Tag: brainstorm

Ode to 11010201 -> Heritage Script Brainstorming, 1/? (2017-08-16)

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I need to stream of conscious type this thing, because I’ve decided what I want to do for my first attempt at a full length script, but I don’t want to commit it to a word document just yet until I have it managed better in my brain. I used to do these kinds of things on my livejournal, but seeing as how the base of it is mostly on here, I figured for tagging/research purposes it’d be nice to put it here.

Also, missed posts are no good so…

Ode to 11010201 is a thinly veiled reference to my life, or what might have been my life in a world with magic. I am R and Zim is a nephew that I don’t have because if he were to have existed then he would already be five years old.

And so, the thing is, the idea of them being magical. Of them sharing magic, of using the term “gemini” to describe people who shared magic is very… American of me. Like, how America likes to tout about democracy (which isn’t really) and borrow Greek terms to make things sound more sophisticated or classical, when in fact, I imagine, that in a world of magic actual Greek witches would not use the Western Zodiac as a classification system.

They’d probably use Greek Mythology–like, earth witches in America would be Taurus witches, but in Greece they’d be called followers of Demeter or something like that. And it struck me that I know more about Greek Mythology and the Western Zodiac/astrology than I do about Filipino mythology and deities.

Which. Well. The series of invasions/conquering/imperializing/colonizing/occupation definitely didn’t help with that. The Philippines is caught in a struggle between Christianity and Islam, never mind that at their core both religions worship the same god. The same monotheistic, omnipotent, omnipresent god.

But that’s not what this is about.

Since Ode to 11010201 is based on me, I might as well flavor it even more with myself and make R Filipino-American, and Zim mixed. And the idea to contrast that with a Filipino immigrant who knows the ways of magic as their ancestors would have known it… and is still trapped in the American labeling: the Premier Taurus witch, who I had only vaguely considered being Faye Lin nee Peridot in the Court and Council ficlet…

Which. Well, seeing as how she blames Doctor Kaiza for the disappearance of her sister, Leanne, kind of gave an interesting parallel to R’s own search for her sister which I hadn’t really considered more fully until recently.

So the idea for the play that I have is more set in the Ot1 Redux ‘verse, with the main cast being Kaiza, Zim, R, and Faye–the latter two being called by their respective Council positions, Gemini and Taurus.

It starts much as the first Redux ficlet did, with Kaiza announcing to Zim that the Premier Gemini Witch would be coming to town.

Except it’s a much bigger deal because even if Zim doesn’t know much about magic–he’s the only witch in the region, even Kaiza, technically isn’t a witch, though she’s lived long enough to pick up some tricks and such–he knows that usually council luminaries only show up when something has gone wrong.

They don’t govern, they don’t dictate. They only mete out judgement when magical crimes have been committed.

And so, thinking that it’s a professional reason why she’s coming, Zim (and Kaiza, a little bit) are scared. And R, Gemini, that is, makes a good show of it. She’s only here searching for a particular witch. One who’s been shielding herself for almost two decades, who she has been trying to track down for nearly as long.

Which, obviously, construes to Zim as a criminal searching thing.

Except as time passes, more and more details are dropped, and it’s revealed that R/Gemini is not here in a professional capacity but a personal one. The witch she is looking for is her sister, who has only recently begun using her half of their shared magic. And she knows she’s here, she can feel it, but for some reason the scrying spells aren’t working (because she’s not scrying for the right things, or because Zim is in the same room as her when she’s scrying) and it’s been weeks.

She’s not allowed to renege on her duties for so long.

Because the role of luminary is just that, a duty. Not a privilege. It goes to the strongest witch of each category not because they want it, but because they’re the only ones with the ability to enforce punishments and tie together a new and chaotic society.

Btw, dunno if I wrote this already, but the idea is that magic had existed before, but went dormant for a very long time, and only awoke in the last century. More specifically, when Faye Peridot was a teenager. More specifically, when Leanne Peridot’s abilities went from cool party trick to bending the laws of physics. The Council was an attempt to bring peace at the sudden resurgence of magic.

I mean, I don’t know if I want the Counterclockwise backstory to be so specifically translated into the script–whereas this script will be as close to Ot1 as I can get–but the Peridot family were supposed to be descended from dryads and in pre-Spain Philippines, diwata were the main spirits invoked for good fortune, health, crops etc and they live in trees and if that isn’t some kind of sign that, hey, maybe they’re a family of Filipino immigrants then I don’t know what… I may have to tweak their background somewhat, though.

