Shikako & Itachi, Pre!Kako (if you’re familiar with it), ‘Miracle’

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I had to do some reading on the forums for this one, anon, but to summarize pre!Kako ‘verse I’ll just go with the very basic idea of “Shikako is born six years early” and keep more in line with JJ1293’s ‘canon’.

So as of Part Seven, Shikako (Kinokawa, since Shikaku has been very firmly disowned and not taken back) and Itachi are the same age and have just graduated in their first year because ~prodigies~ and have been placed on Team 2 with Tenma Izumo.

—

Miracle

Changing the world isn’t an easy task, but her existence is proof enough that it can be done.

Becoming friends with Itachi Uchiha? Now that’s going to need divine intervention.

—

Shikako and Itachi are actually quite civil with each other. But there is a distinct lack of social acuity from both of these prodigies and that’s not even including Shikako’s whole “in another world you literally murder your entire clan on the say so of a sociopath who your best friend/cousin told you not to trust? and then you torture your brother? but you’re supposedly a pacifist? like… wtf?”

That being said, I do think Shikako would be more hands on about changing Itachi’s life than she is with either Naruto or Sasuke because what’s the worst that can happen? He dies? Lol, okay, that’s one big bad out of the way. He kills his clan and defects from the village? Yeah, sure, that was going to happen anyway so she’s not exactly worse off.

I have a very definite feel that, given the title and all, in “Miracle” Shikako would actually push him towards being a medic nin. As a pacifist that just seems like the best way to capitalize on his genius without having him go full on serial killer, and I’m always going to be soooooo enamored with the idea of an Uchiha medic nin.

THE SHARINGAN WOULD BE SO GOOD FOR IT!

I do think Itachi would like the idea but not necessarily feel like he is allowed to given, you know, Uchiha clan heir, growing tensions in Konoha, lethal = stronger. And as a counterargument, Shikako probably references the dregs of the Senju vs Uchiha rivalry. You know, something like: Tsunade-sama was a frontline fighter and a medic, but if the Uchiha don’t think their prodigy can multitask as well as a Senju well, okay.

I mean, probably not that heavy handed (or maybe that heavy handed in front of Itachi, but he cleans it up before presenting the idea to Fugaku) but kind of leaning into that.

And I guess it would be a lot of… either back and forth POV or Itachi only POV. Because there’s a lot of things “Miracle” could be referencing: Shikako being reincarnated. Surviving the Kyuuubi rampage. Shikako becoming a shinobi even though “chakra hypersensitivity.” Not just one but TWO prodigies graduating in one year at the same time.

Preventing the Uchiha Massacre. Itachi becoming the Uchiha clan’s first medic nin and no doubt helping to revive Shikako after her numerous technical deaths. Changing the world through kindness and intelligence (and non-lethal violence).

I did also like Laural Rose’s idea of Pre!Kako ‘verse!Itachi being the only unblooded Kage (aka Kage that has never killed). Which would work pretty well with a combat medic Itachi, I think.

And I also also like how a medic Uchiha trying to match/surpass Tsunade would, if only a little bit, bring a spark to her own latent Senju vs Uchiha rivalry and kind of be like. This tiny brat thinks he can be as good as I can? Well put your money where your mouth is, you’re now Shizune #2! And Itachi won’t SAY that he’s ridiculously pleased by this outcome, but he is quite honored that a Sannin would think him worthy of an apprenticeship.

Which works nicely with Shikako’s own sort-of apprenticeship with “nope, not gonna help you, oh those corrections and notes in the margins of your fuinjutsu journal I have no idea how that got there” Jiraiya. And “Miracle” can also reference those no doubt IMPOSSIBLE seals Shikako comes up with.

Hm… So what I’m saying, anon, is that “Miracle” as I would write it would probably be a one shot with different scenes from this Pre!Kako, medic!Itachi world. Probably starting with Itachi’s Hokage coronation and working backwards through the snowball effect–jounin Shikako and Itachi taking out Akatsuki (or, at least, doing significant damage to them), chuunin Shikako and Itachi definitely-not-feeling-sad-about-being-separated-because-of-their-respective-apprenticeships-with-Sannin, the many missions in which Shikako ends up technically dead or Itachi kidnapped (for some reason? kidnappers always go for him first?) or Tenma exasperatedly trying to keep his tiny teammates out of the clutches of creepy adults, etc. etc, all going back to that first moment when Shikako looked at Itachi and thought “I have to save this dumbass from his terribad life choices” that maybe she could make the world a better place.

