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edenfallingThis is part 10 of An Ounce of Prevention, a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover that I started as a giftfic for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
askerian.
Technically, it's an insertion of one HP character/plot device into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts. "An Ounce of Prevention" will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
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Chapter 10: Can't See the Forest
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"You have a weird idea of relaxation," Anko said as she opened her apartment window and let Sakura in. "There's no point sending me away if you're just going to break rocks all afternoon, especially since you already break rocks all morning with the old lady."
"Shut up," Sakura said.
"I can see that the shopping district might not be your style, but there's always the hot springs, or even the library," Anko continued, tossing her vest onto the couch and stretching her arms up toward the ceiling; her mesh shirt rode up, leaving her stomach bare, and doing nothing to hide her purple sports bra.
"I said shut up," Sakura snapped, slipping into the kitchen and yanking open several cupboards. "I'll cook tonight. Do you want beef or tofu in the stir-fry?"
"Meat. There's no point if it didn't die bloody and screaming." Anko licked her lips and grinned when Sakura slammed the frozen steak on the cutting board. "Hey, do you know the quick-thaw jutsu? It was invented to get drinking water from snow, but it's great for lazy cooks as well."
Sakura glared at the beef and ran through four hand seals. "I figured that out last year -- I'm not stupid," she said as she released chakra into the pattern. A puddle of blood-tinged water spread from under the rapidly warming meat, and she scowled. She'd overdone that by at least ten degrees; her control was wavering. Most ninja wouldn't notice, but then, most ninja didn't have control fine enough to tune a heat jutsu to any intervals smaller than 'freezing,' 'lukewarm,' 'on fire,' and 'hot enough to melt steel.'
"I never said you weren't smart," Anko said, moving past her to pull two bowls from a cupboard. "But you don't have the experience to focus your mind, so you flail around a lot. Worrying wastes energy, and pretty soon you're going to worry yourself into a panic and stop thinking. You need to take a deep breath and let it all go."
Sakura chopped the beef into small cubes, and then pulled a cabbage from the refrigerator. "I was trying to do that. But--"
"But you lost your temper at the Nara boy," Anko finished. "I get that. I worked a mission with him last winter, and he's a fucking pain in the ass. But when you're wound up this tight, you don't go wind yourself even tighter."
Sakura turned to glare at Anko. "Fine. So hitting things only makes me angrier, unless I'm hitting the person who's causing my problems. But I can't hit Tomu -- that would break cover, and I can't touch him anyway -- I can't hit you, and I really can't hit Tsunade, and it's been two weeks and I'm not getting anywhere, and what do you want me to do, damn it?"
Anko leaned back against the doorframe and crossed her arms. "Good question. I'm glad you asked -- it means you're finally ready to work together instead of just tolerating me. And to start with, I want you to put down the knife."
Sheepishly, Sakura lowered the butcher knife.
Anko's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile but was trying to be polite. "Thanks -- it's damn rude to point weapons at your host, especially when I'm being nice and telling you stuff I had to learn the hard way. Now listen: our mission is to find out what Hanjimono Tomu's deal is. You're acting like this is an exam, but it's not -- there's no time limit, and there's no cheat sheet -- so stop thinking that you need to find a big secret fast. This might take years. That's fine. We might never be sure where he came from or what his motives are. That's fine too. We can always burn the damn book -- better safe than sorry, and casualties happen."
"But if he's innocent--" Sakura began.
"He could be a damn saint and it wouldn't matter," Anko said flatly. "Yeah, maybe he didn't kill anyone to make that seal, and maybe he isn't an enemy, but if I had to balance one person against all of Konoha? I'd pick Konoha in a heartbeat. If you wouldn't make the same choice, you have no business being a ninja."
She let that hang in the air for a moment, and then shrugged. "That's the main point, see? All the rest is details, and you shouldn't get hung up on them. Now hurry up and start the rice -- I'm going to take a shower."
As Anko left the kitchen, Sakura banged open a cupboard and thumped the rice sack onto the counter. Maybe Anko was right that she was looking at this mission the wrong way, but the rest of what she'd said... that was wrong. Casualties happened, but that was no excuse to shrug and stop trying to reduce them. Defending Konoha was important, but not if she became a monster -- Konoha was a group of precious people as much as a place, and if she had to choose between betraying a friend or betraying the village... well, maybe she would choose Konoha, but not so coldly, not like Anko made it sound!
A familiar, unwelcome thought flashed through her mind: what if Naruto's seal ever broke? What if Sasuke stayed with Orochimaru and attacked Konoha?
"Then I'd break their legs and hit them until they came back to their senses," Sakura muttered to herself, and slammed a pepper down on the cutting board. "I wouldn't just give up."
There was always a way around impossible choices. Naruto had shown her that.
Tomorrow, she'd figure out how to prove Tomu's intentions, one way or the other.
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End of Chapter
Back to Idle Hands
Continue to Never Put off for Tomorrow
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Next chapter, Kakashi! After that, I think I can get this wrapped up within another four to six chapters, so... 15 to 17 chapters total? They'll catch on to the draining mechanism soon, and then it's just laying a trap, some fun with genjutsu, and figuring out what to do with a seemingly indestructible book. And an epilogue in Malfoy Manor, because that idea amuses me. (Actual chapter count subject to change without notice, as usual.)
askerian.Technically, it's an insertion of one HP character/plot device into the Naruto world, but that does count as a crossover of sorts. "An Ounce of Prevention" will not affect canon in either series; that is, it takes place during the Naruto timeskip, and significantly before CoS in HP.
