#i know without itachi acting this way the plot would be very different

[neuroticbookworm]

Incoherent Old Fashion Cupcake ramblings

I watched Old Fashion Cupcake last night and I've been in a delicious drama brainrot ever since.

This show is brilliant in every way, from acting to camera work to music to incorporating food into the character interactions to body language (y'all know what I'm talking about *smirks*)

gif by @itachis (I'm never gonna get over this scene, btw)

As writing, narrative and character arc fiends, @lurkingshan and I ramble a lot about how shows wrap up all of its plotlines, how satisfying it is, and more importantly, how seamless it feels.

Old Fashion Cupcake has an office romance right at its core. Nozue and Togawa are co-workers, and Togawa is Nozue's subordinate. Which means as soon as they get together, Togawa working under Nozue will be a HR violation. One of them must be reassigned so there is no overlap in their reporting structure.

Now, this is in NO WAY a central conflict that the characters have to work through. But for me, as a viewer, it is a tiny, albeit noticeable problem that will arise wayyyyyy later in the narrative, and it would be oh-so-satisfying to have that plot thread resolved and tied up into a pretty bow within the show's runtime, without it taking focus away from the other, more important themes going on in the show.

And how do the writers do it? Nozue accepts a promotion as the head of another, newly-created department that will also relocate him to a different building. But his decision to move on to a different role is not motivated by the workplace rules, AT ALL. It is beautifully tied into how Nozue *wants* new experiences in his life now, thanks to Togawa.

The HR violation is a tertiary, almost nit-picky problem when compared to the major themes and character arc developments in the show. But it was not ignored and it was resolved exactly how it should be: as a happy coincidence that came with the closure of the main character's arc. So beautifully seamless that I want to cry.

I was rambling about this show to @waitmyturtles and she pointed out that the show's strong writing was certainly helped by the brilliant manga it was adapted from, created by Sagan Sagan. And now I'm very intrigued and might check out the manga (but in the far-off future, I am drowning in my drama watchlist atm lol). Also -- big shoutout to the screenwriter Miyamoto Takeshi. I know Japan is a pro in adapting from print/digital media to TV/movies, but to do it with such a grace? Ooooooof, all the flowers.

I highly doubt that my brainrot for this show ends here and I bet I will go on multiple OFC ramble sprees in the future. Until then, enjoy the resident OFC hamster who has no business being this fucking adorable and sexy.

gif by @bubblegeon

[nejibaby]

Memories

Pairing: Neji x Fem!Uchiha Reader

Summary: There are a lot of terrible things that have happened to you as an Uchiha that you wanted to forget. But with Neji’s help, you’re able to move on and move along. Things have started getting better for you, however, once the Fourth Shinobi War was declared, time seemed to start running out.

Word Count: 2.1k

Memories - Part 1 | Deja Vu - Part 2

A/N: I didn’t exactly follow the plot and somehow it turned so angsty 🙈 Please let me know your thoughts~

There are memories you hold so dear that you refuse to have them tainted no matter what. Most of those memories are of the times you spent playing or training with your brother Shishui, his best friend Itachi, and Itachi’s brother Sasuke. Those times were the golden days for you; the best of the best, if you may.

Conversely, there are also memories that you just wish would disappear. They’re the memories of incidents you wish didn’t happen at all. They’re the type of memories that you push at the back of your mind, because you believe that if you think about it or even spare a single second for it, then it’ll be more real. Because you’re in denial. You’re in denial not only about the death of Shisui, but also of the Uchiha clan.

But then there’s a single memory you have that always stands out. It’s a memory that you both want to forget and remember.

The tragedy of the Uchiha clan had changed the only survivors — you and Sasuke. You had already started changing a little because you had to deal with your brother’s death, but seeing the horrible scene in the clan’s district had been the icing on top.

Your drastic change had been evident on the day you came back to the Academy after you were discharged at the hospital. What once was a girl full of life had become an empty shell.

The moment you sat down entered the room, people had started talking. Mostly it’s just about asking someone else if you were an Uchiha or if they know about the clan’s misfortune. They were meaningless chatters so you easily drowned them out.

But there was a comment that had reached your ears. “Why is it such a big deal? People die anyway, it just so happened her clan died on the same day.”

The comment kept ringing inside your head but then someone beside you spoke up, “Don’t you have anything else better to do than talk about someone else’s life?”

He was met with silence so he continued saying, “People die everyday, it’s a fact. Some die because of illnesses, some because of old age, some because of poverty, accidents, or murder. As shinobi, we can die in the line of duty. But that doesn’t make death any less painful to the one left behind.

“If your family is alive, then good, but maybe use that brain of yours because logic says not everyone gets to be as lucky as you.”

Naturally, you want to forget about the unsolicited comment of your classmate, but you want to remember that among the students inside the room, one boy had stood up for you. Quite frankly, you needed his saving that day. Otherwise, you would’ve beaten yourself up for mourning too long.

And when you realized who that boy was, his words weighed even more. Because Hyuga Neji was a boy notoriously known for thinking that everyone’s fate is predetermined from birth and that luck plays absolutely no part in it.

“Not everyone gets to be as lucky as you.”

And for a hot minute he had abandoned his belief as he stood up for you.

It sounds hypocritical if you think about it.

But maybe just as he had saved you, you had opened his eyes just a little bit and helped him see that his beliefs were skewed too. In a way, you had helped each other, at least you hoped.

It’s because of that day, that memory, that you find yourself gravitating towards Neji.

It isn’t attraction at all at first, more like genuine curiosity about him and his life. But you didn’t get to know him further until the Chunin exams where he had disclosed the way of their clan. It’s at that time where you understood why he acts the way he acts.

You can’t help but wonder about how two clans with almost similar circumstances— both with kekkei genkai, both living in Konoha, both considered to be one of the strongest clans in the shinobi world— could have completely different ways of living. One clan is almost completely annihilated, while the other has slaves of their own blood. And if you’re being completely honest, you aren’t exactly sure which is better.

You have gotten the urge to talk to him after hearing his story, although you really didn’t know what to say. But then the chance never came up because of the chaos orchestrated by Orochimaru.

After the Chunin exams and the attack of Orochimaru, you hadn’t heard of Neji for a while since you’ve been tasked to help with the repairs of the village. And when you did hear about him, it was terrible, terrible news.

Sasuke left the village to seek power from the very person who just wrecked havoc in Konoha. His leaving alone left you in despair. What Itachi was to Shisui is exactly what Sasuke means to you, and him doing such a thing without even letting you know makes you feel like a failure both as a friend and as a family.

The news didn’t end there, however. Apparently the squad that Shikamaru had led to retrieve Sasuke had been severely injured and were on the brink of death — one of them being Neji.

You remember feeling guilt and regret burning your skin. You remember the shame of not being able to save Sasuke from the darkness and not being able to help the retrieval squad in any way. You blame yourself for the horrible things that happened.

Since then, you have made it a point to visit the squad in the hospital every day, making sure you apologize and thank them for their service. But admittedly, it’s Neji that you always stay with longer.

It’s not that you aren’t comfortable with the others, they’re really nice and easy to get along with. But they always have other visitors with them, mostly their team members and relatives. Neji, on the other hand, didn’t get as many visits since his other teammate, Rock Lee, was also injured because of his fight with Gaara. So Tenten and Guy sensei would switch visits between the two every other day.

Besides that, his clan members rarely ever visited. And you didn’t want him to be alone in such trying moments, especially when you didn’t get to do anything to prevent this from happening.

As closed off as Neji is, because of your constant visits, you have found a way to worm yourself into the walls he put up. And by the time he’s discharged from the hospital, you somehow became close friends.

From that moment on, you find yourself coming to Neji on times that you’re in despair and in doubt. You trust him enough to tell him your stories, worries, and fears because he doesn’t judge you. And he does the same with you.

Neji listens when you want him to listen, and talks when you need him to talk. He’s quite level headed and very much rational, and because of that he gives the best advice.

With him, you find yourself healing and growing. With you, he finds himself learning to forgive.

Neji easily makes you see things in a different way; a different light; a different perspective, and helps you become a better shinobi and a better person in general.

For you, Neji has such a comforting aura. While he’s sometimes cold and stoic around others, with you, he softens up. With you, he’s gentle; careful even. And it’s because of this that you find yourself admiring him more and more.

But before anything could happen — before you could even confess — the Fourth Shinobi War was declared.

Just like that, time seemed to start running out. And you have lost all hopes of being together with Neji as a lover rather than a friend.

The war is awful. Quite frankly, it overwhelmed you too much, too easily. The bodies lying on the floor with dried out blood reminded you of the massacre of the Uchiha clan. But the only person who’s able to calm you down and help you move along is Neji.

The both of you fight side by side, always nearby Hinata in case she would need help. When the night comes and the enemies cease their attack, it’s your turn to talk Neji into relaxing a bit because he’s started straining his eyes from too much use. And because it’s you who asked and it’s you who’s there with him, he knows he and the rest of the Allied Forces are safe, so he rests.

But somehow chaos ensues and in the middle of it, you both get separated. You’re worried deeply, but you trust his skills and his strength, and you know you’ll be reuniting with him again.

And reunited with him you did. But when you have found him once again, he’s blocking out the Ten Tails’ attack with... his body.

With desperation, you transported to his side as quickly as you can. Summoning your last bits of chakra, you use Susanoo to protect him, Hinata, and Naruto. The last thing you remember is the look of relief on Neji’s face, but before it could morph into worry, you have already blacked out.

By the time you have woken up, you’re in Konoha’s hospital. The first thing you see is Neji resting his head on the side of your bed, peacefully sleeping, looking as angelic as ever.

Your body aches with every breath you take, even more so with little movement. But you didn’t let that deter you from weaving your fingers along the Hyuga’s hair. He stirs almost immediately and then he opens his pretty eyes. He sits up upon seeing you.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” You softly ask.

He doesn’t respond to your question. “You’re awake,” he sighs in relief. “You’re finally awake. Let me go call Lady Tsunade and Sakura.” He stands up.

But before he can even take a step, you grab his wrist. “Stay,” you mumble.

Neji looks at you, reading your face. But then he nods and sits.

“Is it over?” You ask.

“Yes, the war’s over.”

“What happened after?”

“It’s a long story… but tell me, how are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling fine. My body aches, but it’s not a big deal.”

“What do you mean it’s not a big deal?!” Neji looks upset that it takes you by surprise. “Do you remember what happened? Didn’t you know you almost died?! You almost used up all your chakra to use Susanoo! That’s so stupid and reckless!”

His aggressive tone effectively gets you angry. “I did it for you!” You snap. “Of course I remember what happened! Even if I want to forget, the memory is branded in my mind! You fucking wanted to use your body to shield Naruto from that attack, didn’t you? How is that not stupid and reckless? Huh?”

Neji’s chakra flares up as he clenches his jaw. Yet, he doesn’t speak.

You breathe out, trying to calm down. You rarely ever fought with Neji and he’s never really raised his voice to you. With your body still tired and aching from the war, you didn’t want this conversation to escalate further so you try to diffuse the situation before it blows even more out of proportion.

In a low voice, you speak, “I was so scared, Neji. I didn’t want to lose you. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved.”

A tear falls down from your eye and Neji’s heart breaks at your forlorn state. “I don’t want to lose you too. I can’t…” you squeak. “I love you so much, I can’t lose you.”

Neji’s breath hitches at your declaration. He could hear his heart drumming against his chest.

You love him?

He doesn’t know if he heard you right or if his mind is just playing tricks on him. It happened before. He’s loved you for so long… and there have been plenty of days he dreamt of hearing you say you love him too. And right now he isn’t sure if this is the reality or just another one of his dreams.

As if you’ve read his mind — like you always seem to be able to do — you repeat your words. “I love you, Neji.”

It’s the confirmation that he needs. And hearing your words knocked the wind out of him. “I… I…” he starts saying.

But you’ve taken his stuttering and his pale, panic-stricken face as a sign of an incoming rejection, so you look down instantly and say, “It’s fine if you don’t like me the same way. I just hope we can still be friends after—”

“No, I… I love you too,” he breathlessly confesses before you even finish your rambling.

Your head whips up after the words left his lips. You stare at him, unbelieving.

And just as you did a while ago, he repeats his words with conviction, “I love you too.”

A smile makes its way to your face, and when he smiles back, you immediately know this is a memory you won’t ever forget.

[candyopala]

Stuck in his ways, Chapter 7

Chapter Summary:  Y/N and Obito have to get around the awkwardness of the events from that night, and what better to help with that then team seven in all its glory?

Words: 2.3k

AO3

Please like or reblog if you enjoy, check my rules for requests too! My dms are also open if you want to chat or anything else. 

After spending a whole day on the hospital, Obito heads home for some well-deserved sleep. It is only on the next day, on his way to the field, that he starts properly processing what happened that night with Y/N. Her bandaging him up with a weird look in her eyes, him crying in front of her… the warmth he felt when she held his hand. Why did he do that in front of her anyway? They barely know each other, she teases him to no end, but he can’t help to already feel close to her, even if he doesn’t want to admit it. 

The way she held him…. He hasn’t felt this way since long ago, he felt accepted in an intimate way, he felt genuine companionship with her. Obito feels bad when he remembers too the reason for that whole situation, he wanted to get rid of the girl; he wanted to make her go away without giving her a chance. 

I’ve been so blind, shutting her off like that…

Without knowing anything about his failures and only knowing that ugly side he shows to everyone, she still helped him through a tough time. He can’t help but feel his heart flutter with embarrassment, he didn’t even give her much of a chance. She might not be from Konoha, but there’s still good in her. He needs to take his mission with her more seriously.

He walks down the market streets, instinctively analyzing every single action that happens around him, seeing the faces of the people going up and down the roadway busy with their things. It’s not long before he spots four familiar figures walking down the street together: team seven. Naruto and Sakura discuss loudly about a matter Obito doesn’t bother try rearing, followed by Sasuke and Kakashi tagging along. Obito tries to say hi to Kakashi, only to be attacked by a running Naruto that throws himself onto him with all his force: 

“Big bro Obito!”

“Hey! Calm down now! It’s only seven a.m. for Kami’s sake!” He scolds while laughing aloud and hugging the thirteen-year-old back

“I’m learning something new, you have to come see it! Are you busy?”

