#kage-parents

[thehangingfish]

I feel like Mob’s parents are not mentioned enough (ì anyone know their names, pls tell me, I’m a fan) 😋

[undyinglantern]

watching this to figure out exactly how far I got without having to read dozens and dozens of episode summaries and kinda surprised I barely got more than half way

[volkswagenital]

the fact that totk drops 10 days before my birthday is literally a sign . i need it so bad

[dira333]

Things to be sure of - Kazekage Family

part two of "If we have each other" - Gaara x Reader, Shinki & Reader. Shinki's 11, the twins are 4. - tagging @deathbytsubaki for the idea

Summary: Time changes, but some things stay the same

“Nii-chan?” The door opens and Hayato pushes his head through, bright red hair messy as usual. “What are you doing?”

“Packing,” Shinki explains, taking one shirt out of his bag and exchanging it for another. “I’m leaving for Konoha today.”

“Konoha?” Hayato waddles inside, a bunny plush tucked under his arm. “Are we visiting Uncle Shika?” 

Shinki halts. He often forgets how little his siblings engage in adult conversations. Not that his parents consider him an adult already, at the ripe age of eleven. 

“Yes, you are. But I’m leaving a week earlier. Father is going to take you with him next week.”

Hayato’s pale eyes widen. “You’re going without us?” He asks, voice quivering. Shinki sighs, crouching down in anticipation. Sure enough, Hayato stretches his arms out, wanting to be held.

“Just for a few days,” Shinki mutters into his brother’s hair as he picks him up. “You’re barely going to have time to notice it.”

“But who’s going to read me a story at night?”

Shinki chuckles softly. “Like always, Mother and Father will read to you. It’s like I’m going on a mission.”

Hayato doesn’t seem convinced, his hold tightening, his sand, pale yellow in color, mingling with Shinki’s iron sand as if to say “I will not be left behind”.

Hayato’s still dangling off him by the time you step into his room, freshly ironed clothes in your hands.

“Ah,” you pick your youngest off him, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Can you do me a favor, Sugar? Can you get Daddy to eat something? Tell him you need a snack?”

Hayato blinks up at you for a second before nodding, leaving with one last tug on Shinki’s trousers.

“How are you feeling?” You ask, stepping closer. Your hand moves through his hair, tugging a little at a stubborn strand. 

He knows you’re referring to more than just him leaving. He also knows that you can catch him lying from a mile away.

“This week, I overheard something,” he starts, putting his bag on the ground to sit on the bed instead. You take the spot next to him without asking, don’t react when his iron sand moves to shut the door. “I doubt they knew I was there. They were discussing who was the best option for the next Kazekage.”

You don’t say anything, just nod your head to let him know you’re listening.

His eyes land on his hands, curled into fists. 

“It’s not always the firstborn who becomes Kazekage,” Shinki repeats, “but the one with the most talent.”

Silence stretches out around him.

“Do you feel that you have less talent than Hayato or Honoka?”

He considers it for a moment. Does he feel that way?

“I mean,” he licks his lips for a second, glaring at the floor. “Hayato has no trouble controlling his sand at 4 years old. He’s no victim to violent mood swings or nightmares or-”

He trails off and your arm pulls him in. His head sinks onto your shoulder like it’s meant to be there. Your fingernails scratch at his scalp.

“He’s got two Kekkai Genkai’s.” Shinki continues, his voice now lower. “And even if he didn’t want to become Kazekage, what about Honoka? Surely there’s time for a female Kazekage. Both of them have the blood of the Kazekage running through their veins.”

“Shinki,” you pull away to look into his eyes. “It’s not blood alone that makes someone a parent or a child. It’s not talent alone that makes a great Kage.”

Something like a whimper spills from his lips. You pull him in again.

He’s reminded of nights, spent in this room, his body curled into a ball. Father used to sit with him, quietly, when the nightmares were at their worst.

You’d climb into bed with him instead, let him rest his body on yours, let skin melt into skin, warmth into warmth.

You have dried his tears often enough to know their shape by touch alone. 

“Do you question our love for you, Shinki, or do you question your qualifications for becoming Kazekage?”

“Both.”

“You are not even a Genin yet,” you remind him softly. “Yet you are already exceptionally talented. Uncle Kankuro and Aunt Temari are both perfectly capable of becoming Kazekage, but it’s just one position that cannot be shared. Whether you’ll be ready to take your Father’s place or not, I don’t know. But I know for certain that we both believe in you. We are so, so proud of you.”

You wait a moment, probably to let your words sink in.

“As for our love for you, Shinki… I do question it too, sometimes. Because I know that I love you. I know that your Father loves you. But I question if we show it to you in a way that you can understand.”

Your hand's card through his hair again. “You’re my special boy, Shinki. You chose me.”

“Better?” You ask, rubbing his back softly. He nods, pulling away. 

“Sorry,” he rubs a hand over his now-dried eyes. 

“Don’t apologize. It’s important to talk about these things. Can I do anything else to make today easier for you? I know it’s just one week and good preparation for next year when you’ll have to leave for the Chunin Exams, but if I can do something-”

“Can we have Lunch together?” Shinki asks, cutting off your rambling. “I leave before Dinner, so-”

“Oh, absolutely. I’ll go and convince Gaara right away. At least that way we can get him to eat something during the Day.”

He joins in your chuckles, leans into your touch when you pat his shoulder one last time.

“I love you, Shinki.” You kiss his cheek.

“Love you too.” The door closes after you with a click.

Gathering himself, he grabs his bag, going over the things he needs yet again.

The door opens with momentum only seconds later, almost crashing into the wall.

“Nii-chan!” Honoka declares like a war-cry. “You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” he states calmly as she takes a run-up and jumps onto his bed, upsetting the things he’d placed there. “Careful.”

“Why are you leaving? Where are you going to? Is it a mission? Can I come with? Oh, please, can I come with?! Uncle Kuro said I’m ready for my first puppet already, but one without poison. Can you believe that? I want one with poison.”

“Honoka,” he stills her, one hand on every shoulder. “Breathe. That’s too many questions.”

“Fine,” she huffs, crossing her arms. “Where are you going?”

“Konoha.”

Her eyes light up and she’s jumping to her feet, nevermind the fact that she’s now leaving footprints all over his bedsheets.

“Can I come?! Please, Nii-chan! I wanna watch you kick Bokuto’s ass!”

“I’m not going to kick his ass.” Yet, he adds in his mind. Maybe next year, at the Chunin Exam.

“Oh,” she pouts. “But I could still come. Aunty Temari loves me. I want to learn how to fight with her Fan!”

“You’ll have more than enough chances to do so when you come up to Konoha a week later.”

“That’s not fair,” Honoka declares. “Why do you get one more week with Aunty and I don’t?”

“Because I’m older.”

Honoka huffs. “That’s unfair. I should have gotten born first.”

He considers the missing logic of her statement, but decides against fighting it. There’s no use in fighting Honoka. She spends too much time with Uncle Kankuro.

“Tell me about Training instead,” he insists, packing his things. “What did Uncle Kankuro show you today?”

“Oh, sure. Well, first he had me recite all poisons and antidotes and I only forgot one. Then he had me practice using my Chakra Strings and it sucked a lot, but I’m getting better. Then…”

“Shinki.” Father stops him at the door, one warm hand on his shoulder. He looks tired, as usual, but Shinki’s long since learned to read his mind through his eyes.

I’m proud of you, they say today. I’ll miss you. Be safe.

“How are you?” Shinki asks, drawing out the moment they have to separate again, if only to come together at the table. “Are you sleeping enough, Father?”

