Team Medic AU is following the very minor and stray thought Shikako had in like… chapter six or something very early on… that if Team One (aka Sakura, Jiro, and Youbirin from the Academy) had gotten a medic-nin as a jounin sensei they might have passed and become another genin team. @kuipernebula and I went back and forth a while trying to figure how that would work, what Jiro and Youbirin would be like, how Sakura would be different from canon, etc (you can check out most of it via the Team Medic tag).
Shikako being on Team Seven instead of Sakura because of politics does make sense, because that’s how it’s set up in DoS and snubbing the Jounin Commander/Nara Clan head’s only daughter is not something a person would want to do. But I do also understand and am interested in Shikako being on a different team specifically because her father asked for it.
Because, okay, you can’t really be an overprotective father as a shinobi but there’s probably a way to mitigate the danger your children might be in somehow. Because from a father’s point of view? Having your only daughter be on the same team with three unstable orphans with more power than sense? Not a good thing. Regardless of Naruto knowing or not.
(I actually think Shikaku would be more okay with Shikako being on the same team as a Naruto who knew about the Kyuubi than one who did not. As a strategist it just seems weird that he’d be okay with one person on his daughter’s team not knowing their own capabilities as opposed to being afraid when he does know? And I like the idea that Shikaku knew Kushina and sees so much of her in Naruto that him being the jinchuuriki isn’t the problem, but rather him not knowing is the problem. It’s like giving a kid a button that will set off a bomb but not telling him it will set off a bomb, just telling him not to push it. And, come one, you know Naruto would be the kind of kid to push a button someone told him not to if the consequences weren’t explained to him.)
With Shikamaru, he trusts that Ino and Chouji has his back because he was teammates with Inoichi and Chouza and he knows both of them raised their children right. But he doesn’t have that security with Team Seven, so why not assign her to a team that would be safer?
And sure, maybe it’s not as prestigious, but he doesn’t have to worry about her being on the a team with a bunch of boys (Kakashi included) whose collective reputation amounts to death and destruction. And you know what? Maybe Youbirin is the Nohara clan heir? It’s not a snub to put her on the same team as him. And Jiro’s backstory (as kuipernebula and I have developed) wouldn’t quite match the two children of clan heads, but it’s not so much better off than Sakura’s civilian family status and from the Academy sensei’s point of view, Jiro and Youbirin have proven to work together well, even if Shikako isn’t actually one of their friends.
So yes, I can see a Team Medic AU!AU of Shikako being on Team Medic instead of Sakura–and I can see her wanting to follow the path of a combat medic–but I also definitely see why Silver Queen did not go for it because she basically would be writing three OCs trying to become friends instead of one OC trying to figure out her place in the universe. Oh, wait, no, also the jounin-sensei; so four OCs. Which at that point is so far removed from the original canon that it wouldn’t be as compelling as DoS.
I think what I like about Team Medic AU (the one with Sakura, that is) is that, given the frequency with which Shikako’s off-hand comments/observations end up coming true, this would have been the first one and also the most major one of DoS. And, more than that, it would be evidence that her existence does have an effect on the world and not just in a bad way (see: Shikako’s guilt regarding Ino being on the Sasuke Retrieval team and Shikamaru’s during the Land of Moon arc).
I honestly feel like having Team Medic exist would make Shikako feel better and put less pressure on herself. Because here is a team of genin that didn’t exist beforehand, that are all learning how to become medic which can only benefit the universe. And sure there are some negatives (Youbirin falling prey to Kabuto’s machinations at least temporarily) but ultimately here is a thing that her existence alone has changed. Not her decisions.
And I think that’s something that’s been weighing on her for the past dozen or so chapters–that the only changes she’s been making recently have been deliberate and have all ended up in someone hurt or something gone wrong. With Team Medic it would be a constantly visible proof of her presence having some good–I mean, Haku might also have the same effect but given he’s in another country entirely, Shikako doesn’t see him as often. (She’s just been really stressed lately, okay, I’m so worried about her emotional and mental health.)
JackSGreyson Says 