Well, i promised that i’d have more writing up by today… and dammit, i do!
I can see you back there! Put away the torches and the barbecue sauce! The pitchforks you can keep – but no using them unless i get really lazy again!
I’m not done yet today, either, but since i am posting this stuff as i write it and i have to put this down for a little bit right now, i might as well show you what i’ve got. Yes, i do procrastinate like a fiend! No, this scene isn’t final in any way, shape or form – even the characters involved might change, so don’t get too comfortable! It’s hard for me to write these guys, since they are (in my opinion) less interesting than Sakura-chan, and have distinctive traits that i’m less familiar with… well, actually, it might be fun to write this scene from Gai’s perspective, now that i think about it, but that would also be less edifying to the reader, since he’s probably the least involved character.
Anyhow, I’ll be back! I hope to have this (probably short) scene in some sort of finished form today, so i can move on to the next, which has Ino, Sasuke, and maybe even Kiba in it (i haven’t decided on that one yet either). What i’m trying to figure out for this scene is how much really i really need to show, and how much Asuma would actually care about Kakashi’s rapidly evolving (or degenerating?) team dynamics, beyond how Sakura’s behavior is affecting Ino.
P.S.: Yes this is that teashop, on that day; if you know what i’m talking about, then you can probably guess roughly how this scene ends…
[Edit - March 3, 2009: Added a teensy bit more. I'm still working on this, so I hope you didn't think i was just going to end this scene there...]
[Edit - March 5, 2009: A few more paragraphs done, and a few small edits. Hopefully not finished yet for today. In other news: threaded comments! Yay!]
[Edit - March 5, 2009 #2: A couple more paragraphs; more tomorrow. Now Kakashi really starts to look out of touch...]
[Edit - March 6, 2009: Only a little done today, but tomorrow's the weekend and the scene's almost finished!]
[Edit - March 8, 2009: A larger update this time, and maybe i'll have time for another later today; this part gets kinda heavy with the expository internal monologue, but hopefully that isn't a bad thing since i finally get around to explaining one of Sakura's 'tricks'...]
[Edit - March 8, 2009 #2: Section's almost done! Just one tiny little bit left to write (with our two little black-and-red 'flies on the wall' for this whole fiasco.) Unfortnately, now i can't decide where i want to end the Asuma-Kakash-Gai portion of the scene. The two potential stopping points i see are in red type... ]
Brushing aside the short curtain that hung before his face, Sarutobi Asuma briefly scanned the front room of the riverside teashop out of habit. This particular dive was famous around the village for its three-color dango, so it wasn’t uncommon to find the Leaf’s most notorious junk-food junkie, Mitarashi Anko, lounging around here between missions. As infuriating as the woman was, she usually dragged Kurenai along to keep her company, which made his frequent visits to the place worth it, even if he didn’t particularly care for dango.
On this occasion, though, Asuma was disappointed; neither kunoichi appeared to be present. Figures; the one time I’d actually settle for Anko, and not even she shows up. He did spot the man he’d actually come to meet, however: Hatake Kakashi was seated at a table near the front of the room, facing the entrance.
A hint of what might have been a rare grimace pinched the gray-haired ninja’s eye as he look up, drawing Asuma’s attention to the figure seated across from him. Maito Gai’s uniquely… bracing appearance was slightly less noticeable when he was looking the other way, but the ‘Proud Green Beast of Konoha’ corrected that lapse immediately.
Turning halfway around, Gai wore an almost comically serious expression. “Ah – Asuma, you have arrived!” he announced loud enough for anyone in the village who cared to hear, beckoning the bearded man to take a place next to him on the bench across from Kakashi.
Eh, why not? With a shrug, Asuma obliged, scooting onto the bench and waving down a waitress. “Gai, Kakashi; thanks for coming,” he greeted tersely, reaching for his cigarettes and lighter.
He hadn’t really planned on speaking with Gai, but it was possible that the other jounin would know something that Kakashi didn’t – and if Gai was going to stick around, Asuma much preferred the option of not having to stare at those absurd eyebrows the entire time. The damn things looked so ridiculous, it was almost hypnotic.
Unfortunately, it appeared that he’d arrived just in time to witness another one of Gai’s infamous ‘challenges.’ Gripping Asuma’s shoulder as if to keep the larger man from running away, Gai fixed him with a look of such terrible consternation that it was like there was a pair of woolly black bison crashing together in the middle of his forehead.
“Asuma,” Gai intoned, gravely. “Since you became a jounin, how many genin teams have you mentored to the point where you were satisfied that they could manage their own training?”
Slightly surprised that he was suddenly the topic of conversation, Asuma glanced askance at Kakashi, but the face of the man across the table remained as inscrutable as ever. “Four or six,” Asuma replied guardedly. “Depends on how you count the kids that died or decided that they weren’t cut out to be ninja.”
Nodding sagely, Gai continued. “And from all your demonstrated experience in nurturing these young, beautiful souls to the full bloom of maturity, have you discovered any special needs that must be taken into consideration when there is a freshly-graduated kunoichi on your team?”
Ooh… Now he saw where this was going. Gai wasn’t challenging Kakashi; he was trying to force his ‘eternal rival’ to eat crow – possibly for the first time ever. Humming thoughtfully, Asuma gave Gai a measuring glance. Normally he would have been happy to just stay out of Gai’s little one-sided war of one-upmanship with Kakashi, but given his own reasons for seeking out the copy ninja, he decided to play along this time.
With an almost imperceptible tightening of the muscles around his eyes, Asuma darted a glance toward the hand on his shoulder, which was promptly removed. Gai’s expression didn’t change, but Asuma could almost feel the taujutsu master giving him a big, ‘Tag-In Complete!’ thumbs up. Trying to shake off that unsettling image, he took a long, lazy drag on his cigarette and turned to Kakashi, leaning forward and blowing the smoke out of his nostrils as he stared directly into the other man’s half-lidded eye.
“Actually, there are a few extra things you need to worry about when you’re training new kunoichi,” Asuma observed in a matter-of fact tone. “For one, girls mature faster than boys. At around the age that most kids graduate from the academy, the boys all still think they’re invincible while the girls are already starting to realize that there might be more rewarding ways to spend the best years of their lives.
“This is mostly a good a thing,” Asuma noted. “I’m sure you’d agree, Kakashi, that a lot of these kids just aren’t worthy of becoming ninja.” Taking another puff on his cigarette, Asuma looked from one man to the other. From what little he could read of Kakashi’s body language, the laid-back jounin was either taking his medicine well or not taking it at all, but Gai was doing a reasonably good job of not looking like a fool.
“Of course, even when you do get a girl that’s willing to put in the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to become a ninja, you still usually have to spend the first year or so training her twice as hard as you train the boys, just so she can catch up,” Asuma proclaimed darkly, planting his elbows on the table and clenching his hands in front of his face as he prepared to pound this next point into the copy ninja’s thick head for all he was worth.