“Have I ever?” He jokes softly. “When we return, I want resume our usual training. It won’t harm you to miss the occasional mission.”

Warmth surges through him at these words. He knows what they mean.

Let us spend more time together. I’ve missed your company.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Can you sit down?” Uncle Kankuro bellows from the kitchen. “Yeez, why do I bother having the food ready on time when you guys take so long in gathering. Honoka, don’t get in my way, this stuff is hot.”

“Sorry, Uncle Kuro.” Honoka rushes to her seat. She knows to head his warnings, after all, she once managed to trip him on the way to the table. 

They’ve just taken place, plates filled, when Hayato opens his mouth.

“Shinki’s leaving,” he says, with the tone of someone who’s suffering.

“I know,” Father leans in to smooth done his hair. “We’ll miss him.”

Tears fill pale eyes.

“Does he have to leave?” Hayato asks. He turns to Shinki. “Do you?”

“Don’t be a cry-” Honoka starts, but you interrupt her.

“It’s okay to miss him,” you say, leaning in to dry Hayato’s tears. “We’ll all miss Shinki. But some things are necessary. If we’d never left Suna, we’d never get to see Uncle Shikamaru. How do we deal with these feelings?”

Hayato considers it for a second. “We look for the good?”

Shinki waits for him to connect the dots. Soon enough, Hayato blinks up at his big brother.

“Can I sleep in your bed while you’re gone?”

“If you want.”

Honoka opens her mouth, no doubt to fight for her right to Shinki’s bed.

“Ah,” you cut her off. “Let’s eat first, and discuss things later, okay?

There are not many things to be sure of, even at eleven years old.

Times are changing. Suddenly, traveling from Suna to Konoha takes less than a day. Things that seemed impossible are just “a new Jutsu” now. 

But there are things, Shinki knows for sure. He counts them, sometimes, when he’s unable to sleep.

His parents love him. His parents love each other. He has a home. Shikadai will always favor a nap over anything else and Boruto will be annoying…

“What are you thinking about?” Aunt Temari asks, checking the clouds above her. They’re early, but he doesn’t mind waiting.

“What things to be sure of.”

“Oh,” she nods. “That sounds interesting.”

“What are you sure of?”

Her eyes move away from him. Aunt Temari is different from you. She doesn’t like emotional topics. But sometimes, when they’re both alone, she opens up a little bit. He likes that. She reminds him of his Father’s Cacti. They do not bloom as often or as long as you might want them to, but if you treat them right, their bloom is like a gift.

“I am sure…” She hesitates, before she smiles, a twinkle in her eye that tells him that she’s not ready to bloom today. “I’m sure that Honoka is going to be the first out of the carriage today.”

He considers it. “Hayato will want to be picked up.”

“Gaara will have messy hair.” Her smile has turned into a smirk. “Because your mother cannot take her hands away.”

Shinki smiles. All good things to be sure of.

The train halts, the doors open.

“Nii-chan!” Honoka bursts through the open doors, her red hair like a beacon. “Aunty Temari!”

Following her, much quieter, though with no less urgency, comes Hayato, pulling on Shinki’s legs. “Up!” He asks, making himself look younger than he really is.

Shinki picks him up with ease, lets him settle into the curve of his shoulder. 

Behind his siblings, his parents walk out, smiles on their faces.

You’re holding Father’s hand, both of you clothed like the high ranking officials that you are.

But Father’s hair, usually combed to the side, is standing up in every direction, much like that of Hayato. 

Shinki shares a knowing look with Aunt Temari. 

Yes. All good things to be sure of.

[venerawrites]

Hi! I feel so blessed to have found your blog, your fluff is top tier 🫶🏻 Can I please request fluff for Kakashi x fem!reader where they take their son (who looks exactly like Kakashi) to meet Team 7 and they're all enamoured by baby Kakashi and how happy he is with wife reader? I feel like it'd be so cute~ I hope that's an alright request. Thank you so much! 😘

author's note: this is such a cute request and it has been sitting in my drafts for a while, since I have been waiting to be in the right mood for it! It was such a pleasure to write it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Thank you for requesting! <3

If there was anything Konoha did best, it was celebrating.

Compared to many of the other villages, the Leaf had some form of a festival almost every month. The first Sakura trees have blossomed? Celebration. The war is won? Celebration. The Hokage has a birthday? Celebration. 6 months without any outside threats? Celebration.

For the outsiders these constant festivities were both bizzare and a bit foolish. They could only imagine how much money were spend from the yearly budget, yet somehow the village blossomed economically. The other Kages tried to ask Lady Tsunade more than once in the past how exactly do they manage to do that, but they could never get anything more than a smug smile from her.

You, unlike your husband, loved a good party. During events like this everything felt different - the people were happier, the streets were busier, even the air felt more fresh! You have been waiting for the Spring festival for a while now - not only because you loved trying all the delicious street food, but also because this year you were taking your baby with you.

Being only a few months old, your son was an exact copy of Kakashi. His hair, his eyes, his nose, his lips, even the way he pouted was absolutely the same as your partner. There were times when you sat next to his crib, looking at him for hours, trying to find at least one thing in his appearance that he may took after you. While there were none, you found solace in the fact that he showed at least some traits of your personality - the main one being obsessed with Kakashi, of course.

As you watched your husband gently rocking your child in his arms and whispering sweet words to him, you couldn't stop the smile from spreading wide on your lips. Kakashi hasn't noticed your presence by the door yet, too busy booping your baby's nose and listening to his happy laughter.

He was definitely the favourite parent.

"I can't believe I carried him for nine months and I am still the second best in his eyes", you finally said, making Kakashi whip his head in the direction of your voice. He smiled sheepishly at you, his one free arm extending for you to take.

"You know that is not true, my dove", he tried to reassure you, his attention moving back to the bundle of joy who kept twitching in his grip, "No one can replace mommy! Isn’t that right, little man?"

Almost if understanding his words, the baby turned toward you, reaching one of his small hands toward your face. You immediately melted at the gesture, before carefully grabbing it in yours and lying numerous small kisses on his little fingers.

“Do we really have to go?”, your husband groaned, looking at you pleadingly. If it was up to him the three of you would stay in your house, enjoying a cosy evening just playing and goofing around the living room. With his new role as a Hokage, your time together was limited anyway and he liked to grab any chance he got to spend a few hours with you at home.

“You were the one that promised Naruto you would finally let him see the baby”, you cocked one of your eyebrows and Kakashi immediately shut his mouth, knowing he cannot argue further.

Even since you told Team 7 that you are pregnant, Naruto has shown an enormous enthusiasm about welcoming the baby. He self proclaimed himself “the best uncle to ever exist” and has bought dozen of plush toys and clothes before you even found what the gender is. Both you and Kakashi found this amusing, yet cute, promising him that he would be one of the first people to see your son once he is born.

However, things didn't go as planned and since he was on a mission outside Konoha for the last three months and a half, Naruto was now one of the last people to meet your child. Sakura has asked you countless of times during this period to let her and Sasuke come to your house, but feeling it was unfair to Naruto, you refused every single time.

Now that the blonde was back, however, all three were eagerly waiting to meet the young Hatake.

Kakashi gently passed you the baby, while he went to the corridor to grab the baby carrier wrap he liked to use. One thing about your husband was that he absolutely refused to use a pram.

"It is safer for them to be close to me", he often said, not even hiding his overprotectiveness. Despite your baby already being the village's favourite, he only allowed people to watch him, but never touch him or hold him. It was almost like your son was some kind of a rare jewel, which was so delicate, it had to be admired from a far. And while you found Kakashi's behaviour funny, he was being very serious about it, going as far as to glare and hiss a warning at Guy and Genma every time they tried to pinch your baby's chubby cheeks.

