"What's too bad?" asked Kakashi, settling down in the unreality of speaking to a wooden statue.
"To effect the change, I basically wrote a program. Consider it a set of spells that interact with each other. If you had computers here, I'd say that I caused a computer interface to exist that alters reality - then wrote a program that would do the change specified. Much better to not have to fiddle with all the boring details myself."
"Somehow I understand the basics of what you're saying," said Kakashi. "So - something went wrong?"
"Yes. Basically a subroutine hit me with an alert that said there was over a 75% chance of Sakura killing Naruto. Unintentionally to be sure. A roughly 31% chance of killing Sasuke. One in ten chance of you yourself dying. As you can tell from the percentages, there is some overlap where more than one of you is killed by Sakura's enhanced strength."
"That doesn't sound very amusing," noted Kakashi.
"It's not. Which is why I'm abandoning that approach."
"So you've basically created a machine which can alter reality," mused Kakashi.
"Yes. I've done this before and then I ran across the concept which had been taken a bit further. A computer programmer from an Earth's Early Information Age was the victim of a Greater Summoning to a world where something like ninjutsu was used. The strictly human 'Forces Of Light' were in the process of losing a battle for their survival there and 'desperate times - desperate measures' you understand?"
"Yes, I do understand that. I was in the last Ninja War after all," admitted Kakashi. That the Being kept speaking and he was getting images of the things involved meant that he might get some insights into various involved processes. It also gave him time to think about what he could do about the situation.
"So basically this programmer was pulled to a world with Wild Magic, and after being hounded by the various Dark Forces, wrote a computer language for magic. It didn't quite follow the same pattern as the book I'd originally located that universe by following the echoes of - but close enough. Would you like a copy?"
"That might be nice," admitted Kakashi, who didn't think it would be the equal of any of the Icha Icha series - but free reading material was a good thing.
Pop!
A paperback book landed on his bedroll.
"Okay, I've run through seventeen scenarios where Sakura gets superstrength. Eleven have been discarded as they are rather worse than the current situation."
"That bad?" asked Kakashi.
"Some of them are quite messy."
"I see," said Kakashi, frowning as he picked up the book. "Would you mind making this a copy in a language I can read?"
Poof!
"Better," said Kakashi, glancing through it before sealing it in an equipment scroll.
"This isn't a particularly funny one, but what do you think of this?"
Kakashi managed to project an air of bored indifference as a scene played out with him apparently an immaterial and invisible ghost following some kids.
"HEY!" yelled a pink-haired girl of perhaps eight years age as she got up from where she'd landed. "What's the idea?!"
"You just stay down there while we deal with that friend of yours," said the blue-haired girl of the same age. "That huge forehead of yours should reflect enough light that someone will find you. Eventually."
"You're gonna get in trouble!" yelled up the pinkette.
"Then maybe we should just cover this shaft back up," said the bluenette, going over to the large grate and tugging at it. "Uff. After all. Urk. We don't want anyone to FALL IN. Erk!"
"We can't move it, Ami. We only got it off the first time because we could get some leverage," said one of the other girls standing at the top of the shaft.
"Well, we're training to be ninja," said the one now identified as Ami. "This will just be some escapology training we're helping her with if we get caught. Let's go."
"No! Don't leave!" yelled out the pinkette as she looked up at the distant sky. "Don't leave me down here!"
"That was Sakura?" asked Kakashi.
"Yes. She was bullied somewhat in the Academy. Which was a major reason for Naruto to identify with her at an early age and develop that crush on her. In the unaltered reality, the lock was not broken. The lab was eventually destroyed by one of Orochimaru's agents within Konoha, as Orochimaru tied up loose ends following his fleeing of the village."
"It's one of Orochimaru's labs?" asked Kakashi as the image-Sakura made her way along the tunnel in the darkness.
"Yes. Making use of existing resources is one of those 'fiddly bits' I mentioned earlier. Of course, the original outcome of his experiment here failed and was abandoned."
There was light here. That was a good thing.
"Hello? Anyone here?" asked Sakura, moving through the odd set of rooms. "Hello?"
"Squee?!"
Metal crashed as something BIG moved around.
"Uhm. Err. Is someone there?" squeaked Sakura, trying to be brave and hoping it was a teacher. Though that didn't SOUND like a teacher.
There was a crash as something landed on a nearby table.
Sakura got a good look at it. Take a rat. Remove all the fur. Make it starved to the point it was near-skeletal. Put dark tumors all over its otherwise pale body. Now make it about twice your own size and drooling something GREEN.