“That’s the other thing you have to remember,” he continued, donning a tight, thin-lipped frown under his laced fingers. “While boys get to spend a lot of their time at the academy doing drills to hone their strengths, girls are forced to spend that time taking extra ‘kunoichi classes’ so that they can learn to become ‘infiltrators.’” A job that most of them still ended up being woefully ill-suited for, if Kurenai had anything to say about it (and she usually did).
Heh, I’m gonna have to get Gai to brag about this for me later, when she’s around. Resisting the urge to smile, Asuma cleared his throat and forced his thoughts back on topic. “As a result, most new kunoichi don’t even know what their strengths are, let alone how to develop them. They get discouraged easily and end up falling even further behind if you don’t give them enough attention.” Raising one eyebrow pointedly, Asuma shared a meaningful glance with Gai, which he then turned on Kakashi. “Most girls do, anyway; your Sakura-chan, on the other hand, seems to have the opposite problem-”
“NO!”
“Eh?” Startled by Gai’s sudden and profoundly vocal denial, Asuma turned to see the man beside him holding up the ‘Defiant Fist of Youthful Purity that Shakes with Rage at the Injustice of the World.’ Damn, I can’t believe I remembered all that. Wait – is he crying? Please tell me he’s not crying!
Indeed, a veritable river of manly tears coursed down each of Gai’s cheeks as he shook his head sadly at Asuma – despite the fact that he hadn’t seemed the least bit misty-eyed just moments before. “Do not be mistaken, my comrade in the joys of teaching!” he declared, again placing his non-righteously-trembling fist on Asuma’s shoulder. “I do not disagree with what you say – indeed, your words are like echoes from the mountain, resounding with nature’s wisdom! You only misspeak in naming that darling, lost child as Kakashi’s, for today – today, my poor, misguided rival is truly undone!”
“Am I, now?” Deigning to address his accusers for the first time, Kakashi gave Gai a mildly withering look. “I don’t see how it’s any business of yours what the kids on my team do, but the choice to move forward or not was always Sakura’s to make,” he corrected flatly, lifting his cup to take a sip of tea through his mask. “A kunoichi should be mature enough to make these decisions for herself – right?” Kakashi glanced askance at Asuma, as if waiting for him to affirm his earlier words.
Gai wasn’t having any of it, however. “Enough!” he bellowed, slicing his hand through the air and leaning over the table to glare at his stone-faced rival. “How can you call this anything but a direct result of your dereliction of duty as a teacher? The choice may have been that girl’s to make, but you didn’t have to make the decision harder by denying her any direction at all! When she finally came to me seeking the guidance that her teacher should have been there to provide her, she was already half-dead from throwing herself, day after day, at the walls of neglect that you had built around her!”
“Whoa, whoa!” Holding up his hands for silence, Asuma looked from one angry jounin to the other; while it wasn’t uncommon for Gai to get worked up over nothing, those coolly sarcastic replies that Kakashi was suddenly so quick to throw off were like fighting words for another man. He was still a little unclear about what exactly had happened, but at least it was no mystery who the subject of their dispute was. “Did something happen to Sakura-chan?” Asuma asked, putting on his game face in the hopes that level heads would prevail.
“She quit,” Kakashi supplied with surprising candor, though he might have only answered because Gai looked ready to make another damning proclamation. “Retired from active duty, effective immediately,” he clarified airily, like was talking about the weather, “though I only know about it because the processor at my last mission debriefing informed me that my team had been taken off of ‘ready’ status until a replacement could be found.”
“Oh.” Though was already sitting down, Kakashi’s casual indictment of his former student left Asuma feeling like he’d just been dropped on his behind. Sheesh, no wonder they’re pissed… To those who knew what had happened to Kakashi’s own genin team, it was no secret that the man had some ‘abandonment’ issues, and ‘quit’ was practically a dirty word for Gai. Hell, if Shikamaru ever really does decide that being a ninja is too much of a hassle, I hope he at least gives me a little warning first.
But none of this sounded like the Haruno Sakura that Ino had told him about; the girl who had spent two weeks locked in her room, beating her head against a stack of genjutsu texts, trying to find a counter to the Shintenshin – and then another two weeks letting Maito Gai administer the beatings for her. She might be a masochist, especially considering the people she hangs out with, but she doesn’t sound like a quitter.
On top of that, Sakura had apparently spent the last two weeks trying to convince Ino to teach her the new ‘Kusashibari’ technique she’d created – Because ANBU won’t let Sakura develop her own techniques anymore… An ominous thought occurred to him. “Are you sure she wasn’t forced out?” Asuma asked, lowering his voice.
“Why would anyone do such a thing?” Gai demanded, directing another accusing glare at Kakashi. “Despite the considerable handicaps she was forced to overcome, hasn’t Sakura-chan proven herself worthy of being a ninja of the Hidden Leaf? Hokage-sama even went so far as to assign her a mentor to compensate for her teacher’s shortcomings – though I still cannot fathom his reasons for choosing that woman.” Suddenly, the taijutsu master’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, as though he’d just had a terrible epiphany.
While Asuma hadn’t even considered the possibility that Anko alone might be enough to inspire thoughts of desertion, the gray-hared ninja seemed to have a better inkling of what he was suggesting. “ANBU?” Kakashi prompted quietly, one narrowed eye proclaiming that Asuma now had his undivided attention – despite the several blatant jabs that Gai had just taken at him and the look of thwarted fury that now purpled his self-proclaimed rival’s face.
“It’s possible,” Asuma observed, edging slightly away from the volcano of seething displeasure that now threatened to erupt on his side of the table, but it appeared that Gai was concerned enough by this new development to contain himself… for now. Tapping the ash from his cigarette, Asuma turned back to Kakashi. “Ino told me how they’ve been keeping an eye on Sakura-chan to make sure she doesn’t whip up any more kinjutsu-”
He stopped; nothing about Kahashi’s aura or body language had changed, but his gut told him that something was wrong. The man had seemed to… tense, for just a moment. “Sakura-chan didn’t tell you that one of her techniques had been declared forbidden?” Asuma asked carefully, after a few seconds of pregnant silence.
A tiny twitch of the wrist sent ripples skittering across the surface of the liquid in Kakashi’s teacup. Though he showed no other reaction, that small, reflexive jerk spoke volumes about his state of mind; had Gai been holding that teacup, it would’ve either been crushed to pieces in his hand or smashed against the far wall of the shop.
“Sakura hasn’t been very forthcoming about the training she did while Sasuke and I were away,” Kakashi replied, his flat voice and expression doing ever less to mask the bite of betrayal in his words. “While her physical condition and battle tactics have improved considerably, the only new ‘technique’ I’ve seen her use is a concealment genjutsu; some kind of Tenka Mikaku, I guess, but not something I’d have pegged as a forbidden technique.”
