yeah, I did! And it was thanks to you! You told me to start trying new stuff! So I did and I came up with a way to do it!"
"Oh," murmured Inoichi. "I didn't know you were friends with Naruto as well, Sakura."
"Wait, WHAT? How does Inoichi Yamanaka of all people know Naruto?" came Tanya's surprised shout. Sakura was surprised as well, but she didn't reply, focused on the conversation.
"Eh? Who are you?" came Naruto's response as he scrunched up his face in puzzlement.
"Naruto! Be polite!" barked Sakura. Then turning to Inoichi she said, "Please forgive Naruto, his manners are a bit rough. Naruto, this is Inoichi Yamanaka, he's Ino's father and head of the Yamanaka Clan. Inoichi sir, this is Naruto Uzumaki. He's a classmate of mine, and one of the more... unique... characters in my class."
"Whoa! You're the head of ninja clan! Then you must be a pretty awesome ninja!" exclaimed Naruto, eyes wide.
"I do all right," Inoichi chuckled in reply to Naruto's declaration. "And it sounds like you're getting there too."
"Thanks, mister! You know, you're a lot nicer than Ino. She's kinda stuck-up and keeps acting like she's the best girl in class or something." Sakura could only join Tanya in mentally despairing at Naruto's utter lack of tact. Even her parents' faces grew stiff in secondhand embarrassment.
Inoichi only smiled wryly at this. "Well, I'm her dad, so she'll always be best girl to me," he replied. "But enough about that. You were telling us how Sakura helped you?"
"Yeah! Well, she told me if doing stuff one way don't work, I ought to try it differently! So instead of trying to make one clone at a time, I tried making lots of clones instead! I must've made a thousand of them the first time I tried!"
"And... that worked?" Given how much chakra Sakura had sensed in him she could believe Naruto could make a thousand clones. But how that would help him make a clone good enough to pass the test escaped her.
"Well... most of them sucked just as much as before. But some of them actually looked halfway right! I'd never done that before! So I spent like a couple of weeks trying and making as many as I could each time! And now, when I make like a few hundred, maybe seven or ten of them actually look all right! And since we only had to make two good clones for the finals, Iruka sensei agreed that was good enough to pass!"
"Good grief, he literally passed by relying on the law of averages. Otherwise known as dumb luck," groaned Tanya.
Sakura could admit to feeling a bit of disbelief herself. She knew Naruto had a lot of chakra, but enough to keep spamming a technique like that? She was also jealous. In spite of years of effort, she knew her chakra stores were still short of someone like Sasuke, let alone Naruto. Her stamina had always been the factor limiting her ability to practice and develop her own techniques, and here was Naruto tossing techniques out in the hundreds. He didn't even look winded! "Life just isn't fair," she mentally lamented.
"Oh my, that's quite clever Naruto. Well done," complimented Inoichi.
"Eheheh, thanks! But I couldn'ta done it without Sakura's help! Sakura, wanna go get some ramen? It's not a date!" Naruto quickly held up his hands to prevent Sakura's reflexive comeback. "I just really wanna say thank you for your help! My treat!"
Sakura sighed. At least he was learning. "I appreciate the offer Naruto, but I'm waiting for Ino. I can't go now."
"Oh, well, then I'll wait with you!"
"I thought Ino was too stuck-up for you?"
"Eh, she's your friend, she can't be that bad!"
Before Sakura could figure out another excuse to get rid of Naruto, Ino came walking out, new forehead protector in place.
"Hey Sakura, you waited for me! Wait, what's the idiot doing here?"
"OI! Who you calling idiot?!"
"It should be obvious - "
"Ino dear," Inoichi broke in. "You really shouldn't be so rude to Sakura's other friends. Especially since she helped him pass the test."
Sakura could feel her face redden as Ino turned to her, eyes gleaming at the prospect of fresh gossip. Did Inoichi really have to word it like that? He made her sound like Naruto's bosom friend instead of a long-suffering acquaintance!
"Oh? You and Naruto are friends? Since when did this happen?" asked Ino sweetly.
"Umm.... well, it's a long story... and our parents all have places to be, so some other time?"
"Actually, I was thinking," broke in Inoichi. "Sakura, you are Ino's best friend. Perhaps you and your family could join us for this little get-together I had planned? Oh, and Naruto is invited as well."
"What? I am?" Naruto's flabbergasted expression certainly matched Sakura's mental shock. What was the man playing at?
Sakura's father blinked in surprise. "Well, we wouldn't want to intrude on a private clan affair..."
"Oh, hardly. It's just an informal get-together between friends to celebrate our children passing the academy. There's certainly no reason you can't join us. That is, assuming you didn't already have plans for the day?"
Her parents looked at each other, then her father bowed. "We would be honored, Yamanaka-san."
As the group toddled after Inoichi, Sakura ignored Ino's increasingly curious glances to focus on her mental conversation. "All right, Tanya, what just happened? I don't think he'd decided to invite us until he heard what Naruto said."
"I'm puzzled too," admitted Tanya. "Maybe he's just curious about Naruto's method?"
There wasn't much conversation, even Naruto seemed subdued by the unexpected situation. Eventually they ended up at a fancy Akimichi-run restaurant, Sakura vaguely remembering having gone there once when her father wanted to celebrate a successful business deal.
It was here Sakura learned that 'informal get-together' was apparently code for a dinner meeting between three clan heads and their heirs. Sakura had met Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi before. One couldn't be close friends with Ino without getting to know the two boys, because no matter how much Ino complained about their laziness she was still mindful of the fact that their clans were closely allied to the Yamanaka. But Sakura had only ever met the Nara and Akimichi clan heads in passing. Never had she dreamed that she would be attending dinner with them and Inoichi. And certainly not while still wearing her rather plain and sweat-stained workout clothes.
Thankfully Inoichi seemed to have been honest about the informal part, since no one was dressed in anything better than working clothes. Even better, Naruto actually seemed to know and like Shikamaru and Choji. He greeted them in his usual boisterous manner, and the friendly barbs traded between him and Shikamaru served to break the ice.
