MOSTLY HARMLESS//GARGLEBLASTED APPLICATION
Character name: Haruno Sakura
Fandom: Naruto manga
Timeline: Chapter 492 (not that she's... in the recentest chapters).
Age: 16.
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths:
Martial Artist: Even ignoring all her other skills, Sakura has been specifically trained to excel in hand-to-hand combat, and other forms of unarmed combat. Her body is a weapon, so to speak, and she's well toned, agile, flexible, and stronger than most women her size.
Chakra Enhancements: Chakra allows Sakura to move faster than a human being ought, walk and climb on walls and ceilings as well as water and the like, and utilize all the basic techniques on her world. (Clones, shadow clones, etc.) She additionally has perfect control of her chakra, to the point where she doesn't waste chakra unless she absolutely has to. Her overall reserves are greater than most shinobi, but sadly still far less than Naruto and Sasuke.
Subset - Super Stregth: Training with Tsunade has perfected Sakura's chakra release. She can use chakra to capitalize on single points of contact, a sort of KO style of fighting. These massive releases are capable of causing spontaneous fracturing of the ground for a significant distance and depth, shocking even Kakashi and Naruto into realizing just how dead they'd be with one direct intentional hit from Sakura.
Medical Training: Sakura can heal almost anything, as long as she's not being asked to heal on a cellular level. (This she just can't do - encouraging cells to regrow, yes, or flesh to reknit, but she cannot mend individual cell walls. See this as explained after Naruto uses his new technique on Kakuzu, I think.) She's skilled at making antidotes, has presumably extensive herbal knowledge, and well. It's magic. Healing's not explained very well in series. She can't bring people back from death, that much is clear, so if you lose too much blood and there's no instant donor around, you're S.O.L. She's expected to surpass Tsunade, at some point. Canon makes that trend blatantly obvious.
Genjutsu and Sakura: Unclear to what extent she knows or practices genjutsu. She still appears to be able to dispel genjutsu, or at least detect genjutsu, at a level beyond most shinobi. What this means is negligible, since the only obvious references in canon are when she's 13, and include her being able to withstand a high level sleep inducement on her lonesome. Presumably if she trains in this, and she really should have at least trained to recognize it (for the sake of not getting tricked by Sasuke's eyes, so to speak), Sakura would be a formidable genjutsu user. As it stands, there is no clear evidence of how much she does or doesn't know. She presumably has enough control of her chakra to break most hlds used by genjutsu users - she can surge through her own brain so that their manipulation is broken. Theoretically, which I can't stress enough. We just don't know. BUT WE KNOW HER RANKING. IT IS... LIKE 3.5. WHICH TELLS US NOTHING EXCEPT SHE'S RANKED.
How would they use their abilities?: After a brief stint of attempting to take over the WORLD, Sakura would --
Okay, no. In reality Sakura would probably do what she theoretically does best in series: freeze up before shanking anyone important to her, and heal people really well. Also, gas them to get away to fail to shank people. She'd use her abilities to work toward getting home and helping those around her. And to get stronger. Like the GOVERNATOR.
Appearance: She's 5'3", has bright pink hair, green eyes, and lots of skin probably in the real of forty pounds. Or is that just what you shed in a lifetime... She is athletically built, has very modest breasts that will never be mistaken for mountains, and tends to wear some of the ugliest clothes the same two outfits. All the time.
Manga Image Reference.
Full Image Reference.
Antagonistic Image Reference.
Casual Image Reference.
Background/Personality:
Personality:
Sakura is an intelligent, sometimes preachy (to those she knows and/or finds clueless about a given subject she is knowledgeable about), caring young woman. She takes her job as a medical shinobi seriously, and this seriousness is displayed in how she handles any work assigned to her. Sakura likes to be thorough, complete, and as close to perfect as possible. Be this in her written reports, her abilities, her training, or any other aspect of her life. She's also neat, from what little can be seen of her home.
Her tendency to follow the rules also lends itself to her having little patience for people acting perverted - especially when "people" includes Uzumaki Naruto. As a twist, Sakura herself is a closet yaoi fan. Most her attempts to flirt fail, or end in her punching guys in the face. She does not like people implying she's flat-chested. She's not as sensitive about her appearance as she once was, but making an issue of it with her is asking for retribution.
Sakura is determined to achieve her goals, and achieve them well. She has a good grasp of tactics and a good mind for cryptology and research. Her memory is very good, and her detail recall is high, but not infallible. Sakura is also tenacious in her resolve. She is far less judgmental than she was as a pre-teen, and is far more likely to forgive (if not forget) people's minor indiscretions. (Or major ones, as in the case of Sai.) She holds teamwork as incredibly important, and still respects the opinions of her elders enough to listen to them when they give advice. Most the time, anyway.
Sakura is honest, even to the point of bluntness (though she has decent helpings of tact, so she's usually only blunt to those she knows well, or who she requires certain standards from), and has been known to overreact to people, particularly with irritation and anger and outrage. What used to be repressed and relieved through "Inner-Sakura" is now more freely expressed to the world - not that it's always appreciated. She's the sort of person who could be talked into a challenge, even if she wouldn't blindly accept one (taking on challenges in even those things she's not so good at, due to a competitive spirit). Sakura hates losing, and giving up got written out of her dictionary years ago.
She is confident in her skills and abilities, if not to a point where she doesn't feel the need to re-evaluate and take a look at herself from time to time. Her resolve to improve makes her a harsh taskmistress on herself, in order to make sure that she's able to stand equal with Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi - everyone important to her - and not end up on the sidelines, unable to help. Perhaps her greatest fears and failures come from feeling inadequate in the face of her important people; being unable to help them would drive her up a wall.
Even with her more emotionally "open" personality, Sakura has displayed excellent bedside manner, doubtlessly invaluable in her profession. Her kindness towards others, including Naruto, and her ability to relate has improved with time. She does practice more restraint than she's probably given credit for by those in her own generation. She's also willing to pass off the things she's done if it avoids an explanation of what she found stupid in the moment it was uttered - telling Kakashi it was nothing when both Sai and Naruto had fat cheeks visiting him in the hospital.
Sakura is not above gossiping, though she keeps it to a minimum. She doesn't appear to talk about herself or her feelings often, presumably because she doesn't want to burden others and prefers to deal with them head on. Then again, most the time she reads like an open book. Some of her compatriots are simply too thick headed, or too uninvolved, to notice.
tl;dr version: she's a teenager with emotional hangups over her teammates, who wants to help her closest people out, often fails, and keeps her belief in her bestest friend ever -- or at least best used punching bag -- because it's what she has so annoyingly decided she simply must do.
Background:
Sakura started out in life as most people do: bits of genetic information that was birthed, and at roughly 6-8, was a rather shy, self-conscious little girl. While not much about her youth is shown, Sakura was seen as a somewhat friendless and sad child, teased for having a "big" forehead by her peers at the Shinobi Academy. This changed when Yamanaka Ino, a self-assured fellow student, approached Sakura and made friends. Sakura appeared to treasure this relationship, and started to become a more open person through their friendship.
This new found self-confidence eventually propelled Sakura into feeling good enough about herself to develop a crush on a fellow classmate. While it's not known exactly why or how she so proudly discovered Uchiha Sasuke on her own (for quite clearly, based on the reactions Sakura had to her fellow classmates and Ino when she announced her crush, she had no clue Sasuke was himself already popular among the other girls) only to find everyone else already knew about him. This led to the first stance Sakura definitely took in her friendship with Ino, at some point afterward returning the ribbon Ino had given her as a sign of their becoming rivals. Sakura chose this route, and Ino allowed her to. The two bickered back and forth, though they never really forgot that they had been friends.
Sakura was intelligent and hard-working, doing well at the Academy and striving to be close to her crush (Sasuke) and to keep the boy crushing on her (Naruto) away. She didn't understand Naruto (or Sasuke, really) when she found herself suddenly on the same team as her crush and her would-be boyfriend. She insults and shuts Naruto down, while trying to engage Sasuke - a tactic which combined with the personalities of her teammates almost got them all to fail their test with Kakashi.
Sakura's weakness for believing what she thought she saw when right out of the academy contrasted with her actual strengths of seeing through what was presented. Coming to understand Sasuke's point in offering food to Naruto during Kakashi's test was the first of many small turning points for Sakura. Tolerance was a hard lesson. Learning to "see beneath the beneath" was equally difficult.
The first direct confrontation Sakura had with Sasuke over Naruto proved another turning point. Having her crush tell her, point blank, that he couldn't stand people like her, people who had no idea of what it was like to lose bonds, or never have them, and yet passed judgment on others. (Liberal rewording taken.) Sakura had to look at how she treated Naruto, and while she never fully prevents herself from knocking Naruto for some of his habits (over-enthusiasm, perversity, and the like), she starts to grow closer to both her teammates.