Once the little one was safely wrapped against your partner, you both made your way toward the village centre, where you could already hear music sounding. The streets were flooded with both adults and children, who were all eager to try some foreign food and watch special performances. Every year there were entertainers coming from different lands, performing traditional songs and dances from their cultures. While you knew you couldn't stay for all of them, since you had to put your child to bed quite early, you were excited to see at least some.

You felt one of Kakashi's arms wrapping around your waist, pulling you closer to him, while he shielded your son's body with the other one. While there were none real threats or risk for any of you, the amount of people made the man anxious. You were just about to grab his hand and try to make him relax, when Naruto's loud voice sounded from somewhere in front of you.

"Kakashi-sensei! Y/N! Over here!", he waved his hands energetically in the air, while both Sasuke and Sakura looked away embarrassed from his behaviour. Your smiled at the blonde, waving back, while your husband couldn't do anything else than let out a sigh.

Once you were a few meters away, the Uzumaki ran toward you, his whole face lighting up once his eyes met those of your son. He pushed past you, without even paying any attention to you, before leaning his head close to the baby's.

" Kakashi! That's your twin, dattebayo!", he shouted and moved his finger between his sensei and your son. Kakashi flicked his hand away, glaring harshly at his student. You sniffled a laugh, before you felt Sakura's hand on your shoulder. Turning around, you offered a smile to both her and Sasuke.

"Don't touch, step back and only watch from a distance", Kakashi instructed, his eyes narrowing at Naruto. The blonde, however, didn't acknowledge his words in any way, instead turning toward you.

"Can I hold him?", he asked, his blue eyes sparkling.

"No!", Kakashi immediately answered for you and you rolled your eyes at your husband, before moving toward the males.

"Of course you can!", before your husband can protest, you gave him a stare and he reluctantly picked up your son from the carrier wrap. He held him in his hands for a few more seconds, eyeing Naruto with suspicion.

"Be very, very, VERY careful!", he said, while passing the wriggling baby to the boy's stretched out arms, "And make sure to support his head! No, not like that... Naruto, I swear to Kami-"

You cut off the white haired male's rambling by wrapping your arm around his waist and placing your head against his shoulder. The Uzumaki was doing just fine, but Kakashi being Kakashi started to panic just at sight of someone else holding your little treasure.

The baby seemed to like the blonde, as he giggled, stretching his small hand toward his face. Sakura, who has been patiently waiting for her sensei to relax a bit, immediately rushed to her teammate's side, uncapable of controlling herself longer. She wriggled her forefinger in front of the child's face, her heart melting once he caught it.

"Hello, little one! I am auntie Sakura!", the baby grinned at her with its toothless smile and she let out an "aww" sound, before turning to you and your husband, "Kakashi-sensei, he really is your exact copy! Y/N, are you sure that's your child?"

You laughed at her joke, before shrugging your shoulders and pressing yourself closer to Kakashi.

"Trust me, I ask myself that every single day!"

Finally tearing your gaze away from Naruto and Sakura, you looked over to Sasuke, who remained frozen in his place. His eyes were focused on the little baby and there was a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, but unlike his teammates he maintained a safe distance. Feeling someone was watching him, he turned his head in your direction, his cheeks going bright red once he realized you caught him staring.

"Sasuke", you smiled at him and everyone's attention went to the Uchiha, "Do you want to hold him too?"

The dark haired male gulped, his eyes widening. He nervously scratched his shoulder, his gaze going down to his feet.

"I...", he became silent, stealing one more glance at the baby. You found it almost amusing how he was a fearsome ninja that could take dozen of enemies at the same time, yet he felt scared to hold a tiny human.

Looking over at Naruto, you nodded your head, signalling him to pass your son to Sasuke. The blonde let out a huff, dragging his feet toward his teammate.

"Be careful! And hold the head!", he warned the Uchiha, who rolled his eyes in response.

"I know how to hold a baby, dobe! I am not stupid!"

"Language!", Kakashi warned next to you and you looked up at him, only for him to shake his head. It must've been hard dealing with these two for so many years, yet you knew your husband wouldn't had it any other way.

At this moment, surrounded by so much love and happiness, you felt like you finally had everything you wanted in life - an amazing husband, a healthy child and enormous support by anyone around you. If you could choose to re-live only one moment of your life, it would be this.

"You okay, my dove?", Kakashi whispered and you nodded your head, laying a small kiss on his covered chin.

"Never been better."

Unbeknown to you, all of Team 7 smiled at both of you, admiring how happy their sensei was. After decades of suffering and loss, Kakashi took the leap of faith and opened his heart to you. While he was unsure in the beginning if he was ready to be with someone and have a family, looking back he was glad he did.

Pulling down his mask, he laid a soft kiss on your forehead, before nuzzling his nose against it.

"I love you."

"I love you more."

cc artwork: Pietro Smurra

[ludwigplayingthetrombone]

Curious, do you have any specific thought as to who Metal Lee’s Mama is? Most popular theory being that it’s TenTen. But I was wondering what you think. I can imagine TenTen holding a baby Metal with Rock Lee by her side. lol :D

I personally think metal resembles Gaara in the eyes and parts of his personality, so i hc gaara is metals other biological parent. plus Lee AND gai pulling kages is so fucking funny to me. they are not beating the father son allegations

Tenten and neji are def co-parents tho metal is /the/ team gai baby

[maoam]

What do you think of this post

https://www.tumblr.com/saski-uchis/740996293540954112/an-analysis-on-sns-and-their-fans-treatment-of?source=share

I stopped reading when op brought up "the truth about itachi?" panel as proof that Sakura can't be judged for not knowing. But okay, I will explain this in more details AGAIN.

1. The difference in how Kishi portrayed Naruto/Sakura reasoning with Sasuke

Naruto's reasoning why Sasuke shouldn't go to Orochimaru: "He will kill you." Naruto is concerned for Sasuke's well-being.

Sakura's reasoning why Sasuke shouldn't go to Orochimaru: "Revenge won't make you... ME happy." And Sasuke says "I knew it (yappari)" because he realizes Sakura is making this about herself. That's why that line is isolated with Sasuke in the background.

She specifically claims she understood what Sasuke meant yet she compares her pain to Sasuke's entire clan being massacred and taken from him, and takes her own parents for granted.

Then when it doesn't work, she starts to confess her feelings (why the hell she always looks angry when she confesses?).

And then she completely flips on her arguments. So much for "revenge won't make you happy" like she cares about Sasuke's happiness. Unlike with Naruto, whose arguments were very simple, Kishi chose to portray Sakura in this insincere and hypocritical manner. This is a writing choice.

He actually says in Japanese "I knew it (yappari), you really are annoying." Notice how Sasuke always uses "I knew it" with Sakura, it's because his first impression of her being ignorant, selfish and childish was correct. So despite him giving her chances his first impression continues to be right.

2. Naruto's reasoning stays the same

Kishi acknowledged that Naruto didn't quite get Sasuke yet at this point, but his intentions were good nonetheless. He just didn't want Sasuke to die/throw his life away.

3. Kage arc and how Kishi again portrayed Naruto and Sakura differently:

Yes, Naruto reacts like this at first.

Kishi showed that Naruto did care and did understand Sasuke's love for his clan. He also showed Naruto was completely fine with letting the massacre be exposed. He did not care about how it would make Konoha look, even when he didn't know it to be true yet. Kishi wrote this for a reason. Kakashi then stops Naruto.

