The Pink Blossom Quest Library

[Biigoh]

At the rate I'm writing these essays Danzo will adopt Sakura.



Essay on the Responsility and Duty of Power

By

Sakura Haruno

When asked to answer a life-defining philosophical question that have plagued mankind in general and shinobi in particular since time immemorial, if not from their very beginnings one must first make sure that she is, in fact, going to answer the question asked, and not what she thinks was asked of her. If this bad pun may be forgiven, one must define the definitions. And in the case of this question, the words that need defining are Responsibility, Duty and Power, all cornerstones and guiding lights of the shinobi, and, in truth, not just shinobi, but every life.

For the first two of those I will be using a dictionary definitions, as those would likely be the least disputed and most widely accepted. The nuances of shinobi understandings of those words are, while important, not great enough, I believe, to warrant attempts to come up with specific definitions for them alone. After all, shinobi are not the only ones who are responsible and not the only ones to know duty, as samurai, daimyos or even merchants would attest to.

The dictionary I used, obtained in Konoha public library eloquently defines responsibility as the state of being responsible. The definition of "responsible" however, is of more use, stating that being responsible is "being answerable or accountable, as for something within one's power, control, or management". What is interesting here is that even in civilian-created book power is intrinsically interwoven with responsibility, inseparable from it. The other definition form the rather long list which is given in the book, including an unhelpful "involving accountability or responsibility", that, I assume is applicable to the question in hand, is the one telling me that being responsible is being "chargeable with being the author, cause, or occasion of something".

The second word of the question before me, by order, but not by importance, is duty. Its definition is far more straightforward and non-recursive, something that I think is owed to the fact that everyone in our world, be they civilian scholar or a mighty warrior, are far more intimately acquainted with duty than with responsibility. Two of the list of definitions are something that I believe is relevant to the topic at hand. The fist one is "something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.". The second one, more interesting by far, is "the binding or obligatory force of something that is morally or legally right; moral or legal obligation". It is more interesting because the duty in it is equaled with "force" or, in other words "power".

Perhaps it can even be said that the question before me is not the one aimed at testing my ability to understand the relationship between the concept of power and two other different, if related, concepts, but rather the one investigating my level of comprehension of the full and vast concept that is the "power".

And here I come to the last, or, perhaps, only word of the question asked of me. Power. To attempt to explain it I will not be using dictionary definitions, for this is an essay meant to be written by a shinobi student and read by a shinobi teacher, and I have yet to come across a shinobi dictionary. As such, I will try to formulate my own definition, based on my experiences and thoughts.

So, what is power? Is it the level of the mastery of combat? Another name for chakra perhaps? Some foolish student can perhaps answer like this, but then one would only have to look at the ruling daimyos, by whose word thousands of powerful samurai and shinobi alike died without question, and this notion would be dispelled. Without question daimyos, any of whom can be killed in direct combat by even a weakest genin, are powerful indeed. Perhaps, then, power is the ability to command to kill? This one is closer to the true meaning, I think, but is still incorrect. For look at merchants – yes, they can commission shinobi services, but can you imagine any village taking an assassination contract on a daimyo from even the richest of merchants? And yet in some aspects it is money and those who hold the money that truly control the world.

No, at the core of it, it is my belief that power is what can also be called "potency" or "freedom". It is one's ability to affect the world around him and to control one's own self, directly or otherwise. It is the measure of how free, internally and externally one is.

And in this paradigm the question indeed collapses into itself, unraveling as the zen koan it truly is.

The responsibility of power is power and the lesser powers. For power cannot, by definition, affect greater power, and can affect lesser ones, or spawn new ones, growing as it does so.

The duty of power is to be. It is to exist and grow, to develop and mature, to propagate and change as needed. It is, simply, to be.

For without it there is nothing. No duty. No responsibility. No shinobi. No self.

Click to shrink...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for a larger version​

Sauce is Danbooru - /post/show/871433/d

[X] Visit the Uchiha wounded in the hospital?
[X] Do a jutsu study exchange with Fishcake and other classmates. + write-in variations
[X] Focus on lessons given by father about being a merchant. More on the job training.
Sakura Event - 1d100=1

"You were warned," That dry voice. It sounded like the old man Hokage. You paused where you were about to enter Uchiha Mikoto's room. "When the Uchiha joined Konoha, you were told in no uncertain terms that your clan had to change."

"And you would have us just give up our traditions? Our ways since before the World Moved On?" It sounded as if the head of the Uchiha clan wasn't happy. "I told that bothersome man that if the Uchiha were to join his village, that the inner workings of my clan was handled by me, just as the other clans handled themselves."

"I yielded in that war when I did not have to," She seemed rather unhappy. Still, did this mean that she was older than the village?

[Yeah... most likely, dammit, what is it with people not looking their age? Even I looked my age when I grew old... kind of. But still... this is just plain unfair.] You tune the grumblings of your other voice as you stood outside the head of the Uchiha's room when she was recovering. It appeared that she had been one of those affected.

"And yet, here we have the results of your handling of clan matters," The Hokage continued on.

"... you dare? Ju... just get out, Hiruzen," The voice was now tight. As if violence might be unleashed and while she might regret it later, she would still follow through.

"As you wish, lady Uchiha." With that, you can hear movement from inside.

You scoot back away in the corridor and watch the Hokage exit the room and walk in your direction.

The pause as he took in where you were peering around the corner of the corridor, that smile. You could trust him. He was just this nice, harmless old man that was absolutely trustworthy.

He just also was the head of Konoha. A fact that you bore in mind as you approach him to receive a patpat on your head. "Here to visit your classmate?"

You shake your head. "Uh huh... I'm here to visit all of them."

"Everyone? Who was hurt in that attack?" You nod at his question. "That's nice of you, Sakura-chan. I can see why your parents transferred you into the medical nin classes if you care this much for people you don't even know."

You had to blush at that one. "Well, I won't keep you here."

With that, the Hokage walked off... and was ambushed by Fishcake who said that he had a cool new jutsu to show him if the old man could take him out for Ramen~.

Huh... you hadn't known that Fishcake was on that close a relationship with the Hokage.

Since the head of the Uchiha seemed... upset, you took the better part of your discretion to visit someone you did know.

"Hey, mur.der.fist-chan, took you long enough to drop by."

Wait...

You had just stepped into the room. She was still wearing the blindfolds that the injured Uchiha wore.

How did she even?

This was just stupid wrong.

"So, I heard you went all fist of god descending on those idiots," She continued after you closed the door and sat down by her bed.

"Well... kind of?" You looked down and murmured in response. You had been rather angry then.

"I told you to wear the name of Murderfist with pride, I'm glad to see that you're doing so," She nodded in response. "Also, if you say a thing about how clingy I was after my eyes got screwed up, I'll have to kill you with my most dreadful jutsu, the ten thousand years of embarrassment no jutsu."

You blink at that declaration.

That.

Was that even possible.

Sure, it could just be a stupid name to a scary technique and such. But even so.

"O... kay?"

"Good to see that we are in agreement," She nodded firmly. Or it could just be a way to say that she wasn't serious about the killing you part, but was more of a something between friends?

"So, ahhh... your eyes?" You looked at the blindfold which was bandages, but there were seals inscribed on them.

"Oh those? The doctors say that with treatment, they'll get better," She nodded with a smile. "I will have to take it easy after that, but they'll recover."

"Huh... look at me, taking comfort from having some kid look in on me," She shook her head. "You know, you should go talk with Sasuke. I bet he would cheer up if you visit him."

Uh... there was the vague suspicion that he might not want to talk to you after what you said about him being his wife and such. But you make a note to do so. "I'll do so. I hope you get well soon."

"Same here, murderfist-chan," She laughed and waved you out of the room.

Walking out of the hospital, you swore you heard a somewhat vaguely familiar laughter that sounded creepy and yet had too much joy in it. Ah well...

You do ask your parents about what Uchiha Mikoto had talked to them, but got a smile and shake of head about how it didn't really apply unless you wanted it to later in life. After all, you had choices beyond just marrying into the Uchiha. Even if you did express an interest in Sasuke, you could always decide later.

Despite the non-issue of why there were so many Uchiha in the hospital, that didn't mean that life didn't go on.

You went to school in the morning and afternoon, focused on studying. You visited your father after classes at his work place and helped out with his paper work and such. Certainly, he was happy that you wanted to learn, and thus he showed you the little shortcuts to accounting, and what sort of things one needed to do with goods that flowed in and out with money.

You even got the a few of your classmates to meet up on sundays to do a study of jutsu and such. In memory of recent events and such.

Somehow, word go to your instructors of this little jutsu study session on a day off, because Shimura-sensei idly noted in his grading of your essay that too much work wasn't always a good thing. Moderation in all things was key to a steady development of non-prodigies. Even with prodigies, moderation was still a good thing, why not relax alittle and have a nap or two? But aside from that, that is an excellent reading on the nature of power, that it is. But more than that, power is meaningless without the will to act on it.

You did get another essay to do, this time it was on a parable that he told the class, the viper and the tanuki. Of a tanuki carrying across a river being poisoned by the viper that he was carrying across.

Then, came that sunday. Fishcake was more than happy to show off his technique. Sadly, it appears that said technique wasn't able to do more than transform a person into another person.

At least, as it was designed at this point. Fishcake's response to your injuries and such was that he would try and jury rig it to work on other things, but he wasn't sure that he might be able to do things without hands and fingers.

You did also get henge no jutsu, as well as bunshin. Or at least the handseals for those two jutsu. You just needed time to master said techniques.

For their parts, your classmates seemed to think that Fishcake's technique was an interesting variation on the henge, even if some couldn't get it down just yet.

And as fall became winter, you are take out to a quarry, where you are trained by your mother. Or at least what she called training.

You call it madness! Who would consider being swung into a boulder hanging in the air training?!?!?

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 7 Winter Vacation​

What Do?
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

too bad: Rejoice Yog, for your wish has been Granted:


The Parable (or fable) of the Scorpion and the Tanuki

On a day a scorpion and a tanuki wanted to cross a river. The scorpion asked the tanuki to carry her across the river because she herself couldn't swim. "No" the tanuki said "I am afraid that you will sting me which will cause me to die." "Nonsense" the scorpion said "I would die too if I did that." Thus said the tanuki allowed the scorpion to stay on her back while they crossed the river. When they were in the middle of the river the scorpion stuck the tanuki. "Why did you do that?" the tanuki asked "now we will both drown." "Because it is in my nature to do so" the scorpion answered.

One can take many conclusions from this fable and I will endeavour to touch upon them all. To begin there is the first lesson of the tanuki: That one should not fall for honeyed words and end up trusting someone who is an enemy.

Then there is the second lesson one can take from the tanuki: That one should not allow an dishonourable ally the chance to attack when one depends upon one another thus giving room for death to enter.

And lastly there is the lesson of the scorpion on which I will elaborate further: The fact that she could not rise above her nature and allow it to lead her towards a conclusion which is unfavourable to her. This because she had many other chances to sting the tanuki in which cases it would be far less dangerous to her; she could have stung before they started to swim allowing her to survive but not to cross the river. She could also have stung the tanuki when they reached the other side allowing her to both survive and succeed in her mission. However the best solution for the scorpion would have been to not sting the tanuki thus being able to cross the next river she encountered.

Thus on can understand the truth behind the saying: "An enemy is someone you use only once while an ally is someone who you use over and over again."

PEACH

Click to shrink...

 

[Biigoh]

So... that essay. Well, here it is.

I am either right and Danzo will love us, or wrong and he will laugh at us (or think us overly paranoid).



The purpose of this class

By

Sakura Haruno

To understand one's purpose is to step on the road of mastering it, for without purpose there is no destination you can journey to. To understand the purpose of the object is to become aware of the deeper meanings of its designs and apparent flaws.

This essay is aimed at discovering, contemplating and formulating the purpose of the subject known as "Ninja Ethics" as taught by Shimura Danzo to the students of shinobi academy of Konohagure No Sato in the Land of Fire of the Elemental Nations.

To understand the reasons for the root's form one must study the structure of a tree. In this case, to discover the underlying purpose of the class, it would be worthwile to look closer at what comprises it.

What does the class of "Ninja ethics" consist of? Of the teacher, obviously. The other elements would be the study format, the tasks given and the students participating.

Let us begin with the teacher. Every class of ninja ethics gets at least some attention of Shimura Danzo. Without a doubt, Shimura-sensei is the most powerful of the academy instructors, barring Hokage giving an invited lecture, as was demonstrated during the recent unpleasant events. As it was established in one of the previous essays that I have written, the power and responsibility are two very closely related concepts. As Hokage-sama is at least as wise as I am, and, truthfully, far more so, it stands to reason that Danzo-sensei's talents would not be mishandled so improperly as to assign him a task not worth his time. And here-in lies the first great discovery. For there was no lesser shinobi who could handle this class, or at least introductions to this class, which means that it is, without a doubt, the most important subject taught in the academy, by far.

The second revelation comes, however, from understanding that Danzo-sensei is retired, and is a cripple, or appears so to sight and other senses of both his students and, likely, most of their parents as well. Were it not for the unfortunate incident that occurred non of us would have any inkling of the power he held in his body and commanded by his will, and, as such, the significance of his practice of teaching this particular class. This means that the class nature is meant to be underestimated, and to remain hidden, making it, in a sense, the most ninja of all the classes taught to us in the academy.

Let us look nest at the structure of the class – a number of seemingly unrelated subjects is discussed and taught, aimed mostly at stimulating the minds of the young, at making them question the world around them and their own ingrainded convictions. What is imparted upon the students is not "knowledge", but rather "wisdom", a wider, more complex outlook on life than they had before entering the doors of the dormitory. It can be concluded, from this, that a kind of mental molding is the goal of this class, a conditioning not just of a mind, which is done through civilian science classes, but of a character conducted alongside the conditioning of the body and chakra produced through other classes.

And yet this hypothesis is not correct, in my opinion, or, at least, not full. This conclusion comes from the nature of the grading of the essays assigned for us. Were it a class like the ones on nijutsu or taijutsu, a pass-fail or a score system would have been implemented, designed to stimulate our thought processes fully. It is also telling that the essays are not discussed in class later and that the "best" or "the most correct" essays are not read aloud and dissected before the students, to impress upon them one agreed line of thought. Rather, each essay is given a response tailored to the student who gave it and aimed, I believe, at making the student continue to develop down the thought-path indicated in the essay, while steering him or her from obviously counter-productive or even self-harmful conclusions. This means that the result of the class for each student is not likely to be the same, and yet those results can't be compared to each other as more or less successful, but should only be called different arrows aimed at different targets rather than the ones shot at different distances.

This conclusion, coupled with the earlier revelations about the importance of this class make me believe that the subject of "ninja ethics" is not a teaching class at all, or at least, not in its core, but is rather a developed and prolonged series of tests and mental exercises designed to determine and develop prospective ninja students to their future positions and specializations.

Indeed, let us look at the essays given to us. First one "analysis of one ninja rule" would tell the grading teacher what area of shinobi life and mindset is the most fascinating to any given student and what level of understanding does she or he has of it. For example, my co-students Shikamaru and Hinata both show aptitude for intelligence and counter-intelligence due to having chosen the "look underneath the underneath" rule. The second essay, "on the responsibility and duty of power" determines the position of the student towards those without power, his or her reasons for obtaining power. From reading essays on the topic a decision can be made about allowing said shinobi to work with civilians in the future. The third essay, on the story of the tanuki and the viper is the one aimed to gauge student's understanding of the field of politics and alliances. From this the recommendations on allowing shinobi to deal with international relationships can be made – whether said shinobi should be sent to the border positions where he is likely to encounter his foreign counter-parts, or if he or she would better serve the Will of Fire by dealing with the internal threats.

And so, to conclude. From my understanding, the purpose of this class is to understand and develop the ethics and the aptitudes of the students attending it, this class is a long-term psychological and professional aptitude development system and test, all rolled into one.