Despite Kakashi’s blasé delivery, Asuma couldn’t help but sit up in surprise when the name registered. “Seriously? She can use that level of technique?” While he wasn’t exactly an expert on genjutsu, many of the dangerous ladies he kept company with were, and he’d heard the term ‘Tenka Mikaku’ before – usually in reference to particularly well-executed assassinations.
Kakashi just nodded, glancing down at his tea. “She’s figured out some way to combine the delivery method and ‘filtering’ into a simple sort of ‘presence mask’ that she cloaks herself in,” he explained, sounding a little proud in spite of his outward indifference. “Her technique doesn’t have very good range or persistence, but it’s definitely Tenka Mikaku; the Sharingan’s ‘eye of insight’ provides no inherent protection against it.”
“That’s… impressive,” Asuma mused appreciatively, noting that Gai had a look of consternation on his face – not surprising, considering that he probably had no idea what they were talking about. Gai had never advanced beyond chuunin-level genjutsu, in favor of a much more ‘physical’ focus.
Tenka Mikaku, literally ‘The World is Uncertain,’ were genjutsu that affected targets solely on the subconscious level. Instead of crafting complex sensory illusions, they worked by manipulating the brain’s innate information management systems, subverting instinct, intuition and emotional response to cause the target’s mind to ‘misinterpret’ the information it was provided.
This made Tenka Mikaku techniques very subtle and difficult to resist, but also extremely ‘primitive,’ in terms of the effects they could produce. As such, while they were often incorporated into more complex illusions, Kurenai claimed to know of only a handful of ‘pure’ Tenka Mikaku that were useful in combat – and none of those were below B-rank.
Now I’m surprised that trap Ino and Shikamaru came up with to catch her actually worked. Shaking his head slightly, Asuma said, “-but no, that’s not the technique I was thinking of. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Leaning forward again, Asuma waited until Kakashi and Gai reluctantly joined the huddle before continuing. “So I’m guessing Sakura-chan hasn’t told you anything about a technique called ‘Kitsune-Tsuki’?”
A deep frown crinkled Kakashi’s brow, and the look of alarm on Gai’s face almost made Asuma chuckle, but he managed hold it in; he hadn’t come here to scare them, and this was no laughing matter. “Yeah; I doubt it’s related,” he reassured them, carefully skirting the Hokage’s law, “-but, I haven’t been able to find out much about it. Ino asked me to look into it, since this technique has apparently caused Sakura-chan nothing but trouble,” he admitted ruefully.
Looking to Kakashi, Asuma searched the other man’s face, but the copy ninja didn’t seem to have anything to add. Damn, it looks like she really hasn’t told him anything. Asuma was almost starting to feel sorry for the guy, but if one of his own students had managed to hide this much from him, then Kakashi deserved whatever he got. Unless Sakura-chan had help…
Frowning, Asuma snuffed his cigarette in the ashtray at his elbow and tried to organize his thoughts. “First, this ‘Kitsune-Tsuki’ is dangerous to use, and may cause mental instability.” Ino’s exact words had been, ‘It makes Sakura-chan go crazy,’ but Kakashi and Gai both looked upset enough at it was. “Second, once ANBU found out about it, they declared it forbidden so fast that, even for a self-damaging technique, Sakura-chan probably set some sort of new record.”
That statement caused a bit of tense eye contact across the table, but neither Gai nor Kakashi looked ready to interrupt, so Asuma decided not to ask. “Third,” he continued, finally getting to the meat of his argument, “to keep her out of trouble, ANBU slapped Sakura-chan with a broad injunction against any further unsupervised research. Now, with a record like that, you have to wonder if someone higher up didn’t start to get a little nervous; if they thought she might turn into another Orochimaru or Uchiha Itachi-”
A sharp intake of breath and a flash of intense hostility from somewhere behind him made Asuma stop, but as he turned to look back, the pair of black-clad figures sitting at the next table over suddenly vanished. Asuma was on his feet, alarm bells screaming in his head, almost before he recognized the telltale caress of wind on his skin that said someone had just run past him using Shunshin no jutsu, and then the chase was on, and there was no more time for thought.
つづく (To be continued – Section Complete)
Yay, an update! (a little short though)
I think it might be wise to avoid writing from Gai’s point of view, as amusing as that probably would have been. Gai is a far to oblivious(?) character and It would be hard to give a (somewhat) correct view of what is going on through his eyes without breaking character.
He is fun to have as a side character though and his expressive character and behavior illustrates Kakashi’s lack of thereof very well so you might consider keeping him in the sceene. However If he is there the whole block will most likely hear most of the conversation.
I think you might want to cut down “her friend Kurenai” down to just Kurenai since anybody reading this fic knows that those two are friends. It’s sort of over-explaining at this point.
I think Asuma would care at least enough to have a somewhat searious talk with Kakashi, maybe give him some advice and/or critisism (with Gai cheering and commenting loudly with graphics on the sideline). Beyond that I don’t know. He’s a pretty laid back character.
Hope there will be more updates soon.
On this one occasion, i think Gai’s point of view probably wouldn’t be any less ‘correct’ than Asuma’s or Kakashi’s; Sakura’s actions in the last month present Kakashi with a weird problem that has no obvious solutions, but a lot of places where its easy to point out that he could have handled her training better in the past. In this scene, though, Gai is here mostly to mention things that Kakashi wouldn’t, such as the fact that Sakura is officially no longer on Kakashi’s team (and apparently never has been, if the records are to be believed).
The ‘friend’ in that sentence was mostly there to emphasize Asuma’s reasoning, in that he mostly tolerates Anko only because of her relationship with Kurenai. I’ve taken it out for now, but i may put it back in later.
One thing i’m trying to avoid doing is have Asuma give Kakashi a long, boring, obvious lecture. He has some advantages in that he likes Kurenai, and has probably had to sit through are few tirades regarding the inherent unfairness of the current Chuunin exam vis a vis the standard academy training regimen for kunoichi (they do worse than the boys partially because single combat doesn’t exactly put their keen political acumen and artistic skills on display), but i wonder if readers really want to hear about this stuff…
Hmm interesting stuff…I actually enjoyed this little bit. Though i like kakashi’s character he never really partook in sakura’s training. Of course he taught her about teamwork and walking up trees but she was the one to explain to the boys about chakra manipulation. Seeing as how she taught herself how to walk on water and made her own illusions in your story it just calls for some good butt kicking.
Plus I find your ideas on the different ways that the academy teaches each gender quite fascinating. It gives some depth to Konoha that even the original creator never really got into explaining.
We’re never really told much about Asuma except that he’s the son of the Third Hokage, so with this background and the relationship with Kurenai (especially if she’s talked to him about what she’s scene and heard about Sakura’s and Anko’s new teacher/student relationship), I can see him wanting to talk to kakashi about his wonderful teaching skills. (Plus he also has to think of his own female student too.)
