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sagemoderocklee · 3 months ago

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it’s my birthday today and while i desperately need to update this list with campaigns that are still active or new links, if you can take some time to look through this for the active links and consider donating even the minim $5/€5 to celebrate my bday id be so happy. and you can always put it towards these fic donation campaigns too! anything helps these families!

GaaLee Fanfics for Gaza // Fic WiPs for Falastin // Pre-Order for Palestine: Return to Sender Sequel // E-Sims for Extras

This post is up to date as of 7/20/2024.

In an effort to help Palestinian families who are trying to raise funds to evacuate from Gaza due to the occupations continued genocide, I have decided to offer up GaaLee fanfiction for anyone who donates. My goal with this campaign is to focus on a small group of GFMs at a time in order to better focus the financial impact on these families and their campaigns.

There are, at present, four ways to donate:

GaaLee Fics for Gaza

Fic WiPs for Falastin

Pre-Order: Return to Sender Sequel

E-Sims for Extras

The first and second options are part of @ficsforgaza. This is an incredible organized, multifandom effort that updates regularly with various writers offering fics for donations. If you are not interested in donating for a GaaLee fic, please check out the other authors working with @ficsforgaza.

The third and fourth option focus on new content for older and already completed fics. The third option focuses on a single family, who have struggled a great deal in obtaining funds. The fourth and final option focuses on E-sims, which are desperately needed so many months into the genocide in Gaza. The cheapest option for e-sims is $9.

Here is the list of families GaaLee Fics fo Gaza and Fic WiPs for Falastin will be focused on. For the RtS Pre-order, see the next campaign after the list. For e-sims, please check out GazaSims.

Note: While only two of these families on this list have been vetted by someone on tumblr, I have been in contact with each and every one of these families on Instagram for months. I have spoken at length with them on a regular basis, followed them, and witnessed their first hand accounts in their stories and in posts they share. If you wish to speak with me about any family for verification, please DM me. I would rather you contact me and ask than overlook a family because of any doubts you might have.

Donate to:

Amal is 24 years old with two beautiful daughters. Her goal is $50,000 and (at the time of posting) she has raised $9,195.* (*Link updated)

The Wishah family is a family of 8, which includes their surviving cat. Their goal is €71,500 and (at the time of posting) they have raised €12,253. (vetted by @/el-shab-hussein)

Nourhan is raising funds to help her family of 9 evacuate. Her goal is €70,000, but (at the time of posting) she has only raised €25.

The Rozan family is a beautiful family of six, including children and teens, trying to evacuate. The family's goal is €38,000 and (at the time of posting) they have raised €5,915. (vetted by @/el-shab-hussein)

Rawan is a 15 year old girl doing everything she can to raise the funds for her family of 6, which includes her younger brothers. Rawan's goal is $30,000 CAD, and (at the time of posting) she has raised $6,159 CAD.

Omar just turned 20, as today (4/26) is his birthday. He is a friend of Rawan's and is raising funds to evacuate himself and his family. His goal is €20,000, and (at the time of posting) he has raised €11,022.

Mona is a mother of three trying to evacuate herself, her children, her husband, and her sick mother. Her goal is $50,000, but (at the time of posting) she has only raised $609.

Wafa is a single mother from Gaza trying to raise funds to evacuate herself and her daughter. Her campaign is in Danish krone with an exchange rate of kr6.97 for every US $1. Her goal is kr100,000 (=$14,345.56), and (at the time of posting) she has only raised kr5,562 (=$797.90).

Somaya needs help to evacuate herself and her two children. Her goal is $40,000, and (at the time of posting) she has received $2,085.

Jehad is 20 years old and doing everything he can to try and help his family. They are struggling against the awful conditions, especially his younger sister, Farah, who is disabled. His goal is €40,000 and at the time of posting he has only received €1,093.

Fadi is only 17 and was recently injured in the ongoing assault against Gaza. He broke his leg, which now has pins in it for him to heal. He is raising funds for his family and his goal is €30,000, but he has only received a small €128 in donations.

CAMPAIGN CLOSED Seham is a young woman from Gaza doing her best for her family. Her goal is £40,000 yet she has only raised £835 at the time of posting. CAMPAIGN CLOSED

Nour is Rawan's (line 5) 12 year-old cousin. She is working so hard on IG to raise funds for her family. She recently became a big sister again, and her younger sister was born in a tent. At the time of posting, her campaign is at $4,327 of its $20,000 goal.

Tala Al-Haj is a friend of Rawan's (line 5). Like Rawan, she is 15 and experiencing unimaginable horrors. On top of that, her previous GFM sponsor was untrustworthy and what little she'd managed to raise previously had to be refunded after this betrayal. Tala has taken it upon herself to help her family, and has decided to trust again and made a new GFM with a new sponsor. Please help her regain both the donations she needs and her faith in people. At the time of posting, her campaign is at $227 of it's $80,000 goal.

Mustafa's wife, Esraa, has worked tirelessly to raise funds for her and her family. Her two children are suffering through this genocide, and she and her husband only wish to see them safe. After much struggle, Esraa has finally started to receive donations and has begun to receive more help, but she is still far from her goal. At the time of posting, this campaign is at €9,184 of it's €25,000 goal.

Pre-Order for Palestine: Return to Sender Sequel Donations to be Made to Dr. Maryam and her family's evacuation fund.

