[Fic] "An Ounce of Prevention" chapter 11 -- Naruto/Harry Potter

[edenfalling]

This is part 11 of An Ounce of Prevention, a Naruto/Harry Potter crossover that I started as a giftfic for 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. (Which gives away at least part of the ending, but whatever. *grin*)

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Chapter 11: Never Put off for Tomorrow
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Sakura sat in an out-of-the-way meeting room in the Hokage's Tower, trying not to fidget. Tomu's diary lay on the table in front of her, along with a set of calligraphy supplies, and she wanted very badly to complain to him about Kakashi's tardiness and her mixed feelings about talking to her former jounin-sensei for the first time since Team 7 was officially dissolved.

"Kai," she muttered, and looked out the window instead. Beside her, Anko sharpened a kunai and whistled, off-key.

In the back of Sakura's head, a litany of curses and insults looped over into its twelfth repetition.

"--overlooking this behavior, no matter how well you execute missions," Tsunade's voice drifted in from the hallway. "Timing can be critical, and you're not the one who makes that call. If it's not a time-critical mission, you can screw off all you want after you get your orders and briefing, but when I tell you to be in my office at noon, you'll damn well knock on my door at noon. Clear?"

"Absolutely see-through," Kakashi drawled.

"Good, because next time I'll dock your pay a whole grade for every ten minutes you make me wait," Tsunade said. "I called you here today to join an ongoing intelligence mission. Your new partners will give you the details."

The door swung open. Sakura smiled at her two teachers.

Kakashi blinked and missed his grab for the knob; the door banged against the wall, the impact clearly audible in the silent room.

His face smoothed immediately back to bland boredom with a hint of condescending amusement -- but for just a second, he'd been completely wrong-footed. Sakura had seen it.

Tsunade sent a conspiratorial wink across the room and said, briskly, "This mission is currently assigned to Haruno Sakura, chuunin, and Mitarashi Anko, special jounin. Sakura is the primary contact with the target; Anko is her guard and watchdog. Your job is to provide a fresh perspective. You three have the use of this room until sunset, and I'm available if you need me."

She shoved Kakashi into the room and shut the door behind him.

After a moment, Kakashi tilted his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I admit this is a surprise. I never pictured you for intelligence work, Sakura-chan -- you have the brains for it, but you were never very good with secrets. What mess did you get yourself into this time?"

Sakura slammed her hands on the table and drew a deep breath to scream at him... and then closed her mouth. That was what he wanted her to do. He wanted her to act like the shallow girl he remembered, so he wouldn't have to take her or this mission seriously. Well, she wasn't going to play along. She'd save up all the annoyances and insults and get back at him later.

"Several years ago, when Tsunade-sama summoned one of her slugs, a book fell through in the backwash," she said, keeping her voice even. "It holds the memory imprint of a young man named Hanjimono Tomu, who communicates through writing. I suspect a life-powered seal was used to create the imprint, especially because Tomu is able to learn. There's a genjutsu on the diary that makes me want to trust him. Also, when Tsunade-sama first found the book, Tomu's name was written in a foreign language, but by the time I found him, he'd learned our language and could write in kanji, katakana, and hiragana."

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully. "Interesting. So you're trying to determine if the imprint is a threat, and to discover the mechanism behind the seals and the genjutsu. Any luck so far?"

"Do you think I'd be talking to you if we were getting anywhere?" Sakura demanded.

Kakashi gave her a disappointed stare and Anko snickered.

Sakura looked aside, embarrassed. Be professional, she reminded herself. "We figured out that the diary comes from a different dimension, and that Tomu could use a natural force similar to chakra; he translates it as 'magic.' He's fishing for information and influence -- he flatters my cover persona and pushes her to follow his advice on some minor civilian-type problems -- but I can't tell if that's just defensive or a real danger. He's too evasive. I don't want to kill Tomu unless we prove he's a threat, but the book is definitely too dangerous to keep around."

"Very interesting," Kakashi said. "Anko? Do you have anything to add?"

Anko tested her kunai on the ball of her thumb. "Just one thing. The genjutsu might have a second component -- Sakura's been getting tired and she's been avoiding her friends. It might only be stress and no experience dealing with classified intel... but maybe the diary's trying to isolate her as well as befriend her."

"But that makes no sense!" Sakura protested. She wasn't avoiding people, and she wasn't tired -- and even if she was, there was no way Tomu could affect her physically from within the diary. "Why would he want to isolate his only contact with the world?"

Kakashi and Anko exchanged one of those 'ah, the innocence of children' looks over her head.

"The only certain way to release a life-powered seal is to use another life," Kakashi said, all humor gone from his voice. "If you fell completely under this imprint's control -- if you believed whatever he said and nobody was around to challenge him..."

"Then what? I wouldn't betray Konoha, no matter what Tomu said!"

"You're missing the point. People do fucking crazy things after enough isolation and sleep deprivation, especially if they trust the person giving the orders," Anko said. She drew her kunai across her throat, a hair's breadth from breaking her skin, and bared her teeth in something that might have been a smile. "I've been there. I know. And cleaning up a ritual sealing site -- making it look like suicide or an accident--"

"--is the easiest thing in the world," Kakashi concluded.