I also think it’s a good point of view since he has nothing to do with the main characters so we get to see what he thinks about all this. (Plus he has a pretty rational mind that hasn’t really scene the weird and funny interactions between Anko and Sakura) Though I’d love to see what he thinks after seeing one of their little episodes. LOL
I can’t wait to see your next bit with Ino, Sasuke, and (hopefully) Kiba.
“_That_ teashop on _that_ day”?
O.O
Do we finally have a timeline? Could Suiren actually fit into the upcoming canon!Naruto plot?
On another note, I just loooove reading Kakashi getting his comeuppance. Call it the words of Inner-Me-Who-Totally-Adores-Sakura, but he deserves it. I seriously think this scene increased Gai’s standing in my eyes.
@ArjunaAnja: Hmm… one does wonder how much Kurenai has told him about Anko and Sakura. If he’s seen her at all in the last week and a half, he’s sure to at least have heard that Anko somehow managed to obtain Sakura as a ’student,’ though Kurenai herself might have a been little skeptical about that; genin teams are not broken up so easily as that. He’s probably heard some interesting things about Sakura from Ino as well, though, and he was there at the hospital to see Ino run off like a madwoman after Sakura dislocated her shoulder, so he might know enough to be at least little sympathetic to Kakashi’s position. It may largely be Kakashi’s fault that Sakura ended up thrust into the arms of Mitarashi Anko, of all people, but now Kakashi has to lay in the bed that he has made, and it is probably full of snakes…
@Phantasque: Heheh… Gai is awesome; he and Tatewaki Kunou need to get together some time and go drinking. As to the possibility of time line: Suiren has always had a time line, but since the passage of time in Naruto canon is sometimes a little nebulous, i’ll say that the story is finally going to tie into certain pivotal events that occurred shortly after the war…
I’m glad to see more of this. As for Asuma’s little talkl, I found the discussion informative without being too dry.
Heh, scanning the comments, I have to say that it’s dangerous to dismiss an elite jounin like Gai, just because he’s mad as a hatter. He’s probably actually very observant and just somewhat… skewed in his interpretations at times.
I also have to wonder if Gai’s reactions here at the end are because of Anko or if he actually knows that Sakura is listed as no longer a ninja.
And Akatsuki are showing up? Neat.
That means that if things go as quickly as canon, Sakura should have her little peace treaty up within…. Huh, you’re right canon time is kind of fluid. Well, by shortly after Naruto and Jiraiya return with Tsunade, however long that trip took.
Shhh! Nobody’s supposed to know that they’re there… despite the fact that Kisame and Itachi were just about as unsneaky in their infiltration of Konoha as it was possible to be, without smashing down the front gate and declaring their arrival to everyone…
Yay for another update.
Now I finaly got it, THAT teashop (It’s been to long since I re-read/saw that part of the original series) If those two are listening in, then you might consider having a scene from their perspective at the end of the conversation. That would just be awesome.
I really like the developements and I think you are managing to say just enough. Also the point you raise about kunoichies reciving a (at least partly) different training at the academy than their male counterparts is something I haven’t really thought about before but it makes perfect sense. It also explains a lot.
When you’re done with this chapter I would be happy to make another pic for you
(although a smaller one this time)
Can’t wait for the next part.
I’ll consider the bit with Itachi and Kisame; what exactly would they even think of this conversation, though?
There have been hints in canon about the ‘alternate’ training kunoichi get, most of it in Sakura/Ino flashbacks, so i can’t really take credit for the idea. I’m just carrying it to its logical conclusion. ^_^;
And i guess i can’t really say ‘no’ to more art, though what you’ve done is already a little overwhelming… O_o;
Ooh… Now he saw where this was going. Gai wasn’t challenging Kakashi; he was trying to force his ‘eternal rival’ eat crow – possibly for the first time ever. — I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to say… maybe add a ‘to’ before eat?
Ah, Asuma was one of my favorite Naruto characters (being the most normal Jounin-sensei) and, when he died, it sorta killed the series for me. I think he was a good choice for the POV, because of his lack of real quirks in personality; it shows the scene in a relatively unbiased way — well, conversation, anyway.
And Itachi, god. Is this the first time he appears in Suiren? It’s honestly been so long since I last read this. I would love to see a scene or two in their point of view, though the contents depend heavily on how well-informed they are, which might be as simple as who the members of Kakashi’s team are. (And they weren’t sneaky but wasn’t it done on purpose? :arches brow:)
I can see this information being used against Naruto, though. It all depends on how you interpret Itachi’s stance, I guess.
Of course, there would be a lot more fodder for the pair to think over if more was elaborated on. There’s not much at the moment other than Kakashi(-senpai) being incompetent and his kunoichi quitting.
Oh, and I totally agree with kunoichi needing to work twice as hard but it’s not only to catch up. It’s the simple fact guys are predisposed to being physically superior. If it was me, I’d be working twice as hard my entire ninja career just for a chance at even grounds with the guys. Probably why kunoichi usually become gen- or ijutsu specialists.
Yes, there should have been a ‘to’ in there. That’s the only missing word anybody has pointed out to me in this draft so far; wai!
It’s hard to say whether or not they failed to be sneaky on purpose; sometimes things just seem to work out too conveniently in the story.
The conversation is just getting to the meaty, disturbing stuff that might interest Itachi. For instance, he’s about to find out that one of his little brother’s teammates is under observation by ANBU…
And i think the ‘physically superior’ argument is kind of defeated by the absurdity of ’simple physical abilities’ in Naruto canon. All these boys and girls break rocks and stuff with their bare hands all the time – and of the ‘genin’ participating in the Chuunin exam, i think Temari actually had the highest raw ‘power’ score, according to the official sources.
Those last few paragraphs were just beautifully written – I can see how Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma are coming to their logical, if flawed, conclusions.
Sakura’s gonna have some ’splainin’ to do, eventually.
Well, she does carry around that ridiculously heavy iron fan.
Also, those scores can be deceptive because if they’re Kabuto’s they only consist of things that he’s A)aware of and B)willing to share.
Ninja are a secretive lot and the powers of rookies are constantly growing as they train and get more experienced.
Actually, i was thinking of the character book scores, and though the characters in Suiren do improve pretty quickly, i’m trying to avoid the meteoric, DBZ power scaling prevalent in Naruto canon ^_^;…
No internet for a day and look what happens, more updates yay.
I think the members of Akatsuki (with the exeption of Zetsu the spy) doesn’t even atempt at sneaking fully on purpose. Most missing-nins/ S-class criminals I can imagen are usually pretty much constantly on the run and hiding from their own village and others. However Akatsuki seems to be an exeption. We are talking about a known organisation of S-class criminals who prance around in trade-mark cloakes and hats, sometimes with their scarred forehead protectors and/or identifying features fully visible for godness sakes. I think the fact that they do this is part of a intimidation tactic. This behavior pretty much tells anyone that even as wanted criminals they are indivudually so powerfull that they feel no need to hide from anyone and can go wherever they please.