The whole outing turned out surprisingly well. The food was excellent, and all three clan heads were engaging conversationalists in their own way, and none of them seemed inclined to talk down to her. She could almost feel Tanya radiating approval as Sakura got the Akimichi clan head, Chouza, to give a brief but enlightening lecture on optimizing shinobi nutrition plans. "Allowing your superiors to talk about things that interest them is an easy way to gain their approval," came the sage voice inside her head.
"Hey, this is actually pretty interesting and useful!" shot back Sakura.
"Even better. Two birds with one stone."
There was one thing that Sakura noticed though. All three of the clan heads were definitely paying attention to Naruto. It was a subtle thing, but Inoichi soon had Naruto chattering away happily about the various 'experiments' with chakra he had been doing in the last several weeks. Along the way, Naruto ended up spilling almost everything he'd been recently doing, including his interactions with Sakura.
Apart from that oddity, the whole evening passed very enjoyably. It was after she was back home and in her bedroom that Sakura decided to address the strange attention Naruto seemed to have garnered.
"Ah, so you noticed it too?" asked Tanya.
"Yes. It's almost like they knew Naruto, or at least about him."
"Most likely they've heard about his pranks, or from their children."
"Are you sure that's what it is? They seemed almost... cautious."
"You're overthinking it. They probably spotted something about Naruto's experiments that piqued their interest. You know what that means, right?"
Sakura sighed. "You want us to spend more time with him?"
"Of course. If something about his crazy experiments caught the eye of ninja clan heads, we need to get in on it."
"Wouldn't they have mentioned something?"
"Of course not. They won't help him unless they can see a way to benefit their clans from it."
"Isn't that what we're doing?"
"Well, you've already helped him once. I'd say we're owed. Besides, think of how much Naruto could achieve if we were there to guide his experiments. I know you're curious yourself," wheedled Tanya.
"I thought you hated him."
"That was when he was a lazy idiot who refused to better himself. Now that he's gotten a bit more serious, he's worth a bit of our time."
"You know, sometimes I get the feeling you might have deserved to get locked up."
"Now that's just rude. I'll have you know I've never willingly broken any rules of the society I lived in!"
"Yes, yes. Once team assignments are done I'll see if I have time to keep Naruto from blowing himself up." Sakura rolled her eyes at Tanya's self-righteousness before getting ready for bed. Team assignments would be in just a couple of days, and she couldn't wait!
Chapter 4
Sakura sighed and cracked her knuckles after putting down her pen. "That was surprisingly easy," she mentally addressed her spiritual passenger.
"Indeed. Even Naruto might have a chance of passing this portion of the test. Assuming he bothered to study," came Tanya's voice in her mind.
Sakura glanced at the blonde two rows away. Naruto was focusing furiously as he scribbled away, tongue sticking out one corner of his mouth. "He's certainly been more focused recently. Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen."
"Don't wish for that. If he passes he might end up on our team."
"I see what you mean. Naruto is best taken in small doses," observed Sakura, trying to project her amusement to her companion.
"Never mind his personality. Would you like having to place your life in his hands?" came the dark response.
Sakura thought about having to rely on Naruto to watch her back on a mission, and grimaced. "Point."
Letting the conversation lapse, Sakura took a minute to look over her paper. Even though written tests came the easiest to her, that was no reason to be careless. This was the final test for becoming a shinobi of Konoha, after all.
After the written test came the weapon and taijutsu exam. In the weapon test she came just shy of a perfect score - there were only so many things Sakura had time to train, and throwing weapons just did not come naturally to her. She was still 4th in class after Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata. Taijutsu was a simple test, requiring everyone to last a minute in the ring with an examiner who was deliberately going easy on them, with full marks going to those who lasted a full three minutes. Tanya liked it because they could get full marks with only moderate effort, and she scoffed at Sasuke who spent the entire three minutes going all out. Sakura simply ignored Tanya's snide remarks and enjoyed the show of martial skill.
However, it was the ninjutsu test they were both looking forward to. It was the one opportunity they had to show off a bit, since passing might require only the bare minimum, but your final score depended on how much you could impress the examiners. Sakura didn't plan to reveal everything, but she and Tanya both agreed that a top score was worth revealing a few cards.
First came the Transformation test, where the goal was to emulate one of the teachers. No room for improv there, so Sakura focused on making it as flawless as possible. Then she was asked to demonstrate the Clone technique. Now, each technique was only supposed to be done one at a time, but this was Sakura's chance. She performed the Clone technique while keeping the Transformation up, leaving three Iruka Umino's looking back at the teachers.
Both teachers blinked but took it in stride. Then came the request for the Substitution, and all three Iruka's raised their hands and ran through the hand signs. There were three puffs of smoke and a clatter, and when the smoke cleared three chairs had replaced the three figures. Looking around, the teachers Iruka and Mizuki saw the three transformed Sakura's further back in the room.
"That's amazing!" exclaimed Iruka effusively. "How did you get your clones to perform the Substitution?!"
"I didn't," came an excellent facsimile of Iruka's voice from one of the figures. Then there was a relaxing of tension, and the other two Iruka's disappeared in a burst of chakra smoke... as did two of the chairs. "I just created two more clones that looked like chairs." Even as she spoke, Sakura relaxed the transformation, letting her teacher's seeming fade. At the same time, her voice smoothly transitioned from Iruka's adult tones to her own childish one.
Figuring out how to modify her voice on the fly had taken Sakura almost as much training time as the rest of the tricks put together, but it was worth it to see her teachers' faces. Really though, what's the point of the transformation if you can't sound like the person you're pretending to be? Even Naruto had figured that one out, in spite of the perverted uses he put it to with his so-called Centerfold technique.
Now, though, was the time to bask in some well-earned praise, as Iruka and Mizuki both complimented her on managing to perform all three techniques at the same time.
