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i am. so sorry if i have ever used the phrase “i have an au where—” and led you to believe that there is an actual fic out there for you to read rather than, at best, a post where i explain the concept, and at worst it is simply something that lives in my brain

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That's a wrap!

Thank you to everyone who participated this year, including those who posted off Tumblr! :) You all made my job as a mod rather easy, which is much appreciated. I'm currently undecided on whether I'll mod another iteration of NejiTen Month next year - all depends on personal motivation/circumstances, really. If I do, I'll be sure to post the interest check and calendar to this blog.

I'll guarantee reblogs for works submitted through the end of August, though I won't be checking the nejitenmonth2025 tag with nearly the same regularity. After that, feel free to tag me on any posted works (@gerardwayissexah or @nejiten-month) and I'll probably reblog anyhow.

-GerardWayisSexah

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got around to finishing up some old doodles lol more ninja kids!! 🍥

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I have mamakura feels. 

Mama is a strong woman. 

Sarada remembers her mother coming home with blood on her hands. The metallic scent of the liquid mingles with the milder fragrance of the hospital disinfectant, envelops mama like a second skin. No matter how many times she washes them, the blood lingers, Sarada knows - like the metaphorical Lady Macbeth, out, damn’d spot. On particular nights, mama washes and washes and washes her hands ten, twenty times - she stills at the sink, shoulders heaving, sharp breaths catching in her throat. She stays that way for a few minutes, then she turns around and smiles at her, asking what she would like for dinner, what story she’d like told at bedtime today. 

There is always a funeral soon after those days. Mama carries the bloodstains of those she couldn’t save, etched into the muscle and bone under her clean skin. The weight of a hundred lost souls are borne on her narrow shoulders; she walks tall still. 

Mama is a strong woman. 

She is not an idiot, but then again, adults had an odd knack for thinking that children were born blind and deaf and incurious. Sarada hears the whispers all around her, relentless since she has been able to walk and talk - whispers of abandonment, poor woman, and all for a criminal too. She is mentioned occasionally - the child is such a charming girl, though, Sakura-san must have brought her up properly, she’s better off without such a father - but it is mama they have an interest in, mama they talk about. I empathise with her situation, of course, but really…. to choose such a man in the end, I don’t know what else she was expecting. 

Sarada balls her fists and greets them politely. She knows if she retaliates, they will add her to their neverending list of things Uchiha Sakura should have expected.

Mama is a strong woman. 

Once, after a particularly terrible thunderstorm, Aunt Ino’s house had collapsed, taking her with it. Uncle Sai and Inojin had been frantic, had shown up on their doorstep drenched in rain - neither of their jutsus were appropriate for dealing with this kind of damage, especially in this kind of weather. Sarada had seen her mama turn white as a sheet, had seen her run out barefoot in one of the worst storms ever seen on Fire Country soil. She dug through the rubble singlehandedly, screaming Aunt Ino’s name all the while. Ino. Ino. Ino-pig. Answer me. The concrete blocks of the house were reduced to dust before her mother’s anguish. 

When she found Aunt Ino, those hands - dealing destruction and ruin just moments ago - turned gentle, soft as they covered the gaping wound on Aunt Ino’s shoulder. Mama cradled Aunt Ino in her lap, her entire body glowing with green chakra, the wreckage of the storm not nearly matching the destruction wrought by her. 

My wife is not a weak woman. 

Sarada looks her father in the eye, and thinks – 

I knew that already. 

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no but actually sakura yells at sasuke calling him a coward to his face and tries to kill him when she thinks he's going too far and y'all go and say she doesn't stand up to him 😳

have you ever thought that kishimoto reduces women to submissive damsels in distress when it's convenient to him and his mission of progressively making everything about naruto and sasuke at the expense of literally every other aspect in this series so that might be why sakura often reverses back to her incapable younger self when she's around him, at complete odds with her character growth throughout the manga 🤨 you guys realize that fictional characters have no real agency of their own and everything they do is the product of a writer's decision right?

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how it feels rn

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TEAM GAIII:DDDDDDD

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itachi at 13 // sakura at 16

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It’s been a while posting here

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when i first made my big tenten characterization post going through all of her genin years, I said that tenten was someone who cares a lot about how others perceive her. and i’ve definitely said this in other posts since, but after thinking about it some more, I think that’s only partially true. tenten is deeply concerned with how others perceive her as a shinobi, but not as a person.

in her genin years, tenten’s only concern was with with how competent she was as a shinobi. the filler episodes about her low self-esteem and issues with her role on her team were all set pre-shippuden. in shippuden she’s seen to be quite comfortable with who she is and the role she plays on her team. her only concern is getting new and powerful weaponry (and getting lee and gai to stop embarrassing her in public).

we see her grow a lot from part one to part two, as she gradually gains confidence in herself and settles into her role as a master of weapons and a long-range fighter. she still deeply desires the recognition of her skills (see her filler infinite tsukuyomi dream), and holds the team gai mentality of “stronger than we were yesterday”, but is aware of her upper limit and is comfortable taking things at her own pace.

throughout the show and manga, she’s shown to be well aware of her own limitations. she’s always asking to take breaks, and is the first one to tap out a lot of the time during team gai workouts, which is based in classic kishimoto misogyny but i’m ignoring that because it’s more interesting if you do ngl. neji has an ego problem and refuses to quit until he physically cannot keep going and lee is lee. there’s a level of self-confidence in the way that tenten can just say “no, i’m done this is enough.” and leave it. when she calls for breaks it’s often played as a joke but there’s something to the fact that she knows they can still make it on time if they take a break. her easygoing nature points more to self-assuredness than to insecurity.

she’s embarrassed by lee and gai, but it reads more that she wants to be taken seriously and not seen as a joke by association with them. the more seriously she’s taken, the more competent she comes off.

but aside from the shinobi competence, she really doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of her. she’s an outgoing person and seems like she talks to everyone (filler episodes where she organizes hangouts with all the girls), so she does like being around other people. but she doesn’t talk a lot and is kinda just there to vibe with everyone.

her speech is generally unrestrained and she seems to express her opinions quite openly without fear of reaction. she yells at lee and gai in public while other people are around, is respectful to clients but not quite to the extent neji is. when she’s trying to impress anyone, it’s always with regard to being a shinobi.

i think it’s fun to take this trait and run with it, because it’s really core to the tenten we see. her greatest concern is being a shinobi, a tool of the state. even her personhood is secondary.

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my design for Tenten's father

Tensei

former kiri shinobi, current blacksmith, wielder of forge hammers and girl-est of girl dad, also actually a giant of a man he's like 6'5

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seeing a dog in the rain- laura gilpin

something that's already dead can't be killed, so don't worry about her so much.