#i needed to see narutos rage against konoha

[achilleslyre]

i will forever mourn the fact that naruto never confronted and reformed the shinobi system if not for himself and all the other kids then for sasuke.

[mixelation]

Okay I got to the ~controversial~ part that people usually cite when they talk about not liking Minato. Here's a summary + some thoughts

so, obito has run off after leaving minato with an ominous threat ("I shall rule this world..."). minato teleports the kyuubi away from konoha. he also grabs kushina and naruto. it's unclear to me what his plan is at this point-- idk if he just needs kushina or if he's already planning to make naruto the new jinchuriki at this point.

kushina says she will take the nine tails with her "to her death." usually when people cite this they say she means she'll seal it back inside her and then die, but unless the viz translation misses something, she doesn't explicitly say this. (the line before it is "i can still do it" and it's unclear what she means-- she says it as she's restraining the kyuubi though.) note that if she does this, the kyuubi WILL eventually reappear

i wanted to include the panels for minato's facial expressions. he looks extremely upset by the idea of kushina sacrificing herself, even crying. then we see an abrupt shift to a less emotional expression as he explains his plan to her

his plan i think is what turns people off, because it's sort of..... very weird how he frames it?

basically, he says instead of kushina dying, he can seal the last of her chakra into naruto so she can see naruto grown up. note he's not just making this up out of nowhere-- she just said not being able to see this is her biggest regret. he also says that by using the reaper death seal, he can permanently seal away half the kyuubi, and that by making naruto the new jinchuriki, he'll preserve he "balance of bijuu." he also says some things about jiraiya's prophecy about a chosen one and believing in naruto, and also he's concerned about the masked man "bringing catastrophe" to the world.

kushina, of course, yells at him because she'd rather die with her regret and have naruto grow up with a father. this is minato's answer:

there's a bunch of things about this i don't like either. first, i don't like how it's framed. i don't mind the facial expression shift-- i don't mind minato being able to school his emotions in order to Get The Job Done. but i don't like how kushina is kneeling while minato stands and literally talks down to her. it might be a translation thing affecting teh tone, but i haaaate the way he tells her she should understand as someone who's lost her country. he does eventually kneel, to be eye level with her, but i wish he'd done it before giving her this speech.

i also mostly just don't understand his reasoning as stated LMAO. i think part of it was kishimoto had to write something that matched up with previously established details (some of which he wrotet ages ago and maybe hadn't fully planned out yet), while also making minato seem cool. part of it might be that the viz translation seems pretty clunky? although i remember whatever fan translation i read years ago ALSO not making sense. so here's my best faith interpretation of kushina vs minato's plans.

Kushina's plan: She dies and temporarily kills the Kyuubi.

PROS: Kushina is going to die anyway, so she might as well take out the raging chakra monster when she does it. Minato lives and can raise Naruto.

CONS: Does not address Obito's threat. Konoha loses the Kyuubi as a tool/weapon. It's unclear what the ramifications of the Kyuubi re-emerging eventually will be-- could end with Konoha just being attacked again.

Minato's plan: He sacrifices himself to the Reaper Death Seal, permanently sealing away half the Kyuubi. He puts the other half of the Kyuubi and the rest of Kushina's chakra in Naruto.

PROS: Konoha keeps control of the Kyuubi (keeps it as a weapon, prevents potential disaster when it reappears, gives Naruto a tool/weapon to use against Obito when he reappears). Kushina gets to see grown up Naruto. I do not know what he means by Kushina teaching Naruto a lesson only a mom can, but maybe he means only Kushina can help him with Kyuubi stuff?

CONS: Naruto is now an orphan. Konoha loses their leader.

OTHER TALKING POINT: Minato seems genuinely convinced Obito is a world-ruining force. IDK how, but he is right.

ANOTHER NOTE: Minato says the "full" Kyuubi can't be sealed away. I don't really know what this means because clearly Mito accomplished this, and somehow it got in Kushina (and Kushina seem confident se can temporarily kill the Kyuubi). Maybe he means under the current conditions he can't do it, like maybe baby Naruto can't hold the full Kyuubi or Minato can't do the sealing jutsu for some reason (time, chakra, skill, etc). The Reaper Death Seal was def needed to seal half the Kyuubi away forever, but it's unclear if he needed it to put the Kyuubi in Naruto at all. I think tis last part pisses some people off, because you can read this like Minato maybe had the option to put the full Kyuubi in Naruto and not use the reaper death seal at all. However that reading doesn't make a lick of sense, so I don't think that's what's going on.

YET ANOTHER POINT: This is headcanon-y, but the Kumo ambassador that kidnapped Hinata when she was three was there as part of peace treat negotiations at the end of an unspecified war. I've chosen to interpret this as the end of the Third Shinobi War. This means that the village is actively at war, which would probably contribute to Minato's reasoning for why keeping the Kyuubi is so important. The one-shot manga showed jinchuriki as powerful weapons of war; loosing theirs would be a huge detriment to Konoha. I think what he means when he starts talking about duty to a village/nation is basically: I need to keep Konoha strong as my duty both as a shinobi and as a father, so Naruto has a safe place to grow up.

AND FINALLY: I think "Kushina gets to see Naruto" is a bonus of Minato's plan, not like... the basis for his decision-making, like some people claim.

Even if his logic makes very little sense and I had to squint real hard to squeeze a coherent argument out of it, it is pretty clear Minato thinks this is the best outcome for Naruto. I know it sounds bizarre when Kushina's plan is "Naruto has a dad." However-- and again, this is best faith reasoning, but also the only way I think his argument makes sense-- Naruto needs an overall stable/safe village to grow up in. Minato has fought in war; I think this would affect his reasoning. He doesn't want Naruto to grow up like that.

Also, Kushina agrees with him and starts bantering as they both die impaled on the Kyuubi's claw, which is cute.

Also apparently these rando ninja think they saved a random baby. This is why no one knows Naruto's parents.... they're dumb........

[raijutsuiga]

NEW: ANNEX

5 Years Later

Request for Transfer

As he looked over the file, Minato couldn’t quite understand what he was reading. Naruto has submitted a Request for Transfer. He was asking to be transferred to ANBU. After years of being on the same successful team since he was Genin, the team with one of the highest mission completion rates on the roster, Naruto was asking to be transferred. Skill-wise, there was no reason to deny the request, but Minato still had his concerns.

He placed the paper in front of him. Unfortunately, as much as he was surprised, he knew he shouldn’t be, not after everything Kakashi had told him over the past couple of years. He was having problems with Naruto, not the same as when he was twelve. Almost the exact opposite. Naruto was withdrawing from the team, protesting teamwork, or even flat-out refusing to cooperate with his team. Even if he was to go to the ANBU, teamwork was still involved.

Kakashi had said Naruto was being insolent, and distant, angry even. He preferred to work solo and refused to participate in any team-related activities. He hadn’t seen the Konoha 13 in months or spoken with anyone outside his team. He spent so much time alone.

Minato ran his hands over his face.

He was worried about his son, to say the least. An emotionless shinobi wasn’t good, and it was even worse for the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi.

When Naruto started spiraling, he had hoped it was just teenage rage or hormones. The innate desire to rebel against authority that all teenagers had, shinobi or not. But Naruto never outgrew it. Unfortunately, it only got worse as he got older. He only became more detached and irritated.

Minato could pinpoint the exact moment his son shifted in the wrong direction. The day he came from the Land of Waves, his first C-rank mission that had turned out to be an A-rank at least. Had it traumatized the youngster?

Whatever happened five years ago, Naruto, at seventeen, was already a Jonin and now wanted to be an ANBU member. He had the skills that was for sure, but he didn’t need Naruto to suppress his emotions any further. What could he do? If he said no, Naruto would claim that Minato was treating him differently from other shinobi because he was the Hokage’s son.

Minato looked down at the photo of his son attached to the request. Even in his photo, Naruto looked livid.  

A knock on the door to his office shook him from his thoughts, “Yes?”

The door opened, and his son walked in, “You wanted to see me, Hokage-sama?”

“Hey,” Minato smiled at him. He was his spitting image, especially now as a young adult, although the long hair in the ponytail at the base of his neck was the only differentiating feature.

Minato held up the paper in his hand.

“My transfer request?” Naruto confirmed. His voice was steady and deep, with a sharp edge that never seemed to fade.  

“Yeah,” Minato nodded, leaning forward on his desk.

Naruto stood in front of his desk, hands behind his back. His face was void of all emotion.

“Help me understand, Naruto,” Minato asked.

“Understand?”

“Why are you asking to join the ANBU?”

Naruto swallowed hard but didn’t respond or show any other reaction.

Minato sighed, “Son, your team has one of the highest success rates on the roster. Why do you want to leave your team? Is there a problem?”

“No.”

“Okay, then why?” Minato pushed. Minato held his son’s gaze, trying to read him, but there was nothing to read.

“Does there need to be a reason for you to approve it?”

Minato was slightly taken aback, “Well, no. As Hokage, I don’t need a reason, but as your father…”

Naruto cut him off, “I wasn’t asking my father.”

The razor edge to Naruto’s voice deepened, showing his irritation.

Anger. It was the single emotion that he showed.

“You…?” Minato stuttered.

Your father doesn’t trust you. Kill him. Get rid of him.

“I sent the request to the Hokage, not my father,” Naruto said through gritted teeth, trying to ignore the demon’s thoughts in his head, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t treat me differently than the rest of your shinobi.”

Minato let out a deep breath and held his son’s gaze. Naruto wasn’t wavering in his request.

“Fine,” Minato nodded, then reached for the ‘Approved’ stamp, slamming it down on the paper, before holding it out for his son to take, “Report to Tenzo; he will handle it from here.”

Naruto took the paper, then bowed, “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

“Naruto,” Minato tried, but Naruto had already walked out the door.

Minato just shook his head.

“Hokage-sama?” the young Chunin assigned to the assistant job walked in just after Naruto walked out.

“Please summon the rest of Kakashi’s team for me,” Minato ordered, a little exasperated. Interacting with Naruto always left him feeling aggravated and fatigued as well.

“Yes, sir,” the Chunin bowed before heading out to do as ordered.

Minato was leaning forward on his desk, with his head buried in his hands, when he heard the door to his office open and shut. He knew exactly who it was without even having to glance up. He was familiar with the chakra signature and the two others accompanying him. He needed to get this over with. When he lifted his head, the team he summoned stood before him. Aside from Tsunade herself, Sakura is one of the best medical shinobi in the village. Sasuke was the pride of the Uchiha Clan, and of course, Kakashi, his student who had become a world-renowned shinobi in his own right.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Minato said, sitting up straight.

“Of course, Hokage-sama,” Kakashi nodded.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Naruto?” Sakura asked.

“No,” Minato shook his head, leaning back in his chair.

“Sir?” Sasuke asked.

“Naruto has been transferred to the ANBU,” Minato stated.

“What?” Sakura asked. It was the last thing any of them had expected.

“I approved his transfer request earlier today,” Minato replied with a sigh, “I asked you here to tell you and to inform you that I will be assigning you a new team member soon.”

“He requested it?” Kakashi asked.

“Yes,” Minato nodded.

His student didn’t seem surprised; perhaps he was the only one who told Naruto to do it.

“Actually, sir,” Sasuke said, “I was hoping to speak with you about something.”

“Sasuke?”

“I was going to put in my own Request for Transfer,” Sasuke said.

Minato nodded with a small smile, “To the police force?”

“Yes, sir,” Sasuke nodded.

“I assumed you would eventually. Very well. Please submit the proper paperwork, and I will approve it,” Minato agreed.

“Thank you, sir,” Sasuke said.

“Well, unfortunately, with two team members down, there wouldn’t be much of a reason to keep your team on the roster,” Minato sighed, “Kakashi, Sakura, I’ll be transferring you to other teams. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Minato-sensei,” Kakashi nodded.

“I’m sure Tsunade would like me to be more at the hospital anyways,” Sakura shrugged.

“Thank you for understanding,” Minato said, dismissing them.

Minato turned to look out the large panel of windows behind him. He hoped he didn’t just make a huge mistake in allowing his son to join the ANBU. In any other situation, he would be proud that his son was strong enough to join, but now, Minato worried that the ANBU would bury any emotion or love that Naruto had left.

“Naruto!”

“Sakura,” Naruto stated as he turned to find Sakura and the rest of the group whom his father had deemed the Konoha 13 a few years ago after the Chunin exams.

Although his sensing abilities had told him who exactly was in the group, he had difficulty making them out as the group walked toward him. It was late, and the sun had set hours ago; the only light was from the scattered streetlamps. He was heading home from training alone in the Forest of Death, a place no one would dare go without reason.

Naruto stood waiting with his hands in his pockets, a habit he picked up from Kakashi after years of being on his team. He waited for them to approach in standard shinobi gear for Konoha. His father approved his ANBU transfer a few days ago, and his meeting with Tenzo will make it official tomorrow.  It was his last time having to wear typical the typical Konoha uniform. He was looking forward to retiring it.

As the group stopped before him, Sakura beamed, “We are heading for some BBQ. Do you want to come?”

“No,” Naruto replied bluntly.

“Why?” She pushed.

“I’ve got a long day tomorrow,” Naruto lied.

“Come on, Naruto,” Lee exclaimed, “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you!”

Naruto flicked his gaze to the loud, green-clad shinobi. Lee had begun to get on his nerves over the past few years. He liked him at first when they met at the Chunin exams, but now Naruto found him nauseating; just the sound of Lee’s voice put him on edge.

“Please? Naruto?” Sakura asked, “Who knows when we will all be together again.”

Naruto subconsciously gritted his teeth; he wanted this night over. He wanted his rank in the ANBU and to put all these people into his past. He wanted to move on already.

“Fine,” Naruto snapped.

“Yay!” Sakura giggled, “Let’s go!”

Naruto shook his head as he followed the group silently to the restaurant, hanging back a few paces behind them. The less he interacted with them, the better the easier it would be for all of them. They were all chatting, splitting off into small groups. As soon as they reached the entrance, Naruto noted that their Genin senseis had joined them, including Kakashi. The grey-haired shinobi always seemed to be watching him these days, and he wasn’t thrilled about it.

One more night.

Naruto kept reminding himself. He would have this last night; then he was home free. The ANBU would give him the space and freedom to do as he wanted; relationships be damn.

He sat cross-legged at the end of the table, sandwiched between Kakashi at the head and Sakura. The room was tiny and claustrophobic. His body craved to get out of there as fast as possible, but as he had practiced many times before, he swallowed his feelings and tried to focus.

Kill them. Kill them all.

Naruto took a deep breath, trying to ignore the deep, menacing voice in his head.

“Naruto?” Kakashi called, shaking Naruto from his own thoughts.

“What?” Naruto leaned forward on the table and shot his old sensei a look.

“What made you want to join the ANBU?” Kakashi asked. His voice feigned honesty, but Naruto knew exactly what he was trying to do. It worked.

“You joined the ANBU?” Neji asked.

Naruto looked across the table at the Hyuuga. The table had gone silent, and all eyes had turned to him.

“Yes,” Naruto stated in a complete sentence.

“Why?” Ino asked him.

“I have my reasons,” Naruto replied trying to keep his answers as short as possible.

They don’t trust you.

Be quiet.

“What about your team?” Asuma asked.

“Not my problem,” Naruto shook his head.

“Not your…? Jesus,” Asuma stared at him, but the look on Kakashi’s face told him to drop it.

That’s it, Naruto. Release your emotions. Let me free.

“Well, good luck then,” Neij replied, returning to his food; his voice indicated that he didn’t mean it.

“So, what are you going to do, Sakura?” Ino asked.

“What do you mean?” Sakura replied.

“Well, with Naruto in the ANBU and Sasuke joining the police force, what happens to you?”

“Oh, well, Yondaime-sama said that I’ll be reassigned, but Tsunade wants me at the hospital so that missions won’t be a priority,” Sakura explained.

“What about you, Kakashi?” Gai asked.

“I’m not sure, to be honest,” Kakashi said, crossing his arms, “I don’t have a team; Minato-sensei said I would be reassigned, but who knows.”

Naruto listened to their conversations with half interest, only catching parts.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck. His head was starting to hurt; he wanted to leave. He needed to leave. They were about halfway through their meal; Naruto hadn’t touched anything. Kakashi and a few of the older shinobi were still watching him.

They don’t want you here. 

Shut up.

He was done; he needed to get out of here. Naruto stood quickly, catching the attention of many, but he didn’t acknowledge it. As he turned to leave, Kakashi had called his name. Naruto looked at him over his shoulder, holding his gaze for a bit, but didn’t say anything.

After a few moments, Naruto turned to leave. Ignoring those who called his name as he walked out.

[leportraitducadavre]

Hello, are you having a great day? Are you enjoying holiday - if you celebrate them, that is. I have this question regarding Itachi: Do you think his character would've worked if he stayed as his Part 1 self?