Who is the Miracle? What is the Miracle? I dunno, that’d be up to the readers, ultimately.

Oooh, maybe Lee’d have a rockruff? Because according to the Pokedex they need a dedicated trainer because the closer to evolution they get, the rougher and roudier they get? And then he’d have a midday lycanroc post-timeskip because they’re really fast & loyal?

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jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

image

Hm… while I am fond of the Lee and Rockruff parallels (and the pun), I actually would rather lean into more of a taijutsu-only equivalent team for him. Meaning only Normal and Fighting types for Lee.

Neji and TenTen would also have Fighting types, but Neji would have a few Psychic types (which parallels the Byakugan sort of an the idea that even though Lee is faster than god, Neji consistently beats him) and TenTen a few steel types.

They would have Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan respectively–their Tyrogues were gifts from Gai-sensei.

Now that I think of it some more, I do kind of like Lee having an unevolved Eevee on his team as per @to-someplace-else’s suggestion. Because there’s something very sweet about Lee accepting his Eevee the way it is and not pressuring it into changing itself one way or another. But, of course, if it wants to evolve, he won’t stop it! But what he wants is for it to be happy. (And, also, Green’s Eevee is so powerful. So majestic and fluffy)

Which I guess brings us to the next point with Shikako’s Deerling. And I suppose the problem there is that I’m not sure why the Deerling wouldn’t want to evolve? In comparison to Eevee evolving into a different Type entirely (generally dictated by the trainer and what kind of team they’re trying to form) or a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu which needs a Thunder stone, as far as I can tell Deerling’s evolution into Sawsbuck is just a level cap.

And it’s a natural (or, at least, simple) process for the Deerling line to evolve into Sawsbuck. It’s basically puberty turning from a child into an adult. Whereas Eeveelutions and Pikachu turning into Raichu are more deliberate, like a medical undertaking…

Is there any benefit to preventing a Deerling’s evolution? More specifically, in this world of shinobi-trainers why would Shikako deliberately hamper her Pokemon’s growth with an everstone? She needs to be battle ready, and a Deerling doesn’t have anything over a Sawsbuck–unlike (and I don’t know if this is game canon or just cartoon canon) Pikachu being faster than Raichu.

That’s true… the only Pokemon whose evolution timing I’m set on is when Sasuke’s Pawniard turns into a Bisharp which I vaguely mentally planned out to be around the equivalent of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Because ~loyalty~ to village and that’s thereabouts when Sasuke decided friendship was more important than vengeance. Like he is a person and not a weapon (and therefore his Pawniard is also not a weapon)

Pawniard evolves into Bisharp at level 52 which actually seems kind of high… Then again, Pawniard is his third Pokemon and the most strictly offense on his team (in comparison to Talonflame, Cubone, and Lunatone) so I suppose it’s not too out there to think maybe he focussed more on levelling up Pawniard in comparison to the others?

At that point in time he would only have had five Pokemon, and his Shinx/Luxio only for a short while so…

In comparison Shikako might be more the kind of trainer to level up her entire team equally instead of focusing on a few. So there could be some hand waving over the discrepancies there.

Hm…

image

Ooh! Is that how it works? I only vaguely know about this phenomenon because, weirdly enough, even though I love Pokemon I’ve never had a handheld to actually play the games (my mother was taken with the deeply religious Pokemon = demons idea even though she literally did not care about any other media I consumed up to and including 1) Teen Titans in which one of the characters is literally a daughter of a demon, 2) Adult Swim–more specifically, Adult Swim’s awful dubs of various gore filled anime which itself included Inuyasha which has actual literal demons, and 3) I can’t really think of another demonic show I watched as a child that is more literal than those two but yeah).

So I know that there are some moves that certain Pokemon cannot learn, but I didn’t know it was so specific as to be different within the same evolutionary line. I figured a Dragonite could learn anything a Dratini could, basically, but I suppose if there are some moves that are only for a Dratini and then you grandfather those moves into your evolved form that would be a skill over power. That makes sense now.

And I suppose in a more tangible way, evolving comes along with literal changes in body size and stuff so maybe it’s more accepted to hold off on evolutions until you’re able to block out a few weeks of training to get accustomed to your Pokemon’s new form. Thanks, anon!

edit: Okay so @jickysilver explained some stuff to me regarding movesets for Deerling and Sawsbuck such that not evolving Deerling makes a lot more sense to me:

Basically, there aren’t Deerling-only moves, but certain moves a Deerling can learn at a much lower level than a Sawsbuck. For example, Solar Beam can be learned by Deerling at level 51 whereas Sawsbuck learns it at level 60.