Once she got outside, her parents were waiting to congratulate her. Even her mother was effusive in her praise, doing her best to hide her reservations about a shinobi career, at least for this one day. Ino's father Inoichi Yamanaka also came by to congratulate her. One part of Sakura was happy at having received acknowledgement from the head of one of Konoha's most respected shinobi clans, but the other part was disgruntled because she could almost feel the calculations running through Tanya's head. No matter how much the soul in the jewel might have helped her, there were times when Tanya's habit of reducing interpersonal relationships to a cost-benefit analysis left Sakura feeling dirty inside. After the congratulations subsided, Inoichi invited the Haruno's to wait for Ino alongside him, and Sakura didn't need Tanya's urging to agree.
However, one thing Sakura had forgotten was that, alphabetically speaking, Naruto was going to finish his testing before Ino. When the blonde boy bounced out of the building, shiny new forehead protector on his head, he immediately made a beeline for Sakura. "Sakura! Look! I passed! I told you I could do it!"
"W-what? How?! That idiot was hopeless!"
Hearing the normally calm Tanya splutter in shock pretty much made Sakura's day. "Not so useless now, huh?" she thought smugly, before replying out loud to Naruto, "Congratulations, Naruto! Did you get the Clone technique working after all?"
"Heh heh, yeah, I did! And it was thanks to you! You told me to start trying new stuff! So I did and I came up with a way to do it!"
"Oh," murmured Inoichi. "I didn't know you were friends with Naruto as well, Sakura."
"Wait, WHAT? How does Inoichi Yamanaka of all people know Naruto?" came Tanya's surprised shout. Sakura was surprised as well, but she didn't reply, focused on the conversation.
"Eh? Who are you?" came Naruto's response as he scrunched up his face in puzzlement.
"Naruto! Be polite!" barked Sakura. Then turning to Inoichi she said, "Please forgive Naruto, his manners are a bit rough. Naruto, this is Inoichi Yamanaka, he's Ino's father and head of the Yamanaka Clan. Inoichi sir, this is Naruto Uzumaki. He's a classmate of mine, and one of the more... unique... characters in my class."
"Whoa! You're the head of ninja clan! Then you must be a pretty awesome ninja!" exclaimed Naruto, eyes wide.
"I do all right," Inoichi chuckled in reply to Naruto's declaration. "And it sounds like you're getting there too."
"Thanks, mister! You know, you're a lot nicer than Ino. She's kinda stuck-up and keeps acting like she's the best girl in class or something." Sakura could only join Tanya in mentally despairing at Naruto's utter lack of tact. Even her parents' faces grew stiff in secondhand embarrassment.
Inoichi only smiled wryly at this. "Well, I'm her dad, so she'll always be best girl to me," he replied. "But enough about that. You were telling us how Sakura helped you?"
"Yeah! Well, she told me if doing stuff one way don't work, I ought to try it differently! So instead of trying to make one clone at a time, I tried making lots of clones instead! I must've made a thousand of them the first time I tried!"
"And... that worked?" Given how much chakra Sakura had sensed in him she could believe Naruto could make a thousand clones. But how that would help him make a clone good enough to pass the test escaped her.
"Well... most of them sucked just as much as before. But some of them actually looked halfway right! I'd never done that before! So I spent like a couple of weeks trying and making as many as I could each time! And now, when I make like a few hundred, maybe seven or ten of them actually look all right! And since we only had to make two good clones for the finals, Iruka sensei agreed that was good enough to pass!"
"Good grief, he literally passed by relying on the law of averages. Otherwise known as dumb luck," groaned Tanya.
Sakura could admit to feeling a bit of disbelief herself. She knew Naruto had a lot of chakra, but enough to keep spamming a technique like that? She was also jealous. In spite of years of effort, she knew her chakra stores were still short of someone like Sasuke, let alone Naruto. Her stamina had always been the factor limiting her ability to practice and develop her own techniques, and here was Naruto tossing techniques out in the hundreds. He didn't even look winded! "Life just isn't fair," she mentally lamented.
"Oh my, that's quite clever Naruto. Well done," complimented Inoichi.
"Eheheh, thanks! But I couldn'ta done it without Sakura's help! Sakura, wanna go get some ramen? It's not a date!" Naruto quickly held up his hands to prevent Sakura's reflexive comeback. "I just really wanna say thank you for your help! My treat!"
Sakura sighed. At least he was learning. "I appreciate the offer Naruto, but I'm waiting for Ino. I can't go now."
"Oh, well, then I'll wait with you!"
"I thought Ino was too stuck-up for you?"
"Eh, she's your friend, she can't be that bad!"
Before Sakura could figure out another excuse to get rid of Naruto, Ino came walking out, new forehead protector in place.
"Hey Sakura, you waited for me! Wait, what's the idiot doing here?"
"OI! Who you calling idiot?!"
"It should be obvious - "
"Ino dear," Inoichi broke in. "You really shouldn't be so rude to Sakura's other friends. Especially since she helped him pass the test."
Sakura could feel her face redden as Ino turned to her, eyes gleaming at the prospect of fresh gossip. Did Inoichi really have to word it like that? He made her sound like Naruto's bosom friend instead of a long-suffering acquaintance!
"Oh? You and Naruto are friends? Since when did this happen?" asked Ino sweetly.
"Umm.... well, it's a long story... and our parents all have places to be, so some other time?"
"Actually, I was thinking," broke in Inoichi. "Sakura, you are Ino's best friend. Perhaps you and your family could join us for this little get-together I had planned? Oh, and Naruto is invited as well."
"What? I am?" Naruto's flabbergasted expression certainly matched Sakura's mental shock. What was the man playing at?
Sakura's father blinked in surprise. "Well, we wouldn't want to intrude on a private clan affair..."
"Oh, hardly. It's just an informal get-together between friends to celebrate our children passing the academy. There's certainly no reason you can't join us. That is, assuming you didn't already have plans for the day?"
Her parents looked at each other, then her father bowed. "We would be honored, Yamanaka-san."
As the group toddled after Inoichi, Sakura ignored Ino's increasingly curious glances to focus on her mental conversation. "All right, Tanya, what just happened? I don't think he'd decided to invite us until he heard what Naruto said."
"I'm puzzled too," admitted Tanya. "Maybe he's just curious about Naruto's method?"
