Funny / Dreaming of Sunshine

• Chapter 4: Strangely, Naruto's reaction to the Team 7 line-up is both this and a CMOH. After wanting to be put on a team with Sakura and not with Sasuke, he gets Sasuke, but Shikako instead of Sakura... and after booing about Sasuke, he sends Shikako a look that implies he wants to give her The Glomp. Which shows just how much her kindness has impacted him:
  "… seven is Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Shikako Nara," Iruka continued, and my attention snapped back to him. Naruto booed at Sasuke, then cheered, looking like he wanted to jump over the test and tackle-hug me. I gave him a weak smile.
• Chapter 5: Shikako attempts to win the bell test by simply asking Kakashi for them. When that doesn't work, she tries to see if there's anything she can give for them. She didn't expect either to work, but felt it was worth a shot.
• Chapter 9: Shikako takes a moment to make a comment to throw some shade at Tazuna, as she knows what he's doing.
  "We are ninja of Konoha," I spoke levelly. "When we accept a mission, we do our best to see that it is fulfilled… provided the mission parameters are a true and accurate rendition of information."
  He gulped. Definitely a sign of nervous behaviour.
• A large part of the fic's humor comes from Shikako's running commentary on numerous situations. One such point is when the squad first encounters Zabuza as he scares them by... talking to them while hiding in the mist. While the effect is actually scary, Shikako can't help but remark on this in her mind and wonder why he's still talking.
  Hello, my name is Zabuza Momochi and I'll be your assassin this evening.
• The entirety of the water fight scene in Chapter 14. Especially when Haku pushed Zabuza into the water.
  Shikako: (internally) Come to the dark side, we have cookies.
  • The water fight starts when a bored Shikako surprise tackles Sasuke from behind, causing the later to let out a girlish shriek.
• The "fight" between Kiba and Shikako in chapter 32.
• And this little exchange in chapter 36 when Gaara lets the Ichibi, Shukaku out:
  Temari: Only the Kazekage can deal with him when he's like this.
  Shikako: Hmm. We're fresh out of Kazekages.
  Shikamaru: Given the invasion, it probably wouldn't help even if we had one.
  Kiba: Yeah, I can imagine that. 'Ahem. Excuse me, Kazekage sir, could you please abandon the battle and come restrain your Jinchuriki? It seems to be getting out of hand. Much appreciated'.
  Sasuke: That's rather polite for you, Inuzuka. Not going to just demand help?
  Kiba: Well, y'know. Foreign Kage. Got to be on your best behaviour, right?
  Temari: You're all mad.
• Chapter 54: Fu's reaction to Naruto just straight up saying he's a Jinchuriki too.
  "You're a Jinchuriki," I said calmly, as soon as I could trust myself not to laugh. It probably wouldn't go over well. "The Seven Tails, right?"
  "Yes," she said.
  Naruto blinked in surprise, glee fading into determination. He lifted his chin. "Me too."
  Fu double-checked again. Yep, she hadn't seen that one coming. It was a good thing we weren't moving, or she might have actually fallen off the branch.
• The Land of Tea arc, where Aoi pulls out the Sword of the Thunder God and the first thought Shikako thinks is 'That… is a lightsaber'
  • During the same fight, she uses his own Trash Talk tactic against him. Seeing normally-civil Shikako annoyed enough by an opponent to go all out with the trash talk is hilarious enough, but she does it... by accusing him of sleeping his way into his rank.
    Shikako: With hair like that, you look like a girl from the right angle.
• Chapter 61: Shikako's commentary after the Sand Siblings' Big Damn Heroes moment.
  "Everyone is making such dramatic entrances today."
• Chapter 63: Sasuke takes a moment to throw some shade at Kakashi.
  Jiraiya: You kids do seem to land yourselves right in the middle of some serious messes.
  Kakashi: You don't know half of it. I've been gone for a week and come back to find they've done an A-rank without me.
  Sasuke: [smirking] Three. Technically, we did three A-ranks without you.
  [Kakashi stares]
  Sasuke: One of them started about… half an hour after you left.
  Kakashi: Stop talking. Just... stop.
• Chapter 65: After Sasuke is finally let out of the secure ward, where he had to stay in a room with Jiraiya studying the curse seal, Shikako picks up that he resorted to reading Jiraiya's books to stave off boredom.
  Sasuke: Don't say a word.
• Chapter 91's three-nation 'secret friendship handshake', in which the Chunin exam students from Konoha, Suna, and Kiri set up an alliance in a way their superiors could never understand.
  "Seriously?" Kankuro muttered under his breath, folding his arms.
  Temari elbowed him in the ribs. "Just do it," she hissed. She didn't look all that impressed, either, but Gaara was impassively following the directions. Even Neji was, actually, but that might have been an actual result of Lee repeatedly grabbing his hands and moving them.
  And somehow we managed to get sixteen people around a table doing a fist bump at the same time. That was slightly impressive.
• Chapter 92's ending. Shikako snarking at Kiba when he gripes over having to track down Tora the demon cat even during the exams. "Well, at least it was exactly your kind of mission, Kiba." Mean!
  • About the only thing that would have made it funnier was if it had included Hinata's reaction. Not sure if she would have folded over giggling or called Shikako out for being mean... while still giggling.
• This moment immediately after winning her 2nd match:
  Kiba: With your hair.
  Shikako: [thinks "Oh no"] Everyone is already here you don`t need to mention it ever again.
  Kiba: Oh no. This is never, ever being forgotten.
  Shikako: It worked.
  Kiba: And that's why it`s amazing, and why I`m going to tell this story for the rest of your life. Also did you know Hana once ripped out a guy's throat with her teeth?
  Shikako: That's impressive.
• In her third round match against Gaara there are several. Some are Shikako's internal commentary due to the adrenaline, such as singing "I felt like I could fly. Red Bull gives you wings~" to herself. Some are Gaara's reactions, as there are several points where his eyes go very wide in reaction to Shikako's actions, including her opening gambit of changing the entire field, but the crowning moment of the fight has to be after Shikako has lashed out with several strikes from the Sword of the Thunder God. She points it at him like a gun, braces herself, and lights up ten little lights wrapped around her arm.
  "Lightning Style," I shouted, because volume meant something, "Super Beam Cannon."
  I flicked the sword on, blade pointing straight at him.
  By this point, there was no disbelief. Gaara didn't have the momentary pause of 'does she mean it'. Didn't stop to consider.
  Which was good. Because I was so full of shit.
  • Then she uses a scroll to seal away his Shukaku Shield.
• Shikako, mildly delirious from her match with Gaara and a (failed) attempted kidnapping, finds herself surrounded by summons.
  I woke groggy and smothered in dogs.
  That… wasn't right.
  I cracked my eyes open and squinted. "Pakkun, why dog?" I asked plaintively.
  The pug put a tiny paw on my cheek. "Boss thought you might get into trouble," he said in his gravel voice. "Can't imagine why. He asked us to keep an eye out."
  That made sense. It explained the heavy weight across my feet. And the ones beside me. The bed was crowded. Except. "That's not a dog."
  Pakkun sighed. "He asked that weird friend of his to leave a summons, too."
  "Gai-sensei is a turtle," I agreed knowledgeably, and went back to sleep.
  • Some of the next few thoughts and lines after this were also pretty funny
    Lee sat down on the turtle, which looked completely resigned to being used as furniture.
    