Click to shrink...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on the picture for larger version​

Sauce is Danbooru - /post/show/915404/

[X] YOU ARE HARDER THAN THAT BOULDER! REINFORCE BODY TO THE MAX TO SHATTER IT!
Event Roll - [redacted as per request]

What you mother was teaching you was simple in principle.

She even demonstrated it; first she raised a wall of stone in a defensive barrier. Then, she walked to the other side, made the ram and ox handseals with her hand and punched the stone wall.

A small crater formed where she punched said wall.

That was all that happened for a moment.

The wall proceeded to explode away from her in a wave of rather sharp daggers.

"That's the tsunami of stone death. It came in really handy in the third shinobi war, silly Iwa nins thinking that stone walls and stone things would stop me," Your mother had smiled at you before she continued on. "But in order to do this technique, you must learn to hate stone."

She gestured at a boulder strung up with ropes. You then notice ropes near by hanging.

Your mind does not like the results it draws, you look up at your mother.

She smiles back down at you.

Her hand is resting on your shoulder, where it has been since she started to talk, it was almost warm and soothing, if it wasn't also preventing you from moving away from her.

Oh.

[Huh. Never expected to see something like this outside of a kung fu movie or manga. Tell me when things start to make sense again, 'kay?] Wait... was your inner voice just abandoning you. She can't do that... can she?

You struggle to escape the grasp your mother has on you.

And in that struggle's end, you find yourself bound up in the ropes and being swung at the... well... that boulder that was getting far too close to your face.

Reflexively, you punch.

It only halts your motion with a small crater in the surface. It also forces the boulder away from you as you are pulled back by your mother before being swung at it.

Your scream in horror as the boulder came in fast at your face. My, it was REALLY BIG, wasn't it? Like the entire world was made of stone.

You punch again and forced it away from you.

Back and forth, you go.

- - -​

Two days later, you have LEARNED to absolutely loath stone, rocks, boulders and everything that was made of earth.

You also successfully perform the jutsu in reaction to stone objects approaching too close to you. Perform it by reflex without even thinking.

Your mother declares the training a success.

She then smiles and opened up a book and flipped to a page within it with a cheerful hum.

You have also started to learn to not trust that cheerful hum, and so you turn to look at the book she was reading.

The name on its cover is enough to make you blink.

Saikyo-Ryu

What.

You questioned your mother as to where she got the book.

The answer was surprising... an ancient taijutsu style from before the World Moved On, that had been resurrected and recreated by her great grandfather and which had formed the core of her family's taijutsu style. Its might was unspeakable, that was why it was called the Strongest Style.

And now, your mother would teach you its secrets since, it appeared that your bloodline limit had allowed you to just recreate some of the core techniques of the style. It was as if you were the reincarnation of the Old World's strongest warrior, Hibiki Ran the Pink.

After all, you had glowed pink.

[......] Your inner voice is struck speechless.

With that, she goes back to training you in Saikyo-Ryu.

Or at least, it's special techniques.

- - -​

You return from your vacation, absolutely hating this Hibiki person and his stupid crazy techniques and training methods for said techniques.

Sure, you now have the ability to hit someone who was hiding behind stone walls. You were now faster and agile after your mother summoned up wasps for you to avoid being stung by, you were more durable after enduring being swung against a boulder endlessly....

She even helped you refined the techniques that you had used in that fight with Uchiha-san prior.

On the other hand, your inner voice has yet to say a thing after the discovery of the style your mother used. That was a worrying thing. You were not used to her being just silent for that long.

You could tell she was there. Just speechless in some unspeakable emotion or perhaps frozen into a stone statue.

Not even the return to school was enough to shake her out of that speechlessness.

Still, you endure school in the new year.

Sadly, you no longer had Shimura-sensei to teach you. Just some boring biddy who recited the ninja rules, and expected you and your classmates to memorize the lessons.

Was this what he had saved you from?

A mind-numbing class?

Still, his grading of your essay indicated that he enjoyed it and felt that you would go far in the ninja corps. If you wished to, you could transfer out of the regular ninja ethnics class to the class he held at times for interested students; Advanced ninja 'ethics', the quote marks around the ethics part seemed almost something done out of amusement.

You find out after asking around that you were not the only one who received the invitation, rather it was those other students who stayed and studied in his class who received the invitation. The next class would start in the fall after summer vacation.

That was a long time away. But if you wanted to change classes, now was a good time to speak to your parents.

You also receive a pleasant surprise.

Rather than asking you to visit them, and require a jounin and team escort to escort you to the capital, your grandparents and cousin come to visit you for a week for your birthday.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Birthday​

What Do?
Pick Two
[X] Show Big Sis Yuyu, Merry Bell, and grandfather about the village? Introduce them to your friends?
[X] Wait... Big Sis Yuyu and Merry Bell are offering to teach you fun things?
[X] "Play" with Youmu some more.
[X] Visit the wounded Uchiha in the hospital?
[X] Continue to visit your father's business and learn more stuff?
[X] Write In.

Pick Three To Specialize In, this selection is needed, no matter the choices made above
[X] Architecture (basic)
[X] Ciphers (intermediary)
[X] Disguises (basic)
[X] Etiquette (Nobility, High class, Middle class) (advanced)
[X] Geography & History (advanced)
[X] Languages (advanced)
[X] Leadership (basic)
[X] Math (advance)
[X] Medicine (intermediary)
[X] Physics (intermediary)
[X] Genjutsu (basic)
[X] Handseals (basic)
[X] Ninjutsu (basic)
[X] Kenjutsu (basic)
[X] Bondage & Escapology (basic)
[X] Kunai/Ranged Combat (basic)
[X] Chakra Theory & Development (advanced)
[X] Ninja-wire usage (basic)
[X] Survival (advanced)
[X] Trap Construction (basic)

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

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Sauce is not Danbooru, but the Naruto wikia

[X] Show Big Sis Yuyu, Merry Bell, and grandfather about the village? Introduce them to your friends?
[X] Wait... Big Sis Yuyu and Merry Bell are offering to teach you fun things?
Class Foci~
- - [X] Advanced Ninja 'Ethics' class sign up.
- - [X] Chakra Theory & Development (advanced)
- - [X] Etiquette (Nobility, High class, Middle class) (advanced)
- - [X] Leadership (Basic)
- - [X] Medicine (Intermediary)
Sakura Event - Fishcake?!?!? Fishcake!!!!

The visit by your grandparents was a nice surprise.

Still, you couldn't help but show them around Konohagakure, well... them and cousin Youmu who seemed on edge. Just that tension wasn't directed at you. It was instead directed at everything that you take her to see.

It was almost as if she was expecting an assassination attempt on her at any moment, and then be robbed of her moneys or something.

And the lack of such was driving her insane.

Ah, Youmu was rather silly when you thought about it.

Still from the way she moved, her skills had improved drastically. And you gave her good odds of being able to defeat the Abarume genin that you had worked with during that bit of unpleasantness beneath mount Hokage. Actually, if you didn't have ways of... cheating with chakra, you suspect that she might even give you a run for your money if she used chakra techniques.

You are tempted to ask her for a bout or two. But Big Sis Yuyu and Merry get the priority as you show them about Konoha with Grandfather.

It is... surprising the reactions that some adults get when you introduce your grandparents. They go all "Haruno-sama", "Lord Haruno" or "Lady Haruno"... very odd.

Especially when it comes from the parents of some of your classmates. Which got blinks of surprises from you and your classmates.

What is surprising is when you introduced your grandparents to Fishcake, admittedly, you used his actual name instead of his nickname... even if "he" was in his kunoichi class disguise while out shopping.

"Uzumaki, huh," Your grandfather murmured with surprise as he took in Fishcake's face before having her undo her hair so that it flowed freely. "She looks like Kushina, doesn't she? If the hair was red?"

Your two big sis nodded and agreed with quietly applying a genjutsu to turn Fishcake's hair red momentarily.

Wait, they knew Fishcake's mother?

Said orphan seemed speechless at the revelation there, as well. "Could... could you tell me what she was like?"

With that, your grandfather laughed and nodded and spoke of the Blood Red Habenaro, so named for her crimson red hair and fierce she-devil nature. Of her legendary love of fishcake ramen. Of the ancient friendship that the clan she was had with Konoha and those who defended the Daimyo. Of said shattering of that clan by an alliance of enemies during the second Shinobi war.

He also noted that she had family in the capital, and if Fishcake wanted, they could sent word to them to let them know that Kushina had a orphaned daughter.

"You can do that? I didn't even know I had family and stuff..." The blonde blinked back tears.

"For Kushina's daughter, I could do no less... but you don't have a name beyond just being called Naruto because you like naruto ramen? Or do you want us to tell them that Kushina might have named you after her favorite dish?"

The blonde shook her head. "I don't mind being called Naruto. I mean, if mother loved fishcake ramen that much like me... it's fine."

"Very well, Uzumaki Naruto, we'll send word to your family in the capital for you," And with that, you leave the blonde classmate behind as you continued to show your grandparents and cousin your favorite places... including the Forest of Death, which was an awesome camping ground.

Your grandfather seems to agree with you, even if your two big sis seem to disagree and you have the vague suspicion that your mother was going to have words spoken to her by your two big sis.

Still, it's clear that as night comes, that your big sis feels that your skills, while 'impressive' in the punch people in the face manner... was clearly lacking in other levels. That if you were going to be a kunoichi, you were going to be one worthy of being descended from Big Sis Yuyu.

And thus, you find yourself "playing" with them as they monopolized you. They showed you how to use genjutsu... and taught a "simple" trick.

Genjutsu wasn't about forcing your illusions on someone. It was about crafting a world in your mind and imposing it on reality. There were 'minor' techniques that did all kinds of amusing things. But they were, in the end, one trick ponies.

Handseals helped with those tricks, but the thing Big Sis Yuyu taught was simple if daunting. She showed you how to impose your vision on the world. Unleashing your chakra in a specific pattern to do so.

The only problem? you had to forge said world. There was no handseals, no pre-set illusions. So, while this wasn't as useful as the ability to trap someone in a tree to stab them, it allowed you to interact and manipulate genjutsu on a level beyond most users.

Big Sis Merry Bell just settled for helping you with your seal work and showing you the seals for the kawarimi jutsu. She idly mentioned that most of her techniques were not compatible with your skillset as you were. But the kawarimi would serve as a foundation if you ever wanted to learn from her.

And so the days passes by peacefully.

The birthday celebration you had with your family and invited friends was... well, it was nice and the atmosphere warm and friendly.

All too soon, your relatives leave Konoha to return to the capital, with your Big Sis reminding you to practice what they taught you.

You also ask your parents to sign you up for the Advanced Ninja Ethics. Your mother seems proud that you got that invitation, while your father doesn't say anything.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Birthdays​

What Do? Pick One~
[X] Continue with your classes as you have been?
[X] Focus on your friends? Including the Uchiha.
[X] Focus on your time with daddy after classes?
[X] Focus on the things that Big Sis taught you.
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on the picture for larger version​

Source is Danbooru - /post/show/1044481/

[X] Focus on the things that Big Sis taught you.
The Heart of Maya is a Go! - 6d10 → [10,7,2,3,1,6] = (29)

Despite your desires and assorted commitments, you find yourself going over Big Sis Yuyu's gift. Because it could be nothing else.

The heart of her genjutsu ability?

Taught to you over the span of the week she had spent with you?

There was another part to it, of course.

Simply, it was something new.

This experience that you have while you go over the lesson that she gave. She had shown you it. And then, smiled as you attempted to do as she had.

It was simply put, the most frustrating thing you have ever experienced.

It did not come easily to you.

It was not like taijutsu that you know instinctively, a skill that blossomed within you with an ease that some might consider horrifying or outright terrifying. You know from your dreams that the other Sakura was the same, where her skills at martial arts blossomed when she wanted it to, compressing what could take an entire lifetime into mere years.

You know this, you acknowledge that you have a gift at this.

And that gift translated into the manipulation of chakra or ki. Which made learning jutsu easy if you didn't have to muddle around with handseals to do what you know in your heart and soul.

The lessons in the classes? Even without the dreams, you grasp their basis with ease, and you study above and beyond what is needed.

Everything had always came easy to you. It was as if you had mastery of both heaven and earth, to paraphrase a saying of Konoha. If you lack heaven, seek wisdom, be prepared. If you lack earth, run in the fields, seek advantages. If you have both earth and earth, you can succeed in even the most dangerous mission.

And now, it was as if you had been shown a new dimension that you had lacked.

That you had never even known you lacked.

It was mortifying.

Humiliating.

Worse, it was a challenge.

And that it did not come easily to you, that was unbearable.

If Big Sis Yuyu had simply shown you how to do genjutsu techniques with handseals, you could have done and would have just committed them to memory.

But she hadn't. Instead, you were shown a vast world, given a toolbox and told to build your own world.

It was difficult, you admit to yourself, as you fumbled day after day. You find yourself visiting Uchiha Lily less with your time spent working on this. You've even cut down the time you spent with your father at his office.

Even now, you sit on the floor of your bedroom and focused on the space between your hands allowed your chakra to pool there, to give shape to the world you desired. To give life and form to the images in your mind.

The mist of white eventually disappears as a butterfly. Or the pitiful excuse of a butterfly flapped in it before vanishing. You sigh and lean back.

This... was not going to be easy.

"I see mother showed you The Heart of Maya," You blink and looked up at your father standing in the door to your room. Was that what it was called? "I did wonder what she and Merry Bell were doing with you while they were here."

"You'll find that it gets easier to do the mental image creation step if you start drawing or painting," Your father said before leaving you once more.

Well...

That makes sense, and so you find yourself distracted by your new "hobbies". You doodle in class and draw after classes and practice with The Heart of Maya.

Eventually, you find yourself able to create simple genjutsu, a single butterfly flying towards a single star, with another that had fallen. As genjutsu go, it's not very impressive. Especially when you have done 'some' research into what such could do, when used by nins who specialized in them.

You were proud of it and yet, it humbled you.

The amount of work you had to put into just making this single butterfly, to animate it, to give it perspective, to drop in a ball of fire for it fly to. To include a dead butterfly being carried and thus, 'inanimate', but it required to be able to move naturally.

You were so very proud of it, and then.... and then, you think of what Big Sis Yuyu showed you when you saw her in the capital.

The endless field, the resolute army of skeletons in armor, the waving of countless blades of grass that moved in an unfelt wind beneath a starless heavens.

The comparison is almost soul-crushing in its difference.

And yet, was this not the challenge that Big Sis Yuyu had given you? That with hard work, you could rival her... no, be greater than her.

You take to practicing sustaining your mental image with The Heart of Maya, forging a single sakura blossom that you 'placed' in your heart every day at school.

And even as distracted as you are with working out ways to improve your skill with The Heart of Maya, you still pay attention to the going ons at the academy.

Such as the return of Uchiha Sasuke to the classes. It takes him a surprising short time to catch up to everyone else in the class. You can also tell that he ABSOLUTELY LOATHES you. The sheer killing intent that radiated from him whenever he had to interact with you is... it's adorable and you suspect he doesn't even realize that he's doing it..

You can see why Lily thinks you look adorable together. That sense of killing intent was so him, and it made you want to just pat him on the head and do... something.

Certainly, it wasn't strong enough to scare people. Oh, it would be enough to frighten little puppies or perhaps guard dogs. But it was adorable.

And yet, you find yourself ignoring him because you just didn't have the time to play with him.

You even told him so when he challenged you to a spar at lunch while you were sketching.

You swear his killing intent spiked tenfold that day before he walked away.

You also notice a number of red haired adults visiting the academy, looking in on your class, and talking to Naruto, who for his part seemed content to stay in his kunoichi class disguise all the time.

And all too soon, summer was here. Your mother has a question for you...

"So, where do you want to go this year?"