“I’m going to the training grounds, I can’t Naruto, sorry”

“Come on! Train with us!”

“Hey Naruto, stop bothering Obito, all right? He’s busy” Kakashi tries to intervene in Obito’s sake

“Huh… actually…” 

Obito’s mind starts functioning, he does need to teach some new stuff to Sasuke and bringing Y/N along would be good for her training. He decides to join them, he actually feels deep down the need to introduce her to new people, to get her more settled into the village. 

“I guess I’ll come along. There’s someone I want you guys to meet”

“Oh, is it her?” Naruto says with a devilish sparkle in his eyes.

“Her? Are you dating?” Sakura jumps up, immediately invested into the conversation.

“Finally” Sasuke also joins to make it all worse.

“Guys, calm down…” Kakashi once again tries to save his friend from his hyperactive trio “He’s just training a new member of the village”

A collective “oh” is heard from the two in disappointment. Great, now even the kids are invested in his love life. Obito tells them a little bit more about her on the way to the field, and he notices that even Kakashi seems a little bit more enthusiastic than normal. 

When they reach the training grounds, he finds Y/N laying back on a tree, with a surprised look on her face when she sees the kids. Obito tries to introduce them, but they end up introducing themselves, with a hyperactive Naruto leading the presentations followed by his teammates and his teacher. 

“Nice to meet you guys! Are we training together today?”

“Yup” Obito tries to say in the middle of Naruto’s ramblings 

“How’s your arm?” She asks him back in the midst of it, a bit of what seems worry flashes her eyes, only to be quickly concealed with a look to the side.

“Oh, feeling like new. Some medical ninjutsu quickly solved it.” He states as he gets more embarrassed by the minute, once the memory of their shared companionship floods his mind. He needs to try to actually be nicer to her. 

Meanwhile, Sakura flies a sly meaning smile in Obito’s direction, to his utter desperation. Watching the whole scene develop, Kakashi once again intervenes, trying to get to the subject of training. 

“So, Y/N, dumbi- ahem, Obito told me you need some help with discovering your chakra nature. Coincidentally, that’s what I’m currently doing with the kids, so we could help you with that”

“That would be great, thanks guys! Out of curiosity, what horrible things did my mentor say about me?” 

“Only the most terrible embarrassing things I found on your file” Obito teases back in a flash, without doing much thinking, letting himself play around a little.

“Oh then I should tell you friend about your new nickna-“

“Let’s start training, shall we?” He interrupts her before she can say it, since letting Kakashi know about that would be the end of him.

Kakashi started trying to teach Y/N a couple of techniques, teaching her to concentrate her chakra and showing her the right hand signs. Obito also explained about the ideal state of mind each element requires, the type of energy each one of them consumes. 

Raiton was immediately out of question, and despite her special punch technique, doton seemed to drain too much of her energy, as well as suiton. She was able to produce a small amount of katon, only achieving smaller jutsu still due to the immense amount of chakra these require, so the fireball jutsu was out of question. 

Futton was their last attempt and the one they were more successful with. She could produce wind with her running speed, creating vacuum spots, using the element in a less concentrated way than the rasengan requires, since she is still inexperienced with chakra concentration at that level. 

Obito was actually pleased with today’s developments; he thinks that she can become even stronger by actually doing jutsu in battle. Naruto was also overjoyed to learn that his new village mate had the same main element as himself, showing her his still developing rasengan, proud of his own training and giving her some tips. 

Obito let the pair talking and went to oversee Kakashi and Sasuke, now training his chidori technique. His little cousin had also developed a lot, and was now opening up to be a wonderful kid thanks to Naruto and Sakura’s insistence on their friendship, and Itachi’s efforts to make him socialize more. 

He then also let them train and sat down together with Sakura, who was watching her colleagues train too, while she herself studied some medical ninjutsu books. The small girl looked at him with curiosity, noting the different expression on her sensei’s friend, who was usually much more uptight and serious. With that knowing look again, she simply stated: 

“Mr. Obito, your main element is katon, right?”

“Yes Sakura, why?”

“Ah nothing, I was just wondering… katon is compatible with futton, right?”

“Yes, both can be used together to create more powerful jutsu”

 “So… we could say that you and Y/N are compatible”

Obito’s eye goes wide with the way the girl says it. Both of them know she is not talking about just jutsu here. The implication of what she said makes him go as red as a pepper. 

“N-no Sakura, she is my colleague, we are just that.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about sir, excuse me.”

The girl gets up and runs into Naruto and Y/N’s direction, winking back at Obito on her way. 

 ~”~

 The team gathers up for lunch, Y/N sits beside Obito’s friend Kakashi, opposite to her mentor, who sat in front of her. She avoided his eye contact, still feeling a little inappropriate for her behavior that night. She fears that what happened was too intimate for her own comfort, that she should not try to get that close to him. She should be his teammate, nothing else. She must ignore that pull that she feels from him, that desperate need she feels to talk to him about why he was crying that night. 

She tries to strike up conversation with the ninja beside her, and he is very receptive, if not for his general lack of energy and relaxed demeanor. She sees a small little orange book protruding from his pocket, is that what she thinks it is? It is! The greatest book series of all time! 

“Hey, is that Icha Icha?”

“Yes it is! I just picked up the latest volume!” he immediately assumes a whole different behavior, now fully invested in the conversation.

“What chapter are you on? Did you reach chapter 37 yet?”

“No, and no spoilers, please! I dying to know what she will do when she finds out about that thing”

“Dude, trust me, it’s going to be awesome”

They both strike up conversation about it for a couple of minutes, Y/N talks excitedly about the romance’s structure and how she finds it poetic in a way. They both discuss the general plots, praising the author despite Naruto’s loud complaints about him being a total pervert. 

When she finally looks at Obito’s direction, she sees the jonin hunched forward, with an unimpressed look on his face, matching Sasuke’s that also seems to be bothered by the subject matter.

“Great, another one, they will talk about it forever” The young Uchiha comments.

“I don’t know what you guys see in this stupid book anyway” The oldest complements.

“He didn’t even give it a try; can you believe it, Y/N?” Kakashi teases in response.

“Sacrilegious! How could he say such things?” She retorts with fake shock.

“Shut up, you two perverts.” Obito says with a scorn forming on his lips, something he usually does that Y/N is starting to find extremely fun and… endearing? 

Y/N, Kakashi and the kids laugh at his little tantrum, and later even himself. He is acting different today, more open, with a more lighthearted attitude, a lot less uptight and grumpy. Y/N feels a little happy knowing that he is feeling better, but she quickly shuts off the realization. 

Concentrate on what’s important here. 

They quickly fall back into training, with Y/N sitting back due to her extreme exertion during the chakra nature tests. After he has finished with his portion of the training with Kakashi and Obito, Naruto joins her. They sit together observing Obito discussing the fireball jutsu with Sasuke, Y/N can’t help but notice the proud look on her teammate’s face when his little cousin does a perfect ball of fire, making her let out a small smile. He’s not so cynical after all.  

Naruto begins to talk about how he needs to be as strong as his father is, and Y/N learns that he is, in fact, son of the Hokage. He talks and explains a lot about the village and also talks about how his mom is always bothering him to make his bed in the morning. The kid is all over the place until he focuses on the subject of Obito. 

He begins to tell her about how he is like a big brother for him and how he taught him his most deadly jutsu, something about a sexy jutsu, and how he is cool even if he has no girlfriend. Y/N, being the innocent thing she is, prods him for more embarrassing details about her mentor. 

“One time he got stuck in the sexy woman form and Jiraya followed him around the village for a day! He had to hide from the pervert in the sewers! And once he choked with candy in the middle of a jonin reunion, Kakashi told me that”

Y/N cannot help but bust out in laughter at the image that forms in her mind, not being able to breathe while the kid continues to spill out embarrassing stories about the Uchiha. Naruto is suddenly stopped when Sakura lands a punch on top of his head, screaming in annoyance with her teammate’s attitude: 

“Stop ruining everything!”

What she meant with that remains a mystery to Y/N. The discussion has to be separated by a tired Kakashi, holding Sakura back with all his force. Y/N is caught off guard by Obito’s presence by her side. 

He helps her get up, giving his gloved hand in support. She accepts it, steading herself up. 

“So, that’s all for today, sewer boy?”

“He told you about that, huh?”

“Of course he did”

“Yup, that’s all for today. Let’s head home”

“Let’s? I didn’t know you had moved into my broom closet, Obito”

“You know I’m not letting you walk around exhausted like that, Y/N”

The change in his tone scares her. He sounds serious, almost protective, and he calling her name like that sends shivers down her spine, in a not so bad way. He also didn’t call her a dumbass, is that an improvement? 

She once again insists on walking by herself, but he insists on it so much that she eventually gives up and lets him accompany her. They discuss her new technique possibilities on most of the way, only for the subject to change as they reach her apartment. 

“So, what did you think about them?”

“They’re nice kids, all of them seem to look up to you, Naruto especially”

“He’s a good kid, they are all like family to me”

Y/N agrees with her head, thinking to herself about the word family. She once had one, but lost them very early on. Moreover, once she found another person she could call that, she lost them too. The memories flood her mind, making her face go serious and eyes to go foggy. 

“Take good care of them Obito, what you have here is… amazing”

“I will, I promised that long ago”

They reach her door, saying their goodbyes quickly. As Y/N closes her door, Obito calling her name again interrupts her.

“Oh! Y/N! I forgot; we have an important meeting with the Hokage tomorrow at ten in the morning. We will be heading out for our first mission, be ready”

[ithilloktewrites]

Posted Fanfiction Masterlist

 Hello dear readers and askers alike! Here is the list that I will try my best to keep updated with all the fics I post. This means only the things I have uploaded here, and to AO3 will be shown on this list, along with it’s accompanying summary. When I complete a fic, it will no longer be on the WIP Masterlist. So, without further ado, My huge list of fic!

As They Deserved - Itachi/Kagome/Shisui 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26373148

Tags: 

Preventing Uchiha  Massacre

Politics

Kagome gets training

BAMF Higurashi Kagome

Shinobi learn about yokai

Sesshomaru will be impressed with Shisui's speed

Abandonment

Inu Yasha has to redeem himself

Sasuke is so freaking cute as a kid

mentions of abuse

Mentions of kidnapping

Mentions of attempted rape

Eventual smut, Rated Explicit

Kagome realized the well was tampered with when she landed in a very deep circular well, looking up at what she thought were two tengu without yoki.She was supposed to be home. After finding that the magic in the well needed time to recharge so she could go home, she is placed under the protection of two ANBU guards who are to stay with her 24/7. The dark hand of Konoha wishes for her power. Hiruzen didn’t think this would be the way to save the Uchiha,but he is grateful to the girl. Things would not have turned out so well if she had never been plopped into their laps. Itachi and Shisui certainly don’t mind.

Backup Guardians - Otome Series - 16 Bachelors!

Tags:

Book 1

Time Travel

Dark

Triggers

kami - Freeform

Prophecy

Angst and Fluff and Smut

Series

Saving the World

Alternate Universe

Backup Guardian

Humor

Romance

Fluff and Smut

Pregnancy

Kagome will actually have proper training!

Size Difference

Holy shit Kisame is tall compared to Kagome!

That's HIS Miko!

Minato is totally gonna try to crate jutsu from all the attacks he sees in the past

Minato can be SO awkward

Jiraiya will love the whole journey

Kagome will be a huge point of interest for both of them

Jiraiya won't let her stay untrained

Sweet

Naruto will cling to Kagome

Shippo will cling to Naruto

Can't keep the brothers separated for long

Tobirama has an explanation for being wifeless during the series now

Tobirama will accidentally train Kagome

Shisui is a lil shit

Shisui adores Kagome

ALL THE FLUFF!

Eventual smut, Rated Explicit

When Kagome’s original Guardian is corrupted and set to betray her, the Kami know they have to change this. To do this, they must go back to the beginning, and send a new Guardian to protect her, gaining what the original Guardian would have in her and more. Welcome to my Otome-style fanfic. Rach bachelor will have their own full length fanfiction. Deidara - Prologue written, Posted, Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355568

Gaara - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355568

Hashirama - Prologue written, Posted, chapter 1 in progress.   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26354953

Itachi - Prologue written, Posted, Chapter 6 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355697

Kakashi - Prologue written, Chapters 1-8 posted. Chapter 14 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/24775741

Kisame - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 4 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355781

Minato - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26355883

Naruto - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26356369

Neji -N/A yet!

Obito - Plotted, not written yet

Sasuke - Prologue written, not posted, chapter 1 in progress

Shikamaru - N/A yet!

Shisui - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26844868

Tobirama - Prologue written, Posted. Chapter 1 in progress   https://archiveofourown.org/works/26356477

Yamato - N/A yet!

Zabuza - N/A yet!

Giving Her Purpose - Kakashi/Kagome, Gift fic for Im_ur_Misconception 

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/27931228

Tags:

Birthday Gift Fic

Fluff

Eventual Smut

Kakashi will be obsessed with Kagome

kakashi is awkward

Kagome is oblivious

Kagome takes big sister duties seriously

tragic beginning

Eventual smut, Rated Explicit

Kakashi had only bumped into her accidentally at the marketplace. Naruto was taking her around and hadn’t noticed that he was there in his exuberance to help her, a new girl apparently. But she felt different and acted different. Her and her little brother. He didn’t think anything of it at first. But those sad, dark blue eyes had haunted him for several days now. He couldn’t get her out of his head. He wanted to see her again, if only to satisfy his ever-living curiosity

Birthdays And Masks - Kakashi/Kagome

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26884681

Tags:

Birthday Cake

Kakashi's Mask Shenanigans

Kagome changes the world with knowledge

Adoption

Family

Fluff

One Shot

Rated G, General Audiences

He was the only one who remembered what originally happened. And it was all because of her. He owed her everything!

For a list of all my planned, unposted fics, please see my other list! It will list the name of the fic, and a short summary. Please note that i did not tag it, as I intend this to be the only way to access it in the future, unless you want to scroll for miles, or go through my archives. I hope one of them catches people’s interests.

https://ithilloktewrites.tumblr.com/post/654415236377591808/unposted-fanfiction-masterlist

[leportraitducadavre]

What are Naruto’s character flaws in Part 2 ? Did even growth at all during the timeskip or did he get worser ?