And the idea of a tiny twelve year old and her equally tiny Deerling throwing around Solar Beams is hilarious. Element of surprise. 😀 No one expects a Deerling to freaking know Solar Beam!

Oooh, maybe Lee’d have a rockruff? Because according to the Pokedex they need a dedicated trainer because the closer to evolution they get, the rougher and roudier they get? And then he’d have a midday lycanroc post-timeskip because they’re really fast & loyal?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

image

Hm… while I am fond of the Lee and Rockruff parallels (and the pun), I actually would rather lean into more of a taijutsu-only equivalent team for him. Meaning only Normal and Fighting types for Lee.

Neji and TenTen would also have Fighting types, but Neji would have a few Psychic types (which parallels the Byakugan sort of an the idea that even though Lee is faster than god, Neji consistently beats him) and TenTen a few steel types.

They would have Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan respectively–their Tyrogues were gifts from Gai-sensei.

Now that I think of it some more, I do kind of like Lee having an unevolved Eevee on his team as per @to-someplace-else’s suggestion. Because there’s something very sweet about Lee accepting his Eevee the way it is and not pressuring it into changing itself one way or another. But, of course, if it wants to evolve, he won’t stop it! But what he wants is for it to be happy. (And, also, Green’s Eevee is so powerful. So majestic and fluffy)

Which I guess brings us to the next point with Shikako’s Deerling. And I suppose the problem there is that I’m not sure why the Deerling wouldn’t want to evolve? In comparison to Eevee evolving into a different Type entirely (generally dictated by the trainer and what kind of team they’re trying to form) or a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu which needs a Thunder stone, as far as I can tell Deerling’s evolution into Sawsbuck is just a level cap.

And it’s a natural (or, at least, simple) process for the Deerling line to evolve into Sawsbuck. It’s basically puberty turning from a child into an adult. Whereas Eeveelutions and Pikachu turning into Raichu are more deliberate, like a medical undertaking…

Is there any benefit to preventing a Deerling’s evolution? More specifically, in this world of shinobi-trainers why would Shikako deliberately hamper her Pokemon’s growth with an everstone? She needs to be battle ready, and a Deerling doesn’t have anything over a Sawsbuck–unlike (and I don’t know if this is game canon or just cartoon canon) Pikachu being faster than Raichu.

That’s true… the only Pokemon whose evolution timing I’m set on is when Sasuke’s Pawniard turns into a Bisharp which I vaguely mentally planned out to be around the equivalent of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Because ~loyalty~ to village and that’s thereabouts when Sasuke decided friendship was more important than vengeance. Like he is a person and not a weapon (and therefore his Pawniard is also not a weapon)

Pawniard evolves into Bisharp at level 52 which actually seems kind of high… Then again, Pawniard is his third Pokemon and the most strictly offense on his team (in comparison to Talonflame, Cubone, and Lunatone) so I suppose it’s not too out there to think maybe he focussed more on levelling up Pawniard in comparison to the others?

At that point in time he would only have had five Pokemon, and his Shinx/Luxio only for a short while so…

In comparison Shikako might be more the kind of trainer to level up her entire team equally instead of focusing on a few. So there could be some hand waving over the discrepancies there.

Hm…

Do the clans own the pokemon gyms? Like, the Aburame clan has a bug gym, the Uchiha has a fire-type gym, and it’s passed down through their clan. Clan gyms gives the clan authority (for anlack of a better word? Like, it puts them at a higher social class??), they make a profit from having gyms, etc. Gym leaders are also in the village’s military, kinda like how athletes back in the day had to also serve in the military. (Basically, I’m asking for more pokemon worldbuilding brainstorms. <3)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

This took me a while, anon. I had to chew on it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love worldbuilding questions so thank you, but this one was kind of difficult for me to wrap my head around.

The thing is, the Arm in Arm world is more analogous to the Naruto world than the Pokemon world, except Pokemon basically take the place of chakra. So the clans wouldn’t really have type gyms so much as they’d have clan Pokemon (Nara with the Sawsbuck, Uchiha with the Talonflame, etc. etc.) So it’s more like the clan Pokemon are the clan bloodlines than gym types.