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Heart of Maya​

What Do? - Pick One and Only One.
[X] Rock quarry for more extreme training.
[X] Another trip to the Forest of Death for a camping trip.
[X] Lake Idontwannadie and its splendid man eating fish.
[X] The delightful Crags of Falling Death that even mountain goats fall off from.
[X] You want to go to the seaside to do more drawing and painting....
[X] You want to go to the plateau above Mount Hokage do more drawing and painting....
[X] You want to go with daddy on a business trip...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on Picture for Larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the interwebs

[X] You want to go with daddy on a business trip... [Wave Country]
- - [X] Before you go, talk to Naruto about his family, ask what they're like. Mention that he should let them know that he's a he before something uncomfortable happens. Like a betrothal.
Sakura Event Fishcake? FISHCAKE!!!!!
Sakura Event 2 Cootie free!

"Where I want to go?" You tilt your head at your mother's question.

There was that horrified [......] again from that inner voice at what you discovered the LAST time you went training with her. You suspect that the other you isn't... ready to deal with mother, just yet.

Not when you REALLY strained yourself you could hear an endless repeated horrified murmured of [saikyo ryuu.] over and over and over again.

You suspect that whoever this Hibiki was, he must have done horrible things to the other you.

"I want to go with Daddy on one of his trips?" You respond firmly. The other reason for your decision was that your mother would never allow you to take naps or do drawings.

"Ahhh? I guess that's fine, we can always do more Saikyo Ryu training in the winter," Your mother's words got a reaction from your inner voice.

An endless wail of torment as someone who had discovered that there was a diety in charge of everything and it HATED them ABSOLUTELY.

It was definitely the sound of someone being tormented with unspeakable and vile tortures.

No escape.

Not for the other you. Even now, you can see her in your mind's eye, rolling about, wailing and crying before pounding the floor begging to make it end.

"Well, you should hurry, he is leaving on another trip tomorrow," You nod at your mother's words.

With that, you start packing your bags.

As you pack your clothes, you had that vague and uncomfortable sensation that you had forgotten something.

Wait... that jutsu of Naruto's.

Oh.

Right.

You never did tell grandfather that Naruto was a boy.

Which meant... ahhhh... right.

Best to go talk to him.

You put on your shoes before hopping out your window.

Hopping across Konoha on its roofs is... well... it's fun.

Still, you find yourself at Old Home as the Orphanerium as Naruto liked to call it.

He... is not there. Instead, you get redirected to a different address.

You hadn't known that Naruto had moved, the last you had heard, he had been staying at Old Home... still, you move swiftly to the address you had been given.

You find yourself looking in on the penthouse suite of an apartment building. The lights were on inside.

Peering inside, you find yourself looking at Naruto, still in her kunoichi disguise, spinning a leaf on her palm. Using nothing but chakra.

A knock on the door and you are let in from the balcony by the fishcake of fishcakes. The bedroom certainly seemed tidy and yet had ample evidence of being lived in from the rumpled bed, to the stacks of scroll everywhere.

"Hey."

"Hey."

This was certainly awkward. "So.... I heard you moved."

"Yeah." Really awkward. "I gotta thank you."

"Ah?" You blink in momentary confusion.

Naruto concentrated and had his hand in a ram seal, a puff of smoke later and she was he once more. "No, seriously. If you hadn't introduced your grandfather to me. If your grandfather hadn't told the Uzumaki in the capital, I would never have known I had family and stuff."

"Ah... that," You blink at that. "So, why did you move? And how are you even paying for all this?"

"Apparantly, mother owned this building along with a few others. Uncle Toru had been managing the buildings all this time for her, and said that I should have my own place," He smiled and gestured. "And yeah, he said that once I'm old enough to handle things, he'll give me the ownership papers to everything that mother had."

You pause and blinked. Fishcake was going to be someone who owned real estate?

What next, he had a business as well?

"And I never even knew that mother was the silent partner of this nice ninja shop that makes and sells explosive notes and other scrolls." You blinked.

This....

This was...

No words could convey the absolute certainty you had that somewhere, someone was fooling around.

"So, what's up, Big Sis Sakura?

Oh. Right.

You explained your concerns to Naruto. About the fact that they think he was a she and so on.

"Uncle Toru had said something about that when he got me the paperwork to update my information and stuff, to make it absolutely correct that my mother was my mother." You nod along at that. Sensible, clearly, this was when he had explained things.

"So when I got to the part where it said sex, I had to object," You nodded sagely. "I mean, I'm too young to have sex. Old Man Hokage said so when I asked him about this sex thing I heard the really old kids at the Orphanerium were talking about. So, I explained to Uncle Toru that I would need to get rid of this sex thing until I got older."

What?

Just what?

"Uncle Toru laughed at me when I explained. Really rude of him, but I guess he's an old has been like all married people. Which is the other reason I didn't like the paper saying that I had to have sex. Old man Hokage said that I shouldn't think about this sex thing until I'm married or find this really... um.... this really hot chick. I guess I'll need to find a phoenix or something... because it's just cruel to to kill a little chick and cook it before it can become a chicken. A terrible waste too!"

You feel a small part of you want to pat him on the head. The other parts just want to die from what he was saying.

"Seriously, why won't people think about the ramen? If we kill the chicks before they can become chicken, we'll have no more chicken ramen."

You can only look on with horrified fascination at Naruto as he continued to talk at you.

It was a never ending stream of words.

Eventually, you come to.

"So, anyway, I marked down not appliable to the sex part, because Uzumaki Naruto has yet to become the best shinobi ever. And I am not going to get married. I've heard that when you get married, you grow old instant. And Uncle Toru accepted it, saying something about it being obvious if I inherit my mother's jeans. Which is really odd, because I don't think that I would feel really comfortable wearing her clothes."

Right... Fishcake was Fishcake was Fishcake. He had things well in hand.

You make your escuses before making your way back home.

That night, you sleep and try to avoid the memories of the endless babbling words that you had just been subjected to.

- - -​

The trip to father's warehouse, was made with mother who also had a backpack.

Your father had to look askance at her.

He got a lazy raised eyebrow back.

In response, he shrugged.

It looked like it was going to be a Haruno family trip.

"Hey, Mur.der.fist-chan, Haruno-taicho, hag..." Oh, it looked like [Spider] Lily had gotten better. "I'll be your escort to the lovely land of Waves. The doctors recommended some light duties while I finish healing, and I figured, some sand and sun will do me some good."

"Well, well, if it isn't the Bitch in constant heat," Your mother's greeting to Lily seemed a rather bit sharp. You don't think you've ever seen your mother call anyone a mean word... ever. "I guess the nurses threw you out of the hospital before you wagged your tail at their doctors and patients, or was it your stench?"

"Mou... so mean, old hag, you'll only get stress lines and look even older if you keep it up," You suspect that you didn't want to be near here and escape to join your father with both you and mother's bags.

As Lily and your mother talked, the caravan started. They walked beside it, trading rather sharp words.

Your father makes sure you don't listen in on their conversation, saying something about the pure ears of my little Sakura should not be sullied by such things.... you pay absolutely no attention to the silly adults.

Instead, you take to sketching the scenery as the caravan moved.

Day after day, the caravan traveled.

Even when the bandits attacked, you didn't get a chance to play. Not when Lily and your mother tore the small army of bandits apart faster than you expected. You didn't really mind as you sketch the massacre.

You get stuck with Lily that night while your parents share the wagon.

You were curious as to why said wagon occasionally shook. But your inner voice restrained you with advice. [Don't. Just don't. Somethings once seen can never be unseen.]

As the caravan drew near the coast...

Things change and you encounter another caravan. Or rather, it was a close encounter of caravans.

Thankfully, it was one that you were somewhat familiar with. You remember seeing it in the Earth Country.

You also remember the merchant who owned said caravan.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Caravans​

What Do?
[X] Flashback Time?!?
[X] Onwards Ho! You smell capitalism and money!
[X] You chitchat with the other merchant after your father did that... greeting thing.
[X] You chitchat with the other merchant's son while your fathers did that... greeting thing.
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on Picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the interwebs

[X] Flashback to the future!
Sakura Event - Sing/Hoshi = Yes

Another day, the sound of bells and low moans of the oxen that pulled the caravan wagons.

Ever since the battle fight, your parents have been monopolizing the wagon, and you've been stuck spending the nights with Lily.

Lily seems to not mind your company, and is a pleasant talker.

Telling you of the legends in the constellations, of the Old World That Was, and its myriad gods. Your other voice seems to enjoy those tales, even if they are only words instead of the story time genjutsu.

She does seem surprised at your focus on sketching the scenery that rolls by the wagons instead of "playing" with her.

Still, she seemed to take it in stride.

And so, another day passed and you sit on the top of the wagon sketching.

As such, you are not too surprised when the other wagon caravan is sighted by where your father's caravan would camp for the night.

Late afternoon, being what it was, was the perfect time for a caravan to stop and since they were already there.

The two sets of caravans joined up for trading and a communal meal.

Seeing the bright yellow star on the side of the wagon served as an excellent warning when you were ambushed once more by an older boy, with an unruly hair do, a devil may care smile, and a lollipop for you.

You're sure it matched the one that was in his mouth.

After all, that was how you had met.

- - -​

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Click on Picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the interwebs

- - -​

A meeting of caravans heading in opposite directions.

Thankfully, said carefully maintained stone road was wide enough for both caravans.

Your father had gotten out of his wagon and was even now speaking to a rather burly gentleman. Your inner voice assessed him as someone who had been pure muscle before letting himself go.

Less exercise... or less fights as it were.

The way he held himself.

The way he had walked.

The way he confronted your father with a snarl on his face.

The way he reacted by exploding his shirt off by flexing his muscles.

And to which your father exploded his shirt off with flexes as well.

It had to be a genjutsu, right?

That [Spider] Lily could also see it meant that it was a really strong genjutsu.

Right, Right?

The giggling from [Spider] at the sight was... disturbing.

So much so, when a hand proffered a lolipop to you out of behind you, you reacted naturally. You didn't shriek, you didn't jump in shock.

You punched.

With as much chakra you could focus.

The impact sent the boy you punched spinning into a small pile of boulders.

Which exploded into gravel.

A single hand rose up to wave from the pile of gravel. "No... no problem, I'm still alive."

Shortly after, you found yourself apologizing to the boy, bowing over and over in horror and mortification. What if he had been a normal boy with no chakra. Thankfully, he had some training to be durable or something.

"But I'm a normal boy with no chakra training," You paused in mid-apology.

W... what?

You paused and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't get why people seem to think I'm trained like a ninja or something," He continued as in the background, your respective fathers seem to have gone into a land not wholly of sanity with manly hugs.

You try to pay as little attention in that direction as possible.

Instead you focus your attention on him. It was try, he didn't carry himself like a ninja or even a martial artist. Instead, there was a hint... a hint of something not quite right, but nothing more than a hint and had nothing to do with his fighting ability.

For one, he seemed too cheerful and nice, and was still offering you this lollipop.

You sigh and accept it.

A lick brought twin sights from you and your inner voice. It was nice [nostalgic].

For now, you're willing to accept that maybe he wasn't a ninja in training. Maybe, he had one of those bloodline things like the Hyuuga lavender eyes or the Uchiha freaky eyes.

"Sing," He smiled and offered a hand to you, you had to blink at the angle of the sun behind him gave him a halo. He continued on. "That's my name."

You blink and accepted his hand to shake it. "Sakura. Your name means star in Earth country language, huh?"

He nodded in response to your statement. "My name means Cherry Blossom."

"I figured," you accept his response with a nod as well. "You being from the Land of Fire and all."

You settle away from the caravan and make small talk about this and that, like your classes, his dreams of opening up a lollypop and sweet store in every major city...

The conversation is broken up when a pair of arms drape themselves around your shoulders. This time, you don't punch. "So, you two love birds want your food? It's roasted goat with vegetable stew and rice."

You are introduced to Sing's father by your father, he introduces you proudly as his daughter and heir to the Haruno International Trading Incorporated.

You smile and blush, nod at the rather burly man, who even despite his age and out of shapeness could likely do much better than give you a fair fight.

He is introduced as Heima the Fierce Bear of Iwa, a former jounin who had also retired to become a merchant.

"We were bitter enemies in the third war, but you know once we had a chance to talk... we bonded and became the best of friends. I mean, who wouldn't? After all, when we both had to endure that whole capture the bloodline shenanigan from Kumo using sexy nins..."

Your father smiled as if in fond memory. "Tell me about it, I'm still amused when they found out that the Uzumaki was a girl and she wasn't into cute kunoichi."

"You think she got it bad, they sent pretty boys after me thinking I was into such," Sing's father laughed and slapped his knee. "And their faces... when I told them that I wasn't into boys and more over I had no bloodline limit. Oh, the kunais came out quick then."

The conversation went on in that line, as they reminisced over dinner.

Before cleaning up, your father idly noted that there wouldn't be any problems with shake downs in Rain. At least, not for the present, but the Akatsuki did kind of kill the son of Salamander.

Heima nodded at that, a smile on his face. "That's good, that means I don't have to worry too much about my boys having to have an accident with them. I guess great minds think alike."

The mention of his ninja guards had you looking at where the Iwa nins were huddled by their campfire. The three of them were comparable to [Spider] Lily and her team.

A trap?

Did that mean that the guards normally hired by merchant caravans were not as well trained?

- - -​

The news by your father that the two caravans were going to be traveling together to the land of Wave brought a blink from you before you shrugged.

You had pretty of naps and sketching, so it didn't matter too much.

And now, you and Lily were joined by Sing on top of the wagon top... enjoying the slow movement of the wagon as the landscape moved by.

Before too long, mere days really, the merged caravan found itself at the town of Soul, waiting for the flotilla of cargo ships to be ferried to the land of Wave.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Flashback to the Future​

What Do?
[X] Explore the Harbor Town with Sing?
[X] Explore the Harbor Town by yourself?
[X] Explore the Harbor Town with Mother?
[X] Explore the Harbor Town with Father?
[X] Wait with the caravan for the ships?
[X] Write In because I is braindead with options here...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on Picture for Larger Version​

Sauce is /post/show/1146135/

[X] Explore the Harbor Town with Sing?
Sakura Event - Encounter with... oh, sorry... didn't see anything, nope.

Travelling about the town held a certain appeal to you.

True, it could be said that you were a tomboy, but you were also a curious child, with a sketch book to fill up.

With an endless blue horizon stretching to the west, a small town full of vibrant action...

How could you not want to go about and explore? It would be criminal, not to do so.

Your mother gives you a small allowance when you tell her that you would like to have a look about the town. The name of said town being "Soul" seemed odd, but who were you to judge the name of places?

With someone your age, you venture forth into the town of Soul.

Judging by the shops and such that you venture into and out of, the town depended upon being a port town to survive; with a fair number of stores catering to the crew and employees of caravans and ships. You also find hints of there being some tourist stuff.

Naturally, you do some shopping. It is here that your cunning plan unfolds, the reason why you had a male companion.

Sing was conscripted [shanghaied] into carrying your purchases for you.

Yeap, life was good, as you hunted down snacks such as cold watermelon slices, and bargains in the form of little trinkets that you tried out and got someone else to carry for you.

Still, your [my] instincts eventually has you standing outside a warehouse.

You are not sure why you would end up here. Sing just looks confused.

But as you enter said warehouse, you are buffed by the sensation of battles fought with one's spirit.

You can see the sand covered floor where people put their fists and skills to the test. The raised platforms for spectators to sit and watch.

An underground fighting arena.

That was what you had found.

It just happened to be empty at the moment.

As you turned to leave, you can see a frown on Sing's face as if he disapproved of what you had found and was in some way... disappointed..

Still, you return back to the caravan with your treasures from said shopping trip.

It was here, now during dinner time that you and your father had a free moment that you asked about the Uzumaki that he had mentioned a year ago and which you had forgotten.

It hadn't seemed important and it wasn't as if Fishcake was really a real Uzumaki, except he was.

