#i liked sasuke best when he was genin and only a stupid 12 years old

[thefairyletters]

aaaAAAHH, when you wrote abt sasusaku and reverse pining like YESSS. I couldnt exactly put it into words before reading your post, but I wholeheartedly agree. it would pose a more interesting narrative for the development of their relationship if the roles were reversed and entertaining to read sasuke going out of his comfort zone

Oh yes, Sasuke trying and fighting to get back what he had initially denied is everything that characterizes a canonically healthy SS romance.

Let's also look back to Sasuke getting welcomed back into Konoha. Now, personally I find it strange that people, especially civilians and several shinobi who didn't know Sasuke even existed within village or just knew him in the passing, didn't react to his presence back in the village. He is one of the most notorious S-class missing nins, is he not? Someone who helped instigating the war in the first place, even though he did help in ending it too? Someone who left behind his village before he even knew what his village actually did to his clan?

He is one of the luckiest characters with one of the most tragic backstories on his back.

Inspite of his long list of crimes, Sasuke was allowed to get away unscathed, something that would have gotten any other person slaughtered without a second thought. Alright, so village values his bloodline and is willing to turn blind eye to every atrocities he's committed against all five villages and whatnot. Understandable, because it's politics.

What's not understandable is the extent of sacrifice Team 7 makes for Sasuke. Particularly, Sakura who was turned into some kind of homecoming gift to Sasuke. He came, poked her forehead (voluntarily!) and left (again!), it doesn't help this pair that the forehead poke doesn't have a very positive intonation to begin with. That means, he also got the girl (broodmare) in the end; the same girl he knocked out and left behind alone on a cold bench in the middle of the night.

I wouldn't deny that Sasuke may have always harboured special feelings for Sakura, but Sakura hardly ever saw him after he left and when she did, it's always an attempt on her life by him. It should be enough to make her question if her Sasuke will ever be back.

I can understand that she never stopped loving him because she fell in love with the boy who was her teammate, not the one who made attempts on her life, so she may have always kept loving him. But after everything – the war, and their angsty moments – she more or less should have just settled with focusing on bringing him back and not on her feelings for him.

If it wasn't for Kishimoto, she would have done just that – not caring for Sasuke's feelings for her and only wishing him to return home to them, instead of getting reduced to blushing mess everytime Sasuke is in her presence. Like life had always been so peaceful and pink. Like Sakura and Naruto hadn't survived a war which probably killed many people and left many more without family. Like Sakura didn't know firsthand how death can affect people. Like Sasuke almost hadn't tried to get them all killed.

Reverse pining should have been important in SS because Sasuke easily leaves everything behind and he gets everything back just as easily. There's no effort from his side – he wants to revive his clan and he gets a willing broodmare who happens to be the same girl he had left behind, he wants his Konoha citizenship back which he recieves handily and then proceeds to leave the village the next day, with only "until next time".

I personally would have preferred Sakura to keep her feelings locked behind a polite smile and only present herself in a very cordial manner to Sasuke. I would have preferred her avoiding Sasuke, if only because she doesn't know where she stands with him and is traumatised by his attempts on her life. This, if he really loved her and wanted to let her in, would have confused him, then worried him and then finally forced him to work his way to build his relationship with Sakura, starting with a tentative friendship. Even a word between them on how they should start over would have done wonders on SS relationship.

I can't stress enough how much I hate Naruto for everything that Kishimoto/SP messed up spectacularly. Sasuke and Sakura are duo embodiments of hypocrisy. In their attempts to make Sasuke look cool and attract sympathy towards his character, Sasuke ended up looking really foolish and withdrawn to the point that he could pass for a toy broken beyond repair.

I would even approve the idea of Sakura accepting Sasuke's hand in marriage only because it is expected of her. After years of pining for Sasuke and then pretend-pining (because change will raise questions), it will be well within her character to forgo her personal feelings and do what everyone expected of her. Featuring Sakura being unconditional in giving him a home, though with sad eyes and warm company, and Sasuke understanding her sadness, acknowledging how kind she was to him even after everything he had her go through, and then trying to win her love by reciprocating the love he had always denied her. That way, it would become a story of love in an arranged marriage. This arrangement would go well in Boruto considering the gratitude that Sasuke shows Sakura from time to time.

The whole idea of reverse pining would have put Sasuke's insights of their relationship into perspective and also given us an idea about his mindset during the times that involved him trying killing her. I personally think between Sasuke and Sakura, Sasuke is the more emotional person. Uchihas are particularly passionate and volatile, but all under the wraps. Sakura is expressive and wears her emotions on her sleeves but is considerably calmer of the two where it counts. Comic relief don't count.

