askerian | (no subject)

So I got a mail that asked about Teamwork!Sakura being weaker and stuff, and of course I rambled like crazy, and hey, I even figured out some shiny stuff for myself. This is my reasoning on how the teamwork dynamics are now and why exactly Sakura needs to get stronger. Please poke holes in my reasoning if you find any?

Well, in my mind Sasuke is more strongsexual than bi-with-leanings-toward-men. He's so focused on training and fighting and taijutsu, and he has such a problem with treating people as equals when they're not able to punch him in the face, (see how he really only *notices* naruto, Kakashi, gaara, Lee once lee has kicked his butt...) I've decided it made enough sense for me.

He likes Sakura, and he doesn't mind having to protect her, but that also makes him see her as something frail and precious to be put in a box, not as someone to throw down and do the bedroom dance with. And if she's not his equal physically, or at least closer to it than he is, there's a part of him that's obsessed with strength and power that doesn't take her seriously. So in the end he likes her, and she's his teammate and he'd never let her get injured, but he's not as attracted to her physically as he is to Naruto. (I think mostly Sasuke feels Naruto is safer to love because subconsciously he's pretty sure Naruto is immortal.) And when she's not sure of herself, emotionally speaking, she can't push past his usual emotional defenses and actually get to him. They still connect sometimes, but she just doesn't push him enough, and Sasuke needs to be pushed quite a bit to open up.

As for Naruto, he loves Sakura like she is, and he doesn't want anything to hurt her, ever ever. He knows Sasuke can take it, but he has a big problem with seeing Sakura hurt. ...So in the end it's pretty rare when she has something dangerous to fight, because he would do his best not to let it through. He doesn't have a problem with her being weak, frankly he doesn't care -- he'd be proud of her if she became kickass, but he'd love her just the same. He's proud of her for other things now -- but he's smothering her and he doesn't really notice.

The problem mainly isn't that being physically weak means she's less worthy of their love. The problem is that Sasuke has deep-seated issues about strength and so he keeps her at bay, and Naruto and him both want to care for her so much they end up rolling her in cotton fluff. What she needs most isn't really physicaly strength, it's the ability to tell them to back the hell off and let her do her part of the job, because she's tired of feeling like she's useless and only good at being pregnant. Problem is, she really is physically vulnerable and less skilled than the two of them, and that has an impact on her confidence elsewhere too. What she needs is to feel like she's carrying her weight.

I don't think the boys can realistically see her as an equal if, as their teammate, she's not actually their equal. Sure right now she does some strategizing, but Sasuke does that too, and besides it's not very useful if she can't be right there in the middle of the action with them. Plans change with contact with the enemy, after all, and she can't modify her plans and influe on the strategies of her teammates if she's hiding in the background. Also, being less confident means she doesn't present herself as being their equal, she doesn't push them to recognize her opinions as much as she should, and they subconsciously respond to that attitude.

But training with Tsunade would get rid of quite a bit of that, yes. ^-^

Like I mentioned a bazilion years ago in some ramble I did *cough* the problems with this Sakura's confidence issues are actually due to the fact that Sasuke came back from the Valley of the End. Who knew something good would come of that, right? XD But mostly this Sakura didn't go from begging naruto to bring back sasuke because she couldn't stop him, to deciding to get off her ass and go together with naruto next time. It went from begging naruto to bring back sasuke, to naruto (and kakashi) bringing back sasuke.

... And yet things didn't magically return to what they were before. Sasuke was badly injured, hated them, was utterly furious, feeling trapped and wanting nothing to do with them. He pushed them all away and things were broken and there was nothing she could do about that.

She didn't need to become physically strong, so she didn't. And and she felt guilty and useless and broken-hearted and all sorts of shiny things like that. >_>;;; She was left floundering and unsure, instead of getting the kick in the pants she needed. And then she felt bad because Sasuke reacted to them, for about two years, as if they were prison guards and not his friends, and he had something to *do* and they didn't let him, and she seriously wondered if they were selfish by wanting him to stay for their personal emotional wellbeing when he really didn't want to. That really didn't let her build up some confidence. u__u;;;;;;;

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

wow wow! o___o i shall take those lines as my personal bible when i'm trying to write IC ficlets. Actually i think it's MORE IC than the manga!! well done
(first time I understand something so neatly)

... XD;;;;; #>_># meep.

It's not actually possible to be more IC than the manga, you know XDDD Also I love how Sakura changed in the manga, I kinda wish I'd waited a few weeks to start Teamwork sometimes. >.> All that post-timeskip shinyness, prrprrprr.

Well, actually, you probably could. In my experience, even some of the best authors don't always understand their own characters to the fullest. You've read forewords about how such-and-such character surprised them and so-on, right? And that's sort of what editors have to do, isn't it? Catching OOCness in original characters and pointing out 'Hey, this is weird for him.'.