Itachi at least should be able to be a freaking ghost if he so wished.
I think that Itachi and Kisame due to their goal to capture Naruto would have a real interest in this conversation. On team seven she is most likely the idividual they know the least about. Kakashi is quite famous, Sasuke is Itachi’s brother and Naruto is the target (have probably already been researched). Sakura however is to them most likely an unknown variable and information about her would most likely be of interest.
As for Kisame and Itachi’s reaction, well that depends on how much is reavealed in the conversation. Mild amusement at least maybe interest. The leaf village seems to be a spawning ground for a lot “interesting” characters.
If for nothing else I think Itachi would use what are revealed to give a final dubble parting (low) blow to his brother (if they meet like in the original Naruto).
The ending is such a cliffhanger that there better be more soon. I can’t wait to read the next part. “The conversation is just getting to the meaty, disturbing stuff that might interest Itachi. For instance, he’s about to find out that one of his little brother’s teammates is under observation by ANBU…” Hope that is true and that her ANBU contact and “visits” will be mentioned.
Actually talking in depth about the Black Ops arm of the village’s military police apparatus a public place is probably not something ninja would do, unfortunately, so a lot of things will have to remain unsaid for now.
Yeah I can’t realy see them spilling village secrets in an open teashop. However it should be possible to discuss at least parts of whats going on relating to ANBU without doing so, especially since they probably would’nt even know the secrets. One of them might for example have found out that Sakura wasn’t at home or in the hospitable after the events during the chuunin exam, might even know it had something to do with ANBU. However I doubt any of them would know the specifics or any secrets that they would find to sensive to discuss or ask the others about.
You are so right about the boys always having to be stronger than the girls. I don’t think there has been a single longer battle sequence in Naruto with a female batteling a male where she has won without help or having needed rescuing in the end. Have you noticed that Kishimoto seem determened to turn almost all the young Kunoichi into healers/medic-nin (Hinata, Sakura and Ino), the perfect excuse for making them avoid entering the battle action. The remaining kunoichi (Kurenai, Anko, Temari, Konan etc.) are seldom seen and when they are it’s usually either acompanied by or being all emotional about a current or former love interest.
It’s sadly a theme that is repeated in a lot of manga and anime.
Though was already sitting down — subject is missing.
I just skimmed through the first data book to check and it seems like you’re right about Temari (w/ the exception of Chouji; they’re about equal), but, really, she seems the exception to the rule more than anything else. Out of all the other females listed with the strength charts, the only other female who is the SAME in measurements of physical power is Anko. All the female genin from Konoha are so pathetically weak in that department it’s not even funny. Just to be thorough, I checked the third data book I had on hand and found that, while the girls ARE improved in that area, the increase is not as vast as their male counterparts (some of which shoot up so much I had to make sure this was only measurement for right before the time-skip and stuff). So, yeah. Plus, Temari’s two years older than the Rookie Nine, AND she’s arguably the ‘Naruto/Kiba/Chouji’ of the siblings.
But, yeah, what was I going to say again…? Oh, right, XD; I was going to comment how the last line (which is an ebil place to stop) made the trio look like gossipy housewives. You can just imagine them drawing the wrong conclusions; that’s how most whispered/hushed conversations like this end up.
Bleh; there was a ‘he’ in there at some point – and so the victims of overzealous revision begin to pile up in earnest -_-;…
Regarding the females’ abilities (or lack thereof): This is Naruto, and thus all about the boys. The only reason Temari is slightly stronger is because she had to present a semi-credible threat to Sasuke when he was chasing after Gaara – and she failed even in that. The only aspect where the girls seem to have a greater average talent in canon is genjutsu, and the author seems bound and determined to make sure that any genjutsu that isn’t based on the damn Sharingan is all but useless…
Anyhow, since i don’t want all of the kunoichi to be hopelessly outclassed in every way by the male ninja, i’m just going to ignore the unwritten rule that ‘boys always beat girls’ in any shounen manga that isn’t a harem story. :p
And under other circumstances i might have stopped with that line, or at certain parts even earlier in the conversation, but given what happens immediately after this talk, i’m not going to be able to come back to Kakashi for quite some time…
Kakashi replied, his flat voice and expression doing ever less mask the bite of betrayal in his words. — …not really sure. I just woke up so it might be a simple ‘does not compute’ due to that.
genjusu –> genjutsu
but no, that’s not the technique was thinking of. — missing an ‘I’.
Well, I think HunterxHunter would be an exception to the female rule. Look at Biscuit.
Anyway, I see something in the new stuff to pique Itachi’s interest by the sole fact the genjutsu mask can evade the advantage of sharingan, though I think he’s more of a genius than a pure copycat, sharingan user.
I also liked how you explained ‘Tenka Mikaku’ within the text itself and the style fits Sakura, who still sort of bulldozes her way through fights (her style is like Anko versus Kurenai’s; more instinctual than really thought thought out).
…ah, so Ino actually had Shikamaru help her think up tactics in the fight that resulted in Sakura’s burned bottom? XD; Does that mean Sakura would still win on a purely technique/powerhouse battle (i.e., those mindless brawls a la Sasuke and Naruto)?
Fixed, fixed and fixed; thanks!
I’ve never read HunterxHunter, so i dunno how to judge that one, but i will say that if the main character is male (and in these sorts of shounen manga, it usually is) then ultimately the boy always wins ^_^;…
Itachi might be a little interested, but then again, he probably already knows a technique similar to Sakura’s that works a hell of a lot better…
Yeah, Sakura does tend to ‘wing it’ a lot in this story. She puts in some initial planning, but when her plans inevitably fall apart she ends up doing a lot of improvisation, for better or for worse…
In terms of raw ability, Sakura and Ino actually are about even again, but they both have various situational advantages; Ino’s new technique is really very good, but it’s also somewhat limited by environmental factors… for now.
Actually, I meant Itachi being interested because of Sakura’s ability to tinker with a technique and the (successful) results. The whole sharingan mention is what perks his ears up, but it’s the fact his little brother’s female teammate (from a civilian family, he might know) actually accomplished that.
As for a stopping point, I love the fact Asuma actually ‘compared’ Sakura to Orochimaru AND Itachi, so I’d prefer if it was kept. Buuuut, you can always write the stuff after Kitsune-Tsuki in the Akatsuki duo’s POV. Man, I would love to be inside Itachi’s head when Asuma compared a rookie genin kunoichi to him. (Right now, I’m assuming it’s a mixture of surprise and hurt that brought about the gasp. Surprise means the duo was REAAALLLY into the gossip the trio was whispering about. And hurt because, well, he really didn’t go AWOL — or whatever you’d call the whole Uchiha Massacre incident — of his own violation. There were Orders, weren’t there?)
…and is it just me or is the paragraph directly after your last stopping point a deeper color than the rest of the text?