Shippuden either shouldn't have ended without another season expanding upon the reunion of Team 7, or it shouldn't have hinted on any pairings – least of all, SS, which is easily the most complex pair I've come across.

SS is one ship that deserved its own movie than any other. period

Am I clear?

[yangssunglasses]

All right, not into femslash as you know, but for the sake of seeing you fulfill such a random prompt (because you numbered Naruto girls, didn’t you?): 8, 12 and ‘Give up’

Thanks for the prompt! I also used FemslashFeb2020 prompt: denim.

Pairing: Sakura/Anko (or as I’m calling it, Ankura :)

Rating: T

Length: 2k+

Available on FFN / AO3

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Full Circle

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The sexy and beautiful Mitarashi Anko was great at many things, usually having something to do with maiming and torture. She knew how to get under the skin of her targets, slip under their guard and into their minds, then strip them bare of all their secrets. Alternatively, she threatened them with her snakes, that usually did the trick. Whatever worked best, she would do it, she was flexible like this when the situation called for it. No wonder she bragged that she could touch her heels when she did a back bend.

What Anko didn’t know was what to do with an itty-bitty pink-haired genin standing in her way with a determined look on her little face.

“What do you want, kid?” Anko asked bluntly, fingering her new senbon pack as she fought off the trained reflex to turn anyone that even slightly inconvenienced her into a pincushion.

“Anko-san, right? You probably don’t remember me, but I was in the chunin exams when you were a proctor. I’m Haruno Sakura. Tsunade-sama’s apprentice,” the girl introduced herself.

Actually, Anko remembered her, it was hard not to. She was one of Kakashi’s cute ducklings and a teammate of that moody Uchiha kid that had gotten a little love bite with a cursed seal as a bonus and then had run off to that bastard for more power. Ugh.

Anko crossed her arms. “Whatever, I have shit to do, so cut to the chase, kid. I don’t have all day.”

A fire lit up in the girl’s clear green eyes. Anko had a bad feeling. She knew that look and it only meant something fucking annoying was coming her way. (Boss Nara would simply call it troublesome, but she wasn’t a boring old man playing shogi for fun.)

“Teach me,” the kid implored. “Teach me how to beat Orochimaru.”

Anko lost it. She doubled over, howling with laughter.

“You? You want to fight Orochimaru? And beat him?” She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. “Man, do they make genin stupider these days or what?”

The girl looked like she ate a lemon. “I’m serious! Please teach me. I heard you were his apprentice. You must know something about his strengths and weaknesses.”

Anko straightened up again, her momentary amusement gone with the mention of her past relationship with that bastard. That was where she drew a line at tomfoolery. The girl wanted serious, she’d get serious.

“Kid, Orochimaru is a freak of nature. And a real genius of ninjutsu. Whatever I know of him is a decade out of date. Go home.”

“Anko-san, please, he has Sasuke-kun! I need you to teach me so I can rescue him!” the girl still insisted, like she didn’t understand a word of what Anko had said to her.

The jounin scowled, getting mad. This was becoming ridiculous.

“Kid, what rescue are you talking about?! From what I hear that Uchiha brat defected. He joined the bastard out of his own free will. Traitors don’t get rescued, they get eliminated like they fucking deserve.”

“E-Eliminated? No… but we promised to save him… that can’t be true…” Blood drained from the girl’s face and she turned ghostly pale as she stared up in disbelief at her. Anko would have felt bad for the poor, delusional genin if she had any feelings to spare, but her deficiency of caring was permanent and incurable, so she just shrugged it off. That’s just what happened when you were smacked in the face with a brutal reality check.

“Let me give you a little advice,” Anko leaned in towards the shocked girl. “Give up, kid,” she told her straight to the face. “There’s nothing I can teach you about Orochimaru, besides don’t you have Tsunade for that? She was his teammate, wasn’t she? Just let her teach you how to crush mountains with your pinky or flatten the forest like a pancake. Then we can go together traitor-hunting if you’re still interested,” Anko suggested with a feral grin.

Sakura shuddered, but didn’t back down. The fierce light returned to her eyes. “No! I won’t give up on Sasuke-kun so easily!”

“Bad choice, really,” Anko replied, shaking her head, then sidestepped around the genin. “Well, you just study hard with Tsunade, kid, and I’ll ring you up when I figure out how to beat Orochimaru. See ya!”

She shunshined away from the aggravating little pink blob, then changed direction and made a beeline to her favourite dango shop. She was in a desperate need of a pick me up. Anko couldn’t believe she discussed going after Orochimaru with an unfledged genin, Tsunade’s apprentice or not! Hell no! Better forget this had ever happened.