You soon find out a little bit more about the Blood Red Habanero so named for her hair and this ability to beat people so viciously in the academy that they would rather get a red hot habanero inserted into places such shouldn't be inserted than to cross her.

She had been an exemplary genin, who made chuunin in record time and then jounin. There were missions that your father inferred that you might find out about in history classes.

But really, she had been a strong kunoichi.

And then she had died in the Kyuubi attack along with numerous nins and the Hokage.

You vaguely recall that attack.

There had been something about that attack.

Ah well, you could always leave it be for later like the Uzumaki thing.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Out of Soul Experience​

What Do
[X] Trip to Land of Waves.
[X] Explore the town some more while waiting for the ships.
[X] Do some painting while waiting for the ships.
[X] "Play" with [someone].
[X] Write In is fine too.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on Picture for larger version​

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Sauce is Danbooru - /post/show/668845/

[X] Ask Lily to model for our sketching, then play with her afterwards

"If you allow me to paint you, as a reward, I'll play with you afterwards," You declare firmly to Lily. You heard that one had to be firm when faced with unruly people. Or worse, people who might disagree and reject your requests like Lily might.

"Oh ho?" She looks at you, with a stick of grilled meat in her mouth.

"Yes... I'll play with you if you let me paint you, I need a subject," You nod, she just looks at you silent for some time.

"Who am I to refuse my savior?" She eventually replied with a laugh. "At this rate, with your sweet words, I'm going to have to teach you how to beat off unwanted boys~ with a stick by the time you hit puberty."

You blink at that. You are not unaware of what puberty was (you remember something about maturity from your medical classes), you just didn't see why you would need to beat people away with a stick.

With agreement, you settle for painting her.

You feel you have the essence of how you see her. You're fairly certain that there might be people who disagreed with your artistic style, but they don't count.

There is the realization that she isn't that old.

Perhaps slightly more than ten years older than you, but that wasn't that old, all things considered. Especially when one considered that her mother was unspeakably old.

She just looked older when she was fighting.

The resulting painting had you nodding appreciatively as you let it dry in the summer air.

In the distance, you can see the flotilla of cargo ships approach the docks.

Based on what your father had said, it took time for them to unload and then for the loading of goods as well as the caravan.

You stretch a bit before launching yourself at Lily, who laughs and dodges. She liked to do that, dodging instead of blocking.

The fight eventually ends with you collapsing in sweat and shaking a fist at Lily. She, unlike last year, didn't appear to be spotless.

You had managed to tag her now and then. Still, she had seem slower than before. Possibly a side effect of her hospitalization.

You end up getting carried back to the caravan as it wheeled their way on to the assorted ships.

- - -​

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Click on Picture for larger version​

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Sauce is not Danbooru, but the Naruto manga, chapter 18, page 18

- - -​

Staying with your father, you get to wander about the ship with not quite impunity. Rather, you get to see all sorts of interesting things, as opposed to being stuck in the cargo hold with the occasional visit to the deck.

You also get introduced to Gatou, the owner of the flotilla of ships.

"Hahahaha... I would not have thought you would be one to bring your daughter on your business trips. It being a cut throat world and all," The short man laughed on the introduction. "But I don't blame you, if I had a daughter as cute as her, I would want to show her off too,"

"You know how it is, you have to show them when young or it won't quite take," Your father laughed back. "But cute daughters must be shown off because they are cute."

You look about the cabin, it seemed somewhat luxurious from your understanding of what a ship would be like; books in shelves, little knickknacks in cases, the rather large table secured to the floor with scrolls and an atlas of the elemental nations.

The pair of samurai.

Well, they did carry themselves as if they knew how to use their swords. But you're fairly certain that your cousin would be more than able to take them on if it came down to it.

Still, the image they projected was closer to what the academy instructors noted samurai were like. Was it possible that they were right, after all, and your grandfather was the special exception?

You shook your head mentally and suspected that there were awesome samurai and crappy samurai, just like ninja.

When you got near them, there was the unmistakable metallic scent of blood. These were men whose swords were well used and they liked it.

You tilt your head when the one with an eye-patch smiled at you warmly before lightly patting you on the head and gave you a soft toffee candy. "You should stay closer to your father, little girl. It's not smart to wander away from your old man, you know."

The smile while warm was more one a shark might give. Still, he did give you candy without you doing a thing and was being friendly, so you nod in response and thanked him politely.

"So, how is your wife? Still, being a horrible shrew?" Your father's conversation hadn't gone too far.

"You know how it is, Haruno. She's pretty and all, but lord does that woman have a cutting tongue," Gatou shook his head in response. "If she wasn't the daughter of that noble, I think I might have just given up and divorced her."

"On to more pleasant things," The short man sighed and pushed a piece of paper to your father. Climbing on to his lap, you look at it, it appears to be a list of items. "Do you think you'll be able to hook me up?"

It appeared to be an inventory of weapons, farming tools, and... construction supplies.

Your father mulled over it. "When do you need it by?"

"Yesterday is what I would like to say, but the absolute latest would be this fall," the reply came with a shrug.

Your father appears to be doing calculations in his head. "I really wish you had asked me before we set sail. It'll be tricky but I'll need until the harvest moon before I can get you everything on the list. Is that acceptable?"

"It'll have to do," Gatou nodded at your father.

With that, you and your father returned to the caravan and...

Just where did that tanuki keep appearing from?

You KNOW that it hadn't been in the caravan when it had departed.

Still, it ran off with the quickly written note that your father gave it.

[I got nothing.] Your inner voice murmured in response to your vexation when it vanished out of your sight.

The next day, the ships reached the docks of the land of Waves, and the caravans were disgorged to make their way about the small island.

The only sign of trouble was when you set foot on the actual island itself...

A pulse as of ripples in an ocean unseen and unknown.

And then a sensation of death.

Death in its myriad ways. Thick, suffocating, enough that it was a sea of blood that you walked beneath.

This was not killing intent. This transcended the notion of killing intent. If killing intent was a flickering ember, then what surrounded you was a sun of absolute murderous death.

It would give you an instant death.

You freeze and are unable to move.

The purity of that killing urge as as pure as the purest of snow. Immaculate and pristine.

It was also your death.

And then... it was gone.

As if it had never been.

Looking about, it is clear to you that no one else seemed to have experienced that. Sing seemed shaken as well, but he had been somewhat seasick during the voyage and was likely still getting over that.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Land of Waves​

​

What Do?
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the internets

[X] Alert the old people, or at least question them.
If they claim not to have felt anything,
[X] Question Sing

You are Sing Sing. You are the son of Heima, a ferious former jounin of Iwagakure.

He is a fierce master of earth ninjutsu, however following the last ninja war that he got his injuries, he has retired from active duty. He has started up a business transporting things.

Today does not seem to be an auspicious day. You can tell by the fact that you have been stuck on the ship for far too long with its infernal bobbing.

As such, you have been sick most of yesterday, last night, and this morning.

It appeared that the so-called bloodline limit that grants you the odd durability and swift recovery doesn't help you against seasickness.

You father is somewhat disappointed that you are seasick as you aren't able to appreciate voyages, but he understands as your mother also has issues with being on boats and ships.

Stepping on to the shore of the Land of Waves, your nausea is smothered by the endless ripples of blood, and aura of violence.
This was an accursed land, you can tell.

The atmosphere was befouled by the violence inherent in man.

Or perhaps a man who became as a demon, who lived and breathed violence.

You catch sight of that girl's face as she set foot upon the soul of the Land of Waves. You see that pale look, that wide-eyed ratbit caught in the gaze of a serpent look. You know, it somewhat mirrored your look.

It is worrying to you that of those who experienced this sensation, it is not the adults, nor the children you've seen running around the docks, just you and her.

You know that she is not normal.

What normal girl would be able to fight as she had in that spar against that kunoichi hired by her father.

You suspect you are not normal either by the standards of most people. But you are far more normal than she.

You walk and breath.

You eat and drink.

You sleep and you dream.

You do not fight.

You have images and recipes in mind. They just come and go, yet they are a rare treasure.

For one of those recipes was the one for the candy that you give out, the lollipop. Your father has agreed to keep it a secret of the family. With the speed you had picked up the art of the deal, you've been called a prodigy. In return, you can only smile to such proclamations. It just seemed easy.

She started to bother the adults, who you're certain have not experienced what you and she have.

You watch her be humored by most of them, save that kunoichi that she had fought. There was a temptation to call her a spider, but who were you to call people names? She didn't seem much like a spider, in truth.

She eventually comes to you, that Haruno girl. Daughter of the Haruno of the Bloody Fields, also now known as the merchant of steel. Your father tells you things.

She speaks of what you already know.

You nod in response as you reply in the language of the Land of Fire. "The air is tainted, the land steeped in blood, and the rivers are full of the flesh of those fallen. It is clear to those who can breath and smell."

That sounded about right.

She frowns at you at your statement, as if trying to work out what you meant.

You shrug at her in response. "It seems to me that great violence was once done here, or one whose soul has nothing to offer but bloody death reposes here."

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Of Stars​

What Do?
[X] Sakura starts shaking you for answers?!?!
[X] Sakura drags you on a exploration mission with her kunoichi friend?
[X] You stay here with the caravan and help your father with setting up for business in the town. Sakura does not stay.
[X] You and Sakura stay here with the caravan and help with setting up the caravans for business in the town.
[X] Snap to another PoV
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but Cowbell Tiara http://www003.upp.so-net.ne.jp/cowbell/

While there are countless merchants, craftsmen, and businessmen, there are few companies that are truly international and have business interests that span the nations in the Elemental Countries.

Here listed are the 'biggest' of the international mercantile companies in alphabetical order.

Haruno International Trading Inc
Haruno International Trading is run by Haruno Kizashi, known as the merchant of steel for the products that he started out with. HIT specializes in metal products; be it common kitchen utensils, farming tools, construction tools, or weapons. It has expanded over time to also include bulk purchases and sales of staple foods, as well as more exotic items as the ceramics dug up in the land of Rain. Rumor has it that if one had the money for it, and the discretion to keep said trade quiet, that HIT also deals in truly exotic "one off" goods such as chakra artifacts.

Heima's Company of Starlight Transport
If you need something transported or couriered swiftly in the Land of Earth, you go to Heima's Company of Starlight Transport. COST is run by Heima the Bear, a former nin of Iwa. More than that, if you need something couriered discretely in the various nations, COST will get it where it needs to be. Unlike HIT, COST's primary selling point is courier services, but they also have a sideline of sales of food stock. Rumor has it that if one is willing to pay for it, COST can get things transported without worry of borders, inspections or such.

Gatou Corp
Gatou Corp is the shipping company operated by Gatou, an import/export company that transaction everything under the sun in terms of goods. Operating of the Land of Water, Gatou corp holds a near perfect monopoly on large scale shipping in the eastern seas. It is said that if you need to get illegal goods such as weapons or drugs, Gatou Corp is the one you should approach.

Gatou Corp also has a different face in that the mercenary guards in the employ of the company can be rented out, while cheaper than shinobi, they are also more indiscriminate in the requests by clients. A selling point is that more mercenaries can be rented than shinobi can be hired. The downside is that the mercenaries are by and large not as skilled as a shinobi.

Kanza Fianancial Loans and Services
The largest bank in the elemental countries, Kanza Financial Loans and Services has a branch in every major city in every country. While it offers competitive loans as well as investment services, the Kanza banks are not a savings type bank.

Omni Consumer Products
One of the oldest mercantile companies, Omni Consumer Products has survived numerous shinobi wars as well as the clan wars. It's name is a byword and it is what HIT, COST, Gatou Corp and other international mercantile companies measure themselves against and compete against.

OCP's impartiality and avoidance of shady deals is near legendary. As is their no bargaining stance in their stores located in virtually every city and town.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but Naruto manga, chapter 19, page 19

[X] Exploration of the city of Waves
Sakura Event - Suffering. Also Peaches, but Sakura didn't see
Sing Sees! - 6d10 → [2,3,7,2,8,7] = (29)

The few words from you is enough to confuse the pink haired girl, or at least cause her to draw back to think on what was just said.

She frowns as if not liking the answer that her thoughts give her.

You do not blame her, after all, you don't like what your senses tell you.

Still, the two of you are swiftly drawn into the swirling madness of moving the caravans to the outskirts of the city of Waves. While they called it the capital of the Land of Waves, it's not. Not truly, it was 'merely' the largest one on said island and had the biggest port able to handle large ships.

And so, the two of you help out the set-up by putting up signs around the caravans as well as setting up smaller items like chairs and tables. You had to shake your head at how Haruno-san seemed determined to hide that she wasn't normal and then promptly forget about it lifting things far too heavy for a normal girl.

You suppose that the explanation that she's a kunoichi in training is a good enough one, you just haven't seen a ninja student be allowed to leave their village. At least based on your experience with Iwagakure ninja students, you suppose Kunohagakure might operate different.

Still, before too long, you and the pink haired girl are done with the little things that the two of you could help with in the caravan.

You see her wheedling with her father for something, and...

The two of you are given a mission by your fathers, to go forth boldly into the city and inform people that the merchants were done.

You suspect that this is more make work than anything, given that you are already seeing people from the city wandering into the caravan encampment. Investigation of goods, bargaining with said merchants manning the tables.

Still, you are not allowed to say a word before you are dragged off by the pink haired girl. The zest she had in life brought a smile to your face. It was good to have joy in life.

And so, you find yourself smiling back at her as she drags you here and there in the city. It being more of an excursion to explore a new city than actually announcing that the caravans were open for business.

The kunoichi friend of Sakura seemed content to trail behind the two of you with a smile on her face.

Many are the sights to be seen; the river canal that spanned the city and which formed an actual highway with boats that travelled within it, to the temple that sat atop said canal and served as a bridge.

The temple was to the goddess of mercy and benevolence from the Old World; Kwanyin. The sight of the twin spiral pigtails on the sides of the statues head got an odd look on Sakura's face, as did the statue of the tree demon that was redeemed by said goddess and who ended up serving her as a handmaiden.

Still, given the way she ran about the city, it's clear that she was looking for something, you're just not sure... that she would find it.

"I'll have three peaches," You sigh as you stepped out of the temple that she ran out of with the Kunoichi after her. You give the holy man seated by the entrance of the other side of the temple extra coinage beyond what was needed for three peaches.

You're certain you can catch up.

"Hmmmpt," You get a nod back from the itinerant holy man, if one were to judge by his garments and prayer beads. "Boy, tell the cherry blossom girl that I will be waiting for her if she continue down that ancient path."

You blink at the holy man, and mulled on his words. There was a complete lack of presence from him, which was impossible from what you have determined by experimentation; you have felt trees with more presence and life than this holy man.

Still, that he had called Sakura by the meaning of her name.

That was significant.

And so, you nod back politely at him. After all, no need to give offense to a spirit. Not when you were in a ghost story as it were.

With that, you ran after Sakura and her Kunoichi.

A contrail of dust left behind you as you darted like lightning, leaving a faint blur and hazy behind.

- - -​

​

Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but Streetfighter Wikia

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Exploration​

- - -​

What Do?
[X] Catch up to them, share the peaches and tell her?
[X] They are faster than expected... and you were FAST.
[X] !!! Different PoV
[X] Write In. Because Write In is Love.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is Danbooru - /post/show/1088600/

[X] Catch up to them, share the peaches and tell her?
- - Describe the spirit in detail.
Sakura Event - Harmless relic of the Old World like a statue!

"Is.... isn't this supposed to be Sakura Quest? If so, how come I'm not the narrator?"
"That's because the storyteller is a jerk and used the votes given to him and he likes me because I can go yan yan the way you can not and will not?"
"That's not fair!"
"Nope... but thems the break, mur.der.fist-chan~"

- - -​

It was when the look of outright outrage appeared on Murderfist-chan's face that you knew things were looking up and would become amusing.