Dr. Maryam is a doctor living in Egypt working tirelessly to evacuate her surviving family from Gaza. Due to the occupations continued genocide, her mother and one of her nephews was martyred, her father needs medical care due to shrapnel in his body and age, and recently, one of her family members gave birth in a tent. Maryam's campaign has struggled to reach its goal of €40,000. Originally, her goal was higher, but due to the slow nature of donations, she lowered it in the hopes she can meet her goal more quickly. Maryam works long hours as a doctor, and has repeatedly told me, heartbroken and exhausted, that she 'saves lives everyday but can't save [her] family'.

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For more information on how each of these campaigns will work, please check below the cut. If you are not familiar with my writing, you can check it out here.

If you have any questions after reading below the cut, please feel free to DM me or send an ask.

You can find the donation & fic tracker for this here.

GaaLee Fics for Gaza

This is a fairly straight-forward donation campaign. Donate at least the minimum amount to any of the above families (or multiple of the above families), and I will write you a GaaLee fanfic. Below are more details:

Minimum donation is $5USD. Any donation to a campaign run in a different currency must still meet the minimum in USD. Send proof of donation to me via DMs. The screenshot must clearly show your name and the amount as a finalized payment.

No NSFW.

Only GaaLee fics, Gaara-centric fics, or Lee-centric fics. Side pairings are fine, assuming it's a side-pairing I typically write (ShikaTema, NejiTen, KakaGai) and not a NOTP in order to ensure the speed and quality of the fic.

AUs and canon-verse are fine. No Bortuo.

Fics will be 2,000 words minimum, but depending on the prompt may go up to 5,000.

Donating more than $5 will not change the word count, unless it is a generous donation (ie. $50 or more) and/or you donate to all 12 families above. However, bear in mind this will prolong the writing process.

Donations to multiple families counts as separate fics, or you can combine these donations into a longer fic. Again, bear in mind longer fics will take more time.

You may request a fic idea of your own, or if you do not have one you may request a fic from my 'ideas doc' which I will pick at random.

I reserve the right to refuse a prompt for any reason including: not feeling comfortable with writing it; not agreeing with the characterization; finding the prompt offensive, and so on.

You cannot make a $20 donation for a GaaLee Fic for Gaza and use that same donation towards Fic WiPs for Falastin or the RtS sequel. Those must be separate.

DM me proof of donation. No anonymous donations. As this is now in conjunction with @ficsforgaza proof of donation will be shared with them. I also have my own personal tracker, which you can find here.

If you would like to remain anonymous on my personal fic tracker, please let me know right away.

There is currently no cap to how many fics I will write, but that is subject to change in the event this blows up (which I don't expect).

Fic WiPs for Falastin

If you were already following along with this campaign when I was offering a bid for an update, then this is similar in nature. However, instead of an individual bidding on a fic, this is a collective effort wherein every person's donation counts towards a total number of words written leading to a WiP being updated. In other words, multiple people can now work to sponsor an update for any number of my on-going WiPs (listed below, list subject to change).

Minimum donation is $5USD for 250 words towards a fic update. Any donation to a campaign run in a different currency must still meet the minimum in USD. Send proof of donation to me via DMs. The screenshot must clearly show your name and the amount as a finalized payment.

For every $5 dollars added to the minimum donation, I will write another 250 words. This price is based on the nature of my writing and the amount of research involved with the fics listed for updating. If an update is estimated at 20,00 words then a collective donation amount of $80USD must be met.

A single donation towards a sponsored update cannot be combined for a GaaLee Fic for Gaza or for the RtS sequel.

DM me proof of your donation and include which fic you wish to have said donation go towards being updated. Because this is in conjunction with @ficsforgaza I will be sharing any proof of donation with them and no donations can be made anonymously. You can find the donation tracker here.

Despite the plethora of WiPs I have, this campaign will only be focused on a handful of fics, listed below. Please do not request an update for a fic that is not on the list.

Sponsoring an update does not mean you will be given any input on the update. For instance, you cannot make a request for something specific to happen in the fic.

If you would NOT like to be listed as a sponsor on the update or specifically named on the tracker, please let me know ahead of time. This is incredibly important work, and I would like to acknowledge the people who support these families with a shout out, but understand if you would rather not be mentioned.

If at anytime I feel the need to pause accepting donations, I will make an announcement, but at the moment this will be open for any of the below fics.

Fics to Sponsor and donation target:

Absolution ($100USD; ets 25k words) Update: Ch6+Ch7 have been donated towards. Next chapter available for donation is Ch8

The Art of Love ($60USD; est 15k words)

Blood on the Branches ($26USD; est 6,500 words)

It Eats Your Heart ($52USD; est 13k words)

Thirteen Strokes ($100USD; est 25k words)

Pre-Order for Palestine: Return to Sender Sequel

This particular campaign is similar to the sponsored campaign, however, with a targeted goal--sort of like a kick starter.

In an effort to help Dr. Maryam, I am offering a sequel to my most popular fic, Return to Sender. This sequel will be a long shot, or a long one-shot for those not familiar with the term, set after the end of RtS. It will be a light, fluff piece, focusing on their life after the events of the fic. It will not be plot heavy, and is designed to be a feel-good piece.