I mean, Peridot isn’t exactly a Filipino last name, now is it?

It could be something that got Americanized, though. Pamulaklakin means “to make bloom” which would fit and is long enough where someone could have just gotten tired and said. Slap some other P word on it. Or one of those families who did get renamed when the Spanish came, and Peridot in Spanish is just Peridoto so…

I’ll figure it out.

Sorry, I did say it’d be a stream of consciousness… honestly if anyone’s made it this far, I’m very surprised, this is mostly just rambling for my future self.

Uh, anyway. So:

KAIZA
ZIM
GEMINI ®
TAURUS (FAYE)

Act One would be Kaiza and Zim reacting to Gemini’s arrival. And the slow discovery of magic and family and the history of the world. It would end with Taurus’s arrival (a sort of bigger villain in the way of television shows, I suppose) who demands that Gemini come back and resume her duties.

Act Two would be a little more fraught. A lot of backstory for why exactly Gemini has no idea where her sister is until now. Taurus’ dislike of Kaiza. Possibly a red herring about how maybe Kaiza is eating them to power her immortality (which is, in her opinion, not something to be desired and thus absolute nonsense)…

Act Three would be the reveal about what happened to Taurus’ sister?

… or, wait, no… hm…

My sister says (ironically, the one that corresponds to the one R is looking for) that there’s no urgency to it.

Like. Why now? Why this story at this time with these people?

– Zim has only recently found out he has magic.

– As the closest thing to a witch in his area, Kaiza has stepped him to loosely teach what magic she knows to him.

– Gemini, feeling the other half of her magic being used for the first time in nearly two decades, takes leave from her duties as a luminary of The Council and goes across country to find her sister (who had sealed off her half of the magic two decades ago after some kind of fall out?** NEED TO CLARIFY)

… but still. Why now?

– Because there was a case before The Council which had been too harsh, which her words hadn’t been able to spare a witch who had made a small mistake, and so she seized this opportunity. She is the newest and youngest member of The Council, but only by default (Gemini witches are rare). Surely they would want to the complete set.

and then… ugh, shit.

I’ll continue in another part, maybe…

I love your pokemon au! I also love the tidbit about Shikako’s Arcanine. Like, I can imagine a little stray Growlithe following academy-team 7 around and Naruto is just begging to take care of it, and Shikako ends up doing it cause she has an actual home where it can stay (Naruto’s an orphan and pretty irresponsible), but the pup offers all three companionship and it just warms my heart to think about lil kids taking care of this pup haha.

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Maybe growlithe is shikako’s “starter” rather than a traditional Deerling? Like, the clan sees that Shikako’s basically taking care of it on her own, so they let her have the Growlithe to start with anyway. (2/3)

And maybe the deer contract consists of Virizion or Keldeo +a bunch if Sawsbucks, and thats where she earns a Sawsbuck instead? Waah, I’m just really craving a lot of Pokemon!DoS stuff, especially the worldbuilding of a Pokemon-DoS fusion. (3/3)

The thing is, I did want the Growlithe to be specifically Shikako’s. Like, everyone’s team is distinctly their own. Sometimes in crisis situations or in very messed up situations (which, granted, happens frequently with the Lucky Sevens) they’ll have to muddle through partnering up with their teammate’s… team… but otherwise Growlithe (and eventually Arcanine) does prefer Shikako.

Which is not to say that it wouldn’t cuddle up to the boys if they were in need of it, but probably only after making sure Shikako doesn’t need a cuddle as well and after getting permission. Like service dogs. They can be affectionate with strangers, but when they’re on the job, they are focused on their human and their human is their priority.

In the Pokemon-DoS fusion world, Academy students can get up to two Pokemon before graduating. Their third is the more traditional “go to the lab and receive a Pokemon” and that’s only if they graduate and become genin. Non-shinobi can have two Pokemon, but only shinobi can have more than that. So Shikako “starts” with both Deerling and Growlithe.

I did do some brainstorming about how there are Nara clan myths about “a legendary deer Pokemon with the power over life, whose very presence can create vast forests” etc. etc. And that’s Xerneas. But since Xerneas only shows up once every thousand years, it’s been assumed to be an exaggerated account of a very powerful Sawsbuck.