Naruto did not develop much after the first part, most of his characterization was based on his impulsive, reckless attitude that was shown to us before the time-jump, but little did they try to establish a more mature Naruto in Shippuden. After the time-skip, the first thing Naruto -actively- does is spar with Kakashi alongside Sakura, there’s nothing there that show us some growth in his behavior (or what humor is) when talking to Konohamaru, and his feelings for Sakura hadn’t changed (still in love with her and asking her on dates despite not seeing her for two years). His tactic to defeat Kakashi is effective, but little have to do with maturity, I know it was planned more for comedy purposes, but it still establishes a Naruto that differs from his former version only by his design, and little bit at that.

During the Gaara’s Retrieval Arc, we again see a reckless Naruto that jeopardizes the mission on occasion in order to get to Gaara, his heart is in the right place, and we already saw how Naruto feels about jinchurikis during the first part. This arc seemed to be more about establishing three things: Gaara’s position of power -despite his tailed beast, which introduces the idea of Naruto having a possibility of getting the position-, Naruto and Gaara’s friendship (and hence, Suna and Konoha), and Suna’s relationship with their Kazekage. Chiyo’s character was presented to serve as the “old vision” of the jinchurikis, being antagonistic to Naruto’s views but ultimately changing thanks to “our hero” and sacrificing herself for Gaara, and to be the second mentor to Sakura to show her development in other circumstances that aren’t sparing with her former teacher.

With that, Naruto’s characterization in the second part has been established, his reaction to Sai's enlistment in team 7 as Sasuke's replacement differs nothing to how he would have reacted during the first part. It could be said that two years are short to change a person’s personality, but Naruto’s development hasn’t moved nor forward or backward, it’s stanked in what seemed to be the most highlighted traits of his personality and the ones the fans recognized him for the most. 

There was an attempt to establish a more mature, more in-depth Naruto during the Pain Arc and later on with the Dark Naruto, but little did succeed, quite the contrary. They tried to show the mature way in which Naruto handled a situation that at another time would have caused another reaction on his part, but the resolution was pure nonsense and their attempt relied on the destruction of a deeper, smarter character like Pain. Naruto “changed” Pain’s view of the world because he quoted a phrase from the book Jiraiya wrote that was inspired by something Nagato said as a child, and that was pretty much it. The reply to the question Pain asked (how would you face this hatred [the world’s hatred, their desire to revenge those who were killed] in order to build peace?), was:

“I believe in what Jiraiya did”. 

There was no depth in that response, there was no argument against what Pain believed in, there was nothing that put Naruto above Pain or showed him to have grown enough to reason with him on the same moral or intellectual level. In that sense there was no growth, Naruto responded that he believed in what his former sensei did, which was already established before, the fact that Konoha was the responsible for the despair of small countries like Nagato’s is completely overlooked in that moment not to be addressed again during their meeting.

Here’s the thing that differentiates Pain or even Sasuke from Naruto: Their traumas. I’m not trying to diminish Naruto’s feelings about the things that happened to him, but everything that was thrown his way was quickly overcome and had little effect on his actions later on. We start the series by knowing that Naruto was an outcast and was despised by the village for things he couldn’t control, like the Kyuubi being sealed on him when he was born, and that he didn’t know who his parents were -hence, his identity, which is something a dictatorial system does, did, and will do and there are no red flags there for the fandom?-. His personality, a loud boy that tried to get everyone’s attention, was explained by those reasons. He was desperately trying to get some control over what was happening around him, he was trying to get whatever acknowledgment he could (whether it was good or bad). His goal and dream, becoming the Hokage, was explained by that same desolation and loneliness, since becoming the ultimate leader of his village would guarantee everyone’s respect, or at least, acknowledgment. During the first part, that worked.

Throughout the series, they wanted us to believe that the dream that began with the simple desire to be loved by his own people morphed into something even deeper when Naruto gains knowledge of the shortcomings of the system and wants to modify them, but that reason falls flat when Naruto doesn’t acknowledge Konoha’s responsibilities, nor on other countries’ miseries, nor in the slaughter of their own people (UCM) during the second part. Losing Jiraiya presented another trauma for Naruto, since it was the first time a person he “truly” bonded with and represented the grandparent figure -being the official connection with his parents- died during combat, but that trauma is “resolved” and never brought back after Pain’s Arc.

Naruto never overcomes his main trauma. He never overcomes the need to be loved and acknowledged, the “trauma” is resolved when he’s considered a hero for the same people that despised him and suddenly, since he can control Kurama and is the weapon he was intended to be from the very beginning, he’s not that bad. The “Dark Naruto” that was introduced to show us how Naruto grew from being the boy that was impulsed by the hatred he felt for the rest of the villagers to the man that forgave them for what they did, translates more accurately as the transformation of the “boy who wanted to be acknowledged and did everything to show he was worth it” to the “man who will do anything to show them they weren’t wrong about trusting him”. 

There’s no morph in his dream or ideals. He’s still dependable on the views others have of him, on his “usefulness”, during Shippuden, rather than overcome it, the need deepens, which is the major modifier of his character. Sasuke went from wanting to kill Itachi to revenge his clan, to understanding that there was a system that cemented the basis of the coup and allowed, encouraged, and covered the Uchiha massacre; so he went from wanting to kill a man, to want to take down the system that put him in that position to begin with (Itachi is a more complex character so I’m not going to enter in that area now). Nagato witnessed the killing of his parents at the hands of Konoha shinobi -the country that started the war in the first place-, and Yahiko later on by Hanzo -helped by Danzo-, and went from wanting to bring peace without the use of brute force (Jiraiya and Yahiko’s view), to achieve peace through justice (stripping the countries of their most powerful weapons to control the system and bring it down). Naruto went from wanting to be Hokage to be loved, to wanting to be Hokage to bring peace, but without acknowledging or trying to understand and offer solutions to the problems presented by the two most important characters to the plot (Pain and Sasuke) there was no solid base to build that peace, it would be, at best, temporary. 

His idea of peace is exactly the same that Nagato saw was fruitless, and there’s nothing a single Hokage can do to change the shinobi political bureaucracy around the globe, convincing the present leader of a village does exactly nothing when the system they have to move around is the exact same that it was since the clan wars, and that’s the sole problem if we are kind enough to believe everyone will listen and act as Naruto wants. The idea of the Chain of Hatred that was the basis of Pain’s beliefs was offered no response by Naruto or his ideals, while Sasuke acknowledged the problem and suggested that the solution was for everyone to focus their hatred on just one person (himself), and start all over again, without ties to that oppressive past. Naruto replied exactly nothing to that issue, and once Pain died, he cared no more about it. Not only that, but the only time it was brought up again was when Karui physically assaulted him because of Sasuke's actions against her sensei. Naruto single-handedly decided that he deserved to be the one to receive the hatred of everyone in order to stop the “Chain of Hatred”, a solution almost identical to the one presented by Pain and Sasuke, but when fighting Sasuke during the final arc he condemned the idea of a single person carrying that weight. The contradiction of his statement a few Arcs before being beaten up for Sasuke is completely irrational writing-wise.

Sasuke grew from his hatred and wanted a revolution, Naruto did not. His characterization wasn’t allowed to become “somber” because that will shatter the reason fans were so enamored with him, will ultimately destroy the fandom’s idea of their “golden, relatable boy”. Naruto is the exact opposite of his rival, not only on his ideals but also in personality and design, if Sasuke is the one who represents the most “radical” responses and embodies a stoic personality, Naruto has to be the opposite, particularly in Shippuden when we see how Sasuke’s beliefs morphed into something entirely new. 

There’s not a significant change in Naruto because he doesn’t need to, his traumas are brushed aside because people started to like him, so the reason why they hated him in the first place stopped being important and it became what gave him enough strength to become remarkable and to be relied on during the war. The system that tortured him and used him as a weapon now pats him on the back, calls him a hero, and puts Sasuke down (the one who used to be loved when he was functional to them), so now Naruto feels accepted and beliefs himself to be the one morally capable of “accepting” others into that system. Destroying it will mean questioning that “meritocracy” that put him there in the first place, because he played by its rules and it paid off, so the others should too, no matter how unfair it is. 

[mymindsmadness]

Why I hate seeing the Uchiha logo on Sakura’s shirt/why I don’t ship SasuSaku

DISCLAIMER: I’m not shitting on anyone’s ship. I get it. You love them. You do you booboo, I’m just here to speak my truth. Don’t come at me with comments shitting all over the things I love. You have your opinion and I have mine.

If you are a SasuSaku shipper and you read past this point, you have no one but yourself to blame for your anger!

I’m probably gonna rant a bit, so I’ll start with the bottom line. Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship is one of the most toxic relationships I’ve ever seen.

Unrelated (but kind of related): All the female character are written pretty shitty, and that adds to this whole mess.

Part I [Young Love]:

Okay. I get it. She’s all for Sasuke and he doesn’t give her the time of day. We love a queen that gets hers in the end. The problem is that Sakura’s core personality traits are based off of her obsession. Her wants. Her flaws. Her essence as a [non] person is completely defined by Sasuke’s character. This is even verified when Kakashi asks them about themselves and Sakura literally gives [giggles] Sasuke for every answer.

When they’re tested with the bells, Sakura shows no ninja prowess whatsoever. She shows no skill beyond hiding in a bush. The only time we really see her moving/thinking/talking, is when it’s to ‘rescue Sasuke’. She even refers to him as ‘my Sasuke’ a dozen or so times. Seriously, it could be a drinking game.

During the chunin exams, we see a little more of a backbone from Sakura. But even as she struggles to make herself be seen, she really only wants to be seen by – you guessed it – Sasuke.

When Sasuke gets extra angsty [YOLO style], and tries to leave the village, Sakura tries to go with him. Think about that. Sakura tries to leave the village. Her home. Her family. Her friends. Everything! She does this because the idea of becoming a criminal is more appealing than being left behind by Sasuke.

But you know what? I’ll excuse it. She’s only thirteen at this point. She’s entitled to make stupid choices in the name of puppy love. We’ve all been there, man. And sure, at thirteen all love feels like true love. You know what girl? I forgive you.

Part II [Personal Growth]

At this point, Sakura’s whole character arch is defined by the people that leave her. And I could forgive this – almost. Enter Tsunade. I love Tsunade. I worship Tsunade. She is probably the one female character in the whole show that is as well integrated as the men [if we ignore the fact that her whole backstory is revolved around them]. When Sakura started training with Tsunade, I knew there was about to be an Eye of the Tiger montage. Sure enough, my girl comes through. Come Shippuden, Sakura is kicking ass and taking names [literally]. Better yet, she found her niche in medical ninjutsu [insert joke about how females always play the healers]. She’s got chakra for days and the control of a saint. Piss my girl off? You ‘bout to lose a lung.

Yes, Sakura’s still insecure when it comes to her place among the others, but can we blame her? She had demi-gods as teammates. But it’s different now. Sakura knows she’s a badass. She’s fully aware that her control and strength are something to be proud of. She uses those years of neglect and training to help her comrades!... and chase down Sasuke.

By the beginning of the 4th war, this bitch has lost her damn mind. At this point, Sakura and Naruto have been searching for Sasuke for the last 3 [or so] years. All this time, Sakura is under the impression that she’s in love with him. The times from when Sasuke left to the end of the war, are some of the most defining years in a person’s life. At 13-17 is when a person’s personality really starts to develop and lay out the foundation for the adult they will be.

Part III [All’s Fair]

Now, I’m not saying that Sakura didn’t hold a certain level of love for Sasuke her whole life. It’s very possible. However, there was no way it could be a romantic love. Think about who you were when you were twelve. Now think about who you were at seventeen. Did anything change in that time?

Sakura could not have been in love with Sasuke because she didn’t know who he was. They hadn’t been in contact in years! She had the memory of who he had been on a pedestal, and without him around to alter that image, it became more and more idyllic. By the time Sasuke returned [at the end of the war], Sakura was still in love with the idea of him.

She had put their relationship and romance in the forefront of her mind all of her life. It had been her driving force and defining mindset. When this crazy ass bitch [ily gurl] activated her seal and literally jumped on a pike for her boys, it was the most badass thing she’d ever done. And when she was done with that? She got upset that Sasuke hadn’t noticed/cared. She was fighting for her friends, her family, her village, her life… and all that confidence she had gained was brought down by the fact that the boy she thought she loved didn’t notice.

Part IV [In Which Sasuke Cares… Allegedly]

Remember when Sakura finally got Sasuke to notice her? When he overcame his terminal broodiness and admitted that he was touched that she never gave up hope in him? When he kissed her goodbye with the promise of returning and being worth all of her unfounded love and attention?

Oh… right… that never happened.

I mean… he tapped her forehead like Itachi did to him that one time… Same thing I suppose.

Okay, okay… I might be being a little harsh. I’ll concede that it is a genuine act of affection for Sasuke. But… a minor one. Alright, our broody boi doesn’t like PDA… Still, we’re given no indication that they talked about their feelings before this goodbye. That’s backed up by the fact that she asks to go with him – something she would have done before now if they had. Legit, Naruto got more of a goodbye than Sakura did [two dudes, chillin’ in the woods].

To the best of everyone’s knowledge, Sasuke only stayed in Konoha for about a year after the war. Now, depending if you follow the manga or anime, some of that time might have been in jail. My point is, that a year or less was spent in the village after several years of Sakura loving him from a distance.

At this point, she very well might have learned about the older Sasuke. She might have decided that she did still love him [doubtful on a realistic level]. But then he leaves. We’re not sure for how long, but if we look at Boruto, it’s common for him to leave for long periods of time.

Once again, Sakura is left behind with her memories of the man she thinks she loves [because without a functioning adult relationship, there’s no way to be sure].

Part V [Sakura Achieves Her Nightmare Dreams]

Let’s step into Boruto for this next part. We flash forward to all of our beloved characters in their adult years. I know what you’re thinking ‘Oh! I’ve missed so much! They’re all so grown up!’. Hahaha, don’t worry. They’re not at all the same people.

