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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;;;;;;;
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;;;;;;;