Sakura, who supposedly "loves" Sasuke, heard how much Sasuke loves his clan, was aware that Itachi had been killed, yet she didn't bother to ASK Sasuke, something Naruto was planning to do, why he is now acting the way he is since Itachi had been killed. She just didn't want to feel guilty about the promise between her and Naruto (because her ego really made her believe Naruto was only chasing Sasuke for her). So she decided to kill Sasuke.

Sakura then hears all this (after her failed attempt to kill Sasuke) which means that there is more to Itachi's case than meets the eye, and that Sasuke thinks Konoha is responsible for what happened to his clan. Yet she still doesn't ask anyone what all that was about because she does not care. Her main motivation was always to get into Sasuke's pants, she never cared about Sasuke's feelings or him as a person, that's how Kishi wrote her. The fact op used this last panel to defend Sakura is baffling to me. She was specifically given an opportunity here, and she just shrugged it off.

4. Portraying Naruto and Sakura differently yet again:

Sakura is given the chance to understand Sasuke wants CHANGE and yet does she care?

Nope, she starts yapping about her feelings and how things can go back to the way they were if Sasuke just stays with her, completely discarding Sasuke's desire for change. Which mirrors the confession she made in part 1. Kishi was showing how she has not changed in ways that matter. She is still selfish, and she still doesn't listen/nor care about Sasuke's feelings. This is why Sasuke calls her annoying yet again.

But Naruto, regardless of the shitty ending, does want change. He was shown over and over again to want to change things for the better. You can't possibly use Boruto to deny this part of his character.

Guess who again discarded what Sasuke wanted and asked to come with him on his journey he wanted to take alone, just for romantic purposes? Guess who later CHASED Sasuke just to be with him, once again discarding his wants?

"Naruto forced Sasuke to come back to Konoha" no he didn't. At no point did Naruto say Sasuke needs to live in Konoha. He let Sasuke leave at the end, and didn't force himself with him because Sasuke wanted to go alone.

People who act like Sakura would be revolutionary when Kishi over and over again showed that not only does Sakura not grow as a person, she also does not care about Sasuke's feelings or change.

Same way, Kishi had Shizune tell Sai that Naruto is not chasing Sasuke only for Sakura's sake. Yet Sakura still thought it was just for her, and thought her confession would make Naruto stop chasing Sasuke, and was shocked when Naruto said the promise doesn't even matter. Sakura constantly discards the information she receives because she just does not care if it's not about her relevance or her being together with Sasuke.

"People celebrate Naruto for doing the same things they hate Sakura for" no we don't, we just read the manga and understand what Kishi was trying to tell, hope this helps.

[bakugoushotwife]

inextricable p3 Sasuke xFem!Uchiha!Reader)

a/n: thank you guys for your patience in waiting on this last part! I will be releasing the angst ending later today and will link it to this post for convenience later!! i also have to thank you for voting in how this part should turn out and overall even reading these!! this has by far been my favorite series and makes me want to do more in the future! also also, I was thinking about making this expandable if I get more requests, so you can request specific moments for the Uchiha Princess like Kakashi finding out she's pregnant or more on Sasuke and Y/N's stay in the Sand!

cw: violence, death, fighting, mentions of sex nothing crazy, pregnancy, etc. not proofread so shoot me

wc: 17, 212

part one // part two

He was thinking about you. He wondered what you would think if you could see him like this, teeming with rage and anguish. Ever since he was told about the truth, since he shared that truth with you, he hasn’t been able to stop the rage brewing inside him. He watched his brother die, he helped kill him. He endured three days worth of suffering in his brother’s genjutsu, watching helplessly as his parents died over and over. His brain was so damaged when they found him, it took a Tsunade miracle to piece him back together. He lost his best friend, separated in order for him to foster this hatred in order to carry out this revenge. He has done what his brother wanted: he has activated his mangekyo and stalked the man with the most to do with assigning Itachi this mission. Yet still, he yearns for your company. He wants you to see the man that wrecked your life too. He wants to help get your revenge too. But you’ve always been so much calmer, he guesses that was Kakashi’s influence. Would you join him in this crusade? No. You’ve tried to talk him off the ledge several times, you would be appalled with his behavior. That realization hurts a little bit, hurts in a different way than everything else. Itachi engineered him to be a being of hate, knowing that someone would stop him from going too far. Does he think Kakashi or Naruto have the capability? Did Itachi prepare for that person to be you?

He knows that the newly-recognized Hokage Danzo will be in the Land of Iron, that all five kage would be in fact. He didn’t initially plan on a visit to the Leaf, but the opportunity to see you again weighed heavily on him. He just wanted a chance to talk to you in person. To try and convince you one last time to join his revenge tour. He could teach you more and keep you safer than Kakashi can. You are the last of the Uchiha, you are inextricably bound to him. He needs you, this is meant to be a journey for two. You would come to him this time, he’s sure. You may disagree with his methods, but he remembers you swearing your allegiance to him, telling him with big teary eyes how much you missed him. Surely that would outweigh any anger you have. That’s why he sent Madara ahead to scope you out in the Leaf, to make sure you were safe and well cared for. So imagine the surprise, the pride, the wide amalgamation of anxiety and something close to fear that Sasuke experiences whenever Madara comes back to report the antithesis of what he had expected. 

“The Sharingan Princess is not in the Leaf.” 

Sasuke’s head whipped toward the masked man. “What? Not in the Leaf? Where is she?” He asks in rapid succession, getting to his feet. 

Madara held his hands up in uncertainty. “Who’s to say? She seems to be cloaking her chakra very cleverly. She’s been listed as a deserter in the Bingo Books.” 

Sasuke narrows his eyes in confusion, his mind reeling. He couldn’t figure out what would make you leave so suddenly, he hadn’t had the chance to speak with you in months, too focused on his plans. Had you become so worried you came to look for him? “Were you able to find out why she left?” He asks in more of a statement, expecting the man to provide more information. 

You could hear the smile in the masked man’s deep voice. “Pain attacked the Leaf. It seems many died in the initial attack, including your lady's father. Naruto Uzumaki was able to get Nagato to reno-rebirth them all, but it seems our Green Goddess of the Leaf left before that happened. They haven’t seen her since. Naruto Uzumaki keeps making efforts to find her, no luck. It’s believed that Y/N Uchiha has obtained the Mangekyo Sharingan with an ability similar to Shisui’s dangerous Kotoamatsukami.”

Sasuke’s rendered speechless. You’ve been on the run for several months, with Mangekyo powers and with a renewed sense of hatred? He had to find you. His mission to the Iron seemed incomplete now, and he couldn’t risk the Leaf finding you first. He glanced at the other members of his team and sighed. 

“We have to find her first.”  

Madara chuckled. “No need. It seems the Last Uchiha Princess was searching for you, and found you indeed.” He says, stepping aside to reveal your form. Time slowed to a stop, he swears. Your hair had returned to its full black, all the traces of dye long gone. The moon’s beams gave you an angelic glow. Your shinobi headband was gone .Two swords crisscrossed in sheaths on your back. Your eyes shined the color of blood, the symbol of your Mangekyo made his lips spread into a grin. You were beautiful, just as he knew you would be from his crows over their many visits. Revenge and anger flowed through you freely, and he thought that looked good on you. 

A girl with bright red hair and eyes stepped forward with her arms crossed. She looked at you with malice. Your eyes snapped to her. “Whatever you’re thinking about saying to me, don’t.” 