What was meant to be a simple escort mission to the Wave Country proved to be anything but when not far out of Konoha, Team Seven and the man they were escorting were attacked. Sakura defended Tazuna, though she would have been killed if Sasuke hadn't stepped in. (Or Kakashi, for that matter.) Her instinct to stick to the mission was admirable, yet her ability to perform was lackluster. When the threat to their team and Tazuna's life brought out even more powerful shinobi, Sakura found herself on the sidelines and close to useless. She strove to continue to protect Tazuna, but it was Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto who were able to fight and defeat Haku and Zabuza. At this point she still has an obvious bias toward Sasuke - emotionally, at least - as she recites out the 25th Shinobi (never show your emotions) rule while racing past Naruto to Sasuke's still and seemingly dead-form, weeping. Sakura probably started resolving to be useful to the team and not to just be protected because of this incident. This was also her first real contact with Naruto breaking down his seal due to emotional distress - and some insight into what her blonde teammate was capable of in full.
Sakura excelled before both the boys in chakra control. This came to the forefront first with the tree walking exercises, which she mastered in much less time than either of her teammates. Still, control itself wasn't enough to make her shine between the two boys, let alone on their first mission. She loses confidence before the first chuunin exam, a contrast to the assurance of Sasuke, and the enthusiasm of Naruto. She was close to not wanting to participate at all, though she didn't know her choosing not to go would stall her team as a whole.
The first encounter Team Seven, and Sakura, had with the Sand Nin competing in the Chuunin Exams was in their village, when Kankurou was bullying some of the kids. Sasuke and Gaara immediately struck a tense note with each other. Other than verbal exchanges, and some physical, not much was exchanged at that point. It was time for the Exams.
Naruto had more blind belief in Sakura's will to compete and complete the exam, while Sasuke was the one to give her the confidence to feel useful to the team. When they were confronted by exam officials in disguise at "Level 3" and Sasuke prompts Sakura into saying she had already figured out this wasn't the real level 3. She pauses for a moment before smiling, and saying, "Of course. It's level two." (Of course, this may have been "door two" but I admit I don't remember this specific detail at the moment.)
The Chuunin exam is where Sakura first met Rock Lee. His impromptu attack of Sasuke and their brief conflict left Sakura catching Sasuke to break his fall as well as dodging Lee's blown kisses and expressions of endearment. She also met Maito Guy in all his spandex-clad, youthful glory, and was left subtly disturbed by the event. Her then particularly shallow nature showed through again, with her largest complaints being that both weren't particularly "attractive." Her depth was echoed by the other two, and they wore identical expressions of disbelief at the closeness of the student-teacher bond Gai and Lee displayed. (That may have had something to do with both men crying tears of joy while hugging each other, however.)
Stage one of the exam pitted Sakura against her natural element: the written test. She passed without trouble, or shall I say she filled out the exam without trouble. Very likely, she was one of the few persons in the room to have passed without cheating, even if cheating was the point (to an extent). We also finally see Sakura thinks about, and cares for, Naruto as she thinks about standing up and asking for their team to be disqualified, so that Naruto wouldn't have to bear the shame of doing so.
He, of course, stands up and manages to shoot down all her concerns in one go, while showing just how strong he is at heart. Sakura was learning in bits and pieces who Naruto really was, and what kind of respect he deserved. She held her tongue.
The second part of the chuunin exam is where Sakura finally was forced to find herself. Survivng the other participants wasn't their first worry - no, once Orochimaru located Sasuke and Sakura, the difficult became surviving the former sannin. Sakura wasn't able to combat Orochimaru's sheer malevolent presence, and Sasuke was forced to carry her out of the immediate danger zone after shoving a kunai through his leg.
I mean, seriously. Since Sasuke was Orochimaru's target, however, the pre-teen couldn't escape forever. Naruto ended up making his way back toward them after the separation which had allowed Orochimaru to close in on Sasuke. Sakura was again left unable to do anything directly while Naruto and Sasuke fought, even at the point where she had to again run to Sasuke when he collapsed from the pain of the curse seal. Naruto then collapsed in turn, and Orochimaru left the scene.
Sakura took up an all night vigilance over her two teammates, doing as much first aid as she could while setting up a perimeter guard to help protect them all. Unfortunately, Sakura has a soft heart, and when a squirrel was going to set off one of the traps, she purposely stopped him from entering.
Of course, elsewhere, Lee had to save squirrels with exploding tags on their back, but that's a little digression.
Sakura found herself facing the chuunin team from Sound on her own. She didn't back down, and was prepared to fight them (though certain to lose) when Lee appeared to help assist her. This was a slap in the face to Sakura's judgmental nature, so in a way another sort of turning point since Naruto wasn't the only person she'd slighted.
Lee was ultimately defeated, and Sakura now took front and center to protect him in addition to Sasuke and Naruto. For now, she was on her own - though from the shadows Ino and her team watched and waited.
Sakura was losing, but she wasn't giving up. Kin, the female from the other team, got ahold of Sakura's long hair and kept her on her knees, cutting Sakura down for being too concerned with her looks to concentrate on her skills as a shinobi/kunoichi. In pain, Sakura dug at the ground and then lashed out with her kunai - missing Kin entirely. The other female was going to belittle her yet again, only Sakura had managed to cut through her hair, and thus break free.
The battle with the Sound Nin continued, degenerating to a point where Sakura even bit down on the arm of one of her aggressors in her staunch effort to not roll over and take it like a dog. It was the sheer determination behind Sakura's actions that ping'd Ino, and caused her to drag her teammates out with her in order to face down the Sound Nin and save Sakura.
During this transition, Sasuke finally came back to consciousness. After seeing Sakura's beaten up body, he asked her who had done this, and proceeded to draw upon the curse seal to entirely lose his cool. The sadistic, brutal way he dealt with the Sound Nin frightened the rest of the conscious Konoha Nin, to the point where Sakura found herself bursting into tears (a habit she didn't have as often as one might expect) and running out to stop Sasuke. He wasn't being who she knew him to be, and latching onto him from behind, Sakura managed to make Sasuke stop. For now, his curse seal receeded, though it hardly left him in a better state than before.
Team Seven finished the second part of the exam, and was allowed to rest. Sakura worried for Sasuke and Naruto, though particularly Sasuke. The preliminary matches didn't leave her feeling any better. Sasuke won his match, and so did Naruto. Hell, for the first time, Sakura was rooting for them both. (Biased little wench that she usually was disappearing for a moment.)
Her own match paired her up against Ino. This battle came down to one of wills, which surprisingly, Ino lost - though not as surprisingly, Ino herself started to move beyond where she'd been capped and become a better, stronger person herself. Sakura finally was able to do for Ino what Ino had done for her years prior. The two of them came to a sort of respect for each other, even as Inner!Sakura (a testy little "second" personality Sakura kept locked in her head) pushed Ino back out of Sakura's mind. The two ended up knocking each other out simultaneously, leading to a draw. Neither would qualify for the matches in the exam proper.
Sakura didn't see Sasuke for the days after the preliminaries. She came to the Chuunin matches with concern heavy in her heart, especially for Sasuke. Kakashi sensed some of this concern, and attempted to alleviate her concerns without specifically addressing them. Being a smart lass, Sakura found herself comforted a bit by her sensei's words... just not entirely.
Watching Naruto's fight had her supporting him yet again, if it didn't diminish her opinion of his idiocy overly much. Sasuke's match, which was one almost all of Konoha looked forward to (both because, hey, an Uchiha! and also, "Sand Demon" Gaara), was tying her stomach into knots.
Her premonitions, if they could be called that, were met with Orochimaru's second move. When the genjutsu that put most the village to sleep was put in place, Sakura, along with Shikamaru, Kakashi, and a handful of others, was able to dispel the technique and maintain consciousness. One of her natural strengths was shining through, and Kakashi asked her to wake Naruto in order to pursue Sasuke, who had in turn pursued the sand siblings in a one-track mind way.
Sakura and Naruto managed to catch up to Sasuke, who was (not terribly successfully) battling Gaara still. Unable to, you know, let anything go ever, Sasuke had to be saved by Naruto, and then Naruto had to keep on fighting after Gaara trapped Sakura up against a tree with a giant hand of sand.
Understandably, she doesn't remember a whole lot of what happened right around then.
Sakura did, however, start seeing the problems between Sasuke and Naruto, as well as with Sasuke himself. Sasuke was never a good patient, but he became even less of a good patient facing the difference in power between himself and Naruto. The fight he and Naruto broke out into on the hospital roof was interrupted by Sakura and Kakashi, though Sakura wouldn't have fared too well if Kakashi hadn't taken the active role in breaking the boys up. She couldn't understand the anger driving Sasuke, because this wasn't how it was supposed to be. They were a team - they all worked together, they all improved together.
But with Orochimaru's curse seal, suddenly, it wasn't enough. While Sakura wasn't around when Naruto was starting to train with Jiraiya (far before they all went separate ways, and right after the death of the 3rd Hokage because of the chuunin-exam mess), and she wasn't around for when Itachi screwed Sasuke over mentally (again) and sent him back to the hospital, saying he wasn't strong enough, and that Naruto was his aim (which I suppose implied Sasuke wasn't special enough for his brother to care about at the moment), it really wasn't enough. Sakura could sense the undertones, even perhaps the reasons behind them, and she didn't know what to do.