For you.

If not for whoever that Murderfist-chan was going to beat up.

Ahhh~... if you were only a decade younger or Murderfist-chan was a decade older. The things the two of you could get up to.

Beating up people together, hitting the bars... you mentally make a note to check out the bars later at night. There might even be a man who might barely meet your standards, you had very high standards for the people you take to bed. You suspect that you might have better luck finding a comely girl at a bar than an attractive man, but you never know... you could have some luck this night.

Still, you follow the pink haired daughter of Haruno-taicho as she ran out of the temple in the rustic town.

You watched as she utilized chakra to take to the to the roofs for a quicker mode of transport.

You observed as she encountered the trees outside of said town.

Those that stand in her way get crushed.

Felled.

Destroyed.

My... she seems to have completely lost her temper to go into such a rampage in a straight line, paying no attention to the things in her path.

It really was a waste that Haruno-taicho didn't want her to be a ninja. She would have made for an excellent genin or special jounin that specialized in breaking stuff as she was currently.

Leading... not so much, no. Not yet, at any rate. You have, however, heard that the certain members of Konohagakure's administration have high hopes for the career of Haruno Sakura based solely on the analysis of her essays from the filter class.

No one actually called it that, it being more polite to call it the 'ethics' class or some such. It was meant to filter potential leaders and commanders and start the elevator course for them.

Poor girl had way too many people looking at her. You're not going to tell her this, of course. After all, if Haruno-taicho or the hag didn't want to tell her... it wasn't your place to do so.

Looks like the rampage has stopped by virtue of some worn down statues standing in her way.

What...

You have to blink, with raised eyebrows, when Murderfist-chan stopped.

Looked at the statues and then started to demolish them with headbutts.

Each slam of her head against the statue proving that she had a head and face of sterner material than ancient stone. You are also fairly certain that she was committing acts of vandalism. Rampant vandalism, as well as desecration of ancient and holy relics that a statue of the goddess of mercy from unknown ages ago would be.

Which is when you get offered a peach by... wait.

How did the boy manage to keep up after stopping to buy peaches. And for that matter, just how did he walk up behind you without you noticing.

"So, I guess statues offend her?" He looked at the ongoing rampage with a bemused raised eyebrow as Murderfist-chan destroyed the last of the statues with a deep breath and a headslam that pulverized the statue, and cratered the ground.

...

Right, another mental note to self. Try not to get into a Sand "kissing" contest with Murderfist-chan, she looks like she's going to be a killer at headbutts.

"Maybe?" You hazard a reply as you eyes Murderfist-chan cautiously as she stood hunched over the rubble that used to be a number of statues. You can see a slight panting, the wide eyes, those diluted pupils.

She needs time to cool down.

Obviously, the statues in the temple had triggered some sort of reaction.

If you didn't know any better, you could swear that she had a bad reaction at the sight of the goddess of mercy. Which... was kind of ridiculous.

That was when the boy spoke up, mentioning something about ancient paths and waiting, before giving a description of the holy man.

Oh... oh my, that twitch, the look of 'are you seriously telling me this? really!?!?'...

Yeah, she was going to erupt.

And Murderfist-chan doesn't disappoint. She hasn't so far.

That flare of pink that clawed for the heavens felt right. It suited Murderfist-chan very well.

Even if she collapsed backwards and just looked into the sky as if just giving up on the day.

You smile, shake your head, and picked her up before leaping into the trees in the direction of the town.

You trust the boy to follow.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Summer Headbutt!​

What Do?
[X] Take Murderfist-chan to the temple to look for the holy man?
[X] Take Murderfist-chan back to the caravan, she could use some rest.
[X] Write In? Because I got nothing... ^_^;

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Source is Danbooru - /post/show/600309/

[X] To the Temple. Cause Crazy Holy Men who are giving messages to Muderfist-chan sounds interesting. And you know what. You're getting bored. So FUN~ time! (write in sounds fun~)
Sakura Event 1 - Sup bitches, Sakura here...
Sakura Event 2 - Better luck next time.
Sakura Merchandising - 6d10 → [6,9,1,8,2,3] = (29)

You are Haruno Sakura, the reincarnation of Kasugano Sakura.

And today... today has not being a good day for you.

Still, the events of the day has managed to push both your inner "voice" and your "normal" self into one.

You are still you.

You just have no fucks to give at the moment.

Seriously, who the hell would call Kanzuki Karin the goddess of mercy. Yes, you understand that things can get mistaken over time, you've seen that happen in your last life.

But that wasn't the real issue you had with that religion. No, rather... YOUR issue was that you got rewritten into her myth as a minor tree demon that was redeemed and made into a handmaiden. Of... of Kanzuki.

Just that thought made you ill.

Okay, you were being unfair to Karin, but still... it was frustrating to see what the future had made of you. Or was that what the past had misinterpretations of your relationship of friendly rival-ship before you moved on as the world did. After all, you were living in the "future".

Still, you don't mind being carried by Spi.. Lily. At least, she wasn't carrying you under her arm like she did last year. Rather, you were being carried on her back.

Which wasn't too bad.

You, however, are not going to commend about the lilac fragrance in her shampoo, even if it fills your nose. It didn't seem very... appropriate for Lily. Not with what you have observed of her.

You sigh, and relax on her back and enjoyed the rushing wind.

Turning your head subjects you to an oddity.

Sing keeping up with Lily.

This was just a horrible dream.

Yeap... can't be real.

After all, if this was real... that meant Akuma was still somehow alive.

And waiting.

Like some bad internet joke that just wouldn't die that your... brother Tsukushi liked to go on and on about. Besides, even you knew that this Chuck Norris couldn't compare to Bruce Lee. You had watched Way of the Dragon after all, both the original and the remake by Fei Long.

The walking and breathing technique could and did extend one's life. But you refuse to believe that one could simply just keep living for that long.

It's all just a dream... and you slowly relax against the back of Lily as she moves.

- - -​

You are Haruno Sakura, and you just woke up.

This is a worrying thing.

Because the last thing you remember was looking at some statues and listening to the story about them.

And there was the sensation of something just snapping.

You don't recall what... just that sound and anger.

You snuggle [Lily] Lily as she alights at the entrance of the temple and started to ask around for a wandering holy man. Apparently, he had said something to Sing...

[Don't worry about it, if HE's here, HE's here. I don't think HE'll be.] There was an amused snort from the inner you, she seems almost in a midst of nostalgia. [It's not easy to find HIM if HE doesn't want to be found. Which is a good thing.]

HE? You mentally frowned. The description made it sound like Lily was looking for the Orge or Akuma as your past self called him. Which was patently silly as no one can live that long.

Well, not unless they really were a demon or a god.

You settled for resting on her back as she did the legwork of tracking down the holy man.

If unsuccessfully, it appeared that the three of you were always just one step too slow.

He bought some food here, ate there.

Walked off into the forest here.

Took a leak here against that tree.

In the end, Lily gives up and takes you back to the caravan in the evening

Sing is once more dragooned into helping out as were you. This time, however, after a quick meal, the two of you man the tables...

And thus were the force of cuteness harnessed to the side of selling things.

You smiled, played cute and got people to think about if this lovely necklace was worth forking out mon coins for it. If they were thinking, to help convince them that it really was a good deal.

Certainly you were good at this using your cute looks to convince people to buy buy buy, spending their copper mons like water.

And so the night passed beneath lanterns, voices calling out sales, haggling amidst laughter and good will.

The next few days settle into a pattern of selling some of your stock, replenishing additional stock. You also get a chance to explore more.

Your father certainly seems happier as you get into the spirit of haggling and wheedling and dealing, and closing deals. No mention was made by anyone about the flare of pink, and the heavy fog of chakra that came from the forest by the city.

And so, the two caravans made their way about the island, visiting the assorted towns and villages.

Eventually, you return to the 'capital' once more.

On the last night in the Land of Waves, you are introduced to a prominent business man of the land of Wave, as well as his wife and son. Or rather, you father took you on a quick 'side' business trip, and introduced you to someone he knew; Kaiza, an independent ship captain who was one of the sources of some of the more 'exotic' goods that your father got his hands on.

There was small briefcases of money exchanged for ancient relics. You are fairly certain it's a relic.

But if so, what would someone do with a fossilized CD in some kind of casing. Ah well, it wasn't as if there would be readers that still work.

Still, you play the part of a quiet girl and sat and listened as they chitchatted about shipping lanes and such.

- - -​

With your holiday over, you soon return to the ninja academy in Konohagakure.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 8 Time for falling leaves and classes​

What would you do now? (Pick One)
[X] Study as you would normally, helping your classmates as usual.
- - [X] Focus on the practical lessons (pick one of the sub focus)
- - [X] Focus on the theoretical lessons (pick one of the sub focus)
[X] Focus on Taijutsu, you have been slacking off.
[X] Focus on Heart of Maya, let's do more drawings and painting.
[X] Focus on Ninjutsu, you should focus on the stuff you did a group study to learn.
[X] Write In.

[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYHZEu7Y7DU[/embed]​

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but Naruto Wikia

[X] Focus on Taijutsu, you have been slacking off.
Sakura Event 1 - Mommy and Daddy Make a Deal about heirs...
Sakura Event 2 - Saikyou Ryuu!

As you start up school, and take classes once more, you find yourself surrounded by the normal and familiar; that is to say, your classmates, the classrooms (and outside training grounds), your teachers...

Yeap, there was the droning voices from the teachers as they forced lessons into the minds of impressionable students.

You even doodle during classes, focusing on your classmates and instructors. You do some light painting during lunch when you're not napping.

There was the regimented lessons of how to punch and kick, as they conditioned young bodies. Here was the lessons as they taught people how to balance walk on ropes, without the use of chakra.

And then, there was the shuriken and kunai throwing. You... weren't as good as that. Something that Uchiha-san seems to take pleasure from as he shone and demonstrated a growing skill at throwing stuff.

You do however focus on conditioning your body during taijutsu class. And after school, you... you find yourself asking your mother for additional training, citing that you would like to focus just a bit more on taijutsu because you have been slacking off. Why at this rate, you might even find yourself getting out of shape and... and becoming chubby.

And thus your mother took a hand in teaching you the family style. You sense that she is certainly happy with the situation, even if there was some quiet talking at night between your parents.

The katas are familiar, and you find yourself flowing in tune with the style that your mother shows you. You feel that Saikyou Ryuu isn't that bad a thing, even if your inner voice has given up its wailing and crying and was off in the corner of your mind getting drunk on sake.

Wait... how did she even get that in your mind.

You pay no attention to the drunken sobbing in the back of your mind as you focus on the lessons given by your mother.

She helps you with the three special techniques that you had instinctively mastered. And even showed you how to perform the greater versions of them.

The Haoh Gadouken was a technique that was a greater version of the Gadouken in all ways from chakra consumption to the destructive might tha allowed its user to destroy large boulders with a single strike. It was a technique that took but mere moments to utilize and was a perfect finishing move to a combination flurry of punches and kicks...

Such as the Saikyou Ryuu Ougi, Hissho Buraiken. This technique was a proper technique that focused chakra into a serious of punches and kicks, and ended with a Koryuken. It was a punishing technique that showed the might of why it was dangerous to get too close to a taijutsu specialist.

The few times you visit your father, he doesn't seem to have much work for your as you find yourself doing more painting and sketching than anything. You do however feel that he seems to like it when you're there with him.

As the months go by, you notice that your mother seems to be more careful with what she did and demonstrated with you and that... she was becoming slightly chubby.

That winter, rather than some massive training regime, your mother takes you on a trip out of Konoha. A surprising visit to the capital.

You are uncertain as to how she did it, but the two of you have no actual escorts.

Instead you take to the trees and stay there when you can...

The journey goes faster than expected.

Your stay, however, is one that you enjoyed as you showed off what you've learned to your big sis. Had some fun sparring with your grandfather.

Also, your cousins take you to visit the sights of the capital and the restaurants.

All in all a fun trip... it goes by faster than you expected and you are once more back at school. You continue your classes, you learn the finer points of leadership, of the philosophy of shinobi. And what it meant to be a wielder of chakra, to be the inheritors of the Sage of the Six Paths, wielder of the Manyfold Elements.

Shimura-sensei's class wasn't one of forcing information down your throat, rather it was a more offering of 'here is what you can have, take what you desire'. And it's one where you are outshone by Shikamaru, but that was Shikamaru being the top student when he actively focused his attentions. He, like you, only rise to the occasion when given a challenge.

And Shimura-sensei's Advanced Ninja Ethnics class is challenging. It forced its students to think. Such as with creative simulations of old battles and wars using models and genjutsu to bring to life, where the original situations were shown and then you were told to pick sides and play 'commander'.

Your sensei was of the opinion that nins who could punch or throw fancy and powerful jutsu were a dozen to the mon, but commanders who could make the best use of said nins? Priceless.

You get the feeling that the class should really be called Ninja Command.

Soon, it is spring.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Spring when flowers blossom.​

What Do?
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the internets

[X] Go to father; tell him you overheard him and Lily talk about us and the plan to make her graduate and then quit, and that you are simply following that plan. Point out that martial arts are your hobby, something you like to do but not what you want to do in life.
[X] Spend time learning from father.
Haruno Kizashi dot connecting - 8d10 → [2,5,6,3,5,2,1,10] = (34)

You had noticed a disturbing trend as of late. Let it not be said that you are not perceptive. You are! You are totally perceptive.

Still, you have noticed this disturbing trend whenever you visit your father's office. He doesn't make you do anything, instead you just sit around drawing things or painting.

Which, when you consider it and gave some thought, seemed wrong.

You had been working on accounting and such with him, but that had stopped once you had asked mother for more training.

Thus, you take the time to formulate your thoughts into words before going to visit him.

It isn't exactly difficult to find him in his office as he smoked tabacoo in his pipe while frowning at a map. "You don't have your sketchbook with you today?"

He didn't even look up to notice you were missing the item you had with you almost all the time when you visited him in his office.

"Isn't it okay for me to visit?" You look at him with your best puppy eyes. It got you a sigh and you watched as he put the pipe down on its little holder.

"Isn't today one of the days you spend time with your mother to practice taijutsu?" He looks at you curiously.

"Yes... but I thought I should talk to you," It only made sense to close the door behind you.

A head tilt, a raised eyebrow and he looked at you. "Really, and what can I do for my little princess?"

You settled on the chair and looked at him. "I heard, you know."

His curiosity was aroused, you can tell by his narrowed eyes. You elaborate. "Back in the Land of Earth, when you and lily were talking about getting me into the medical curriculum."

You finish with a nod, before he responded with a drawl. "Really now?"

The response wasn't one you were used to. It would have been enough to throw you off if you hadn't had the conversation mapped out, and that you knew that you had to be firm with daddy. Because if you weren't... he would walk all over you. He told you so when he was teaching you about negotiations. Firm, but not harsh.

"Well, yes. And I like you lots and lots and want to be like you, daddy. But I have to do ninja classes and, you know... I have to do well. You and mommy told me that I should do well. And big sis Yuyu said that I had to be elegant in everything, and it's not elegant to do poorly," You gesture as you speak.

"Mmmm mmmmmh," He nodded and gestured for you to continue on, before he poured himself a cup of tea and one for you.

Wait. This scenario... this seemed familiar to you.

Oh.

Oh, no... he wasn't.

But it looks like it is.

He was treating you as if you were someone who was here to sell him something or convince him to do something. He was using negotiation tactics on you.

How terrible! But you knew how to react in this.

It was a game. But one you knew how to play. If not very well.

You sip at the tea. You were going to need to sell him that you wanted to continue studying under him, it looks like.

[Reverse Psychology, has to be.] Your inner voice doesn't seem to be drinking at the moment as she declared what he was doing. But then, you weren't studying Saikyou Ryuu at the moment.

"I do want to be a merchant," You declare once more with firmness. "I like traveling with you and meeting people, and selling them stuff."