Sasuke nearly chuckles. Your presence was like medicine, and he was relieved to know your ferocity remained intact. 

Karin frowned at your words, and the shark-featured boy next to her giggled lightly. “Oh don’t mind her, Y/N,” He says, as if you’re old friends, “She’s probably just wondering how you found us.”

“I could detect Sasuke’s chakra even if he repressed it to zero.” You reply flatly. “Plus, I ran into this guy and followed him back up here.” You add, still eyeing the girl analyzing you. Her eyes flickered back to Sasuke, who was watching you carefully. You smirk at her, tracking her eyes. “Hey, girl.” You chuckle, the smile on your face vicious, eyes crazy. “Don’t try it.” You say as sweetly as you can manage, clapping her on the shoulder and moving towards your old friend. 

She frowns, the smile on Sasuke’s face as you come closer was unmistakable mostly because he had never smiled so widely before. Suigetsu elbows her, distracting her from watching your every move. 

Your smile wasn’t missable either, and you did have to repress the urge to wrap your arms around him and cry out in relief. However, given the reputation you’ve both acquired, it would be in bad taste. It’s been years, four to be exact, since you last laid eyes on him. He’s perfect, tall and well-built. Your cheeks grow warmer as you realize just how beautiful he has grown. It’s also like no time has passed, his chakra presence putting your nervous heart at ease. He holds his hand out with a small half-smile. You never look away from his eyes as you gently place your palm in his. You turn your eyes off, returning his tiny grin. The moment felt intimate despite all the other people gathered in the hideout. The truth was the two of you had been imagining this moment for years, wondering when you’d find yourselves together again. He looked at you gently, with all the love left in his mangled dark heart. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too.” You say plainly, you’re both walking a fine line of collapsing into all your emotions and showing none at all. You felt vulnerable, and in front of Sasuke that was alright, but in front of all these new and dangerous Akatsuki members, you wanted to look strong. Because you are, the months that passed proved fruitful for your talents. 

“I’m glad you’re okay.” He adds after, his thumb stroking the back of your hand mindlessly. 

“It’s good to see you safe.” You say, essentially the same message. We’re alive and back together. 

He makes a nervous chuckle of some sort. He thought it was interesting that you considered him safe, he was a rogue nin and now you were too. “I’m..sorry. About Kakashi.”

Your grip on his hand loosened momentarily. The memory of his death flashes before your eyes and you're forcing yourself to smile gratefully. “I appreciate it…it truly was the last straw.” 

“Do you think he would support you?” Sasuke asks, more out of own curiosity since he knows that Kakashi is alive. He feared you finding this information out, would you flock back to him? 

You nod. “Kakashi specifically asked me to leave the village just before he was killed. I have to believe that he knew I would come to you.” You answer truthfully, able to talk yourself into believing that your adoptive father’s support and love for you could never waver. 

He hums at your response. Perhaps you were right, it was a calculated risk that the Sensei took on his deathbed. It was desperate, but it made sense. Kakashi knows you well, he knew the craving for revenge that brewed in your heart and he wanted you to satiate it safely. Maybe he knew that the other Uchiha would never hurt you, maybe he just hoped that was the case. Either way, Kakashi would be stupid to think you wouldn’t search for the only other person that mattered to you. 

“How did you find my chakra?” 

You smirk again, proud of yourself. “I’ve told you, dear Sasuke, I’m very strong.” 

He matches your expression, knowing that with his Mangekyo where it was as of now, you were probably just as prodigious as him. “I know you’re powerful, Y/N. I want to know the specifics.”

“I have insane chakra control and tracking abilities from my senseis.” You say, moving your bangs to show him the seal on your forehead. “I found an old friend of yours…name’s Kabuto.” You share with a shrug, watching Sasuke raise his eyebrow in interest. “He told me about Danzo...the man that ruined our lives. Apparently there’s a Kage Summit in the Iron, I knew you’d be around here somewhere. I could sense all the chakra pooling and then I saw Madara standing down there, almost like he knew I was coming.” 

“Interesting indeed, I wonder why Kabuto felt inclined to help you.” He says, truly just wondering out loud. 

“Same reason anyone does, power. He’ll be an issue later.” 

Sasuke is markedly impressed. You had a variety of different talents and abilities, and though you may never be as strong as he was, he doubts many could ever be as strong as you are. And for a time, you were inarguably stronger. He was glad he never sparred with you. Your prowess in most fields made you borderline invincible. Perhaps Kakashi was no slouch after all. 

“You’ve unlocked your Mangekyo.” He states, but his brow is raised like he wants you to add further comment. 

You nod, hand still in his warm one, eyes still locked. “Kakashi’s death.” 

He nods, the intensity of his gaze makes you feel like a precious jewel under his microscope. “I see. Your abilities?”

“Similar to Shisui’s. I don’t have full blown mind control, but I can move the body and speak with the mouth. They usually don’t remember anything that happens.” You reply with a broad grin, now this was something you definitely were proud of. "My other eye lets me cast my jutsu effects on others. So if I put someone in a genjutsu, they see my delayed sense on me and whoever I touch."

Once again he has to fight a chuckle. It felt weird, the odd rhythm of his heart as he looked at you with such fondness unfamiliar to everyone else. The other Akatsuki decided to give you some time to catch up, much to Karin’s dismay. They went to make preparations for their short journey into the Iron. This left the two of you standing alone in a cliffside cave, staring at each other in hopes it said everything you wanted to say. 

“Have you performed a susano’o yet?” He wonders where the limits of your expertise were without Kakashi there to guide you. 

You shake your head. “I haven’t needed to, you know how it goes.”

He nods. “That’s good, but you’ll need it soon.” He says with a hint of his familiar arrogance. 

It makes you smile this time though, and you nod in agreement. “Alright, noted.” You hum, your smile so warm and genuine that it’s hard for him to imagine you as you were when you entered the cave. He takes time to admire your features, the arch of your brow and the pink dusting your cheeks. He notices the stress lines forming under your eyes, which makes him frown. But mostly he notices the purple headband on top of your dark hair and the purple earrings you wear, complete with purple bracelets. It was interesting, your clothes all black, he felt the need to comment his thoughts. 

“I thought I was purple and you were green?” He asks, the ode to childhood seemingly out of place given your current conversation of power. 

You touch the headband with your free hand, almost like you knew that’s why he said anything at all. “Oh. I guess I was. I just like the familiarity of purple.” 

The sentiment in your voice hits him like a ton of bricks. He had noticed the headband before, thinking it was some sort of reminder of him. But it ran much deeper than that, the headband was your prized possession. It gave you lines to both Sasuke and Kakashi, made you feel close to them. You needed no reminder of him, you needed a connection. He thinks of the way his chest tightened every time he saw something in the same deep green of your tricycle, the same shade of your chakra, the bright lime. It put your face in his mind each time it happened. His hand squeezes yours, suddenly refocused on the lack of a normal childhood he had, you had, what you two could have had together. 

“We’ll kill him. For Itachi, for Shisui.” 

You nod. “For our parents, for the entire clan.” 

Naruto slams his fist on the wall, clearly frustrated and guilty. He can’t find you. He can’t find Sasuke, though, even he is smart enough to assume you two are together. Losing Sasuke crushed him. He loved him like his own brother, even though he never really knew how that felt. He saw Sasuke’s strength and wanted to surpass it, make a name for himself and become Hokage. But how could he do that if he can’t protect the people he loves? Losing you was a devastating blow. You were family, his love for you hard to quantify. You were the sunshine of Konoha, how could you leave? 