Sakura didn't scream. She didn't scream because she didn't even think she could breathe with THAT a few feet away from her, sniffing the air and turning milky-white eyes this way and that.
She WAS quite aware that she was going to have to change her pants, and that her Inner Sakura was telling her something about animals being able to smell fear.
She DID whimper as she tried to back away from THAT, and the beast seemed to hear her. Or smell her. Or both. That head snapped around until it was looking directly at her.
Sakura backed away frantically until she saw a cabinet with a lid partially ajar. She could hide in there!
"What exactly IS that?" asked Kakashi.
"That would be the failure that Orochimaru conducted his experiments on," answered the statue. "Before the experiment, it was a normal sewer rat. You can see why he abandoned the experiment, the creature is dying by degrees. By the time Orochimaru's spy gets around to destroying this lab - it would have perished from cascading systemic failures."
"What did it find to eat in there?" asked Kakashi before he realized what the likely answer was and he didn't WANT to have that guess confirmed.
"Corpses. Orochimaru had tried several different approaches, and this was the last one before abandoning the concept entirely."
Kakashi nodded, his guess confirmed. And he really could have avoided having those particular images appearing before him.
As was easily predicted, image-Sakura managed to frantically close the lid ahead of snapping jaws and teeth. Also there was apparently some mechanism still working as the lid locked in place and the first injection knocked her out.
The scene abruptly changed, flickering to where a little boy crawled into the room. Where he was confronted by the same rat with a slightly different outcome. As apparently there was a teacher with the student.
"Naruto saw them toss Sakura in the shaft and got Iruka Umino?" asked Kakashi as he followed the story.
"Yes. Though he had some difficulty in getting anyone to believe he wasn't pulling a prank, hence the delay. Which also has the effect of Naruto getting a bit more serious and less prank-oriented at this point in his life."
"She used to be such a cute little girl."
Sakura stirred, hurting all over.
"Quick! She's coming around!"
"We're already at the maximum dose of sedative for her age!"
"Use it anyway! If it dies, it'll be a mercy!"
"Giving the sedative... the needle bent!"
"It was rescued by a monster, and it became a monster itself."
"That's still a little girl! Be professional!"
"What kind of life would that thing, looking like that have-"
Sakura awoke, panic at the words providing the extra adrenalin as she tried to fight her way clear. There was something keeping her from moving.
Surrounding her were a number of people who looked like doctors and nurses. She stopped thrashing around to stare. She could see herself in the glasses of that one.
Sakura finally gave voice to the scream that she'd wanted to give since seeing the rat-thing.
Scenes blurred by. A little boy sneaking into a room. The nurses and doctors trying to ignore that, one making a comment about monsters congregating until a more sympathetic nurse slapped the speaker.
The swelling and bony protrusions faded, the odd markings also faded. Sakura Haruno took a week before she looked normal again. By that time, her friend Ino had visited three times and been admitted to her room once.
"So she does have a friend besides Naruto?" asked Kakashi.
"Naruto is still shunned, yet a few see him in slightly better light due to the rescue. Sakura is shunned by a few who hear of it or saw what she looked like at that point. Her strength and durability are much increased though. Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno never break their friendship though, as Sakura never falls for Sasuke to the degree you are familiar with. She considers him cute and cool still, and considers Naruto somewhat annoying, but the circumstances are different. She has had a taste of what Naruto endured daily. Her interactions with Sasuke are a bit different as well as a result of such."
The image slowed from the fast-forward flicker to show a scene very familiar to Kakashi. For one thing, he was in this one.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, and dislike the time it takes for instant ramen to be ready to eat. I mean really - it's supposed to be INSTANT! My goal is to become Hokage and get people to acknowledge me!"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have no likes or dislikes. I have a goal. To kill a certain person and then rebuild my clan."
"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like books, scrolls, new information and knowledge. I dislike loud noises, accidently hurting people when I'm startled, and people who are too quick to judge others. Though that may be unavoidable. My goal is to prove myself a capable kunoichi."
"Interesting that more hasn't changed," noted Kakashi.
"The longer things go, the more the slightest deviation becomes a wide chasm."
Kakashi was quite aware of the girl hurtling towards him. Here she comes. Not very good on stealth. Files say that her chakra system constantly reinforces her body, such that she doesn't have much chakra for anything else and tends to burn through her reserves when trying to use techniques that are maintained for a long time. On the other hand, she can leap a good quarter-mile and dead-lift ten tons at age twelve. I can also use explosive tags of normal strength against her, and the only damage that will do is to her clothing and dignity.