There wasn't much conversation, even Naruto seemed subdued by the unexpected situation. Eventually they ended up at a fancy Akimichi-run restaurant, Sakura vaguely remembering having gone there once when her father wanted to celebrate a successful business deal.
It was here Sakura learned that 'informal get-together' was apparently code for a dinner meeting between three clan heads and their heirs. Sakura had met Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi before. One couldn't be close friends with Ino without getting to know the two boys, because no matter how much Ino complained about their laziness she was still mindful of the fact that their clans were closely allied to the Yamanaka. But Sakura had only ever met the Nara and Akimichi clan heads in passing. Never had she dreamed that she would be attending dinner with them and Inoichi. And certainly not while still wearing her rather plain and sweat-stained workout clothes.
Thankfully Inoichi seemed to have been honest about the informal part, since no one was dressed in anything better than working clothes. Even better, Naruto actually seemed to know and like Shikamaru and Choji. He greeted them in his usual boisterous manner, and the friendly barbs traded between him and Shikamaru served to break the ice.
The whole outing turned out surprisingly well. The food was excellent, and all three clan heads were engaging conversationalists in their own way, and none of them seemed inclined to talk down to her. She could almost feel Tanya radiating approval as Sakura got the Akimichi clan head, Chouza, to give a brief but enlightening lecture on optimizing shinobi nutrition plans. "Allowing your superiors to talk about things that interest them is an easy way to gain their approval," came the sage voice inside her head.
"Hey, this is actually pretty interesting and useful!" shot back Sakura.
"Even better. Two birds with one stone."
There was one thing that Sakura noticed though. All three of the clan heads were definitely paying attention to Naruto. It was a subtle thing, but Inoichi soon had Naruto chattering away happily about the various 'experiments' with chakra he had been doing in the last several weeks. Along the way, Naruto ended up spilling almost everything he'd been recently doing, including his interactions with Sakura.
Apart from that oddity, the whole evening passed very enjoyably. It was after she was back home and in her bedroom that Sakura decided to address the strange attention Naruto seemed to have garnered.
"Ah, so you noticed it too?" asked Tanya.
"Yes. It's almost like they knew Naruto, or at least about him."
"Most likely they've heard about his pranks, or from their children."
"Are you sure that's what it is? They seemed almost... cautious."
"You're overthinking it. They probably spotted something about Naruto's experiments that piqued their interest. You know what that means, right?"
Sakura sighed. "You want us to spend more time with him?"
"Of course. If something about his crazy experiments caught the eye of ninja clan heads, we need to get in on it."
"Wouldn't they have mentioned something?"
"Of course not. They won't help him unless they can see a way to benefit their clans from it."
"Isn't that what we're doing?"
"Well, you've already helped him once. I'd say we're owed. Besides, think of how much Naruto could achieve if we were there to guide his experiments. I know you're curious yourself," wheedled Tanya.
"I thought you hated him."
"That was when he was a lazy idiot who refused to better himself. Now that he's gotten a bit more serious, he's worth a bit of our time."
"You know, sometimes I get the feeling you might have deserved to get locked up."
"Now that's just rude. I'll have you know I've never willingly broken any rules of the society I lived in!"
"Yes, yes. Once team assignments are done I'll see if I have time to keep Naruto from blowing himself up." Sakura rolled her eyes at Tanya's self-righteousness before getting ready for bed. Team assignments would be in just a couple of days, and she couldn't wait!
- Location
- Netherlands
I really like this! It's a great read.
- Location
- Poland
I just don't quite believe that the ninja hospital is not suffering from the lack of enough practicioners. Though perhaps they draw line at pre-Genin children.
Also: Naruto without his signature jutsu: the Shadow Clone? Hmmm...
Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I... I never knew I needed this in my life but here it is.
Thanks op.
Thanks op.
Dromeosaur
Feathery Raptor of snowy planes and frozen sea
- Location
- The land of Trees and Squirrels
This is really interesting! Quite a lot of fresh ground and believable characters!
Jaune Pendragon
King Of Servants
- Location
- Avalon
I'm waiting eagerly for when Sakura manages to fly!
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
It's a pretty incredible amount of work and easily sabotage-able infrastructure for a result that's barely better than the average attack technique, alerts everybody in a radius of, like, a mile, and doesn't fire when it gets wet.
Like, on a society-wide level, Genin with modern pistols is better than Genin with knives, but you have to go through blackpowder technology and everything first, and the factories you'd need to mass-produce any of those things are fodder for ninjas, which are rather endemic in the elemental nations.
Ninjas stabbing everybody who tries to invent cool technology is probably why they lack a lot of things we consider modern conveniences; cars, tractors, and heavy shipping are all high-value targets that basically can't be defended from one guy who can shoot explosions out of his eyeballs, and when he demands more money than it's worth to not blow up all of them every month any investors would take one look at the situation and preempt him by just not starting those businesses in the first place.
chocolote12
A Penguin Flailing Against The Keyboard Of Life.
Gunpowder's super explosive? Imagine having all your ammunition detonate while it's still in your pocket, just because you got hit with a fire jutsu. It'd be like wearing a vest of grenades; to say nothing of actual grenades.
Well, as a civ they aren't known to be the most competent people around, what with the reliance on super ninja magic. I don't know, it's just odd to me that no one figured out how to redirect the energy. They did it for steam, it just doesn't seem like a huge leap in logic to me. That is a good point, though - black powder is indeed quite flammable.
- Location
- California
This is great. I had fun reading about how Sakura yeeted Sasuke for a ring out.
- Location
- Toronto, Ontario(occasionally)
This has potential.
dracklor
Beyond the Frontier
- Location
- Texas
Heck their hospitals have computers, they have motor boats, they have tons of schizo-tech.
Floating cities, cruise liners, jet packs, and even time travel if you count the movies.
Heck Kaguya is apparently an alien invader...
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Right? It's really odd how schizo their tech actually is, and on top of that, the insane amount of progress they make in just 15 years. We see basic video telephony by the end of Naruto, and by Boruto we have full on networked computers and cell phones...but only very basic electric trains, airship / blimp travel, etc.