Kakashi insists it’s his fault, though it’s easy to see his grief wearing on him. He told you to leave the village. At that point, he was scared for your life. He just wanted you to get away, preferably finding Naruto. He should have been smarter than that, but in that moment of weakness he’s able to admit he thought about the possibility of you going to Sasuke. He wasn’t angry, nor would he say he’s necessarily disappointed. It’s hard to put a name on this feeling, other than guilt. He’s sad, and he’s worried about what this means for the future, but he knows if you were here right now he would sigh with relief and hug you close. 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Naruto.” Kakashi breathes, trying to hold tightly to the students he had left. He can see how this weighs heavily on the young man, his face tightened up as he tried not to scream and cry. 

“My friends! What have I learned if I can’t even keep my friends in the village?!” 

“It has nothing to do with you, Naruto..” Kakashi says in comfort, his own heart panging at the sentiment. What kind of Dad am I if I can’t keep her in the village? “They…have their own troubles to deal with. In time, we will get them back. I don’t think he’ll hurt her.” Kakashi adds, hoping to ease some of Naruto’s worries.

The blond widens his eyes, looking at the last teammate. “He’s tried to kill Sakura twice!” 

“He won’t.” Kakashi repeats, more sternly this time, trying to convey a message behind the simple statement. He was trying to say, ‘Yeah, well, Sakura isn’t his childhood friend and last lady Uchiha either. She doesn’t matter to him the same way Y/N does.’ 

Naruto’s lips tightened in a thin line, seemingly dissatisfied with Kakashi’s urgency. “Aren’t you worried sick? She’s an enemy of the village now!”

This was true, as a deserter there were no exceptions. Classified as a SS threat, there was nothing he could do to lower your profile now. All you had were enemies, in a way, Kakashi was hoping you did make it to Sasuke. He tried to sway Tsunade, explaining that he told you to leave, but it was no use. The Lady Hokage was visibly upset by this as well, a mentor to you in your teenage years. He knew it would take work, but he knew he could get you admitted back into the village after some time. Even if you had to serve a small sentence, it would be better than living as a rogue nin for all your days. He only wished there was a way to find you, but you knew how to hide. He had taught you. And you didn’t even know he was alive, if only he could talk to you. 

“Of course I’m worried about her future, but I’m not worried about her safety at the moment. It would be wiser to come up with some sort of plan.” 

“Go on, take it.” Your best friend says, holding out a red crane fashioned from folded paper. He had made you all kinds of things, a paper purple  rose, a gray elephant, an orange cat. He never looked you in the eye when he handed you the little trinket, almost like he was embarrassed. 

You smile softly, gently taking the bird from him and inspecting it. He really was quite good at origami, and you wondered when he learned how to do this. “Thank you Sasuke.”

“Mm.” He grunts in acknowledgement, fingers busy working on yet another paper craft. 

“I wish I knew how to make you something, I feel so useless over here.” You chuckle, setting the crane down next to his other creations. 

He sighed, like it was a dumb thing to say. “You are giving me something.”

You hum in amusement, thinking about what he could mean. You two rarely spoke in lengthy flows, much of your communication was non-verbal or through a system of subtle noises. “I’m stumped.”

He looks into your eyes this time, and slides his latest design across the mountain-side hideout floor.You arch your brow and notice the light shade of pink dusting his cheeks and nose bridge. You look down at his symbol of affection, a green paper heart under your fingers. 

“You came to me, that’s quite the gift.” 

It’s your turn to heat up. You knew you couldn’t tease him like your first instinct is to, since he’s being so vulnerable, but it also made you feel a tad exposed. “You have a point there.” You hum, deciding to combine both approaches. “Does this mean this qualifies as the date you said you would take me on when you saw me again?”

It’s no wonder that neither of you are well versed in the language of feelings and human emotion. All you knew was that Sasuke meant more to you than anyone in the world. 

A couple beats of silence pass, and he hums in approval. “Yes.”

The three of you stand on the bridge, carefully watching as Danzo Shimura unravels the heavy bandaging around his arm. When he drops the gauze, Karin gasps. His right arm was riddled with the sharingan of your dead clan. Your eyes narrow in anger, the pit in your stomach impossible to ignore. These are the deep seeds of hatred, and you are letting them grow. Sasuke’s eyes widen and then squint in disgust, the stare in his eyes as dark as they come. 

His regular sharingan analyzed the mutative arm his enemy possessed, and with a menacing tone he asked, “How did you get those eyes in your right arm?”

Danzo looked unbothered, the eye visible to his challengers closed, the other side bandaged up in similar fashion to his arm. It made you feel as if he were hiding more of your clan’s eyes under there. You searched to find Shisui’s, determined to take it back, but you couldn’t see it easily. That was to be expected, your brother’s Kotoamatsukami was easily one of the most powerful Mangekyo abilities to be had, and your training on your own had discovered it was much the same. You could now influence thoughts as well as control the body, you could choose when to release it, and it was only penetrable by other genjutsu. Still, it would be nice to have your brother’s eyes back in your family and usable for your Eternal Mangekyo. It was clear either way that the man before the Last of the Uchiha severely underestimated the power of each of you individually. 

“Through various means, it would take too long to describe.” He answers nonchalantly. 

“Any explanation would have upset me more.” Sasuke says with a stern frown. He closes his eyes. “Forget it. I’ve decided to kill you. Y/N, stay back unless I need you.” He says, to which you nod affirmatively. You would step in if his chakra was running out, as your chakra control and storage made you tireless. He nods back, satisfied with your answer. “Before that, let me ask one thing: Is it true that Itachi Uchiha eliminated our clan by order of the Elders?”

Danzo doesn’t respond. He simply starts weaving hand signs and staring blankly at him, and then he runs. He sprints full speed straight at Sasuke, reeling his arm back for a chakra packed punch. It’s stopped by a purple wall of Sasuke’s chakra. 

“Part of a susano’o..” You wonder softly aloud. 

Danzo stumbles back in surprise. The fist of Sasuke’s summons sweeps Danzo into the air and threatens to crush him. 

“So this is the Susano’o.” The old man groans, obviously struggling for breath in this chakra hold. The fist starts to squeeze inward. You’re standing off to the side, not quite able to read Sasuke’s expression, but his raised voice tells you everything you need to know. 

“I’m going to ask one more time. Is it true that Itachi Uchiha eliminated my clan by order of the Elders?” His voice thunders, larger than you’ve ever heard before. 

Danzo looks at you, clearly unfocused on Sasuke’s line of questioning. 

“I’m asking if it’s true!” Sasuke roars again, demanding his attention. The Susano’o’s fist tightens once more, and you’re sure Danzo’s bones will start to break soon. You smile at this, knowing it is kinder than what he deserves. Danzo grunts out, the pain clear. “Answer me!” 

“I–I didn’t think he was that kind of man.” The Leaf’s Hokage says with a trace of disgust. Sasuke gasps softly at his words. “Damn Itachi. I see he revealed everything to you before he died. As I thought it seems that you are truly special, that younger sister of Shisui as well.”

Sasuke seems stunned, lost in thought momentarily. You’re thinking of the night of the massacre, what Itachi said to him then. He made hate his driving emotion in hopes of this, this revenge that’s happening right before your very eyes. He built Sasuke himself, pushing him as far as he could go to increase his power. Did he do this for you as well? Did he know that you would become such a powerhouse yourself, was he expecting you to be part of this retribution? 

Surely. Itachi was nothing if not meticulous and intelligent. He could basically see the potential future, and he figured out exactly how to play the cards to his game. He knew. He knew there was nothing he could do to keep the two of you apart forever. He just needed it to happen long enough for Sasuke to breed this strong emotion in his chest. He needed you to learn under talented teachers until the day you came back to serve in avenging the Uchiha. 