For this unplanned sequel to be published, a collective amount of donations totaling €200 must be met. This is in order to maximize the impact on Dr. Maryam's campaign, which has consistently struggled to reach higher sums despite the tireless work Dr. Maryam and her brother, Omar, have both put into it. The guidelines for how this campaign works are essentially the same as the Fic WiPs, with the exception to this being a goaled campaign.

At the moment, I do not have an exact idea of how long this fic will be, but likely between 15k-20k words. Again, this is a collective effort, and no one is expected to donate the full €200.

For every additional €100 over the aforementioned goal (ie the campaign reaches €300 with proof of donation), I will write an additional story set within the RtS timeline. For instance, I might write one of the scenes already written from Gaara's PoV, or I might write something that happened off-screen, such as the rescue of Lee that took place between chapter 9 and 10.

As with the above two campaigns, donations to Dr. Maryam cannot be combined with the other two, proof must be sent to me, and requests will not be accepted for what happens in the fic. The minimum donation amount GFM allows is $5/€5, so that is the minimum bid for this campaign. Again, you can find the donation tracker here.

E-Sims for Extras

This particular campaign focuses on connecting Palestinians in Gaza to the world via e-sim donations. As of 7/20/24, the genocide has lasted for nearly 10 months and Gaza's infrastructure has been utterly destroyed. From hospitals and schools to sewage, the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is many fold: if it's not bombs, it's famine; if it's not famine, it's a lack of healthcare.

In order to help Palestinians remain connected to each other and the world, e-sims are vital. However, there is a shortage of e-sims now, almost a year after the start of this genocide.

An e-sim is an easy way to help Palestinians, and the starting price for this campaign is the minimum amount of an e-sim of $9. This campaign follows the same rules as the above campaigns, however, like the campaign for Dr. Maryam, this one is focused not on new fics or updates to WiPs, but on new content for completed projects* (RtS not included, as that's reserved for Dr. Maryam's family's campaign).

So if there's a fic of mine you absolutely loved and just couldn't get enough of, now is your chance to get more! The options for "more" include off-screen scenes, scenes rewritten from another character's PoV, and scenes from before the start of the fic or after.

In order to donate, please check out gazasims website and remember that I also will require proof of donation. When you buy the e-sim, please remember you MUST email the QR code to [email protected] and do NOT activate it. Activation by someone in Gaza is not required for the e-sim donation to count towards fic, as that can take time.

Word count is not based on the amount donated for this particular campaign, due to the nature of it. However, donating an e-sim worth $20 or more will grant you two extras. And as with the above campaigns, any donation amount related to E-Sims for Extras cannot be combined with the above campaigns.

Fics for Extras:

My Home is Your Home* (Note: a sequel is planned, so this will only include scenes from before or during the events of MHiYH, not after)

Plus One (Note: a sequel is planned, so this will only include scenes from before or during the events of Plus One, not after, and will not include NSFW content)

Pearl-Filled Lungs

Gate of Dreaming

Kadō

Flyweight Love* (Note: a sequel is planned, so this will only include scenes from before or during the events of Flyweight Love, not after)

Alliance* (Note: a sequel is planned, so this will only include scenes from before or during the events of Alliance, not after)

Stolen Glances

if wanting were enough, i'd take you by the hand (TW: suicidal idealization, suicide attempt, past character death)

A large number of my completed fics are just ficclets, which is why they are not included here. However, if you did want to see me extrapolate on something from a ficclet, you can still request that when you DM me proof of e-sim donation. Any 'longer' fics not included in this are not available for extras (longer, in this case, referring to the handful of one-shots I have).

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Fanfiction Bids for Falastin [CLOSED]

Final bid: $50USD to @shukakumoodboard for the next chapter of The Ballad of the Dragon and the Phoenix

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As a general note to everyone donating, I will do my best to deliver fics quickly, but I am disabled and recently came down with covid again, so please excuse any delays. However, I will ONLY be writing fics related to this fundraising effort, so no other fics will take priority.

Also thank you in advance to everyone who donates, whether you donate for a fic or not. Truly, you have no idea how important every single donation is to every single family is. The messages I have received filled with gratitude and kindness would break your heart and make you cry. It was so impossible to pick only fourteen families to ask you to help when I have so many more reaching out to me; when there are so many more who I haven't spoken to whose campaigns I've seen on my various social media feeds. No one family is more important than another. Every family is filled with love, with stories, with memories, with hopes and dreams; every family matters so much; every single family deserves to live free, long, happy lives; and every family has experienced so much pain and loss there is no way to do that justice with words, but they deserve the chance to grieve, to breathe, and to heal.

Please help these families reach their goals, please share even if you can't donate. Every single thing we do creates a ripple effect. One dollar becomes two, becomes three, becomes four... until one day a family is safe.

So please, regardless of the fic I am offering, do what you can--whether that's sharing GFMs or donating. Every little bit helps.

#i’ve been super all over the place so i haven’t had the chance to update this #mostly just exhausted and depressed but i will try to update this soon!

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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do u ever get a comment on a fic thats just so sweet that ur like Maybe slaving over 24k of fanfiction was worth it for user SprinkleTrashcan2012 to leave a three paragraph comment

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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officially on vacation and leaving for ireland tomorrow. anxious but excited

#def wishin i could bring my laptop to write when im like chillin at my bnb #but alas i will not have the room and honestly cant risk bringin my giant gaming laptop

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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been havin a lot of ppl randomly find my old, short pieces of writing i was doing back in like 2018 so my daily kudos email is always full 💕

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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been stewing on an analytical approach to fiction which I call "is this book afraid of me?" and in order to answer this question you determine how hard the book is trying to make sure you don't come after the writer on twitter

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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WiP Ask Game

rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! then tag as many people as you have wips.

