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(teamwork) author notes/ Sakura discussion
So I've received many comments about Teamwork!Sakura VS Canon!Sakura, some that I even sort of agree with. I already know how to fix her, or start to fix her, anyway! But it can't happen just yet, and in the meantime, she is still very much not post-timeskip!Sakura, and I can't just expect people to trust me for something like that. XD
So yay! TL;DR author notes ahoy. XD; Plz point out anything that isn't coherent with my explanations -- or heck, even anything that could be trimmed out to make it less OMG AN ESSAY YUCK ME NO READ.
Also, if you have anything to point out, or want to discuss characterization, please feel free, i'm open on the subject. u.u
Yeah, I'm aware that my Sakura is very much not current canon!Sakura. It bothers me, because I like kickass!determined!Sakura better than useless!unsure!weak!Sakura, and I'm having a hard time keeping Sakura's characterization consistent for my story. :sigh:
The problem is, in this world she doesn't have the same motivation.
In canon, suddenly Sasuke was gone on a quest to destroy his own soul; she had all the time in the world to think about what would happen to the boy she loved if they didn't get him back, and she was faced, rather brutally, with the fact that Naruto could not fix everything -- and especially with the fact that just because Naruto could perhaps fix most things, it didn't mean it was okay for her to use him to further HER goals, even if he got hurt in the process, instead of getting off her ass and doing it herself, or at least giving him a hand. And then Naruto was leaving with Jiraiya, Team Seven was exploding, and she needed to do something, and hey! Tsunade was there and Sakura had nothing to lose by asking.
In Teamwork, she barely had the time to realize that Sasuke was gone after rejecting her, and then Naruto was bringing him back. Sure, he brought back a Sasuke who was seriously unbalanced, and furious, and pretty close to hating the two of them forever, on top of a Sasuke who had months of hospital stay to look forward to. It took about three to four years for Team Seven to go back to their pre-Itachi camaraderie, and in the meantime there was uneasiness and resentment and confusion. But Sasuke was there, he wasn't gone, he was slowly getting better. And she was at a complete loss as to how to help him, because he didn't need saving, he didn't need physical fixing (well, not from her anyway), he needed healing of the soul, and he didn't want to be healed. She didn't NEED to become stronger right here and now, so she didn't seek out Tsunade. She worked on her skills on her own, with a few pointers from Kakashi and Shizune, maybe a little more motivated than before, and she tried to pretend that nothing within their team had changed. After all, Sasuke was still there, right?
Sure, Teamwork!Sakura wants to improve, but it's mostly for herself and to improve her self-respect; it isn't to bring back Sasuke like in canon, because Naruto already did that. And it's been proven many times that she doesn't have Naruto's drive and even less Sasuke's obsession; simply wanting to be stronger isn't reason enough for her. Her teammates, and presumably her friends and family, would be reason enough... if they had the good sense to put themselves in the kind of danger that Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't fix in two days, without bothering to wait for her.
She only progressed so fast during the Timeskip because she was totally on her own and it was... not "do or die", but close (that and Tsunade gave her exactly the kind of training she needed -- not to badmouth Kakashi but he really didn't take care of her specific needs all that well); Teamwork!Naruto and Sasuke have the best intentions in the world when they protect her, and she wouldn't throw away their support for anything, but they've been stifling her growth. But seeing how much it would hurt her to be separated from them, especially since she has never wanted to be strong just for the sake of being strong, I think she'd rather progress more slowly and stay with them, even if sometimes it chafes a bit.
But damn, it's hard to juggle the two versions sometimes. I have to check all the time that I'm not leaving her at the exact same place she was at twelve, or that I'm not going too fast and making her badass like her Timeskip self without enough justification (and then there's the pregnancy hormones and mood swings to balance too -- and I know it's still too early for a normal pregnancy, but hers isn't what I'd call normal. She'll be lucky if she stops getting morning sickness by her fifth month, for example.)
So dude. I KNOW she's not as cool and badass as manga!Sakura. She can't realistically be. She has no reason to just yet. I'm going to fix that, in a manner that works with the Teamwork universe. I hope it will work. But in the meantime you will have to trust me, and tolerate weaker!Sakura a little while longer.
I'm counting on all of you to tell me if I'm going too fast or too slowly with her growth, please. My ego is fine, and I know I'm not bad at this writing thing, but I know I'm certainly not perfect either. I won't get better if I don't know where the problems are. I don't need you to give me "oh, no, she's in character!" comments if you don't honestly think that she is, for this setting; I can't feel her POV as well as I feel Sasuke's, and I very much need people to spot for me on that.
Hell, I can't feel Naruto's POV as well as Sasuke's either, and sometimes it seriously bugs me. Hnngh. I have a feeling I tend to make Naruto way too cool, and while I like him being cool sometimes, well... it's not very IC either.
