Breaking In Louise (ZnT Discussion) Pt 3

No, Sakura is completely trained.

She is just not in the special S class bracket Naruto and Sasuke play around in.

Or at the beginning of the series in the experienced combat veteran bracket.

Which she has fallen into at the beginning of Shippuden. Obviously she has a few weak points still and also obviously she has a massive, Sasuke shaped one as well. But a combat veteran she is at the beginning of Shippuden. Otherwise Sasori would have whiped the floor with her. Help or no help.

incompletely trained? post-timeskip sakura, should be very near Jounin level, and she together with Naruto did make Kakashi sweat, who by the way, is among the best you'll find among jounins until you start dealing with S-class monsters.

Sakura has game. She has always had game. Of course she had the badass game you get from a first or second gen nin non bloodlined.

Unfortunately she got slotted into the class with all the heir of great bloodline ninja families where if your if your kid can't reasonably be expected to take down a chunin he's pathetic.

Even more unfortunately she got put on a team with nin whose biological disposition and histroy makes it so that if they aren't pushing S-rank by twenty years old they are deliberately trying not to. S ranks are akin to humanoid typhoon little godlings then men.

She was a fairly normal if badass nin who fell into can't catch up becuase she was still human surrounded by godlings.

This story would be an excellent time to let her shine. They can even commiserate once they break the ice so to say. Then you will have mountain busting medic Sakura playing guard for big bomber Louise who is shooting explosions the size of Gamabunta. The Pink Devils Strike.

in other words, Kishi sucks at preparing a story, and it originally was a shonen series.

Pre-time skip she was still apprentice level (Genin).
Since she doesn't have access to the awesome but impractical skills, she can train in her practical but uninteresting skills until the she is scary through pure competence. If she has the same rune on her, she would be a near perfect assassin.

I enjoyed the snippets for the Sakura snippet. Though I have to agree that she is cautious for the wrong reasons. She would be competent enough to see it is not an act.

This reminds me in the second snippet the runes should have activated when she held the kuni, they are made to be weapons, it should/would turn on the runes.

Louise summons this person as a familiar.



Louise, meeet Courage the cowardly dog. The bravest and most badass canine in the whole of the multiverse. He who has faced unending terrors for the ones he loves.

What about Muriel? Already dead, and therefore out of the picture?

I was thinking one to two years after the series. Muriel and the farmer are fairly old, it wouldn't be a stretch for them to be dead. Causing poor little courage to be left all alone~.

And something that happened to courage expanded his life time significantly. I want to see him weilding Derf like Lion sora from KH2.

Remember the stuff he got involved with? I'd be surprised if he was entirely mortal or canid at this point. Apart from anything else, he and his parents lived with a mad scientist vet from his birth until the vet shot the parents to the moon, so there was probably enough tampering to justify extended lifespan there.

I think the familiar bond extends lifetimes.. How else would you get mice and owls and other animals to live as long as their summoners. If the runes didn't make the animals live long, they'd have to summon new ones every couple of years.

Thank you all for your comments. Once I finish the bit after this snippet I think I'll be ready to gather everything together and call it chapter one... once I come up with a title.

Usually I have trouble forcing myself to write 1000 words a day, but this one really caught hold of me for some reason. I don't think I'll keep up this pace, but I'm definitely going to stick with it.

BTW, I'll fully admit that my FoZ canon knowledge is a little shaky (mostly originating from stories rec'd by this thread) so I tracked down an online copy of the story to read. I have to say, it's... not good. Assuming the baka-tsuki translation is accurate, I'm not even sure it's better than the average FoZ fanfic.

Thanks again for all the critiques and nitpicking, I appreciate it all.

--

Two hours after entering the city, Sakura was seated on a bench in one of Tristania's busy market squares, cradling a bag full of rocks under her cloak, and waiting. She was currently in part of the city that had been left to commoners, although it was generally populated by the more upscale sorts of commoners. The mages' section of the city had been surprisingly easy to pick out--all of the mages favored the same sort of outfits as she had seen on the students the previous day--and commoners entered at their peril. Sakura had seen several commoners disciplined by mages for offenses against courtesy that seemed to her to have been minor at best.

The most striking thing was that all of the mages had performed their techniques with absolutely perfect control. Sakura liked to think of her own chakra control as perfect, but she knew that it was in reality only very very good. She, like every ninja she knew, lost a little bit of chakra as a byproduct of performing any ninjutsu. The mages of Tristain, however, performed their techniques with little effort and no chakra loss whatsoever. Even when she was nearby when a "spell" was performed, she had been completely unable to sense the chakra being used by a mage. This, along with all of the other impossible things she had seen done, was more than enough to keep Sakura confined to the commoners' part of town.