Got tagged by @tentenismybitch and I'm always down to chat about my fic plans, so let's do it! It’s not possible for me to tag as many ppl as i have WiPs but tagging @shukakumoodboard @ghoste-catte @ghost-in-the-stalls @jessicamiriamdrew and honestly anyone else who might wanna do this but hasn't been tag--here's your excuse to do this!

I've done this game before, so I'm more or less just copying and pasting that list, but I will be adding in some new things and crossing out things I've already talked about last time I did this game to avoid repeating myself since for the most part i doubt there's much new i can say about WiPs that I haven't made a lotta progress on. I included links to those answers in case someone was dying to know more but had missed the original post.

Much like last time, I'm not gonna include WiPs that have significant posted progress.

WiPs below the cut because it's a stupid long list:

Currently Posting (One Chapter Up):

The Allied Nations Saga: Honor Bound

Blood on the Branches

The Cost of Silk

The Eagle's Augury

Fill in the [____]

Koshu

The Passing of Things

We Need Not Be Yellow Tulips in a Garden of Gardenia, Yet We Go the Way of the Red Camellia

Heartbreak Curses and Love Potions to Cure Them [NEW! Formerly HP AU, since adapted]

Unposted:

A Cat's Guide to Finding Love

A Day Like Any Other

The Allied Nations Saga: Secret Liaisons

The Allied Nations Saga: Fidelity

Assumptions (working title) [NEWLY ADDED!]

The Beautiful Beast of Cāngdì

Driven By You

Final Bow

Hard Cider [Working Title] [NEWLY ADDED!]

Home With You

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Kenshin

Killing Gods [NEWLY ADDED!]

Paralytic [NEWLY ADDED!]

Pirate/Selkie AU [NEWLY ADDED]

Plucked Peony Petals

Say My Name (working title)

Scarification

Secrets of the Daimyo: Sigilism

To Live a Life Belovéd

Unnamed Horror Story, formerly BotB

Unnamed (Leave My Body Inspired) [NEWLY ADDED!]

Unnamed ('Please don't leave me here' Prompt) [NEWLY ADDED!]

Unnamed (Sky Full of Song Inspired) [NEWLY ADDED!]

Unnamed (Who Wants to Live Forever Inspired Fic)

Unnamed ('Your presence soothes me' Prompt) [NEWLY ADDED!]

While You Were Sleeping AU [NEWLY ADDED!]

#tubi has while you were sleeping so i’m gonna watch it #and it will probably make me wanna work on that AU

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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#naruto #gaara #rock lee #gaalee #shippuden

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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killing gods & honor bound!!

lmao i shoulda known youd pick honor bound! but ill start with Killing Gods since i've got less to say about that fic lol

Killing Gods is a fic loosely tied to the song Big God by Florence+the Machine. I've got... so many fics that were spawned by one song or another of hers, but this fic is a lot looser in relationship to that song than some of my other fics inspired by her music.

this fic plays around with the whole reincarnated gods thing that the war arch shoved into the series, which i largely ignore and think is stupid, but sometimes it's fun to try and fix things. make things make more sense. im not like fully sure what ill be doing with this fic if i ever get around to writing it but this is the summary i have for it:

Naruto and Sasuke are descended from gods—are gods reincarnated. The world is uneasy—more specifically those in power are uneasy. How do you control a god? How do you kill a god? What happens when a god doesn't like the way you do things? What happens if your god isn't benevolent? Meetings held in secret to discuss plans, to uncover the other gods hidden in the world. Unbeknownst to Naruto or Sasuke, a technique is created using their blood and chakra that will help identify the other reincarnated gods that walk amongst shinobi. Sakura is revealed to be a god, deep in slumber, of life and death; Gaara a god of protection and love. There are others. There are too many. The council makes a decision: bind the gods' powers, keep them from ever becoming a threat to the status quo. (expand on later)

so very loose premise but there's something in it that's intriguing and what's funny to me is that this accidentally ties into some worldbuilding for Suna that hasn't yet come up in any of my fics... i say accidentally cause ive had this idea since around 2018 before i got to the point where this worldbuilding piece came to be. 13S does bring up Suna's gods so like in a way and it was the last chapter of 13S i posted that had me thinking about religious beliefs more solidly in Suna/Wind but ultimately there's some things ive toyed with for Gaara's family tree that this accidentally connects to. anyways this is literally all that i have for KG but it's still there in my ideas doc and knowing me when/if i ever get to it i will likely go completely off the rails with it and turn it into a trilogy or something XD

NOW! for the fic I KNOW you're probably more excited to hear about:

So here's the banner for the fic since it's been a hot minute since i updated it. i originally wasn't going to post this at all until i'd finished editing Alliance (which I know you're enjoying :p) but then we had the Naruto Run to 1K so I pulled out every single GaaLee fic I'd had stuff written for and posted it all. But Alliance has a lot of things that need fixing--prose and some plot things and some world building. I was never really fully satisfied with how I ended the war itself. Like certain things I liked, but I felt like I was rushing by the time I got to writing the war because at that point the canon series had actually ended and I was like well fuck I gotta get this done. Then of course Alliance still sat for 3 years while I edited it.