- Location
- Center Of The Universe
Nice idea, I am very pleased by it. Now I just cant wait to see how serious battle scenes will develop and how the butterflies change canon. Shadow clineless naruto will be a very different take. Unless you will still have him learn it, perhaps instead of graduation exam, mizuno can entice naruto with the possibilities of picking his team if he passes that secret exam.
Chapter 5
Chapter 5
"I'm bored," thought Sakura. "Aren't you bored?"
"All the time," came Tanya's voice. "I can only sense the world through you, and most of the time you're focusing on things I have no interest in. Like Sasuke."
"Will you give it a rest already?"
"You squealed loud enough to wake up Shikamaru when they announced the teams. I'm never going to let you live it down."
Sakura scowled into her desk. She didn't need Tanya to tell her she'd made a spectacle of herself. She couldn't help it. No matter how much Tanya might advise her to play it cool, she still loved Sasuke, and her reaction had been quite vocal when Iruka-sensei had named him one of her team members.
At least Ino had been too busy laughing at her to be upset about not being on Sasuke's team herself.
Sighing to herself, Sakura gave a sidelong glance to her teammates. Sasuke was in the exact same position he had been an hour ago, chin resting on folded fingers as he glared out the window. Naruto had long since abandoned his chair and was pacing up and down with a thunderous scowl on his face.
Neither of them looked happy and she couldn't blame them. Team assignments had been over two hours ago. Since then, the jounin-sensei for all the other teams had collected them and left. Even Iruka and Mizuki had left an hour ago. That just left them, Genin Team 7, waiting for their missing sensei.
"Seriously, where is he? You'd think someone as famous as him would learn to be on time!"
Kakashi Hatake was a name well known to Sakura. Not from the academy or the library - as she and Tanya had already discovered, both sources were singularly unhelpful when it came to learning about recent history. Instead, Kakashi Hatake was a name that had come up often whenever Sakura managed to strike up a conversation on who the best shinobi in Konoha were (apart from the Hokage, who was universally acknowledged as The Strongest).
Tanya liked to call it intelligence-gathering, but Sakura thought it was little more than gossip. Like Ino, a number of her schoolmates came from major clans, and they picked up a lot of information through simple osmosis. Once Sakura got past her natural shyness, getting them to start talking about the most impressive shinobi they knew of wasn't particularly hard.
It was even easier with the academy sensei. All Sakura had to do was look like a wide-eyed naif eager to learn about her heroes, and all her teachers would easily open up about the jounin they had worked with. None of them were so careless as to drop detailed information, but even the general rumors they were willing to share was far more than a civilian-born like her would ever normally hear about.
Between these two sources, Sakura had managed to build up quite a dossier on Konoha's well-known shinobi, and Kakashi Hatake was a name that came up often. The youngest academy graduate and chunin in Konoha history, ninjutsu specialist, hero of the Third Shinobi War, and now considered one of the strongest shinobi in the village. However, along with his battle prowess, he was also known for his eccentricity. Exactly what form this eccentricity took remained a mystery to her. Sakura's adult interlocutors would hurriedly change the subject, while her classmates could only confirm that their parents described him as odd without going into details.
"Do not underestimate Hatake. Who knows what vital work he may have been doing? I'm sure he has his reasons for being late. Instead of wasting time, why don't you try some self-training? You need to be ready to impress him when he shows!"
That was another thing. Tanya seemed to have developed an almost surprising amount of interest regarding Hatake. Ever since she learned he'd made chunin at six, Tanya had pushed Sakura to investigate the man. When asked why, Tanya refused to give a straight answer. The closest to an explanation Sakura got was a mumbled 'He might be like me'. On the face of it, that ought to mean Tanya was simply curious about someone else who had been a child prodigy fighting through a war. But Sakura couldn't help but feel Tanya meant something else.
"DAMMIT I'M BORED! WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!"
Sakura was almost knocked out of her seat as Naruto's impatience finally boiled over.
"You're too loud, idiot," came Sasuke's disdainful drawl.
"Oh yeah? Wanna make something out of it, bastard?!"
I can't believe those two. Years of experience told Sakura that the two boys were on the verge of yet another of their many brawls. Which was all well and good when they were still in the academy, but was completely unacceptable now that they were full-fledged shinobi. Seriously, who on earth thought it was a good idea to put these two on the same team?
"You need to stop them." came Tanya's voice.
"What? Why?"
"Because, like it or not, they are now part of your team. Their behavior reflects on you as well."
Sakura hated that Tanya was right, but she was. Which meant Sakura had to play peacemaker. Joy.
First step would be to distract the two boys before one of them threw a punch. A little chakra to her palm, and then she was slamming it down on her table. The thunderous crack! Made both boys jerk and turn around.
Ignoring the fracture she'd put into the table's surface, Sakura said, "I know you two are bored. I'm bored too. But that's no reason to behave like children. What do you think it will look like if our jounin-sensei comes in and sees the two of you fighting like kids at a playground?"
Judging by the faint flush on Sasuke's face, the barb hit home. Naruto, naturally, was completely oblivious to his own immaturity as he whined, "But Sakura! It's been so long!"
"So? Given who he is, it's possible Hatake-san got caught up in some extremely vital mission and wasn't able to make it on time."
"Huh? You know the guy?"
From the corner of her eye, she could see Sasuke trying and failing to hide his interest. Yes, he's noticed me! Concealing her happiness, Sakura affected a casual demeanor, "You mean you don't? Kakashi Hatake is a hero of the Third War. He graduated at five, made chunin at six, jounin at thirteen, and is considered one of the strongest in the village after the Hokage."
"Woow…" Naruto's eyes had gone round. "I bet he knows tons of cool jutsus!"
Sakura shrugged. "I suppose? He's supposed to be a ninjutsu specialist."
"Awesome! Say, say, what cool jutsu do you think he'll teach us first?"
"Well, for all we know, he's already started teaching us," proposed Sakura gravely.
"Huh?"