She took some comfort from the fact that the nobles largely limited themselves to humiliation and minor physical torment. She had not seen anyone publicly executed or tortured, although of course that could simply mean that such things were handled discreetly in Tristain. With her inability to sense their techniques it was hard to rule anything out.

Sakura's thoughts were diverted from their dark path when she saw just the man she had been waiting for. A prosperous merchant had completed his shopping and was walking across the market square, groceries in hand. She had seen him put away his money bag on his right hip, and it looked like it was still pretty full even after his purchases. Sakura nonchalantly rose to her feet and made her way across the square.

She did not make eye contact with her mark, but she was careful not to pointedly look away from him either. Rather, her eyes roamed naturally around the square as she allowed the crowd to carry her past the man, brushing up against his cloak for the briefest instant. Of course, for a trained kunoichi, an instant was all that she needed to switch her bag of rocks for his bag of gold. The difference in weight was little enough that the man was unlikely to notice the theft until the next time he needed to spend his money.

That mission completed, Sakura began her next mission by seeking out a nearby member of the city watch. This served two purposes. First, should her mark discover that he had been robbed, the sweet little girl already talking to a law enforcement officer was unlikely to be a subject of suspicion. Second, she really did need to ask for directions.

"Excuse me, officer?" She asked.

"Yeah?" The watchman, who was hardly an officer of any sort, nevertheless puffed himself up as he turned to face Sakura. "What do you need, little girl?"

"Well," Sakura forced down her irritation and focused on looking as cute and harmless as possible, "my master sent me to market to buy some reagents, but I don't know where to go..."

"Feh, isn't that just like a noble," the watchman commented, shaking his head. "You just need to go to one of those Academy supply stores, just look for the mortar and pestle on the sign. I think there's one around that corner."

Sakura followed the officer's directions and soon found herself on a broad market street. The stores in this area looked well cared for, with sparkling clean windows and fresh coats of paint. The whole area had a sort of aura of classiness that Sakura associated with Konoha's upscale market district. Sure enough, about halfway down the street she came across a building bearing a sign with the mortar and pestle.

Entering the apothecary, Sakura found herself in another world. The large store was crammed full of shelves carrying every imaginable mystical ingredient. Shelves full of powdered metals butted up against shelves full of mysterious liquids, which themselves adjoined shelves covered in glass jars full of herbs. Sakura thought she recognized some of the plants, but otherwise she was completely lost. Fortunately, the store owner was an older man who looked particularly vulnerable to her puppy dog eyes technique.

"Excuse me, sir," Sakura clasped her hands together as she approached the counter, the very picture of helpless innocence. "My master sent me here to buy some reagents, but I didn't write them down and now I don't know what to do! Can you help me, please?"

"Well, that's easily remedied." The shopkeeper replied, gracing her with a grandfatherly smile. "I may not be a mage, but I know my reagents. If you know what spell your master is trying to cast, I can tell you what you need to buy."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Sakura exclaimed, smiling at the man in gratitude... before her face fell. "But I don't remember the spell! Maybe you could tell me about some of the reagents to help jog my memory?"

As it turned out, the man was happy to tell her about his wares, and in fact was happy to spend nearly an hour educating Sakura about the different reagents, their effects when used in combination, what sort of spells they were good for, and of course, their market price. They were interrupted a few times by customers looking to make purchases, but he was always happy to restart his lecture from where he left off.

When the storekeeper finally ran out of things to say, Sakura opened her money bag to examine its contents before plastering a look of concern on her face. "Oh no! I think my master wanted me to buy the tears from the water spirit, but those cost way more than the amount of gold that she gave me. I'll have to go back to her and see what she wants to do!"

Sakura thanked the storekeeper for his time and made her way out of the store with an invitation to return any time she needed to get her shopping done. She pulled out a scroll as soon as she was out of sight of the shop and wrote down a list of reagents, ordered by market value. Her memory was good, but mission critical information was too important to trust to memory alone.

Mission objective achieved, she made her way back to a restaurant that she had spotted earlier, planning to buy a meal with her purloined gold. She had eaten some ration bars on the way to town, but there was nothing like a freshly cooked meal to get her ready to face the rest of the day.