---------------------------------------------
Chapter 10: Can't See the Forest
---------------------------------------------
"You have a weird idea of relaxation," Anko said as she opened her apartment window and let Sakura in. "There's no point sending me away if you're just going to break rocks all afternoon, especially since you already break rocks all morning with the old lady."
"Shut up," Sakura said.
"I can see that the shopping district might not be your style, but there's always the hot springs, or even the library," Anko continued, tossing her vest onto the couch and stretching her arms up toward the ceiling; her mesh shirt rode up, leaving her stomach bare, and doing nothing to hide her purple sports bra.
"I said shut up," Sakura snapped, slipping into the kitchen and yanking open several cupboards. "I'll cook tonight. Do you want beef or tofu in the stir-fry?"
"Meat. There's no point if it didn't die bloody and screaming." Anko licked her lips and grinned when Sakura slammed the frozen steak on the cutting board. "Hey, do you know the quick-thaw jutsu? It was invented to get drinking water from snow, but it's great for lazy cooks as well."
Sakura glared at the beef and ran through four hand seals. "I figured that out last year -- I'm not stupid," she said as she released chakra into the pattern. A puddle of blood-tinged water spread from under the rapidly warming meat, and she scowled. She'd overdone that by at least ten degrees; her control was wavering. Most ninja wouldn't notice, but then, most ninja didn't have control fine enough to tune a heat jutsu to any intervals smaller than 'freezing,' 'lukewarm,' 'on fire,' and 'hot enough to melt steel.'
"I never said you weren't smart," Anko said, moving past her to pull two bowls from a cupboard. "But you don't have the experience to focus your mind, so you flail around a lot. Worrying wastes energy, and pretty soon you're going to worry yourself into a panic and stop thinking. You need to take a deep breath and let it all go."
Sakura chopped the beef into small cubes, and then pulled a cabbage from the refrigerator. "I was trying to do that. But--"
"But you lost your temper at the Nara boy," Anko finished. "I get that. I worked a mission with him last winter, and he's a fucking pain in the ass. But when you're wound up this tight, you don't go wind yourself even tighter."
Sakura turned to glare at Anko. "Fine. So hitting things only makes me angrier, unless I'm hitting the person who's causing my problems. But I can't hit Tomu -- that would break cover, and I can't touch him anyway -- I can't hit you, and I really can't hit Tsunade, and it's been two weeks and I'm not getting anywhere, and what do you want me to do, damn it?"
Anko leaned back against the doorframe and crossed her arms. "Good question. I'm glad you asked -- it means you're finally ready to work together instead of just tolerating me. And to start with, I want you to put down the knife."
Sheepishly, Sakura lowered the butcher knife.
Anko's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile but was trying to be polite. "Thanks -- it's damn rude to point weapons at your host, especially when I'm being nice and telling you stuff I had to learn the hard way. Now listen: our mission is to find out what Hanjimono Tomu's deal is. You're acting like this is an exam, but it's not -- there's no time limit, and there's no cheat sheet -- so stop thinking that you need to find a big secret fast. This might take years. That's fine. We might never be sure where he came from or what his motives are. That's fine too. We can always burn the damn book -- better safe than sorry, and casualties happen."
"But if he's innocent--" Sakura began.
"He could be a damn saint and it wouldn't matter," Anko said flatly. "Yeah, maybe he didn't kill anyone to make that seal, and maybe he isn't an enemy, but if I had to balance one person against all of Konoha? I'd pick Konoha in a heartbeat. If you wouldn't make the same choice, you have no business being a ninja."
She let that hang in the air for a moment, and then shrugged. "That's the main point, see? All the rest is details, and you shouldn't get hung up on them. Now hurry up and start the rice -- I'm going to take a shower."
As Anko left the kitchen, Sakura banged open a cupboard and thumped the rice sack onto the counter. Maybe Anko was right that she was looking at this mission the wrong way, but the rest of what she'd said... that was wrong. Casualties happened, but that was no excuse to shrug and stop trying to reduce them. Defending Konoha was important, but not if she became a monster -- Konoha was a group of precious people as much as a place, and if she had to choose between betraying a friend or betraying the village... well, maybe she would choose Konoha, but not so coldly, not like Anko made it sound!
A familiar, unwelcome thought flashed through her mind: what if Naruto's seal ever broke? What if Sasuke stayed with Orochimaru and attacked Konoha?
"Then I'd break their legs and hit them until they came back to their senses," Sakura muttered to herself, and slammed a pepper down on the cutting board. "I wouldn't just give up."
There was always a way around impossible choices. Naruto had shown her that.
Tomorrow, she'd figure out how to prove Tomu's intentions, one way or the other.
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter
Back to Idle Hands
Continue to Never Put off for Tomorrow
Read the final version on ff.net
---------------------------------------------
Next chapter, Kakashi! After that, I think I can get this wrapped up within another four to six chapters, so... 15 to 17 chapters total? They'll catch on to the draining mechanism soon, and then it's just laying a trap, some fun with genjutsu, and figuring out what to do with a seemingly indestructible book. And an epilogue in Malfoy Manor, because that idea amuses me. (Actual chapter count subject to change without notice, as usual.)