That being said, I do like the idea of gyms somehow existing even though that would mean a lot of gyms all in the same village. So they’re probably not full out gyms, but they are…

Oh. The different departments, probably.

Sensory Squad and Intel Division and T&I and ANBU, etc. etc.

So it kind of lines up more with DoS canon, in that after the genin have been trained by their Elite Four-jounin, they join different departments for additional specialization and training.

Sensory Squad trainers definitely use their Pokemon differently than Intel Division trainers do, but given that shinobi-trainers are meant to handle all kinds of missions, you can’t just be like “I know how to battle, I’m a master now.” So you can temporarily or permanently join a department/gym and get more rigorous training for you Pokemon in exchange for doing a number of missions or something like that.

Arcanine would definitely benefit from having an Inuzuka teacher. Or when Staryu evolves into Starmie and suddenly gets Psychic abilities it makes sense for Shikako to seek additional training since it’s not a type she’s previously had, so she does a rotation with the Intel Division. Stuff like that.

Yeah, it’s not so much a “battle your way through and get a badge and qualify for the League tournaments” seeing as how Arm in Arm has the genin teams training with the Elite Four right off the bat.

Then again, maybe for genin who graduated but did not get put onto a jounin/Elite Four team that is what it’s like. You know, do a rotation in each department/gym and if you complete the set then you can apply to be put on a temporary genin team for the Chuunin Exams?

Hm… still not 100% on this though, anon. But that’s what I have for now…

I think there’s a missing entry in Flip to the Last Page? The tag goes, 1, (anon question), 3, 4, 5 … and I don’t think you mean for the anon question to be 2, but it’s a little hard to tell.

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Oh, whoops. There is a Flip To The Last Page 2/?, but I forgot to tag it with the series title. And, well, considering I didn’t follow up or reference this installment whatsoever I can see how that might be confusing.

It should be fixed now, though. Thanks for letting me know anon!

Blitzkrieg, part three (2017-02-08)

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brushing past
strangers in a crowd
wishes
falling from your hand

curled beneath
smothering sheets
blankets and paperwork
tangled

a misstep
melody carries on
blisters and threadbare shoes
whisper of devotion

—

It’s early afternoon when she shows up, and he’s not sure why that seems odd to him.

Not sure why it feels like she ought to have showed up in the middle of the night. Broken down his door, flashing green lights and danger in her hands.

It’s weird to see her in the light of day, even though that’s how they met last time.

Last time she wasn’t wearing a suit and tie, lethal as a bullet

He feels underdressed in his street ball clothes.

—

pressure against my skull
squeezing ideas into diamonds,
ruthless bitter pills of starlight
scraping inside my throat,
swallowed down gasps
along with every little fear,
hidden beneath my skin
a map of the far flung exit.

Run.

—

“Congratulations,” says lightning bolt in green ink, “on Seirin’s victory, Kuroko-san,” the smile on her face as sharp and well-crafted as the suit she wears.

This is not the girl who bought a stranger a vanilla milkshake as an apology while scarfing down a sandwich and chips heedlessly. This is not the girl who told him he was too trusting, told him to beware treading into stormy waters.

This is the girl whose parlor trick can slice through metal. The girl who didn’t deny homicide as a possible–and even feasible–method of secret keeping.

The girl who could see him in a crowd when nobody else could.

A crest and a uniform and a girl who can do impossible things.

Just because they’re only meeting again now doesn’t mean that she and the others–the ones she needed to consult with, the ones who had sent her on a job in the first place–hadn’t been keeping tabs on him the entire time.

His life is not a mystery to them.

It’s not as much of a surprise as he thought it would be.

“Thank you,” he says, “It’s nice to see you again.”

The smile he gets this time is truer, but no less sharp, “You too.”

—

footprints in the dirt
candle at the crossroads
the devil appears
and laughs

can’t trade away
what’s no longer yours

stained glass hopes
prayer books in the pews
vulnerability
unanswered

no rest for the wicked

—

They go back to his house, same as before, two cups of tea.

She does not need to look around and observe the details of his life.

She already knows.

Except.

“I’ll be honest. I’m not sure why you’ve contacted me,” she says. “You’re not in any trouble, and there are plenty of people who can see you now.”

You’re not that desperate, lonely boy anymore, she doesn’t say.

They watch the steam rise from their cups, silent.

“Do you play basketball?” he asks, finally, after the lull has passed.