Since the series is based on the children, we’re forced to fill in some of the blanks ourselves. Sakura – the best medic nin in Konoha. The woman whose strength rivals that of her mentor’s. The woman who mastered the Seal of 100. The woman who grew into her own as a character, even if the driving force was a boy - is living her best life as… a housewife? I mean... maybe?

We don’t know this for sure, and a lot of us hope she runs the hospital or something [because we want all good things for our girl], but have you noticed that she doesn’t wear a headband? A ninja one that is. The girl who worked hard to not be left behind’s whole adulthood is… the woman left behind.

Even if it can be argued that she achieved her goal… has she? Yes, she wanted to be Sasuke’s wife and baby mama since waaaaay too young of an age to be thinking about that shit, but like this? We know from the fact that Sakura fainted when Sasuke came home that he’s rarely there. This means that she probably raised their daughter alone. Even now, she can’t just leave because Sasuke’s always away.

If you think I’m taking libraries with filling in the gaps, I refer you to that one time her daughter basically asked if they were really married. And if you think I’m exaggerating Sasuke’s absence, I refer you to that time he almost killed his fucking daughter because he didn’t know what she looked like!

Let that sink in.

Part VI  [In Summation]

Sakura was a girl that grew up with a false ideal of love. She obsessed over a person that didn’t exist and carried that falsehood into her adult life. When presented with everything she thought she had wanted her whole life, Sakura jumped on the chance because it was the logical move. In gaining everything that she thought she wanted, Sakura lost any personal growth that she had gained by the absence of her obsession aka Sasuke.

Sasuke, who had ignored her as a child, tried to kill her as a teen, and barely acknowledged her beyond using her to revive his clan, can’t be bothered to even appreciate her. Even as he leaves again as an adult, he says goodbye to their daughter [again, with an oh-so-affectionate poke], but simply walks away from Sakura.

The truth is that given the way she blushes and faints around him still, Sakura doesn’t know him. She’s still in love with an idea of the man that grew from the boy she had been obsessed with all her life. She wears the Uchiha symbol on her back as a reminder that she did it. She got the guy! True love wins again! I mean… maybe? He’s fucked her at least, so…

There’s a chance that Sasuke loves Sakura. I think he loves her for loving him. At the very least, we know he’s fond of her… I assume.

Sakura was a character that was used to further the plot of a man. Even as an adult, she’s left to sit and pine as the boys go off on their adventures. She’s a woman that’s stuck in a hell of her own creation – even if she loves her daughter and the things that marrying Sasuke has brought her.

There’s ‘getting the guy’ and being trapped in a toxic idealized relationship. How you choose to see this one is up to you.

[babyybitchhh]

Side note regarding the last ask I answered. I just want to say that Kishimoto’s character priorities strike me as very ... odd. It’s strange to me that characters like Hiashi, Orochimaru and Sasuke - who have done arguably terrible things to the people around them - can not only live through all these trials but even go on to be welcomed back into polite society while characters like Asuma, Neji, Shikaku and Jiraiya were slaughtered for the sake of plot progression. From a storytelling standpoint, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the “good” people are punished while the “bad” guys get off without so much as a slap to the wrist. It sends mixed signals.

And I know Kishimoto has this thing about how seeking revenge/atonement for someone’s actions against you is no way to live, and while I generally agree, it doesn’t exactly add up in the narrative. Kakashi told Sasuke that killing in the name of revenge is harmful to yourself (and he was right about that) but then he turned around and helped Shikamaru exact revenge on Hidan. The situations were slightly different, yes, but it doesn’t seem like Kakashi knew about Itachi’s real motivations so the contradictory way he acted in those instances feels off. What’s more, I find it hard to believe that Naruto would allow Orochimaru to walk away AND welcome his abomination offspring into the village after he was the cause of Sasuke turning his back on both team 7 and Konoha as a whole, started him on the path of “darkness”, maximized the overall suffering of all characters involved, almost killed his other friends on multiple occasions, committed acts against humanity for the sake of “progression” and also gave Sasuke the means with which to fall directly into the Akatsuki’s hands. Like, considering how far up Sasuke’s ass he is, Orochimaru should’ve been the last person Naruto forgave when all was said and done. How am I expected to believe that the laundry list of crimes Orochimaru has under his belt is somehow justifiable? That anyone could look at what he’s done and write it off?

Even if Kishimoto was making an argument for “forgive and forget”, Orochimaru never should’ve been eligible for that sort of leniency to begin with. What he did should’ve been so far past the point of acceptability that mercy was never an option. It’s not so much that the characters I liked had to die, but that they died while actual villains were permitted to lead happy lives after they eventually got the evil out of their systems. It REALLY grinds my gears that Jiraiya was cut down the way he was while Orochimaru got to play mad scientist with no regard for human life and then be allowed to run free, have a son and pretty much do whatever the fuck he wants. It doesn’t make any sense??

Same with Sasuke. Not only should he have been so far gone with the mental trauma of losing his entire family, killing his own brother, trying to destroy his entire village and everyone in it, attempting to KILL Sakura on two separate occasions and being manipulated by a long dead relative that rehabilitation of any kind was entirely out of the question but also why forgive him for those crimes in the first place? Why let him wander about however he sees fit when you KNOW he has a history of going off the goddamn rails? How is it that he isn’t punished in some way and, perhaps most inexplicably, Sakura still wants to be with him? Is the narrative Kishimoto feeding me REALLY supposed to be that any act of violence and hatred is forgivable if you try to see it from that persons perspective hard enough? It’s inconceivable!

And imma be honest with you even though it’s not going to make me any friends. Gaara is the exact same as Sasuke. He got off scot free despite killing who knows how many unnamed people and also reveling in the death and destruction he wrought. The guy had no business taking a position of power in Suna no matter how much Naruto’s healing magic of friendship changed him. Like, to be completely honest, it would’ve made ten times more sense for Temari to take that role but we can’t go around having women in leadership positions now can we?

: p

Good people die and that’s okay. That’s life. Asuma’s death played a big role in Shikamaru’s character arc and Jiraiya died like a hero. That is not my issue with Kishimoto’s inane drama. But it feels very ... hollow to me, knowing that the people who did legitimately terrible things were not suitably punished for it in some way because it sets a really bad precedent for forgiving genuinely terrible actions. Genocide and abuse. Human experimentation. The list goes on! And if anything they all got the better end of the deal - Sasuke, Orochimaru, Gaara and Hiashi - they all came out the other side living their best lives while Neji and Shikaku get to rot. That is, quite frankly, fucked up.

[whenthemarshmallowmettheslayer]

Could you do a Naruto fanfiction recommendation? I loved your Sakura one but I was curious if you would do one in general for the series?

1.) serendipity by stirringwinds. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Sasuke had never known Senju Hashirama in person, of course. But he had grown up hearing stories about the First Hokage at his mother’s knee—about the legend who had defeated the most powerful member of their own clan. Enough stories to recognise what he was seeing—and to know he was witnessing his teammate perform the impossible. Or, in the fight against Gaara during Suna’s attempted invasion of Konoha, the Ichibi’s attempt to kill Sakura awakens an unexpected power. It changes the destiny of Team Seven forever.

Yes, this is about Mokuton!Sakura but this is in Sasuke’s pov and, oh boy, is it so interesting in his point of view. There’s not only world building but nods to real life history that makes in the (casual) history nerd in me get really excited. So far we’ve only seen Uchiha clan politics that Sasuke remembers from when his family arrived but if this is ever continued the current politics is one of the main things  I look forward too.

2.) These Moments We Take for Granted by Applepie. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Kakashi dies to Pain’s attack and wakes up in another world. It’s a world where Kakashi hadn’t failed Obito’s final wish and sacrificed himself for Rin’s sake instead. It’s a Konoha too similar, yet so different that Kakashi can’t bear to impose. So he doesn’t – not as ‘Kakashi’, at least.

I’m dying for the next chapter of this. The cliff hanger is partially why the other reason is the story is just that good. 

3.) Yes, my weird depressed half-tree uncle by Aesoleucian. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Sarada is such a lonely kid, and Sakura has such a dissociative disorder. Where are Sakura's parents? Where is the support? Being a single mom is hard and therefore I crafted this AU where Obito survives the war and retires to help restore his clan which he helped murder. 

A good way to get me to love any fic: let characters who go through traumatic situations actually show they’re not okay afterwards. 

4.) your skeleton will carry by theformerone. On ao3. Rated E. Summary: He doesn't want to have children for the clan that murdered his father, or for the village that let it happen.

Neji and Sasuke discover that they are more alike than they think.

I’m so glad the author tagged this Anti Sandaime. That tag is the reason why I found this beautiful fic. 

5.) Just the Usual Habits by Applepie. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Sakumo has no idea where all of these habits of Kakashi's are coming from. In which five-year-old Kakashi forgets the existence of his left eye, loses his ability to lie believably, and is a little too knowledgeable about the Birds and Bees. Still, no matter what oddities went on in Kakashi's head, one thing is certain – the boy will always love his father, through thick and thin.

6.) Get Shisui by DoodlesOfTheMind. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Get Shisui. It was a common refrain throughout the Uchiha compound, though its meaning had shifted a number of times over the years.

Both beautiful and heartbreaking. 

7.) a beating heart of stone by FantasyDeath. On ao3. Rated Not Rated. Summary: During Iruka's first year teaching — on his own, because apparently there is a severe lack of teachers — he loses his curriculum, gets into a low-key fight with Shimura Danzo and accidentally creates an army. To be fair, none of this was planned.

8.) In Sound Judgement by NegativeAperture. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: The main question, she thinks, isn’t her chance at survival or whether she’ll stick to the plot. No, it’s whether she should change the inherently flawed system that has caused every single problem ever. Arguably, she’s in the best position to fix it. People are certainly more willing to listen to you when you threaten them with the giant fox demon in your gut. But what would the cost be? Her morals? Her humanity?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions after all. (In which a human rights lawyer is reincarnated into a world without morality, without logic, and most of all, without laws. Helping the world was easier when people weren’t ninjas.)

Even if self inserts or ocs are not your thing I still strongly suggest you read this.

9.) Mirage by xantissa. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Can be read as stand alone. Itachi's ANBU exam through Kakashi's eyes. Kakashi knew something wasn't right with the whole thing, he just couldn't put his finger on what exactly.

10.) Catch Me (If You Can) by BasicallyAnIdiot. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Five times the ANBU tried to catch Uzumaki Naruto (and that one time someone else did).

Why you should read this: “Knowing Naruto-kun,” Itachi interrupted from his locker as he checked his arm bracers, “If he had more than a hour, the traps were at least 2 layers deep.” He closed the locker door firmly, mask in hand, “But he can be caught.”

“Lies and hearsay.” Neko’s muffled offer came from the women’s shower area. 

“Impossible. Never happened.”

A delicate brow arched, and Itachi continued. “There is one person in the village who can successfully catch Uzumaki Naruto whenever he feels inclined to.”

Inu sat up like a shot, unheeding the bag of ice dropping to his lap with a thud. 

“Who? Is it the Commander? Hokage-sama?”

Shisui snorted, and transitioned smoothly to a new pose, “He means the only chunin in the history of chunin to turn down a full position in ANBU corps, complete with no probation and instant pay raise.”

Inu was silent for a moment. Then he declared, “I will find this chunin and make him my teacher.”

11.) Fish Stew by Masu_Trout. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: There was a bowl of stew in Kisame's lap, a cup of tea on the ground next to him, and a small blank-eyed teenager staring at him from over the rim of his own teacup.

Kisame's new partner is one of the strangest people he's ever met, and that's coming from a man with gills on his face.

12.) What A Big Heart You Have by LullabyKnell. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: In which a little red fox saves the big white wolf.

Bless this fic. 

In which Hatake Sakumo lives.

13): Autonomy by beetlebee. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: "But this Not-Sensei soulmate guy could be anybody," Naruto whines.

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "No. He tried to act like Kakashi, use his techniques. He must be familiar with him already..."

"They could be childhood friends!" Sakura gasps.

"Sensei has friends?" Naruto asks, squinting at Obito.

"Or he's a stalker." Sasuke grips the kunai he still hasn't put away.

"I'm not a stalker," Obito lies, pushing away the kunai edging towards him.

----

(A soulmate bodyswap AU)

I would kill to read a sequel of this where we see Kakashi’s in Obito’s body.

14.) Written with Heart by Brookelocks. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: "Sometimes just sharing your opinion or a conversation about something someone else enjoys, even if you have to grit your teeth through it, can be the little push of support that makes them keep pursuing their passion."

or Kakashi has a strange way of showing his support, Jiraiya doesn't mind.

15.) The Good Life by orphan_account. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: There had to be protocol for this. They were shinobi in a hidden village; there was protocol for everything. Sadly, the authors of the Konoha Mission Administration Office Employee Handbook had committed the potentially fatal oversight of not dedicating a single paragraph to the now more than hypothetical situation of your current Hokage starting a mostly one-sided screaming match with your former Hokage in front of your very desk.

16.) these chains on me won't let me be pg13. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: The first time you ever feel like a shinobi, you are ugly and messy and scared out of your mind and not even wearing your hitai-ate. — implied sakura/ino

Out of all the Sakura centric fics I’ve read - trust me I have read a lot - this is till one of my favorites.

17.) got a boy in the war by Lisse. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: Naruto's parents don't so much fall in love as accidentally trip over it.

18.) sabotage by stirringwinds. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: “Itachi,” His mentor and commanding officer says grimly, his single visible eye angry, the line of his jaw tense under the black of his mask. “You forget that I was the Yondaime’s student. I may not be as politically influential as those old codgers sitting on the council, but there is plenty I can do to try and stop this shitshow.”

The horrible, cold feeling in the pit of his stomach hasn't vanished. But, staring at the firm, unflinching expression on his captain’s face, he feels the tiniest flicker of…hope.

Or: In another universe, Itachi breaks down and ends up spilling the beans to Hatake Kakashi.

Honestly, damn it why couldn’t this have happened? 

20.) Nothing like the storm by Aesoleucian. On ao3. Rated Not Rated. Summary: There's a girl in Kushina's class at the academy, with perfect hair and perfect poise. She's nothing like loud, angry Kushina, but she's not exactly shy either.