Would it worked if it was framed how badly Konoha brainwashed him and he had sort of epiphany how rotten the system is and he became a criminal to fight it? Would it work in a way that's why Kisame and Itachi got along so well was because they had similar goal in mind? -Even though I have still troubles figuring out Sasuke in this, maybe it would stay the same or not-

Instead of him being a double agent and being still loyal to Konoha?

(Or is his character so ruined that it couldn't be fixed?)

(PS: Sorry if it is a bit wonky, English is not my first language.)

The problem isn’t Itachi following orders and killing his clan, the problem is the narrative justifying it. The problem is Itachi’s actions against Sasuke are narratively framed as love-driven. The problem is the constant justification of him being “brainwashed” by one single individual while we saw him constantly doing things that dispute this very notion and the basis of the Council’s arguments against the Uchiha. 

I don’t think it’s bad for Itachi to be loyal to Konoha as the very core of the story focuses on the corrupt shinobi system that sustains itself by producing wars in order to gain economic and military power while crushing smaller villages and/or clans. Itachi’s character is nothing but the reflection of a much bigger issue where he’s a complying tool that sees no wrong with the structure in place.

It’s a decent conflict and plot device to introduce in order to polish Sasuke’s character and his anti-system stance, but it gets absolutely destroyed beyond recognition by the need of redeeming a character whose structural core isn’t meant to be redeemed.

The story is pro-system as it’s pro-Naruto. Naruto’s main goal is to be recognized by everyone and, in order to be, he aspires to become Hokage. 

If such desire of him gets even a little bit threatened, then that’s a threat the plot will work around to destroy. Sasuke’s stance inside the plot is a threat -a very much real threat- to Naruto’s core goal as becoming Hokage of a country whose system is built on the oppression, murder, and destruction of others (villages or people alike) destroys Naruto stance inside his own story: He can’t be seen as “the good guy” if what he upholds is paradoxical to his heroic status. He turned, much like Itachi, an oppressed who became an oppressor, the justification for that 180° turn lays in the idea that rage, as a negative emotion, shouldn’t be pursued; yet rage, more so in the face of systematic oppression and genocide, is not only a very plausible emotion but also a very valid one to have. 

Naruto consciously represses his “negative” emotions (they’re emotions, the “negative” or “positive” connotation is given by the cultural perception of those feelings) as he considers them “destructive” of himself and his goals, stripping his feelings of substance when what he feels due to the discrimination he suffered it’s actually a very human and reasonable thing to have. In his particular case, “forgive and move on” isn’t the strongest thing to do, as anger forces the individual to deconstruct the reasoning behind such emotion, while forgiveness means no introspection.

Forgiveness isn’t something to give, it’s something to earn, and not a single Will of Fire supporter (who were the very same who discriminated against Naruto and everyone else), made something to win -Naruto was left alone in his turmoil, and in order not to be alone he granted them the mercy they never even asked for. If he allowed himself to truly experience his emotions, he’d have to chase the core of his ire, which will make him realize that the very issue laid on Hashirama deciding to use vessels to contain the Tailed Beasts, which made the Jinchuurikis central to the power-balance between the villages and that, in turn, made his father decide Naruto’s fate as both an orphan and a Jinchuuriki.

Because he considers forgiveness as this “incredibly powerful concept that only truly strong people give”, he thinks that “not forgiving” and instead seeking justice (by pursuing rage) is intrinsically negative, therefore, whoever searches for it is plunged into darkness and -as a person that “experienced” such feelings and “came out victorious”, it’s his job to show them the way.

I don’t think that Itachi, however, is as deep as Naruto in this regard -he naturalized the oppression his kin suffered at the hands of Konoha and decided it was the natural occurrence of things, him being “not-oppressed” meant that he was doing things as they were supposed to, unlike everyone else. He wasn’t able to see that he was the exception to the rule because he allowed Konoha to strip him from the identity no one else wanted to resign. His emotions weren’t in conflict because there weren’t conflictive emotions inside him in the first place.

He never truly considered himself Uchiha in the strict term of the word (he spoke badly of the clan in front of other members), as he was “Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf” (the order he implanted on Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was "protect Konoha", not be loyal to it -Itachi claiming to be "of the Leaf" was his own conviction).

This nationalistic mindset, vastly sustained in the "greater good" rhetoric, also tries to diminish the relevance of ethnicity identification inside the Narutoverse.

Let me explain it further: Being part of a clan isn't -or shouldn't be by Konoha's standards- as important as being a Konoha citizen. People inside the village should consider themselves Konoha citizens first and part of a clan second, so if the greater good (meaning, Konoha's survival or superiority) entails clans' oppression or the tolerance of slavery practices (Hyuuga), not only these practices are narratively perceived as necessary but also are to be accepted by those affected by them because they have to see the bigger picture.

This rhetoric isn't as challenging for those in power: some fans claim that all shinobi are forced to forfeit/diminish their identity as clan members to be Konoha's shinobi first, yet it translates differently in practice. It's easier for those benefited by the system to consider themselves part of their nation before their clan because their ethnicity isn't perceived nor treated differently.

I'm incredibly sorry for introducing notions you didn't ask for, as your question was far simpler and was more inclined towards the inspections of possibilities. But at his core, Itachi knew what he was doing, Itachi knew the flaws of the system and the reasoning behind his family's attempted coup -as he also was told to kill also the innocents, no person with at least one neuron working wouldn't have realized why that was asked of him.

Kisame and Itachi didn't have that good of a relationship either, they got somewhat along, but Kisame was keeping tabs on Itachi as Kisame was loyal to Obito's plan -the only thing they had in common is that they killed their own comrades by the village's request, yet, Itachi was still loyal to Konoha while Kisame became rogue. Kisame wanted to live in a different place, and he trusted no one but Obito, which is why he saw Tsukuyomi as possible (it depended on no people's desires but Obito's).

Hope this answer satisfies you.

[sasukeless]

Lately I have seen a lot of posts call Naruto selfish for chasing Sasuke what do you think

hello anon i hope u know you just give me the perfect excuse to write a rant ive been iching to write so i apologize that i will make this so long

anyways back to the point. ive seen many people call naruto selfish for chasing dasuke and many other things that at this point i feel like they arent even reading the manga and just choosing what to niptick because they dont like his character and just want to have reasons to hate him. even if the reasons doesnt make sense but whatever.

this all reasons can simply debunked if u read the panel where sasuke himself asks naruto why he never gave up on him and naruto answers saying that he felt sasuke was in pain and couldnt just ignore it. now tell me how is it selfish of one person to not want to see the closest person in his life be sad? shouldnt everyone want their loved ones to be okay?

now here is where people start nipticking and saying stuff even if the story is telling other thing. because when u give that explanation ppl go and say "well but sasuke wasnt in pain" and thats just wrong in so many levels. saying sasuke wasnt in pain is just stupid and a braindead take when all sasuke's rage and desire of revenge borns because of the pain he felt for losing his family and clan and later for finding out his whole life is a lie and itachi was a victim of konoha's brainwashing. by declaring sasuke isnt in pain through the story youre down playing his whole character when its because of that pain he does what he does and hes valid for lashing out and wanting revenge.

and that leads to another argument ppl pull "naruto had no right to get in sasuke's business because sasuke was right". now the thing is just because sasuke is right, doesnt mean naruto's actions are wrong. people are so used to read everything in bad or good, black and white that they simply cant see both sides having reasons to be act the way they do. yes, sasuke was right for wanting revenge and justice thats obvious, but naruto isnt a villain for going after sasuke because he wants him to stop hurting and indulging in self destructive behaviors because before anyone tells me sasuke wasnt doing that, he was.

sasuke was ready to let his body taken away if that means he gets his revenge (yeah he killed orochimaru later, but he even states is because orochimaru has already taught him all he needs and doesnt have more to offer him so he doesnt see point in giving his body). naruto as a person that cares for sasuke obviously wont want this to happen, so him trying chasing sasuke and begging him to leave orochimaru is not smth he does because he's selfish but because he doesn't want to lose him. naruto also has never tried to talk sasuke out of his revenge on itachi btw in fact the two first times naruto comes to face itachi, before the true comes out, naruto seems okay w the contrary happening; when 12 year old sasuke arrives that hotel to fight itachi, naruto doesnt try to intervene until he realizes sasuke isn't strong enough to win against itachi. then later when he meets itachi post skip, naruto literally says that he wants to capture itachi so he gets to talk w sasuke. (basically giving itachi as a gift to sasuke just to get an audience w him lol). naruto only starts to want to stop sasuke's revenge when his revenge shifts to konoha and again, is sasuke right for feeling the way he does? yes, of course he does. will killing everyone in konoha where there still innocent people be the answer? no, it isnt. genocide isnt the answer. maybe if sasuke wanted only his revenge on the elders and to change konoha, naruto's reaction there would've been different but well thats not what sasuke wanted there so naruto wanting to stop this isn't wrong of him. now to the final plan, sasuke's revolution aka last time naruto gets in his way and again its because he doesnt think his plan is right and most importantly because he doesnt want sasuke to destroy himself completely. sasuke's revolution idea was uniting the village by making everyone hate him, he wanted to cut his last bond to be alone and fall into darkness. now tell me, how does this sound healthy from any pov? sasuke is completely right from wanting to end the system that exists, but his way to do it is literally a plan that ends with him being miserable for all his life by being alone which is smth that naruto doesnt want to happen. thats why kishimoto made the entire vote2 be about sasuke wanting to end his last bond/naruto refusing to let sasuke do that.

so no, i dont think naruto's chasing after sasuke is just him being selfish and disregarding sasuke's feelings. yes naruto has made mistakes because hes not meant to be perfect but him genuinely caring for sasuke and wanting him to stop being in pain is not selfish.

[rayshippouuchiha]

naruto moves into the forest of death bc loving that place is in his blood

I see this, I love this, it begins a long time before Naruto is born and it goes a little bit like this:

Hashirama never fully recovers from the fight with Madara.  Not really, not fully, not in the ways that truly matter for a man and a shinobi.

He keeps a strong presence for the village and those who would seek to do Konoha harm but to those closest to him, to those who know the man behind the titles and the legend, the differences are stark and grim.

Hashirama spends more and more time in the forest, spends days and nights out amongst the trees and the flowers and the sprawling roots, pouring more and more of himself into all of it as he goes.

Tobirama argues with him about his distraction, about his distance, about his decision to pass the mantle of Hokage onto Tobirama who never really wanted it but wears it now because he must, because Hashirama asked.  Because Tobirama has always done all he could do to make whatever Hashirama wanted into a reality.

Hurt and hurting Tobirama’s words and accusations are cold and cutting, because that is what a life of too much war and too little peace has made him in moments like this, when fear and love rides him hard, and unlike Hashirama he’s never been able to slip more than a fraction of that mantle.  But, most of all, Tobirama is desperate not to let his beloved elder brother slip through his fingers like so many others have in the past.

They built the village Hashirama and Madara dreamed of to stop the death and the suffering so why is Tobirama’s beautiful and lively brother seemingly so determined to fade away.  To go where Tobirama cannot follow?

He doesn’t understand and if there’s one thing Tobirama truly hates in this life it is not knowing.

But Hashirama just smiles at him, reaches up to pull him down so he can press a kiss to Tobirama’s forehead, and then drifts away back into the trees.

Mito watches her husband just as closely and sees what Tobirama, her brother in all the ways that matter, sees.

Hashirama, once so vibrant and alive, is ... diminished.  Fading bit by bit.

But, unlike Tobirama, Mito keeps her silence.  Words have not been necessary between her and Hashirama for years now.

Instead she follows him into the forest when time and her duties will permit it, sometimes even when they do not.  She watches him breathe new life into a forest that already teems with it.  Watches him eradicate sickness from saplings, watches him push them to grow until they are towering monoliths with bark as hard as iron.  She watches him run calloused, battle worn fingertips over flower petals and leaves with the gentle sort of reverence that he’s always touched her with in their quieter moments, in the times when passion and lust and heat were not necessary. When only love was.

She loves him all the more in those moments, in these moments of fading light, even when she knows that he is leaving her.  Going somewhere she cannot follow, not with her duties, not with what she carries.  Not yet.  Likely not for decades to come.

“Mito,” Hashirama sighs to her one night when the fireflies are thick and the trees sway down to meet the both of them.  “My beloved Mito.”

“Husband,” Mito murmurs back as she always does, one hand smoothing over his hair where his head is resting in her lap.  “My foolish husband.”

“I cannot give you back the sea,” Hashirama whispers once the silence has grown thick and heavy around them.  “I cannot return you to the whirlpools and the eddies.”

“You took neither from me so they are not yours to return,” Mito tells him sternly, lovingly.  “My choices were and are my own, you wood brained idiot.  They have never been yours to carry.  If I wanted the ocean I would simple go to it.  But Konoha is my home now.”

“My fierce fire-pearl,” Hashirama smiles then, soft and small.  “My beloved ocean rose.  I would bring the very sea here to meet you if I could.  Or I’d pester Tobirama into doing it for me.  But instead I give you this, an ocean of trees, a sea of leaves and flowers as wild and untamed as Uzushio’s itself.  Here you will always be safe, here you will always find me.”

“I will never need to find you,” Mito tells him, the hand laid atop his chest clenching just a bit in the battle silk above his heart.  “You will not go where I cannot follow you, you know better by now.”

“Of course, dear,” Hashirama smiles.

They both know it for the lie that it is.

They both know he’s already leaving.

And when he loves her there, pressed down onto a bed of soft clover and surrounded by trees that seem to sing, Mito tangles her hands in his hair, raises her hips to meet his own as steadily as the tide, and weeps.

~~~

Mito is a widow no more than a month later.

~~~

Tobirama does not weep but the skies do it for him, monsoon like rain washing over Konoha the moment he feels Hashirama’s living and present chakra signal fade away into nothing.

For three days and nights there is only rain, water rushing down streets and swelling the rivers and lakes.

The villagers pray for sun.

Tobirama mourns.

The trees of the forest sway and sing.

~~~

Years pass and Mito wanders the forest in her free moments, hands trailing over tree trunks and vines alike, fingertips ghosting over flower petals and slowly unfurling buds.

As she walks she whispers or rants or sometimes sings, telling the forest her days, her nights, her triumphs and her failures.

And always, always, the trees hum and sway and sing back to her in welcome, in safety.

In love.

~~~

Tobirama wanders the forest in his free moments, leaving streams and ponds in his wake as he goes.  He pulls fresh water to the surface, cleanses stagnation where he finds it and ensures that it does not return.

‘Refuge,’ Tobirama thinks as he pulls water from the air and the ground as he breathes his own form of life into the forest his brother had loved and nurtured like a child.  The forest he had tried and failed to hate in his grief.  ‘Let this be a refuge, let this be a place of peace.’

He does not speak to the trees that feel so like his brother and yet not.  Does not talk or argue or scream or rage or beg.  He keeps his silence now as he had not then.

But the trees sing back regardless.

Hashirama had always known all of the things Tobirama could never bring himself to say.  Had always been able to read beneath and between and around whatever Tobirama did.

His forest is no different.

~~~

Far too soon Tobirama is gone as well and Mito is alone in a way that has far too little to do with the number of people around her and everything to do with her heart.

More years pass and her isolation, her loneliness, only grows.

She is one of last of a quickly dying breed, one of the few who truly remembers life before the villages.

She aches for her husband, for her brother, for her family.

Sometimes, in her darker moments, she even aches for the burden she knows she will pass onto another.

And now she aches for the Clan she has lived long enough to see destroyed.

When Uzushio falls Mito takes to the forest as she always does these days.  As she has for years and years now.

She does not rage.

She does not weep.

Instead, kunai in hand, she bleeds.

Uzumaki blood and life force flow out onto rich dark soil, is pressed onto iron bark tree trunks and splattered over flowing vines and unfurled leaves.

Seals flow from her bloody finger tips, are pressed into the ground with every whisper quiet step she takes.

“Shelter,” Mito half begs, half demands to the forest that has been her companion for so long now.  “Uzushio has fallen.  Hashirama, my love, my people are slaughtered and scattered and lost.  You said you would give me the sea if you could, you said this forest was built for me as much as it was for the village.  So let this be a shelter. Let this be a place of safety for those who truly need it.  Let the Uzumaki blood find home and hope beneath these branches as I long have.  Let them know your love as I do.  Should they come, let them stay.”

And all around her the forest hums and sways and sings.

Mito, bloody hands pressed against the trunk of the colossal tree that Hashirama had once made love to her under, laughs.

And then, finally, she weeps.

~~~

Time passes, the village moves forward, and so many, too many, forget things that should never be forgotten.

The forest grows darker, the trees, with their tunneling roots, grow more imposing, the animals more vicious and wild.

The trees stop singing.