At the moment, Honor Bound is the prologue+3 chapters in. The posted prologue for HB and SL have been written since... I wanna say 2010/2011. When I first came up with Alliance, I'd wanted it to be like THEE newest hot longfic for GaaLee and I was soooo hype to write it I did all this plotting and planning and then realized.... it couldn't be a single fic and GaaLee wasn't gonna happen in Alliance. It didn't make sense. So I needed a sequel. And then it was a trilogy... and it stayed a trilogy for a long time but I wanna say sometime between 2016 and 2018 I realized that by the end of SL not every single thing would be wrapped up. Thus Fidelity was born, making this a tetrology not a trilogy, which is why I ended up calling it The Allied Nations Saga.

Anyways, lots of rambling but this series was for a long time my baby, but then I wrote The Art of Love which sort of usurped TANS, and over the years I just developed an even richer and more grounded world than what Alliance had so... editing has kept HB from progressing. The plot of HB is fully ready to go--as is SL. I've had the first three fics planned since 2010, Fidelity is the only one without any real plans beyond some basic political things and relationship things.

The biggest challenge with Alliance and the rest of the series, thus HB, is that the world building I'd done during this time no longer aligns with my world building now and some of it I flat out don't like or agree with anymore for a variety of reasons. i was young so i was really trying to flesh out a more lived in world but not necessarily doing it all the right way especially trying to build up a cultural word within Wind Country. it wasn't as in depth or thought out, so now I have to like... figure out what I'll do with some of that. the last scene i wrote for HB where i started to get writer's block was a scene with San in fact lol

I know I toyed around with the title for HB for a long time too, before settling on the title. I can't remember what it was exactly before but it didn't hit the way Honor Bound does. And I think HB works as a title better because we're obviously continuing to follow a majority of the cast from Alliance, so thematically it's gonna be relevant to all of them not just Lee. The original title was def more... Lee focused lol I forget how far along you are now into Alliance so I dont wanna say too much but I will ive you a snippet below the cut and it'll be a tenten pov [ :p ] cause I really love what I've had planned for Tenten for this fic and beyond. honestly alliance made me love tenten so much. it made me love a lotta characters i was otherwise ambivalent about or neutral on like Sai. Tragically, it never did help me love Kiba or Hinata XD

anyways here's the unedited Tenten PoV 'snippet' (it's the full scene XD) from Ch2: Rebirth of HB: (Spoiler warning: since you haven’t finished Alliance yet, this does obviously give you some minor spoilers)

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Tenten's hands shook as she stepped into the meeting room. With any luck it would be the first of many meetings to go over her proposal, but the first was always the worst. She glanced back, trying to catch one last view of Neji to steel herself with, but the doors closed behind her with a soft click before she could.

She swallowed, approaching the small table that had been setup in the middle of the room. She set down the scrolls she carried, dropping a few on the floor as her hands continued to shake. She took in a deep breath, forcing herself to be calm as she picked up the scrolls.

<em>Get a hold of yourself,</em> she chided.

Straightening, she set her scrolls down and turned to meet the Hokage's gaze.

Tsunade watched her intently, unblinkingly. Behind Tsunade, Naruto watched with the lazy air of someone about to fall asleep. On either side of Tsunade, the council members watched Tenten, judgment shining in their stern gazes.

“It is the first day of the tenth month at ten in the morning, and this proposal hearing is now in session. We are gathered here to listen to a proposal put forth by Chuunin and former Captain of the Genin Fleet, Tenten,” Homura declared. “You may begin.”

Tenten inclined her head. “Thank you, Mitokado-dono. I have come before you today to discuss what myself and many of my comrades feel are necessary changes that need to be implimented to the way we as shinobi and as people do things. For as long as Konoha has existed, we have been a nation of shinobi and I am proud to count myself among those skilled warriors.

“I have been a shinobi for most of my life. I grew up knowing I would become a shinobi, even before I could properly understand what that meant. I entered the academy, I did all the things I was meant to do. I became a Genin. My experiences as a Genin were standarad. Most of my days were spent training with my teammates, Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee, and our sensei, Maito Gai. Our missions as Genin were typical. We were a good, strong team. But we were a team of children.”

Tenten paused, allowing the last sentence to sink in. The two council members exchanged looks.

“During the war, myself and several others took under our wing newly made Genin. These children had been promoted, according to Konoha and Suna's council, because of necessity. War was upon us and we needed as many able fighters as we could find, but these were not able fighters. They were children. None of the children in my care were ready to fight in a war. Most of them had not even reached graduation age, yet they were given hitai-ate and asked to stand on the front lines. In the end, thanks to myself and my teammates, we were able to save the children from the worst of the battle. Yet we still sustained losses.

“And above all, the children lost their childhoods. It is my belief, and the belief of my former teammates, that eleven years is not old enough to graduate from the Academy. In addition, I believe that we start children training to become shinobi far too young. Many of these children come from clans and do not feel they have a choice, but I think it is time we gave them a choice. It's time we give the children of Konoha their childhoods, and if they wish to become shinobi, then let them make the choice when they are older. Let them make the choice when they are more able to think for themselves. Let's ensure that no child ever has to fight in a war again.”