Also, I definitely should have more Kyuubi and Inner Sakura cameos. :prods muses: Gimme funny-growly, you.
So yay! TL;DR author notes ahoy. XD; Plz point out anything that isn't coherent with my explanations -- or heck, even anything that could be trimmed out to make it less OMG AN ESSAY YUCK ME NO READ.
Also, if you have anything to point out, or want to discuss characterization, please feel free, i'm open on the subject. u.u
Yeah, I'm aware that my Sakura is very much not current canon!Sakura. It bothers me, because I like kickass!determined!Sakura better than useless!unsure!weak!Sakura, and I'm having a hard time keeping Sakura's characterization consistent for my story. :sigh:
The problem is, in this world she doesn't have the same motivation.
In canon, suddenly Sasuke was gone on a quest to destroy his own soul; she had all the time in the world to think about what would happen to the boy she loved if they didn't get him back, and she was faced, rather brutally, with the fact that Naruto could not fix everything -- and especially with the fact that just because Naruto could perhaps fix most things, it didn't mean it was okay for her to use him to further HER goals, even if he got hurt in the process, instead of getting off her ass and doing it herself, or at least giving him a hand. And then Naruto was leaving with Jiraiya, Team Seven was exploding, and she needed to do something, and hey! Tsunade was there and Sakura had nothing to lose by asking.
In Teamwork, she barely had the time to realize that Sasuke was gone after rejecting her, and then Naruto was bringing him back. Sure, he brought back a Sasuke who was seriously unbalanced, and furious, and pretty close to hating the two of them forever, on top of a Sasuke who had months of hospital stay to look forward to. It took about three to four years for Team Seven to go back to their pre-Itachi camaraderie, and in the meantime there was uneasiness and resentment and confusion. But Sasuke was there, he wasn't gone, he was slowly getting better. And she was at a complete loss as to how to help him, because he didn't need saving, he didn't need physical fixing (well, not from her anyway), he needed healing of the soul, and he didn't want to be healed. She didn't NEED to become stronger right here and now, so she didn't seek out Tsunade. She worked on her skills on her own, with a few pointers from Kakashi and Shizune, maybe a little more motivated than before, and she tried to pretend that nothing within their team had changed. After all, Sasuke was still there, right?
Sure, Teamwork!Sakura wants to improve, but it's mostly for herself and to improve her self-respect; it isn't to bring back Sasuke like in canon, because Naruto already did that. And it's been proven many times that she doesn't have Naruto's drive and even less Sasuke's obsession; simply wanting to be stronger isn't reason enough for her. Her teammates, and presumably her friends and family, would be reason enough... if they had the good sense to put themselves in the kind of danger that Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't fix in two days, without bothering to wait for her.
She only progressed so fast during the Timeskip because she was totally on her own and it was... not "do or die", but close (that and Tsunade gave her exactly the kind of training she needed -- not to badmouth Kakashi but he really didn't take care of her specific needs all that well); Teamwork!Naruto and Sasuke have the best intentions in the world when they protect her, and she wouldn't throw away their support for anything, but they've been stifling her growth. But seeing how much it would hurt her to be separated from them, especially since she has never wanted to be strong just for the sake of being strong, I think she'd rather progress more slowly and stay with them, even if sometimes it chafes a bit.
But damn, it's hard to juggle the two versions sometimes. I have to check all the time that I'm not leaving her at the exact same place she was at twelve, or that I'm not going too fast and making her badass like her Timeskip self without enough justification (and then there's the pregnancy hormones and mood swings to balance too -- and I know it's still too early for a normal pregnancy, but hers isn't what I'd call normal. She'll be lucky if she stops getting morning sickness by her fifth month, for example.)
So dude. I KNOW she's not as cool and badass as manga!Sakura. She can't realistically be. She has no reason to just yet. I'm going to fix that, in a manner that works with the Teamwork universe. I hope it will work. But in the meantime you will have to trust me, and tolerate weaker!Sakura a little while longer.
I'm counting on all of you to tell me if I'm going too fast or too slowly with her growth, please. My ego is fine, and I know I'm not bad at this writing thing, but I know I'm certainly not perfect either. I won't get better if I don't know where the problems are. I don't need you to give me "oh, no, she's in character!" comments if you don't honestly think that she is, for this setting; I can't feel her POV as well as I feel Sasuke's, and I very much need people to spot for me on that.
Hell, I can't feel Naruto's POV as well as Sasuke's either, and sometimes it seriously bugs me. Hnngh. I have a feeling I tend to make Naruto way too cool, and while I like him being cool sometimes, well... it's not very IC either.
Also, I definitely should have more Kyuubi and Inner Sakura cameos. :prods muses: Gimme funny-growly, you.