Instead they rattle and shake and hum in what some would swear is anger.

~~~

Naruto has always liked plants.

Has always liked the green and growing things that can be found almost everywhere around the village.

Trees and flowers and vines don’t hurt him.  They don’t call him names, or throw things at him, or spit and stare and hit.

Plants are kind. Plants are safe.

And there’s far too few things or places or people in the village that Naruto can truly call safe.  Not for him.

Chest aching, Naruto swipes at the mess of blood and tears smeared across his face as he pushes himself to go faster, to run harder.

He just wants to be away.  Away from the name calling and the hitting.  Away from the hurt.

He barely even pauses when he hits the fence littered with warning signs he can only half read, just scrambles up and over it without even breaking his stride.

Naruto might not be good at or for much of anything but he’s always been good at this.  At running and climbing and finding his own way.  It’s not much but it’s all he has.

The forest is dark and gets darker the deeper he runs.  The trees grow thicker and taller as he goes too, grow bigger than anything Naruto has ever seen besides the Hokage Mountain.

He runs until he can’t anymore, until he collapses at the base of a tree even bigger than the others he’s seen in the forest.

Chest heaving, tears welling up in his eyes again, Naruto presses his bloody hands and face against the thick bark and cries.

Around him to forest goes still, goes quiet.

“Please,” Naruto whispers, unsure of why he feels the need to talk to trees when not even people want to listen to him. “Please help.  It hurts. It hurts so much.  I don’t want to go back.  Please.”

And even as exhaustion rips and claws at him, forcing black in around the edges of his vision, Naruto swears that, for a split second, the tree he’s leaning against almost seems to sing.

[silverstarlightwrites]

An alternate AU to this one that occurred to me just now

Team Seven take the mission to the Land of Waves. On the bridge, they fight Zabuza and Haku.

On the bridge, Naruto dies.

Something in Sasuke breaks, and he goes berserk. Haku and their ice mirrors scream as they flashboil in the black flames Sasuke summons forth, and it takes only a howl and a wild gesture to send Amaterasu blazing across the bridge to consume Zabuza and Tazuna as well. The stone melts underneath them, while Kakashi snatches up Sakura and flees, and it’s not until Sasuke feels the weight of wet clothes - crushing Naruto’s body to his chest, bloody and so absurdly hot - that he realises the bridge has disintegrated, and the water is burning.

It’s instinct and desperation that let Sasuke to douse the fires he’s conjured, and even then it aches and tastes like blood and acid, and he’s sinking when Kakashi whips across the surface to catch him, the moment the flames are gone.

Sasuke cries into Naruto’s chest, and refuses to let go. Sakura is cold and silent, and she neither speaks nor eats for the grim, slow trek back to Konoha. And it is slow, even further drawn out by the constant fluctuation of chakra from Naruto’s corpse, carried awkwardly and painfully by Sasuke alone.

It’s not Naruto’s chakra, of course. Kakashi dreads the inevitable questions, resolves not to lie when they come, and somehow their absence is even worse.

The moment they walk through the southern Konoha gate, there are Anbu all over them. They pry Naruto’s body from Sasuke’s arms, despite his shouting and kunai, despite the way Sasuke’s eyes ignite into blood red to fight-- But he doesn’t summon Amaterasu again, doesn’t expend the chakra he doesn’t have to try and kill their own. Sakura touches his shoulder, just two fingers, and her face is pale and hollow when she shakes her head, but it’s still more interaction than she’s allowed for the whole trip, and Sasuke obeys her. Blinks his eyes black, slumps in place, and then sags against Sakura.

She catches him, and he’s shaking, and she stares over his shoulder, unblinking, at the Anbu wrapping Naruto’s corpse in chakra-absorbing paper scrawled endlessly with Seals.

Kakashi isn’t sure what she sees, and he isn’t sure he wants to know.

One Anbu stays behind, and they instruct the gutted remains of Team Seven that the Hokage wants to see them. Kakashi can’t bring himself to intervene when Sasuke snarls and lunges, or when Sakura lets him. Doesn’t step in when Sasuke tells them to Fuck Off or when he punches them weakly in the chest - and the Anbu clearly thinks he’s simply not going to get involved, because when they try to catch Sasuke’s wrist they aren’t expecting Kakashi to move. Too fast to be safe, too fast for the chakra use not to burn.

Sasuke leans back into Kakashi as the Anbu trips, and Kakashi feels himself close his hands on Sasuke’s shoulders. “Don’t touch my kids,” he hears himself hiss, and if he doesn’t quite know when he accepted them as his then he doesn’t quite care either.

One of them is dead, and they won’t be permitted to mourn him properly because of the beast caged inside him without his knowledge.

The thought makes Kakashi sick. It all does, all of it. Konoha’s abuse of an innocent child, Kakashi’s complicitness in allowing it to happen. Hiruzen’s cruelty in allowing it also.

In allowing all of it.

Sasuke has lost enough.

The Anbu doesn’t need telling twice, and they leave Kakashi to cajole his kids into seeing Hiruzen. It takes more effort than he’d care to admit. Just physically, the three of them are a wreck - and it’s worse emotionally. Mentally.

“You let them take him.”

It’s the first thing Sakura has said since Naruto died - in a burst of blood and scarlet chakra - and Kakashi suddenly thinks he’s never felt anything so cold as her voice. When he meets her gaze, it’s like drowning.

“I had to. The Hokage will explain.” Because Kakashi is bound not to. By an oath that maybe he shouldn’t have taken, by a promise extracted by force. Why shouldn’t he tell them?

He doesn’t, of course. He scoops Sasuke up, and despises that Sasuke simply allows it, and offers Sakura a hand as they start walking. Sakura ignores it, striding ahead with her back too stiff and her hands clenched too tight. The walk to the Hokage Tower, while significantly shorter, is the same as the trip from Waves to Konoha.

Hiruzen ushers them into his office, tearful, and Sasuke struggles stiffly out of Kakashi’s grip. Red flickers and whorls through his eyes, and it’s impossible to know if he’s fighting to ignite his Sharingan or if he’s fighting not to.

“I’m sorry.” It’s low and mournful and wet. It’s insulting.

Sakura snaps. She flies into a rage, screaming obscenities. Her teammate is dead, and she’s never experienced loss like this before, and gods but she watched it happen, and no pitiful, pathetic ‘I’m sorry’ can ever undo that. That Hiruzen even tries sends her over the edge.

Nobody stops her. By the time she burns out, the office is torn apart, papers scattered everywhere and the desk overturned. Sakura has scratched her nails bloody against the woodwork. When she collapses to the floor and howls, Sasuke finally approaches her, sinks to her level, and wraps his arms around her.

Perhaps he understands, then. Perhaps a hug - so tight as Sakura clings back that it may be the only thing holding her together - is all he wanted after the horror of his clan’s slaughter.

Kakashi catches himself wondering if Sasuke ever got that hug, but he knows the answer.

Of course he didn’t.

Hiruzen explains to them what a Jinchuriki is. He explains the basic concept of a Bijuu, and gives them a short summary of the Nine-Tails. They take it blankly, too much to process over the top of their raw grief, but they look to Kakashi as if searching for confirmation and Kakashi nods. Tells them it’s true.

And then, because it’s not enough, it’s pathetic an explanation, he hears himself continue.

Because “He deserved better. We failed him.” Hears it spin, feels more than sees the way Sasuke and Sakura twitch and shrink, and then corrects himself. His own voice is like tar in his throat.

“You failed him.”

Sasuke and Sakura follow him out of Hiruzen’s office, and Hiruzen doesn’t try to stop them.

Kakashi sets the pack to watch them when they all end up at the war memorial. It wasn’t exactly a decision to go there, of course, but it never really is. All eight ninken are there already when they arrive, and they encourage Sakura and Sasuke to collapse and curl up with them, but Kakashi resists. He has something else to do.

And it’s dark by the time he comes back, his kids and his pack all bundled up in his far-too-tiny apartment, but he wakes them all the same. Demanding Naruto’s body back hadn’t been easy or clean, and the results of the chakra-draining done to preserve as much of the stray Nine-Tails chakra bleeding out of where it had torn free upon Naruto’s death is... messy.

Naruto’s body stays wrapped up the way Kakashi walked out of the Anbu Blue Vault with it. Only his head is visible, and his hair is knotted and matted with blood and oil, but it doesn’t stop Sakura from running her hands through it, or Sasuke from laying his head against Naruto’s chest.

Not enough people come to Naruto’s funeral. The whole fucking Village should mourn him, the child who protected them from the Nine-Tails for his entire, short life. His loss should have been overwhelming - it should have brought all of Konoha to a fucking stop.

But it doesn’t. Umino Iruka attends, and he’s quiet but he weeps ceaselessly the whole day. Sakura and Sasuke seem to welcome his presence, so Kakashi doesn’t nothing to discourage it.

Hiruzen shows up, perhaps halfway through. It takes all of Kakashi’s still-wan strength to hold Sakura back from trying to maul him, and Sasuke doesn’t fight one way or another when he lights up his Sharingan at the Hokage’s approach.

“Go. Away,” Sasuke snarls at him, and for just a moment it seems like Hiruzen might scold the boy, who’s been stripped of his family in half a dozen different ways, over and over again, as if he’s expressing his grief incorrectly, and that moment is all it takes for Kakashi to speak over all of them.

It’s the voice he used as the Hound. He hasn’t heard it for years. “You should go, Hokage-sama. You don’t want to make me choose a side here.”

Because Kakashi is loathe to fight Konoha at all, let alone its leader, but he knows without a doubt that he will. For Sasuke. For Sakura. If ever the decision must be made, Kakashi knows he will turn on Hiruzen in an instant if it would protect his kids from ending up like him.

Konoha would not make a broken blade out of Sasuke. It would not strip Sakura of her soul.

Orochimaru comes. He seeks out Sasuke, and the power he offers is too tempting for Sasuke to pass up - but he refuses to sneak away in the dead of night. Team Seven’s progress has halted in the aftermath of Naruto’s death; Hiruzen has tried several times to full the gap in their unit, but Sakura and Sasuke vehemently refuse to accept one, and Kakashi does not make them. He will not.

Naruto cannot be replaced. The gap can never be sufficiently filled.

And so comes the morning that Sasuke asks for their company in leaving. He’s been suffocating under Konoha’s weight for a long time, Kakashi realises that morning, and he’s finally reached his limit. Kakashi doesn’t try to talk him out of it; he won’t succeed. There’s no point. Revenge has been his motivation for so long that Sasuke will never quite learn how to give it up, and now he has so much more for which to seek vengeance.

It will only be Itachi first. After that, all of Konoha is culpable for Naruto’s death, and the endless suffering he endured before it. Kakashi is not fool enough to think he can change Sasuke’s mind.

Sakura agrees on the spot. She’s unrecognisable from the bubbly genin Kakashi took custody of from the Academy. She’s gaunt and messy and angry, and she’s forsaken her friends in order to follow Sasuke into the dark. She’s clinging to him, ferociously, in a different way than she’d tried to before.

She’s clinging to Sasuke the same way Kakashi had clung to Rin - how Rin had clung right back - after Obito’s death. Sasuke is her constant, her reassurance that Naruto’s absence won’t just be for nothing, that someone is going to pay for it. That she’s going to help make that happen.

You don’t want to make me choose a side, Kakashi had told Hiruzen, as if they were words of fucking prophecy. Because here are his kids, minds made up, choosing a side that Kakashi would rather flay himself than join - and yet, here he is too, and he knows already he’s going to go with them.

Choosing against Konoha tastes like ozone and fear and self-loathing, but choosing against Sasuke and Sakura is unconscionable. Even this, even this, Kakashi will do. Watching them die is a terror that keeps him up at night, a nightmare with its hands around Kakashi’s throat, a dread that’s getting ever colder. That this might lead to that outcome takes his breath away.

But the thought of not being there is even worse. Konoha forsook Sasuke when his family was wiped out, and Konoha forsook them both once again when they came home bloodied and shattered. Konoha has gone on the same as always, as if nothing even happened, and it always has when the whole world was supposed to shatter and didn’t - with Obito’s eye in Kakashi’s skull and Rin’s blood on Kakashi’s hands - and that truth does absolutely nothing to stay Sasuke’s hatred or Sakura’s wrath. They are young and angry and wounded, and there is no words Kakashi can say that will convince them to reject the power on offer, no matter how dangerous and untrustworthy the source may be.

And he refuses to let them do this alone. Everyone will want their heads, but Kakashi has fought and killed the best of them, and if - in the end - his only purpose is to protect his remaining kids, where he failed to protect the third, then perhaps the Hound yet serves a purpose still.

So Kakashi selects a kunai, and helps them score through their Konoha hitai-ite, and lets them lead him into hell.

[happyocelot]

Telephone Game

While waiting for stuff related to my master’s thesis, I wrote this. :D Just so you know, I’m taking ideas on this, so if you have any, please send them in! :)

Summary:

Neji airs his family's dirty laundry during the Chuunin Exams in front of hundreds of spectators, Naruto has no brain-to-mouth filter, and Hinata accidentally becomes a world-famous celebrity. Poor, poor Hinata.

FFN / AO3

The Chuunin Exams had been a widely anticipated event for the past eighty or so years, ever since they were started by Senju Tobirama. In a war-weary world sick of constant bloodletting, they were a secure way of testing the mettle of the next generation of ninja. Budding genin were subjected to rigorous, high-stakes training while eliminating the casualties that they might otherwise have faced in their chosen line of work. That was the logic behind the Chuunin Exams.

They were also a great source of entertainment, betting, stupid fighting, boastful taunts, and significantly, spreading rumors about random shinobi during the course of all that stupid fighting and through those boastful taunts.

Most of these rumors would be related to the ninja who actually participated in these battles. However.

When you put two ninja together, one with latent rage from years of having an axe to grind against his clan for the death of his father, and another with absolutely no brain-to-mouth filter and a loud, loud voice that echoed throughout the arena, sometimes other people would find themselves subject to random celebrity status. In fact, that was exactly what happened during one of those Chuunin Exams, in a fight between Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto.

Poor Hinata.

Arashi sighed, carefully adjusting his face mask so as not to give any of his mannerisms away. He had a terrible poker face. Not that it mattered since he'd already placed his bets last week, but ninja never showed weakness. Even if he was just a genin who was only there to make some cash during the Chuunin Exams.

He sighed again.

They were slow.

Konoha ninja sure had a talent for melodrama. The way things were going between this "Naruto" and "Neji," you would think that you were watching a soap opera, not a match to determine the outcome of the Chuunin Exams. They were dragging it out, especially Neji, lecturing Naruto about how he should "stay on his knees and recognize his worthlessness against a power he could not change."

This would never have happened in a Kiri-sponsored event. Mizukage-sama would just casually threaten to kill you if you chose to ramble on and on like this Neji.

Judging by the constant frowning and smirking and smug I-know-so-much-better-than-you looks, Neji had severe emotional constipation. Or maybe physical constipation.

"Having dreams come true with hard work is an illusion," he announced, either unknowing or uncaring of the fact that he was being watched by hundreds of spectators and came off as a jerkface.

"He sounds like he's thirty and stuck doing guard duty for the rest of his life." The Iwa nin beside him scowled. "I think Naruto should kick his ass soon."

"I think he needs laxatives. He probably has a sensitive stomach."

His newfound friend snickered and gave him a thumbs-up. That was another point in favor of the Chuunin Exams. If you forced all enemy villages to call a temporary truce and watch little kids beat each other to a pulp, it wasn't too hard to find at least one kindred spirit.

Emotionally constipated people were annoying.

Arashi nodded in agreement as Naruto launched into a lecture of his own about how he hated the way Neji had insulted someone called "Hinata" and "called people losers." He didn't know what Neji had done exactly, but it was obvious that he was a real jerkface.

He had heard bits and pieces about the Hyuuga of Konoha a few times. He knew that they were renowned for their all-seeing Byakugan and signature Gentle Fist taijutsu. They were a noble, aristocratic clan that had given Kiri trouble quite a few times through the course of history. There were bound to be several exceptional shinobi from that clan, such as this emotionally constipated jerkface Neji. But by the end of the match, when Naruto had finally kicked Neji's ass and Arashi had won his bet, only one Hyuuga had registered in his mind.

Hinata this and Hinata that.

Naruto getting enraged at whatever Neji had done to "Hinata."

Neji getting enraged at whatever special treatment "Hinata" had supposedly received.

The Hyuuga skipping out on attending an important peace ceremony just because it was "Hinata's" birthday.

Someone trying to kidnap "Hinata," and when that didn't work, Kumo creating a big diplomatic scandal about it. Said diplomatic scandal ending with the death of Neji's father, and leaving Neji with a serious grudge against "Hinata."

He didn't claim to have heard everything those kids were ranting on and on about. It was a blustery day and there were hundreds of other people in the stadium. But Arashi would later swear on the Nidaime Mizukage's wispy moustache that whatever he'd learned from those fateful Chuunin Exams could be boiled down to two things.

One: emotionally constipated people were annoying.