    "Shikako out," I decided and closed my eyes again. Going to sleep was such an excellent method of escaping conversations that I wanted no part in.
• Filling out their promotion paperwork is an amusing mix of the kids both being professional and acting their age. When Tsume takes Shikako with her Kiba sing-songs, "You're in trouble," which earned him a cuff around the ears. Then Shikako comes back and Kiba asks about the additional papers she's working on, which are for her promotion to Special Jounin:
  "Promotion paperwork?" Kiba asked, reading the header upside down. "What, you didn't do it already? I am disappointed."
  I tapped the second line with my pen, directing his eyes.
  "No," he said. "You didn't."
  There was a brief flurry around the table as we proved just how easily sensory specialist ninja could cheat on paperwork.
  "Uh, surprise?" I said, shrugging awkwardly.
  There was a resounding silence.
  Then Sasuke flat out rolled his eyes at me "No one is actually surprised," he said, tone implying 'you idiot' in the exact same fond intonation he would have used on Naruto.
  • Followed by Shikako being surprised that no one else is surprised, people explaining their reasons, and then…
    "Come on, you can't be that surprised," Kiba said. "You were there. That thing where you fought a Jinchuriki? Ring any bells?"
    "Gaara is the Kazekage now," I blurted out, unthinkingly, because Tsunade had just told me and the fact was right at the tip of my tongue.
    It was a mistake.
    Sasuke very calmly put his head down on the table.
    Kiba started laughing so hard he wheezed.
• While on a night time tracking mission Shikako walks into a tree.
  Shikako: I did not walk into one. I would deny that one forever.
• Chapter 104 has the Mission Desk Ninja's reaction to Shikako handing out paperwork in their office.
  MDN: She touched them all. They're cursed.
• Shikako's reaction to somebody calling Shikamaru an idiot.
  • It involves the arch nemesis of all paper-pushers: massive amounts of paperwork.
• Shikako's choice of ANBU mask, and her reasoning.
  And that logic was: be yourself, unless given the chance, then always be Batman.
• In Chapter 142, Isobu curling up on himself to form a 'giant cat loaf', in Shikako's terms. And the fact that he was an honored guest at the Mizukage's wedding.
• Kino, Shikako and Shikamaru's little brother, refers to everything that isn't his mother (Kaa) but that he likes as "Nii". In fact, Kaa and Nii are the only things he seems capable of saying.
• In Chapter 149, we get a small, beautiful glimpse into the insanity of Shikako's ANBU missions:
  Towa: [Pretending to be ghosts] won't work. No one believes in ghosts.
  [Beat]
  Komachi: Taicho... Do you believe in ghosts?
  Hawk: I've seen ghosts.
  Bat: (internally) [He sounded] betrayed that he had to make those words in that order with his real, actual mouth and sound crazy, when both he and I knew it was true.

Sunshine Sidestories

• Anko's version of a bad feeling is buying a lot of dangos.
• When Shikako has her first fight of the second Chunin exam tournament, she defeats her opponent way too easily for her tastes. So she tries to monologue her way into a more interesting fight, to no avail. The best part is the reaction from the Kage's box.
  Tsunade: Who the hell taught her to monologue in the middle of a fight like that?
  Kakashi: (immediately) Zabuza.
  Zabuza: The hell are you talking about?
  Kakashi: Well, she had to have learnt it somewhere. [shakes his head] You were such a bad influence on my Genin.

Recursive Fiction

• One of the stories has Shikako's friends reacting to Netsui's taunting.
  Gaara: What.
  Kankurou: I don't know man, some people are dumbasses.
  Sasuke: You Can Say That Again.
  [They notice Shikako is pissed]
  Kankurou: She's dead.
  • Even Gaara's reason for taking notice of the fight is hilarious.
    The first sign that things might become interesting is that Shikako’s opponent turns out to be an idiot.

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