Sakura's eyes got comically wide as she fell towards her jonin but saw the kunai with explosive tags thrown on an intercept course.
There was a loud explosion and a smoking bit of red fabric that fluttered down to the ground.
Also the sound of someone crashing through the branches of a nearby tree and impacting the ground.
"Ouch," came Sakura's voice from that impact site.
Kakashi nodded and turned a page in his book. About time she learned that she couldn't easily change direction in mid-leap like that. Mind you, against a number of targets that would be a surprise and make for a nicely dramatic entry. Intimidating a bunch of bandits or the like at the beginning of a fight IS a perfectly valid tactic. Using it against a more seasoned opponent is rather less effective.
Sasuke decided his turn was next apparently. Charging in from the side with a group of shuriken tossed ahead of him. Drawn kunai, attacking otherwise with taijutsu. Pretty good for an Academy student, but otherwise not impressive. Oh, and he had the signature attack of an Uchiha with that fireball. Odd that he had the chakra control necessary for that level of jutsu, but of only mild interest.
It was easy to avoid him, use an Earth-based movement technique, and then pull Sasuke Uchiha down until only his head was sticking up out of the ground.
"I thought you were 'Rookie of the Year' but you aren't all that special," said Kakashi.
"What, you thought daisies were overdone and decided to plant students this year?" asked Naruto.
"Aren't you supposed to be hiding or attacking?" asked Kakashi, deciding to start reading his book.
"Ya know, a few years ago something happened that made me think about stuff," said Naruto. "Got me to realize somethin' important."
"Oh?" asked Kakashi, managing to project utter and complete boredom in his voice.
"That bein' that sometimes the only person you can rely on is yourself," said Naruto. "And sometimes -"
Kakashi moved his hand, catching four kunai thrown from four different directions. "Shadow clones? Four times nothing is still nothing, you know."
Naruto smirked.
Kakashi frowned and pulled the hand he'd used to snag the kunai closer to his face. "Sticky? Purple? A contact poison? Where did you get a contact poison?"
"Sakura's always carrying around books, and she got a couple of other girls to help me out," said Naruto. "So I learned how to make this stuff myself."
"Except this is a common enough one, and ineffective against those who have been exposed to it before," pointed out Kakashi. "Handling poisons is really not recommended for Academy students you know."
"Except I'm an Uzumaki," said Naruto. "Sakura got curious. Hinata looked it up. Uzumaki are naturally resistant to a lot of poisons."
"Still doesn't get you a bell," noted Kakashi, turning his attention back to his book.
"Uzumaki are also good at fuuinjutsu," said a Naruto-clone as it came out from cover.
"And that and five ryo will get you a decent cup of tea," said Kakashi, not looking up.
"Are you trying to talk him to death?" asked Sasuke from where he was buried up to his neck.
"No, Naruto is trying to distract me from Sakura while she digs her way to your position in order to rescue you," said Kakashi in a bored tone as he turned a page.
"DAMN," said Sakura's voice from somewhere underground.
"Good try though," said Kakashi, not sounding as if he thought it was anything close to that.
"Well, I didn't want to use this trick," said Naruto, making a couple of hand-signs.
"Not more shadow clones is it?" asked Kakashi. "According to what I heard you made a few friends. Some did some digging. Found a few things."
POFF! went six more clones.
"Apparently not anything you can use though," continued Kakashi. "Pity."
"I dunno about that," said Naruto. "Uzumaki Special Technique. Spiral Anchor!"
Chains shot out of each clone's outstretched arm to form loops around the sitting jonin and then snap tight-
- around a log.
"Well, that's not something I expected to see again," said Kakashi from behind him.
"GOT YOU!" said someone whose hand had erupted from the ground to grab an ankle.
"Oh? And now what?" asked Kakashi.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing went the alarm clock.
"Oh crap," said Sakura's voice.
"That's odd," said Kakashi.
"Well, you are a jonin. They are three genin fresh out of the Academy. Though Sakura is more friendly towards Naruto, and this has made a greater degree of acceptance among certain members of the 'Rookie Nine' - their skills aren't really up to giving you a challenge."
"Not that," said Kakashi. "Sasuke being tied to the post."
"Oh. Well. He did fare the poorest."
"And now Naruto's arguing with Sakura. He wants to feed Sasuke so they can try again, Sakura's arguing that Sasuke is a loner. Not how I expected that conversation to go."
"Judging from Sasuke's shocked expression, neither did he."
"Well, they're passing the test. Interesting dynamic though."
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(Posted Sat, 30 Nov 2013 15:38)
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