"Maybe the reason he's late is because he's teaching us the importance of patience. I mean, maybe he's hidden out nearby, and is watching us to see what we're going to do with all this free time he's given us. Maybe he wants us to learn how to use our time doing something useful, and not start pointless fights?"
"Eheheh…," Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Now," Sakura said as she sat down on a table in the lotus position, "I am going to meditate and work on my chakra control. I suggest you two find something to do as well so you don't look like lazy layabouts when our sensei does show."
"Eh? But what do I work on?"
Sakura sighed. "I don't know Naruto… push-ups? Sit-ups? Substitution? There's plenty of tables and chairs here. Maybe work on your transformation?"
"Work on your Centerfold technique so it's anatomically accurate."
"Work on your Centerfold Technique -" Sakura choked herself off before she could finish repeating Tanya's interjection. To her horror, both Sasuke and Naruto were staring at her with undisguised surprise. "I...I meant, you should learn how to put some clothes on it! Passing yourself off as a pretty girl is a good disguise, but not if she's naked!"
"Good save," came the snickering voice from inside her head.
"I hate you."
Thankfully, the boys accepted her explanation. Naruto immediately started work on his transformation. Sasuke, after a bit of hemming and hawing, settled on practicing his Substitution. Sakura, relieved, turned her attention inwards to her own chakra flow, trying to control the rate at which she released chakra from her chakra points, the key, she had read, to efficient jutsu usage.
Of course, keeping the peace wasn't quite that simple, especially as the wait stretched into its fourth hour. She had to constantly stay alert to when the boys started growing bored and find some way to keep them occupied. Thankfully, both boys were competitive. Less pleasantly, sometimes they would drag her into their competition.
Which meant when Kakashi Hatake finally poked his silver-haired head through the door, he witnessed his students facing off in synchronized push-ups.
"176...177…Oh, sensei's here!" It took considerable effort for Sakura to keep the relief out of her voice. The boys had started competing on physical skills a while ago, and Tanya had managed to talk her into joining in. Now her arms felt like they were falling off and she was hot and sweaty to boot. Hopefully their sensei would see them training hard and cut them some slack.
Naruto was on his feet in an instant, looking unfairly fresh and ready to go. "Are you our Kakashi-sensei? Why were you late? Sakura says you're super-strong! What are you gonna teach us first?!"
"Ah...hmm… what can I say? My first impression of you is...you're all rather youthful!" replied their sensei as he smiled at them with the only part of his face they could see, his right eye. "Meet me on the rooftop in five minutes! Don't be late!" At which point the man vanished in a flurry of wind.
As they rushed to follow their sensei, Sakura glumly observed to Tanya, "Yup, definitely eccentric."
"Quite," agreed Tanya. "I mean, breathing mask and a covered eye? Isn't that a bit much?"
After they got to the roof and had fallen into something resembling a line, Kakashi spoke. "Before anything else, let's introduce ourselves to each other. Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, go!"
There was a moment of silence as the genin all tried to avoid being the first, then Naruto burst out, "Well, what about you? We don't know anything about you at all!"
"Hmm… alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like talking about my likes and dislikes. I don't really have any dreams, but I do have lots of hobbies."
"Sakura! Do you know what this is?" Tanya's excited voice broke into Sakura's thoughts.
"Um… our sensei is an oddball?"
"No, you silly girl! He's teaching us about information security! How to answer questions without giving away personal info! Training has already begun!"
Sakura could feel her heart beating faster. Truly, their sensei deserved his reputation! Eccentric, but a genius! She spared a moment of pity for the two boys who didn't have a veteran spirit advising them. Naruto had already blurted out his fascination with pranks and ramen and dreams of being Hokage (although it was flattering that he included her among his likes). Sasuke was a bit more reticent, but the sheer hatred in his voice when he spoke of the man he needed to kill said all too much about him as well.
Finally it was Sakura's turn, and she was determined not to disappoint. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like pretty things, and I try not to dislike things just because they are ugly. My dreams are a secret, but as for hobbies… well, I don't like being bored, so I have a few."
"How was that, Tanya?"
"Not bad. Technically correct but absolutely nothing useful, just like he showed us."
Judging by his eye-smile, sensei approved as well. "Well, now that we know each other," said Hatake, "It's time for our first mission, just the four of us. Survival training!"
"What kind of survival training?" asked Sakura suspiciously. Something in the tone of those last words reminded her of Tanya.
"The kind where you will be surviving me!"
At which point he laid it out for them. How there was one more test left before they were confirmed as shinobi. A test which would take place early the next morning at a designated training ground. A test with a 66% failure rate. A test which pitted them against one of the strongest jounin of Konoha.
Their sensei left soon after saying something random about food that Sakura ignored. She didn't even bother wishing Sasuke farewell as he and Naruto left. She was too busy running through everything she knew, and wondering how on earth her half-baked self-taught methods and academy training could possibly let her succeed against someone like Kakashi Hatake.
"I thought getting a strong sensei was a good thing! But if we have to go against him for the final test, it's actually the worst-case scenario!" Sakura mentally wailed.
"Snap out of it, Sakura!" came Tanya's stern voice. "Do you think this will be the last time you'll be given ridiculous orders?"
"What do you mean?"
"We had a saying in the Imperial Army - the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes only a little longer! Generals have been giving their subordinates impossible orders since time immemorial! But you do them anyway, because that's what it means to be a soldier!"
"I understand... But how?"
"Simple. Preparation is key! He's given us half a day and the location of the test, and even the type of test. Do you think all that was by accident?"
"I get it! The test has already begun!"
"Foolish girl, it began from the moment he was late! Ah, this really does take me back to the days of the 203rd...Now move!"
"Yes ma'am!"
"I'm bored," thought Sakura. "Aren't you bored?"
"All the time," came Tanya's voice. "I can only sense the world through you, and most of the time you're focusing on things I have no interest in. Like Sasuke."
"Will you give it a rest already?"
"You squealed loud enough to wake up Shikamaru when they announced the teams. I'm never going to let you live it down."