21.) Shine Bright, Shine Far, (Oh Sun of Mine) by Applepie. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: This Konoha is not the one Himawari knows; everything is wrong, and everyone is gone. A strange man who's not Papa is claiming to be the Hokage.

22.) i have a girlfriend!? by chadsuke. On ao3. Rated G. Summary: ino wants training from the best genin kunoichi - naturally, that means tracking down tenten.

23.) Eyestealer by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth (nirejseki). On ao3. Rated Summary: Hashirama really doesn't approve of the thoughtful way his father looks at his younger brother's bright red eyes. He's sure it doesn't mean anything good for anyone.

He's right.

I just binge read this today (I haven’t even bookmarked it yet) and now I’m left wanting for more darker than canon Hashirama.

24.) Unison by Laylah. On ao3. Rated M. Summary: Kakashi knows damn well that it isn't a healthy coping mechanism.

Do read the warnings at the top of the author’s notes. 

25.) Got Nothing to Prove (but I'ma show you how I do) by GuardianMars. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: Civilians and orphans are always used as cannon fodder. Sakura’s not sure where she first came by this phrase. Whether she heard it or read it, she can’t quite remember, but it stuck in her head and it stays in the back of her mind whenever Team 7 takes a mission.

When Sakura and Tenten get placed on a temporary team looking into a series of kidnappings of local village girls, Sakura is naturally worried. She doesn't want to be cannon fodder. When the mission goes to pot, Sakura and Tenten find themselves far away from home and with only each other to rely on. As it turns out being cannon fodder is the least of their worries.

26.) Once Again by pupeez4eva. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: If you asked anyone what they thought of Sasuke Uchiha, they'd say that he was cheerful, overly-hyper, and loved glitter and sweaters WAY too much.

(Mabel Pines is reborn as Sasuke Uchiha. Unsurprisingly, this changes things a lot).

27.) Blame it on the Moon by Tozette. On ao3 (you can only see this if you have logged-in ). Rated G. Summary: Itachi likes cats. In hindsight, that's probably his first mistake.

* * *

Really? Thought Itachi dubiously. He did it anyway. "For love and justice," he deadpanned flatly.

28.) Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins elumish. On ao3. Rated T. Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

[crossroadsimagine]

✩ Naruto: Guarded

The Story Below is from my previous blog NarutoHeartImagines but I would like to continue the story so I’m moving it to this blog. You’ll be able to choose different character routes in this story and I may add more characters later.

☰ Story Summary

You find yourself the target of an assassination plot, you are the last in line of a rare lineage. The soul survivor of a once powerful clan with powerful abilities, you however are still rather young and have struggled to release these abilities and powers your clan was known for. You were raised in a village with your true identity hidden from the world, however the truth got out and while you were trained in ninja arts you are not strong enough to defend yourself from your pursuers and those wishing to kill you. Because of this the village decided it would be safest for you to be guarded at all times, as well as moving locations to an old Onsen resort. Located in an area where those who wish you harm would never think to look for you, the elders who have made this decision for you only offer you one choice. Who would you like to guard you?

☰ Story Introduction

You sat alone in your room quietly by the window sill staring out the window with a longing expression on your face. Suddenly there was a knock at your door and moments later one of the male elders was walking into your room followed by one of the female elders.

He was loud and always seemed to be agitated and a sense of urgency about him, while she was more quiet, timid with a more motherly attitude towards you. He said your name loudly and you turned your head slightly to just barely be able to make eye contact with him, but you didn’t say anything to him. “Have you made a decision yet m'lady?” he questioned lightening his tone for a moment, but then he got serious again.

“Time IS of the essence here, if you refuse to make a decision here we will be forced to choose for you.” he spoke but it sounded more like you were getting a scolding by the tone of his voice with you.

“Now, now don’t rush the poor girl, after all she knows how urgent this is.” the woman said sweetly but also seemed to suggest that you make a decision. You scooted to the edge of your seat to face them and made eye contact with them, “Actually, I have made my choice.” you admitted plainly without acting as if you cared very much over the situation at all, it wasn’t that you were thrilled to be doing this but you didn’t hate the idea.

You understood the importance and appreciated how far everyone was willing to go to keep you safe, even though you sometimes felt as if you were burdening others simply because of your lineage since this whole ordeal began.

“I would like for it to be _______.” you spoke the name of the one you wished to be your body guard for the time being. In fact you had no idea how long this whole situation would be for now that you really thought about it, which made you rather concerned.

You hated the idea of troubling others with this after all you had no control over what clan you were born into, or who you were anyways so it felt weird to have this special treatment.

“Excellent choice.” the man said seeming to approve completely over your decision, “I will continue with the plans.” the man said in a serious tone but he seemed to lighten up a bit now that he knew your choice, he left your room quickly like he was on a mission.

“Make sure to get ready quickly now, we’ll need to leave tonight.” the woman spoke sounding more urgent this time. “We have no time to waste so make sure you’re packed and ready to go.” she suggested as she left your room and closed the door slowly behind her.

You were left alone in your room again, alone with your thoughts. You often blamed yourself for the circumstances because you hadn’t unlocked your powers and abilities yet, though it’s not as if you knew much about them to begin with. You did not have any family or clan members to help you learn or understand your hidden powers and abilities.

It was something you had to figure out on your own and you knew you would be more useful and wouldn’t need protection like this if only you could unlock them. But for now it was best to just go along with things and cause as little trouble for others as you could, you pushed your thoughts aside and began packing your things.

You had no idea how long this adventure would last and therefore packed anything you thought you may need as if you may never return. Later that night there was a knock on your door and moments later the elder man from earlier entered,

“It’s time.” the man said urgently and you grabbed your things and followed him out of your room, you followed him outside and you were placed inside a carriage. The man was not going with you but instead a handful of special ops ninja dressed as merchants were escorting you to the secret destination. You went along with everything passively seeing no reason to refuse or cause problems and settled in for the long ride.

After what felt like an eternity you had finally arrived at the hidden location you would be staying at with your body guard for the time being. Stepping out of the carriage you looked around at the place it was beautiful yet secluded in the forest, the building was large and looked almost like a feudal Japanese castle. The place was huge with hot springs in the back and from the outside it looked massive and wondered how many rooms there were and if you’d be able to remember your way around.

“Come along.” you suddenly heard one of your guards tell you as he motioned at you with his hand, as you were walking to towards the building with him, he was explaining that there were guards aside from your main body guard that would be there to help keep an eye on the perimeter of the building and to help keep things secure, they would raise the alert if anything seemed to be out of place or unusual.

He also explained that there would also be staff and servants that would look after the upkeep of the place and were there to take care of you. The whole situation was beginning to make you feel more and more uncomfortable and awkward, it’s not as if you were a princess and that’s how they were beginning to make you feel.

You walked into the building with your guard and he led you through a few rooms, explaining that your body guard was in the next room. Advising that it would be best to try and get along with them for the time being, and suggesting you be on your best behavior and to listen to your body guard to ensure your safety in this situation.

With this advise he turned and walked away leaving you to meet your body guard all on your own, though there were two guards by the door way behind you, so you weren’t truly alone even here. You felt like you wouldn’t really be alone again for quite some time.

Choose Your Body Guard —->

(Coming Soon)

■ Naruto

■ Sasuke

■ Kiba

■ Shikamaru

■ Neji

■ Tenten

■ Gaara

■ Kankuro

■ Itachi

■ Deidara

■ Sasori

■ Shisui

■ Kurotsuchi

■ Kakashi

■ Iruka

■ Yamato

■ Genma

■ Madara

■ Tobirama

■ Hidan

■ Kisame

Please feel free to let me know if you enjoy this story, or if there’s an additional character you would like to see added to the story and I may add them.

[elenathehun]

Reading is Emotional, part 15

It’s been a whole year since I read through the Konoha Crush Arc!  I know I said I’d be back later in the year...but that turned into a lie.  Sorry guys!  But I’m back, if only for a moment, and it’s time to re-read my unironic favorite story arc in Naruto, the SEARCH FOR TSUNADE!  So, without further ado, let’s begin:

You know, I don’t remember even being that shocked or surprised by Sasuke’s flashback reveal of the Uchiha Massacre?  It was such a shonen trope, even back that.  Re-reading it now is mostly an exercise in nostalgia for the period when Itachi was just a boring character archetype instead of an exercise in bad retconning. 

 As always, the difference between canon!Kisame, who casually offers to permanently maim Naruto before harvesting the demon inside him (which would kill him, just in case anyone forgot) and fanon!Kisame, who is some kind of tragic anti-hero carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, is both staggeringly large and hilariously stupid.

Naruto is so confused by this confrontation between Sasuke and Itachi, and I don’t blame him!  This is honestly confusing!  

Jiraiya appears just in time, so Naruto’s plot armor is still intact.  Fun fact: if Itachi and Kisame were half as competent as Deidara and Sasori, Naruto would be dead.  Think how different canon would be!

Kishimoto’s foot fetish is showing: Itachi has immaculately painted toenails.

Anyway, Itachi and Kisame escape Jiraiya’s trap, which apparently no one has done before.  This is an anti-climatic fight because it feels like it’s supposed to be a boss fight, but we have no prior comparison to earlier fights for these characters.  At this point, I should not really be disappointed - have I liked any of Kishimoto’s staging or writing for his fights thus far?

However, I do like the scene where Jiraiya seals up Itachi’s magic black fire.  That was actually a pretty cool glimpse into the applications of Naruto’s version of magic.  If only he had remembered to pull this out during the real boss fight with Orochimaru...

And finally, at the end of volume 148, we finally get a glimpse of the hero of this story: a drunk louse who abandoned her friends and family and never wins!

And now we get to a teaching arc, which automatically raises my blood pressure.  Kishimoto spends a lot of time talking about the sacred bonds of the teacher-student pseudobond, but most of his teachers are not only bad, but they actively denigrate the act and purpose of teaching.  Jiraiya is the most frustrating because he is actually written as a very good teacher, the kind of teacher who is able to explain things so even the dullest of students understands it, but actively avoids his responsibilities out of some misguided belief that a student should re-invent the wheel for god-knows-what reason.

Case in point?  Naruto struggled for hours trying to figure out how to pop the balloon, only for Jiraiya to explain the key point - the necessity of spinning your chakra with your natural spin instead of against it.  I don’t believe Jiraiya when he says that’s something Naruto should just know - maybe Hinata or Neji should automatically know it, based on their prior training on the family martial arts, but why would Naruto know that? It’s ridiculous, and a waste of time for both student and teacher.  This is piss-poor pedagogy!

As you can see, I have a lot of opinions regarding Jiraiya.  Objectively, he’s an interesting character, rather than a likable one.  It’s hard for me to explain why I feel this way about Jiraiya, but hopefully by the end of this arc, I’ll be able to verbalize my reasons a little more.  Either way, thus ends Volume 17, with both Jiraiya and Orochimaru in pursuit of the greatest doctor in the world...

[kitsmits]

About the Kakashi Anbu Arc...

Specifically, the anime filler arc in the final season that explores Kakashi’s life post-Kyuubi, pre-Team-7. First of all, I actually really like this filler arc. It fleshed out several character relationships (not least of all, Kakashi and Yamato/Tenzo/Kinoe) as well as the dichotomy between Danzo’s Root and the Hokage’s Anbu. There was action, political intrigue, Kakashi being a badass, Kakashi being vulnerable, Kakashi interacting with baby Yamato and baby Itachi...plus, I’m a sucker for glimpses into Root’s culture. Sure, there were some flaws, some plot holes, but for the most part, they were relatively minor in my mind.

Except for one.

The plot to assassinate Hiruzen.

I have several problems with this whole plot thread. Let’s take a look, shall we?

First, a quick recap: In this anime-only filler arc, after the Kyuubi attack, teenage Kakashi was left grieving, angry, alone. Along comes Danzo, giving him someone to blame for the tragedy: Hiruzen. It was Hiruzen who ordered all the young Shinobi (including Kakashi) to NOT interfere during the attack; if Kakashi had been allowed to fight, perhaps things would have turned out differently. Danzo then makes Kakashi an offer: Work for him. Spy on Hiruzen. Help Danzo put Konoha back on the right path.

Kakashi, in his grief, agrees.

So we see him passing along information to Danzo for a bit...and then, Kakashi comes across a Foundation kid with a supposedly extinct ability: Wood release. Put a pin in that - it’ll come up again soon.

Anyway, eventually, Kakashi becomes part of Danzo’s plot to assassinate the Hokage. However, Kakashi has a change of heart and instead warns Hiruzen of the plot. Danzo is thwarted; Hiruzen confronts him...and then essentially forgives him. Hiruzen tells Danzo that if he ever found the individual responsible for the plot, he would have every right to charge the person with treason and execute them...but he’d rather that person instead focus their energies on protecting the village. 

Some issues.

1. It was unnecessary from a story perspective.

From a story point of view, the assassination/double-cross subplot is supposedly what made Kakashi turn “back to the light,” so to speak. But here’s the thing: I don’t think that was the reason he turned on Danzo. It’s not that I think Kakashi was perfectly fine with the idea of assassinating the Hokage; it certainly contributed, I imagine. However, given the trauma in his life so far, especially being forced to kill a friend for the sake of the village, I think the Kakashi of this time had resigned himself to being a tool of assassination. If killing the Hokage was really the best thing for Konoha - as Danzo said it was - then he was probably prepared to do it. (Or at least believed he was.)

However, something else happened during this time that lead Kakashi to doubt Danzo’s intentions: Kakashi discovered that Danzo was hiding a Wood release user. It’s significant to me that Kakashi investigated the matter BEFORE deciding to tell the Hokage about Danzo’s plans. Hiruzen bringing up that Wood Release was one of the only ways to subdue the Kyuubi made Kakashi think: That ability is more important than ever in the village now. Why would Danzo be keeping it hidden away if he truly had the village’s best interests in mind?

TL;DR: Kakashi already had the doubts he needed about Danzo. An assassination, while certainly good for drama, wasn’t completely necessary for him to turn on Danzo. Plus...

2. The aftermath is VERY problematic.

There are two sides of this: Hiruzen and Kakashi. By allowing Danzo to get away with a thinly veiled warning, they both wind up looking at naive and/or horribly negligent - and well into the future, in Kakashi’s case. Hiruzen giving his old comrade the benefit of the doubt despite trying to KILL him...that’s one thing. I mean, I’m generally a fan of forgiveness, but this is extreme, even for me.

