Chapter notes:
• Sakura heard Katsuro mutter, “Hai, Taichou,” before storming back over, eyes down, deep in thought. His cheerful demeanor had completely evaporated. — This little bit shows Katsuro’s Naruto side of balking at authority. The man who is giving orders is a captain under Itachi. He is no one from Konoha, but it’s mentioned to help illustrate a little of the heirarchy of the group. It will help Sakura understand how the group operates, and what Katsuro’s role in it is. More about that in upcoming chapters.
• “It would have been an opening to run, but Sakura couldn’t move. Her world was collapsing in on itself. Everything he said made perfect sense. The inequity of strength and skill, the way they treated her as the dead weight on the team.” — Sakura has to see her village from his point of view, question it, feel some doubt. It allows her to bond with him in the short term, and forces her to come to some strong decisions about who she supports in the long term. A village and it’s policies, for better or for worse, or a rogue who’s never lived by anyone’s rules but his own.
• Outside, the fire crackled and hissed. Katsuro put anything he could find into the tiny inferno, trying dispiritedly to drown out the sound of her crying in the darkness. – Katsuro will have a hard time with her crying. He hates to hear it, thinks it’s weak. But it is more about his experiences than it has to do with hers. More to come.
Spoiler notes:
• Katsuro thought back to the first time he saw her, all pink hair and pale skin, tumbling out of that pathetic hiding place. Her arrogant teammate standing aside to let her fall. But she picked herself up and gave it right back to him. Yeah, he laughed softly to himself, he could understand that. — Katsuro has a moment where he thinks over why he chose her. There was something he identified with. And even in the face of Itachi’s disapproval he still stands by his choice of her. It’s the same in the manga, where he thinks about why he likes her.
• ‘I think she knows more than she realizes,’ he thought with his own small smile. ‘Those kinds of people should never be underestimated.’ — Little reference to Naruto in the manga, and his ‘don’t underestimate me’ line. Here, he’s tying it to Sakura as another reason why he likes her/chose her.
• “Katsuro pushed all the other thoughts away. There was no doubt in his mind he’d made the right choice. If Itachi needed more time to retrieve information from her, then so be it.” — He is standing by his decision because he still thinks she would provide better information than her other teammates, and something of having a good feeling about her as a troublemaker, but later, trusting his intuition will prove to be so much more important. She’ll be the single force that changes his life, and he is bonding himself to her now, although he doesn’t yet know it.
• “You were just playing ninja then,” he said quietly, still kneeling at his pack. “Now you’re in over your head, and you don’t even know it.” — This theme will come back throughout the story. For Katsuro/Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke — all three are young, powerful and are coping with powers they didn’t ask for and don’t know the limits of.
• “No! It is you who know nothing about your own village. How they throw away the ones who do not serve their purposes or crush the ones who stand in their way.” Dark shadows pooled on his face. — His reasoning for her being abandoned is flawed, but makes perfect sense to him. These are part of the lies Itachi has told him about Konoha. That they will abandon anyone who doesn’t suit their purpose. It is why they are so powerful, because they are ruthless. He is also speaking from his own experience.
• “It wasn’t in his nature to lash out so cruelly at others, but his anger had gotten the best of him — everything she came from was everything he hated.” – He never hates her, just where she is from and the things surrounding her.
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05 Jun 2010 No Comments
Chapter 3 Notes
Chapter notes:
• Sakura heard Katsuro mutter, “Hai, Taichou,” before storming back over, eyes down, deep in thought. His cheerful demeanor had completely evaporated. — This little bit shows Katsuro’s Naruto side of balking at authority. The man who is giving orders is a captain under Itachi. He is no one from Konoha, but it’s mentioned to help illustrate a little of the heirarchy of the group. It will help Sakura understand how the group operates, and what Katsuro’s role in it is. More about that in upcoming chapters.
• “It would have been an opening to run, but Sakura couldn’t move. Her world was collapsing in on itself. Everything he said made perfect sense. The inequity of strength and skill, the way they treated her as the dead weight on the team.” — Sakura has to see her village from his point of view, question it, feel some doubt. It allows her to bond with him in the short term, and forces her to come to some strong decisions about who she supports in the long term. A village and it’s policies, for better or for worse, or a rogue who’s never lived by anyone’s rules but his own.
• Outside, the fire crackled and hissed. Katsuro put anything he could find into the tiny inferno, trying dispiritedly to drown out the sound of her crying in the darkness. – Katsuro will have a hard time with her crying. He hates to hear it, thinks it’s weak. But it is more about his experiences than it has to do with hers. More to come.
Spoiler notes:
• Katsuro thought back to the first time he saw her, all pink hair and pale skin, tumbling out of that pathetic hiding place. Her arrogant teammate standing aside to let her fall. But she picked herself up and gave it right back to him. Yeah, he laughed softly to himself, he could understand that. — Katsuro has a moment where he thinks over why he chose her. There was something he identified with. And even in the face of Itachi’s disapproval he still stands by his choice of her. It’s the same in the manga, where he thinks about why he likes her.
• ‘I think she knows more than she realizes,’ he thought with his own small smile. ‘Those kinds of people should never be underestimated.’ — Little reference to Naruto in the manga, and his ‘don’t underestimate me’ line. Here, he’s tying it to Sakura as another reason why he likes her/chose her.
• “Katsuro pushed all the other thoughts away. There was no doubt in his mind he’d made the right choice. If Itachi needed more time to retrieve information from her, then so be it.” — He is standing by his decision because he still thinks she would provide better information than her other teammates, and something of having a good feeling about her as a troublemaker, but later, trusting his intuition will prove to be so much more important. She’ll be the single force that changes his life, and he is bonding himself to her now, although he doesn’t yet know it.
• “You were just playing ninja then,” he said quietly, still kneeling at his pack. “Now you’re in over your head, and you don’t even know it.” — This theme will come back throughout the story. For Katsuro/Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke — all three are young, powerful and are coping with powers they didn’t ask for and don’t know the limits of.
• “No! It is you who know nothing about your own village. How they throw away the ones who do not serve their purposes or crush the ones who stand in their way.” Dark shadows pooled on his face. — His reasoning for her being abandoned is flawed, but makes perfect sense to him. These are part of the lies Itachi has told him about Konoha. That they will abandon anyone who doesn’t suit their purpose. It is why they are so powerful, because they are ruthless. He is also speaking from his own experience.
• “It wasn’t in his nature to lash out so cruelly at others, but his anger had gotten the best of him — everything she came from was everything he hated.” – He never hates her, just where she is from and the things surrounding her.
<< Return to Chapter 3 • Go to Chapter 4 >>
by tricksie in Chapter Notes