"But you could do that as a kunoichi, no?" He responded with a smile. "Travel the world and fight people?"

"Martial arts is just a hobby, something to do for fun, it is not something for me to live by," You wave your hand in dismissal. "And besides, if I can do the ninja class and quit afterwards, why not?"

"Martial arts... huh," Your father looks at you now with lazy eyes. "Have you been sneaking into my old world material?"

"Ah... no?" You blink back in response. What was he talking about?

"In the world before it moved on, martial arts is what they called taijutsu," Your father explains. That made some sense. Wait...

He continued to speak. "So, tell me... am I speaking to my daughter or has she been taken over by a cherry tree demoness from Before the World Moved On?"

...

Wait...

What?

Did he just say that?

[Sounds like he did just say what you thought he said.]

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Heart to Heart?​

What Do?
[X] "She's this voice in my head? We talk, sometimes?" Tell your father everything.
[X] "D... don't... don't be silly, I'm Sakura, daddy." Denial is a good defense?
[X] "What?" Refuge in audacity, start lying to your father.
[X] Write In...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on image for larger version, but go to Danbooru for full size​

Sauce is Danbooru, it's VERY intricate - /post/show/801712/

[X]No gods, no turtle kings, only men or something like that...

"In the world before it moved on, martial arts is what they called taijutsu," Your father explains. That made some sense. Wait...

He continued to speak. "So, tell me... am I speaking to my daughter or has she been taken over by a cherry tree demoness from Before the World Moved On?"

Did he just say what you thought he said?

[Sounds like he did just say what you thought he said.] Your other voice murmured in agreement.

He was expecting an answer.

You would lie in response. You could conceal the truth in fancy words.

But you won't.

Because the one was talking to you? He was Haruno Kizashi.

He was and always will be your daddy. The one who gave up a ninja career for you so that he wouldn't one day not return home.

The man who you traveled with to exotic locales, to sell people stuff.

He was a great storyteller who used genjutsu to tell you the most fantastic and greatest of tales, using an art meant to attack minds to bring stories to life for you.

This was your father, who showed you the importance of your image and reputation towards others, to always honor your word and enjoy candy afterwards.

This was the man that you raged for after transforming from the cute little carp that swam up a waterfall into the dragon gate to become a dragon. Because he got hurt.

And he was asking you directly.

Not dancing around.

Just you and him.

Honestly, it wasn't even a consideration to lie to him.

"Oh, daddy... I'm Sakura. But... she's also here in my head, just this voice. And we talk sometimes," You look at him in the eyes and start to talk.

You speak of the dreams, elaborating on what you SHOWED when you spared against grandfather. Of how she was just this girl in the Old World, who had a normal life before becoming a fangirl of this warrior... following him around and just learning how he fought.

Your father's eyebrow rose when you speak of her mastery and creation of her own derived style within a year and which was comparable to the other styles used by other warriors and martial artists. It wasn't complete, because no style truly was. But he seemed interested to discover just how good the old Sakura had been at martial arts.

And that the goddess of mercy and benevolence wasn't all that. Being a friendly rival and such of Kasugano Sakura.

You drink your tea and spoke more of That Man, and watched your father's eyebrow twitched when you gush on and on about how awesome that man was. You also hear him muttering about not letting his little princess near men like that....

Of Hibiki Dan and his Saikyou Ryuu, you didn't say too much about. You didn't want to hurt your mother's feelings if your parents talked.

In the end, you conclude. "She's not a demon or a god. No one really was back then... things were just different. They didn't use chakra as a base for their technology or civilization."

He nods. "If... if you truly are my daughter, come to me."

You blink and hopped off your chair, ignored the seal on the floor glowing softly with chakra and hugged him.

He returned said hug. "No hard feelings? Because I would hate to have to beat down some tree demoness for doing bad things to my daughter. After all, if I can't save you, I would have had to avenge you. But I'm just glad you're still my little princess."

You look back at him and tilt your head. "Ahhhh?"

[That thing could have slowed us down if we were breathing and walking, just so you know.] Your inner voice explained as your father laughed and just hugged you some more.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Father and Daughter Talk​

What Do?
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

Omake / Non Canon Post​

Looking around at the devastation Kakashi couldn't help but sigh at himself.
"Guess I was too late." he declares mournfully.

The Valley of the End. What a terrible omen. With the valley as destroyed as it is, he's surprised that the Statues are as intact as they are.

Yet, despite the signs, Kakashi can't help but wonder about the smile on Naruto's face.

~30 Minutes Earlier.~

Breathing deeply, Naruto finally catches up to the person he's been chasing, just on the other side of this valley. Getting control of his breath, Naruto lets loose with a yell, Trying to call the person back.

"Sakura!"

She stops, before slowly turning around. He's not sure what to make of her expression. A half surprised and amused expression. As if surprised that he had caught up but amused all the same.

"Fishcake! What are you doing here?"

He's shocked for the moment at the nonchalant way she replies, as if she wasn't about to walk away from them but was instead just catching up on old times. It kind of pisses him off.

"What do you mean 'What am I doing here?' I'm here to bring you back!"

"Hmm." She mulls it over for a second before replying. "Nope, Sorry fishcake! I can't go back!"

"What? Why?!"

Why? Why would she want to leave them. He couldn't understand it. What reason would make Big Sis Sakura want to leave her home behind to become a missing nin for?
Seeming to see something on his face, she quickly hops over to him. He begins to feel elated, maybe she was going to come back after all?

"There, now we don't have to keep yelling at each other. I mean it's nice and dramatic in manga but... Anyway" Seeing her shake her head to get herself back on track, she continues. "It's time for me to leave," She shrugs her shoulders.

"But why do you need to leave?" He continues trying to get the reason. Anything to explain this.
She looks at him, trying to think of how exactly to explain what she feels before getting an idea.

"Naruto, your dream is to be Hokage right?"
He's confused at the question, of course he wanted to be Hokage. Being able to be as awesome as the Fourth and the Old Man to protect everybody. That was his dream. He was sure Sakura knew all this already since they were teammates but he answered anyway.
"Of course it's my dream, I'm going to be the best Hokage ever!" She nods, but smiles at his enthusiasm before she continues.
"And you won't let anyone stop you from reaching it right?" Here she puts an edge in her voice. As if testing his determination.
He shakes his head. Of course he wouldn't. There was no way he was ever giving up on getting that hat.
"That's why I have to go." And he was confused again, what did his dream of becoming Hokage have to do with Sakura becoming missing nin.

"Wait, does that mean you think I'll be a bad Hokage?!" Naruto cried out. Was that why she was leaving? It would hurt to have Big Sis Sakura be one of the people that thought he wasn't capable of being a good Hokage. Despite the Fourth and the Old Man being his role models, he admired Sakura. She watched out for him, gave him a Family. She was everything he wished he could be and one of the people he wanted to emulate, so if this was true....

Waving her hands back and forth quickly, she fervently denies this. Phew, so she doesn't think he would be a bad Hokage. Then what did his dream have to do with leaving then? Seeming to find a different tangent, Sakura tries again. "Alright, how about this. Did you know that in Iwa, they have a sport called Boar Wrestling?"

He blinks at this, "Boar wrestling? What's that?" Did they have to wrestle a boar? That didn't sound too hard...

"Boar wrestling is when two people stand in a large circle and have to try and push their opponent out of the ring. They can only use close combat techniques, and the circle is only as big as around the two of us." Here she gestures at a circle that would surround them. "It's a big thing in Iwa, and you need to be pretty strong or else you'll be pushed out easily."

"Oh," Huh, he didn't know that.

"Also, did you know that in Suna, they have a dessert called a mud cake?"

"Eww," He replied, they ate mud?

"It's hot melted chocolate coated on top of a cookie," She replies smugly.

"oooh," Hey that sounded pretty good.

"Anyway, there are so many things out there like what I just told you about. It's been my dream to travel to those places and experience them for myself, just like it's your dream to be Hokage. That's why I need to go, I was actually hoping to get started right out of school. But things kept happening." she finishes.

"But, why do you need to become a missing nin? If you do that you won't be able to come back here anymore! What about your friends here, your family?"

Here she crosses her arms, "Hmph, I'll have you know that there's nothing wrong with being a missing nin. You should know that too Naruto."

Haku, He thinks. Zabuza...

"Still, what about never coming back here again?" He tries again. He knows it's her dream now, but still...

Here, she gets a sly smile on her face. "Hey, Naruto. What's a Hokage again?"
He looks at her strangely.
Maintaining her smile she continues, "The Hokage is the leader of Konoha, they decide what it does and how. So if a certain Uzumaki with dreams of being Hokage becomes Hokage, he could remove a certain Big Sis's Missing Nin Status so she could visit again..."

His eye's widen. He could couldn't he. Because there would be no way he Wouldn't be Hokage, and when he did, he could just remove Big Sis Sakura's Missing Nin Status. Hell, he might even be able to find others like Big Sis Sakura and Haku and allow them into Konoha too.

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, He refocuses back on Big Sis Sakura to see a serene smile on her face.
Sighing in defeat, yet feeling unnaturally happy at losing. He nods at her.

She gives him a hug, before walking away. Seeing it, Naruto can't help but call out again. "Wait!"
She looks over her shoulder at him, silently asking him to continue.

"Can we fight before you leave?" She was leaving for a short vacation (because he'd get that hat before anyone knew it). And despite admiring her, he always wondered how he compared, how far he needed to go to reach her.

Seeing her turn around with a grin. She replies, "Sure fishcake, make sure not to hold back though." She stomps the ground in an explosion of chakra, even as more chakra swirls around her like Sakura petals on the wind as she gets into her stance.
"Because if you do, then this'll be a quick fight."

Feeling a grin slide onto his own face, he jumps back before yelling "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And battle was joined.
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Well, I hope you enjoy this one. No music this time because I'm not really sure what would fit it. I'm not as happy with it as I am with some of my other ones, (Guh Dialog. My apparent weakness).
Anyway, Here's something I pictured if we followed Ninja Route.

I was planning on adding a scene where Sakura and Sasuke trade places with Sasuke asking to go with her and Sakura telling him to [Go Home and be a Family Man], but I figured some people would be offended so that was dropped.

Still, I think the Neji, Sasuke, Lee, Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru, Lee, Gaara, Kankurou, Temari vs Grandpa, Big Sis Yuyu, and Big Sis Merry Bell retrieval team fight would be awesome.

Also, Boar Wrestling is Sumo.

Click to shrink...

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is danbooru /post/show/1318817/

[X] Tell you want to train in your own (past life's) fight style, Sakura no Shin Ken. Ask for some help about Mom because it could be seen similar to the Saikyo-Ryuu.
[X] So daddy Sakura said that your seal would have held us up if we were using Breathing and Walking how does that work and how did you figure out the technique to make a counter? Would you mind helping me with it?
[X] "You know, if you wanted.....we could go on a trip together. Kasugano Sakura remembers a lot of the Old World. She could help you with the relics. I'd like to help you with that."
Sakura Event - Renegociation : success with daddy sleeping on couch

You settle for lazily hugging your father, the warmth from his body was nice and calming.

....

You hadn't hugged him like this for some time now, have you? The last time, you did was... was back when you were visiting the capital, wasn't it?

Yes.

The warmth from his body and that of the sunlight from the office window, that felt nice.

Very nice and soothing.

When was the last time you had a proper nap?

Far too long.

So, you snuggled your father and did what came naturally to you.

You fell asleep.

As the warm darkness claimed you, you can hear a lullaby being hummmed and a soothing hand stroking your back.

- - -​

Eventually, you wake up to the smell of roasted meat, savory vegetables, and you sniff deeply with closed eyes. Yes, some kind of soup brooth, hoshi-shiitakei based...

You sniff sniffed and open your eyes and looked about you.

Location, daddy's office.

Status, tucked under blankets on the couch to the side. Also, warm and snuggly.

You can also hear... angry words being exchanged between your father and mother.

Very angry words.

And then what sounds like a slap that echoed from the meeting room that daddy had next to his office.

Oh...

It appeared that he had taken your comments about wanting to recreate the style that the original Sakura had used and had... tried to talk to your mother about it.

You yawn as your mother comes into the office and picks you up without saying a thing and started carrying you back home. Your father... doesn't walk with you two home like he usually did when you stayed late at his office.

"Ne, Sakura... I know that I can be harsh on you, but you don't have to try to create your own offshoot of our family taijutsu style just yet," You can hear an alien emotion in her voice as she talked to you as she carried you home over the rooftops. "You can keep learning Saikyou Ryuu, you know that right, Sakura?"

That soft not quite hicking in her voice. Was your mother crying?

And trying to keep it inside?

That felt wrong.

Like the world had gone upside down.

Your mother was strong. The strongest.

She always smiled or frowned when she was upside. But she never cried. She wasn't weak or soft.

Why would she do that?

If it was someone bullying her, you would punch them and make them sorry... but that wasn't the case here.

There was no one to beat up.

This was a problem that punching wouldn't solve.

You settle for hugging your mother and ignored the drops of wetness that falls on your face.

Eventually, there was a sneaking sound as she wiped her face with a handkerchief. "You know what, let's... let's eat out, Sakura."

"I know you like that Yakiniku Q place," You nodded at your mother and started to hop to the restaurant with her.

- - -​

The scent of grilled meat, sheared fat, redolent with the flavors of sauces...

You will never get tired of that.

It likely helps that you were famished when your mother and you arrived.

Getting a booth didn't take too long, or rather it took forever and a half.. but you find yourself seated, cold water and hot tea provided to slake your thirst.

With the meat ordered with some vegetables and rice, you had but to wait.

It was as you waited and looked around that you hear a familiar voice.

"I still don't see why we can't go to Ramen Ichiraku, big sis Karin..." That was one hundred percent Fishcake whining, or rather Naruto whining when denied a chance to get ramen.

"That's because you're an Uzumaki now, Naruto-chan. And as as Uzumaki, our worse is still better than the best that other people have to offer," That haughty tone of voice felt... familiar. "That means you can't just eat at any little restaurant. Only the best is acceptable, remember that, Naruto."

You blink and peeked to the booth behind yours. It was Fishcake, with some red haired girl you didn't recognize, and... oh, you remember him. That was one of grandfather's friends. "Uzumaki-san!"

"Big Sis Sakura!"

"Oh ho, if it isn't You-kun's little girl." You smile and beamed at him. He was one of the nice old man who gave you candy when grandfather introduced you.

"Karin, say hello to Sakura. She's the granddaughter of lord Haruno." The haughty look directed at you by the be-spectacled redhaired girl was considering. "The two of you didn't meet because Karin-chan here was trapped in the Spiral Academy when you visited."

- - -​

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is danbooru - /post/show/717107/

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Suddenly A Wild Karin...​

What Do?
[X] Smile and nod at the Uzumaki, ask mother if you can join them?
[X] Smile and nod at the Uzumaki, have dinner with mother first... then talk to them.
[X] You don't trust that red haired girl. Your instincts tell you that you'd like to give her a tummy punch!
[X] Write In Like a Baus!

 

[Biigoh]

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Click picture for larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the interwebs

[X] Smile and nod at the Uzumaki, have dinner with mother first... you can talk to Fishcake afterwards.
Sakura Event - Chopsticks bonding

A smile and a nod of head is all the greeting you give to the red head. You can tell from the narrowed eyes that she doesn't take this well. This one didn't like it when someone treated her as an equal.

"Later, Fishcake~. We'll talk tomorrow at school," You smile warmly now at the blonde girl, and waved at grandfather's friend before returning to your seat by your mother as the servers return.

With platters of meat, raw and bloody, and more than ready for the charcoal grill inset into the table.

Bowls of rice, complimented with vegetables for the grilling.

Sauces to ladle upon the meat and vegetables as they cooked upon the grill.