I think it's possible enough that you might understand T7 better than Kishimoto-san, but of course the only way to tell would be to teach you Japanese and stick you in a room together. :3

Either way, I still like your T7 best. ^^

... XDDDD;;;;;;;;;;;

asuka!T7: *is liked best. yay!* ♥

(why do i want to do a crossover with teamwork and current canon now. back off, stupid wormhole ideas. XD)

...There's no reason why you can't add elements of current cannon into Teamwork- Yamato, for instance, and things like Asuma and Kurenai getting married, etc. The things that don't effect Team 7 so much (or would help with training) would be easy to slip in. Akatsuki stepping up in their plans.

XD;; Feel free to punch me for encouraging this if you want to. I'd completely understand. Will post about the actual idea now. Just wanted to respond to that first :3;; ♥

XD I was thinking more of Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato meeting my threesome somehow. Mmm parallel universes.

But yeah, I'm already adding bits of current canon, whenever they fit. I don't think I've even mentioned Kurenai and Asuma before, but heh, that's easy enough. XD

..squee! I want to see that parellel crossover...It would so much fun! ...*.*..hehehe..sorta that whole what if vibe. ^-^ >> << I'd love just a small tidbit about that...but alas, I shall only get what you give ^-^

Ooooooh, the Teamwork dynamics would be even funner if it was post-Part II. o_

Hm, in a way they'd be simpler. there wouldn't be as much self-doubt and naruto and sakura would have started out feeling a lot closer.

In another way, oh man, how the hell do you justify PTSK!Sasuke coming back, getting drunk and perhaps knocking up Sakura? XD 1) the whole village would be all >O, not the mild >.> they're right now, and 2) Sasuke would never ever relax far enough to lose control one second and so teamwork wouldn't have started at all. Also yay tons of issues. XD

But man, the dynamics would be so shiny. *_*

I honestly think your reasoning is perfect- it makes perfect sense. They love her but their... maleness, I guess? XD; makes them want to keep her safe. Emotionally, she's probably stronger than the both of them. That's her strength.

What I'm wondering is how they'll deal with the later stages of the pregnancy. As a family, they'll grow stronger, but what about as professional teammates? Sakura will be forced to step down from the battlefield, because honestly the strain of most missions isn't good for any pregnancy.

You've probably already answered this somewhere, so forgive me for asking a repetitive question if that's so XD;;

XD I don't remember it being asked, at any rate not recently.

Well um. I dunno yet actually. Sakura will be Frustrated... But by then they'll be chuunin and *BEEP stuff happens* so they'll be a little less tense, Sasuke and Sakura will be a little less WAHH weak, Naruto a little less "THEY DUN RLY LUV ME" and everyone a little more OMGZ BABY. I'm hoping by the sixth, seventh month of her pregnancy, they'll be married... That's gotta be juuust a little distracting from all the "train train train obsess train" stuff. >_>;;;

Hey, just wanted to say that I love your T7 and ask if there is going to be anything after Teamwork 2?

Translation: Here's some non-canon bullshit to justify my Mary Sue-ish love of the SasuSasku ship; Sakura is a precious little flower everyone wants to craddle and protect, blah, blah, blah.

I'm amazed that you strip Sakura of any sort of virtue she's gained in part 2 for the sake of writing a threesome and think this is some of brilliant characterization. It isn't.

*sigh*

Translation: I have no actual counterarguments about your character analysis of this alternate evolution as a result of an absence of a life-altering event, therefore I will spout some venom at random hoping to score a hit and twist your words until they fit into my low, low opinion of you.

When you can list proper arguments in a neutral manner, I'll listen to your opinion. Right now, you're about as entertaining to listen to as any other nasty, spiteful fantwit.

... I don't even ship sasusaku on their own, for god's sake. And as part of team seven I like writing narusasu and narusaku better. My Sasuke's in love with Naruto and barely starting to let Sakura get closer than teammates! Do you edit your quotes out of context yourself or what? D:

does that mean sasuke finds kakashi, lee and gaara sexually attractive? i hope he never fights jiraiya

*sporfle*

It's not like he's got to actually desire every single person who's strong enough to matter. It just means he notices them. Whether or not he wants to fuck them after that, ehh. He doesn't come across as someone with a huge libido.

Though. XD Kakashi is his teacher, so in his mental "don't go there" folder, but if they were the same age, he might. He does admire Lee's taijutsu, it's his attitude that might be a turn-off. As for Gaara, he's kind of. Very insane. Also there was no real, personal connection between them, Gaara fixated on him at random for a while, Sasuke didn't care except as a way to measure his strength... The real connection was between Gaara and Naruto, the Gaara/Sasuke fight was really impersonal.

>.>;
bizarro!Sasuke: ... You know, you're exactly like Naruto would be at your age... Except with experience. *waggles eyebrows*
jiraiya: *BACKS THE FUCK OFF*