She shakes her head, “My choice of extracurricular activities were more individual than that. Archery and aikido,” she explains.

“Were?” he repeats.

Her mouth tightens for a moment, “I have other obligations now,” she says, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand what she’s referring to.

“I love basketball,” he says, like it’s torn out of him, like a confession, “but I don’t have a future there.”

Not like his former teammates, not like Kagami-kun. The only edges he had in games were determination and misdirection. Neither of them can sustain a career in basketball.

“Why did you ask me to meet you?” she asks, already beginning to piece it together.

He has no future in basketball. But that doesn’t mean he has no future elsewhere.

He looks at her: suit and obligations, green ink on ivory card stock.

There’s a future there, even if he’s not sure he wants it.

Oooh, maybe Lee’d have a rockruff? Because according to the Pokedex they need a dedicated trainer because the closer to evolution they get, the rougher and roudier they get? And then he’d have a midday lycanroc post-timeskip because they’re really fast & loyal?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment
image

Hm… while I am fond of the Lee and Rockruff parallels (and the pun), I actually would rather lean into more of a taijutsu-only equivalent team for him. Meaning only Normal and Fighting types for Lee.

Neji and TenTen would also have Fighting types, but Neji would have a few Psychic types (which parallels the Byakugan sort of an the idea that even though Lee is faster than god, Neji consistently beats him) and TenTen a few steel types.

They would have Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, and Hitmonchan respectively–their Tyrogues were gifts from Gai-sensei.

Now that I think of it some more, I do kind of like Lee having an unevolved Eevee on his team as per @to-someplace-else’s suggestion. Because there’s something very sweet about Lee accepting his Eevee the way it is and not pressuring it into changing itself one way or another. But, of course, if it wants to evolve, he won’t stop it! But what he wants is for it to be happy. (And, also, Green’s Eevee is so powerful. So majestic and fluffy)

Which I guess brings us to the next point with Shikako’s Deerling. And I suppose the problem there is that I’m not sure why the Deerling wouldn’t want to evolve? In comparison to Eevee evolving into a different Type entirely (generally dictated by the trainer and what kind of team they’re trying to form) or a Pikachu evolving into a Raichu which needs a Thunder stone, as far as I can tell Deerling’s evolution into Sawsbuck is just a level cap.

And it’s a natural (or, at least, simple) process for the Deerling line to evolve into Sawsbuck. It’s basically puberty turning from a child into an adult. Whereas Eeveelutions and Pikachu turning into Raichu are more deliberate, like a medical undertaking…

Is there any benefit to preventing a Deerling’s evolution? More specifically, in this world of shinobi-trainers why would Shikako deliberately hamper her Pokemon’s growth with an everstone? She needs to be battle ready, and a Deerling doesn’t have anything over a Sawsbuck–unlike (and I don’t know if this is game canon or just cartoon canon) Pikachu being faster than Raichu.

Shikako’s told us a lot about what other people’s chakra feels like to her, but I was wondering (if you had any thoughts on) what her chakra felt like to other sensors?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

😀 Okay, anon, so in my completely non-canonical and outsider opinion on this, I actually headcanon that Shikako’s way of describing other people’s chakra is one of the few things that carry on from her previous life/“chakra hypersensitivity.”

The way she/SQ describes chakra in terms of sensations–warm sunshine, static and ozone, glowing embers, descending twilight, bubbling brook–it’s very much like someone trying to explain color to someone colorblind. (Or, at least, what I have been trained to understand in media as someone trying to describe color. I legit have no idea if that’s just a hollywood thing or an IRL thing. The only colorblind people I know have only mild forms of deuteranopia and it’s mostly a problem in trying to figure out where on the spectrum certain colors stop and others begin.)

What is green? It’s freshly cut grass and the calming scent of tea. What is red? It’s passionate like fire, the bright burst of sweetness of strawberries in the summer. Blue is the ocean, cool and deep, etc.etc.

So I always figured that chakra sense is literally another sense that we, as readers in a world without chakra, can only experience via the sensation-descriptions that Shikako/SQ give us.

Which, I think, is also kind of why Shikako is unprecedentedly keen at being a chakra sensor. Kind of like color blindness being able to see through camouflage? Most sensors cannot tell what jutsu was used in a certain place and how long ago and in what direction it went. It is, after all, why Shikako got that special jounin rank.