Itachi and Shisui were betrayed by the shinobi world, abused and thrown away like nothing. You find yourself clutching your fists and begging for a chance at one of the men that made it all happen. 

“Answer me!” Sasuke’s voice cuts through your hazy train of thought. 

“I…I didn’t think Itachi was the kind of man who would reveal secrets.” Danzo says, genuinely frustrated that Itachi dared to share their corrupt ways. 

“Does that mean it’s true?” Sasuke asks calmly. 

You watch as his susano’o grows in power. The formerly bony skeleton mass of purple chakra became strapped in muscle and flesh, eyes glowing like two stars in its skull. You marvel at the creation, grinning at what you would be able to accomplish in time. Who knows, maybe you would get the chance to try it out against this pile of trash. Sasuke stands proudly before his susano’o, knowing he’s effectively bulletproof. Karin gasps and covers her face in fear, making you roll your eyes. And she hoped to be with Sasuke? Sakura was more bold. 

“Self-sacrifice…That’s what epitomizes a shinobi. Never seeing the light of day. Toiling in the shadows. It is as it was in the past. That is what a true shinobi is.It describes not only Itachi. Countless other ninja have died the same way. Niceties alone will not make the world go round. Peace was attained all because of people like him.” He says, almost generous in the way he speaks. That demeanor quickly turned sour. “People like you who misunderstood Itachi’s intentions couldn’t possibly understand. Still, for Itachi to reveal such a secret to you makes him a traitor to the Leaf.” 

Upon hearing those words, Sasuke’s Susano’o fully closes his fist around the man, and your eyes widen slightly as the blood oozes out from its palm. 

“Don’t say anymore about Itachi!” Sasuke said, staring at the dangling corpse of Danzo. 

“You’re right…Then let us proceed to a battle of the eyes.” Danzo’s voice rang out from behind him, kunai drawn. Sasuke whips his head around, Mangekyo fully displayed, Susano’o surrounding him. Danzo charges again, attempting to plunge the blade into the chakra shield. 

You were astounded that the fool was even alive, knowing it had to be some kind of ability related to the sharingan he stole. But even you had to laugh aloud at his pathetic attempt at piercing a Susano’o. Karin looked at you wearily, and you just shrugged. It was a terrible move. 

“As expected…Susano’o.” Danzo says as if the gigantic chakra skeleton man did not tell him that it was a Susano’o. You cover your mouth so as to not laugh again. “Just the thing to protect yourself.” 

At just the moment he finished speaking, Sasuke’s susano’o dropped a pile of rocks likely from the landscaping above. It landed right on top of Danzo, yet you felt as if he would somehow escape this death too. You watched as the debris cleared, focused on Sasuke and his chakra levels. He was using quite a bit with his Mangekyou and Susano’o. You needed to figure out what kind of jutsu Danzo was using and quickly, to end this for good. 

“The power in its attack is as expected.” Danzo says, you and Karin quickly look to the side of you. There he stood, up on a carved stone tower a few hundred feet away. Sasuke stared at him, you could tell he was working to sort it out just as you were, but the emotion he felt was getting harder and harder to ignore. 

You knew this couldn’t be a genjutsu. You were extremely resistant and everyone’s chakra remained undisturbed. It had to be some unique ability connected to one or all of the sharingan in his right arm. Sasuke’s Susano’o had only formed from the spine up, yet it had the balance to rear back a punch to the tower, sending Danzo flying on a lifeboat of a stone slab under his feet. He landed on the ground below, just in time for another punch from the chakra being. Fog from the debris clouded your vision and flew towards you both, Karin screaming out in fear. Against better judgment, you wrap your fingers around her wrist and reluctantly pull her out of the way with you. 

You turn your regular Sharingan on, searching for Sasuke within his Susano’o. You see him fly towards the head of his summons, and you hear the faint deep rumble of, “Amaterasu.” 

You sigh, knowing he would be even more depleted by this, and Danzo would know that too. The fog clears enough for you to see the Elder being consumed by the signature black flames of Sasuke’s Mangekyo ability. Danzo plummets to the ground in agony as Sasuke lands back on his feet with his chakra shield summon dissipating around him. 

You can see how tired he is, and you begin to worry. He’s been using his Mangekyo all this time, it had to be bleeding or close to it. His body heaved with heavy breath, yet you knew this still was not over. Effectively the third time he had killed the Hokage, but it was not over. You and Karin scanned for his chakra presence, shouting in unison, “Sasuke, behind you!” 

“Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!” Danzo shouts as he weaves his hand signs to activate the jutsu. It sends several compressed air bullets flying Sasuke’s way, and you wince as once slices open the top layer of skin on his arm. It shatters the rocks as he flies through the air to avoid them, sending himself flying over the bridge. 

“Sasuke!” Karin cries out, moving towards him. Your hold on her wrist keeps her in place, she looks at you with confusion. 

“He’s not an idiot, he has a plan.” You promise, eyes focused on the scene. 

Before you know it, Sasuke is rising before you, standing on the back of a giant hawk. Karin sighs in relief, but you just smile smugly. You never doubted him for a minute. 

Danzo chuckles. “Amaterasu. It’s been a while since I last saw that. You are Itachi’s younger brother after all.” 

It’s now that you can see his face that you confirm your earlier suspicions. His left eye is already bleeding. He hovers in the air on the bird, crouched on its head. Your eyes flicker between him and the enemy, watching as an eye closes on the back of his arm. That had to be significant. 

“You’ve taken over Itachi’s jutsu.” Danzo observes, just serving as kindling for Sasuke’s fire. 

“I told you never to speak of Itachi again!” He reminds not-so-politely. 

“Brothers with the same ability…Yet, what your eyes perceive is so different. I wonder if the sister of Shisui is the same. The truth about them doesn’t matter to you. You direct your hatred at whomever you can lay your hands on. You two make the sacrifice of the Uchiha Clan meaningless.” He spits, holding that disgusting right arm over his face. 

Sasuke snarls. “You have no right to talk about the Uchiha!” His bird soars toward the man standing on the bridge, his hand gripping his sword. Danzo begins to weave more hand signs.

“Wind Style: Vacuum Blast!” This attempt sends some of the debris towards the hawk, which the rogue nin easily evades by jumping off and pulling his sword in the air. Sasuke scans for him in the smoke, catching the spinning shuriken hurled his way. He easily evades this as well, bending backwards out of line of danger and flipping himself to a safer position. He positions his sword in front of his face and spots Danzo atop a large rock pillar. He sends two more rounds of spinning shuriken Sasuke’s way. He catches one on the tip of his sword and sends the other one flying in the air. You notice the screech of his hawk, as if he was instructed to do something here. Sasuke slings his sword, sending the rotating weapon back to the sender. Danzo knocks it upwards, watching as it takes a chunk of rock off hurtling toward the spot where he stood. He had no choice but to move towards Sasuke. The Uchiha jumped toward him, hopeful of landing a blow with his sword, but Danzo caught him by his neck. 

Your eyes widen in anxiousness, Karin once again pathetically screams his name. The hawk screeches again, and you see the missing shuriken from earlier come back into play, slicing Danzo’s arm and allowing Sasuke to strike yet another fatal blow. You inched forward, hoping this was the final time. How many times could Danzo use whatever it was he was using? Surely he would be done soon. Karin elbows you as another eye on his right arm closes. 

“It’s like they represent his lives, almost.” You say, to which she nods. 