I’m never sure how Legendary Pokemon ought to be considered. Are they gods? Cryptids? Is it considered a religious thing or a historical/mythological thing or a deluded conspiracy theorist thing? Virizion and Keldeo (who is more horse/unicorn than deer, in my opinion) are a little too OP to be so accessible to the clan members. Maybe Sembei-obaasan once fought alongside Virizion long ago during her trainer days, but I don’t think it’s a current part of anyone’s team?

I will… well. Here’s some review response for now, because it’s already midnight and I don’t want another missed post, but I will ponder actual writing post for tomorrow.

Thanks, anon! 🙂

Something that struck me the first time I watched Moana was how similar the spiral on the boat’s sail was to the Uzumaki Spiral; they both look like a crashing wave if you look at them with the right mindset.

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Given the importance of the ocean to both island cultures, its not surprising that both utilize spirals as their symbol of mystical badassery. But now that you bring it up, I’m imagining Uzushio also being a voyager society and that is SO DOPE?!

Like. I shouldered my way into a rant about how the Uchiha clan probably isn’t as extinct as it seems on paper and I’ve always had so many overflowing feels about Uzushio, so this is a FANTASTIC possible solution to that, anon, so thanks!

Because. Just. Obviously, a good chunk of Uzushio did die. But maybe not as many as we think. Maybe some of them did flee to the mainland, leading to the smattering of Uzushio descendants that we know from canon (and some that we don’t necessarily know–but I have separate headcanons for that). But what if the rest of them just left?

Maybe at first, they hid. Even if their barrier failed to stop the incursion from Mist (though I follow @blackkatmagic​’s theory on Danzo being involved in some internal sabotage there) there’s no way NO ONE was able to get to some kind of failsafe shelters for noncombatants. Konoha’s “secret” shelters/bunkers inside the Hokage mountain cannot be the only kind of fortified fallback.

So maybe they hid. They hid for as long as they could, for as long as their supplies would last. They waited for Konoha to send reinforcements or aid or anything that their alliance should have guaranteed for them. But nothing. Because Danzo（╬ಠ益ಠ)

And so, because they were mostly noncombatants–scared but all that remained of Uzushio–they decided to leave. They decided to revive their voyaging ways that had been nearly forgotten when Konoha was founded, when Konoha had falsely promised eternal sisterhood. Some of the noncombatants were elders who–while they may not physically kept their voyaging skills–still remembered the lessons that their elders had passed down. And so the remnants of Uzushio fled the Elemental Nations entirely, forsaking the continent that had forsaken them first.

Until, maybe, news of an Uzumaki–powerful, yes, but kind and determined and passionate–spreads even beyond the Elemental Nations. To where the flotilla of Uzushio can hear and begin to consider voyaging back home.

I know you don’t really write for descendants anymore, but I finally saw Moana and there is something that I wanted to ask if you thought was plausible. Assuming that Moana was in the descendants-verse, do you think that Auradon would try to put Maui on the isle, because on one hand he’s a Demi god who helped Moana save the world from Te Ka. But on the other, he’s the reason the world needed saving at all and if Auradon imprisoned a god (Hades), demigod doesn’t seem much of a stretch.

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There’s a lot going on in the greater Descendants ‘verse which I don’t fully know (I haven’t read the book and only cursory watched the animated shorts) so my interpretation of the ‘verse is mostly based on the first movie (I haven’t yet watched the second, but the GIFs look great) and whatever I get curious about and look on the wiki and decide whether or not to keep.

Because the Descendants ‘verse itself picks and chooses what it wants from the greater Disney ‘verse and some of their own beta canon contradicts with itself so it’s hard to keep consistent with the Disney ‘verse when Descendants clearly has decided to ignore it.

I guess what I’m saying is, thanks for the ask, anon, and I’ll answer based on my own internal understanding of the ‘verse (which is based on limited information anyway), and so it is in no way actual factual for the ‘verse and should not discourage you one way or another.

So let’s go:

First off, Moana was a great movie. I loved it. (It’s on Netflix, for anyone who has yet to watch it, btw). And so given, as you said, the Auradon was capable of imprisoning Hades (a full god) and Maui is a demi god (who was born human and whose source of magical shapeshifting abilities is his fish hook) then yes, I agree, that Auradon COULD trap Maui on the Isle. I mean, it’s not even really that difficult since without the hook or a boat he couldn’t leave even a non-enchanted island which is how Moana first meets him in the movie.