But Kakashi knowing about all of this, and NEVER bringing it up, say, to Tsunade? Or the Elders? (Not that I have the highest opinion of those two windbags...) Staying quiet about it while Danzo took power? I know, I know - Kishi didn’t actually figure this whole filler arc into the story. But do you see the problems it creates in hindsight, especially for consistent characterization? It makes Kakashi, a character defined partly by his intelligence and judgment, seem at best an idiot and at worst willfully negligent. A lot of the filler arc adds to his characterization and shows his growth (though most of that is focused on Kino-Tenz-Yams). But this? This takes away from it. It doesn’t make him flawed; it makes his actions (or lack thereof) reprehensible.

3. It could almost be seen as “out of character” for Danzo. (Yes, I’m serious.)

Yeah, we get it, Danzo is power-hungry and has wanted the Hokage hat ever since Tobirama tossed it to Hiruzen in the middle of a mini-war. He regularly undermines the Hokage office, acts on his own without the Hokage’s approval, and utilized shady, sometimes illegal means for his ends. He even holds his own forces back from assisting during Pein’s assault - while you could debate how much help they’d really have been, it’s still possible they COULD have saved at least a few lives. (...which would have been resurrected anyway, but let’s not open THAT can of worms.) Danzo has certainly committed egregious acts of subterfuge and sabotage.

But if he’d wanted to simply kill his way to the Hokage seat, he’d have done so long ago.

I put forth that assassinating a political figure of his own village was NOT in Danzo’s character, at least at that time. Assassination of a Konoha official is messy, risky, blatant. And it might not have even worked! Danzo would still need to be nominated, then chosen as the prime candidate, then approved by the Daimyo, then voted in by the Jonin...there were (apparently) quite a few hoops to jump through. Simply killing off the current Hokage wouldn’t have gotten all the work done. Heck, since the Uchiha clan was still around at the time, and I somehow doubt he had the best relationship with them in public, he’d have had a HARDER time getting the political support he needed.

(Huh...come to think of it, that COULD be part of the reason he wanted to get rid of the Uchiha clan...hmm...)

Point is, Danzo as he’s presented in strict canon is an opportunist, a reactionary, and frankly, a coward. From youth to old age, he’s preferred to stay back and let things play out around him, then take advantage of the outcome. We see this when he fails to volunteer himself as bait for Shinkaku and Ginkaku; we see it (in filler, but still) when he hesitates to put himself or Orochimaru forth as a Hokage candidate, post-third-war. We see it again when he keeps his troops from fighting Pein. Considering all of this...would he really be so bold and direct as to kill a Hokage?

“But the whole point of the failed assassination and Hiruzen’s forgiveness of it is that it made Danzo prioritize the village over his own ambitions!”

He still prioritized his own ambitions after that. He kept Root going in secret so that he’d have his own personal army. He continued to undermine Tsunade, trying to assassinate Sasuke without her knowledge. And again, there’s his purposeful inaction during the Pein attack. He may have convinced himself that he was only acting in the village’s interests, but he still prioritized his own.

Conclusion and caveats...

So, from a plot perspective, I kind of understand why they needed something other than the whole “Danzo’s hoarding a Mokuton user” thing for Kakashi to bring to Hiruzen at the start. I can see 2 uses for it:

A) It helped Kakashi prove his ability to judge situations for himself, thus making him one of Hiruzen’s most trusted Anbu operatives.

B) The writers wanted to save the Mokuton reveal for later - after “Kinoe” became “Tenzo” and had his own life-changing encounters that prepared him for leaving Root. After all, once Hiruzen was told of Kinoe/Tenzo’s existence, it became necessary to pull him out of Root. (I’ll admit, my memory on the timeline of this arc is a tad fuzzy...I can’t recall if Kakashi had already told Hiruzen about Kinoe before or not...and I’m too lazy right now to check.) Anyway, if they had Kakashi tell Hiruzen sooner, we might not have gotten the whole “Tenzo”/smoke-clan thing, or the whole “to kill Kakashi or not to kill Kakashi” thing, both of which wound up shaping Tenzo.

But I still think the assassination subplot made less sense than it attempted to make.

Also, it’s a tad inconvenient for certain aspects of my own fic, soooo yeah. There you have it: the real reason I want to retcon it :P

[realitachifacts]

Well that’s actually funny you said that because I was originally going to ask your thoughts on the whole Sasuke/Itachi dynamic. Like if you felt that Itachi knew he was going to be brought back after his first death to guide Sasuke etc. And if he planned on Sasuke changing his mind about Konoha...but then I thought maybe you didn’t want to get into the whole discussion so my question shifted haha

yessss okay. no don’t worry i LOVE answering character analysis stuff because (serious) writing is like My Thing so…

TL;DR:

“Thoughts on the Itachi & Sasuke dynamic?” As with most things in Naruto I like what it could have been, not what it actually was.

“Did Itachi know he was going to be brought back after his first death to guide Sasuke?” No.

“Did he plan on Sasuke changing his mind about Konoha?” I’m gonna assume you mean about planning to destroy it instead of return after Itachi’s death. In which case, no.

detailed explanations under the cut.

to answer your initial question, i don’t think that itachi knew he was going to be brought back after his first death. i mean, primarily, how would he know, and additionally, if he did, he would have worked it into his master plan for sasuke. during their final battle together at the hideout, it was relatively evident that itachi had been planning every single thing he did in advance; the only thing sasuke did that seemed to even remotely surprise him was breaking his tsukuyomi/genjutsu. itachi’s primary goal for sasuke was to have him return to the village, and although his characterization is inconsistent due to just straight up bad writing, i still think this was the most feasible desire of itachi’s for an outcome. i want to get into a hypothetical post-resurrection plan of his but i actually haven’t really gotten to edo tensei itachi yet and only know about the tail end of it up to his final apology. i’m almost there though so i might elaborate on this (and might have a changed opinion) when i do.

secondarily, i don’t think he planned on sasuke wanting to destroy konoha at all. however, i don’t think he would have particularly cared. in terms of priorities, it has always been sasuke, then the village, then anything else. i think by his resurrection he’s witnessed sasuke’s potential and seems to give him more mental autonomy and views him with more equality than through a patriarchal-fraternal lens (again like… this is from what i’ve seen of it). if it was possible that he could have stopped sasuke in a way that didn’t kill him (clearly mere harm isn’t a concern) and saved the village, he would have done it, but he’s even canonically threatened to leak village secrets if sasuke was threatened in any way, so his little brother held high priority above konoha. if sasuke was being seen more on an equal level, and stated he felt wronged by the village and was going to attack it, with itachi having no possible way of stopping him without him ending up dead, itachi probably would’ve helped. he isn’t a particularly vengeful person, especially considering he was never afflicted by the curse of hatred. causing injury, pain, or death to another individual was done by itachi on a cost-benefit analysis, with a purported preference for avoiding injury; as with most characteristics stated that one of the characters has, it is not backed strongly by any canon evidence besides severe amounts of retcon that heavily conflict with existing source material. but that’s a whole other rant lmao.

finally, i really really liked the connection the two of them had as children. i wish itachi could’ve lived instead of dying of not useful to the plot anymore let’s give sasuke more emotional pain disease. i wish itachi could’ve become hokage. it’s pretty obvious that a forehead tap and a few words isn’t anywhere close to reconciliation (huh, that might be a hereditary pattern) or even a hug, and a redemption arc mainly given via word of mouth is… agh, not great. i think sasuke’s healing would progressed faster and further if itachi stayed around, since the sort of closure he would need is so different than what, say, naruto would need. itachi’s existence would have to be prolonged. plus i wanted him to live longer in general lmao, and they really could’ve saved his character in more than just a how he is in canon way; what i mean by that is they could have made him more consistent and fleshed out his motives so that he’s both more sympathetic and human- although i find him to be a highly sympathetic character, i also have a personal habit of falling for the “good guy all along”/seeing the best in everyone narrative, which i try to remove myself from when doing source analysis. for anyone more critical of media this… is a very good example of how not to try to make a villain likable. i think they each could’ve learned from each other and gained so much by itachi living. because the writing itself seems to intrinsically categorize the characters as “good” or “evil” and act as if suddenly you can move from one box to another and gain or lose audience sympathy. i mean, it’s a shonen, sure, so these concepts are simplified. but this becomes highly difficult with characters like itachi, who it is literally incapable to just move into a good box and make compelling unless there was actual foreshadowing up until that point. it’s why so many people have issues with things like talk-no-jutsu; suddenly making a character who’s done horrible things “good” doesn’t make them good, it makes them morally gray at best, and trying to shove them cleanly into “good” categorization is messy and it doesn’t feel right. umm i’m getting really off-topic here.

yeah! hope i answered at least some of your questions. thank you for asking!!

[muma-paduriilor-blog]

It all starts with the change of kushina’s death. To try to save her life she is escorted to the Uzumaki village, where she would give birth and there they are attacked. The village is in ruin, kushina is dead and her child is lost.

Minato had gotten there as quickly as possible and there he fought the rampaging nine tail and attacker. He is hurt, and after sealing the fox into his son, the only possible vessel for the nine tails as their chakra was too large for anybody without the genes to hide it

So Minato dies also, and old man sarutobi gets there and doesn’t know what to do

He knew from Itachi that something was going on.

And the attack exemplified there were traitors in the mids of hidden leaf and  more importantly inside the anbu and inside the kage council.

So he calls the only person possible to help him.

He calls Jiraiya, Naruto’s godfather, and tells him to hide Naruto from everybody

As far as anyone knows, all the namikaze family died and the nine tails is lost

The thing is, in this situation after seeing the state of Tsunade and everything else Orochimaru decides to act quicker gets into anbu to try to get closer to the secrets of the hidden leaf.

And he stumbles over the Danzo’s little experiments with the hashirama cells

He knows he needs to spill this

But thinking this is his one chance to power and immortality he waits until he can get his hands on those experiments first

But danzo gets wind of this and pins everything on orochimaru

Which makes ororchimaru a criminal and he needs to run and hide

At this point tsunade becomes is mia and emotionally broken so she will be out of the story for a while

Ororchimaru manages to get to jirayia

And trough some wonders jirayia listens to him and tries to get sarutobi to see danzo is corrupt

There is some animosity as jirayia had not taken the role of kage

Which led to mint becoming it, dying

And sarutobi and jiraya both believe if jiraya had stayed and helped the deaths could have been avoided

They do agreee they need to be careful

Danzo is not the only bad guy and they need to see how far the corruption runs and just where from danzo got all those bad secret super dangerous jutus

Meanwhile itchy and shinsui get into anbu

And shit hits the fan when shinsui gets hurt

So itachi hides shinsui and tries to heal him

Then danzo asks for the death of the uchiha

And then they go to see danzo and there they fight him

shinsui is badly hurt and is almost surely dyeing

At the same time, Izumi finds about the plan and goes to the kage and jirayia for help change itachi and shisui’s mind

Thinking that shisui died itachi kills danzo

Everyone thinks that itachi is a murder  

Izumi stays in the village and using some genjutsu she manages to postpone the uchiha riots

Meanwhile shisui was helped miraculously by Shizune who was traveling inside the village

Jiraya helped itachi and shisui find her after the Danzo incident

So shisui doesn’t die YET ? MAYBE ?

I mean I have to paths here: shisui dies and kisame replaces him in the relationship role/ shinsui lives/ both kisame and shisui become part of itachi’s life

For now what is important is that they use itachi’s “crime” to arrest all the people plotting the assassination of the kage

And  that ostracises the uchihas

Not only that but both sasuke and fukagu are traitors

So he  really starts to hate the village

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY

Naruto is being raised by the sanins

You see, after escaping to one of the other smaller hidden villages orochimaru tries one more thing to obtain immortality trough the sage mode

He goes to the snake cave and actually fights his way and is almost killed by the venom

Jirayia actually finds this and runs to help orochimaru’s ass

After that, jirayia actually says he will take half the poison greatly hurting him to save orochimaru’s sorry ass

After all this time emotions hit orochimaru like a bitch and gets, in his late twenties, the whole empathy and bond thing

That starts anew the relationship between the tree seeing

Orochimaru writes to tsunade about his life

And tsunade stops feeling so alone

Returns to the village to push for reforms and becomes a very hard working and proactive politician greatly loved by the people and one of the most important factors to combat the corruption inside konoha

Meanwhile orochimaru settles down

And only sometimes experiments on himself

But now he only has the goal of making the largest library of jutus ever and documenting unique forms of jutus

So all the people would still be there only not addicts

The first cases to take in for healing are Izumi itachi and shisui

And he’s like: ”the fuck, when did I become a foster house for the uchihas”

But it work cause they look after each other and so on \

And because jirayia has to leave some times

And orochimaru is the only senin that has a “home” he ends up babysitting quite a bit

And naruto ends up calling calling jiraya dada and and orochimaru “mama” cause he has pretty and soft hair

The uchihas and eventually kabuto become “brothers”

Kabuto goes and studies under tsunade, wishing to finally change the system that done him dirty

Becoming one of the best medic nin in the while- specialising in genetic

Karin is beyond herself to finally see another uzumaki

After their village was destroyed there was a massacre

Having happened during a war the uzumakis had been hunted by lesser ninjas for their secrets sealing techniques and high chakra supply

She had been born in captivity and had barely escaped

Anyways, naruto grows up very different

Highly uprooted due to most of his time spent on the road

After itachi goes to join the akatsuki to obtain inside intel, orochimaru’s lair is quite lonely and till the Toka team arrives

and he never spent as much time with tsunade as by this time she was filled with paperwork and in line for the next hokage

So she couldn’t leave the village

Anyway all this changes when he turns ten

Jirayia sends him to school in the hidden leaf

There he lives supervised by tsunade and get to know each other better

The thing is that in school he does pretty sucky

At first everyone is super excited about him

There are never many new students

And he had such a close relationship with tsunade and the hokage

But his chakra is so unstable that he cannot do jutus correctly

And he is too impatient to use taijutsu and genjutsu

Combine that with his annoying happy go lucky attitude and be quickly becomes the class buffoon

He end iruka get to become good good friends

The events of the first episode still happen

And for the next few episodes too

Only sasuke gives a much scarier aura, since he very much hates the village

Naruto recognizes sasuke as Itachi’s lil bro and seeing how the village hates the uchias and the state of sasuke kind of make him…think, feel stuff

And they just don’t get along

They hate each other

Here I want naruto to know about the attack of the nine tails and they are sealed In him

So when irk tells him about how his parents had died

He again is said

Some talk and everyone agrees they can trust iruka and he is told the truth

Iruka gets over his pain

And their relationship is stronger

Naruto also finds out about how the bijuus are treated and seen

After the attack of the first and nine tails they became outcasts

anyway

Going back to team saven

Sakura is still there and this time she plays a quite different role

She, her fallout with ino happened because shikamaru didn’t stop his communication with sasuke

Both were pretty laid out with chill personalities

And shikamaru liked that he didn’t need to put effort in that relationship

But most people hated sasuke

Sakura was very social savvy and as soon as ino started spending more time with sasuke she was quick to fight

She was also jealous

Ever since they had started their ninja training ino had began training as a part of inoshikacho

And subsequently left sakura on her own which pushed sakura to become a ninja and be better than ino

In their teamwork test there is a lot less protest than in the original

Sasuke and naruto have more of actual animosity than a rivalry

And they are pretty much ready to fail

But after sakura is cornered and put under a genjutsu

Well they help her get out and together make a plan that still fails

But they do earn their respect and finally get on to their first mission

And for the next couple chapter things go their way.

