[Fic] Slow Burn -- Chapter 15, Part IV

[skylar_inari]

Title: Slow Burn
Chapter: 15 Blind (Part IV)
Author/Artist: Killaurey
Word Count: 10,961
Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. It's Kishimoto's and I just play with it. AU immediately after the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Part 15 of ? Unbeta'd.

Note: A who's who list of important characters during this Chuunin Exam arc can be found here. This list is

Comments

[skylar_inari]

Yeees, this exam was conceptualized off of the Forest of Death in canon. I wanted something that was alike, but not alike it. This exam is more obviously bloody than the FoD partly because of the different makeup of the village that's hosting it--Kumo is bloodier than Konoha, in nature, in this fic and that's reflected here. Also a big difference is the Forest of Death was designed to give the teams more room to move whereas this testing location is far more stifled and cramped--and cramped, unhappy ninja are not nice ninja. (And, too, we're never told if in canon the teams that don't make it through the FoD are dead or not. Of the Konoha Genin, only Hinata's team killed anyone. They got another team, from their own village, (in the manga, that is, they changed it to another village in the anime) in a trap with flesh-eating leeches and left them there. So, yeah. I think partly it's that the other Konoha Genin were otherwise occupied in canon that makes this seem bloodier.

Sakura's position IS sad, though she's adapting the best she can to it. And you're right, if they make Chuunin, they won't always be on the same team.

This exam definitely showcased all of the pieced together Team Ten's friendships with one another. I'm glad it was enjoyable. (And yes, some friendships are definitely getting stronger.)

Ooooh, hm. Good questions! Let's see about some answers:

Lastly, I'll admit that Sakura's jutsu that she does at the end confused me. They were traveling through shadow?

No, they weren't. They were travelling through rock. Sakura had ten minutes to learn the jutsu so Chouji took the simplest way to visualize what she had to do and taught her that way. What she really did is make the rock more 'squishy' so that they could walk through it, particle by particle, molecule by molecule.

How did Ino and Chouji know about such a jutsu? Is it one that Shikamaru had done before? Or that Chouji knew?

It's an earth jutsu. Chouji is the one that knew it, but his control wasn't good enough to execute it, so someone else had to do it and of the girls, Sakura's chakra control is better AND she was functioning on a higher level than Ino was at that moment, so she got to do it. Shikamaru doesn't know this jutsu. Ino only learnt of it when she was in Chouji's head.

Was that what was connected to the Clan Confidentiality, and why did Ino have to do the body switch at one time?

Ino's partial possession is what was connected to the Clan Confidential. As far as 'outsiders' go, Shintenshin no Jutsu is solely a full-mind possession technique. What Ino did was insinuate herself into Chouji's mind enough to see what was going on through his eyes while still leaving him in control enough to use his own chakra and his own jutsu. In this way, he was able to show her what he was 'seeing' about the tunnels and the walls and so Ino could get a better idea of what he was talking about and, because she was in his mind, they could discuss solutions quicker--so when Ino 'woke up', Chouji knew what they were doing next, since he and Ino had already decided that teaching Sakura the earth jutsu was the best plan they had to get out of there.

Sorry that wasn't clear--now that you've asked, I see that because Sakura doesn't know this, it's hard to follow for the reader. I'll make sure to have Ino or Chouji clarify it in their POV next chapter.