The fact that this cumulated in Sasuke willingly leaving Konoha says something about how deeply it affected Sasuke. The fact that Sakura was waiting on the path out of town for him says something about how well she knew him - even if her speech, both admitting to what she hadn't been, and what she wanted to be, showed how far apart they were. Sakura was earnest in her desire to stay with Sasuke, just as Sasuke was likely earnest in saying thank you before he knocked her out.
For reasons citing the fact that females weren't often doing important things and Sakura was (apparently) far more likely to break down, Sakura was not part of the initial Sasuke retrieval arc. All she learned about it came from others, and what Kakashi and Naruto would say.
Naruto's apology to Sakura for not bringing Sasuke back (a promise he had made to her before setting out) on his hospital bed cemented her direction for the next two to three years. She would never ask Naruto to tackle this alone again, and she tells him that next time, they'll bring Sasuke back together. She then approaches Tsunade about becoming her apprentice, and is summarily accepted. The Triad was complete in it's mirroring of the Sanin, as each of the new students out of team seven fell to working with the former masters.
Timeskip happened, and Sakura grew a few inches. Her abilities also grew, but Naruto didn't notice until he got decked for saying she looked the exact same as when he left. Sakura was more expressive and less repressive when Naruto came back, a likely side-effect of working with Tsunade.
As a "Welcome back!" party, Naruto and Sakura were challenged to a replication of the Bell Challenge Kakashi put them through two-three years past. Sakura's abilities manage to surprise both Naruto and Kakashi, even if it's an underhanded ploy by Naruto that allows the two to capture the bells. Thus began an era where Sakura kicked much ass!
Sort of. Called into helping find the kidnapped Gaara, now kaze-kage of Suna, Sakura gets to show off her medical ninjutsu as she save's Kankurou's life in removing the poison Sasori injected into his system. A short while afterward, when paired up with Chiyo of Suna, Sakura and Chiyo face down Sasori, who turns out to be a former shinobi of Suna. The antidote she and Chiyo had developed to save Kankurou is "used" by both women as they fight Sasori - only Chiyo is a crafty old woman and double-injects Sakura when the former's time limit of effectiveness runs out. Between using Sakura's natural strength and chakra manipulation skills, and Chiyo's masterful puppetry skills, the women manage to defeat Sasori.
And now they had a dead Gaara. Chiyo does the last crafty thing of her life, and gives her life's energy to Gaara - which brings his soul back to his body, even if it sort of misses the part that Shukkaku had gotten friendly with. Naruto rejoices, Sakura smiles, and then she remembers that Sasori gave her some interesting information about a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, and a meeting place to where he was supposed to go.
The plot moves forward. Kakashi was so severely messed up from the Suna trip (he was screwing around with Deidara while Sakura was off being effective for once) that he remains hospital ridden as two new members are added to Team Seven. Yamato is a fairly straight-faced, straight-laced jounin who gets stuck with the mostly reasonable Sakura - until Sai or Naruto piss her off, and she decks them in the face. Sai is an enigma - she understand that he has absolutely no social skills, but doesn't like being on the butt end of all his social faux pas. Or, as it turns out, the butt end of the writing scale, as her prior strength is essentially neutralized when she manages to get herself knocked out and falling through space during the pursuit of the "spy" meeting. (Orochimaru and Kabuto, as it were.)
Still, the new team meets up with this "spy," which ends up turning into a trap that severely injures Naruto and makes Sakura aware of just how fragile Naruto's control can be. She tried to approach him in four-tails form and was injured in the attempt - Kabuto, of all people, healed her while Yamato took control of Naruto with his specialized binding jutsus. (Yamato, who was an Orochimaru experiment, it turns out, but hey, no one needs to know that for long.) Sakura was able to heal Naruto after he had reverted to his true form, and yet again resolves to help Naruto in every way she can. Yamato gives her some advice on this count, saying it is the strength of her feelings that also matters.
Their conversation is interrupted as Naruto regains consciousness, and they continue on to Orochimaru's hideout. Searching the hideout thoroughly, they located Sasuke, who wasn't particularly wanting to see them. The first meeting after years of separation brought Naruto to stumbling shock, even if it set Sakura a bit on edge. The confrontation they had was brutal and too quickly over. Sakura had chased Sai down and was throttling him to figure out what he was after when Sasuke said her name, and she turned to look up at him. The dramatics were ones Sakura followed fairly well - and has Naruto sort of trump his reasons by pointing out that Sasuke actually sucks at cutting bonds, despite Sasuke saying that was what he had done.
Sakura tells Sasuke she's going to stop him with her own power, and gets cock-blocked by Yamato, who notices that Sasuke's eyes look dangerous. (Seriously, that's what he says.)
Sasuke does some more schnazzy sharingan stuff, and is about to pull out some move before Orochimaru stops him cold.
Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke leave. Naruto breaks down a bit, crying, and Sakura says, "You know, crying isn't going to bring Sasuke-kun back! I'm here too! We'll both get stronger, together!" While she is also crying. Sai tosses in his hand to the friendship pool, and Naruto stands and says thanks.
We next see Sakura with Sai, acting as back-up to Shikamaru in the second confrontation for Team Ten with Kakuzu and Hidan. (The first killed Team Ten's sensei, Asuma.) She doesn't end up fighting, because Shikamaru was too ninja and already had defeated Hidan by blowing him into a hole, so her usefulness was saved for healing Naruto's screwed-up arm after the use of his new technique in fighting against Kakuzu. While Naruto is healing, Sakura feels more drawn to her new team as a whole, and as a sort of payment for Naruto's kind words at an earlier point, offers to feed him. Sai, too, makes an offer, which ah... doesn't fly as well. Sakura seems largely unaffected by the fact Naruto still does display crush-like feelings toward her - in at least the sense that they remain nonreciprocated as romantic. (Yamato believes differently, and was about to say so prior to finding Sasuke the first time.)
The in-town encounters that Sakura, Sai, and Naruto have with others are almost like side-line jokes; first, Sai screws up nick-names and calls Sakura "Hag," while due to her physical correction on the subject, he then defaults to calling Ino "Ms. Beautiful." The fact that he's going for the opposite of what he thinks doesn't translate, so he's decked again.
A seperate encounter with Konohomaru has Sakura lecturing him and Naruto on their sexy no jutsus of two women feeling each other up - and her credibility drops when Kohonamaru switches the genders (so Sasuke and Sai are shown in a similar embrace) and Sakura reacts like Ebisu had, only with a "HELL YES!"
All's fair, but really? Sakura was apparently an undercover yaoi fan.
News of Sasuke killing Orochimaru reaches Konoha, and Sakura's back on the road with Kakashi's 8-man squad to find him. She passes within touching distance of Karin, one of Sasuke's new teammates, but the never find Sasuke himself.
Back in Konoha, after that venture ending in visiting Tobi, Sakura finds herself present when Naruto is told about Jiraiya going off and getting killed. She's surprised by Naruto's vhemnent reaction, and subsequent lash of anger in blaming Tsunade for Jiraiya's death. Sakura appeals to Shikamaru in attempting to figure out Jiraiya's dying code. She ultimately is assigned to figure out the code and it's meaning and how to defeat Pain.
Pain comes to town, and shit gets serious. An explosion at the Code Breaking Facility draws Shikamaru and Sakura close, and she kills Pain's centipede summon-creature, in one blown that the little tailor would have been proud of, and begins her healing escapades. Kakashi is killed in the initial attacks, along with many other shinobi. The intense healing lasts, at high volume, until Pain blows up Konoha.
At this point, Naruto was off in Sage Training, and as she wonders where the hell he is (my lifeline! my teammate! my crazy ass friend with way too much power!) while coming to reluctant terms with the people who've been dying trying to prevent Pain from killing everything. She's told when Naruto arrives, witnessing a fight between Naruto and Pain that looks like it will end up being one-sided until Hinata jumps in and causes Naruto to go into a tailed form. Naruto and Pain move out of town, Naruto almost hits nine-tails form -- and then she feels the chakra change, and is told he's under control.
She heals Hinata, and when everyone is revived by Naruto's ability to talk to Nagoto, she's among the masses waiting for his return. The whole village turns out to recognize him, and she hits him over the head and gives him a bear hug. She doesn't want him making her worry that much again.
Unfortunately, she then learns Tsunade is in a coma, but instead of being comforted by anyone, she ends up comforting Naruto over the same fact. She's proud of him again as he handles the topic of Sasuke's being out of Konoha with old acquaintances, and then is confronted with information that no one ever wanted to hear: Danzo was the new Hokage. She's outraged (for a variety of reasons, including "Danzo has done many shady things and that's my mentor you're talking about"), but Kakashi manages to forestall her doing anything blatantly stupid (along with Naruto), and instead she takes a walk with Sai and Naruto to calm down. Only the contingent sent out by the Raikage appears and decides to present them with even more information: Uchiha Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki, and had killed the 8-Tails. (Naruto lets them know the 8-tails may actually be alive, because extraction requires them to be.) They demand information from Naruto and Sakura, who both resist, and Sakura breaks down in tears because it's just too damn much, too damn fast, and she can't do a damn thing about any of it. (She can't seem to answer the foreign shinobi's question on what exactly Uchiha Sasuke is to her.)