Two: There was someone in Konoha called "Hinata," and she was serious business, if all the special birthday parties and kidnappings and ranting and raving about her were to be believed.

Like he said, he swore it on the Nidaime's wispy moustache after getting back to Kiri, and quite a few foreign ninja took notice.

Poor Hinata.

Akamaru closed in on the pointy-faced bandit, fur raised, growling ferociously. Kiba grinned.

Okay, this was kind of boring for Team 8's first mission as chuunin, but whatever. It was still way more than what Naruto was off doing with Jiraiya-sama, and each mission was one step closer and closer to becoming Hokage. He'd display his leadership skills here and Tsunade-sama would have to take note and promote him soon.

With that thought in mind, he began bellowing out orders to his other teammates.

"Shino, you take out the bandit! Akamaru's got him cornered!"

Shino did not comply, choosing to cover his face securely under his thick jacket instead.

"Kiba, you are not the leader of this team. Why? Because although she is not present, Kurenai-sensei is still our jounin instructor and she is the one who gives orders. Besides, you smell like dog urine and I refuse to subject myself to such a scent by crossing over to handle the bandit."

Naturally, this didn't go down well with Kiba. He growled just as ferociously as Akamaru, then grimaced as he took a whiff of his own smell. "Ahh, man, you're right. Akamaru, we gotta be careful with Dynamic Marking next time, okay? Spray only the bad guys, not me, got it?"

He turned pleadingly towards the only sensible person on the team.

"Hinata, could you – "

She sighed, also covering her face with her thick jacket. "Kiba-kun, you really do smell like – " She didn't get to finish, because –

"Hinata?" The pointy-faced man gaped. "As in Hyuuga Hinata?"

"Hey, pay attention! We're fighting you!" Kiba snapped.

The bandit paid no heed. "The extremely awesome Hyuuga Hinata? The one people threw birthday parties for and kidnapped?"

Hinata blinked. "I'm...sorry?"

He gazed at her, enthralled. "It's true, you are a Hyuuga. You have those white eyes." Then he squealed and clapped his hands together like a little boy. "Your cousin hates you!"

"We get along well now," she said defensively even as she realized how insane this conversation was.

Shino twitched. A little caterpillar fell down his face. "Hinata, do you...know this man?"

"I'm your biggest fan! You almost started a war." He said war the way Naruto would say ramen. Hinata covered her face still more securely and took giant leaps backwards, away from her bandit fanboy, who somehow knew extremely personal details of her cousin's animosity towards her and thought she was cool.

"I don't know him," she said, shaking her head fervently.

"Can I have your autograph, Hyuuga-san?"

What the –

"I..."

"Hyuuga-san," he said, getting on his knees and bowing deeply. "If you give me your autograph, I...I promise I'll come quietly to Konoha!"

Kiba's jaw dropped. Shino's jaw dropped. Akamaru's jaw dropped.

"I'll even let you tie me up! Just give me your autograph!"

[lunyzare]

MADARA AND NARUTO COMPARISON

Interactions between Madara and Naruto are rare and that is probably caused 1) by the fact that Madara appeared quite late in the story (and also in a war that lasted like...three days) and 2) they had nothing to talk about, there was no common ground between them, since both of them were already settled on their respective paths – Naruto was settled in his will of fire and he would not stray away from that (whether or not that is good thing is up to each of us to decide) and Madara wanted to achieve his plan.

More than that, Naruto had nothing to offer to Madara. From Madara‘s perspective: he sees a young brat who is constantly declaring that he will never give up on his friends and never cut his bonds. To someone who was born multiple decades ago and has probably seen several people similar to Naruto, these statements are nothing more than an evidence of a so called failed reality and will offer nothing new to Madara.

Similarly, Naruto sees Madara just as a bad guy he needs to defeat in order to achieve his dream of being loved/admired and becoming hokage. Plus, Naruto usually „shoots first and asks questions later“ and Madara stands against Konoha.

But I believe there are few similarities between them. For starters, they both have a very strong resolve and when they put their mind to something, they want to achieve it no matter the cost (and whether or not people around them agree with them or not). Another trait they both share (or perhaps shared) is a short temper: young Madara was quickly annoyed/angered/triggered by Hashirama in a similiar way Naruto is easily triggered by Sasuke, Sai, Deidara, Kakashi…

But even though they can both have a short temper, the circumstances are different:

1) Where Naruto can rage out and get triggered by almost anyone, Madara on the other hand seems to only be triggered by Hashirama (we have never got Madara‘s flashback, so we can‘t really tell if he was acting like this around someone else).

2) Both Naruto and Madara can leash out because of their insecurities (young Madara got angry because he wasn‘t able to skip the stone, Naruto is frustrated when someone – usually Sasuke – is better than him), but unlike Naruto, Madara can quickly introflect, admit he was only making excuces (as shown in his very first interaciton with Hashirama) and then he has no problem apologising. To my knowledge, Naruto has never done anything like that (I could be wrong though). To add to this, while both of them get frustrated when challenged/threatened, Madara is (again unlike Naruto) talented from a very young age and is also born into a war time period so he has to be good enough, in simple words: if Madara isn‘t good enough, he will die.

Their temperament aside, there are other differences between them. Madara throughout his life kept losing everyone and everything he ever had, whereas Naruto started with nothing and gained everything he wanted (or at least that is what the story tells us).

Madara is – in Hashirama‘s flashback – shown to be quite empathetic, kind and trying to help (in his own way). For example: when he sees Hashirama upset (after Hashirama lost his brothers) he tries to make him talk about it and – while the way he‘s going about is not perfect – he is clearly prioritizing Hashirama over himself in that scene, he showed selflessness. Naruto on the other hand (while I personally do believe he wants the best for the people he cares about...or at least wants the thing HE believes is best for them) often times puts himself as the center of attention (some examples of that could be: (1) his pranks, (2) the way he‘s always trying to chase and fight Sasuke, (3) the way he wants to be part of fights, even those that have nothing to do with him) → Naruto, unlike Madara, often times prioritizes himself and his self-image over others.

Lastly I would like to point out an interesting thing that I have just recently noticed. There is a huge difference between the way Madara talks to Naruto Uzumaki and the way he‘s talking to tailed beasts. That is quite interesting, because many characters treat Naruto and also refer to him as „ninetailed demon fox“ and while Madara also refered to Naruto as a host of Kyuubi, he still makes a clear distinction between Naruto and Kurama – when talking to Naruto, he calls him by his name, when he is talking to tailed beasts, he calls them „filthy beings“. Even characters like Kakashi or Sakura don‘t forget to remind Naruto of the ninetails.

Author’s note: I was thinking about comparing Naruto and Madara for a while now and I have finally mustered enough courage to write and post it. I might add more to this post over time, this is just to get my main thoughts out. Just a quick reminder though: this is the way I interpret the characters and the story, please keep that in mind if I wrote something you disagree with.

[sun-summoning]

part ii | part iii | part iv

after speaking to kido, sakura rushes home. when she calms down from the rage that nearly had her crush his throat, sakura can admit that she doesn’t really think this is him. he knew a lot about her for someone that was supposed to have been locked up all this time, but he seemed genuinely surprised to hear that sarada had been taken, if not disappointed. he fit the profile of what shikamaru and kakashi thought -- that someone wanted sarada for her eyes -- but sakura can’t stop the nagging feeling that somehow this runs deeper.

back in her apartment, megumi’s body is right where she left it, and sakura feels awful for having moved so mechanically. megumi was an orphan, but she was still someone’s little girl. ashamed, sakura lays a sheet over her and swears she’ll do more later.

she heads to her bedroom and begins her work. alone, she summons one of the cats she’d made a contract with shortly after her marriage. the black cat is sleek and holds himself confidently. he’s always been an efficient one, quick to do as she needs and be competent about it. he regards sakura with a cock of his head.

“sarada’s been taken.”

“your daughter.”

“yes.” 

the cat nods. “i shall inform the clowder. if anyone spots her, i will let you know.”

“thank you.” sakura pauses, self-conscious for needing to rely on everybody else for this part. “if you...if any of you are able to come into contact with sasuke-kun, can you pease let him know too?”

“of course.”

“thank you.” sakura promises to provide the usual exchange at a later time and the cat disappears with a puff of smoke. she heads to her bedroom and she begins to pack in silence. 

her movements are as meticulous as they are automatic, done just so she’s ready to leave the moment she knows where she needs to go. her medkit is stocked. her bag has scrolls, weapons, supplies, and sarada’s favourite toy. she changes out of her days clothes and into the leggings and turtleneck of a uniform she hasn’t worn in years. her cloak is in the front closet. she needs to change her boots. she’ll put on the boots now. she leaves the armour on her bed to don later. right now, they only hinder her movements. she goes to the drawer where her mask hides in plain sight among other trinkets and knick knacks, and on the dresser she notices a flower.

sakura stills as she takes in the detail she must have missed in her earlier haste. she considers the simple glass vase and the single red flower sitting in it. its petals curl at the ends and some are even missing. 

this flower has travelled and as sakura considers what it is, she knows it’s travelled far. 

-

konoha became unbearable by the time she tuned twenty. it's so petty and selfish and she'd never say it aloud, but she hated seeing everyone else so happy. she's happy too -- has so many reasons to be -- but she couldn’t help the nagging jealousy she feels when ino declined her invitations because she was going to see sai or when naruto prioritized her almost always only to head home to hinata.

she wanted to be someone's too. she wanted to be their focus and heart and home, but sakura already knew who her someone was and knew that on some level she was his too, so all she needs to do right now is wait.

most of the time, sakura wasn’t bitter. being apart from him wasn't unfamiliar, nor the steadfastness, nor the hope that one day this will pay off one day, nor the self reminders that what she felt was irrelevant as long as sasuke knew and was comforted by the fact that she would always love him.

to suppress her frustrations rather than confront them, sakura worked. she worked tirelessly and relentlessly and by nineteen, they'd named her the greatest medical ninja konoha has ever seen for her accomplishments, ideas, and innovations.

this took her to suna at twenty and to ame at twenty-one to help establish their own clinics.

“i have a gift for you,” ino told her before she left. 

sakura expected a ribbon or a piece of jewellery or that new book on poisons she mentioned she was interested in. instead, ino handed her a bag. its contents shift, imbalanced, and inside sakura finds a potted plant. 

“a flower?”

“not just any flower, you ungrateful bitch.” ino pointed at her accusingly and then at the plant. its petals are a bright red with darker flecks at their base. “i made it.”

“you made it?”

“yes. you know me, interrogating and mind-reading by day, splicing plants together and making my own by night.”

“that’s sad.”

“fuck you. you’re sad.”

sakura laughed and ino laughed too but it got a bit sad because ino probably definitely knew that sakura was sad. “anyway,” ino continued, “we’ll call it the sakuino flower--”

“how creative.”

“--and i expect you to keep it alive through all of your travels.”

sakura frowned at ino, wondering if ino understood that a potted plant had no place in her travels, but ino didn’t seem to care. moreover, this particular thing didn’t seem to have the ability to survive in the desert climate she was going to be living in for the next six months. 

when sakura expressed as much, ino waved the matter off. “deal with it,” she said, giving sakura one last hug. “you’re one of the brightest minds to come out of this village. you’ll figure something out.”

-

its common name is the fire poppy, having originated from the fire country but somehow managing to survive in the deserts of wind country as well. the flower is know for its vibrant red petals, eye-catching and jarring across the barren brown it’s normally found in. sakura had to play with the original plant’s physiology when she first moved to ensure it could survive the alternate climate. in her spare time, when she wasn’t working with the kids, she deigned to work with her plant, eventually working on cloning the original. at some point she’d given one to a nurse she worked with who much admired the first, and gaara asked if he could try planting them in his garden. from there, the spores began to spread.

“why the fire poppy?”

was this someone from suna?

sakura considers the obvious motivation of revenge, but who would even want that? there were people who didn’t appreciate her friendship with kankuro or any of his siblings. perhaps an apprentice of chiyo’s who blamed sakura for not saving her when she gave her life for gaara’s. worse, perhaps someone that once worked sasori who resented her for his demise. or maybe someone she, sadly, can’t even remember. a patient she lost during the war whose family hated her.

sakura truly cannot pinpoint a motivation for this, much less a person. 

especially a person that would understand the meaning of this flower for her. 

ino would never give her this flower. ino would have scoffed at it and created her own. sarada couldn’t have picked it today. and sasuke certainly couldn’t have left it for her.

someone was in her apartment. someone brought it here. 

was it here before?

sakura considers the poppy and forces herself to keep calm. stay logical, she demands. stay smart. was the poppy there before? no, she thinks at first. she would have seen it. she’s certain she would have seen it.

but, she can accept, it’s possible she might have missed it. sarada was taken. her babysitter was murdered. it wouldn’t be surprising if sakura missed it. but sakura doesn’t miss things. right?

“don’t gaslight yourself,” she orders. 

no, she knows. the flower was not there before, meaning in between her going to kakashi, going to the prison, and then running back home, whoever took her daughter came back.

or worse, there was a team involved and one was with her child and another came back for her. 

sakura curses, wishing she’d put on her black ops armour earlier, because whoever brought the flower here is now making their presence known. she senses two people before she sees them and is unsurprised to find sudden flares of strength.

the bedroom is small and they’re in a building. she needs to take this outside, but where? there’s too much risk for others getting hurt in the crossfire. that’s why this was supposed to stay quiet. that’s why this will stay quiet.

they step out of the shadows and sakura assesses them quickly. one male, one female, both fairly young based on stature and development, maybe early twenties at the oldest. they’ll have agility on her, but they won’t have her experience. 

the man holds a chokuto. good. an advantage. sakura is excellent at fighting against such a weapon. if they’re foolish enough to use her husband’s favourite sort of blade, perhaps they didn’t do enough research on her. perhaps they were hired? but if they were unprepared, then were they really here to kill her? 

are they here to distract her?

that thought fills sakura with dread. is someone trying to keep her busy so she can’t get to sarada on time?

the woman shifts, one leg sliding to the side as she raises her hands. she holds no weapons, therefore she is the weapon. sakura knows all about that. she’ll need to be careful with this one. but she still has a holster on her thigh. it’s thinner that the usual styles. maybe a couple kunai, but more likely a set of sebon. this one is smart then. she’ll know precisely where she needs to hit sakura to stop her.

“haruno sakura,” the man greets with a short nod.

so it is her fault.

if this was about sasuke, about the uchiha, they would know her married name. this is about her, and for that sakura feels worse. her baby was taken and why? just to hurt sakura before killing her? sarada was who knows where with surely no one that could be good and all just to hurt sakura?

sakura snarls, furious in a way only a mother could be, and she feels the chakra pulsing around her fists.

“where is my daughter?”

their masks hide any expressions. they remain at ease in the face of her rage, shockingly unafraid of this woman that can level mountains. 

good, sakura thinks. let them be brave. let them come at her like fools. 

she runs through the bedroom door to get to the living room where there’s at least more space to maneuver. the man leaps and brings his blade down upon her, but sakura manages to shift to the side. careful to not be forced into a corner, she spins out of his range and into the open middle until the woman runs past her partner and takes sakura on hand-to-hand.

she matches sakura’s punches and kicks blow for blow. she’s good, sakura thinks nervously. and she’s fast. she’s small, maybe half a head shorter than sakura, so she puts her weight behind every quick jab. sakura gives most of her attention to the woman, but keeps a wary on eye on the man who sheathes his chokuto.

what as he planning?

it takes that one moment for the woman to catch her unaware. 

sakura chokes on her breath as the woman thrusts a senbon into her shoulder. the shock from that slows her down enough so she can lodge in a second.

“shit,” sakura curses as she stumbles back. she rips the senbon out, but she feels her left arm begin to go numb from the struck pressure point. “what did you do--”

sakura’s eyes widen she she feels something foreign begin to course through her. she considers the senbon, dark with her blood and likely something else. there’s a metallic smell that isn’t from the weapon, and sakura knows she’s been poisoned.

however, her body doesn’t bother to fight it. 

sakura watches her opponents, trying to understand how she’s been poisoned with something she’s immune to and just what poison this might be. she’s immune to everything in konoha’s own collection, as well as the ones she shares with shizune.