Would Auradon think/be motivated to do so? I’m thinking no.

Plot-wise, Maui isn’t really a villain. He’s painted to be so in Moana’s grandmother’s story because, hey, he stole the Heart of Te Fiti and caused the world to slowly decay etc. etc. But then we as an audience find out he was trying to do it for the sake of humans (in a Prometheus-esque, steal fire from the gods sort of situation, and Prometheus was never considered a villain) and in the end, he helps Moana return the Heart which basically wipes his slate clean. Te Fiti even restores his fish hook so, if anything, he’s good there.

So unless Auradon imprisons him before Moana can find him to restore the Heart of Te Fiti–thereby dooming the Polynesian islands/the rest of the world to the encroaching decay and darkness of Te Ka–then he wouldn’t be considered a villain anymore to then be imprisoned.

Additionally–and this is very much so my own headcanon–I’m pretty sure the kingdom of Auradon only corresponds to the equivalent of the continent of Europe. Both the school and the Isle have characters from other countries/kingdoms/empires–such as Jafar and Jay, Lonnie, Freddi Facilier, etc–because the school is meant to foster international relations in the young elites of the world (think actual United Nations for teenagers) and the Isle is one of the most secure prisons in the world.

Maui would be under the jurisdiction of Moana (or her descendants) as the ruler of the society that he briefly terrorized with his actions and seeing as how, again, he did help restore the Heart of Te Fiti, she/her descendants wouldn’t send him to be imprisoned on the Isle.

If anything, the idea that Moana’s descendants have a guardian shapeshifting demigod watching over them at Auradon Prep is a lot more appealing to me than Maui being imprisoned on an Isle and NOT BEING ABLE TO SAIL OR SHAPE SHIFT. That’d be so sad, anon, so sad T_T

And also, considering that some of the GIFs of the second movie have a badass pirate from the Isle, having a voyager on the hero side would be pretty fun.

A Year With the Moon + what happens at Mt. Moon? (Thank you for your lovely writings! I always look forward your posts and I absolutely love the characterizations and snippets of plot you manage to convey in such a concise way)

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Thanks anon! (●⌒∇⌒●)

I don’t remember something extremely significant happening at Mt. Moon–then again it’s been a LONG time since I watched the cartoon–and the temporary title “A Year With The Moon” is more a pun based on the Japanese names of the twins (Ashi is Satoshi and Ember would be Satsuki) but I do like the idea of the Clefairy and the Moon Stone resonating with her as beings not really of this world.

Fight-wise I don’t think things go very much different since Team Rocket always loses and with the addition of Gary and Ember, they’re even more outnumbered, but at the same time, they are very early in their journey and so it’s not a complete curb stomp…

I do think one of the Clefairy/Clefable chooses to go with Ember. I’m pretty sure it’s canon that Ash has aura powers and there do exist humans with psychic abilities and such… I’m not sure what Ember has. I mean, obviously, besides being an SIOC.

Ash regularly meets Legendary Pokemon that range from cryptids to gods, so Ember having some kind of abilities isn’t too far of a stretch. The Ketchum twins are both bizarre, frankly.

I guess, plot wise, it’d make more sense if Mt. Moon WAS more significant in A Year With The Moon–less because of the name, but because for Ember this is the first of her realizing she does have something else going on besides reincarnation.

And, also, maybe the Clefairy/Clefable is only her second/third Pokemon? She’s not really going full tilt on catching them all like her brother and Gary–game play wise, I personally preferred strengthening my team rather than completing the Pokedex–I think mostly she’d still be more amazed at being out in the world of Pokemon and not trapped in Pallet Town.

… yeah… sorry it’s not a ficlet, anon.

Color Time / Indiana Jones TV verse + an award presentation ceremony (oscars etc)?

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(・・。)ゞ Hm… I don’t think the TV/movie industry has gotten that far when Colour Time and The Adventures of Konoha Nara are at their peak.

I mean, the advancement of technology and entertainment in the Naruto world is a little weird to me? Like, certain countries are way more advanced than others and then there’s the sudden rapid advancement between Naruto and Boruto’s generations so…

And then there’s the whole… military vs civilian society clash. If there does exist an Academy of Motions Picture Arts and Sciences, then it’s probably a civilian thing. More specifically, an upper class civilian thing if not an outright nobility thing.