With other chakra sensors I think their abilities are very in the moment. They can tell you how many people are coming and how far away they are. They can tell you how much chakra a person has left (relative to their capacity) and how much chakra they themselves can exert.

Shikako doesn’t have this. Shikako is known to have a problem with… not controlling her chakra necessarily but… moderating it. Regulating it? If that makes any sense. She has and WILL use every last dregs of her chakra and think she’s still okay to walk around afterwards. She pulls her chakra in to the point where even non-sensor Kakashi gets alarmed, and doesn’t realize how weird that may feel to other people.

It’s also why Jiraiya is VERY CONCERNED that she can sense natural energy since that’s not usually something a non-sage can sense. Shikako perceives human/animal-produced chakra and natural energy with the same “sense” whereas other chakra-sensors can only perceive human/animal chakra. Shikako is using a different sense or is interpreting it in a different way.

So I guess in a very roundabout way I’m saying that other sensors are very baffled by Shikako’s chakra. She has a very active regulation of her chakra–I headcanon that the bouts of her passing out as a child as per Sunshine Sidestories Ch 17 is that she hadn’t yet figured out the trick to subconsciously producing chakra. Or rather, while she was still new to the Naruto world, she was too aware of it and kind of…

You know how when you realize you’re breathing and then you become too conscious of breathing and then your pattern gets all weird until you forget about it and then it’s just back to something you do normally? Yeah. Like, Shikako’s body subconsciously will produce chakra but in the early years she was too aware of chakra because of her “hypersensitivity” and so she had to manually produce chakra until it became (like the enhancing her muscles with chakra, like breathing) just something she could do without thinking. (Which is kind of the “epiphany” she has in the fifth installment of Flip To The Last Page)

Yeah. So, very strange for other sensors. If I had to attach normal chakra sense to a RL sense, it’d probably be sound. Which explains why most normal chakra sensors can’t perceive natural energy because it’s just always there and if you’ve always lived with natural energy then there is no change in “sound” for you to hear so it just gets filtered out. Either that or natural energy is at a “frequency” outside of normal chakra sense the way some sounds can be heard by animals but not humans.

So for these listening chakra sensors, Shikako’s chakra is kind of like listening to someone whose volume kind of jumps all of the place for no perceivable reason. Or maybe if its music then the tempo changes for no reason. With other people volume/rhythm corresponds to how much chakra they have left and how they feel emotionally, with Shikako it’s just kind of all over the place. Sense of hearing also goes with the whole “their sense helps in the moment and even at a range, but not after a period of time” since there’s no leftover sound for them to pick up.

Whereas Shikako’s chakra sense is probably more like RL sense of touch. It’s been said before with trying to follow the “heat” of the earth walking jutsu. And it would kind of explain how she can perceive natural energy even though it’s always around and (minus, perhaps the Dead Wastes of the Gelel shrine) her body has never been in a world without natural energy. Like… people who live in one place their entire lives know what humidity is (or lack thereof, for us desert peeps) and don’t have to know what a different humidity is like to know that the air is wet or dry.

If that makes any sense…

So yeah.

Other chakra sensors look for the changes in chakra around them (like sound is vibrations in the air) and to them Shikako is pretty much that one radio station that doesn’t know how to moderate their volume between songs and doesn’t have a set music genre either.

image

True, true. If it were actually “hypersensitivity” then Shikako really oughtn’t be able to use chakra, or she would have a more typical chakra sense but with a wider range or more accurate ability to tell changes in chakra.

“Hyperaware” does work better, but there’s an aspect of… consciousness? There that doesn’t quite explain the intrinsic difference between Shikako’s perception of chakra and other people’s. And, well, there was the whole arc where Kakashi-sensei had to train her to use her sensor ability to the fullest…

I’m actually not sure what term I’d use, @wildtabbykat… 

Chakra atypical?

Other chakra atypicals would include Lee (obvs), maybe the Aburame clan, and probably Naruto (although I’m not sure if that’s a side effect of him having the Kyuubi or he already was chakra atypical and the Kyuubi certainly didn’t help matters… how was Kushina with chakra control? It might be an Uzumaki clan thing).

Shikako’s told us a lot about what other people’s chakra feels like to her, but I was wondering (if you had any thoughts on) what her chakra felt like to other sensors?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

😀 Okay, anon, so in my completely non-canonical and outsider opinion on this, I actually headcanon that Shikako’s way of describing other people’s chakra is one of the few things that carry on from her previous life/“chakra hypersensitivity.”