which poison is this?

does that matter?

sakura scowls at the two people involved in her daughter’s kidnapping and reminds herself that she can take them on one-handed just fine. she pulls her right hand into a fist and charges. the man is closest, so she lunges at him with a chakra-laden punch that sends him barreling into the wall. 

she grabs the front of his shirt and as she pulls him forward, his mask falls away to reveal green eyes, cold and lifeless, and a black diamond under his left eye that makes her uneasy.

sakura stares at the man, confused, because she knows this face.

she knows him.

her fear and pain and worry makes it hard to focus, but knows him. 

focus.

finally, it clicks. 

“isao?”

she thinks she might have seen something like recognition in his eyes. that doesn’t long though. she left herself open, and his partner stabs her shoulder. sakura releases isao with a cry before the woman punches her in the back of the head and everything goes dark.

-

the sun is up when sakura begins to stir. she hears the birds chirping and people outside going about their days. but the buzz of the television is missing, as are the small thuds of sarada’s steps. where is sarada? sakura wonders hazily, lazily, not quite understanding yet.

where is sarada?

her eyes widen and she sits up so quickly her stomach rolls.

“careful.” tsunade comes into view, steadying sakura and checking her for any problems. “you’re still healing.”

she’s in her own bed. she’s not at the hospital. she got knocked out and the assassins got away. she should’ve done something to track them. dammit. was she so arrogant she didn’t have a failsafe in place for if she didn’t simply beat them? sakura punches the bed, earning a disapproving frown from shizune on her other side.

“there was poison in your system.” 

“it was one of ours,” sakura admits warily. 

“yes. there are very few people with access to those, much less this particular one.”

the one that the assassin used was meant to render a victim paralyzed but still able to feel. it was a dreadful thing, meant only for the worst of interrogations. or, more accurately, for torture. sakura concocted it in her darkest moments at fourteen under shizune’s watchful eye. since then, while they’ve both had small handfuls of keen students, they’ve probably shared poisons from their personal roster with only five people at most.

for this particular poison, sakura knows only two people they showed it to, and only one of those was a student of sakura’s.

“how did you find me?”

tsunade rolls her eyes. “shizune sent you off to a prison from kakashi’s office. i figured i’d have to check on you shortly after. and it’s a good thing i did, stupid girl.”

“thank you.”

“don’t thank me. i’m scolding on you.”

“did they find anything useful?”

“no one’s been able to contact your husband.”

“right.”

“and they’re still under the impression that this has to do with the uchiha blood.” 

“they would be,” sakura mutters, too tired and in too good company to be anything but blunt.

shizune sighs. “do you know who came after you last night?” the flower is still where she left it on the dresser. shizune follows her gaze to the fire poppy, and all knowing with plants as well, shizune determines its origins. “how did that get here?”

“i think it was to taunt me.” sakura grimaces. “you were right.”

“about?”

“i think this is my fault.”

shizune’s eyes widen and quickly soften with sympathy. “none of this your fault,” she reminds sakura. 

tsunade crosses her arms. “enemies of yours then?”

“no.” sakura looks sad. “people i once loved.”

-

tbc

[degrassi-fanatic]

Window Sill

As Kakashi wanders through the streets of Konoha, absentmindedly flipping through the pages of Icha Icha Tactics, he hears children’s laughter ringing through the alleyways as a familiar brown and blue blur races right past him, towards the direction of the hospital. 

Shaking his head, Kakashi laughs softly at their antics; Konohamaru really is just another Naruto.

 And just like Naruto, he’s about to be beaten half an inch from death.

 As he predicted, in the distance, Kakashi can hear Sakura-chan shout, followed by the loud crack of a chakra enhanced fist and the sounds of Konohamaru and his little gang of delinquents wailing in pain.

 He’s about to sprint off towards the hospital to save the children from Sakura’s rage when he notices Ebisu’s already halfway there, shouting something like “Just because you can fix bones, Sakura-san, doesn’t mean you should break them.”

 A wave of nostalgia washes over him. It only feels like yesterday when Kakashi had to be the one to stop Sakura from giving Naruto permanent brain damage from a grade 3 level concussion.

 Speaking of the little punk, Kakashi senses his familiar chakra pattern not too far away. 

 Shutting his book, he turns around only to bump into the younger man, who seems to have been standing only a hair-breadth away from him. Naruto looks uncharacteristically nervous as he darts his eyes everywhere and anywhere that isn’t Kakashi’s own. 

 “Naruto.” he greets, as he takes a step back to put some space in between them.

 “You were in ANBU, right, Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto asks out of the blue, wringing his hands out in front of him. 

 Dread begins to build up in the pit of his stomach. 

 There’s only one reason why Naruto would be so anxious asking about Kakashi’s time in the ANBU forces.

 In his whole life, Kakashi had never expected for Naruto to figure him out. He had always operated under the assumption that Naruto was simply young enough for those memories to have disappeared as he grew older, or that his ANBU commissioned mask was enough to hide his identity, or that maybe Naruto would simply learn to let the matter go. 

 It goes without saying that he’s a fool for believing in that last one.

 “Yes.” Kakashi answers back, a touch wary.

 “Do you know who Hound is?”

 The question confuses him to no end. 

 Why on Earth would Naruto ask Kakashi who Hound is? Was it some weird tactic to get him to tell the truth? Was it a last chance to own up to everything? Doesn’t Naruto know that Kakashi is…

 That’s just it, Kakashi realizes, Naruto doesn’t know that he is Hound. 

 He doesn’t know that it was Kakashi, who up until Naruto had entered the Academy at the age of eight, had been spending every available night in between his ANBU mission with him. 

 “Hound?” he pretends to ponder as he tilts his head to the side, “Why do you care about him?”

 Suddenly, Naruto drops his chin down to rest at his chest, his hands curling up into fists as his whole spine does ramrod straight. 

 He mutters something under his breath but it’s unintelligible, even to his heightened sense of hearing. 

 “Sorry?” Kakashi asks, as he leans in closer to listen. 

 “He used to take care of me.” Naruto mumbles out. 

 When Naruto was still only a baby, Kakashi remembers standing guard inside of his nursery. Sometimes, when he would wake up in a crying fit, Kakashi would either have to bottle-feed him milk or rock him back to sleep. Other times, the only thing that would soothe him would be the hushed stories Kakashi would whisper to him about his parents and all their feats. 

 Afterwards, when Naruto had begun to totter around, Kakashi remembers having to keep watch from the window. It worked well up until one day, when the boy had flung open his window in the middle of the night, giggling at the sight of a masked man outside of his bedroom. Naruto tugged and tugged at his arm, whining about wanting to play, until Kakashi had no choice but to climb inside. 

 The openness of his actions had made him worry because surely Naruto was old enough to understand that letting in a stranger was dangerous but, his worry was outweighed by the sheer amount of trust that was offered up to him when Naruto continued to open up his window for Kakashi.

 Unfortunately, all of those nights spent playing with Naruto and his toys came to a screeching halt when the boy turned eight. 

 Naruto  enrolled into the Academy, and Kakashi never bothered coming back to his window. 

 “He was the only person who— he was the only one beside the Sandaime, who used to hold me and play with me and… yeah.” Naruto explains, kicking at the ground, “He never talked, which was weird, but I guess that just made him a better listener.”

 It felt like the Earth had stilled beneath Kakashi’s own two feet.

 Kakashi was the only one to hold Naruto?

 “The only one?”

 All Kakashi gets in terms of a response is a shrug of his shoulders. 

 “Y’know, when I was little,” Naruto reminisces with a small grin, “He used to bring me toys from wherever he had his missions.”

 It was Kakashi’s favourite thing in the whole wide world, seeing little Naruto’s reaction to all of the toys he had brought back for him; a physical reminder that no matter where he went or what he was doing, he was always thinking about Naruto. 

 His smile had been Kakashi’s only motivation when it came to staying alive. 

 Every night, Naruto would sit by his window sill, waiting in anticipation for Kakashi to come back from a mission. The two of them had even created their own special password and as soon as Naruto would hear that quick three-two-three knocking pattern, he would throw open the window for him. 

 A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth.

 “Hound, he, um, he stopped coming by once I got into the Academy.” Naruto continues.

 The phantom smile on Kakashi’s face vanishes as he fights back a flinch at the reminder of his actions.

 “At first, I thought he was just caught up in a mission but then days became weeks, which became months, and soon a year went by and I realized that he was never going to come back.”

 “Do you miss him?’ Kakashi asks quietly.

 “If I’m being honest, I’m pretty pissed at him,” Naruto explains, clenching both his jaw and his fists, “He just left. He didn’t bother explaining why, and eight year old me just had to deal with it, deal with losing one of the only people in the world who cared about him.”

 Blinking back tears, Kakashi cannot bear looking at Naruto right now, so he averts his gaze to the ground. 

 “I’m sure he had a good reason.” he lies. 

 “Yeah, well, no reason is good enough for me,” Naruto spits back, “So, if you can’t tell me who Hound is, can you at least tell him Naruto is still pissed after all these years?”

 “I will.”

  It seems as though Naruto has given up on his mission to find out who Hound is because weeks pass by without incident and without Naruto popping up to have any more startling conversations about the past. 

 Kakashi is really starting to believe that Naruto has finally learnt the art of letting go, only to be proven extremely wrong when he’s shoved up against a tree. 

 Naruto’s arm is pinning his shoulders against the harsh, splinter-y bark of the tree trunk, while his other arm goes to rest beside Kakashi’s head to maintain balance. 

 He’d commend Naruto on his improved sneak attack skills, if it weren’t for the fact that his precious, signed copy of Icha Icha Tactics is page-first in a pile of dirt. He’s a moment away from yelling some sense into that nonsensical head of Naruto’s when he notices the stream of tears dripping off of his jaw.

 “He’s dead, isn’t he?” he asks, his voice cracking, “I’ve been stalking you for two weeks because I desperately wanted to know Hound was, and you haven’t met up with anyone that could be him.”

 It’s in that moment that he comes to the overwhelming realization that he needs to come clean; it’s either that or let Naruto experience more pain than necessary, and Kakashi will always do anything in his power to prevent the latter.

 But, how do you tell one of the most precious people in your life, that you have deceived them? 

 “Naruto…”

 “That’s the reason he stopped visiting,” Naruto says, gritting his teeth, “It’s because he was dead and no one thought to tell me and now I have to mourn someone I never really knew all because—”

 “It’s me, Naruto,” he blurts out, “I’m Hound.”

 For a minute or two, nothing happens as the anguish on Naruto’s face dissipates. He studies Kakashi’s own face, presumably for any signs of deception or lying. 

 Then, as if a whirlwind erupts from within him, Naruto grabs Kakashi by the collar, hauling him off the tree and throwing him onto the ground. Before Kakashi can scramble to get up, Naruto climbs over his body and wrenches his fist back behind him.

 Within a second, he feels a burst of pressure at his jaw, followed by the unsettling clashing of his teeth in his own mouth. Faintly, he tastes metal and with some poking and prodding, he realizes he’s accidentally bit into his own cheek.

 “You jerk!” Naruto cries as he slams his fists down into Kakashi’s chest, “Why didn’t you tell me! Why did you stop coming around! I used to cry myself to sleep because I thought you finally realized I was a demon!”

 His punches grow weaker and weaker by the second until soon Naruto is collapsing atop of Kakashi, hiding his face in Kakashi’s neck like he used to when the other kids were being especially cruel that day. 

 “Hey, hey, shh,” he murmurs as he strokes the back of Naruto’s head, “ You did nothing wrong, okay?”

 “Well, it felt like it.”

 Kakashi’s chest caves in on itself. 

 Before he can say anything else, an explanation, an apology, anything, the warm weight atop of him is gone. He can only vaguely register Naruto mumbling out a shunshin no jutsu.

 Soon, all he’s left with is a puff of smoke.

  Days keep adding up until it’s been more than a week without Naruto giving Kakashi the time of day, and for once, it’s not because of the lack of trying on Kakashi’s part. In fact, he’s attempted all sorts of plans to get the man to even look at him. 

 He bought enough ramen from Ichiraku’s to last him a lifetime, he tried to entice him with promises of teaching him a new jutsu, he bought him a brand new orange jumpsuit, hell, he even swallowed his pride and tried to enlist Sakura’s help only for her to shake her head while softly telling him this was something he needed to do on his own. 

 It’s a complete mess and one he wishes he weren’t so concerned about cleaning up.

 And he wouldn’t be, if it weren’t for the simple fact of the matter that Kakashi misses Naruto and he misses his company and his stupid ramen and his stupid orange jumpsuits. 

 Sulking as he strolls alongside the bank of the river, Kakashi kicks pebbles into the water while he thinks up various ways to get Naruto to talk to him. 

 Konohamaru could maybe help him out but, then again, he’d probably side with his big brother Naruto on the matter at hand. Perhaps, Sai or Gai could help, they seem level headed enough to come up with ideas that could work. Actually, Sai isn’t well versed in emotions and Gai would just say something about the Springtime of Youth. Tenzou, maybe…

 While deep in thought on what to do, Kakashi doesn’t notice a person walking in front of him, until he barrels right into them. Before the person can fall into the river, Kakashi catches them by the wrists and drags them in close. 

 Looking down, he realizes it's Naruto that he's caught. 

 Once he’s made sure that Naruto is safe from losing his balance, Kakashi takes a step backwards. Awkwardly, he shoves both his hands into his pockets as he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. 

 “Thanks.” Naruto mumbles out, his cheeks burning. 

 For longer than he’d like to admit, Kakashi debates with himself on what he should say to the man in front of him. 

 “Y’know, you have to talk to me some time.” 

 Immediately, Kakashi cringes at the words leaving his mouth. 

 “You stopped talking to me for four years and were going to spend the rest of our lives lying about it.” Naruto accuses, the flush on his cheeks now being a result of anger rather than embarrassment.

 His heart aches at the underlying pain he can hear in Naruto’s voice. Without thinking twice, Kakashi reaches out for Naruto’s arm. 

 “I’m sorry, if you’d let me explain—”

 He’s cut off by Naruto knocking his hand away.

 “I don’t need to know why you left,” Naruto says as he begins to walk away, “My brain can fill in the blanks.”

 “Whatever you think my reasoning was,” Kakashi explains as he follows Naruto, “I promise you, it’s not.”

 All of a sudden, Naruto stops in his tracks, only a few short steps away from reaching the dirt path back to the village. He whips around to glare at Kakashi, his eyes lighting up with fury as he raises an accusatory finger in Kakashi’s direction. 

 “Did you even want to be my sensei?” Naruto questions as he takes a step towards him, “Or were you disappointed when you realized the kid you ditched years ago was your student now?”

 “I wanted to be your sensei.” he says earnestly, but it seems as though Naruto isn’t even listening to him. 

 “Why did you bother coming around if you were just going to leave?” Naruto snarks out as he shoves his finger into Kakashi’s chest, “Was it me? Did I drive you off?”

 “No, just let me—”

 Before he can get another word out, he watches as all of the ire and all of the incendiaries building up inside of Naruto fade away, only to be replaced with a bone-deep sense of weariness that should never be worn on the face of someone so young.

 “You want to know something, Kakashi-sensei?” he asks, not looking for a real answer, “For the longest time, I used to wonder if you ever thought about me, if you saw potential in me or if you just saw me as a roadblock for Sasuke and Sakura’s success. I used to wonder if you even liked me.

 “Now, I know my answer.”

 How could Naruto think that? How could Kakashi let him think that? 

 For a second, it looks like Naruto is about to say something else but then he simply turns around and continues walking in the direction of the village. 

 Remaining where he is, Kakashi stands still as he stares at Naruto’s back. 

 “Minato-sensei and Kushina-san had just died.” he says, the name of his parents causing Naruto to halt, “Rin and Obito had died before that. My parents long before that.”

 Twisting his neck to look over his shoulder, Naruto meets Kakashi’s eyes; a puzzled look on his face

 “But, you were still alive.” he continues, “Up until you were eight, I could keep you safe. You weren’t a shinobi. You didn’t have to take orders from higher up. You didn’t have to go on suicide missions. You were okay.

 “Then, you entered the Academy and suddenly, I couldn’t protect you anymore.” Kakashi croaks out as he scrunches his eyes closed, “I couldn’t face the possibility of losing you so, I left. Like a coward.”

 Naruto doesn’t say anything else so Kakashi assumes that he’s already gone and left but then he feels a pair of arms hook around his shoulders and the telltale tickle of Naruto’s hair against the side of his face. 

 Letting out a ragged breath, Kakashi returns the embrace, fighting back the onslaught of tears in his eyes. 

 “Thank you for taking care of me.” Naruto murmurs into his ear.

 “Thank you for not dying.”

[achilleslyre]

i feel that so many people seem to take the basis of naruto and sasukes characterization and switch them…. i see too many people infer naruto is made of happiness and love while sasuke of hate and anger but i have always seen naruto as a character that is full of hatred and anger and he has to let go of that with the love of others. sasuke as a character is so full of love yet he has to follow that through with grief and anger and learn to bear others hatred.