Huh… i had to bump up the thread limit to reply to this O_o;
Anyhow, Itachi was already a captain in ANBU when he was Sakura’s age, so he’s probably not too impressed. Also, her ability to tinker with a high-level genjutsu is interesting, but he works with a whole organization of people who all had already probably developed totally unique styles and techniques by the time they were Sakura’s age. Sakura is smart, but she isn’t the smartest member of her graduating class(Shikamaru), and she certainly isn’t a prodigy like Itachi was. She just uses her brains with her superior chakra control to do very hard (but not impossible) things, and make them look easy.
That’s Sakura’s strength, more or less: she has good comprehension and perfect control, so if she understands how a technique works (or at least has a good idea of how it works), she can usually execute it without much difficulty, as long as she’s physically/mentally/genetically capable of executing it at all. If she were shikamaru-level brilliant, though, she’d probably be scary enough for Itachi to take a real interest in her…
And that gasp wasn’t Itachi’s reaction, but you’re close; heheheh…
Finally, i fixed that odd coloration issue; wordpress does some weird things when you paste text into it…
In hunterxhunter, Biscuit of one of the main character’s teachers who looks like a cute girl most of the time but is actually a somewhat old and ridiculously muscular woman. I think she squeaks by that rule by being a teacher and thus getting personally involved less often.
Oh and I like the second one because it allows Asuma to explain his theory fully to the others and makes your next posted scene flow a bit better.
Wherein Kakashi finds how very little he knows about Sakura.
Is this scene complete? It sounds like it – I doubt that Asuma can fully explain Kitsune-Tsuki (he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person that would go looking around in Sakura’s files) and even if he could further explain it, would he seriously do so in a dango bar? Although, I would be horribly disappointed if Kakashi goes into the canon!coma with only a vague idea of what Sakura has been up to. It almost seems as though a Kakashi/Sakura confrontation is up next, but you seem adamant to obey the rules of canon. (why is beyoooond me)
I cannot wait for the next installment, considering I want to find out how this little scene will flow into the next…and I sorta want to find out how Sakura’s doing with her samurai training. (she really is shaping up to be a ninja wildcard, especially if she were to receive medic-nin training in this ‘verse)
I can’t decide whether to end this part of the scene with Asuma’s naming of the dreaded ‘Kitsune-Tsuki,’ or have it continue on to his explanation of why Sakura might have been forced out of being a ninja. Going longer also lets me add in a few other hints, but stopping earlier adds a sense of foreboding, i think.
Heh, we shall see how things go with Kakashi in this version. Though i fudge quite a bit, Sakura is the axis of change upon which the AU elements of this fic all hinge, so things not directly touched by her will tend to stay closer to canon. That’s how i’ve decided to write this, and i’m gonna stick to it as much as i can! That said, the changes that have been made to Sakura are large, and it’s been long enough now that the ripples of those changes are starting to get really significant…
And i hope you don’t expect too much of poor little Sakura-chan ^_^;. She’s only going to be at the castle for a few days; hardly enough time for any sort of drastic improvement in her abilities.
I think that you should keep the explanation of possible reasons Sakura was forced out just because it’s that good… but I can’t really make any judgments since I don’t know which scene is next.
Your Sakura-As-The-Axis-of-Change point almost makes me wonder how she affects her teammates, and how this tea-shop conversation + Kurenai not being there for the whole Kakashi vs. Itachi canon!scene will change. I don’t really expect much change in the latter – though it would be great if Kakashi didn’t go into a coma – I’m 75/25 sure you’re planning to go along with the Sasuke defection (esp. if Sasuke hears that Sakura had been receiving training from Orochimaru’s first apprentice) arc.
One last thing, no matter how well I can visualize things, I just cannot imagine Kisame gasping upon hearing that Sakura/Orochimaru-Itachi comparison thing. Some part of me sees him kind of amused that a kunoichi from a civillian family and teammate of both Akatsuki Target Numero Uno and partner’s foolish little brother would be eliciting this much mayhem when it would be expected that she’d be _normal_.
See Section 2.5 “A Brief Interlude…” for the answers to your questions about the mystery of the indignant gasp! With regard to the other stuff… this chapter will probably answer most of your questions, so i’ll just ask you to wait and see ^_^;…
“in favor of more a much more ‘physical’ focus.” I think you got one ‘more’ to much. Also: “-but no, that’s not the technique was thinking of. ” Is missing an “I”.
It’s really interesting to get an explanation for that ‘trick’ and information about the theory of the technique. It’s really an impressive feat for a twelve-year-old to invent such a technique.
Hope you get enough time for another update.
Sakura’s technique is actually probably only around C-Rank, which would make it on par with most of the ’signature’ techniques that every other genin has. I suppose this could considered a different kind of accomplishment, though, since she managed to make a C-Rank technique that does basically the same thing as a hypothetical B-Rank or A-Rank technique, but less effectively – and she probably only had the theory of the technique to work with…
Okay, yeah; she’s one smart cookie, bit this is actually canon. It’s stated several times (and, in fact, noted in the character books), that one of Sakura’s greatest natural talents is in genjutsu… and nobody ever teaches her any!
However she is the only one of her age-group (that I know of) to have created a technique (C-rank or not) from scratch without other help than theory texts. I find that much more impressive than being learnt a higher ranking technique (Chidori, Rasengan) by a master, or mastering and/or developing a family technique (with help).
It’s like teaching yourself advanced math with only the basic theory books and making up your own formulas: that is’nt the correct ones but work even though you don’t quite know why and nobody else seems to either.
Also her own techniques are fairly new and she has probably yet to fully master them. However with time, more training and knowledge she should also be able to refine and develop them like the other kids (like Ino did with Shikamaru’s help) are starting to do with their signature/family techniques.
Is’nt it about time for Sakura to start to deeper understand and perhaps (to some degree) start to master her new techniques, maybe even the “Kitsune-Tsuki”, or at least control it. Also even though she has (for good reasons) been banned from making more techniques (unsupervised), wouldn’t ANBU be quite interesed in having her develop more new techniques under their watchfull eyes. Even though she is still an genin and overall as you have pointed out not above chuunin level, she is still in her own way a genius and I highly doubt the higher ups would not try to utilise her talents. Wouldn’t it make sense to recruit and start carefully honing her as soon as possible, so that she as fast as possible can become a powerfull resource/addition. Is’nt that what pretty much happened to Sai, Kakashi and Itachi?
Yeah I know (has the first character book). It’s for example strange that nobody looked into her strange reaction and defeat of Ino’s technique during their chuunin match (after everything had settled down after the attack). Kakashi even mentions it after she smashes the ground around him. He say’s that she has potential to become more powerfull than Tsunade/the hokage since she originally is a genjutsu type, but does he help her. Oh nooooes, after that all focus moves to teaching Naruto. During that time all we see Sakura doing is popping up with (horrible) home cooked soilder pills and generally hanging around being all impressed with Naruto(really pisses me of).