Thankfully, the girl took some of Anko’s advice and left her alone, concentrating solely on the apprenticeship with Tsunade. Anko didn’t cross paths with the pink menace again for many years, but Konoha wasn’t that big. Bumping into each other was bound to happen someday.

The Fourth War was but a memory by then and the lasting peace among the nations basically put her out of the job. Orochimaru was contained by the village and no amount of begging and cajoling could get Anko close enough to finally shank the bastard (she swore it was all Kakashi’s fault. Damn that smug one-eyed masked party pooper.)

Her best friend, Kurenai, popped out a baby and was so busy with diaper-changing and all that motherly shizz that she had no time to hang out with Anko anymore. Maybe that was for the best, she’d be a bad influence on the tyke.

Everything was boring and peaceful, there were no new prisoners to interrogate and Anko was too keyed up to devise another brilliant plan to achieve her revenge on the snake. Instead, she restlessly prowled the streets of Konoha, looking for something, anything she could do. She was munching on dango, the sweet flavor filling her mouth and calming her mood like a horse tranquilizer, when she saw someone interesting.

Some babe in a red tunic was browsing through skirts at the clothing stall. She was putting some of them against her hips in order to decide which to buy without actually trying them on.

“Get the denim one, it will look good on your butt,” Anko’s foul tongue activated, giving unsolicited advice before she thought it through.

The woman jolted and whirled around. Surprised clear green eyes landed on Anko, mesmerizing her. She cursed herself internally for not recognizing that pink hair sooner. But how could she be blamed, the last time she checked, it belonged to some headache-inducing, scrawny genin. Not this… sex on legs.

“You’re not a kid,” Anko stated dumbly.

Sakura cocked her hip and put a hand on it. “You thought you were saying that to a kid?” she asked in disbelief.

Anko winced. Right, that butt comment made her sound all kinds of bad. “No, hell no. I just thought it was some hot chick, not you,” she backtracked, belatedly realizing she again put a foot in her mouth. She couldn’t help it though, Sakura really wasn’t that kid anymore, she was a grown up bombshell of a woman and Anko still couldn’t get over that.

Sakura’s brow scrunched up as she regarded her with narrowed eyes, fists clenching and releasing with indecision. “I can’t figure out whether you just called me ugly or hot,” she said slowly. “If it was the former, I would deck you.”

Anko’s eyes gleamed eagerly. “Then if it was hot, would you come with me for some drinks? Uh, I mean, coffee?” she proposed, since it was still too early for sake. “We could catch up.”

Sakura pinned her with a hard look, then shrugged. “Only if you’re paying,” she stipulated and Anko nodded.

“You know, I meant it about that denim skirt, take it. It will really look good on you,” she added.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully and examined the piece of clothing in question again. Then she folded it and took it to the seller.

Two minutes later, Sakura joined Anko and they walked side by side to a nearby café. They placed their orders and settled on the opposite sides in a booth. Sakura put her shopping bag on the seat next to her, then looked at Anko inquisitively.

“You wanted to catch up?” she reminded.

Anko startled, realizing that she was caught staring. “Right! Sooo… how’s it going?” she asked with a chuckle to mask her awkwardness.

Sakura shrugged. “Not bad. We have peace.”

“Yeah… that’s the worst. I’m so bored most of the time. There’s no work for me!”

Anko’s outburst of frustration made the other kunoichi blink. “I didn’t think about it before, but it makes sense… So you’re free most of the time?” she asked.

“Pretty much…” Anko confirmed with a morose sigh.

“Then what do you do? Any hobbies?”

“Not really…” Anko replied, frowning. Their coffees arrived and Sakura poured sugar in hers, then took a dainty sip. Anko didn’t touch hers, she wasn’t really that thirsty. Instead, she discreetly took in Sakura, when a brilliant thought occurred to her. “Say, you were Kakashi’s student and he’s been a real bother to me recently…” she said.

Sakura looked at her in surprise. “Kakashi-sensei? What did he do?”

Anko scowled darkly into her coffee before raising her eyes to the other woman. “He’s protecting that lowlife Orochimaru from justice. Killing the bastard would be a community service at this point and he won’t let me,” she gritted out.

“Oh,” Sakura muttered in understanding. “I’m sorry.”

And that was it. Anko knew that she wouldn’t get any help. It was a long shot anyway. In the silence, they both contemplated the absolute unfairness of it all.