naruto never really had the heaviness of love in his heart until he went through the process of controlling kuramas chakra and had to confront the hatred inside him. frankly it says it blatantly that he had always held hatred in his heart for the situation he was forced into and the way the village treated him because of it, until he was able to accept and move past that hatred and have love for kurama and his dad and the people of his village. so i genuinely don’t understand where this notion that naruto is just pure sunshine and happiness came from. sasukes whole story starts out with wanting revenge on his brother because he loves his family and his clan so much. it’s a constant clear notion that he hurts so bad from his brother’s betrayal because he loved his brother, and that his rage against konoha is because he loved his clan that konoha sanctioned a genocide of. it’s constantly stated that the uchiha hold intense love in their hearts.

it’s sasukes connection with the people around him that formed his love where it’s the lack of that connection that formed narutos hate…. the way they expressed their emotions is very different because they’re both in insanely different scenarios no matter how much they understand the others pain. narutos hatred makes him want to finally receive the love that the village never gave him, but sasukes love makes him want the village to experience the pain that they inflicted upon him and his clan… maybe sasuke expresses his love more negatively and maybe naruto expresses his hate more positively, but that doesn’t change the fact that sasukes actions came from a place of love and narutos actions came from hate. they just needed each other to balance the other out….

[cyhyr]

Whumpmas in July: Warmth

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: E

Pairing: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka

WC: ~3940

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Notes: frottage, therapy, safewords, cockwarming, oral sex, past abuse, love confessions

A/N: So, y'all know about my wonderful problem with terrible interpretations of prompts... Oops? Anyway, we'll return to our regularly scheduled whump-fest in the next fic. I think.

Follows "Look At Me"

For @whumpmasinjuly prompt list

Read on The Archive

~

They’re on a mission together when the idea comes to him. And he knows Kakashi isn’t going to approve, nor will he be interested in trying it; but a man can dream and it’s just the two of them on the road for five days and Iruka can admit that there’s probably something messed up with his head that he wants this but he can’t help it.

He remembers often, giving Kakashi that blowjob, and how it made him feel. He enjoyed having Kakashi in his mouth for the time he managed it, before he went and fucked it up by giving Kakashi his hair. They lay near each other at night in the forest and huddle together and oftentimes Iruka feels the outline of Kakashi’s dick against his ass and it’s… it’s a lot.

In a good way.

Fuck, but he wants Kakashi.

He just… doesn’t know how to go about having him without also triggering himself. It wasn’t until he started seeing a therapist, his first session two weeks ago, that he realized how much Mizuki ruined sex for him. He already knew he was damaged goods, but he hadn’t realized how much.

But this idea he’s got…

Maybe.

~

They’re two days from Konoha, huddled together in a shallow cave while a storm rages just outside. They could have kept going—a little rain and wind never hurt anyone—but Kakashi seemed to jump on the chance to settle down for the night early, and led them here. Iruka set up intricate traps and barrier seals around the mouth of the cave, assuring both himself and Kakashi that only the truly desperate will get into their hiding spot, let alone know they’re here. They dry out hair and clothes (Kakashi’s control with katon is brilliant, like the rest of him) and are simply enjoying sitting next to each other in front of a small fire.

Their vests and pouches remain within easy reach—they are still on a mission.

Iruka leans against Kakashi’s shoulder, contently dozing in and out. Kakashi has an Icha Icha book open in his palm, but hasn’t turned the page in over fifteen minutes. Their silence is odd in that it’s comfortable, but only if Iruka doesn’t think about how long they’ve each been quiet.

Kakashi breaks. “Iruka?”

“Hmm?”

“You… you would tell me… if I was doing something wrong. Right?”

Iruka’s eyes snap open and his happy doze fades fast. He lifts his head and shifts to face Kakashi. “Yes, of course, but what is this about? What’s—?” He stops and glances away, “Have I done something wrong?”

Kakashi hums. “You’ve just been a little distant for most of this mission. Since we passed through that hamlet on our first evening. I just—I don’t—”

“Kakashi, no,” Iruka reaches out for his hands, but at the last inch stops. He knows what this is about now; of course Kakashi picked up on his odd mood, his being-lost-in-thought. “Can I hold your hands?”

Kakashi nods, his blush barely noticeable in the firelight.

“Kakashi,” Iruka starts again with his partner’s hands in his own, “I’m sorry for seeming distant. I had an idea and it’s been plaguing me, but I wanted to wait until we got home to talk about it. I also—um—kind of want to discuss it with my therapist first.”

Kakashi brings their hands up to his masked lips and kisses Iruka’s fingers. “You will tell me, though?”

Iruka nods. “I want to, very much so. But I also need to. To talk it out with Rikona-sensei.”

Kakashi accepts the answer and tugs Iruka closer, which he does willingly. Iruka takes initiative and leans into the space behind Kakashi’s ear and mutters, “Can I...?”

Hands pull him to straddle Kakashi’s lap while a groaned “Yes” rumbles against his chest. Iruka slips Kakashi’s mask down just enough to get to that sensitive spot and nips at it. Kakashi, at the same time, gently gropes and kneads his ass.

“I. Want. Uhh, there—Iruka, more. Still can’t believe you’re able to hide this ass in—ohh, fuck—standard uniform pants. Oh gods. Iruka.”

Iruka smiles against Kakashi’s neck as he reveals bare skin. He won’t pull down the mask entirely—that’s a limit Kakashi set and, gods, Kakashi’s so good at remembering his triggers that Iruka can do him the favor of remembering one limit. Kakashi is hard, and Iruka grinds down on his erection to get him to swear and squirm some more.

So long as Iruka stays on top, stays in control, these kinds of encounters don’t bother him. Mizuki never treated him like this, not exactly. The differences are enough.

He rolls his hips against Kakashi, a little faster, holding onto Kakashi’s shoulders for balance. “Kakashi,” he moans breathily, “wanna see you come.”

Kakashi pants. One hand leaves his ass and pulls down his mask, and then they’re kissing, mouths devouring each other and teeth clicking together. Iruka feels his own stirrings of arousal, finally, and groans deeper in his chest.

“Close,” Kakashi warns, breaking the kiss after a few minutes.

“Good. Why’s your hand not back on my ass?”

“I don’t. I mean.”

Iruka smirks and takes Kakashi’s hand, bringing it up to his face. Iruka normally likes Kakashi’s gloves. The texture, the smell, the implication of power… but tonight, he’s glad the gloves are off, over with their vests and pouches.

He slips Kakashi’s first finger into his mouth and hums.

“Oh, shit.”

He continues to hold Kakashi’s finger against his tongue until he’s finished and slumped forward, and then lets it slide free with a pop.

“Gods, Iruka,” Kakashi murmurs, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him as close as possible. “That was. Wow.”

Iruka giggles and replaces Kakashi’s mask, and then cards his fingers through silver hair. “Very articulate.”

Kakashi hums. He’s still glowing, and won’t want to be coherent for a few minutes.

“Can I return the favor?” he mutters against Iruka’s neck. Even during the afterglow, Kakashi thinks of him; it’s sweet.

Iruka says, “No thanks. I started to get there, but just wasn’t… y’know.”

Kakashi sighs. “Still wanna kill him.”

“I know. I appreciate the sentiment.”

He whines. “It’s not fair that I get all the orgasms in this relationship.”

Iruka laughs outright. “Even though I’m okay with giving them to you? And also not asking for reciprocation?”

Kakashi nuzzles him. “Wanna see you come, too,” he murmurs.

Someday.

~

“It’s good that you feel ready to take steps to move forward. But what steps are you prepared to take to prevent an episode?”

“Well, I thought a lot about it on the way home. Mizuki would always come to my place, so I thought first maybe a change in scenery will help—I’m gonna ask if we can do this at Kakashi’s place.”

“That’s a start. But many of your triggers are auditory.”

“And Kakashi’s never said anything to tip me into an episode since our, uh, second disaster. I trust him.”

“Trust is important. What else?”

“I’m also going to heavily condition my hair, and brush it out. So in case Kakashi snags it accidentally it won’t pull. I’m… I’m also going to request that he wash up beforehand. He and Mizuki smell… too similar, right now. I don’t want to risk it.”

“What about position?”

“That’s something I will need to discuss with Kakashi. I can’t—I can’t be on my knees for this, that’s just asking for an episode.”

“I agree. May I also suggest the two of you discuss hand signals for safe-words? You won’t be able to talk, after all.”

“Yes. I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad you have put so much thought into this.”

“I just need to prove to us I can move past this.”

“Hmm. Well, we’ve gone over time by ten minutes, but I think it’s worth it. I truly hope this works out for you, Iruka-sensei.”

~

Iruka is scrubbing the cabinet faces in his kitchen, waiting for Kakashi to get back from another mission. They’d gotten back, and the next day his partner had been sent out again—he had been angry at first, at the Counsel for requiring so much from Kakashi, and at himself for not understanding immediately that Kakashi requested the mission to give Iruka a little bit more time and space to work out that “odd” thought.

He’s worked it out. He talked it out with Rikona-sensei. He’s as prepared as he can be.

That’s why he’s cleaning.

Iruka can admit that he’s terrified this will go wrong. Against all of his thoughtful preparation, he could still dissociate. The more he goes under, the more likely it becomes that he just won’t resurface. Or he could resurface, but with new triggers—new ones relating to Kakashi instead of Mizuki.

Worst of all, Kakashi could just outright deny him and not even try. Iruka’s not sure how that situation would go, but it probably won’t be good.

At least. At least Kakashi’s due back today. He shouldn’t have to—

“Hello dear,” comes a voice from his kitchen window.

Iruka doesn’t hide the smile Kakashi’s voice drags out of him. He looks up from his spot on the floor and watches as his partner slinks through the window and over the sink and counter to join him on the floor.

“Sandals,” Iruka says. Kakashi takes his off and leaves to go put them in the genkan, and is back at his side quickly.

“You’re cleaning,” Kakashi comments. “Rough day with the ankle-biters?”

Iruka laughs. “No, nothing like that. I quite like this class, actually.”

“Then…?”

Iruka sets aside his sponge and sighs, standing up. “Right. Let me put this away, and then. Then we can talk.”

He leaves the room, taking as long as he dares knowing Kakashi is standing, arms crossed, in his kitchen. He dumps dirty water down the shower drain, sets the sponge in the bathroom sink to dry, and puts the bucket away in the bottom of the linen closet.

One more bracing breath, and then he leaves the bathroom.

“Okay.” He comes back into the kitchen; Kakashi hasn’t moved. “Would you like to sit?”

Kakashi holds a hand up. “First, please?” Iruka nods and gestures for him to speak. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“No.” Iruka’s proud of how even his tone is. “You may want to consider it, after this, but I don’t… it’s not what I want.”

Kakashi takes the chair beside Iruka’s usual one, and pulls down his mask. “I highly doubt whatever you have to say is going to change my feelings for you.”

Iruka sits. Smiles. “That’s sweet, but hold your judgement until you’ve heard me out.”

Kakashi leans forward and reaches out for his hands. Iruka gives them to him, letting Kakashi entwine their fingers together on the tabletop.

“I have something I want to try,” Iruka starts. “And I’ve given it a lot of thought, how to go about it without worrying about triggering an episode.”

Kakashi sits up a little straighter. “What do you want?”

Iruka’s face heats up, and he looks away for a moment to collect himself. “I… okay, so. I—before I fucked up that last time, when I was blowing you—”

“We agreed that it was both of our faults,” Kakashi glowers. “If you want to take any of the blame, I get an equal amount for being the instigating party.”

“Right. Sorry—”

“Iruka.”

Iruka closes his eyes and bites his lip. Deep breath. “Thank you, Kakashi, for reminding me.”

Kakashi brings his hand up to kiss his fingers. “You’re welcome. I’d like to hear more, but not if you’re going to be self-deprecating.”

“I. Yes. Okay. I can… I’ll try.”

Kakashi replaces their hands on the table and waits.

“So, the blowjob. When I was. Before I dissociated.” Iruka flushes hard. “I really enjoyed that.”

“As did I. But you also said that your performing oral sex is off limits, because of your trauma. Has that changed?” Kakashi is trying not to look excited, but Iruka can see the spark in his eye.

“Not exactly. I’d like to try something, um. Blowjob-adjacent?”

Kakashi waits.

“I’d like you to consider. Letting me… um.” Oh just thinking about it is getting his heart racing; his breathing speeds up.

“Iruka, are you with me?”

“Yes,” he answers immediately. “I’m not—slipping. It’s. Fuck,” he takes one hand back from Kakashi and presses his palm to his forehead. He decides to spit it all out as fast as he can. “I want your cock in my mouth again, but I want to just. Hold it. Does that make—”

Kakashi’s chair screeches as he pushes back from the table. He comes around the corner of the table and kneels in front of Iruka, looking up at him reverently. “You would do that for me?” he whispers.

Iruka puts his free hand against Kakashi’s cheek. “You’re the one who’d be doing me a favor,” he smirks. “I want this, Kakashi.”

“Now?”

Iruka shakes his head. “I mean, yes, but not-not here. And I have some preparation steps for both of us, to help prevent the chance of an episode.”

“Anything.”

~

Two hours later, it’s late and dark, and Iruka stands outside of Kakashi’s apartment door. The jōnin barracks are sparse, as most shinobi who attain this rank either are part of a clan, make enough to purchase their own quarters, or find better housing with spouses or roommates. As it is, Kakashi is the only one living on his floor, and has been able to secure the apartments above and below him to stay empty as well.

Iruka knocks. He doesn’t have to wait long for Kakashi to open the door.

“Hello dear.”

Iruka smiles and leans in to accept Kakashi’s kiss to his forehead. He’s led inside, and once the door shuts, he reaches up and starts untying his hair.

Hands gently take his elbows and Kakashi crowds him from behind. “Leave it up for now?”

Iruka tightens the tie again, then turns around in the circle of Kakashi’s arms. “Have you thought about it?” he asks.

Kakashi hums. “Can I kiss you? I won’t get to for a while.”

Iruka leans in and tugs gently at his mask with one finger. “Gotta take this off first,” he says.

“Go ahead.”

Oh. Iruka cups Kakashi’s jaw with both hands and slowly eases the fabric down over his nose and mouth. His face bared to the room, Iruka traces his lips with a fingertip. “Can I—?”

“Please, Iruka.”

Lips meet and moans rumble in both of their throats. Iruka keeps his hands on Kakashi’s face, revelling in the bare skin he was allowed to—Oh his chest aches in such a wonderful way.

Kakashi runs one hand up his spine while the other stays around his waist. Iruka smirks into the kiss as Kakashi traces his hand back down, past his waist, his hips, and finally settling on the curve of his ass.

“Someday,” Iruka murmurs into his mouth, and groans at Kakashi’s harsh kneading.

“Best ass in Konoha,” Kakashi whispers. “In the world.”

Iruka laughs outright, tipping his head back. The laugh turns into another moan as Kakashi kisses his neck and jaw. He lets Kakashi lead as they start walking over to the bed.

Then they fall gently, slowly, onto the mattress. Iruka keeps his eyes open; there’s a different visual stimulus here, Kakashi’s studio being so different from his own bedroom. He’s urged to lay beside Kakashi, still in his comforting embrace.

They kiss forever, until Iruka feels comfortable exploring Kakashi’s body with his own hands, until he closes his eyes and rests his head back against the pillow and lets Kakashi kiss him all over, tapping and tugging at various pieces of clothing to ask if he can remove them.

They’re both down to their underwear when Iruka starts to feel the faint prickling of panic at the edge of his awareness. He pulls Kakashi back up to him and kisses him deeply, slipping his tongue into Kakashi’s mouth and feeling the scar across his eye.

“How are you feeling, dear?” Kakashi asks.

“Hmm. Almost wanna just keep making out with you all night,” Iruka says.

“We can do that,” Kakashi offers. “If you want to wait on—”

“Oh no. I’m getting that monster back on my tongue tonight.” Iruka kisses along Kakashi’s jaw, hunting for his weak spot. He probably can’t reach it from this position. Judging from the rumbling moan in his chest, Kakashi doesn’t mind his trying. Or his words.

“Shit, alright. Sit up a moment.”

Iruka collects himself up onto his knees and waits while Kakashi repositions himself to sit against the headboard, his legs apart. He crooks a finger in Iruka’s direction and yes he’s helpless but to settle between Kakashi’s legs and lean in to kiss him again. Iruka drags his mouth across Kakashi’s chest, licks at his stomach, and finally lays himself down and breathes in Kakashi—bitter, dark; he wonders briefly if Kakashi had followed his request to wash up before this, so the faint scent that reminded him once of Mizuki would be covered by soap smell.

Kakashi’s musk doesn’t flash a threat of Mizuki now.

He lays his head on Kakashi’s thigh and waits. Kakashi pets Iruka’s hair with one hand—very gently—and fondles himself with the other. Watching Kakashi go from semi-hard to fully erect in front of him is maddening; he feels his own dick respond, and the heat in his core starts to build. He licks his lips and shifts closer just a bit.

Kakashi stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “Wait, just. Just a little bit more.”

Iruka whines.

Kakashi stops. “Iruka?”

“I’m fine. I’m great. Please, please keep touching yourself,” he whimpers. “Gods, keep touching yourself.”

“Fuck.”

Kakashi pulls his cock out, finally, and strokes himself. Iruka’s lips part involuntarily, beginning to pant. He shifts his hips against the sheets, but keeps his arms still around Kakashi’s hips and his head steady on his thigh. His mouth dries out quickly with his panting.