Which is not to say that shinobi-produced media wouldn’t be in the running of whatever awards the civilian/nobility run media academy is doing. Just that.

Well.

I’m not entirely sure what I’m saying anymore.

I guess maybe it’s more of a… instead of Colour Time or The Adventures of Konoha Nara getting awards for being amazing/educational television shows, it makes more sense for the creators of the shows (ie Naruto and Sai, or Shikako, respectively) to be awarded/funded by various nobility?

Sort of in line with what happened in Snow Country? Except… backwards…

For example: Colour Time is, along with showing the benefits of art and creativity in a highly militaristic society, about friendship. So Naruto and Sai help the arguing heirs to the Fire Daimyo resolve their issues through art. And because of that, said heirs create a fund for artists in the Land of Fire in their honor.

Or: Prince Michiru, despite Shikako raining death and destruction upon his castle, is still rather fond of her and especially fond of her accidental television series, decides to fund a feature length movie about her adventures never mind the fact that she doesn’t do any of her stuff on purpose and surely being filmed by professional grade equipment (and that daredevil Director from the Unlucky Princess series) would negate all the interesting stuff from happening?

Hahaha… nope.

To this day Konoha Nara and the Moon Crystal is still the reigning leader of opening weekend box office sales.

All that being said, sorry I couldn’t give you a ficlet out of this prompt, anon, but I hope you enjoyed this rambling brainstorm a little bit.

Fake Fic Summaries, 21/? the Saito x Adrik edition (2017-06-22)

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A/N: Expelling this from my brain because I would like to focus on Externality and/or my writing workshop homework and this is quite distracting.

Also, I know Adrik goes by Korak in the Dawn Republic and I will tag as both but the above heading is just so that people are clear that in no way will Saito ever meet/fall in love/start a relationship with a literal murdering slaver that is actual!Korak.

So…

Anyway, have this random brainstorm.

~

New Tricks, Old Dogs

Saito has already had the loves of his life: a wife who he will always cherish and a son who he will never forget.

Jiǔtóu is not his family’s replacement, he is just a tiefling looking out for another tiefling. His fondness and protectiveness for her now doesn’t rewrite his past, but it is a good reminder that, for all that he’s lost, his heart is not completely dead.

He has no idea what the fuck that overgrown lizard has to do with anything.

~

… if ever I do write this (which I probably won’t because… um… well. Even if it were on my list of things to write, it’s a pretty long list) I’ll probably rewrite that summary, but for now that’s what the gist of this is: two old dogs bafflingly/grudgingly falling in love despite all the odds of, you know, the understandable hostility from Saito’s end.

Basically, despite very much not wanting to go to Talis’Val which is ruled by a dragonborn and has awful parallels to the life of slavery he barely escaped, Saito’s not going to let Jiǔtóu do the same without reluctantly being there in case she ever wants to leave immediately and never return, what do you say, kid?

And he has enough gold to retire and do nothing, yeah, even in the nice neighborhoods of Talis’Val, but that gets really fucking boring really fucking quick. There’s only so many times he can get shitfaced at the nearest bar and amaze people by his literal endless amounts of gold before that gets old.

He’s a fantastic dungeoneer because he’s clever and enjoys puzzles and he likes the thrills even more than the treasure (or, rather, now that he doesn’t need the treasure, he still likes the thrills). So he becomes a sort of adjunct member of whatever guild of adventurers the main party eventually create and does more consulting for them whenever there’s any ancient tombs or whatever that need exploring.

And it lets him keep an eye on Jiǔtóu in case, hey kid, that offer’s still open, I know you’ve got a sweet deal here but you know what’s really great? Not being potentially enslaved again by that dragonborn bastard running this place.

Anyway, Saito’s reputation gets pretty good. He becomes the go-to guy for weird dungeoneering problems–even without the main party being there, he starts to offer his services to the various people of Talis’Val. There are, after all, a lot of unexplored temples and such under the city which the various religious sects would be interested in. And the various schools of magic would appreciate someone with a deft hand at retrieving magical artifacts or even just translating some ancient texts that reference *insert cool spell here*

He doesn’t mind the city so much, even if it is clearly ruled by a bunch of incompetents at best or traitors at worst. (But doesn’t that just figure given who the Champion is)

And of course, at some point Korak shows up at their guild hall–where Saito kind of hangs around like a feral old tomcat–probably looking for the main party, and instead finding an old tiefling who would like nothing better than to stab him in the eyeballs but refrains because Jiǔtóu would be disappointed in him.