“For the record, I was against letting him go, but all the villages decided to take his offer and let him live,” Sakura informed her with an anxious look.

“I know. The slippery bastard got away again,” Anko said and sighed in defeat, closing her eyes.

A warm touch on her hand made her open them in surprise. Sakura gave her a light, reassuring squeeze.

“That doesn’t mean the battle is over. Old habits die hard, you know. The moment he puts one toe out of line…”

“… I will be waiting,” Anko finished with a bloodthirsty grin. “And take his head off.”

Sakura smiled back. “Exactly. Don’t give up.”

She took back her hand and Anko found herself already wishing the touch lasted a little longer. She leaned back in her seat, more relaxed, and tried the coffee. Too strong, she thought with a grimace and set it down.

“Well, at least everything worked out for you. You got back your teammate. I didn’t think it would be possible,” she remarked lightly.

Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, that was like a miracle. I’m glad Sasuke-kun is okay now,” she said modestly.

Anko pierced her with a hawk-like stare. “So, anything going on between you two?” she asked candidly.

Sakura jolted, a few drops of her coffee spilling on the table. “What, me and Sasuke-kun? No. It’s not like that… He’s a very dear friend of mine now, but that’s all,” she explained as she wiped the stains with a bunch of paper napkins.

Anko internally cheered, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t anyone else in the way. Better double check if she actually needed to get her assassination kit from storage. “Oh, so you’re ‘too busy for romance’ kind of gal?” she teased.

Sakura frowned. “Kind of… I’ve really got a lot of work,” she admitted despondently. “What about you, Anko-san? Any success in love?”

“Nope! I am completely single!” Anko announced with a broad smile. “But I’m always up for a bit of fun with a right person,” she added, giving her a suggestive wink. She noted with pleasure a subtle pinkening on Sakura’s cheeks.

“I-I see,” Sakura mumbled and reached for her coffee. Anko let her have a moment of peace to compose herself before changing the topic to something less personal. Fashion. Clothes were good.

They chatted for a while, then Sakura checked her watch and put down her empty cup on the table. “Sorry, I need to get going,” she said regretfully.

Anko nodded in understanding. “Duty calls, right?”

“Right. It was great to talk to you, Anko-san.” Sakura bit her lip, thinking something over, then she fished a pen out of her purse and wrote an address on a napkin. “Here.”

Anko picked it up in a daze. She couldn’t quite believe her luck. Did she just get invited to Sakura’s place? After all that lame flirting and constantly putting her foot in it? “Aww, are you going to miss me so much that you already want me to visit?” she joked.

Sakura gave her a slow, careful once over, then smirked. “Maybe.”

This time it was Anko’s turn to flush at the unexpected flirtation. She was blindsided!

“Actually, I’m starting a children’s mental health clinic. I could use your help there,” Sakura offered in all seriousness.

Anko gaped at her. “You would allow me around kids?”

“Don’t worry, they don’t bite. Most of the time,” Sakura answered blithely. “You said you were bored at work. These kids are war orphans. I think with your own experiences your advice would be really useful in the clinic.” She checked her watch again and hissed. “Shizune will kill me!” Sakura grabbed her shopping bag and stood up. “Please, just think about it, Anko-san. That’s all I ask. See you!” she threw the last words over her shoulder as she left the café in a hurry.

Anko watched her go, then looked at the address pensively. After a moment, she crumbled the napkin into a ball and threw it across the room straight into the trash bin. Score! Ha!

At leisure, Anko stretched, paid the bill, and ambled out of the café, hands in pockets of her trench coat. She walked the streets of Konoha until she stopped in front of a new building. She looked at the freshly painted, cheerful yellow walls and read the gleaming sign.

Children’s Mental Health Clinic in Konoha.

Kids. Anko mentally sighed. She wasn’t so sure she’d be any good at dealing with them, but she supposed Sakura wouldn’t let her traumatize the munchkins even more. Just having the opportunity to see her every day was worth giving this a try.

Well, at least Ibiki wouldn’t lose any more hair because of her. Anko trembled with quiet snickers at her own joke and turned back. She had some paperwork to fill and a superior to shock into a cardiac arrest.

[lunaneko14]

The thing about it is that even though Kishimoto said the opposite, the more I re-read Naruto in the official translation, the more cynical Sakura seems to be almost as if Kishi did it on purpose.

I mean SOME of the stuff you can attribute to bad writing but when it’s:

1. Seeing your *best friend* dig a guy but actively pushing for said guy to INSULT her potentially leading to her wounded self esteem, making Sai misinterpret what he wanted to do (be nice) and perhaps ruining HIS self confidence that he can make friends all because you’re jealous that she likes the same guy you do????