“Please, Kakashi, please. I-I want you so bad please—”

“What do you do if I check in with you and you’re okay?”

Iruka taps his hip once.

“And if you ever need to stop?”

He taps twice. “Or I can just pull away.”

“Right. And if you find yourself slipping?”

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-

Kakashi chuckles. “Alright, alright.” He holds his cock at the base and guides Iruka forward with his other hand at the back of his head. He doesn’t push, doesn’t hold him, doesn’t grab him; and Iruka goes for it happily, sliding his lips around the head and moaning along with Kakashi at the first touch of tongue to cock.

He sucks on the head for a moment, breathing deeply and focusing himself. When he feels ready, he slides down, bit by bit, hearing Kakashi’s harsh panting echoing in the room.

“Little more, that’s it. Fuck, beautiful—c’mon, c’mon, just—oh, gods.”

Kakashi’s cock hits the back of his throat. Iruka pulls back, just a second, breathes, and on his exhale sinks down the rest of the way.

“Shit-shit-shit, fuck, Iruka, so g—ah, shit, your mouth yes.”

He lays his head back on Kakashi’s thigh and lets his partner run his mouth above him. He’s got cock comfortably settled down his throat and yeah, they’ll have to change the sheets because Iruka’s already drooling around his mouthful something terrible—something wonderful—and by the time he’s ready to come back there’ll likely be a small puddle.

It doesn’t seem that Kakashi will mind.

He finally collects himself to quiet down, still hard in his throat though. It’s nice. Kakashi pets his hair again, and this time also pulls the tie free from his hair. He’s careful, so damn careful, and then Iruka’s hair is loose around his face and he doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care because he’s got better things to focus on.

He’s in Kakashi’s bed, with Kakashi’s scent all around him, and Kakashi’s bittersweet cock on his tongue, and Kakashi’s words echoing around him, and he’s hard.

Oh, he’s hard.

If he shifts he’ll choke. He can’t take any relief for how turned on he is. That’s… that’s okay. He’s not doing this to get off. He’s doing it to prove he can.

And he is.

And he does.

Kakashi checks in with him every ten minutes. He stays present the whole time. It’s so. It’s perfect. The third time, Kakashi tells him it’s been half an hour, and Iruka hums and glances up at him questioningly.

“I’d. I’d really like to come, Iruka. But I also want to wait until you’re ready.”

He sighs through his nose and carefully pulls off of Kakashi’s cock. He sucks on the head for a minute, listening to Kakashi swear and pant some more as he swallows and lets his throat relax. When he pulls off the rest of the way, he noses at the hard, reddened length and says, voice wrecked, “Come, then. If you’d like.”

Kakashi wastes no time in grabbing his spit-slick dick and beginning to pump furiously. Iruka sits up on his knees to watch, pressing the heel of his own hand against his erection and breathing heavily to keep himself under control.

“You too, please,” Kakashi whimpers. “Can I see you? Can I—oh, can I blow you? I’ll be just as-as-fuck, Iruka, please, I want you too; wanna see you, too.”

“I know,” Iruka says. His shoulders are heaving with the force of keeping his breath steady. “But this was for you.”

“But—”

“Oh, my Kakashi,” Iruka murmurs. “Just. Let go. Let me see you. Let me know I d-did good.”

“Fuck, Iruka.”

“Come, love.”

He does. Oh, he comes, hard and loud and wet, streaking up his chest and dripping over his hand and gods does Iruka have the urge to kiss him through his afterglow. He inches forward on his knees and reaches past Kakashi’s shoulder to the washcloth they’d prepared before, sitting on the windowsill. Iruka gently wipes it across Kakashi’s chest and groin, and then takes his hand and swipes it with the cloth, too. He tosses the washcloth across the room to the sink, and leans forward to press his forehead against Kakashi’s.

“Can I—?”

“Please kiss me,” Kakashi whimpers at the same time.

He does. Kakashi’s arms embrace him loosely and he holds Kakashi’s face in one hand and braces his other palm against his chest. His heart is racing, pounding.

“You called me—”

“I do.” Iruka murmurs, pulling away so he can look into Kakashi's eye. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, tied with Naruto.”

“For different—”

“You know what I mean.” Iruka chuckles. “Yes, for different reasons.”

“Does this mean I can get you off now?”

Iruka shakes his head. “I just wanna enjoy your glow with you. You’re so precious like this.”

“I like it,” Kakashi mutters. “Being yours.”

“I like having you,” Iruka cards his fingers through Kakashi’s hair. “I… I love you.”

Kakashi says, “I love you, too.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I’ve loved you for months, Iruka. I’m just. Scared.”

“Don’t be. You’ve got me.”

They breathe through the glow. They’ll have to change the sheet, and Iruka hasn't yet confirmed with Kakashi if it’s okay if he stays the night. But he’s happy, and he’s proven to himself that he’s on the mend, and Mizuki’s hold on him has loosened just that little bit more.

[ophidae-a]

Orochimaru and the political implications that have kept him alive and free pre & post war...

This has been a long time coming, I will try to word this as best as I can given that it will involve a lot of actual research but I was simply exhausted of seeing people’s bad takes. Anyway let’s begin.

Assuming you could implement actual real world logic into the naruto world, that would mean all the countries are/were probably influenced by many of the economic movements that influenced and shaped the real world. Since the series seems to be set in a mix between ancient and modern times, it is hard to place it in a specific moment in history, so I will only be addressing the more general theories.

We know that Shinobi villages get commissioned for their assistance by other villages, and that seems to be a big part of the Shinobi Villages’ income, which means trade is a thing in that universe. Shinobi villages seem to specialize in exporting services ( aka the Shinobi ), which probably means they have to import everything that the common villagers cannot produce. Being within a country, that means the Shinobi village is subjected to the laws imposed by the Daimyo —— which means that international trade is also probably a thing.

No country is 100% self-sufficient ; in the past, people argued and theorized for and against international trade, trying to justify its need and place certain standards on it. The law of comparative advantage came to explain why certain countries still engage in international trade despite being good at producing everything it needs (absolute advantage)  —— it comes with the premise that if you can produce a product in large quantities and efficiently ( low costs ), than that is your specialty, and you should export that and buy the products you cannot produce with the same efficiency for that will be more beneficial to you. David Ricardo demonstrated that if two countries capable of producing two commodities engage in trade, then each country will increase its overall consumption by exporting the good for which it has a comparative advantage while importing the other good, provided that there exist differences in labor productivity between both countries. Basically he says that this comparative advantage is what makes international trade possible, opposed to what Adam Smith alluded in 1776 when he spoke about the absolute advantage.

Here is an example to make things easier:

Hours of work necessary to produce one unit

Country/ Product         X         Y

Country 1                     100      120

Country 2                     90        80

For country 1 to produce one unit of both products it would take them 220 hours, for country 2 it would take them 170 hours to produce one unit of both products. Country 1 requires 100 hours to make one unit X, and Country 2 needs 90 hours for that. It is a difference of 10 hours. Product Y takes country 1 120 hours to produce a single unit, while it takes 80 hours for country 2 to make that.

That being said, country 1 is more efficient at producing X, while country 2 is more efficient at producing Y —— which means they should specialize in producing those products and buy the one they’re not as efficient from each other. And that will be financially beneficial to them. ( country 2 has absolute advantage, however even like that it is more beneficial to buy product x than to produce it themselves ).

Why is this important? Well, Orochimaru didn’t just leave Konoha and that was it, he founded a Village —— a Shinobi village in a land that previously had none. The land of rice is very small and probably lived off of exporting rice to the nearby villages and countries ; a commodity based economy is not very strong. That means Orochimaru not only opened a whole new industry in this country, but also brought with him intellectual property, in other words, technology. The land of rice now not only had a new economic pillar, it also has potential to join the big guys since with Orochimaru on the inside it means less importing more exporting.

Okay but what is Orochimaru producing Lua, I don’t get it! Not to worry, I shall explain. Orochimaru is a scientist, he produces what most scientists do : intellectual property —— vaccines, medication, anti-venom, research on treatments for a variety of illnesses, technology, industrial models, genetic research among others. All things that he can patent, and by extension patent to the land of rice. That is what he is producing, and that is what makes him so special and influential.

Throughout the series, we know of very few characters who are gifted in healthcare/science —— we have Tsunade, Sasori, Chiyo, Orochimaru, Shizune, Kabuto and Sakura. Those are the characters we canonically know are in this industry, however do you see where they are from? Land of Wind, Land of Fire, but what about the the other countries? It is stupid to think they do not have their own medically inclined people and industry, but given the fact that we know villages such as Ame and Kiri, the smaller villages, are heavily subjugated by the bigger countries, it is not absurd to think they’d turn to imports to supplement the fact that they might have a small or non existent industry for these areas. Even bigger countries must struggle to supply the whole population with things such as vaccines and medication, and that is where Orochimaru comes in.

Not only is he in charge of his own village, therefore doesn’t really have to worry about many regulations that might delay his production, he is also not bound by any other jurisdiction other than his own ( since it has been implied in canon that the daimyo is basically his puppet ). Orochimaru has absolute advantage when it comes to the medical industry, and that is what he exports to all the other nations —— I am talking mass production, with full control of the supply chain. This is what makes him so politically important, because a village in shortage of medication and vaccines is a village ready to die (healthcare crisis), especially when we talk about Shinobi Villages who are probably the ones that need these products the most.

And that is the reason Orochimaru hasn’t been hunted down and killed pre 4th war. The Kages and Daimyos know where these products are coming from, they understand the implications but they can’t do without them. No matter how much they’d like to deny it, they need Orochimaru alive. Otherwise they’ll have a huge problem in their hands.

Post war this need is even bigger —— they have just been through a war, a lot of people died, a lot of people are sick, need medication, vaccines, transfusions, surgeries and there aren’t a lot of personnel left. Not only that, but Orochimaru was a key factor on them winning this war —— without him, all of the current kages would have died, without him none of the previous konoha kages would have been resurrected therefore more death would have come.

That is one of the reasons after the war that he wasn’t imprisoned. It isn’t because Konoha is biased —- why would they be biased toward Orochimaru? It is because they know that if they lock him up, or kill him, they won’t have from who import the shit they need.

Throughout the whole series Orochimaru only really had beef with two major countries —— the land of fire, and the land of wind. Those were the only countries he really pissed off, and neither of those countries ever went after him with the intensity you would see if they actually wanted him dead. The other nations probably didn’t care about him other than his potential as a business partner, which probably influenced in him not being “held accountable” for the things he did.

When people mention the difference between treatments of Sasuke and Orochimaru, it kills me because they are not the same thing. Sasuke left the village and made himself a war criminal the moment he walked into that Kage meeting and tried to kill everyone to get to Danzo. Orochimaru is a villain, a criminal and in my opinion the best since he went ahead and made himself so important worldwide that he cannot be touched, and even managed to survive, however it is not comparable to what Sasuke did. Sasuke went ahead and made himself an enemy of the Shinobi alliance, not just one nation but all of them, Orochimaru did no such thing because he was at the time a fully grown man, not an angsty teen. Orochimaru knew what he was doing, Sasuke was fully controlled by rage. And it showed, that is why Sasuke wasn’t left off the hook, not only that but Sasuke doesn’t provide the nations with anything other than a threat —— Orochimaru poses a big threat but he also provides them with things they need to survive, so he is something that they have to manage, Sasuke? Not that much. Countries don’t like to feel threatened, that is why they rained down on Sasuke and not on Orochimaru.

Making yourself politically important can get you out of a plethora of situations, not only in naruto world. In the real world it is very much the same, it is why diplomats have immunity, why many politicians get away with countless bad things —— because their fall could impact a whole country or more.

[dayseternal-blog]

Summary: Hinata and Naruto accidentally exchange gifts... Marching Band AU

Part 4 of a series of fluffy one-shots in Modern AU written for @badluckbrebis for NaruHina Secret Santa 2020!!

Rating: G

Merry Kiss-mas

Night falls on Konoha, but the park sounds far from empty.  The light and round tones of flutes and clarinets crowd the air, followed by the boisterous blasts of trombones, contrabass, and of course, their own, wonderfully noisy section, the trumpets.  They warm up their embouchures with willy nilly sounds, trying to keep boredom at bay as they wait for the Christmas parade to start.

Hinata, like any girl in love, looks for a reason to interact with her crush.  And the most recent, popular excuse the section has to come together is to learn the notes to the Super Mario Theme Song.

Yes, Naruto figured out how to play the song on his own time, thinking he’d earn some funny points and good attention from his friends.  He did not expect Hinata to be so into it.  He doesn’t think she even plays video games, but then again, she doesn’t seem like the typical type who would have chosen to play trumpet in the first place.

So, he figures he shouldn’t be that surprised that she would want to learn this, too.  She’s always doing unexpected things.  Plus, he’s not going to complain about having her attention, learning from him, and treating him like he’s such a good player.

She stands closely by him so that she can copy his fingering, and they play together the first few bars that he taught her.  At the end, she draws the trumpet away from her face, and he can see her smile sparkling at him in the dark.

“Yeahh!” he cheers, “That’s it!  You wanna learn the next part?”

“Mhm!  Thank you for teaching me.”

“No problem!”

“Twenty minutes!” Kurenai, their marching band instructor, calls out loudly over the din.  “Make sure you all go to the bathroom before the parade starts!  Take a partner!”

She doesn’t really want to use the park bathroom at night, but she thinks it might be a good idea to go.  “Actually, Naruto-kun, I think I should go to the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay.  I should go, too.”

In the dark, they find spots on the sidewalk to leave their instruments out of the way.

Hinata asks Sakura to go with her, too, and pretty soon, especially with Naruto heading over, the whole trumpet section is putting their instruments down for a bathroom break.

When she comes back, she automatically searches for her crush in the dark.

He’s skipping adorably over to their trumpets, and his energy is so infectious, she can’t help smiling as he finds his and immediately starts playing the silly Mario song again.

Hinata looks carefully at the trumpets.  She thought she put hers down next to Naruto’s, so judging by the space, hers should be...this one…  She squints at the instruments in the dark.  The shine of this trumpet doesn’t really look like hers.

Sakura picks her own trumpet up, her other section mates pick theirs up, and very quickly, the only one left on the ground is the one that she thought should be hers.

Shrugging her uncertainty away, she picks it up and starts rehearsing the song they’re about to play for the next hour on repeat as they march down the street.  Her pointer and ring finger sink into the keys, but…

The give is not quite right.  The weight of the whole instrument isn’t quite the same, either.  She tests the keys, pushing them down, considering the pressure and landing against the instrument, and…

This isn’t her trumpet.

Her eyes immediately go to Naruto, who’s in his own world, playing his own thing.  No, it can’t be.  He’d notice...right?

She asks each person, to very certain answers that they have the right one, or they put their trumpets down over there, not over there, and she’s coming to the very unfortunate conclusion that…

“Um, Naruto-kun?”

“Hm?  Yeah?  You ready for the next part?”

“Um.  No, I think…”  Her heart is so heavy with stress, and her skin feels so hot, and she’s just glad that it’s too dark for him to see her inflamed cheeks.

He looks at her curiously, and he looks at the trumpet in his hands, where her gaze is focused.  “Is something wrong?”

“I think I have your trumpet,” she finally manages to say.  She holds it up for him to look at it.

He gapes.  He looks at the one in her hands, he looks at the one in his hands.  He thought something felt off…

They quickly switch instruments, and she presses the keys, everything suddenly right with the world.

He’s doing the same, muttering, “Oh...oh yeah…”

“Hey,” Sakura says, coming up to them from behind, “did you find yours?”

“Oh, yes-”

Naruto tests his, playing a few notes aloud, finding all of it easier.  “Sorry, Hinata!  You’re right.  This one’s mine!”

Hinata’s mouth is dropped completely open.

He stares at her, trying to figure out this new expression.