Hm… that seems a bit of a too hostile beginning. Let’s try that again…

Korak finds, instead, an old tiefling who makes snide insults and is of no help whatsoever in saying where the main party are and basically disrespects Korak as both Champion and a person.

It is, somewhat, refreshing in comparison to all the bureaucracy and talking in circles. All of Korak’s friends disrespect him and snark at him–that may be where the confusion starts.

And then the whole enemies/rivals (for Jiǔtóu’s daughterly affections?) to friends to lovers schtick, you know how it goes.  

Just two old bastards who have seen too much and are tired but not dead yet somehow falling in love.

…

Frankly, I’m not sure why this has been plaguing my brain because if ever I’ve shipped a rare pair, this must surely be the rarest.

Character Statistics: DoSxDescendants fusion, Lost Kids

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First

(data as of Academy Graduation, Dreaming of Sunshine Chapter Four; summoned to Konoha)

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Second

(data as of Sound Four Arc, Dreaming of Sunshine Chapter Sixty One; deployed as reinforcements)

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Third

(data as of Shippuden; summoned to Auradon)

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Mal

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Carlos

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Evie

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Jay

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~

A/N: Based on this brainstorm in which the Lost Kids of Descendants end up in the Naruto world for a few years before being summoned back to their original world.

I am way too fond of making these Character Statistics posts, but am clearly running out of teams to do. Anyone have any suggestions?

I’m also considering how to adapt this for other media–Katekyo Hitman Reborn seems like it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, but I also don’t know the timeline of that series very well…

Character Statistics: DoS Team Medic AU, Team One

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Graduation

(data as of Dreaming of Sunshine, Chapter Seven)

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Konoha Chuunin Exam

(data as of Dreaming of Sunshine, Chapter Thirty Nine)

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Shippuden

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Masumi

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Youbirin

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Jiro

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Sakura

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~

A/N: Here is Team One aka Team Medic from @kuipernebula and my collaborative DoS recursive brainstorm series simply named Team Medic AU

In this series, the Team One assigned during Academy graduation in Dreaming of Sunshine–Youbirin Nohara, Jiro Watanabe, and Sakura Haruno–end up with a combat medic as their sensei who decides to take them on as a team. 

The Konoha Chuunin Exam is a good marker of time–since it’s not as if their team has changed Orochimaru and Sand’s plans, so the invasion is still on. Also–well, I guess I’ve spoiled it in the charts–but Masumi-sensei does die during the Invasion so that’s a significant event for all of them.

And then ambiguous Shippuden point in time just to round it out.

The Sakura in this AU is different from the canon DoS Sakura I included in the Team Seven post who is herself different from canon canon Sakura because she does have a different development being on a genin team with a more attentive jounin sensei and teammates who aren’t entirely obsessed with each other (and aren’t her crush).

Character Statistics: Counterpoise, Team Five

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Graduation

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Kiri Chuunin Exam

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Konoha Chuunin Exam

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Shippuden

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Riichi

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Konran

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Ringo

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Zakuro

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~

A/N: Here is Team Five aka the “Retrieval” Team from my series Counterpoise.

In this series, my main OC Konran takes the Academy graduation exam two years early (because Naruto has somehow canonically failed the graduation exam three times but is still in the same class as his agemates?) and somehow barely passes. She, along with two other OCs–Ringo Nohara and Zakuro Yuuhi–become a genin team under the jounin Riichi who is a minor canon character that I have co-opted as my own and tweaked slightly (or, rather, conflated with a different unnamed minor canon character) to give a cool backstory.

They end up taking the first Chuunin Exam which, because it’s two years earlier than canon, is not in Konoha but in Mist (I’m unsure about how much of a disaster Mist infrastructure was before Mei took over, but I imagine it’d be a HUGE faux pas if any of the big five shinobi villages passed up their year to host the exam. The smaller villages can get away with doing so, which is probably how Akatsuki stayed under the radar as leaders of Rain for so long, or rather it’s not as much of a surprise if they pass it up, but one of the big five? That’d just be embarrassing).

The Konoha Chuunin Exam is just a really good marker of time–since it’s not as if their team has changed Orochimaru and Sand’s plans, so the invasion is still on–and then ambiguous Shippuden point in time just to round it out.