This Game of Life
Chapter 23
Journey
Alright. I've gotten a few questions as to why I chose for Sakura's romance to go in the direction it did. I'm here to explain why.
You might've noticed, that Sakura's personality is wildly different from what it was in this point in canon despite the fact there has been little to no reason for there to be such a change, at least at first glance. However, something that no one has yet commented on is the complete and utter lack of Inner Sakura.
That is because she's gone.
The Gamer's Mind interpreted the split personality as a negative effect, and so to fix it, forcibly fused Inner Sakura and the regular Sakura's personalities together.
You could then say that the same thing happened in canon to Shippuden Sakura so it doesn't justify the change, and again you'd be right, but not entirely. The fusion of her personalities into one and the shift from internal desires into external ones was a gradual change that happened to an older, more mature girl. The suddenness of the fusion and the younger age that it occurred at put her mind in a strange place.
And adding to the dilemma is none other than puberty, a process that also throws one's mind into whack. The combination of her hidden feelings and wild hormonal changes is what caused the radical shift in Sakura.
As to why exactly this is relevant to Sakura developing feelings for Ami? The answer's relatively simple. Sakura based much of her life and self-worth on having a crush in canon. This was Sasuke originally. However, due to the circumstances of the story, her attraction to him waned.
The remnants of her mind that still valued this were then left stuck, with no target upon which Sakura could place her dreams on. And then along comes her best friend.
That was someone that Sakura liked, and enjoyed spending time with. She was both more accepting because of her hormonal changes, and due to Inner Sakura's influence simply making her more accepting and lowering her inhibitions.
It was a match made in heaven for her mind, and its course of action was clear.
As to why the attraction was so sudden, that's simply because I felt that it would be better to move on with the story than to spend time building this up. In the grand scheme of things, this is going to be minor. Incredibly so. You'll see why in a few chapters.
Wow, that was actually a pretty long message for something I intended to be short and sweet. I hope this adequately explains my decision, and I hope that this won't put you off the story. We have a lot coming.
We followed Chichiatsu-dono out of the palace, who in turn followed the samurai, Toyohisa. Silently, we moved into formation around him, Sasuke-kun and I at his sides, with Naruto-kun and Kakashi-sensei bringing up the rear. Since Toyohisa seemed to be Chichiatsu-dono's personal bodyguard, he could go ahead and take point. He was leading us anyway.
As we moved beside him, Chichiatsu-dono smiled at both Sasuke-kun and I. So far, he seemed nice enough, or at the very least someone who smiles a lot.
Looking at Toyohisa, I briefly wondered how strong he was. He seemed experienced and skilled, but I wasn't sure if he would be able to stand up to us. After all, there was no guarantee that he could use chakra, and he couldn't be that strong if Chichiatsu-dono needed to hire ninja for protection.
Torch-Bearer of the Marshes
LV 27
Mihikata Toyohisa
Wow. I actually nodded in quiet respect, as I realised that was the same level as the girl that had dominated all three of us at once back in Wave. Of course, we were stronger than we had been then, but he was still clearly in another level compared to us. Still though, compared to Kakashi-sensei, he was utterly outclassed.
"So, um," Chichiatsu-dono began, clearing his throat. After an instant, I realised he was talking to me, and my eyes flicked over to him accordingly. "You people aren't much older than me, are you? Are all ninja around our age?"
"I think we're actually younger than you, Chichiatsu-dono," I replied smoothly. "We're only twelve. The reason we probably seem more developed than most you know that are our age is due to our high levels of chakra compared to most. It makes both our minds and bodies grow faster than people without those high chakra levels."
"I see," He replied, seeming to think for a moment. "This chakra, that's what elevates you above the common soldier, right? I've heard that it allows people to use some sort of magic. Can you all perform those magic tricks?"
"Yes, we can." I confirmed easily. "In fact, learning a few basic ones is a requirement for graduation from a student to a full ninja. It's just, it's not 'magic'. Those techniques are called jutsu."
"Ah, I see. Would it be possible to show me any? I'm very intrigued by all of this. My home country doesn't have any ninja, you see."
"That would probably be a bad idea." Kakashi-sensei interjected. "Most jutsu are purely destructive in nature, or at least geared towards use in battle. To use them in a huge city like this is almost begging for someone to get hurt."
"Ah…" Chichiatsu-dono's face fell. I could tell hearing that disappointed him greatly. But he quickly brightened. "Well, if we happen to be attacked on our journey, I'll be sure to pay close attention so I can see these 'jutsu' in action!"
"Hmph," grunted the old samurai leading us. His steps quickened slightly, trying to get us to our destination as quickly as possible.
We looked at the caravan in front of us in awe. It must've spanned 200 metres, maybe even more, made up of many lavish carriages. Chichiatsu-dono noticed our amazement, yet for some reason he smiled sheepishly, as if he was embarrassed.
"I understand that this must be much less than such decorated ninja as yourselves are used to, but I must ask that you please bear it for now. My country might be well-off for its size and relative minority, but it is nothing compared to the Land of Fire. I had to bring out my most beautiful caravan with me to even come close to comparing it with the ones here!"
As he spoke, it dawned on me that he didn't think our amazement was from seeing his caravan as one of the most extravagant displays of wealth we'd ever seen, but rather that we thought that it, as incredible as it was, was lacking compared to what we were used to.