Tenten finished, her hands shaking once more. The council members were glaring at her, Naruto was leaning forward in his seat suddenly intent, and Tsunade stared at Tenten, impassive and emotionless.

“Your proposal is intriguing,” she said.

“Intriguing!?” cried Homura. “This is simply outrageous. We are a shinobi village, not a daycare center. The children are perfectly safe—”

“No disrespect meant, Mitokado-dono,” Tenten interupted, her tone suddenly cold, “but the children are not safe. Everyday, we hand weapons to children and ask them to risk their lives. My teammate, Rock Lee, nearly died in the Chuunin Exams our first year attending—and our sensei had us entered into the exam in our second year, unlike many other sensei who rushed their Genin teams into it. I watched children die in the war—”

“It was war! Of course some died! It's simply unavoidable!”

“No! It is not unavoidable!” Tenten shouted, anger overcoming her. She slammed her hands on the table before her, staring down the council. “Those children were placed directly into harms way when we handed them their hitai-ate. They weren't shinobi, they were children. This council and Suna's made them into soldiers, but they were still children. Most of them couldn't even mold their chakra properly yet!” Tenten felt tears in her eyes as the feelings she'd been holding in—resentment and guilt and anger—came rushing forth. She sucked in a breath, forcing herself to calm. She couldn't let her feelings rule her now. If she was going to make the council see reason, she had to show them the facts.

Silence stretched in the room as the echo of her anger died down and she found her center. Collecting her thoughts, she took from her pile one of the scrolls and unfurled it with practised ease.

“I have prepared, what I feel, is a simple plan—a way to change the way we do things. Instead of children starting at the academy at five years of age, they should start when they are thirteen—”

“Thirteen?!”

“Silence,” the Hokage snapped. “Continue.”

“They should start when they are thirteen years old. At the end of every year, there should be an evaluation wherein the students discuss their goals for the future. During this evaluation, they should be asked whether or not they want to continue training to become shinobi. As long as they wish to, they may continue, but any child who does not may return to a normal school program without shame or judgment. All those who see it through to graduation would be receiving their hitai-ate at the age of twenty.”

“Twen—”

“Homura,” Tsunade snapped, “if you cannot control your outbursts you may leave.”

“But Hokage—” Tsunade narrowed her eyes and Homura closed his mouth, glaring at the Hokage. She stared back, gaze unwavering. Finally, he dropped his gaze. “Forgive me, Tenten. Please continue.”

Tenten would never forgive him. Not any of the council for what they'd done to those children. Tonboko still had gruesome nightmares of losing her friends, still feared the forests at night. She did not smile the way she once had, instead she trained with a dilligance that went beyond obsessive, determined to fight the ghosts and monsters in her dreams, and to save the friends who were already gone. How could Tenten ever forgive them for the damage they'd done?

“Twenty is the age when we are considred adults,” Tenten went on. “The longer children are in the academy, then the better their survival rate will be. I have here,” she said, grabbing another scroll and stepping forward, “a statistical analysis based on research I was able to conduct in the last month. On average, a shinobi's lifespan is only about thirty-five years old. Most shinobi die in the field or go missing in action before the age of twenty-five. This applies to shinobi of all ranks, but especially Chuunin, though this may be due to the fact that most shinobi do not advance beyond Chuunin level.”

“Do you feel that this survival rate would increase with these changes you're suggesting?” Tsunade asked.

“Absolutely. Not only will those training to become shinobi have had more time to hone their skills, but they will also be more emotionally and mentally able to handle their missions. Of course, there is no way to completely avoid the mental and emotional toll this line of work has on a person, but I do believe that with these changes we would see a happier, healthier, and longer-lived shinobi which could only be better for the village.”

“And what of those already made Genin?” Koharu asked, speaking for the first time. She looked calmer than she had when Tenten had first begun to explain her proposal. She leaned forward, looking at Tenten intently.

“Those who are already Genin,” Tenten explained, “would be offered the choice. I do not believe they should remain Genin, but they have already seen so much. I think some of them will choose to give up their hitai-ate—permanently or temporarily—but I know there will be some who cannot. However, I do believe they should return to the Academy and graduate at the age of twenty. They could be given D-rank missions while still training, but anything more should be heavily considered. They are still children, and now they are children carrying a heavy trauma.”

Koharu nodded. “Interesting. You realise that such a thing will cause quite an uproar, don't you?”

“Yes, Utatane-dono. I have considered the potential backlash this proposal will receive. I believe the pros of moving forward far outweigh the cons.”

“And you are prepared to endure the ridicule and possible ostrisization from your fellow shinobi?”

“I have spoken with enough of my comrades to know that those closest to me support this intiative.” She pulled another scroll from her pile, passing it to the Hokage. “I have here a list of shinobi, from both Konoha and Suna, who agree with this plan.”

“This is a petition,” Tsunade noted.

“Yes, Hokage-sama. In the event that this council does not agree to pass this proposal, then I am prepared to take this to the next level. The petition has already reached enough signatures between our village and Suna's, granting that, should your council not see fit to move forward, I be heard by a council of the Great Nations and our allies.”

“You're well prepared,” Tsunade said, a hint of pride in her voice.

Tenten inclined her head. She had to be prepared for anything, she could not fail the children again.