2. Knowing another *friend* loves a guy enough to give her life for him and seeing this connection since you were 12 yet confessing to said guy behind her back so you can emotionally manipulate him like a puppet to giving up on a team mate that you never thought he would have a connection to as well.

3. Speaking of manipulating Naruto, she actually thought that she was so *irresistible* that Naruto couldn’t possibly have gotten Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, Rock Lee and Choji nearly killed and trained with Jiraiya for 2 yrs for any other reason other than to get into her pants.

4. Seeing as how much Sasuke has grown Sakura still betrayed her team mates and helpers because she thought she can take on Sasuke alone by emotionally manipulating HIM into thinking he wanted her by his side because apparently SHE was his only emotional connection to Team 7 and “the old days”.

5. In the war, she knew she could’ve released her seal as soon as she got to the battlefield and saw the Ten Tail’s attack and gave the entire alliance a slug to keep them informed and heal them of which could’ve saved lives including Neji’s but only conveniently released it when Team 7 was back and she can show off in front of Sasuke.

6. While Team 7 was *together* she took a jab at her mentor and the only one who even cared enough to train her by flaunting the fact that she’s young which is apparently something that makes her *better* than Tsunade who btw the entire alliance thought was dead since everyone knew she was with the other kage fighting Madara yet Madara is right in front of them on the Ten Tails.

7. She never owns up to her cowardice and when faced with it she never does the right thing in relying on her team mates instead of trying to compete with them.

8. She never told Kakashi or anyone about her moment of cowardice that doomed the whole world by refusing to destroy the rinnegan Madara was after when Obito repeatedly told her to do so and even explained what would happen if she didn’t. Apparently she “caught up to her team mates” but can’t even admit when she made a mistake. 

9. The 2nd time she refused to admit her own cowardice she insisted on being the leader of Team 7 by having Naruto and Sasuke “follow her lead” when again, those 2 are clearly above her level and mind you, at this point she did witness their incredible new sage powers yet she expects her little sannin-kage level powers to still rival them.

10. She NEVER stops moping and sulking whenever she’s insulted a bit....its not even insulting its telling the truth yet she never tries to think of a way that she can be useful in her own way. Even the chakra for Obito’s transportation thing that saved Sasuke was Obito’s idea. 

11. Not once but TWICE there’s been instances where Sakura thought more about her *love* for Sasuke than the state of the entire world. One was obviously when her rushing Madara plan failed and the second was when she burst out in a confession after Sasuke said he would destroy Konoha and kill her master. 

12. She’s still shitty to Naruto and has been throughout the war, from hitting him when he was injured to calling his hokage dream “stupid” even AFTER he became the village hero to never thanking him for saving her and instead, sulked about Sasuke not seeming to care about her. 

13. Even in the novels, she basically abandons her children’s hospital job to chase after Sasuke or rather his impostor and later does it again when he didn’t come back for her.

14. She left Karin with the implication that they were friends and she was Sarada’s godmother even though Sarada doesn’t know a thing about her and Sakura is likely taking the credit for giving her her prescription glasses that Karin even makes sure are updated.

15. Whenever Sarada brings up her *weird* marriage she either sulks or gets extremely violent (which I’ll touch on later) even towards her own child. 

16. Even in the games, she spars with 2 genin only to throw out her back and insists a 12 year old Boruto should carry her 30+ year old ass home. 

17. She throws her daughter under the bus by apologizing to Sasuke even though he was the one (and he admits this) that chose to abandon his family and Sarada is not at fault for wanting to know about her absent father.

18. In the Gaiden manga, Sakura is at the kage summit with Sasuke yet she never asks him to come home to see their child even once and apparently hid the meeting from Sarada.

19. In the Gaiden anime, she keeps so much away from Sarada including banning the use of her sharingan which is an Uchiha birthright that if used correctly would give Sarada the protection and skill she needs to survive as a ninja but instead she wants her to just study HER way of fighting so she can be just as useless on the battlefield as her mother. 

20. As previously mentioned, Sakura insists on being violent even into her late teens and upper 30s. These times include

a. Physically assaulting Kiba when her manipulation of Naruto doesn’t go her way

b. Physically assaulting an INJURED Naruto when he annoys her a bit

c. Using a battle ready punch to scare her child into silence when she says something she doesn’t like which yeah, a child should be able to make an adult ninja (who should be trained in not letting their emotions get to them especially from a fucking child) THAT angry

You can’t help but see Sakura as a half-malicious character. 

[meapistrash]

Misfortunate Sunday - SS Fanfic