Sakura scowled into her desk. She didn't need Tanya to tell her she'd made a spectacle of herself. She couldn't help it. No matter how much Tanya might advise her to play it cool, she still loved Sasuke, and her reaction had been quite vocal when Iruka-sensei had named him one of her team members.
At least Ino had been too busy laughing at her to be upset about not being on Sasuke's team herself.
Sighing to herself, Sakura gave a sidelong glance to her teammates. Sasuke was in the exact same position he had been an hour ago, chin resting on folded fingers as he glared out the window. Naruto had long since abandoned his chair and was pacing up and down with a thunderous scowl on his face.
Neither of them looked happy and she couldn't blame them. Team assignments had been over two hours ago. Since then, the jounin-sensei for all the other teams had collected them and left. Even Iruka and Mizuki had left an hour ago. That just left them, Genin Team 7, waiting for their missing sensei.
"Seriously, where is he? You'd think someone as famous as him would learn to be on time!"
Kakashi Hatake was a name well known to Sakura. Not from the academy or the library - as she and Tanya had already discovered, both sources were singularly unhelpful when it came to learning about recent history. Instead, Kakashi Hatake was a name that had come up often whenever Sakura managed to strike up a conversation on who the best shinobi in Konoha were (apart from the Hokage, who was universally acknowledged as The Strongest).
Tanya liked to call it intelligence-gathering, but Sakura thought it was little more than gossip. Like Ino, a number of her schoolmates came from major clans, and they picked up a lot of information through simple osmosis. Once Sakura got past her natural shyness, getting them to start talking about the most impressive shinobi they knew of wasn't particularly hard.
It was even easier with the academy sensei. All Sakura had to do was look like a wide-eyed naif eager to learn about her heroes, and all her teachers would easily open up about the jounin they had worked with. None of them were so careless as to drop detailed information, but even the general rumors they were willing to share was far more than a civilian-born like her would ever normally hear about.
Between these two sources, Sakura had managed to build up quite a dossier on Konoha's well-known shinobi, and Kakashi Hatake was a name that came up often. The youngest academy graduate and chunin in Konoha history, ninjutsu specialist, hero of the Third Shinobi War, and now considered one of the strongest shinobi in the village. However, along with his battle prowess, he was also known for his eccentricity. Exactly what form this eccentricity took remained a mystery to her. Sakura's adult interlocutors would hurriedly change the subject, while her classmates could only confirm that their parents described him as odd without going into details.
"Do not underestimate Hatake. Who knows what vital work he may have been doing? I'm sure he has his reasons for being late. Instead of wasting time, why don't you try some self-training? You need to be ready to impress him when he shows!"
That was another thing. Tanya seemed to have developed an almost surprising amount of interest regarding Hatake. Ever since she learned he'd made chunin at six, Tanya had pushed Sakura to investigate the man. When asked why, Tanya refused to give a straight answer. The closest to an explanation Sakura got was a mumbled 'He might be like me'. On the face of it, that ought to mean Tanya was simply curious about someone else who had been a child prodigy fighting through a war. But Sakura couldn't help but feel Tanya meant something else.
"DAMMIT I'M BORED! WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!"
Sakura was almost knocked out of her seat as Naruto's impatience finally boiled over.
"You're too loud, idiot," came Sasuke's disdainful drawl.
"Oh yeah? Wanna make something out of it, bastard?!"
I can't believe those two. Years of experience told Sakura that the two boys were on the verge of yet another of their many brawls. Which was all well and good when they were still in the academy, but was completely unacceptable now that they were full-fledged shinobi. Seriously, who on earth thought it was a good idea to put these two on the same team?
"You need to stop them." came Tanya's voice.
"What? Why?"
"Because, like it or not, they are now part of your team. Their behavior reflects on you as well."
Sakura hated that Tanya was right, but she was. Which meant Sakura had to play peacemaker. Joy.
First step would be to distract the two boys before one of them threw a punch. A little chakra to her palm, and then she was slamming it down on her table. The thunderous crack! Made both boys jerk and turn around.
Ignoring the fracture she'd put into the table's surface, Sakura said, "I know you two are bored. I'm bored too. But that's no reason to behave like children. What do you think it will look like if our jounin-sensei comes in and sees the two of you fighting like kids at a playground?"
Judging by the faint flush on Sasuke's face, the barb hit home. Naruto, naturally, was completely oblivious to his own immaturity as he whined, "But Sakura! It's been so long!"
"So? Given who he is, it's possible Hatake-san got caught up in some extremely vital mission and wasn't able to make it on time."
"Huh? You know the guy?"
From the corner of her eye, she could see Sasuke trying and failing to hide his interest. Yes, he's noticed me! Concealing her happiness, Sakura affected a casual demeanor, "You mean you don't? Kakashi Hatake is a hero of the Third War. He graduated at five, made chunin at six, jounin at thirteen, and is considered one of the strongest in the village after the Hokage."
"Woow…" Naruto's eyes had gone round. "I bet he knows tons of cool jutsus!"
Sakura shrugged. "I suppose? He's supposed to be a ninjutsu specialist."
"Awesome! Say, say, what cool jutsu do you think he'll teach us first?"
"Well, for all we know, he's already started teaching us," proposed Sakura gravely.
"Huh?"
"Maybe the reason he's late is because he's teaching us the importance of patience. I mean, maybe he's hidden out nearby, and is watching us to see what we're going to do with all this free time he's given us. Maybe he wants us to learn how to use our time doing something useful, and not start pointless fights?"
"Eheheh…," Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Now," Sakura said as she sat down on a table in the lotus position, "I am going to meditate and work on my chakra control. I suggest you two find something to do as well so you don't look like lazy layabouts when our sensei does show."
"Eh? But what do I work on?"
Sakura sighed. "I don't know Naruto… push-ups? Sit-ups? Substitution? There's plenty of tables and chairs here. Maybe work on your transformation?"
"Work on your Centerfold technique so it's anatomically accurate."