“My concern,” Koharu said suddenly, looking over the scroll that detailed Tenten's proposal, “is that this will severely weaken Konoha's forces. We are already at a great disadvatange, you realise. We sustained a great number of losses during the war, not to mention the damage to the village and the strain on our resources housing Suna's people caused. If we do this, we would see our shinobi forces cut by at least a third, and we wouldn't see any growth in the numbers for years.”

“This is only the first step of my proposal,” Tenten said, and again another scroll was passed to the council. “The main objective is to ensure that children live happy and whole lives, not marred by war; that children are able to experience childhood and make the choice for themselves when they are ready to become shinobi. Eventually, as we move forward, the initiative would be presented to all shinobi villages, great and small.”

“And what if a village does not agree to this proposal?”

Tenten had been waiting for this question. “With the war at an end and our alliances at their strongest, there is no reason for this to be seen as damaging. If this is truly a time of peace, then this would not hurt the other nations. It is my belief that now is the most ideal time for this proposal to be put forth to all of the shinobi nations. Any nation who refuses would be seen as hostile, which would go against the alliances formed.”

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, glancing up from the scroll to pin Tenten with her gaze. “I take it you intend to use this pettion to propose such an amendment during a summit.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama.”

“Very well. All in favour of a secondary hearing on the matter of the Children's Protection Act?”

“All in favour,” Koharu said. Homura grumbled, but eventually he relented.

Tsunade grinned. “Naruto?”

“Wha—eh? I get to vote?”

“You are training to be the Hokage, aren't you?”

Naruto grinned. “I think Tenten knows what she's talking about. I mean,” his shoulders slumped and he looked down. “Konohamaru hasn't been the same since the war, so... I agree with Tenten.”

Tsunade nodded and banged the gavel twice. “Your proposal has been approved. We will collect all research and outlines of said proposal now. Please meet with my assistant to set a date for further discussions.”

The tension and guilt Tenten had been carrying released so suddenly she would have collapsed if not for the table before her. Her throat constricted, but she managed to keep from crying as she bowed herself out of the room. Neji was waiting for her, his back to the door as he stared out the window. She could see that his Byakugan was actived. He turned to her, a small smile on his face.

“Congratulations,” he said softly.

Tenten collapsed in his arms, crying her relief and joy into him.

There would be many more meetings to come, and the preliminary meeting was no guaruntee that her proposal would be passed. There would be people who did not agree with her, as Homura clearly didn't, there would be countless rebutals and constant ridicule, but she'd taken that first step towards change. She was sure, that in time, the rest of the shinobi world would follow her.

#ask game answers #my fanfiction #the allied nations saga #tenten #naruto #shippuden #long post #i def will be editing this tenten scene btw #it’s… the essence of what i want but imma change it some #and also make the prose better

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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YES! The war shoulda lasted longer than 2 days it's sooooo stupid! this man has no idea how long wars can and do last! like he didn't write a war he wrote a battle. a battle is a short term, usually pivotal moment in a war and that's what kishimoto wrote. the war shoulda lasted at least a year and included the political side of it but... god forbid kishimoto think about the politics HE put into the series

im not sure what the redacted means tbh but i do think that writing what you dont know is absolutely possible with research and care! obviously pregnancy and postpartum are huge and sensitive topics to tackle without experience, but it's definitely still possible to approach i think! we can't always write what we know and i think there's a line that can be respected with that *especially* in fandom but i think if we only ever wrote what we knew we'd... never write anything lol and there's a lot we can say about these things regardless of if we havent personally gone through them if we are coming from places of empathy and understanding--that's just my two cents and encouragement because i think the concept you've got with temari giving birth in secret, keeping it from Shikamaru etc is really good and a really good way of bringing like potential fears she might have about childbirth up like her mom *did* die giving birth and like also there's so much trauma post war anyways but im always gonna be here for any story that deals seriously with the heavier shit that shoulda been goin down in naruto lmao

i NEED to hear about tenten from kumo!!!!!! but also please tell me about cut from the dullest knife i’m obsessed with that title (this is sagemoderocklee btw 🤗)

OKAY I’LL START WITH CUT FROM THE DULLEST KNIFE! the title came from a paramore song i think?

so i actually wrote and published this from late 2019-early 2020. it took place a few years after the war, shikamaru and temari were in a long-distance relationship, and neji and tenten recently moved in together after having dated for a few years. the fic starts out with tenten delivering temari’s baby, and it is very quickly revealed that temari hid her pregnancy from shikamaru. but then b/c of post-partum depression, temari has a {redacted} then runs away, so tenten has to tell neji what happened. shikamaru, who is in suna while temari is in konoha, very quickly deduces that temari was pregnant and didn’t tell him. when he gets back to konoha, he is PISSED at tenten. so is neji. but they gotta set aside their anger and take care of this baby b/c nobody can find temari, tf!!!! gaara wins the best supporting actor oscar for being the greatest brother of all time in this fic.