--

Sakura was feeling a little frustrated as she bade farewell to the eighth apothecary she had visited after lunch. All of the storekeepers had been very friendly, albeit disappointed to discover that she hadn't brought enough money with her to buy the reagents her master wanted. However, she hadn't been able to get a feel for their security systems at all. She hadn't seen any security seals or felt the faint chakra pulse generated by passive notification wards at any of the stores. Unfortunately, with the perfect chakra utilization that was apparently common to this world, there was no guarantee that wards would generate any chakra for her to feel. She was starting to seriously consider visiting the apothecaries on the nobles' side of town, just to see the type of security setup used by what was presumably a higher value, higher security target.

Before she had worked up the nerve to take such a risk, her eye was caught by an apothecary's sign hung up in an alleyway that she had been walking past. The alleyway was clean and well lit, but was narrow enough that it would never be mistaken for a major shopping destination. Intrigued, Sakura made her way towards her tenth apothecary of the day.

Inside, the store looked much like the others that she had visited over the course of the day, other than the appearance of the storekeeper. Like the other storekeepers, he looked to be in late middle age, with a generous sprinkling of grey in his chestnut colored hair. Unlike the other storekeepers, he was built like a bear. Even sitting behind the counter he towered over Sakura, and in breadth he made three of her. He had the solid look of a man who used to be quite fit, but had let himself go somewhat with retirement from active life.

The storekeeper also differed from the others in that did not smile at Sakura when she inquired as to the price of bitterroot extract. In fact, he scowled at her as he replied. "You don't have the look of a noble about you, girl."

Sakura did her best to blush demurely. "I'm afraid I'm not a noble, sir, I've simply been sent on an errand by my master-"

"If you're not a noble, I can't sell to you." The man interrupted. "The last time I sold a reagent to a commoner the fool used it to poison his wife. Those Tristainian dogs in the city watch tried to blame me for the whole thing."

Sakura didn't say anything for a moment as she tried to think of a way to turn the situation to her advantage. Taking her silence for sympathy, the storekeeper continued talking. "It's easy enough for those cowards to threaten an old shopkeeper. Tsch, I would have liked to see them on the battlefield back in the war. Like as not the only reason any of them would live would be that they would run away too quickly."

"Oh my," Sakura said, genuinely surprised to hear such openly spoken anti-Tristainian sentiment. "You were in the army?"

"In the army?" The man asked, incredulous. "I was the greatest swordsman in the greatest company in the second greatest division of the Germanian army! I wager there's still songs being sung back in the Germanian taverns of the exploits of Osmond the Blade!"

"Really?" Sakura asked, properly awed.

"Of course." Osmond reassured her. "There's the tale of Osmond the Blade and the Vineyard of Gallia! Osmond the Blade and the Pit Scorpions of the Holy Land! Osmond the Blade and the Treachery of Romalia! Many songs were sung of Osmond the Blade."

"But then," Sakura asked, hesitantly, "why are you here in Tristania?"

"Ah, well," Osmond muttered, slightly shamefaced, before regaining his determined expression. "They forced me out of the army. Said I was 'undermining authority' and 'harming unit cohesion.' As if it's my fault that they didn't have a man with the steel in his spine needed to lead Osmond the Blade!"

Osmond relaxed from the almost military posture he had assumed during his speech, and shrugged. "After that, well, Germania is a great country, but a poor one. I came here to Tristania so I could sell my wares to the rich. And the brats attending the Academy are some of the richest in Tristain."

Osmond paused, before continuing to unburden himself. "Mind, I don't hold with magic much myself. Osmond the Blade never needed more than honest Germanian steel in his hands to defend his home and country! But if that's what these Tristainians want to learn, and this is what they're willing to buy, well, it's a living."

"So," Sakura asked, bringing the conversation back on topic, "there's no way you can sell me any reagents at all?"

"Ah, you're a sweet girl, to listen to an old man ramble on, but I'm afraid I can't." Osmond said, sighing. "Send your master to me, though, and she'll find no better prices and no better quality reagents than here, in the store of Osmond the Blade!"

Sakura bade the big man farewell, and made her way out of her store. She mentally marked one more mission objective complete as she headed out of town.

Sakura made herself walk far enough into the forest to be invisible from the city walls before she allowed herself a subdued fist-pump and a softly spoken "Shannaro!"

"Osmond the Blade!" hehe I like.

Though I feel that I should inform/remind you that the headmaster of the academy is named 'Old Osmond'.

Hmm, do you would tackle elemental affinity with this? As I recall, Sakura wasn't specified in canon, so you could improvise...

On the other hand, Sakura picking a wand and starting to cast water spells may be a bit overkill.

Hmm, I guess that would make Time-Space manipulation affinity (Shikamaru's?) as void?