The way she/SQ describes chakra in terms of sensations–warm sunshine, static and ozone, glowing embers, descending twilight, bubbling brook–it’s very much like someone trying to explain color to someone colorblind. (Or, at least, what I have been trained to understand in media as someone trying to describe color. I legit have no idea if that’s just a hollywood thing or an IRL thing. The only colorblind people I know have only mild forms of deuteranopia and it’s mostly a problem in trying to figure out where on the spectrum certain colors stop and others begin.)

What is green? It’s freshly cut grass and the calming scent of tea. What is red? It’s passionate like fire, the bright burst of sweetness of strawberries in the summer. Blue is the ocean, cool and deep, etc.etc.

So I always figured that chakra sense is literally another sense that we, as readers in a world without chakra, can only experience via the sensation-descriptions that Shikako/SQ give us.

Which, I think, is also kind of why Shikako is unprecedentedly keen at being a chakra sensor. Kind of like color blindness being able to see through camouflage? Most sensors cannot tell what jutsu was used in a certain place and how long ago and in what direction it went. It is, after all, why Shikako got that special jounin rank.

With other chakra sensors I think their abilities are very in the moment. They can tell you how many people are coming and how far away they are. They can tell you how much chakra a person has left (relative to their capacity) and how much chakra they themselves can exert.

Shikako doesn’t have this. Shikako is known to have a problem with… not controlling her chakra necessarily but… moderating it. Regulating it? If that makes any sense. She has and WILL use every last dregs of her chakra and think she’s still okay to walk around afterwards. She pulls her chakra in to the point where even non-sensor Kakashi gets alarmed, and doesn’t realize how weird that may feel to other people.

It’s also why Jiraiya is VERY CONCERNED that she can sense natural energy since that’s not usually something a non-sage can sense. Shikako perceives human/animal-produced chakra and natural energy with the same “sense” whereas other chakra-sensors can only perceive human/animal chakra. Shikako is using a different sense or is interpreting it in a different way.

So I guess in a very roundabout way I’m saying that other sensors are very baffled by Shikako’s chakra. She has a very active regulation of her chakra–I headcanon that the bouts of her passing out as a child as per Sunshine Sidestories Ch 17 is that she hadn’t yet figured out the trick to subconsciously producing chakra. Or rather, while she was still new to the Naruto world, she was too aware of it and kind of…

You know how when you realize you’re breathing and then you become too conscious of breathing and then your pattern gets all weird until you forget about it and then it’s just back to something you do normally? Yeah. Like, Shikako’s body subconsciously will produce chakra but in the early years she was too aware of chakra because of her “hypersensitivity” and so she had to manually produce chakra until it became (like the enhancing her muscles with chakra, like breathing) just something she could do without thinking. (Which is kind of the “epiphany” she has in the fifth installment of Flip To The Last Page)

Yeah. So, very strange for other sensors. If I had to attach normal chakra sense to a RL sense, it’d probably be sound. Which explains why most normal chakra sensors can’t perceive natural energy because it’s just always there and if you’ve always lived with natural energy then there is no change in “sound” for you to hear so it just gets filtered out. Either that or natural energy is at a “frequency” outside of normal chakra sense the way some sounds can be heard by animals but not humans.

So for these listening chakra sensors, Shikako’s chakra is kind of like listening to someone whose volume kind of jumps all of the place for no perceivable reason. Or maybe if its music then the tempo changes for no reason. With other people volume/rhythm corresponds to how much chakra they have left and how they feel emotionally, with Shikako it’s just kind of all over the place. Sense of hearing also goes with the whole “their sense helps in the moment and even at a range, but not after a period of time” since there’s no leftover sound for them to pick up.

Whereas Shikako’s chakra sense is probably more like RL sense of touch. It’s been said before with trying to follow the “heat” of the earth walking jutsu. And it would kind of explain how she can perceive natural energy even though it’s always around and (minus, perhaps the Dead Wastes of the Gelel shrine) her body has never been in a world without natural energy. Like… people who live in one place their entire lives know what humidity is (or lack thereof, for us desert peeps) and don’t have to know what a different humidity is like to know that the air is wet or dry.

If that makes any sense…

So yeah.

Other chakra sensors look for the changes in chakra around them (like sound is vibrations in the air) and to them Shikako is pretty much that one radio station that doesn’t know how to moderate their volume between songs and doesn’t have a set music genre either.