ANYHOW she magically is whisked away to Tsunade's comatose side, while Naruto gets himself beaten up and makes Sai feel anger which makes him angry to the point that he confronts Sakura over her amazing guilt-tripping ways that are destroying Naruto even more than Sasuke alone is destroying Naruto and she starts weeping quietly again. Then Shikamaru walks in, says the Rookie 9 are signing Sasuke's death warrant, and that she needs to suck it up and deal -- and she tells him she'll tell Naruto, because "the idiot's in love with me." No one is surprised -- at that fact, not her decision to go after Naruto -- and soon she's on her way to the land of Iron with Lee, Kiba, and Sai. Team Awesomepants.
They find Naruto, and Sakura... confesses... her.......... love. By basically insulting everything Naruto was before and saying she's more or less seen the light since he's become a hero in the eyes of the village. Naruto tells her he hates liars, and Sakura says she isn't lying, but fine! He can have it his way. Stomping on Kiba's foot to keep him quiet on what motivated the trip in the first place, Sakura storms off -- back to Konoha! Only she tells Kiba to get tracking because she's taking down Sasuke on her own.
Sai stays behind to rat on her, basically giving Naruto and Yamato a 411 on "Sakura's grown up and I might possibly maybe have sort of kind of given her reason to stalk her way out here." His real body stays with Sakura, and they are fast on the trail. Then, about two kilometers away from where Sasuke's been dancing with Danzou (who has died by the time Kiba picks up Sasuke's scent in one location), Sakura sleeping gas bombs her entire team -- which had started fighting Sai vs Lee, Kiba, and Sakura based on Sai saying this was stupid and Sakura needed to not be stupid and suicidal -- and then runs to Sasuke and shouts that SHE WILL LEAVE KONOHA FOR HIM.
He then asks her to kill Karin, and tries to shank her through the back of her head with chidori (MAGICALLY UNHEARD) before Kakashi saves the day (and his student) by parrying. For her. See, 'cause he's just -- no, he's a dude. Sakura has to be dulled by her emotions -- and she is, in fact. Kakashi tells her to heal Karin so they have a live prisoner to bring back, and Sakura does -- while crying her eyes out from theheartbreak of realizing just how much Sasuke has changed, and it's not for the better. When Karin's stable, however, Sakura decides Kakashi has no more right to shoulder the burden of Sasuke alone than she did, so she breaks out the champagne kunai and goes on the attack sneakily once again.
Only to stop inches away from Sasuke, crying, because she thought she was ready, that she could do what she needed to -- and she couldn't shank him. Naruto shows up to save the girl day this time, and then an epic punch happens -- and Sasuke is taken away by Madara after Naruto declares they have a deathdate. Sakura is in awe of her... teammates... and sure she's unable to do anything. Yes, even as they find the people she sleepgas bombed, she is certain that she can do nothing. Even waking them up and then getting back to Konoha and watching Naruto lie about being cool and tell the truth about wanting to face Sasuke alone, she marvels at how there is nothing she can do.
Oh, then Tsunade wakes up. Sakura is currently having fits of happiness. And now we're here.
Why should that character be in this game: N/A.
Why do you want to continue their history here: N/A.
Have you read up on how the game works?:
I, uh. FlamingFerret is the computer program they use (it's apparently a journaling program that snapshots you like evil early laptops to be giving images of what you're up to when posting to your "friends") that can be installed to their guide as a plug-in. As far as earning money goes, they can sign themselves up to jobs posted on the job board; they can get hired by other passengers (freelancing); they can also try bumming money from friends. Also, if you're sneaky, get to picking pockets or pocketbooks, and/or try to make the starting funds you're given last a heck of a lot longer than they usually would.
1st person sample:
[ Sakura's booted up the program, and is tinkering around when she activates the video feed. Not intending to say anything just yet, she returns to her piles of multi-colored paperwork, brow furrowed in a mixture of extreme concentration and absolute irritation. ]
The chartreuse IA-688-B, not the magenta. The chartreuse, the chartreuse, the chartreuse... Ah-ha! [ Sliding one form out from under several others, she grins. ] And I've already filled you out! Maybe it really was the magenta IA-688-B?
[ She's back to frowning and shuffling papers, then stops to run her hands through her hair, growling. ]
Who invented this many forms just to get one book back? It's not theirs in the first place! [ Slamming her hands down, several forms flutter and try to fall off the counter. She turns to watch them fall, then disappears off screen to retrieve them. Standing back up with the forms in her hands, she finally notices the program is showing it's recording. ...Awkward. ]
Ah. Hi. This is recording, right? My name's Haruno Sakura. There doesn't happen to be someone who knows this whole paperwork a bit better than I do available to help right now, is there? I'd really appreciate a little guidance. I've filled out twenty-seven forms that ask the same sixteen things in ninty different ways, and if I have to stand in line one more time to hear I forgot something, or filled something out incorrectly -- [ she sighs, casting the camera a rueful smile. ] It's a lot of paperwork.
[ Picking up the pen to begin filling in the form, she tightens her grip a little too hard -- and ink shoots out the end, straight into her face. She sits there, eyebrow twitching for a moment before she steps back from the counter she'd been writing on, throwing the pen away with an expression of unadultered disgust. ]
How the hell did they end up with this many defective pens?!
3rd person sample:
She first registered white. More than a color, it defined that moment between slumber and wakefulness; an omnipresent, antiseptic reality.
In many ways, a hospital. Sakura's mind caught up with her eyes, the gap in memory between where she'd been sitting on the embankment, trying to deal with the emotional pain that had hit far too close on the heels of another one, and having more difficulty than she was expecting. Naruto had gone off with the three shinobi from Lightning, and Sai had been at her back.
Then why was she here? She sat up, not recognizing the room. A frustrated sound choked in her throat, and she shook it off as she took in her surroundings. Yamato had been working on reconstruction; perhaps she was in one of the new facilities, even if the choice in decoration reminded her of a hospital room. Then again, the layout was a bit more permanent -- there was a possibility that this was another facility in Konoha, one perhaps meant to act as a standing barracks.
"I..." she trailed off, lips twitching into a frown. "Did Sai bring me here?" The thought was uncomfortable, for several reasons, the most prominent her gap in memory. She pulled the blanket closer, feeling the standard-issue grade of the fabric. It was an oddly jarring sensation.
She tossed the blanket off of herself, swinging her legs around to stand. "Where'd they go?" She figured no one would conveniently answer, but the hurt and sadness was boiling over into frustration. She didn't want to be on the sidelines, unable to help Naruto or her other teammates because she was too caught up in her own reactions to the world. "We need to figure out what we're doing about Danzo, not shove me in a corner just because --"
Just because of Sasuke. She rubbed at her eyes, the memory of tears recently shed making her certain her eyes were an unattractive, puffy red. Damnit! Sakura stood, willing herself into a greater sense of calm. "I can't believe he'd do something so stupid." The Akatsuki. The organization which was hunting down Naruto, and everyone else. What's more, Sasuke had taken down the only other remaining jinchiruuki not in the possession of the Akatsuki. That left Naruto -- Naruto -- as the final target. "Sasuke, just what the hell are you thinking?" Sakura certainly had no idea anymore.
Just in a day, and so many things were changing. When Pain had attacked, for a moment, she'd thought that was the worst that could happen. Here was the epitome of the Akatsuki, destroying Konoha, killing people she cared deeply for, and intent to take away one of the people she cared most for in the world. She'd wanted Naruto back, because he was her fail-safe, her constant, at the same time she'd wanted him nowhere nearby. A little selfish side-thought that hadn't lasted, because she had faith he wouldn't die. There was nothing to worry about. It was Naruto.
She had worried, in between saving the lives she could in the wreckage of the village she had grown up in. When she'd felt the sting of the Kyuubi's chakra, she remembered all the warnings. Her arm ached in a remembrance of what Naruto suffered every time the transformation started. In the moment she felt him escalate -- and when she heard that he'd stopped the transformation -- she breathed easier. He was going to come back. She knew it.
As did everyone else, in the end. But her prediction for the day was wrong. Tsunade had fallen into a coma protecting the lives of the villagers. Danzo had been put in place as the Hokage, pending a meeting of the jounins. That meeting couldn't even happen, with the Raikage's notice, and the notification that Sasuke was officially listed as a missing-nin. Free game, for the hunter nins of Konoha. To then hear Sasuke had joined... "First shishou, then Danzo, and now this? Naruto, you better be where I can find you." She stalked toward the door, pulling herself together, focusing on the sense of purpose and cool anger. A thought struck her, almost out of the blue. Her frown intensified, then faded as her voice lowered. "If you, Sai, or Kakashi do something without me... I'm kicking all of your asses."
That was one promise she'd have no trouble following up on.
Questions?:
First, a note: The Log Sample is taken off an earlier app; I can rewrite it to fit this setting if you wish, easy as pie! I just sort of forgot to write that sample before it was... today.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: NO. I mean yes.