You set to putting pork belly and beef intestine over the fire for yourself, your mother does chicken instead. You frown as she also included the mushrooms, cabbage and eggplants for health reasons. You suspect that your mother was evil to enjoy making you eat vegetables when there was meat available, even if you DID like them.

Soon, the scent of meat cooking hangs redolent around your table as you carefully eyed the sizzling meat, as the fat started to become soft and the meat cooked.

Carefully, you drizzle the dark sauce on the pork and intestine. Your hand is steady even as the flames of the fire in the heart of the grill jumps up.

Transferring the meat to your bowl of rice, you sigh with pleasure as the scent of the meat waffles into your nose before you set to devouring it.

Eating was too polite as term to describe how you bite the meat, chewed it, and savored the rich and meaty texture and taste before swallowing.

You sip at your tea, before going for the kimchi and some of the vegetables that your mother had placed on the grill.

However, you find that your attempts to go for the sliced eggplant to be stymied as your mother's chopsticks had also gone for the same slice.

You look up at her, and she looked calmly back with a raised eyebrow.

[Wai.... wait a moment, you can't seriously be going for something that cliched as this.] Your eyes narrowed as did hers. 'Mine!' you didn't say to her. But you can feel her response of 'No. Mine! If you want it, take it from me!' [Oh gods... you are...]

And thus did chopsticks meet chopsticks as you find yourselves battling quietly, civilly over the battleground that was grill.

Each grasp of meat and vegetable was victory. Its taste filling and yet... so much more tasty for winning.

As the meat and vegetables vanished from the grill, you and your mother wordlessly added more.

Words were not spoken.

But somehow... somehow... you connected with your mother with this battle.

And as hearts were joined.

You could see that she really did mean well for you. It's just that she felt that you would truly be happier as a ninja than a merchant.

That was why she had been happy to teach you things that normally wouldn't be taught to civilian children.

That was why she had been happy to teach you the family taijutsu style.

And was it so wrong to learn a family style and to fold the style you had been learning from your dreams into said family style? To call it Saikyo Ryuu? The Strongest Style?

After all, was it not strong?

In turn, your heart spoke of how you wanted to make both your mother and father happy. Which was why you wanted to be a merchant.

That you wanted to be more than a ninja. Fighting came easy to you, you wanted to face challenges...

Everything came easy to you... well... except for that Heart of Maya thing that Big Sis Yuyu taught you. Still, the art of selling things to people, that was different... it was something that required you to work at it.

If only you could have more time in the world, so you can nap in peace, so you can play with mommy, study with daddy, play with your friends, and learn new things... oh and go to school.

You didn't want to make anyone angry or sad. Not your mommy or daddy.

In due time, the meal ends with the two of you burping and sighing as a stack of empty platters to the side spoke of the prodigious amount of meat and vegetables that you had slated your hunger with.

And with the end of that meal, you find yourself with your mother as she pays for the meal before you leave for home.

And at home, you need to talk to mother.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Dinner​

What Do? Each Vote Choice is a Yes or No type binary thing...
[X] Ask if home schooling with mother is possible? [Yes/No]
[X] Talk about how you want to recreate/create Sakura no Shin Ken? Or accept learning the family style from your mother?
[X] Tell mother about wanting to be a merchant like daddy? [Yes/No]
[X] Write in like a mad boss.

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Picture is not from Danbooru, but Gelbooru /index.php?page=post&s=view&id=652073

[X] Ask if home schooling with mother is possible?
[X] Accept learning the family style from your mother?
[X] Tell mother about wanting to be a merchant like daddy?
Sakura Event - Stressed Out + Pregnancy = Whoops
Haruno Event - Female

Once home, you find yourself in the living room with your mother.

You notice her doing something to the chimes by the door leading into the garden and to the windows that look out, and the sounds from outside seem more muted.

How novel, you hadn't considered that it was possible to do such a thing. For a moment, you consider asking your mother how it works, but that thought is discarded in the face of what is important. You had things you needed to talk with your mother about.

And thus, did the conversation between you and your mother proceed as tea is made and sipped by the two of you beneath the bright spring moon beneath a clear sky.

You spoke of how... inefficient certain classes were at school and and of how much fun you had when you "played" with her. And that it would be fun to be able to have mommy teach you instead of having sit in classes and just have the teacher drone at you.

If only there was a jutsu or something that allowed you to be in multiple places at once. Your mother smiled at the mention of such a jutsu and quietly responded that you weren't ready for such a thing, that it would kill you to use such a thing.

You had to blink at this, the other you in your head was also surprised at there being such a technique that could last long enough for it to be effective for more than just fighting.

Still, you forge on.

You admitted that you had some notion of (re)creating a taijutsu style called Sakura no Shin Ken. Your mother frowned at this, not at the creation of a taijutsu style, but at how... you were going to name it after yourself.

Something about vanity. This.. was something you had to give to her, it was rather vain to name an entire fighting style after yourself.

There was the admission that you were going to just include in the techniques you used by instinct, the forms that just came to you in dreams and which your body simply knew how to do guided as it was by your chakra.

She nodded at that.

Still, looking at your mother, you had to admit that she had taught you much. And was it wrong to want to spend time with her, learning Saikyo Ryuu?

No.

After all, wasn't it the strongest style. And in the end, what was a name, but a name? Something for people to call things by. Did it matter if the method that you used to fight was called Sakura no Shin Ken, or Saikyo Ryuu... or even, oh, you don't know, Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu.

Anything goes, right?

You find yourself agreeing to not creating your style for now, it wasn't as if you weren't learning a taijutsu style from your mother. One that was... just a smidge less lethal than what the style you remember your dream self practicing.

That style required restrain to avoid killing people, it was... easy to just put that extra [ki] chakra into a move, to push that little bit more when punching or kicking and people were so fragile that it breaks them.

Was it a bad thing to have some restrain in your movements? To not easily and simply slip into techniques that were just more powerful in retaliation to whatever your opponents essayed against you?

And so, you find yourself formally asking your mother for lessons in Saikyo Ryuu, the strongest style.

"Mother, I would ask of you to teach me the family style handed down from our ancestors, created in the Old World before it moved on."

The look of surprise and pleasure on your mother's face feels nice to witness, you are aware that you were the cause of the angry words between your mother and father, the resulting slap and tears... they were your fault.

This was but a small step to make up for it. And not because you enjoyed fighting and were interested in finding out more of this style that your mother practiced. Really.

There was a smile on your mother's face, as she nodded in response. "Daughter mine, your request is within reason. And I see nothing wrong with it, I shall teach you Saikyo Ryuu. But know this, that Saikyo Ryuu is a way of life. It is not a style of fighting, nor is it meant to live by or to die by. And that to be a practitioner is to become more, that you must walk with your head high and back unbowed."

Well... that went well. Even if you suspect that thoughts you had and explanations for what you wanted to do would not be received well by your mother.

"Mother," You look downwards. "I fear the next part of our conversation might not be that pleasing for you."

An eyebrow rises at what you're saying. "Go on."

"I want to be a merchant, like father," There is a hiss of surprise at what you say. "I enjoy fighting, I enjoy sparring with you, I enjoy martial arts. But it is not something I want to define my life with. I want to be more than that."

"I want to have challenges. To not have everything come to me as easily to me. The only time I find pleasure in fighting is when I face someone stronger, that challenges me. And it's rare for that to happen. But everything I do while with daddy, like buying and selling or accounting, it's a challenge."

"I see." Your mother's voice held disappointment, and other unspoken emotions. "W... we'll talk later, why don't you go to bed?"

You nod and respect your mother's wishes.

- - -​

The next morning, you wake up... and find the house empty.

There is a note on the table saying that your mother had gone to the hospital.

When one's choices lay between school and one's mother in the hospital, the answer is simple. One goes to the hospital.

You find your father waiting outside a room, from which you can hear an incessant ringing of bells in sequence.

[..... I don't like them.] was all the inner you would say when your father says nothing about the bell and was surprised when you mentioned them. He didn't hear them.

There is a vague suspicion that this. this. this. this. this. was like that unrelenting killer's pressure on the Land of Waves. But if Akuma was responsible for that. What did that say of those bells?

Piercing sharp.

Ponderously low.

They ring and ring.

You are kept outside the operating room with your father. The sounds of your mother... suffering and struggling is muted by the sounds of the bells.

The ever distant bells that were too close.

Yet, they were too far. [not far enough.]

They spoke to you. [us]

Called to you. [me]

Demanded.

Come.

Now.

HERE.

In counterpoint to the ringing of bells, you can feel nothing but worry and concern for your mother. At the sounds that she made.

An eternity later.

Or perhaps moments.

But you suspect that it was more akin to hours, you can no longer hear your mother's voice. There is only silence for a moment.

A silence broken by the cry of a baby.

There is new life here.

A miracle.

In that cry, you sense something [old].

Anger for a brief moment, that soon fades with the cry.

The operating room door opens, and a man... or perhaps a woman steps out. You are uncertain of that one's gender.

Sleek, svelte, flowing black hair. Garbed in immaculate white robes of what looks like that of a priest adapted for medical work. There is metal threading to make for patterns that felt [wrong] worrying to you.

Golden yellow eyes over a mouth mask look at your father and then down at you with cool interest.

That face looked familiar. But you can not recall where you saw it.

As did his voice as he spoke. But you do not recall where you heard it. "Congratulations, Haruno-san. It is a girl."

And then, the man? woman? doctor? walked over. That slight and smooth sway in its motion and gait sending mix signals to you. And you find yourself unable to determine if that one was male or female.

But you also can sense that it was certainly not a danger. That one felt absolutely normal, nothing triggered your senses and marked it as dangerous combatant.

"Who was that?"

"Ah, that was Lord Orochimaru. One of the sannin, the three legendary ninjas," Your father's response to you as the two of you walked into the room raised all sorts of worrying flags in your mind. "The undying sage."

And as you thought back to how he had walked, history and such noted that Orochimaru was male. Or at least, official records listed him as a him, you had to frown.

There had been a series of bells on his belt, that varied in size from small finger bells to large heavy watchmen bells, and yet they had been silent as he walked.

They had been made of metal, hadn't they? Yet, they seem like no metal you had ever seen, dark and there was the way they soaked in the light from the ceiling, and the sunlight that came from the windows in the corridor.

You frown and shook your head as you walked in to see your mother smiling tiredly at you and your father, a bundle in her arms. "Our daughter, dear. You have a sister, Sakura-chan. Her name is Tatsuki."

Peering closely at your sister, you notice that she seemed... yes, you were right...

"She looks kind of like a potato."

[..... you know you're not suppose to say that kind of things, right?] The amused look by your parents directed at you indicated that they were also thinking the same thing.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Mother and Daughter​

What Do?
[X] Life continues on as it has, just with a maid to help out while your mother recovers... Ha!
[X] Focus on your time with daddy!
[X] Focus on your time at school!
[X] Super Investigator Sakura Scoping things out! [Write In stuff like Sannin? because I know you guys...]
[X] Write In?

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on picture for larger verion​

Sauce is Danbooru naturally - /post/show/1350511/

[X] Sisters! Ho!
Sakura connects dots

- - -​

"Silly people, arguing about ninja route and merchant route. There is only one route! The Tanuki route. Auuu uuu uuu uuu~"

The tanuki falls over, tail pointing up. In the distance, can be heard the sound of a siren.

A spider comes over with a siren on its back and carries off the tanuki. "Make way for delicious... erm... delirious tanuki."

".... nuuuuuuuuu."

Will the tanuki survive and escape? Or is it doomed to sickies and then... being made useful?

- - -​

Babies, you discover to your sorrow are generally smelly, and noisy, and delicate.

Thankfully, your baby sister is only two out of three. She liked to sleep a lot in fact, her entire way of life seems to be sleeping, drinking milk from your mother and then napping quietly before looking around lazily.

She didn't seem to mind you holding her.

Alas, you are also conscripted into changing her diapers.

And that is there where you discover that babies are smelly.

Also messy.

Given that your mother is also relaxing and slowly working to ensure that her physical condition hasn't deteriorated too much, your father brings in a maid to help out around the house.

Between school, playing with your baby sister, you find yourself with a shortage of time. Admittedly, you do find yourself drawing your baby sister and mother often.

Still, you do notice something... odd about the maid. There was the sense of familiarity about her. You vaguely recall that face.

That silent smile.

The way, she never said a word.

Ever.

You suspect that she had been the maid when you were born.

But even so.

Truly, a vexing mystery given the way she just showed up one day with your father, and showing at at dawn and then vanishing at night. At first, you haven't paid any attention to her, and your mother seemed to trust her, so you made nothing of it.

And really, it was just annoying to meet someone and not know anything of them. You can't recall your parents even calling her by name or introducing her beyond calling her the same name as your father's tanuki. It's possible that the tanuki was named after her... but even so.

If only your sister wasn't horrendously cute, you would have devoted more time on investigating that maid.

Attempts to follow her had resulted in you somehow losing track of her when she walked around corners. Attempts to ambush her and work out where she came from... doomed to failure.

Still, you are drawn to the green leaf clip she wears all the time. The one constant thing beyond her glasses and that smile.

It was when you were reading up on mythological creatures for history classes that you find the vital clue.

Tanuki were known to be shapeshifters.

But their shapeshifting was performed by placing a leaf upon their head before they transformed.

A leaf.

Or perhaps...

A leaf hairclip.

You could be wrong. But you would confirm if she was your father's pet and just what she was up to.

That afternoon, while your mother was taking a nap with Tatsuki, you eyed that maid carefully.

Waiting for the right time, measuring the perfect moment before you struck!

Struck and plucked the leaf hairclip from her hair.

Your suspicious are borne out.

"Auuuuuuu!!!!"

There was a tanuki, and it had been playing house.

You look down at it with satisfaction, spinning the leaf in your hand as it nervously looked back at you where you had trapped it and was looming over it.

No escape.

- - -
Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Sisters and Meido​

What Do?
[X] Write In

 

[Biigoh]

Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is naturally Danbooru - /post/show/1001039/

[X] Tanuki is adorable. It's time for cuddles. Give her back the leaf too though.

[This... this doesn't make any sense, it shouldn't be possible for an animal to maintain an actual physical transformation like a henge for that long, even if it can use ki,] There is a sense of furious writing on paper, tearing up of paper and more writing in the back of your mind. [Perhaps, a reversal, it's true form... no, that makes even less sense. Argh!!!!]

There was a tanuki, and it had been playing house.

You look down at it with satisfaction, spinning the leaf in your hand as it nervously looked back at you where you had trapped it and was looming over it.

No escape for it.

No mercy in your heart as you smiled.

[That's right! Catch it and we'll be able to force it to tell us how it does that stupid transformation!I refuse to accept a world where things don't make sense like tanuki behaving like they're out of some myth. Next you'll be saying that there are nine-tailed fox demons!] You tactfully don't remind the other you that there WAS a nine-tailed fox demon in history being taken down by the Hokage.

Perhaps, a hint of your intent shone in your eyes, or perhaps that slight curve of lips that indicated the forming of a smile.

"A... auuuuuuu...."

It shook its head, but that wouldn't gainsay you.

And thus, you moved.

For far too long, your father's pet tanuki had managed to evade your attentions, You had wanted to stroke its fluffy tail, of course... who wouldn't want to stroke fluffy tails? Perhaps pet its soft belly covered in fur.

But always, always, always, always... it avoided you as if it had known of your intent.

Hiding behind your father.

Running off at your approach.

No more.

It was at your mercy now.

"Auuuuuu!!!!"

You leap at it, naturally, it attempted to escape.

But there was no escape to be had, not from you. Perhaps if you were a normal girl with little to no ability to channel chakra, it might have escaped.

But the tanuki had no hope of evading you.

And it was now your captive.

Despite being trapped by your little girly arms, it struggled desperately to break free or to slip out of your grasp. Futile attempts, to be sure.

And soon, it stops struggling as you coo at it and pat it and stroked its well cared for fur.

Wait...

You sniff the fur carefully.

"Auuuuuu?"