“Um, I…”  She replays in her head how he so nonchalantly put his lips on where her lips had been, and how her lips had been where his lips had been.  How does she tell him that she didn’t wipe off his mouthpiece, yet??  “Naruto-kun…”

Sakura smiles hugely at them and then starts snickering.

Naruto tries to figure out what else could be wrong, but he has no idea as to why Sakura would be laughing about this.  Maybe he’s just not taking this seriously enough.  “I’m really sorry, Hinata.  I thought I grabbed mine.  I guess I couldn’t see in the dark.”

“Oh no, that’s not,...it’s okay, Naruto-kun, I, I couldn’t see, either.”  She decides right then and there that she’s not going to tell him.

Sakura bursts out laughing.  “I don’t think that’s why Hinata is so shocked, Naruto!”  She giggles some more, and Hinata turns to her with wide eyes.

“Sakura-chan-”

“Didn’t you play his a little, Hinata?”

“Only a little!”  She averts her eyes.

“Oh.”  Naruto stares at the top of Hinata’s head, and figures it out.  Everything.  Out.  “Oh.  Oh.  It’s okay.”

“...Okay,” she whispers, nods, chances a look up at him, and for once, she notices that he’s the one who can’t look her in the eyes.  The heat doubles down on her face, and she flees to Ino in the flute section.

Sakura stands there, laughing.

“It’s not funny!”  Naruto bumps her arm, but she only laughs harder.  “Stoop!” he whines and then groans, “You have to be kidding me…”

Sakura looks like she’s going to hyperventilate when she pauses between hiccuping giggles.  “I switched the instruments.”  She bursts into laughter again.

“You WHAT.”  He turns on her with a raging heat at his face, and despite everything, he almost wants to smile, but he’s squashing that urge with every fiber of his being.

“I didn’t think you actually wouldn’t notice, you doofus!”

“SAKURA!”

“WHO doesn’t notice??  You can’t blame me!”

“But what about Hinata?!  I spit all over her instrument!  And we left all our cleaning supplies in the bus!!”

She gives the most evil laugh, yet, and giggles out, “Merry Christmas to both of you!”

“Huh?!  That’s not-  That’s…”

“I knew it!  I knew it!”  She’s clapping, totally giving herself an applause, and even through his denials, she’s completely not listening.

Against his better judgment, his eyes search for her in the shadowed crowd as he turns Sakura's words over in his head.  There’s no way Hinata likes him...right?  She’s really cute, and he’s really not…

Light eyes that shine even in the dark turn directly at him, locking his searching gaze for a solid second, his heart leaping into his throat, and he turns away.

He's never felt so close to dying before.

“Uuhh-huh!” Sakura intones, way too knowingly.

“Shut up!”

“You liiike her.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do.  You liked your present, didn't you,” Sakura practically sings.

“Noo!  No!"  He didn't think he was obvious about Hinata!  "Go away already!  Go torture someone else!”

“I’m just trying to help!  You know, next year, maybe I’ll figure out a way to get you a real kiss from Hinata.”

“NO!  I don’t want it!”

“What, yes, you do.”  She sounds way too self-assured for him to even dream of changing her mind.

Naruto makes a note to himself that he needs to stay away from Sakura at all costs.

And that if he can’t...

Maybe...next Christmas...

No, that's impossible, right?

[catflorist]

The Time Being (ao3 / ffn) catflorist Summary: Time-slipping is a side effect of wielding the Rinnegan. When Sasuke slips through time, he always goes to Sakura, whether he wants to or not. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

pt 3: marked

Sakura was right. He did not see the ocean the next time he slipped.   The world was ending.

The ground beneath him shook. A boom sounded in the distance, followed by screaming.   Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Through the thick smoke, he glimpsed five faces carved into a mountainside.   A voice, hoarse from shouting, was calling Naruto’s name.   He weaved his way through the wreckage towards Sakura, desperate to glean when he was. Sakura whirled. No diamond marked her forehead. She did not look much older than him. Sasuke’s breath caught. Konoha would be destroyed within the year.   “Sasuke?” she cried. “Go!”   “What’s happening?” he demanded.   Her eyes widened. An ear-shattering rumble drowned out her words. The watchtower next to them was collapsing. Sasuke dodged the deadliest debris, but something heavy and sharp caught his temple. He fell to his knees, blinking stars from his vision. 

A cool shadow fell over Sasuke’s face. He looked up in time to see the tower tipping over above him. In half a breath it would crush his bones.   Sakura’s fist collided with the structure, splintering it apart. 

Sasuke lifted an arm to protect his face as chunks of wood, stone, and tile rained down upon them. Sakura straightened, her shoulders heaving. She stood tall and firm against the reddened sky.   “It’s not a good time, Sasuke,” she said over her shoulder.   Sasuke would have made it away, but Sakura had taken no chances.

Pins and needles pricked his fingers. Sasuke’s lungs no longer burned with smoke. Sunlight poured into the living room of a small apartment. In the distance, birds chirped.

Sakura swept into the room, wearing a pink dress and a diamond mark. “You’re bleeding,” she exclaimed.   Sasuke touched the slick trail of blood flowing down his face. His head felt fuzzy.   

“Can I heal you?”   An unexplained wound would trigger Orochimaru’s suspicions. “Fine,” he resigned.   “Sit down,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”   Sasuke sank into the cushions of Sakura’s couch. He could not make out the titles on her bookshelf.   Sakura returned with a bowl of water and a cloth slung over her shoulder.   “Is this all right?” Her fingers hovered near the side of his face. She waited for him to nod.

Her hands lit with green chakra. She touched her fingertips to his temple. Sasuke did not know where to look, so he stared at his hands. The warmth of her chakra soothed his aching skull, clearing the dizziness from his head.   Sakura wet the cloth and dabbed at the blood on his face. As she moved, the aroma of lavender floated from her skin and hair. Sasuke frowned. In the past, he had appeared before Sakura halfway through her breakfast. He had woken her up in the middle of the night and just finished distracting her in the midst of battle. But only now, smelling her carefully applied perfume, did he feel as if he were interrupting. Not that it mattered.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I slipped…” Sasuke paused, but Sakura did not look confused. Apparently, she knew his terminology. What else would he tell her? He continued, with a glare, “Konoha was under attack. You were there.”   Sakura lowered her hand. “I remember now. That was a year ago.”   “What happened to the village?”   “Do you want to look for yourself?” Sakura gestured to the open window. 

Sasuke could not understand why she was so calm. He crossed the room and looked out. 

Minutes before the village was in ruins. Now there were no signs of destruction. Konoha was cheerful in the afternoon sun. It was the same village Sasuke remembered and yet it was not. Colorful rooftops shone with fresh paint. Streets followed a loose grid, when before they wound and tangled together. The street sign design had changed, but the shape of the streetlamps had not. It was a Konoha constructed from memories, from dreams.   From behind, Sakura said simply, “We rebuilt.”   Sasuke turned. “The Uchiha compound…” 

“It’s safe,” she said. “Untouched.”

“Why did you show this to me?”   “I thought this was important for you to know.” She shrugged. “Besides, I don’t have curtains.”

Sasuke’s ears rang with the sound of Sakura screaming Naruto’s name. “How’s the dobe?” The question lacked subtlety, but he needed to know. Too late, he arranged his features in a scowl.

A smile played on Sakura’s lips. She smoothed the skirt of her dress. “I’m going to see him right now.” As Sasuke exhaled a quiet breath, Sakura grimaced. “Actually, I’m late.”   Sasuke bristled. Every time he encountered Sakura, he left with more questions. Meanwhile, nothing he did ever fazed her. He had materialized in her apartment and bled on her couch and she did not bat an eye. And now she would continue on with her plans for the day—plans that involved Naruto, perfume, a pink dress.   “Don’t let me keep you,” he jested. “You look nice.” He was not lying.   For once Sakura was speechless. Sasuke did not think he imagined the flush rising to her cheeks. 

His stomach twisted in satisfaction. He felt the urge to crack her cool composure again. “I know things about you that you don’t know yet,” he taunted. 

You’ll go to the sea. You’ll be waiting for something. You’ll have a child. He almost wanted to tell her right then, to see how she would react.   When Sakura smiled, Sasuke realized his blunder.   “I know things about you, too,” she said, gentle and steady, like a promise.     Sasuke wished he could stay, to unravel what her expression meant. But he jerked back to his time.   His chamber was not empty. A pale face gleamed in the dark.   “You’ve been lying to me, Sasuke-kun,” Orochimaru cooed. He smiled mournfully. “Where do you go all these nights, when your chakra signature disappears?” He edged closer. He smelled sickly sweet, like rotting flowers. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”   A cold bead of sweat trickled down the back of Sasuke’s neck. It was now or never.   “I don’t belong to you,” Sasuke said. “I won’t be your vessel.”   Orochimaru’s eyes iced over. “It is not up to you,” he hissed. He rolled a lock of Sasuke’s hair between his fingertips.   Growling, Sasuke swatted his hand away. Rage, determination, and strength erupted in his chest. He lunged towards Orochimaru. Halfway between his first and second step, Sasuke knew he would win the fight.   Orochimaru’s essence decomposed and bled into his own.   Sasuke left and did not look back. . . By the time Sasuke assembled his team he was well past seventeen.

“We are now Hebi,” he informed Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo. “Our purpose is to locate my brother Itachi. After we find him, I will kill him.”   They stopped by the abandoned city of Sora-ku to visit Nekoba and gather supplies. Near the outskirts of the city they set up camp and prepared to cook their first hot meal in weeks.   “Oh, Suigetsu?” Karin called.   Suigetsu was wrestling with his knife, half-sunken and stuck within a head of cabbage. “Yes?”   “Are you good with the sword?” Karin tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear, gesturing to the Executioner’s Blade propped up against Suigetsu’s belongings.   “I’d say so,” he said, smiling under Karin’s attention. Grasping the knife handle, he hit the cabbage against the cutting board and managed to hack it in half on the third strike.   Karin scowled. “Then why can’t you handle chopping a vegetable?”   “What’s wrong with my chopping?” he complained.   After years spent at the Kusagakure hideout, Sasuke had grown accustomed to stale air, torchlight, and long stretches of solitude. Now he was surrounded by bodies eating, bickering, and snoring near him. It was an adjustment.   “I don’t know where to begin,” Karin said.   Sasuke opened his mouth to plead for their silence, then stopped short. He held out his hand for the knife. “I’ll do it.”   Suigetsu conceded, and Sasuke took his place. He peeled away the wilted outer leaves of the cabbage and sliced through its bulk with fluid movements.   “That’s some fancy knifework,” Suigetsu said, as Sasuke made quick work of an onion and flew on to the garlic. “I didn’t know you could cook.”   Sasuke scowled. “Of course I know.” Every shinobi knew how to feed themselves. He yawned into his shoulder without slowing the movement of his knife.   “But not like that,” Suigetsu said.   Sasuke put down the knife. A mound of delicately sliced vegetables trembled on the cutting board. “Aa,” he acknowledged.   “How did you learn?” Karin asked.   Sasuke didn’t answer. He had learned from time spent in a neglected, dim scullery at the Kusagakure hideout. From fending for himself in his Konoha apartment as an Academy student. From watching his mother.   They continued on with preparing their meal. Jugo tended to the rice and Karin added oil and garlic to the pan heating over the fire.   Sasuke sounded a tsk. “It will burn if you add it now.”   Karin, normally timid around Sasuke, scowled and tightened her grip on the handle. “No, it won’t.”   The garlic burned. Sasuke wisely did not say a word.     As they ate, Karin said, “I blame Suigetsu,” ignoring his cry of protest.   Jugo offered Suigetsu a sympathetic look. “You’ll do better next time,” he reassured him.

Sasuke held back a smirk.   It was all an adjustment. . . Sasuke found himself pinned against a wall of rock. Itachi trudged towards him, but Sasuke could not move, could not go on for any longer.   Itachi smiled, the same smile he reserved only for his brother, and brushed his fingertips against Sasuke’s brow. His hand fell away, then his body fell without making a sound. Sasuke’s vision tunneled. He slumped to the rocky ground. His mind was merciful, and granted him unconsciousness.   When Sasuke stirred, he was lying on tatami.   Without opening his eyes, he rasped, “He’s dead.”   Sakura said, “I know.”   With ginger movements, he shifted to sit up. But there was no pain. His wounds were already healed.   Sasuke’s body shook. It was over, and all he felt was a gnawing absence. He did not see the face of the murderous killer that haunted his nightmares. He only saw the way his older brother’s solemn eyes used to crinkle as he tapped Sasuke’s forehead and promised, Maybe next time.   The normal passage of time never applied to Sasuke. Now it slowed to a halt as he sank into grief, unable to name what he was mourning.   After an eternity, Sasuke became aware of a strange noise ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes. 

Though he did not recall moving, he was clenching Sakura’s hand with all his strength, so hard it must have hurt. 

Sakura’s head was turned to the hall. The tiny wail did not stop. It was a sound he had not heard since he was a child, surrounded by dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins, and their children. A baby was crying.

“Forgive me,” Sakura whispered. She gently untangled their fingers, and Sasuke nearly whimpered from the loss of her touch.   She returned with a dark-haired baby and sat next to him.   “Yours?” The question rose unbidden to his lips.   Sakura didn't respond. Then again, Sasuke wasn’t sure if he had spoken aloud.

The baby blinked serious eyes. In his delirium, Sasuke saw Itachi. His dead brother looked at him again through the new life in Sakura’s arms. 

Sasuke shook his head, but the baby still wore his Itachi’s eyes. His own eyes.   “Yes,” Sakura said. “She’s mine.”   Sasuke’s head spun with vertigo, and he knew his time with her was almost done. He fought to cling to consciousness, but it was too much. 

As his vision darkened, something caught him. The floor rose slowly to kiss his cheek.   On the edges of his awareness he heard a voice.   “It’s going to get harder.” A cool hand smoothed the hair from his brow. “You’ll need to be strong.”

Sasuke woke up again in a cavernous, dark room. The warm, grassy aroma of tatami was gone, replaced with the funk of mold and stale water.   “Sakura?” he whispered. His hope was short-lived. When he sat up, metal clinked. Chains grew out of cuffs on his wrists, restraining him to the wall.    A mask floated in the air, as orange as lava, spiraling like a seashell into a singular opening above the right eye.   “Who is Sakura?” the mask hummed. Sasuke flinched.   The mask drew closer, until torchlight revealed the cloaked body to which it belonged. It was Tobi, the cowardly Akatsuki member, but it was not.   “Who are you?” Sasuke said.   The light in the room flickered. The figure said, “I am Uchiha Madara.”   Sasuke learned the truth about Itachi and the Uchiha massacre.   Sakura had not lied. Everything became harder.     Madara did not give him a moment to think, to process, to mourn, before he said, “There is something else.”

Sasuke could not bear anything else.

“You bear the mark of a powerful doujutsu. The Rinnegan,” he breathed. “After I found you, your body disappeared. When you reappeared, your wounds were healed.” Madara’s eye flashed. “You went somewhere else. To a time that is not your own.”   Blood pounded in Sasuke’s ears.   “The wielder of the Rinnegan may cross barriers in time and space. Already, time ripples differently around you. You are marked. One day you will possess its power.”   “How do you know this?” Sasuke asked.    The shadows in the room bent towards Madara. “Because I am also marked.”   Sasuke finally knew something about his future, the cause of the time-slipping he had experienced his whole life. But there was no pleasure that came with the clarity. He was a container filled to the brim with water. He couldn’t hold anymore.    “When you disappear, where do you go?” Madara asked, a curious lilt to his voice.   “The ocean,” Sasuke replied, fixing Madara with his darkest stare. “Where do you go?”   The eye beneath the mask narrowed. “The Rinnegan’s mark reveals, across all time and distance, that to which you are tied.”   Sasuke was tired. “Where are my teammates?”   They were clustered by a cliff overlooking the ocean, robes flapping in the breeze. Leaving Madara behind, Sasuke made his way to them. He sat with his legs dangling off the edge of the earth. Without a word, Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu shifted their bodies to shield him from Madara’s probing gaze.   Surrounded by their protection, Sasuke’s face twisted up. His body shuddered with silent sobs. 

Nothing in this world looked the same now that he knew the truth—from the lines of his own hands, to the dying sun shimmering upon the water. This time, diving into the ocean would not end his nightmare.    Once he could speak, he said, “We are now Taka. Our mission is to destroy Konoha.”   Sasuke had witnessed Konoha’s destruction with his own eyes. It must have been him.   The expressions of his teammates faltered.   “What did he tell you?” Karin wondered, as Suigetsu stammered, “Are you sure?”   Sasuke’s fists clenched. “Don't question me,” he snapped.   When Madara extended an offer to join the Akatsuki, Sasuke accepted. . . . .

Up next: Sasuke has some more choices to make. He grows closer to seeing Sakura in real time.

Notes: Look up the story of Ninigi and Sakuya if you'd like to see some of my inspiration for this story, and specifically why everyone is thinking about the ocean (besides the fact that I wanted to write Sakura chilling by some tide pools).

Heads up that all interactions are consensual and age appropriate in this fic. I also envision Sasuke to be 18 in the next chapter. (Fun fact: I wrote an angsty smut scene that didn't make it into this story, but maybe that scene will appear elsewhere on its own or in another work, lol.)

Thank you for reading!! The response to this fic so far has blown me away. My favorite comments are all the people saying they want to live by the ocean now (same), or that they are reading this fic even though it's rated T and they love smut too much. You're all amazing!