Fandom: Naruto manga
Timeline: Chapter 492 (not that she's... in the recentest chapters).
Age: 16.
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths:
Martial Artist: Even ignoring all her other skills, Sakura has been specifically trained to excel in hand-to-hand combat, and other forms of unarmed combat. Her body is a weapon, so to speak, and she's well toned, agile, flexible, and stronger than most women her size.
Chakra Enhancements: Chakra allows Sakura to move faster than a human being ought, walk and climb on walls and ceilings as well as water and the like, and utilize all the basic techniques on her world. (Clones, shadow clones, etc.) She additionally has perfect control of her chakra, to the point where she doesn't waste chakra unless she absolutely has to. Her overall reserves are greater than most shinobi, but sadly still far less than Naruto and Sasuke.
Subset - Super Stregth: Training with Tsunade has perfected Sakura's chakra release. She can use chakra to capitalize on single points of contact, a sort of KO style of fighting. These massive releases are capable of causing spontaneous fracturing of the ground for a significant distance and depth, shocking even Kakashi and Naruto into realizing just how dead they'd be with one direct intentional hit from Sakura.
Medical Training: Sakura can heal almost anything, as long as she's not being asked to heal on a cellular level. (This she just can't do - encouraging cells to regrow, yes, or flesh to reknit, but she cannot mend individual cell walls. See this as explained after Naruto uses his new technique on Kakuzu, I think.) She's skilled at making antidotes, has presumably extensive herbal knowledge, and well. It's magic. Healing's not explained very well in series. She can't bring people back from death, that much is clear, so if you lose too much blood and there's no instant donor around, you're S.O.L. She's expected to surpass Tsunade, at some point. Canon makes that trend blatantly obvious.
Genjutsu and Sakura: Unclear to what extent she knows or practices genjutsu. She still appears to be able to dispel genjutsu, or at least detect genjutsu, at a level beyond most shinobi. What this means is negligible, since the only obvious references in canon are when she's 13, and include her being able to withstand a high level sleep inducement on her lonesome. Presumably if she trains in this, and she really should have at least trained to recognize it (for the sake of not getting tricked by Sasuke's eyes, so to speak), Sakura would be a formidable genjutsu user. As it stands, there is no clear evidence of how much she does or doesn't know. She presumably has enough control of her chakra to break most hlds used by genjutsu users - she can surge through her own brain so that their manipulation is broken. Theoretically, which I can't stress enough. We just don't know. BUT WE KNOW HER RANKING. IT IS... LIKE 3.5. WHICH TELLS US NOTHING EXCEPT SHE'S RANKED.
How would they use their abilities?: After a brief stint of attempting to take over the WORLD, Sakura would --
Okay, no. In reality Sakura would probably do what she theoretically does best in series: freeze up before shanking anyone important to her, and heal people really well. Also, gas them to get away to fail to shank people. She'd use her abilities to work toward getting home and helping those around her. And to get stronger. Like the GOVERNATOR.
Appearance: She's 5'3", has bright pink hair, green eyes, and lots of skin probably in the real of forty pounds. Or is that just what you shed in a lifetime... She is athletically built, has very modest breasts that will never be mistaken for mountains, and tends to wear some of the ugliest clothes the same two outfits. All the time.
Manga Image Reference.
Full Image Reference.
Antagonistic Image Reference.
Casual Image Reference.
Background/Personality:
Personality:
Sakura is an intelligent, sometimes preachy (to those she knows and/or finds clueless about a given subject she is knowledgeable about), caring young woman. She takes her job as a medical shinobi seriously, and this seriousness is displayed in how she handles any work assigned to her. Sakura likes to be thorough, complete, and as close to perfect as possible. Be this in her written reports, her abilities, her training, or any other aspect of her life. She's also neat, from what little can be seen of her home.
Her tendency to follow the rules also lends itself to her having little patience for people acting perverted - especially when "people" includes Uzumaki Naruto. As a twist, Sakura herself is a closet yaoi fan. Most her attempts to flirt fail, or end in her punching guys in the face. She does not like people implying she's flat-chested. She's not as sensitive about her appearance as she once was, but making an issue of it with her is asking for retribution.
Sakura is determined to achieve her goals, and achieve them well. She has a good grasp of tactics and a good mind for cryptology and research. Her memory is very good, and her detail recall is high, but not infallible. Sakura is also tenacious in her resolve. She is far less judgmental than she was as a pre-teen, and is far more likely to forgive (if not forget) people's minor indiscretions. (Or major ones, as in the case of Sai.) She holds teamwork as incredibly important, and still respects the opinions of her elders enough to listen to them when they give advice. Most the time, anyway.
Sakura is honest, even to the point of bluntness (though she has decent helpings of tact, so she's usually only blunt to those she knows well, or who she requires certain standards from), and has been known to overreact to people, particularly with irritation and anger and outrage. What used to be repressed and relieved through "Inner-Sakura" is now more freely expressed to the world - not that it's always appreciated. She's the sort of person who could be talked into a challenge, even if she wouldn't blindly accept one (taking on challenges in even those things she's not so good at, due to a competitive spirit). Sakura hates losing, and giving up got written out of her dictionary years ago.
She is confident in her skills and abilities, if not to a point where she doesn't feel the need to re-evaluate and take a look at herself from time to time. Her resolve to improve makes her a harsh taskmistress on herself, in order to make sure that she's able to stand equal with Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi - everyone important to her - and not end up on the sidelines, unable to help. Perhaps her greatest fears and failures come from feeling inadequate in the face of her important people; being unable to help them would drive her up a wall.
Even with her more emotionally "open" personality, Sakura has displayed excellent bedside manner, doubtlessly invaluable in her profession. Her kindness towards others, including Naruto, and her ability to relate has improved with time. She does practice more restraint than she's probably given credit for by those in her own generation. She's also willing to pass off the things she's done if it avoids an explanation of what she found stupid in the moment it was uttered - telling Kakashi it was nothing when both Sai and Naruto had fat cheeks visiting him in the hospital.
Sakura is not above gossiping, though she keeps it to a minimum. She doesn't appear to talk about herself or her feelings often, presumably because she doesn't want to burden others and prefers to deal with them head on. Then again, most the time she reads like an open book. Some of her compatriots are simply too thick headed, or too uninvolved, to notice.
tl;dr version: she's a teenager with emotional hangups over her teammates, who wants to help her closest people out, often fails, and keeps her belief in her bestest friend ever -- or at least best used punching bag -- because it's what she has so annoyingly decided she simply must do.
Background:
Sakura started out in life as most people do: bits of genetic information that was birthed, and at roughly 6-8, was a rather shy, self-conscious little girl. While not much about her youth is shown, Sakura was seen as a somewhat friendless and sad child, teased for having a "big" forehead by her peers at the Shinobi Academy. This changed when Yamanaka Ino, a self-assured fellow student, approached Sakura and made friends. Sakura appeared to treasure this relationship, and started to become a more open person through their friendship.
This new found self-confidence eventually propelled Sakura into feeling good enough about herself to develop a crush on a fellow classmate. While it's not known exactly why or how she so proudly discovered Uchiha Sasuke on her own (for quite clearly, based on the reactions Sakura had to her fellow classmates and Ino when she announced her crush, she had no clue Sasuke was himself already popular among the other girls) only to find everyone else already knew about him. This led to the first stance Sakura definitely took in her friendship with Ino, at some point afterward returning the ribbon Ino had given her as a sign of their becoming rivals. Sakura chose this route, and Ino allowed her to. The two bickered back and forth, though they never really forgot that they had been friends.
Sakura was intelligent and hard-working, doing well at the Academy and striving to be close to her crush (Sasuke) and to keep the boy crushing on her (Naruto) away. She didn't understand Naruto (or Sasuke, really) when she found herself suddenly on the same team as her crush and her would-be boyfriend. She insults and shuts Naruto down, while trying to engage Sasuke - a tactic which combined with the personalities of her teammates almost got them all to fail their test with Kakashi.
Sakura's weakness for believing what she thought she saw when right out of the academy contrasted with her actual strengths of seeing through what was presented. Coming to understand Sasuke's point in offering food to Naruto during Kakashi's test was the first of many small turning points for Sakura. Tolerance was a hard lesson. Learning to "see beneath the beneath" was equally difficult.
The first direct confrontation Sakura had with Sasuke over Naruto proved another turning point. Having her crush tell her, point blank, that he couldn't stand people like her, people who had no idea of what it was like to lose bonds, or never have them, and yet passed judgment on others. (Liberal rewording taken.) Sakura had to look at how she treated Naruto, and while she never fully prevents herself from knocking Naruto for some of his habits (over-enthusiasm, perversity, and the like), she starts to grow closer to both her teammates.