"Work on your Centerfold Technique -" Sakura choked herself off before she could finish repeating Tanya's interjection. To her horror, both Sasuke and Naruto were staring at her with undisguised surprise. "I...I meant, you should learn how to put some clothes on it! Passing yourself off as a pretty girl is a good disguise, but not if she's naked!"
"Good save," came the snickering voice from inside her head.
"I hate you."
Thankfully, the boys accepted her explanation. Naruto immediately started work on his transformation. Sasuke, after a bit of hemming and hawing, settled on practicing his Substitution. Sakura, relieved, turned her attention inwards to her own chakra flow, trying to control the rate at which she released chakra from her chakra points, the key, she had read, to efficient jutsu usage.
Of course, keeping the peace wasn't quite that simple, especially as the wait stretched into its fourth hour. She had to constantly stay alert to when the boys started growing bored and find some way to keep them occupied. Thankfully, both boys were competitive. Less pleasantly, sometimes they would drag her into their competition.
Which meant when Kakashi Hatake finally poked his silver-haired head through the door, he witnessed his students facing off in synchronized push-ups.
"176...177…Oh, sensei's here!" It took considerable effort for Sakura to keep the relief out of her voice. The boys had started competing on physical skills a while ago, and Tanya had managed to talk her into joining in. Now her arms felt like they were falling off and she was hot and sweaty to boot. Hopefully their sensei would see them training hard and cut them some slack.
Naruto was on his feet in an instant, looking unfairly fresh and ready to go. "Are you our Kakashi-sensei? Why were you late? Sakura says you're super-strong! What are you gonna teach us first?!"
"Ah...hmm… what can I say? My first impression of you is...you're all rather youthful!" replied their sensei as he smiled at them with the only part of his face they could see, his right eye. "Meet me on the rooftop in five minutes! Don't be late!" At which point the man vanished in a flurry of wind.
As they rushed to follow their sensei, Sakura glumly observed to Tanya, "Yup, definitely eccentric."
"Quite," agreed Tanya. "I mean, breathing mask and a covered eye? Isn't that a bit much?"
After they got to the roof and had fallen into something resembling a line, Kakashi spoke. "Before anything else, let's introduce ourselves to each other. Likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, go!"
There was a moment of silence as the genin all tried to avoid being the first, then Naruto burst out, "Well, what about you? We don't know anything about you at all!"
"Hmm… alright. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't feel like talking about my likes and dislikes. I don't really have any dreams, but I do have lots of hobbies."
"Sakura! Do you know what this is?" Tanya's excited voice broke into Sakura's thoughts.
"Um… our sensei is an oddball?"
"No, you silly girl! He's teaching us about information security! How to answer questions without giving away personal info! Training has already begun!"
Sakura could feel her heart beating faster. Truly, their sensei deserved his reputation! Eccentric, but a genius! She spared a moment of pity for the two boys who didn't have a veteran spirit advising them. Naruto had already blurted out his fascination with pranks and ramen and dreams of being Hokage (although it was flattering that he included her among his likes). Sasuke was a bit more reticent, but the sheer hatred in his voice when he spoke of the man he needed to kill said all too much about him as well.
Finally it was Sakura's turn, and she was determined not to disappoint. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like pretty things, and I try not to dislike things just because they are ugly. My dreams are a secret, but as for hobbies… well, I don't like being bored, so I have a few."
"How was that, Tanya?"
"Not bad. Technically correct but absolutely nothing useful, just like he showed us."
Judging by his eye-smile, sensei approved as well. "Well, now that we know each other," said Hatake, "It's time for our first mission, just the four of us. Survival training!"
"What kind of survival training?" asked Sakura suspiciously. Something in the tone of those last words reminded her of Tanya.
"The kind where you will be surviving me!"
At which point he laid it out for them. How there was one more test left before they were confirmed as shinobi. A test which would take place early the next morning at a designated training ground. A test with a 66% failure rate. A test which pitted them against one of the strongest jounin of Konoha.
Their sensei left soon after saying something random about food that Sakura ignored. She didn't even bother wishing Sasuke farewell as he and Naruto left. She was too busy running through everything she knew, and wondering how on earth her half-baked self-taught methods and academy training could possibly let her succeed against someone like Kakashi Hatake.
"I thought getting a strong sensei was a good thing! But if we have to go against him for the final test, it's actually the worst-case scenario!" Sakura mentally wailed.
"Snap out of it, Sakura!" came Tanya's stern voice. "Do you think this will be the last time you'll be given ridiculous orders?"
"What do you mean?"
"We had a saying in the Imperial Army - the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes only a little longer! Generals have been giving their subordinates impossible orders since time immemorial! But you do them anyway, because that's what it means to be a soldier!"
"I understand... But how?"
"Simple. Preparation is key! He's given us half a day and the location of the test, and even the type of test. Do you think all that was by accident?"
"I get it! The test has already begun!"
"Foolish girl, it began from the moment he was late! Ah, this really does take me back to the days of the 203rd...Now move!"
"Yes ma'am!"
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Jaune Pendragon
King Of Servants
- Location
- Avalon
OK....WOW.....that took my breath away..
- Location
- Perth
This is hilarious.
In certain ways Tany is right in that everything has a reason, etc.
In other ways she's so wrong in ascribing competence where it genuinely doesn't exist.
In thinking Hatake is like her, she's thinking of him as competent as she is and so she assumes that he thinks like she does.
The miscommunication between Sakura and the others as a result is going to be the stuff of legend.
Paint a wall? Oblique order to create a hidey hole for future missions!
Walking a cat? Covert reconnaissance of that dude that sells books covered in black paper!
I'm eagerly waiting for more!
In certain ways Tany is right in that everything has a reason, etc.
In other ways she's so wrong in ascribing competence where it genuinely doesn't exist.
In thinking Hatake is like her, she's thinking of him as competent as she is and so she assumes that he thinks like she does.
The miscommunication between Sakura and the others as a result is going to be the stuff of legend.
Paint a wall? Oblique order to create a hidey hole for future missions!
Walking a cat? Covert reconnaissance of that dude that sells books covered in black paper!
I'm eagerly waiting for more!