It occurred to me that he must've lived a very sheltered life, growing up mainly in his palace and castle town. It just didn't occur to him that everyone didn't have this sort of wealth – or at least, he couldn't imagine that anyone living in a country so much larger than his could have wealth that didn't at least match his.
Maybe that was the purpose of his trip here, to learn about the real status of the world and how lucky he was to have been born into the position he was in. Or maybe it had just been a diplomatic meeting. It was most likely the latter.
"You don't have to worry about us, Chichiatsu-dono. We can make do." Kakashi-sensei swooped in, saving us from responding with our tongues still tied from seeing the caravan. "As long as we have a carriage to ourselves. That should be more than sufficient."
"Oh, we have enough carriages for each of you to take your own if you wish! But I understand if you-"
"I'll take one for myself!" I quickly stated, Naruto-kun ghosting my sentence only an instant later.
"I'll take one myself as well." Sasuke-kun said confidently.
"Oh!" Surprise lit up Chichiatsu-dono's face, before he settled into an easy smile. "Well, excellent! I'll have one of the handmaidens show each of you to your carriages, then. Come with me, my ninja friends!"
Just like everyone else's, my carriage was ten metres long, and five metres wide. There were doors either side, one leading into Sasuke-kun's carriage, and one leading into one of Chichiatsu-dono's personal carriages. There was a queen-sized bed in the left corner, and a massive wardrobe opposite it.
Spanning the right wall was a massive desk, with a black, cushioned chair with wheels on it tucked in. Above it was rows of shelves, and below there were a bunch of drawers and cupboards. The walls were painted a light, pleasant pink, and many expensive looking paintings lined them, broken up by large, square windows in the centre of each wall.
Losing no time, I quickly opened my bag, taking out my clothes and hanging them up in the wardrobe, before leaping onto the bed, and almost immediately marvelling on just how damn soft it was. Sitting up, I glanced out the window. Judging from how fast the scenery was moving by, we weren't travelling as fast as we could on foot, but certainly much faster than a regular civilian's walking speed.
And besides, the slower we went, the longer I'd be able to enjoy the comfort of this caravan. I wasn't complaining at all.
After a few hours of lazing about in my carriage, I noticed we were slowing down somewhat. The sun was beginning to set, so I reasoned that we were slowing down to stop for the night. Getting up from the bed, I wandered out of my carriage, to see what everyone else was doing.
I stepped out into the walkway, intending to walk through the door into Sasuke-kun's carriage, when a whistle in the wind alerted me to something flying towards me. Without even thinking, I plucked the whirling hunter's knife from the air. Whoever had thrown it had such bad technique it likely wouldn't have hurt even if it had hit me. It also was why it made enough noise for me to notice, despite it not moving particularly fast.
Still on autopilot, I flicked it back at my assailant at full force, in the way a knife should be thrown. Idly, I realised that whoever these people were, they were likely the reason we had stopped. A strangled gasp escaped into the air seconds after the knife left my fingers, and I heard a body slump to the ground.
…Y'know, with all the fuss they make about it, I kind of expected to feel a little… more about my first kill.
Shrugging, I jumped off of the caravan walkway, forming a Magic Bullet in my right hand and then converting that into a sword. Bandits normally came with weapons, so that would help alleviate the problem of reach if I had to go into close combat. Another Bullet formed in my left, and to add to the inevitable confusion that was about to occur, I created three clones to go and muck about.
Quickly moving to the front of the caravan, seeing as that's where most of these attackers would inevitably be, I saw Sasuke-kun already engaged with two, both armed with katana, three more bodies lying on the ground behind him.
As he jumped back from one of their reckless swipes, I moved in, blowing the first one's head off with the Magic Bullet I already had prepared. As his friend reeled back in surprise and horror, I took the opportunity to Lunge up to him, thrusting my magical blade right through his chest cavity.
Blood spurted onto my hands and face, and I think a bit got in my hair as well. I watched as the light instantly faded from his eyes, and as I removed the Variable Blade from his body, he lost his support and fell to the ground, dead.
Looking back at Sasuke-kun, I could see he was just as bloody as I was. With a simple nod, the two of us moved, looking for any more threats.
Just as a bandit grasped the handle of a door into the caravan, I slashed his forearm off. Before he even had a chance to clutch the remnant of his arm in pain, however, Sasuke-kun was there, thrusting a kunai into his throat, splashing both of us with even more foreign blood. Behind us, Naruto-kun and his clone each finished off their opponents, knocking them out instead of killing.
The one who seemed to be their leader grimaced as he looked at us, seeing the mangled cadavers that were once his men behind us. "You freakshows! I'll kill you brats!" He said, raising his quivering sword hand.
Evoke Fear has increased in level by 1!
But before he could even make a move, Sasuke-kun and I both angled our heads back, before throwing them forwards explosively, a fireball rushing from each of our lips, and melding into one, encompassing bullet of flame.
The man had just enough time for his expression to morph into one of pure terror, before the giant fireball engulfed him and detonated, removing all traces of him from the world. Not even ash remained of him.
Your level has increased by one!
I noticed the door the bandit had grabbed earlier was open, and I turned to see Chichiatsu-dono staring at the carnage, face pale. He had seen the tail end of the fight, and had at least seen us incinerate the last man.
Not even realising that I had blood splattered on the side of my face, I smiled at him. "Did you see the jutsu, Chichiatsu-dono? What did you think?"
And that's a wrap. See you all soon.