You then sniff strands of your hair and then breathed in deeply the fur of the tanuki again.

A frown now graces your face as you turned the tanuki around to look at it direly in its face. "You... you use the same shampoo as me?"

"Auuuuuu?" It shrugged back at you as if saying that quality matters, and it was only shampoo. Really, there was no need to be so angry.

"I don't know if I should be angry with you for using the same shampoo as me or not," You twitched and eyed the nervous tanuki. "Of if I should accept that as a compliment that you and I have good taste."

"Auuu!" The tanuki seemed to think that good taste was always a good thing.

And thus, you play with the captive tanuki before eventually letting it go.

It seemed rather shy with its transformation technique. Actually nipping into the bathroom as a tanuki for a moment before walking back out in its human-like form.

You're still not sure how the tanuki did it but simply shrugged and accepted it for now. In the back of your mind, you can hear how... frustrated the other you is with this.

Still, it starts work on preparing dinner for you and your family.

It really was a well trained tanuki, to be able to skillfully cook and everything.

That night at dinner, you...

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Tanuki​

What do?
[X] say nothing about your discovery.
[X] ask your father, "So, when were you going to tell me that your pet tanuki uses the same shampoo as me?"
[X] ask your father about the tanuki being the maid and such.
[X] Write In?

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on the picture for a larger version​

Sauce is not Danbooru, but the interwebs

[X] Of Shampoos, Tanukis and Maids

You can do this.

You can do this.

You remind your self as you nibbled on the steamed fish with the thinly sliced slivers of preserved mustard greens and ginger. After all, think of how father had been when he asked you about the other you.

How cool, calm and collected he had been.

Yes, that's the image you keep in your mind as you sip at your cup of tea before looking at your father, dead in his eyes.

He replies with an expressive rising of an eyebrow. You mother settles for looking curiously at the two of you. The maid looks at you suspiciously from where she sits.

"So, when were you going to tell me that your pet tanuki used the same shampoo as me?" You ask without a care as if this was absolutely normal, yes, a perfectly normal dinner subject. Left unsaid was how you found out and the matter of you discovering the identity of said maid.

There was a look of betrayal from the tanuki. Your father smiled at you before petting the maid on "her" head, which got a soft auuuuu. An auuuu that sounded like she was saying something about sorry, boss.

"I told you she would work it out within a month," Your mother spoke up and continued eating as if it was a perfectly normal event for a maid to be outed as a tanuki.

Wait... they were BOTH in on this.

You must admit to some surprise, even if it did make perfect sense for it to be a normal dinner subject matter.

You looked at the two of them now with narrowed eyes. "Wait... the two of you knew, and expected me to just... if I had know, I wouldn't have said a thing."

"But... how does she do the things she does, she can't be a normal tanuki," You finally groused out at your parents, if you had only known. You likely would have just kept quiet and continued to catch the tanuki and play with her every day.

"Of course not, that would be patently ludicrious," Your father shook his head at you. "She's a nin-tanuki. A tanuki from the spirit world. She and other nin-animals can be summoned by ninjas with the appropriate summoning contract."

[Spirit world. Ha! Hooky religions and animal pets are no match for a fist puncher.] Yeap, sounds like your inner voice still wanted no truck with the notion of spirit worlds and such when the topic was raised in history class.

"Wait... she's an animal summon?" You look at the maid with a new light that seems to make her shy back. You recall the various lessons about animal summons, which didn't cover much about how one got access to said summon contract. But did cover assorted abilities found in the more famous or common summons; common being that there were a good number of signers of said contract to a specific group of animal summons.

You also recall the tactical uses of animal summons to augment ninja in all manner of capacities.

You just didn't recall there being a... tanuki contract.

"Wait... tanukis don't have a famous or common contract, do they?" Your father smiled and shook his head.

Your next question came naturally, as you pondered fluffy tails and soft furry bellies of tanuki. "Can I sign the tanuki contract?"

Your mother smiles and laughed, before shaking her head. Your father's tanuki looks at you in horror.

Your father sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid not, my little princess. For one, you'll have to negotiate with the boss tanuki, and she's a mean bargainer. For another, you'll have to share a drink after the negotiation to prove it was in good faith."

- - -
Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Contracts?
​

What Do
[X] Argue and badger your father for a chance to sign it?
[X] Bargain with your father for a chance to sign it?
[X] The next day, catch the tanuki and ask her for her help?
[X] Approach your mother for help?
[X] Give up on the contract for now, you still have your father's tanuki to play with?
[X] Write In like a Baws.

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is Danbooru - /posts/1082872

[X] Give up on the contract for now, you still have your father's tanuki to play with?

While there was temptation for you to whine and beg your father for a chance.

To argue and dispute his word.

Or bitter savage, no holds barred, usage of aggressive negotiation for access to the tanuki contract.

You did none of these. Because really, your father had explained why you shouldn't do it and it was reasonable. You had had a taste of some of your father's drinks in the past, just a sip to get a taste, and they tasted horrible.

Absolutely terrible.

You just don't see why people would drink sake or beer or stuff like that, and to finalize the contract, you had to drink with the boss summon? That... might not be the best of thing to have to endure now.

Perhaps later when you're older, you might try for that contract.

For now, you have your father's tanuki that you can play with.

The only question was her reactions when you mentioned you'd like the contract. When you asked him about why she was so shy about you... you did get an answer.

"Well... it was when you were younger, about Tatsuki's age," You nod, vaguely recalling that age. "She would look after you and play with you. Admittedly, she was henged as the family dog back then."

Wait... you remembered Fluffy! You liked that dog, you liked to use him as a pillow or bed... wait. Wait...

You recalled being disappointed at the way Fluffy had slowly disappeared from your life. Now, you had to frown at the tanuki.

"She didn't mind you sleeping on her. It's just that you drooled in her fur, chewed on her tail, pulled at her ears and tail..." You had to blush at the description of the things you did to Fluffy. You could now sort of remember doing that.

"Sorry," You had to look down and blush as you apologized to the tanuki. She had been rather patient with you back then.

She shrugged and waved off the apology with what sounded like it's not a problem. "Auuuu."

With that dinner was finished shortly, and the maid got to doing the dishes before heading off.

"Auuuu..." Well, that explained why she hadn't spoken prior, she seemed to only be capable of making a single sound.

- - -​

Things settled into a new pattern, now that you knew what the maid was.

There was school and school work. There was time spent with your father. Time spent with your mother and younger sister, but that mostly amounted to the two of you napping.

True, you helped out with your father's work and it was long and hard... which made the other times, such as...

The time you spent with the tanuki. Stroking that soft luxurious fur, snuggling the fluffy tail, sleeping on the transformed tanuki who gave into your requests for you to have the Fluffy pillow back and henged back into the dog.

And before you knew it, it was summer once more.

The cries of the cicada fill the air, the warmth of the sun roasted everything.

And you had summer off once more.

This summer, your mother had you once more...

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Fluffy? Fluffy!​

What Do?
[X] Vacation with the family at some place cooler like a seaside resort?
[X] Go training in Saikyo Ryuu with mother?
[X] Just relax and do things other normal ninja kids did during summer?
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on picture for a larger version​

Sauce is danbooru - /posts/36983

[X] Vacation with the family at some place cooler like a seaside resort?

Despite your mother claiming you for the summer thing, she doesn't take you training for martial arts taijutsu. Instead, you are exposed to the staggering amount of paperwork needed for your family to take YOU on vacation.

Oh.

This could be why your classmates were dead certain that students weren't suppose to leave the village. Why, with this amount of paperwork... one could drown an enemy in paper!

There is also the vague suspicion that if one was not careful with the bureaucrats in the village, they might use some sort of paper jutsu and make you sorry. They'll make EVERYONE sorry.

Still, the nins in charge of pushing paper around were nice and polite, while your parents handed in the paperwork needed. Smiles and pleasant conversation as everything checked out in triplicate.

They were not so pleasant to the poor nin in the next counter over who came in with a poorly filed report. In fact, the feel of the atmosphere there was... frosty, dark and, well... malevolent.

- - -​

The journey this time was by foot, and your improved stamina was sufficient that at times you were speeding ahead of your parents as you explored the woods as you hopped from tree to tree.

Southwards, or rather south and eastwards you headed.

You are given an explanation that you're not really going to a resort as such.

Rather, you and your family are headed to your mother's ancestral home, which was by a resort.

Eventually, over the span of days, your family arrives at a small walled mansion that had to be erected from solid stone or perhaps created with the use of jutsu.

It takes a surprisingly amount of work for you, your father, and the a small army of tanuki maids to clean it of the accumulated dust and such from lack of people living in it. Your father proves to be skilled at repairing the minor wear and tear in the furniture. There is also a lot of dusts, you would swear that there were wild dust bunnies, colonies of such that hunt each other and stuff!

Your mother, for her part, takes Tatsuki out shopping for supplies and food.

With that evening comes, a quiet meal is had before you sleep in an unfamiliar bed as the temperature slowly dropped to something that was acceptable.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Paperwork​

What Do?
[X] You can't sleep and go exploring in the dark beneath a full moon.
[X] The next day, you go swimming and stuff!
[X] The next day, your mother spars with you... wait, how did she create a solid clone?!?!
[X] Write In.

 

[Biigoh]

​

Click on picture for larger version​

Click on picture for larger version

Sauce is Danbooru - /posts/933531/

[X] You can't sleep and go exploring beneath a full moon.

The night was warm, the sounds of insects filled the air. The heat had been almost a solid and oppressive thing, but with the cool air coming in from the shore, had dropped with the coming of night.

It was still warm, but not as hot as it could be.

Even with the window open, with a steady breeze... you find yourself unable to sleep.

Oh, you could cheat and force yourself to sleep, but that seemed a little bit much.

You look out the window, the not so distant shore that the sea crashed upon. The reflection of the moon upon the calm sea.

The night, it called out to you.

And so, you find yourself climbing out the window to sneak on to the beach with a towel.

You test things with your feet first.

The sea was... perfect, not warm and yet not cold. Cool is the word you could and would use.

Taking off your clothes, to put them neatly on the beach and weighting them down with a relatively large and dry rock was only sensible.

You slip into the water, enjoying the feel of cool wetness flowing over your entire body.

Weightlessly, you float in the water.

The taste of sea water upon your lips, you flip on to your back and look up at the moon.

The light breeze over your wet body felt nice and helped cool you down further.

[You know, despite all the time that has passed... that's still the same moon I looked up to in my time,] Your inner voice speaks up as you looked at the moon and the stars that surrounded it.

"It does make things seem kind of small and insignificant, doesn't it?" You verbalize your response for once.

[Yes, it does. Nothing changes, and the stars look down at us uncaringly. We don't matter, do we?] She sighed.

As you floated, there is a sensation as if she was floating next to you and talking. Just talking and you replied to her. "We might not matter in the eyes of the stars and the moon, but I think that we do matter. Even if it's just the two of us, you and me."

[Hahahahaha... yes, that is true. We would matter to each other, wouldn't we?] Her laughter sounded rich and relaxed. [You know, I never expected this to happen... to die and then... this. Reincarnation and being able to talk to you, like this. It's not so bad, all things considered.]

"I don't know. You did seem to suffer a fair bit when mother taught us Saikyo Ryuu," You wryly replied. "Or your reaction to the spirit world lessons and stuff."

[Well, it was rare for me to be able to over-react back then. And besides, nothing wrong with going overboard when no one else can see or hear me beyond you. You are me, after all. And I am you,] She mused back. [By the way, you might want to look back, see how far we've floated out.]

Gazing back down over your body, you are... surprised at how far out you have floated. Turning about, you started to swim backwards the shore, towards the light.

It took much longer than you expected to swim back to shore.

- - -​

With your body cooled down by the sea, and you fully awake from swimming... you could just go back to bed.

Not when you had the source of light to investigate. No, not the resort town on the other side of your family home.

Rather you had caught sight of the orange light of fire when you were swimming back and it was relatively near your home.

Drying your body, and putting on your clothes was only natural. You didn't want to catch a cold or to flash your body to some random person if you had encountered strangers or had to fight or something. What if they were lolicons or something, you'd be in real trouble if your parents found out.

Using every iota of skill you have in terms of stealth, you sneak up on the fire.

As you draw closer, you can hear soft and not so soft Auuus and voices, both male and female. It sounded like there were people having a party near your home.

There is also the scent of smoke and... meat being cooked.

Eventually, you peer down from the trees into a clearing.

Certainly, the bonfires were expected. As were the meat being cooked.

What wasn't was the fact that the meat were snakes, mice, frogs, fishes and small rabbits. Or that the things doing said cooking were tanuki.

Many tanuki.

Many fluffy and not so fluffy tanuki having the time of their lives.

Wait... hadn't the tanuki that had helped cleaned the vacation home walked out the front door, with several scrolls in payment?

You look about the clearing, spotting what looked like booths and kiosks with foodstands sized for tanuki, and there... you spot said scrolls opened up and...

Well, that was a lot of bottles of sake and cans of beer.

That certainly explained everything.

These were the tanuki that your father had summoned and had paid off in alcohol.

Hmmm....

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 That Night​

What Do?
[X] Keep observing them...
[X] Do you dare sneak amongst them, diguised as a tanuki with a henge?
[X] Or jut sneak amongst them to kaptor Fluffy?
[X] Or you could just go back to bed, they DID work hard cleaning your home and were now enjoying themselves.
[X] Write in or something...

[embed=425,349]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVEUDqJ4mo[/embed]​

 

[Biigoh]

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Click on picture for larger version​

Sauce is Danbooru - /posts/326733

[X] "I come in peace~ and to party hard!"
Sakura Event - Even = Nothing Bad Happens like you getting robbed of your kidney.

While you could go back to bed or some such, you didn't feel like it.

Now when there were so many fluffy tails before, all begging to be snuggled.

You could sneak in with a henge and be eventually discovered, but you didn't.

Instead, you chose another option. Refugee in audacity.

You stepped out of the shadows into the firelight, wet towel on your shoulder and dressed in naught but your pajamas.

It doesn't take long ere you are spotted and dragged into the party.

Food and drink were supplied in quick succession with auuus and 'ere you go lass...', the food seemed strange and alien in parts to you and in other parts to the other you.

The drinks, however, was fruity and tasted of... you were fairly certain that they held some quality of your father's drinks that you had sipped.

But you find yourself not quite caring as you danced and made merry the night away.

Some time later, you're not quite sure... you find yourself separated from the party, slightly worn out. Seated upon your towel, you and... a tanuki, you're fairly certain it was a male tanuki sipped at drinks and observed the night sky.

"Auuu," The crystal flower that he held out for you, as he spoke, seemed fairly obvious. He thought you were cute, and that the flower would look nice in your hair.

You held up the flower against the moon in the sky and watched it sparkle before putting it in your hair. There was a nod at you from the tanuki...

And the two of you started to just talk. You managed to understand his auuus despite not speaking a word of tanuki. Or something...

- - -​

You wake up the nice morning leaning against a log while seated on your towel on the beach. Vaguely you recall watching the sun rise with that nice tanuki boy.

There was a bad taste in your mouth, which turned out to be a roasted snake. Gutted and skinned, but a snake still... the sauce on its meat wasn't bad... but it still wasn't a nice thing to wake up to.

Not when your head was killing you.

And the sun was far too bright, and the roar of the sea simply too loud. That wasn't even taking into consideration the cries of the birds above.

You stumble and make your way back home, feeling absolutely too miserable to enhance your movement with chakra.

"She's your daughter and they're your tanuki, you get to talk to her." You can hear the anger in your mother's voice as you step back into your mother's house.

It appeared that both you and your father were in trouble now.

- - -​

Pink Blossom Quest - Year 9 Party​

What Do?
[X] Try to explain?
[X] Sit there and be lectured at by your father?
[X] Wish you could die as you suffered from the hangover?
[X] Hahahahaha... no, you write in. And make it double trouble!