Heh, the problem i keep running into with Suiren is that everything is happening pretty fast. For all of the other characters, quick advancement is reasonable because they are developing existing abilities/technique and/or they have help. With Sakura, that’s mostly not the case, so aside from the initial, large jumps in her ability and any new ‘breakthroughs’ she might make, it seems more reasonable that she improve only incrementally, given the timescale i’m working on and the other responsibilities she has. She will reap some benefits from her time with her grandfather’s men, but it will mostly be in the form of recognizing a situation where she is weak; the actual correction of that weakness will happen during the trip itself…
It’s right that most of the other kids have teachers and/or family to help them and/or are natural born geniuses, something that really speeds up their development.
Neither is Sakura a prodigy/genius in the sense that Itachi is and it would be unrealistic and downright wrong if she suddenly jumped to a much higher level than the rest.
However don’t cut Sakura short. She also has her own natural advantages that I’m staring to worry are being forgotten. Her intelligence is above average. I think I remember that she was at the top of most/all non-physical classes at the academy and she took the written part of the chuunin test without needing to resort to cheating, something the prodigies (ecept Shikamaru had he bothered) could not (I don’t think Sasuke or Neji would have cheating unless they saw it as less a risk than answering the questions themselves. If i remember right Sasuke even admitted to himself that he couldn’t answer the questions on his own) She unlike a lot of the other kids she has photographic memory (Shikamaru, Kakashi and Itachi also has it I think) and a naturally almost perfect chakra control. Also as has been repeatedly pointed out during the canon she has all the basics down really well. Also I think she might be ambidextrous
So even though she has lacked a teacher and proper teaching her development (except the physical) should still develop much faster than average so she shouldn’t really lag behind. She has no need to spend time memorising theory or seals only need to practice them and should be fast on the uptake. Stamina her weakest point and what should be the hardest and most time-consuming to improve (it should help that her precise chakra control keeps her from wasting energy though)
Her main setbacks other than her lack of teaching and stamina in the canon seemed to be her lack in self esteem, real motivation and her wish to adapt her behaviour to please her crush. For example as soon as she noticed Sasukes male ego taking a hit/he not liking it when she mastered the tree-climbing technique in a matter of minutes she seemed to start holding back and happy being protected by him in later battles rather than trying taking her own stand.
However in your fic she has developed much more self-confinence and seems to no longer feel such a need to take Sasuke’s feelings/ego into account. That in itself should make more of a difference than one might at first think. Also she has now received some teaching: She has already started improving her stamina with Gai, she seems to somehow have stolen some sort of information/intuition from Anko during the possession and she must have learnt something from Anko’s attempts at teaching (Also didn’t Yoshimaru show her some exercises?)
She will naturally not be at par with the samurai in samurai skills and stamina. However I hope that you’ll consider that she should still be able to stand her ground as a kunoichi and be fast to pic up new techniques, even if it’s unlikely that she would master them at once.
(Rooting for Sakura)
P.S. I KNEW that Itachi wasn’t the one to take a sharp breath. That would be to un-Itachi. Kisame was probably reacting to Itachi being mentioned.
Hmm… i don’t think i’ve been selling Sakura short, really, but i also don’t want her to start picking up new techniques left and right. This isn’t that kind of story, and Sakura doesn’t need to follow that route to be good at what she does. I have her development as a fighter planned out for the most part, but i hope you can be patient for it, because i don’t intend on leaving anyone else behind… except maybe Sasuke, unless he shapes up and fix that damn attitude problem…
Me neither I was taking about the comming chapters. I can be patient, and I also think such development should take some time.
Sasuke’s pride seems to get in the way. He has real issues when it comes to other kids his age other than himself himself being/becoming stronger. Particullary when it comes to asking for help. He just sort of assumes that the powerfull adults will automaticly offer to teach him because of who he is. I think the only time he actually asks for help is during the tree climbing exercise, and look how that ended. Makes for good comedy though.
Sasuke and Ino were also listening in? One of them (Ino)gasping makes mush more sense. Poor Sakura has no idea of what is awaiting her when she commes back
Ino wasn’t there, just Sasuke. He wasn’t exactly pleased by the mention of his brother, and even less pleased that Asuma mentioned him, Orochimaru and Sakura in the same breath ^_^;…
“in; hadn’t come here to scare them, and this was no laughing matter.” Should’nt it be a “he” in the beginning?
Stopping at “Kitsune-Tsuki” is more foreboding that’s true.
I think that it may work best to end the scene there (even as much as I like the “thought” part) as long as the the next part isn’t completely removed but rather added later. Maybe after a part about Sakura’s time with the Samurai’s (I wish her all the best luck there. Please don’t make her make a fool of herself)
You can have the “thought” part as the beginning of the Akatsuki chase/battle.
However in the end the choice is of course yours.
Will there be more updates this week? (please)
Added the ‘he’ back in.
And i hadn’t really planned on showing the fight, because its final outcome doesn’t change much and it’s largely inconsequential to the story. I also dunno if like the idea of making that tiny bit of text an out-of-sequence island later in the chapter; there is a lot of stuff going on in this chapter that has to follow that, chronologically, and what it reveals of Asuma’s reasoning might seem out of context later on. Plus, why would any of those three still be worrying about Sakura when they’ve just found Akatsuki prowling around the village?
I’ll try to update more this week, but i don’t get quite as much done on the weekdays.
Ok. If you are’nt planning on showing the fight then you should probably keep the later part where it is. It’s an interesting part so I hope you’ll keep it in the story and rather edit than remove it.
True, members of Akatsuki in the village is pretty high on the attention list. Though the “Sakura subject” will probably be remembered later, at least when she or Anko commes back (Sakura is the first one due to arrive back right?). Poor Sakura has no clues of what awaits her at home.
I know all about that ^v^;, well good luck! Looking forward to the next part.
Given the original, rather vague deadlines that Anko gave her, Anko is likely due back before Sakura is.
Wow i think the scene should end here. So I’m guessing Sasuke was suppose to meet him at the tea shop, but since the three are going after the two he’ll be a bit peeved.
The outcome of that fight might end differently because Gai is with them instead of him coming in after Kakashi is hurt.
It’s been so long since i’ve watched/read this part of Naruto i have to remember what happens next…
So Sasuke goes to kakashi’s apartment and finds out about itachi…and he then goes to find itachi at that other town and gets knocked out until Naruto goes and finds Tsunade(sp?)…right?…I think that’s right….
Sooo that gives Sakura about 2-3 weeks before they wake up? I dunno…lol and that’s only if Kakashi is also knocked out too…
I really want to see the whole deal with Sasuke, Ino, and Kiba though. I wonder if Ino will ask Sasuke if he knows anything about Sakura’s new technique…
I’m really curious as to what Anko’s doing too…will we be seeing any of her this chapter?