The zabuza  arc is the same

With some changes in the character interactions

Naruto and sasuke  end up paired together and learn to trust each other

They talk about how they both feel left out inside the village and bond over their lonelyness

This is the first time sakura feels a sense of overwhelming

She becomes aware of her teammates’ situation and after the mission she vows to become stronger

next arc!!!!!

The chunin exam

Here is where things divert

So sakura actually gets the highest score in the exam and takes both minato and itchi’s records

Shikamaru could have gotten it <and would have actually gotten a higher mark but due to laziness he only did enough to pass>

Also, during the zabuza arc naruto had used the fox chakra

The zetsus found him as such and this is where the akatsuki came into play

Itachi hears of this plan to get naruto and heads out for the hidden village as he cannot find jiraya

Meanwhile orochimaru is at the the second part of the chunin exam to protect team seven from the sand nin

They run into ino’s team who was attacked by the gaara’s team

Things go bad when they are attacked and after using the fox chakra, naruto passes out

But the sand team leaves them

Hinata’s team also arrives after kiba smells blood and nejii’s team watches from afar

Due to each team having both scrolls they end up in  standstill of sorts, a strange peace agreement

This is the first time all the leaf genin interact fully and get to know each other

One the fight dulls down sasuke and sakura find naruto passed out and  ororchimaru nearby

This fear has sasuke awaken the sharingan in full form but before they can get to blows naruto stops sasuke

“hey orochimaru-sensei ….”yada yada

Naruto says that he is not allowed to say anything and orochimaru leaves saying that he needs to be careful of the sand nin gaara

Orochimaru leaves and naruto tells them not to worry

The kage knows about all this

So they leave it be for now

This is where sasuke get into a bad mindset

He is used to being the best: no amount of isolation could ever diminish his accomplishments

Yet in the last situation, naruto protected them against foe again

They make it out the forest and into the other round

This is where I leave it for now

[sanjuno]

NRT+SW: That We Answer To Our Stars

Just remember that you people asked for this and if I end up posting a story concept that you love and want to see as a fic? Be well aware that all of these outlines only have one thing in common:

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN A SINGLE SCENE FOR THEM.

Which means I won’t be turning them into fic for a year at least so... *handwaves* Encourage me IRT your favourite WIP of mine, because finishing one of those will clear up space in the docket for a new story to get some attention.

Now, these outlines can get kinda disjointed but at least you’ll get to see a bit of how my brain works when I plot out stories.

THE SCENE!

>Kaguya’s multiverse trip goes wonky b/c best crossover fodder scene

>Uchiha Clan dumped wholesale on Rim World/Wild Space World in SW’verse. All the Uchiha Clan. All the Uchiha since ever.

->World is XL planetoid version of TG44, with added biome options b/c YOLO (unless you’re in the Uchiha Clan I guess b/c then you get to Live All The Times?)

>Indra, Madara, and Sasuke separate ppl w/ wiggy chakra resonance. V disorienting.

->Ninshu gets Dialled Up To Eleven = Force Bonds! Force Bonds everywhere!

-->Entire Clan gets Highlights Reel of Historically Important Memories (also so much purposely induced trauma wow WTF.)

--->Mass Meditation required to untangle/unfuck heads

>Entire Clan now Force Sensitive BTW

->WTF w/ crazy Nature Chakra infesting everyone? Uchiha are Not Pleased.

-->Upside: Force Bonds/Ninshu Super Connection can be used to awaken Sharingan w/out Psyche Destroying Trauma so yay for that

>All Uchiha now have Kaguya’s est. life span. Also nubbin horns and forehead sensory organ b/c aliens are a SW thing I can do this now (don't know if want full-on third eye or just funky Clan Marking thing? Hm...)

THE PLOT THICKENS/ACTUALLY STARTS BEING A THING!

>Sep. forces land on new Uchiha Homeworld b/c shenanigans and The Force Likes To Meddle

->Sasuke introduces said forces to Kirin b/c is reminded of T7 mission to Land of Iron? Or Snow? Dunno which but Naruto’verse says machines = bad juju so Sasuke is 100% justified ok thanks.

>212th follows. Obi-wan is v concerned by the Uchiha

->Entire Pop. of Planet is FS WTF is this nonsense?

-->Clones v impressed at least. Free-range jedi are badass why were they not informed of this being an option? (Clones made for jedi = have a hard time leaving GAR b/c existential dissonance when no jedi for retired soldiers? Also Kamino sucks and slavery sucks more but now the Clones who don’t want to be soldiers or recycled can Take A Third Option! So much Clone chatter about the Uchiha thing wow.)

>Madara is sent to be Senator b/c Jedi are Very Insistent that this Planet be part of the Republic.

->Madara terrifies all the politicians b/c Uchiha Hate Politics (they're too blunt and the see too much) but Madara is best at it v good at lying without saying anything untrue.

-->Madara knows Palpatine is skeevy b/c Uchiha See All The Things and You Can’t Fool Me With Such A Weak Illusion, Foolish Human and now there are clashing manipulators and Your Attachments Make You Weak and this is going to get out of hand so quickly I just know it. 

>Sasuke is apparently still best Prophecy Child Bait and Anakin is Conflicted b/c how can he be attracted to someone not Padme?

->501st would like to adopt b/c last time Anakin fucked off without backup Sasuke came back 5 minutes later with Anakin hogtied over his shoulder and the Seppie base on fire. Sasuke is so unimpressed b/c That’s Not How You Infiltrate Enemy Lines, You Moron

-->Sasuke is still 100% going to seduce Anakin and Padme b/c his life is Not Complete without an Idiot to yell at and a Crazy Berserker who likes to pretend she’s The Sane One to ride herd on.

--->Obi-wan is Done With All Of Them b/c Sasuke isn’t even pretending to try and hide his intentions b/c if they get fired Sasuke can just take them back home for a proper marriage. Mikoto is So Proud of her boy. 

>Madara and Mace have ‘sip and bitch’ IRT Palpatine being an evil fucker

->At some point Madara will wonder out loud what Palpatine is grooming Anakin for? Mace is Concerned by this revelation. Madera is not.

-->Sasuke had Issues IRT not sharing well with other children. BTW Mace Sasuke is planning to steal away Anakin and marry him. Don’t worry he will be returned eventually and so will his wife.

--->Mace thinks Anakin had it coming. WTF was the boy thinking? Did he really think he could hide anything from a temple containing several thousand telempaths? Jedi can get married, it’s just considered polite to ask first and go through the counselling with the Mind Healers beforehand. (Idea! Coruscaunti Jedi treat marriage the same way the Japanese treat Gun Control. Lots of paperwork and regular mandatory psyche evaluations and pervasive low-key terror at the idea of having one.)

->Madara will hear the “too much fear in him” story and cackles

-->Slaves have to please their Masters to survive. Anakin was freed to be a Jedi so if not a Jedi then he’s a slave again? No Fear = Be A Jedi (Not A Slave) and now Anakin is The Hero With No Fear

--->Therefore everything the Council dislikes about how Anakin acts was initialized by the Council. Mace hates Irony so much. Madara is still cackling in his face.

->Madara wants the aged out Initiates who still want to fight (or even just the Initiates who don’t suit the Jedi lifestyle)

-->He has a Clan to maintain! About 25% of the Uchiha never fell in love or fell in love with non-Uchiha so they need Marriage Options. (Uchiha don’t fall out of love easily either so new potential spouses need to be Impressive As Fuck and the jedi know how to be Impressive.)

--->Species doesn’t actually matter Uchiha’s Forest of Death planet has lots of different options despite being mostly Giant Fuck-Off Trees and the higher your Force Sensitivity the higher your chances are for successful cross-species hybrids. (Madara is planning to keep Obito and Itachi away from the aquatic species for a while b/c they have a concerning fondness for fishes.) Hybrids are viable though b/c The Force loves grand babies.

>Izuna is there as Madara’s Security Chief and he’s having Far Too Much Fun getting to be paranoid for a living. Plus all sorts of time to spend with his wife! (Need to pick name and develop Izuna’s wife beyond terrifying DFAB genderfluid interrogation specialist but at least they’re happy together.)

->Izunami (Izuna’s daughter) and Kagami are tiny children again b/c weird cross-dimensional space-time fuckery is like that

-->Shisui is super amused to be ‘older’ than his grandfather.

->Kagami approves mightily of Madara-shishou’s friendship with Mace (reminds him of Tobirama-sensei!)

->Izunami is 100% in favour of actually getting to ‘grow up’ with her Mom and Dad around this time (although she only really listens to Madara b/c he was her Parental Authority Figure and old habits don’t break) Jedi actually find this comforting b/c even if Uchiha crazy about attachments there are familiar bits there in how they arrange instruction even if the three students at a time thing is weird.

-->Both Izunami and Kagami are So Relieved that their Spouse is the same age as them b/c while they would be willing to wait until the other grew up this is much less creepy.

>Speaking of age fuckery Itachi is smol now and just about permanently leashed to Mikoto’s side.

->Sasuke is v amused b/c Aniki deserves this.

-->Mikoto and Fugaku are the first Uchiha couple to make a new baby and it’s Sarada b/c she’s the only good thing about the Next Gen (Except for Snake Fam but they aren’t a part of this fic boo)

>Obito is Madara’s primary assistant b/c some of the Uchiha are Not Over the whole Killing Us All Off thing.

->Obito runs into Quinlan Vos. Results are hilarious.

-->Brainwashing to the Dark Side ep. goes v differently. (Need to re-watch this ep for details but yes) Obito will rampage over everything b/c dude has No Chill

>Shisui is v jealous of his relatives b/c Itachi is too smol to play with and also has been hijacked by Isami (who will hold her death over Itachi for the rest of forever but again Uchiha don’t really fall out of love so she’s also learning Itachi wrangling skills from Mikoto now.)

->Everyone else is finding Jedi favourites and Shisui misses his ANBU team b/c it’s not like he really had time to make any other friends

-->Sulking Shisui trips over Feemor while waiting for Madara. Apparently Uchiha and Yoda’s Lineage have A Type. 

>BIG PLOT POINT: Uchiha Remember

->’Curse of Hatred’ spun by Madara as ‘plague’ caused by ‘non-native invasive plants’ (Blames it all on Zetsu and says plant was toxic to non-Uchiha) Says is why there are no non-Uchiha in TG44′s population despite stories otherwise.

>Uchiha think the Jedi Code is silly but the Clones are the Best Thing. All Clones look different to FS/Sharingan

>Uchiha have a habit of “stealing” spouses.

->BTW Shisui has No Patience

-->Upside: Feemor is v flattered by the attention and TG44 has a v interesting ecosystem. TF is in everything on this planet like WTF how does this work?

->Kagami is So Proud. Look at his Grandson, so proactive.

-->Starts to ‘hint’ that maybe Madara-shishou should think about settling down.

-->Mace has been meditating and consulting with the other Masters of the Order.

--->War changes everyone. Plus certain contracts between the Jedi Order and the Senate have been voided by the drafting of Jedi Generals. (Look up the details of the Ruusan Reformation for more info on disbandment of Jedi Military Powers and what it means when Senate gives them back the right to raise levy forces.)

-->Jedi don’t need to look harmless anymore just need to look less dangerous than the Seppies and the Sith.

>Uchiha Clan FB keep any of them from Falling to the Dark Side.

->Sasuke finally gets his hooks in Anakin and Padme. Notices the ‘nightmare vision’ problem first time he sleeps over.

-->Kidnaps Obi-wan to ‘repair’ the stress fracture in Anakin’s only familial FB b/c having his partner be so alone in his head is creeping Sasuke out and it’d only get worse if the bond to Obi-wan breaks completely.

--->Obi-wan is too tired to even object and now Anakin is freaking out b/c he’d been so focused on Padme maybe-dying in childbirth that he hadn’t even noticed how sick his Master looks.

---->Oh and also there is a Sith Energy Parasite attached to Anakin’s FS and it’s been poisoning his bonds. Sasuke just facepalms while the Jedi have panic attacks and drags in the genjutsu expert hostile deprogramming specialists.

----->Upside: Uchiha now know what Sith Master’s chakra signature is and can hunt him properly. Also help Mind Healers check all Jedi for similar problems, starting with Active Duty Generals. My the Council Chambers look so much Lighter now. 

>Then some stuff happens where Palpatine is exposed as the Sith Master and there are explosions.

>Plot Twist is that Madara and Mace have been banging and rewriting the Jedi Code of conduct since like their third date and no one picked up on it.

->Mace: *stares Anakin in the eyes* And that’s how you hide an affair, Skywalker.

*jazz hands* And this is how my fics look before I start writing them.