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End of Chapter

Back to Can't See the Forest

Continue to Even a Stopped Clock

Read the final version on ff.net

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I can't remember how Kakashi usually addresses Sakura (maybe because he doesn't talk to her much?), so I guessed -chan, especially since he's trying to annoy her. It occurs to me that I also don't know how the adult jounin and chuunin usually address each other. Do they use -san, or do they dispense with polite formalities because they're all in a quasi-military organization, or do they use each other's ranks as honorifics, or what? I've been avoiding most honorific tags for simplicity's sake, and will continue to do so, but I'm curious.

(This is the trouble with trying to write fanfic about a series in a different language, with uncertain translations. *sigh*)

I would really appreciate any help on those issues!

Comments

[silverblade219.livejournal.com]

I thought that Kakashi just called Sakura "Sakura"...But it is true that he doesn't really seem to talk to her much (one of the times I read remember him addressing her directly is when the Chuunin exam was attack by Sound and the 2nd bell test, maybe...). But I think chan does work here since it teasing.

And the adult jounin, you mean the non-sensei ones right? I not sure either, but I pretty sure that they don't use the ranks as the honorifics.

Sorry I couldn't be more of a help...

[edenfalling]

Don't worry! Any light to dispell my ignorance is welcome. :-)

[askerian]

she wanted very badly to complain to him about Kakashi's tardiness and her mixed feelings about talking to her former jounin-sensei for the first time since Team 7 was officially dissolved.
eeee.

Oh man, I like the way they interact. There's a lot of hurt feelings and fear of trusting there underneath, on both sides.

[edenfalling]

Some people go on and on about how Kakashi was a horrible teacher for Naruto, and favored Sasuke, and stuff like that. The thing is, he was a pretty cruddy teacher for Sakura, too... and she's definitely smart enough to notice that, in retrospect. There are definite moments, post-timeskip, where she subtly (or not-so-subtly) insults him, and I don't think that's only a carryover of her annoyance from their first year as teammates.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, sorry to thread hop here, but it's actually never occured to me to think that Kakashi was a horrible teacher to any of them. It seems to me that he did a fairly decent job - and the one who suffered most was Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura both seem to have a great deal of respect for Kakashi (despite the subtle insults - which seem normal to me as they become more equals and less students).

I'm not trying to disagree, I'm just surprised, is all. You've made me ponder!

[edenfalling]

I don't think Kakashi was anywhere near as bad as a lot of people (Sasuke-bashers, mostly, from what I can tell) like to make out... but he wasn't a good teacher either.

I think jounin-sensei are supposed to do three things:

1) show genin, by example, how to act as a ninja
2) teach genin how to work in teams
3) teach advanced skills that aren't learned in the academy

Kakashi is a bad example of how to act as a responsible adult. He does attempt to teach teamwork... but arguably, Team 7 learns that despite him -- they take the bell test to heart and ignore his later neglect and favoritism (or seeming favoritism; you can argue that issue, too).

As for teaching other skills... he shows them tree-climbing, which is very useful. He does attempt to find Naruto a tutor for the third test of the chuunin exam, and he does give Sasuke some one-on-one instruction, but other than that, he doesn't really teach much of anything! He especially doesn't teach anything to Sakura.

I also think he's a questionable teacher because he's too caught up with his own issues to really recognize what's happening under his nose in terms of team dynamics, until the Naruto-Sasuke mess practically explodes in his face.

[proanon.livejournal.com]

Kakashi calls Sakura "-kun." It's actually not at all unusual for teachers to refer to their students, even the female ones, that way. "-chan" is a bit more cutsy and affectionate, and therefore teachers avoid using it. Unless they're being extremely patronizing, or dealing with, say, preschool or elementary-school children.

How the jounin speak to each other... hm. It's never been anything really noticeable, at the very least. I do remember noting that Kakashi defaults to desu/-masu, which is polite/generic, but he may have been talking to Jiraiya at the time. But for the most part, I think that jounin stick to yobi-sute (not using any honorifics as all; usually interpreted as rude, at least with people you don't know well). It makes sense, in a way - they've probably done a lot of missions with each other, and most seem to be in roughly the same age group...

...sorry. TMI?

[edenfalling]

I figured either nothing or -kun were the most likely options, but as I said, I went with -chan because Kakashi's trying to wrongfoot Sakura as a way of regaining the upper hand. ...I dunno, maybe I'll switch it to nothing instead. *ponders*

...sorry. TMI?

No, I love learning stuff like this!

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Great chapter! I found their interactions really interesting and very telling. I wonder if Sakura's outbursts are more Tomu and less Sakura than she thinks.

And I'm impressed that Anko realized so much was happening to Sakura so quickly. And yay! Kakashi-sensei! I'm excited to see how this progresses!

[edenfalling]

Anko and Kakashi caught on to things faster than I expected, too! *examines outline* I may get this story done in 17 chapters after all. (But don't count on it.)

[tjalorak.livejournal.com]

Seemed to be me both, or that is, like Tomu is using Sakura's inherent trust problems with Kakashi and enhancing it.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

I can see that - it may be both. But Sakura (especially post time-skip Sakura) has a lot of self-control.

Although if Tomu is draining her and making her exhausted... it could lead to outbursts. But (with the exception of Sasuke) Sakura always seemed pretty clear headed to me.

I *really* like the angle you mentioned about inherent trust problems. I wonder if she's mentioned him to Tomu before... *ponders*

[edenfalling]

She hasn't, not by name; she's just mentioned her 'old teacher, who was kind of a jerk,' or something along those lines.