What was meant to be a simple escort mission to the Wave Country proved to be anything but when not far out of Konoha, Team Seven and the man they were escorting were attacked. Sakura defended Tazuna, though she would have been killed if Sasuke hadn't stepped in. (Or Kakashi, for that matter.) Her instinct to stick to the mission was admirable, yet her ability to perform was lackluster. When the threat to their team and Tazuna's life brought out even more powerful shinobi, Sakura found herself on the sidelines and close to useless. She strove to continue to protect Tazuna, but it was Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto who were able to fight and defeat Haku and Zabuza. At this point she still has an obvious bias toward Sasuke - emotionally, at least - as she recites out the 25th Shinobi (never show your emotions) rule while racing past Naruto to Sasuke's still and seemingly dead-form, weeping. Sakura probably started resolving to be useful to the team and not to just be protected because of this incident. This was also her first real contact with Naruto breaking down his seal due to emotional distress - and some insight into what her blonde teammate was capable of in full.
Sakura excelled before both the boys in chakra control. This came to the forefront first with the tree walking exercises, which she mastered in much less time than either of her teammates. Still, control itself wasn't enough to make her shine between the two boys, let alone on their first mission. She loses confidence before the first chuunin exam, a contrast to the assurance of Sasuke, and the enthusiasm of Naruto. She was close to not wanting to participate at all, though she didn't know her choosing not to go would stall her team as a whole.
The first encounter Team Seven, and Sakura, had with the Sand Nin competing in the Chuunin Exams was in their village, when Kankurou was bullying some of the kids. Sasuke and Gaara immediately struck a tense note with each other. Other than verbal exchanges, and some physical, not much was exchanged at that point. It was time for the Exams.
Naruto had more blind belief in Sakura's will to compete and complete the exam, while Sasuke was the one to give her the confidence to feel useful to the team. When they were confronted by exam officials in disguise at "Level 3" and Sasuke prompts Sakura into saying she had already figured out this wasn't the real level 3. She pauses for a moment before smiling, and saying, "Of course. It's level two." (Of course, this may have been "door two" but I admit I don't remember this specific detail at the moment.)
The Chuunin exam is where Sakura first met Rock Lee. His impromptu attack of Sasuke and their brief conflict left Sakura catching Sasuke to break his fall as well as dodging Lee's blown kisses and expressions of endearment. She also met Maito Guy in all his spandex-clad, youthful glory, and was left subtly disturbed by the event. Her then particularly shallow nature showed through again, with her largest complaints being that both weren't particularly "attractive." Her depth was echoed by the other two, and they wore identical expressions of disbelief at the closeness of the student-teacher bond Gai and Lee displayed. (That may have had something to do with both men crying tears of joy while hugging each other, however.)
Stage one of the exam pitted Sakura against her natural element: the written test. She passed without trouble, or shall I say she filled out the exam without trouble. Very likely, she was one of the few persons in the room to have passed without cheating, even if cheating was the point (to an extent). We also finally see Sakura thinks about, and cares for, Naruto as she thinks about standing up and asking for their team to be disqualified, so that Naruto wouldn't have to bear the shame of doing so.
He, of course, stands up and manages to shoot down all her concerns in one go, while showing just how strong he is at heart. Sakura was learning in bits and pieces who Naruto really was, and what kind of respect he deserved. She held her tongue.
The second part of the chuunin exam is where Sakura finally was forced to find herself. Survivng the other participants wasn't their first worry - no, once Orochimaru located Sasuke and Sakura, the difficult became surviving the former sannin. Sakura wasn't able to combat Orochimaru's sheer malevolent presence, and Sasuke was forced to carry her out of the immediate danger zone after shoving a kunai through his leg.
I mean, seriously. Since Sasuke was Orochimaru's target, however, the pre-teen couldn't escape forever. Naruto ended up making his way back toward them after the separation which had allowed Orochimaru to close in on Sasuke. Sakura was again left unable to do anything directly while Naruto and Sasuke fought, even at the point where she had to again run to Sasuke when he collapsed from the pain of the curse seal. Naruto then collapsed in turn, and Orochimaru left the scene.
Sakura took up an all night vigilance over her two teammates, doing as much first aid as she could while setting up a perimeter guard to help protect them all. Unfortunately, Sakura has a soft heart, and when a squirrel was going to set off one of the traps, she purposely stopped him from entering.
Of course, elsewhere, Lee had to save squirrels with exploding tags on their back, but that's a little digression.
Sakura found herself facing the chuunin team from Sound on her own. She didn't back down, and was prepared to fight them (though certain to lose) when Lee appeared to help assist her. This was a slap in the face to Sakura's judgmental nature, so in a way another sort of turning point since Naruto wasn't the only person she'd slighted.
Lee was ultimately defeated, and Sakura now took front and center to protect him in addition to Sasuke and Naruto. For now, she was on her own - though from the shadows Ino and her team watched and waited.
Sakura was losing, but she wasn't giving up. Kin, the female from the other team, got ahold of Sakura's long hair and kept her on her knees, cutting Sakura down for being too concerned with her looks to concentrate on her skills as a shinobi/kunoichi. In pain, Sakura dug at the ground and then lashed out with her kunai - missing Kin entirely. The other female was going to belittle her yet again, only Sakura had managed to cut through her hair, and thus break free.
The battle with the Sound Nin continued, degenerating to a point where Sakura even bit down on the arm of one of her aggressors in her staunch effort to not roll over and take it like a dog. It was the sheer determination behind Sakura's actions that ping'd Ino, and caused her to drag her teammates out with her in order to face down the Sound Nin and save Sakura.
During this transition, Sasuke finally came back to consciousness. After seeing Sakura's beaten up body, he asked her who had done this, and proceeded to draw upon the curse seal to entirely lose his cool. The sadistic, brutal way he dealt with the Sound Nin frightened the rest of the conscious Konoha Nin, to the point where Sakura found herself bursting into tears (a habit she didn't have as often as one might expect) and running out to stop Sasuke. He wasn't being who she knew him to be, and latching onto him from behind, Sakura managed to make Sasuke stop. For now, his curse seal receeded, though it hardly left him in a better state than before.
Team Seven finished the second part of the exam, and was allowed to rest. Sakura worried for Sasuke and Naruto, though particularly Sasuke. The preliminary matches didn't leave her feeling any better. Sasuke won his match, and so did Naruto. Hell, for the first time, Sakura was rooting for them both. (Biased little wench that she usually was disappearing for a moment.)
Her own match paired her up against Ino. This battle came down to one of wills, which surprisingly, Ino lost - though not as surprisingly, Ino herself started to move beyond where she'd been capped and become a better, stronger person herself. Sakura finally was able to do for Ino what Ino had done for her years prior. The two of them came to a sort of respect for each other, even as Inner!Sakura (a testy little "second" personality Sakura kept locked in her head) pushed Ino back out of Sakura's mind. The two ended up knocking each other out simultaneously, leading to a draw. Neither would qualify for the matches in the exam proper.
Sakura didn't see Sasuke for the days after the preliminaries. She came to the Chuunin matches with concern heavy in her heart, especially for Sasuke. Kakashi sensed some of this concern, and attempted to alleviate her concerns without specifically addressing them. Being a smart lass, Sakura found herself comforted a bit by her sensei's words... just not entirely.
Watching Naruto's fight had her supporting him yet again, if it didn't diminish her opinion of his idiocy overly much. Sasuke's match, which was one almost all of Konoha looked forward to (both because, hey, an Uchiha! and also, "Sand Demon" Gaara), was tying her stomach into knots.
Her premonitions, if they could be called that, were met with Orochimaru's second move. When the genjutsu that put most the village to sleep was put in place, Sakura, along with Shikamaru, Kakashi, and a handful of others, was able to dispel the technique and maintain consciousness. One of her natural strengths was shining through, and Kakashi asked her to wake Naruto in order to pursue Sasuke, who had in turn pursued the sand siblings in a one-track mind way.
Sakura and Naruto managed to catch up to Sasuke, who was (not terribly successfully) battling Gaara still. Unable to, you know, let anything go ever, Sasuke had to be saved by Naruto, and then Naruto had to keep on fighting after Gaara trapped Sakura up against a tree with a giant hand of sand.
Understandably, she doesn't remember a whole lot of what happened right around then.
Sakura did, however, start seeing the problems between Sasuke and Naruto, as well as with Sasuke himself. Sasuke was never a good patient, but he became even less of a good patient facing the difference in power between himself and Naruto. The fight he and Naruto broke out into on the hospital roof was interrupted by Sakura and Kakashi, though Sakura wouldn't have fared too well if Kakashi hadn't taken the active role in breaking the boys up. She couldn't understand the anger driving Sasuke, because this wasn't how it was supposed to be. They were a team - they all worked together, they all improved together.
But with Orochimaru's curse seal, suddenly, it wasn't enough. While Sakura wasn't around when Naruto was starting to train with Jiraiya (far before they all went separate ways, and right after the death of the 3rd Hokage because of the chuunin-exam mess), and she wasn't around for when Itachi screwed Sasuke over mentally (again) and sent him back to the hospital, saying he wasn't strong enough, and that Naruto was his aim (which I suppose implied Sasuke wasn't special enough for his brother to care about at the moment), it really wasn't enough. Sakura could sense the undertones, even perhaps the reasons behind them, and she didn't know what to do.