Oh this also makes me wonder since Sakura’s going to Sand with her grandfather will Sand negotiate with them about the release of Temari and any other prisoner of war? That’s gotta mean trouble for Sakura.
I really want to see how Kakashi will react to finding Sakura was just doing a mission instead of being kicked out…
This is just a thought about Kitsune-Tsuki:
I was also wondering, you know how Sakura survived those snake bites a while back…it looks like-to me anyways-like she’s absorbed some of Anko’s chakra giving her immunity to the poison (since Anko said she was also immune to it too)…if my thinking’s right, does that mean Sakura’s also absorbed Temari’s? It seemed like in the hot spring scene with Anko, she could feel the difference in the air temperature when the door opened, sort of like how Temari could feel the wind around her. Or it could be like what Anko said and she’s just paranoid…
Hmm… those are some interesting speculations… but i shall reveal nothing! Sakura’s mysterious technique shall remain a mystery for a bit longer… O_o;
Huh, that coincides nicely with one of my theories on why there was so much personality contamination from Anko, but not anything noticeable from Ino or Temari.
We know there is a bi-directional flow of chakra when Sakura is attempting to retrieve her ‘imprint’, and I think we can be fairly confident it also takes place when she creates a new imprint (whether willingly or not). I have been wondering how the bi-directional flow is affected when Sakura’s target is actively using chakra, especially if said chakra is genjutsu directed AT Sakura. I had thought that when Sakura first performed the Kitsune-Tsuki that the bi-directional flow caused Anko to accidentally imprint herself on Sakura as she was using genjutsu to override Sakura’s senses/reality. (This also had the side effect of stuffing a chunk of Anko’s chakra into Sakura, which allowed her to be unaffected by the snake’s poison.) However, your idea of Sakura absorbing chakra from her targets also leads to another interesting possibility: Due to the fact that Anko was actively using chakra against Sakura, Sakura absorbed a lot of Anko’s chakra, more than enough that when she retrieved her imprint from Anko, she also brought back an imprint of Anko which was then sustained by the chakra she absorbed from Anko. There is no imprint from Ino & Temari because Sakura didn’t absorb enough chakra to sustain a full imprint from them. If this is the case, then it could be that, eventually, the Anko imprint will fade once it has used up all of the chakra Sakura absorbed. (Assuming Anko can keep her hands to herself instead of continuously resupplying the imprint each time she touches Sakura.)
Of course by the time this has happened, Sakura may have grown used to acting in certain ways, that she doesn’t really notice the foreign motivations have gone, and that she’s acting that way because she’d learned to respond that way. (Pavlov – only with dango instead of bells.)
A more scary possibility is that the Kitsune-Tuski opens up both users to being possesed, but since Sakura is the only one attempting to ‘imprint’ her mind on her opponent, she’s the only one who succeeds in doing so. This also helps explain why Anko’s personality was merged with Sakura’s imprint, Anko’s genjutu caused her to add her personality to the imprint that took control, if Anko knew what was going on, it’s possible that the imprint would have been under Anko’s control, and if Sakura had retrieved it, Anko’s personality may have taken over Sakura’s body. Which is another good reason for it to be a kinjutsu.
The simplest theory is that, as mentioned in the story, Sakura’s first use of Kitune-Tsuki has yet to be deactivated, and if Sakura ever figures out how to turn it off, the imprints gained will fade away. (However this is less dramatic, and thus much less likely to be the case…unless inorder to turn it off, she must first return all the chakra she’s absorb back to who she took it from.)
Still this theory has a bit of a problem with the imprint that is still running around in Temari’s subconscious.
All of these fails to answer the important question of whether or not this technique works only because of Sakura’s ‘dual mind’ (and thus is actually fatal to anyone who does not have a similar mind), or if it will work for anyone with sufficent chakra control to perform a jutsu like this.
Interesting theory but i was wondering didn’t Sakura bit her tongue while she was trying to posses Anko? And the whole rat eating wasn’t actually real…maybe introducing her blood to the jutsu did something…
or I could be imagining everything…lol
Hmm… since i actually know how it works, i dunno if i should get into this conversation O_o;…
Ahah! I totally forgot Temari was with Kurenai already…lol
on that note i wonder if Temari will connect out the figure in her dreams to be Sakura…*grins evilly* I can’t wait to see Sakura’s reaction to seeing her again.
Well, Temari’s a smart girl… but Sakura was also pretty pathetic the last time Temari saw her – or at least the last time Temari remembers seeing her, since Sakura was wearing a mask back when she and Temari fought in the forest. Pink hair is pretty uncommon, so she might make a connection of some sort, but there’s a good chance it wouldn’t be the correct connection…
Give the contestant a prize! Yes, it was Sasuke that was so upset by Asuma comparing weak little Sakura to the target of his vengeance, Itachi.
I’m not going to say much to your other speculations, but you get to see Ino and Sasuke in the next scene, and given what he heard in this scene, Sasuke might not be in a very good mood.
Regarding Anko… you’re just gonna have to wait. No pretty snake lady in this chapter either ^_^;…
‘Tenka Mikaku, literally ‘The World is Uncertain,’ were genjutsu that affected targets solely on the subconscious level. Instead of crafting complex sensory illusions, they worked by manipulating the brain’s innate information management systems, subverting instinct, intuition and emotional response to cause the target’s mind to ‘misinterpret’ the information it was provided.’
Is it just me, or are all of Sakura’s new techniques she’s made Tenka Mikaku…the intimidation jutsu causes the opponent subconsciously to be frightened by her causing the whole Kiba almost wetting himself incident, and sasuke was frightened by it too…Kurenai was even impressed but the concealing one saying it self corrects…now if only Sakura focuses on perfecting it she’ll be really scary…i wonder what other things she can create with that type of genjutsu…
Reduce! Reuse! Recycle! Yes, most of Sakura’s new tricks are closely related – close enough that Sakura might not even consider them separate ‘techniques,’ though most other ninja almost certainly would. Kurenai’s observation about Sakura’s genjutsu being ’self-correcting’ reflects an aspect of it that’s both a strength and a weakness: as it has been noted before, Sakura has to actively maintain her concealment genjutsu. She can’t just ‘turn it on’ and then leave it until it expires or is broken. It’s probably a testament to her excellent control that she’s still able to even use hand seals while maintaining it…
As to what other things she can do… well, all i’m gonna say is, don’t expect anything flashy ^_^;…
I can’t believe this just struck me now, but didn’t Kakashi get Sakura’s letter – the one telling him to not be shocked about her “quitting”?
Oh! I totally forgot about that! Did it get lost in the mail…lol i love seeing the laid back kakashi actually doing something other than reading porn and being late…well that’s the stereotypical personality everyone writes about anyways.
I’m so excited!…though i should probably go to sleep…wow 5:02am…ya…
I actually had to go back and read the early chapters just to make sure that wasn’t really all he did. I found that Kakashi does have a little more characterization that than in canon, but it was still hard to figure out what he would do in this situation…