[fineillsignup]

I have been bothered countless times by the canon sasu/saku fans who continuously insist that this ship is 'beautiful' because of sakura's 'unconditional love' for sasuke. It has always bothered me for obvious reason but I can never articulate my arguments into words, when it's /clearly/ wrong. Can you explain how Sakura's love in the canon pages is unhealthy? I really like your explanations and I would like your input on this too I guess.

ayyyyy so I have been letting my inbox pile up (that’s why I turned off anon asks, btw) and I’ve finally become guilt-ridden enough to start going through the backlog. Here’s my current earliest ask, from like, May or something like that. IDK if you will see this, anon! I hope you do.

This is a really good question, so good that I also find this problem difficult to articulate. It’s extra difficult because the concept of “unconditional love” is one applied to many relationships in this series (romantic, platonic, familial) and it’s difficult to talk about one without bringing in the others, either in comparison, or in cause and effect, or sometimes other things. Plus there’s the question of what unconditional love is, whether it can be abusive or enabling, whether it excuses or justifies certain acts, etc.

Like let’s just take “people who unconditionally love Sasuke” as a starting category, right off the bat you have at least Karin, Itachi, Naruto, Sakura (I alphabetized because by God people will be petty enough to argue about which one I put first otherwise). Now I’m sure people will also argue that one or more or these doesn’t really unconditionally love Sasuke (because they don’t love the “real Sasuke,” or because their love isn’t love but infatuation, etc). But I ain’t got time for that today. I got 29 asks in my inbox, people!

So, taking it for granted that all four of these people unconditionally love Sasuke, they all express it in very different ways. Now, I’m going to take the least controversial of the four (at least as regards the genuineness of his love for Sasuke), Itachi. Itachi may have loved Sasuke unconditionally, but he also ruined his life. He’s not fully or solely morally culpable for ruining Sasuke’s life–I’d say he bears very little culpability for the massacre, a llarge share of culpability for later tortures of Sasuke and not revealing the truth until post-mortem, and a share of culpability for allowing Orochimaru to get his hooks in Sasuke–but without regard at all to his moral culpability for his acts, his acts fucked up Sasuke in a big way. (Some people might say that Itachi couldn’t have acted any other way without harming Sasuke more, I’ll succinctly say that’s horseshit. Twenty-nine asks to go, people!)

So unconditional love does not mean always doing what’s best for the object of one’s love. Much less does it mean doing what’s best for oneself.

Unconditional love and unearned mercy/concern/forgiveness can be very beautiful. Naruto crying for Gaara when he’s still 95% Shukaku = beautiful. Sakura hugging Sasuke in the Forest of Death to stop his rampage = beautiful. Dying Karin telling Sasuke not to hurt Sakura (who, by all appearances, at that point was preparing to kill Karin) = beautiful. Like, there are tons of examples of that in the series and that’s good.

But unconditional love can also be “fine, I’ll slaughter dozens of my relatives, some of them totally innocent of any wrongdoing, as long as you let my most beloved relative live”. And that’s… not good.

With Sasu//Saku, the major problem I see is that Sakura is only ever discouraged from her love with Sasuke when that love is perceived as a threat to Naruto and the village. Naruto’s promise to her to bring back Sasuke is compared by Sai to Danzo’s curse mark. Yikes. Shizune points out that Naruto wants to save Sasuke for his own reasons, which is acknowledged, but Shikamaru then doubles down that this is why they have to deal with Sasuke themselves, to prevent a cascade of war from the Cloud killing Sasuke, Sasuke’s friends killing Cloud ninja, Cloud ninja killing them, etc etc.

Sound familiar? It should. It’s essentially the same justification for the Uchiha massacre: we must eliminate the threat to stability, the threat that promises to launch a ripple effect towards total war.

Poor Sakura. All her training, and all her precious people, (except Naruto and Kakashi, who, let me remind you, once again fucked off and left her behind without a word, so much for teamwork), are telling her she’s gotta convince Naruto to kill Sasuke. Sakura knows Naruto better than any of them of course so she knows that’s a non-starter. What does she do? What can she do?

What she does is fuck up right royally, and since she’s not a good looking male character this is unforgivable, even though no real long-term bad consequence occurs as a result of her series of fuck-ups. (Remove any of her individual fuck-ups or all of them in this arc, and the arc still is going to end basically the same, with Sasuke escaping and resolving to take the EMS; moreover nobody on the Konoha side is long-term damaged by her actions.)

The arc ends with Sakura explicitly saying that she has to believe that Sasuke and Naruto will work it out themselves–without her. Basically, this arc is a big “up yours” to the concept that Sakura, Kakashi, or anyone but Naruto will have anything to do with Sasuke’s redemption. Teamwork? I don’t know her.

What this means is that Sakura’s love for Sasuke may be unconditional, but it’s also essentially irrelevant. Everything is irrelevant except Naruto, the Child of Prophecy, the reincarnation of Asura, soul-brother of Sasuke, blah blah blah fate fate fate bullshit.

The narrative is so zealous about keeping all the plot agency with Naruto that it can’t help but leave Sakura in the cold and dark, which makes her continuous devotion to Sasuke inexplicable. Naruto is given an “alien reincarnation made me do it” explanation (which also invalidates him, imo) but it does even worse to Sakura; she basically wandered into this Immortal Drama, but she’s just an ordinary girl. She’s not in the prophecy; she’s just incidental.

So this sets up a huge meta imbalance between Sasuke, Central Antagonist, soul-brother of Naruto the Chosen One, the long-prophecied reincarnation who would make peace and stop the cycle of blah blah blah bullshit; and Sakura, nice girl who tries hard. You’d have to do a huge amount of legwork to bring the two into balance post-699, and Kishimoto doesn’t do any of it. Instead, Sakura is just devoted to Sasuke, as surely as the sun rises and sets, just because, no matter what he does. Sasuke doesn’t have to earn it or maintain it or even be present to receive it.

So yeah, it’s unhealthy. Blah. I don’t know if I articulated this any better, Anon, but I tried.

[commanderkurama]

I feel like the Byakugan had so much potential from it’s very beginning. Even by the end of Part 1 alone, where it recieved the most of its development, it already had plenty of broken abilities at its disposal. So I will be exploring the Byakugan’s abilties, the potential of those abilities, and how they could have been used or how they were misused or nerfed.

Byakugan’s vision

The Byakugan’s all-seeing capabilities presented  several oppurtunities where it could have been used effectievly but was completely ignored by Kishimoto simply for the sake of plot. We know that the Byakugan can see the difference between every person’s charkra colors, as shown with Ao noticing Shisui’s chakra flowing through Danzo. Yet, when Hinata ran into Obito during the Itachi Pursuit Saga, where she had her Byakugan active, she somehow missed Obito’s Sharingan and Kakashi’s Sharingan releasing the same chakra. Simply to avoid Obito’s identity being revealed so easily, one of the Byakugan’s abilities was ignored.

Another example of this would be with Kaguya. The Byakugan has a vision of 50 M at its most basic, which can be extended multiple times over should the user choose to do so, with Hinata being able to see as far as 20 KM. Naturally, this would mean Kaguya should have no problem seeing around her. Yet, she missed a massive Susano'O and Sakura being behind her, leading to her being punched and sealed away. The argument that Sakura somehow slipped into the Byakugan’s blindspot makes no sense as, one, that fact is secret to the Hyuga alone, and two, the blind spot is far too narrow for a human to hide behind, as shown with Kidomaru only ever being able to barely hit Neji with his daggers. Simply to shoehorn Sakura into a Team 7 moment, one of the Byakugan’s abilitiies was ignored.

Another instance of Kaguya’s Byakugan not being used simply to aid her insect-like opponents win the battle is when Obito and Sakura snuck into the Core Dimension along with Naruto’s clone. And how did they veil their presence form Kaguya? By hiding behind a hill. And all it would have taken was for her to activate her Byakugan to see them their and prevent them from saving Sasuke.

Another instance of Kaguya’s Byakugan being ignored is when she fell for Naruto’s transformation feint, where he transformed into Sasuke in order to trick Kaguya, which is what ultimately lead to her being sealed again. This makes no sense since the Byakugan can easily tell the difference between people’s chakras, and even if Kaguya was unfamiliar with Naruto and Sasuke’s chakras, this would be irrelevant, as not only would she still be able to see they’re diffrent, she would also be able to see the Sun and Moon seals on their hands regardless of any transformation. 

Finally, there’s Momoshiki, who is in a similar boat to Kaguya. See, its more than apparent that both Kaguya and Momoshiki are massively powerful opponents, far powerful than both Naruto and Sasuke on one on one’s, if not so powerful that defeating them was far too unrealstic for Kishimoto to implement without bending the rules. After all, you have a powerful opponent with an all seeing eye who can absorb chakra, so neither brute force nor sneak attacks can work on either Kaguya or Momoshiki. This is why both of them were defeated in such painstakingly awful ways. With Momoshiki, the explanation given is that Bolt was able to hit Momoshiki with his invisible Rasengan, which makes no sense, as, just like Kaguya, his Byakugan, and even his three Rennigans, should have been able to see the chakra there, even if the Rasengan wasn’t visibly still there. Simply due to shoehorn Bolt into a fight way too big for him, one of the Byakugan’s abilities was ignored.

Momoshiki’s Byakugan’s ability is also ignored when his opponents, like Kaguya, are able to trick him with transformation techniques in order to act as decoys, along with allowing Bolt to sneak in close to hit Momoshiki with his Rasengan, which also wouldn’t be possible if the Byakugan’s abilities were put into consideration,

Divine Rotation

The Divine Rotation is essentially the same as a Susano'O for the Byakugan, acting as a thick barrier of Chakra, but it has an aspect that puts it above the Susano'O in the repelling force it has. Not only that, but we’ve seen both Neji and Hiashi’s Rotations, based on the size of the craters, to be even bigger than some versions of Sussano'O, so it is clearly a ery powerful defense.

The Divine Rotation was shown to be able to block the various wooden spikes showered upon the Shinobi Alliance. Neji notes that the reason that his Rotation was unable to block all of the wooden spikes was simply due to their sheer numbers, and not their speed or force. As such, it makes no sense for him to not have blocked the, what, three at most wooden spikes that were heading towards Naruto’s direction. Now one can argue that Neji wouldn’t have been able to use Rotation in mid-air, but Neji already displayed the ability to spin around in the air during his fight against Naruto in the Chunnin Exams, so simply ejecting Chakra while doing so would not be impossible. Alternatively, even if we were to ignore this argument, Neji could have just as easily used Rotation on the ground to block those three or so wooden spikes .Again, one of the Byakugan’s abilities was ignored for the sake of the plot.

Gentle Fist’s Lethalness

Another way that the Byakugan was limited/hindered was the lack of display of just how lethal the Gentle Fist’s power was. We only ever saw the three fights where a Byakugan user fought other people (Neji VS Hinata, Naruto, Kidomaru), whereas all other later fights were against non-human beings (Zetus and Juubi). As such, the Gentle Fist’s deadliness against normal humans is not displayed much, but it is still there. We see when Neji fights both Naruto and Hinata, he constantly tells them to back off and give up if they don’t want to die, a clear indication that Neji was not going all out against either of them with his Gentle Fist. Yet, even with him holding back, his abilities still enabled him to overwhelm both of his opponents to the point that they weren’t able to stand. However, with Kidomaru, we see that, when a Byakugan user attacks with the intent to kill, they can take down an opponent with one or two strikes, a true testament to how deadly the attack is against people. And yet, we never see a Gentle Fist user fighting normal opponents ever again, almost as if Kishimoto was aware that pitting Taijutsu users against such people would result in short fights due to how fast they’d be killed. 

Blowing Up Bodies

During his fight with Kidomaru, Neji killed Kidomaru’s Spider Summoning by using the Gentle Fist. Neji struck the spider and began ejecting it with Chakra, and it began blowing up rapidly from the inside, until it exploded. And yet, what happened after this? We never saw this lethal, body-exploding ability ever again from any Byakugan user. A technique that kills from inside out within a few seconds is never used ever again. Another example as to how overpowered Kishimoto made the Byakugan to the point that he had to ignore its abilities.

Destroying Chakra

It wa said by Neji that the Gentle Fist can destroy any substance made of chakra simply be injecting chakra into the said substance, and this was displayed by him twice against Kidomaru’s webs and Kisame’s Water Prison. Of course, this is only usable against substances that don’t instantly hurt the user, like Water or Earth, whereas trying to use this on say a Fire or Lightening style technique would likely yield negative results for the Byakugan user. This could have been used against and defeated plenty of opponents, such as destroying Sasori’s or Kankuro’s Chakra Strings, destroying Deidara’s clay, destroying a Susano'O or a Bijuu Avatar, destroying 

Bypassing Chakra Cloaks

The Gentle Fist displayed the ability to completely ignore Chakra Cloaks granted by Chakra Modes, as Hinata was able to use the Gentle Fist to fix Naruto’s shoulder despite him being in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. This would mean other Chakra Cloaks like the Tenseigan Chakra Cloak or Lightening Style Chakra Cloak would easily have their defensive capabilities ignored by the Gentle Fist.

Medical Ninjutsu

Byakugan had ample, ample potential to be a killer aid for medical ninjutsu. Outside of the obvious ability to provide better insight into the human body thanks to its penetrating and enhanced vision, but the Byakugan also provides high-levels of Chakra Control to its user, as stated in the Twin Lion Fists’ databook entry, meaning the Chakra Control needed for techniques like Mystical Healing Palm would already be present in Byakugan users from birth, making them natures and medical ninjutsu.

Eight Gates

The Eight Gates are said to be nothing more than unique Chakra Points located within a person’s Chakra Network. And the Gentle Fist is used to forciblly open Chakra Points. Thus, it isn’t impossible to say it would have been possible for a Hyuga to use the Gentle Fist to force open their own Gates without needing to train. Imagine an antire clan of people capable of opening the 7th Gate at will without training.

Increasing Chakra Flow

During the Chunnin Exams, when the Gentle Fists’s abilties were being explained, it was said that the technique could be used to both increase and hinder chakra flow, yet we only ever saw the latter ability being used. It could have been that the former, increasing chakra flow, could allow a Byakugan user to gain a boost in speed and power by striking at their own Chakra Points to increase their chakra flow.