You guys mean "Experienced"? as in 'Strong does not mean she's experienced'?

No. Shikamaru also has never had his affinity specified in canon (in fact of Team 8, only Asuma had a defined elemental affinity), his techniques were used to benchmark our understanding of Yin and Yang nature manipulation. Shikamaru's shadow techniques are yin nature manipulation, which is very heavy on the spiritual component of chakra, while Choji's physical manipulation technique is a technique of yang nature manipulation, which is very heavy on the physical component of chakra.

Bravo bravo. I think I see the runes influence and it so much more insidiuos and effective on sakura. What's worse is that her mindset defeats her from the get go.

She is a ninja and a kunoichi in loyalty family preaching Konoha. Ninja are servants. Ninja are obedient. ninja are loyal. Ninja are tools. Ninja should be willing to suppress personal desires for the good of the whole and more importantly thier masters even to the point of using one's body as a weapon fro your lord. Ninja respect tradition and social classes. Konoha ninja hire themselves out.

Can you see it now?

Since the first snippet with Sakura implies that she's summoned after the Kazekage Rescue Arc, then I can't wait to see everyone's reaction to her when Fouquet steals the Staff of Destruction.

Giant Earth Golem vs. Fist that can make a Mountain say 'Ouch!'? ;7

Of course, for further fun later in the story there's Montmorency; or more specifically, her familiar Robin. Robin, for those who don't remember, is a frog. Now Sakura might be able to break and heal the human body in more ways that anyone can count; but that doesn't make her an expert on amphibians. In other words, for Sakura Amphibian + Summon = Toad. I'm sure that this could be stretched into a running gag where Sakura tries to borrow Robin to get a message to Naruto.

why not make Robin a member of the Toad clan?

Well, well, well, I am really interrested in your FoZ/Naruto crossover now. I hate Naruto post-Shippuden, but it doesn't matter.

*chuckles*

I think...
I made a bad innuendo...

She was studying summoning and is trained by 'nade. She probaly knows all aobut slugs and toads.

The innuendo was there since the beginning, but you're right, the real meaning was that Sakura has only a few years under her belt, not like some ninjas who are in the trade for decades.

That would be very interesting...

************

Sakura suddenly found herself with a weight on her chest while sleeping on her makeshift bed, considering her master started to literaly kick her from the bed while sleeping.

"Hey, you." Whispered a voice in between croaches. "Are you really a shinobi from Konoha?"

She wake up in an instant, knocking down the frog(?) from her.

"Hey!"

"Sorry". She whispered back in a hushed tone. "I was right, then? You're a toad from the Myobokuzan?"

"Yeah. Name's Gamatarou, nice to meet you."

"Good, then you can give a message to Naruto to rescue me?"

"Sorry, but I can't". He said in a dejected tone.

"What! Why you can't? Something wrong?"

"Yeah. Can you see this seal?" He shows the rune planted on him. "It shows 'ownership' to this land 'mages', and summoning jutsu to affect me so I can't reverse summon back home. It is also hard to go against their wishes and it is becoming more and more difficult to think about home, I suspect it is some form of mind-controling seal."

Sakura was startled to this revelation. She was placed in a Cursed Seal? Suddenly she found she could understand him much more deeply because of that.

Wait. 'Him? Why 'him' and not use his name in the first place?' Thought Sakura. She forced herself a little more to summom the actual name of the person she once shared a bound as a team mate, and possibly loved.

Sasuke.

What else she had to force herself to think, to remember? Maybe she could test it later?

No. Not later. She had to do it now.

Konoha.

Tsunade.

Naruto.

Kakashi.

Shizune.

Ino.

Gaara.

Orochimaru.

Sasuke.

"Damn, this seal is good. If you didn't brought it up before I don't believe I would catch it up."

"Yeah right, this thing is good. I was trying to reverse enginer it, I'm quite good at seals you know, but it became harder and harder to bring myself to do it, let alone do it while she can't see me. Maybe now your help we can find a way to break this seal so I can get back home."

"I think I have some talk to do with this place teachers and my 'master' later. I just hope she didn't knew she placed a cursed seal on me, otherwise..."

She tried to complete her thought but found difficult to do so. The difficulty turned into frustration, and frustration turned rage and eventually hatred, but it was difficult to point it to a specific target. The leaked killing intent made Louise wimper on her sleep, and seeing that Sakura softened her eyes for a bit, but quickly placed an scowl on her face.

"Yes, if it is difficult to deal with your own 'master', them perhaps trying for the necks of the castle senior teachers might yeld some results."