The fact that this cumulated in Sasuke willingly leaving Konoha says something about how deeply it affected Sasuke. The fact that Sakura was waiting on the path out of town for him says something about how well she knew him - even if her speech, both admitting to what she hadn't been, and what she wanted to be, showed how far apart they were. Sakura was earnest in her desire to stay with Sasuke, just as Sasuke was likely earnest in saying thank you before he knocked her out.
For reasons citing the fact that females weren't often doing important things and Sakura was (apparently) far more likely to break down, Sakura was not part of the initial Sasuke retrieval arc. All she learned about it came from others, and what Kakashi and Naruto would say.
Naruto's apology to Sakura for not bringing Sasuke back (a promise he had made to her before setting out) on his hospital bed cemented her direction for the next two to three years. She would never ask Naruto to tackle this alone again, and she tells him that next time, they'll bring Sasuke back together. She then approaches Tsunade about becoming her apprentice, and is summarily accepted. The Triad was complete in it's mirroring of the Sanin, as each of the new students out of team seven fell to working with the former masters.
Timeskip happened, and Sakura grew a few inches. Her abilities also grew, but Naruto didn't notice until he got decked for saying she looked the exact same as when he left. Sakura was more expressive and less repressive when Naruto came back, a likely side-effect of working with Tsunade.
As a "Welcome back!" party, Naruto and Sakura were challenged to a replication of the Bell Challenge Kakashi put them through two-three years past. Sakura's abilities manage to surprise both Naruto and Kakashi, even if it's an underhanded ploy by Naruto that allows the two to capture the bells. Thus began an era where Sakura kicked much ass!
Sort of. Called into helping find the kidnapped Gaara, now kaze-kage of Suna, Sakura gets to show off her medical ninjutsu as she save's Kankurou's life in removing the poison Sasori injected into his system. A short while afterward, when paired up with Chiyo of Suna, Sakura and Chiyo face down Sasori, who turns out to be a former shinobi of Suna. The antidote she and Chiyo had developed to save Kankurou is "used" by both women as they fight Sasori - only Chiyo is a crafty old woman and double-injects Sakura when the former's time limit of effectiveness runs out. Between using Sakura's natural strength and chakra manipulation skills, and Chiyo's masterful puppetry skills, the women manage to defeat Sasori.
And now they had a dead Gaara. Chiyo does the last crafty thing of her life, and gives her life's energy to Gaara - which brings his soul back to his body, even if it sort of misses the part that Shukkaku had gotten friendly with. Naruto rejoices, Sakura smiles, and then she remembers that Sasori gave her some interesting information about a spy in Orochimaru's ranks, and a meeting place to where he was supposed to go.
The plot moves forward. Kakashi was so severely messed up from the Suna trip (he was screwing around with Deidara while Sakura was off being effective for once) that he remains hospital ridden as two new members are added to Team Seven. Yamato is a fairly straight-faced, straight-laced jounin who gets stuck with the mostly reasonable Sakura - until Sai or Naruto piss her off, and she decks them in the face. Sai is an enigma - she understand that he has absolutely no social skills, but doesn't like being on the butt end of all his social faux pas. Or, as it turns out, the butt end of the writing scale, as her prior strength is essentially neutralized when she manages to get herself knocked out and falling through space during the pursuit of the "spy" meeting. (Orochimaru and Kabuto, as it were.)
Still, the new team meets up with this "spy," which ends up turning into a trap that severely injures Naruto and makes Sakura aware of just how fragile Naruto's control can be. She tried to approach him in four-tails form and was injured in the attempt - Kabuto, of all people, healed her while Yamato took control of Naruto with his specialized binding jutsus. (Yamato, who was an Orochimaru experiment, it turns out, but hey, no one needs to know that for long.) Sakura was able to heal Naruto after he had reverted to his true form, and yet again resolves to help Naruto in every way she can. Yamato gives her some advice on this count, saying it is the strength of her feelings that also matters.
Their conversation is interrupted as Naruto regains consciousness, and they continue on to Orochimaru's hideout. Searching the hideout thoroughly, they located Sasuke, who wasn't particularly wanting to see them. The first meeting after years of separation brought Naruto to stumbling shock, even if it set Sakura a bit on edge. The confrontation they had was brutal and too quickly over. Sakura had chased Sai down and was throttling him to figure out what he was after when Sasuke said her name, and she turned to look up at him. The dramatics were ones Sakura followed fairly well - and has Naruto sort of trump his reasons by pointing out that Sasuke actually sucks at cutting bonds, despite Sasuke saying that was what he had done.
Sakura tells Sasuke she's going to stop him with her own power, and gets cock-blocked by Yamato, who notices that Sasuke's eyes look dangerous. (Seriously, that's what he says.)
Sasuke does some more schnazzy sharingan stuff, and is about to pull out some move before Orochimaru stops him cold.
Orochimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke leave. Naruto breaks down a bit, crying, and Sakura says, "You know, crying isn't going to bring Sasuke-kun back! I'm here too! We'll both get stronger, together!" While she is also crying. Sai tosses in his hand to the friendship pool, and Naruto stands and says thanks.
We next see Sakura with Sai, acting as back-up to Shikamaru in the second confrontation for Team Ten with Kakuzu and Hidan. (The first killed Team Ten's sensei, Asuma.) She doesn't end up fighting, because Shikamaru was too ninja and already had defeated Hidan by blowing him into a hole, so her usefulness was saved for healing Naruto's screwed-up arm after the use of his new technique in fighting against Kakuzu. While Naruto is healing, Sakura feels more drawn to her new team as a whole, and as a sort of payment for Naruto's kind words at an earlier point, offers to feed him. Sai, too, makes an offer, which ah... doesn't fly as well. Sakura seems largely unaffected by the fact Naruto still does display crush-like feelings toward her - in at least the sense that they remain nonreciprocated as romantic. (Yamato believes differently, and was about to say so prior to finding Sasuke the first time.)
The in-town encounters that Sakura, Sai, and Naruto have with others are almost like side-line jokes; first, Sai screws up nick-names and calls Sakura "Hag," while due to her physical correction on the subject, he then defaults to calling Ino "Ms. Beautiful." The fact that he's going for the opposite of what he thinks doesn't translate, so he's decked again.
A seperate encounter with Konohomaru has Sakura lecturing him and Naruto on their sexy no jutsus of two women feeling each other up - and her credibility drops when Kohonamaru switches the genders (so Sasuke and Sai are shown in a similar embrace) and Sakura reacts like Ebisu had, only with a "HELL YES!"
All's fair, but really? Sakura was apparently an undercover yaoi fan.
News of Sasuke killing Orochimaru reaches Konoha, and Sakura's back on the road with Kakashi's 8-man squad to find him. She passes within touching distance of Karin, one of Sasuke's new teammates, but the never find Sasuke himself.
Back in Konoha, after that venture ending in visiting Tobi, Sakura finds herself present when Naruto is told about Jiraiya going off and getting killed. She's surprised by Naruto's vhemnent reaction, and subsequent lash of anger in blaming Tsunade for Jiraiya's death. Sakura appeals to Shikamaru in attempting to figure out Jiraiya's dying code. She ultimately is assigned to figure out the code and it's meaning and how to defeat Pain.
Pain comes to town, and shit gets serious. An explosion at the Code Breaking Facility draws Shikamaru and Sakura close, and she kills Pain's centipede summon-creature, in one blown that the little tailor would have been proud of, and begins her healing escapades. Kakashi is killed in the initial attacks, along with many other shinobi. The intense healing lasts, at high volume, until Pain blows up Konoha.
At this point, Naruto was off in Sage Training, and as she wonders where the hell he is (my lifeline! my teammate! my crazy ass friend with way too much power!) while coming to reluctant terms with the people who've been dying trying to prevent Pain from killing everything. She's told when Naruto arrives, witnessing a fight between Naruto and Pain that looks like it will end up being one-sided until Hinata jumps in and causes Naruto to go into a tailed form. Naruto and Pain move out of town, Naruto almost hits nine-tails form -- and then she feels the chakra change, and is told he's under control.
She heals Hinata, and when everyone is revived by Naruto's ability to talk to Nagoto, she's among the masses waiting for his return. The whole village turns out to recognize him, and she hits him over the head and gives him a bear hug. She doesn't want him making her worry that much again.
Unfortunately, she then learns Tsunade is in a coma, but instead of being comforted by anyone, she ends up comforting Naruto over the same fact. She's proud of him again as he handles the topic of Sasuke's being out of Konoha with old acquaintances, and then is confronted with information that no one ever wanted to hear: Danzo was the new Hokage. She's outraged (for a variety of reasons, including "Danzo has done many shady things and that's my mentor you're talking about"), but Kakashi manages to forestall her doing anything blatantly stupid (along with Naruto), and instead she takes a walk with Sai and Naruto to calm down. Only the contingent sent out by the Raikage appears and decides to present them with even more information: Uchiha Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki, and had killed the 8-Tails. (Naruto lets them know the 8-tails may actually be alive, because extraction requires them to be.) They demand information from Naruto and Sakura, who both resist, and Sakura breaks down in tears because it's just too damn much, too damn fast, and she can't do a damn thing about any of it. (She can't seem to answer the foreign shinobi's question on what exactly Uchiha Sasuke is to her.)