BUT! in late 2023/early 2024, i deleted the fic from ao3 and decided to rewrite it, now that i was older and wiser and had a much better understanding of the characters. the biggest changes were that it takes place pretty soon after the war ended, vs version 1 which takes place yrs after the war ended. also, instead of shikamaru and temari being in a relationship at the start of the fic, they were hooking up in their tents during the war (which lasted a little over a yr in the fic, instead of 2 fucking days like in canon lol.)

i actually rewrote A LOT of it but i kinda abandoned it cus i felt iffy writing so intimately abt pregnancy + post-partum depression, since i’ve never been pregnant and will never be pregnant (rip to my uterus, gone but never forgotten <3) i think team gai postwar depression fic kinda grew out of this one tho, cus in version 2 of cftdk, since it’s immediately after the war, the characters are struggling with ptsd on top of unplanned pregnancy drama!!!

as for tenten is from kumo. i actually don’t want to say too much about this one publicly because there’s a lil twist that i don’t want to spoil (me saying this as if i’m ever actually gonna write and publish this fic lol) but the tldr of it is. it was mainly born out of me projecting brown/blackness onto tenten and wanting to have a justification for that within the version of naruto that exists in my mind. tenten grew up as an orphan, thinking that her parents were civilians who died during the kyubi attack. when kakashi becomes hokage and sorts through files left behind by tsunade and hiruzen, he and gai find out that her parents were actually immigrants from kumo. they find it a lil sus that this was hidden, so they do a lil digging and 👁️👁️. lmao i feel like i already revealed too much but i promise it is actually so much more interesting than it sounds!! and its the first fic i’ve brainstormed that made me really think deeply abt the world of naruto and like, ninja politics, and how immigration works and stuff (like correct me if i’m wrong but isn’t kushina kinda bullied for being a ‘foreigner’? thats some stuff to explore!!)

THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!!!

#lmao i knew tenten being from kumo was about makin her Black and im here for it tbh #it is in fact why i asked and i am very *eyes emoji* about it #and yeah definitely it's the vibe that being a forienger or outside is gonna get you messed with #its not like as explicit in the ballad but it is absolutely a factor for lee's childhood in the orphanage why the matron treats him somehow #worse than the other kids etc #and i think like if kishimoto was a better writer who could commit to the political commentary he made #it would have gone a lot farther than we ever see it go in the series #anyways sorry for rambling but i love these ideas

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sagemoderocklee · 4 months ago

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Ohhh i'm really interested to hear about post-war depression team gai, tenzo and tenten, and team gai but make them the main characters au

post-war depression team gai is a carthatic fic for me, who struggles w/ depression! basically the whole team is going thru it:

neji survives the war (thanks to tenten! shoutout to @erumai-maadu for the genius idea of tenten learning hiraishin), but is no longer on active duty due to his injuries. since his entire life up until that point has been defined by serving, both his clan and his village, this fucks him up for a while!!

similarly! gai. the blue beast of konoha. greatest taijutsu specialist to ever live. no longer has a leg (did his entire leg disintegrate or can he just not use it anymore? i honestly don’t know lol.) he’s put his entire body on the line for his village and his loved ones time and time again, and his ability to do that has been stripped from him. enter sad boy era the likes of which nobody has ever seen - or will see, if he can help it, cus he’s repressing his feelings and trying to put on a brave face for his students (and kakashi.) nobody’s checking on pawpaw!!

meanwhile. btwn tenten doing an untested and dangerous jutsu TWICE, in the span of like, 1 min, and believing that neji is gonna die anyway b/c she isn’t fast/strong enough to save anyone, she ends up getting a chakra exhaustion/dying of a broken heart fever that almost kills her. even after she recovers and it becomes clear neji will live, she feels weak and useless so she keeps trying to get put in ANBU, which does not work out, which makes her feel even weaker and more useless!!!

then lee, sweet precious lee, has survivor’s guilt for being the one who comes out relatively unscathed from the war (at least physically), and for forming a bond with someone else while his entire team is in medically-induced comas (yall know what the fuck is going on!!! gaara comforts him while his team is all in critical condition!!) everyone is guilty and sad and doesn’t communicate well. phew somebody get them a therapist!

as for team gai as mains au, it’s a fic idea i’ve had for years and it even has the first chapter written! basically it’s like a fix-it fic but if the fix was that team gai were the main characters of naruto. LOL. it’s entirely self-indulgent, with a lot of the fic being purely of my own invention (ie team gai’s first year as a squad, flashbacks from the academy, what they were doing during the timeskip, etc) and some of it being rewrites of canon events that team gai were already part of, but it’s more from their perspectives and focuses on them a lot more.

i’m not sure if i will ever actually write this one in its entirety b/c it would require me to actually like. thoroughly read/watch naruto so that i can diverge from it in a way that makes sense. or maybe not??? maybe it’s a fanfic that i’m making up where team gai are the main characters so i can do whatever i want??? IDK IDK. what i do know is that if i ever finish it, neji will live, the hyuga clan will be fixed (or abolished! idk!), tenten will have all the screentime, and team gai are not going to be regulated to side characters who disappear from the narrative. they WILL BE the narrative!!!

thank you so much for asking!!

#team gai post war depression has me *eyes emoji*#yes to neji not being on active duty too!!!!!!!!! like please get that man outta there #i always feel like gai's leg did disintegrate but the series really doesnt like to show characters without limbs unless its some kinda #weird ablest thing like how sasuke never has a prosthetic #it feels... it feels a typa way to me like naruto gets this really great prosthetic and gai has a weird aesthetic one but sasuke doenst #and it's like not everyone would want a prosthetic but i think it says something about the like view of the creators that sasuke doesnt hav #one while naruto does #anyways i dont fuck with boruto so i cant comment omore on the ableism of that series but it makes me wonder

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