ANYHOW she magically is whisked away to Tsunade's comatose side, while Naruto gets himself beaten up and makes Sai feel anger which makes him angry to the point that he confronts Sakura over her amazing guilt-tripping ways that are destroying Naruto even more than Sasuke alone is destroying Naruto and she starts weeping quietly again. Then Shikamaru walks in, says the Rookie 9 are signing Sasuke's death warrant, and that she needs to suck it up and deal -- and she tells him she'll tell Naruto, because "the idiot's in love with me." No one is surprised -- at that fact, not her decision to go after Naruto -- and soon she's on her way to the land of Iron with Lee, Kiba, and Sai. Team Awesomepants.
They find Naruto, and Sakura... confesses... her.......... love. By basically insulting everything Naruto was before and saying she's more or less seen the light since he's become a hero in the eyes of the village. Naruto tells her he hates liars, and Sakura says she isn't lying, but fine! He can have it his way. Stomping on Kiba's foot to keep him quiet on what motivated the trip in the first place, Sakura storms off -- back to Konoha! Only she tells Kiba to get tracking because she's taking down Sasuke on her own.
Sai stays behind to rat on her, basically giving Naruto and Yamato a 411 on "Sakura's grown up and I might possibly maybe have sort of kind of given her reason to stalk her way out here." His real body stays with Sakura, and they are fast on the trail. Then, about two kilometers away from where Sasuke's been dancing with Danzou (who has died by the time Kiba picks up Sasuke's scent in one location), Sakura sleeping gas bombs her entire team -- which had started fighting Sai vs Lee, Kiba, and Sakura based on Sai saying this was stupid and Sakura needed to not be stupid and suicidal -- and then runs to Sasuke and shouts that SHE WILL LEAVE KONOHA FOR HIM.
He then asks her to kill Karin, and tries to shank her through the back of her head with chidori (MAGICALLY UNHEARD) before Kakashi saves the day (and his student) by parrying. For her. See, 'cause he's just -- no, he's a dude. Sakura has to be dulled by her emotions -- and she is, in fact. Kakashi tells her to heal Karin so they have a live prisoner to bring back, and Sakura does -- while crying her eyes out from theheartbreak of realizing just how much Sasuke has changed, and it's not for the better. When Karin's stable, however, Sakura decides Kakashi has no more right to shoulder the burden of Sasuke alone than she did, so she breaks out the champagne kunai and goes on the attack sneakily once again.
Only to stop inches away from Sasuke, crying, because she thought she was ready, that she could do what she needed to -- and she couldn't shank him. Naruto shows up to save the girl day this time, and then an epic punch happens -- and Sasuke is taken away by Madara after Naruto declares they have a deathdate. Sakura is in awe of her... teammates... and sure she's unable to do anything. Yes, even as they find the people she sleepgas bombed, she is certain that she can do nothing. Even waking them up and then getting back to Konoha and watching Naruto lie about being cool and tell the truth about wanting to face Sasuke alone, she marvels at how there is nothing she can do.
Oh, then Tsunade wakes up. Sakura is currently having fits of happiness. And now we're here.
Why should that character be in this game: N/A.
Why do you want to continue their history here: N/A.
Have you read up on how the game works?:
I, uh. FlamingFerret is the computer program they use (it's apparently a journaling program that snapshots you like evil early laptops to be giving images of what you're up to when posting to your "friends") that can be installed to their guide as a plug-in. As far as earning money goes, they can sign themselves up to jobs posted on the job board; they can get hired by other passengers (freelancing); they can also try bumming money from friends. Also, if you're sneaky, get to picking pockets or pocketbooks, and/or try to make the starting funds you're given last a heck of a lot longer than they usually would.
1st person sample:
[ Sakura's booted up the program, and is tinkering around when she activates the video feed. Not intending to say anything just yet, she returns to her piles of multi-colored paperwork, brow furrowed in a mixture of extreme concentration and absolute irritation. ]
The chartreuse IA-688-B, not the magenta. The chartreuse, the chartreuse, the chartreuse... Ah-ha! [ Sliding one form out from under several others, she grins. ] And I've already filled you out! Maybe it really was the magenta IA-688-B?
[ She's back to frowning and shuffling papers, then stops to run her hands through her hair, growling. ]
Who invented this many forms just to get one book back? It's not theirs in the first place! [ Slamming her hands down, several forms flutter and try to fall off the counter. She turns to watch them fall, then disappears off screen to retrieve them. Standing back up with the forms in her hands, she finally notices the program is showing it's recording. ...Awkward. ]
Ah. Hi. This is recording, right? My name's Haruno Sakura. There doesn't happen to be someone who knows this whole paperwork a bit better than I do available to help right now, is there? I'd really appreciate a little guidance. I've filled out twenty-seven forms that ask the same sixteen things in ninty different ways, and if I have to stand in line one more time to hear I forgot something, or filled something out incorrectly -- [ she sighs, casting the camera a rueful smile. ] It's a lot of paperwork.
[ Picking up the pen to begin filling in the form, she tightens her grip a little too hard -- and ink shoots out the end, straight into her face. She sits there, eyebrow twitching for a moment before she steps back from the counter she'd been writing on, throwing the pen away with an expression of unadultered disgust. ]
How the hell did they end up with this many defective pens?!
3rd person sample:
She first registered white. More than a color, it defined that moment between slumber and wakefulness; an omnipresent, antiseptic reality.
In many ways, a hospital. Sakura's mind caught up with her eyes, the gap in memory between where she'd been sitting on the embankment, trying to deal with the emotional pain that had hit far too close on the heels of another one, and having more difficulty than she was expecting. Naruto had gone off with the three shinobi from Lightning, and Sai had been at her back.
Then why was she here? She sat up, not recognizing the room. A frustrated sound choked in her throat, and she shook it off as she took in her surroundings. Yamato had been working on reconstruction; perhaps she was in one of the new facilities, even if the choice in decoration reminded her of a hospital room. Then again, the layout was a bit more permanent -- there was a possibility that this was another facility in Konoha, one perhaps meant to act as a standing barracks.
"I..." she trailed off, lips twitching into a frown. "Did Sai bring me here?" The thought was uncomfortable, for several reasons, the most prominent her gap in memory. She pulled the blanket closer, feeling the standard-issue grade of the fabric. It was an oddly jarring sensation.
She tossed the blanket off of herself, swinging her legs around to stand. "Where'd they go?" She figured no one would conveniently answer, but the hurt and sadness was boiling over into frustration. She didn't want to be on the sidelines, unable to help Naruto or her other teammates because she was too caught up in her own reactions to the world. "We need to figure out what we're doing about Danzo, not shove me in a corner just because --"
Just because of Sasuke. She rubbed at her eyes, the memory of tears recently shed making her certain her eyes were an unattractive, puffy red. Damnit! Sakura stood, willing herself into a greater sense of calm. "I can't believe he'd do something so stupid." The Akatsuki. The organization which was hunting down Naruto, and everyone else. What's more, Sasuke had taken down the only other remaining jinchiruuki not in the possession of the Akatsuki. That left Naruto -- Naruto -- as the final target. "Sasuke, just what the hell are you thinking?" Sakura certainly had no idea anymore.
Just in a day, and so many things were changing. When Pain had attacked, for a moment, she'd thought that was the worst that could happen. Here was the epitome of the Akatsuki, destroying Konoha, killing people she cared deeply for, and intent to take away one of the people she cared most for in the world. She'd wanted Naruto back, because he was her fail-safe, her constant, at the same time she'd wanted him nowhere nearby. A little selfish side-thought that hadn't lasted, because she had faith he wouldn't die. There was nothing to worry about. It was Naruto.
She had worried, in between saving the lives she could in the wreckage of the village she had grown up in. When she'd felt the sting of the Kyuubi's chakra, she remembered all the warnings. Her arm ached in a remembrance of what Naruto suffered every time the transformation started. In the moment she felt him escalate -- and when she heard that he'd stopped the transformation -- she breathed easier. He was going to come back. She knew it.
As did everyone else, in the end. But her prediction for the day was wrong. Tsunade had fallen into a coma protecting the lives of the villagers. Danzo had been put in place as the Hokage, pending a meeting of the jounins. That meeting couldn't even happen, with the Raikage's notice, and the notification that Sasuke was officially listed as a missing-nin. Free game, for the hunter nins of Konoha. To then hear Sasuke had joined... "First shishou, then Danzo, and now this? Naruto, you better be where I can find you." She stalked toward the door, pulling herself together, focusing on the sense of purpose and cool anger. A thought struck her, almost out of the blue. Her frown intensified, then faded as her voice lowered. "If you, Sai, or Kakashi do something without me... I'm kicking all of your asses."
That was one promise she'd have no trouble following up on.
Questions?:
First, a note: The Log Sample is taken off an earlier app; I can rewrite it to fit this setting if you wish, easy as pie! I just sort of forgot to write that sample before it was... today.
Did you put your characters name and fandom in the subject: NO. I mean yes.