“No way!” She says, prompting you to follow her eyesight up to where Danzo once again stood above you all on one of the only carved pillars remaining. 

“It’s useless.” Danzo says to Sasuke once more. The wind blows across Sasuke’s face, moving his hair to let you see the serious glimmer to his eyes. He would not give up, you would have to join him yourself when he got too tired. His eyes widened again, and out from his body came a murder of crows. Danzo seemed genuinely thrown off by this, searching wildly around him, coming face to face with the figure of Itachi. 

“Th-this is…Itachi?” The man asked, staring at the sharingan of the boy gone too soon.

Itachi stares blankly at him, more crows circle overhead. 

From the ground, you watch Sasuke’s chakra dwindle even more as he says,”Die…Amaterasu.” 

Danzo is consumed in flame yet again, but now you begin to expect his scheming survival. “I commend you for placing me under genjutsu.” 

Sasuke capitalized, taking the time that he had for Danzo to be distracted to appear behind him, sword nearly pressed into his back. 

“However…” He knew Sasuke was there. He realizes this truth too, grimacing. The blade of the sword dropped a little. 

“Sasuke! Now’s your chance! Why did you stop?” Karin yells, and you want to punch her for her stupidity. 

“He can’t move.” You say, the answer is obvious to you. And sure enough, a curse mark burns its way up Sasuke’s body. 

“I was aware of your genjutsu long ago. It is a far cry from Itachi’s powerful Tsukuyomi in which he freely manipulated time.” Danzo says dismissively, he’s growing arrogant. 

It’s clear that Danzo placed this mark when he touched Sasuke earlier, and you didn’t come this far to watch him lose. This is what you were here for, it was time for you to take over. You turn your eyes to Mangekyo, ready to throw your version of Kotoamatsukami down. You feel a hand on your shoulder before you can focus, causing you to turn toward the figure.

Seemingly, Karin had the same hopes to help as you did, mindlessly running up the pillar and subsequently being plainly kicked off. She lands in a pile of rocks with a loud whine, and you fight a smirk. 

You shrug the hand off your shoulder, faced with Madara Uchiha. You sigh at him. 

“He needs to do this on his own, it’s Itachi’s will.” 

“Sometimes I think you’re just making shit up for your own benefit. Itachi doesn’t want him to die!” You argue back with a faint snarl. 

Once again, you can hear the fondness coating his voice. “Oh, dear Y/N, have some faith.” Madara encourages, eye flickering between the fighting above and you. It was apparent that someone had to keep you back, or else you would prevent Sasuke’s growth. Danzo makes eye contact with you both on the ground, seemingly deep in thought. 

You sigh and fold your arms over your chest, pouting like a child. “I deserve revenge too.” 

Madara nods. “And you will have it, my dear. We both want to see Sasuke at his fullest potential. He cannot do that if you save him now.” 

You bite the inside of your lip and nod. “Fine.” 

But Madara is not dumb, he won’t leave you unattended now. 

“He’s your ultimate mistake.” The words from above caught your attention, watching with true fear as he swung Sasuke’s own blade toward his paralyzed body. You jump, but Madara’s arms stop you. 

You gasp. The Susano’o reappears, much bigger and sturdier than before. It burns a mass of purple flamed chakra, the skeleton becomes armored and stands tall. Sasuke lets out a guttural yell, and you can tell his chakra stores are expanding, as if he’s leveled up his hatred yet again. The curse mark fades, and he gains control of his own body. 

Danzo sucks in a breath and flies through the air. He tries to stay out of reach of the Susano’o, landing on the remnants of the bridge in front of the armored mass. Sasuke shoots an arrow of pure chakra at the man. He looks as if he’s about to weave, but then abandons it in favor of summoning a massive tree to absorb the blow. 

“Wood style?” You hum to yourself, amused and confused. You notice how his chakra has plummeted with the attack as well, making you take a sigh of relief. It all makes sense to you, something Tsunade showed you a long time ago. Hashirama cells…it must be to manipulate the powers of the sharingan. He must be getting close to his last few extra lives, and that’s why he’s getting desperate. 

“Sasuke! That’s the real Danzo! The jutsu that makes him invincible is broken right now!” Karin yells out, making you hum. She was smarter than she acted. “He’s vulnerable!” 

That makes you slap your hand over your face. If she figured it out, if you figured it out, that means he had figured it out too. The last thing he needed was her advertising that he knew. 

Danzo’s seals were fast, but Sasuke raced to hit him with another purple beam of chakra. He was clearly exhausted, one eye closed it was ailing him so badly. He was breathing hard, trying to accomplish his one true goal for the two of you. He felt rejuvenated, having you there to watch. He didn’t want you to fight. As good as you were, he hoped he could prove to you that he could defeat anyone on his own. 

Karin celebrates, but you hold your breath. 

Surely, Danzo reanimates just next to the spot he was standing in. You look at Karin, she had figured out his chakra levels were fluctuating just as you had. 

“The key has to be in the eyes that close. Maybe they’re used up for the time being?” You hypothesize aloud. 

“Sasuke!” Karin brainlessly calls again, causing you to grab her and shake her a little. 

“Get a grip. Your screaming is only going to distract him or get him killed, and if that happens, I will kill you. So shut up, and keep watching Danzo for better reads.” You say, to which the redhead tearfully nods. 

Danzo runs for the Susano’o only to be impaled by the chakra weapon. It’s almost as if nothing happened, Danzo appears again right in stride, still running towards Sasuke. He creates a gigantic air bubble, blowing it towards the Susano’o. It’s guarded easily, but you can tell these attacks are just to bait him and tire him out more. You believe in his abilities, but he didn’t have to fight alone, so why make him?

“Madara, please, he’s running out of time.” You say shortly, eyeing the masked figure that still stood so close. 

“No.”

You huff, folding your arms again. “This is ridiculous.” You turn your head back toward the action in front of you. Or rather, inaction. Danzo stood, catching his breath and analyzing his next move. You would finish him where he stood, no time for pleasantries.  You were sure he would do the same if he wasn’t so wiped. 

To your surprise, Danzo summons a massive elephant-like beast. It creates a vortex of wind as Danzo sprints toward the Susano’o. The summon sucks everything toward it like a vacuum, allowing him to get close enough for another wind style attack. The Susano’o is unable to move properly, and it seems as if Danzo needed that to happen  . 

Sasuke sends a fireball for the beast to eat, gaining mobility of his Susano’o back, He swings around in time to punch his opponent in the face and body, sending him flying towards the rocky ground. Sasuke falls to his knees, and you inch toward him, though you know you won’t be allowed to move much further. Sure, you could try to fight Madara, but that would only distract Sasuke and possibly damage his support so you didn’t want to take the risk. Though it slowly became more and more of an option as you watched your best friend cough up blood. 

Your heart quickened, the thought of the only person in the world that held your heart perishing here, right in front of you, just days after you’ve reunited, felt like hell. You needed him to get up and finish this so that you two could get the revenge you deserved. 

The Susano’o starts deteriorating, matching Sasuke’s chakra levels. Karin explains her findings aloud, and you nod along with her explanation. “Oh please don’t–”

“Sasuke!” She calls up to him, “I figured out a little bit of that guy’s jutsu! Listen. Alright?”

“When all ten of your eyes have closed on your right arm, your jutsu will be undone, isn’t that so?” Sasuke asks, focused on the enemy. 

You smirk, and look at the girl with a glimmer in your eyes that portrays exactly how smug you feel. 

Danzo seemed unimpressed, but his words prove otherwise. “You knew about Izanagi?” 

“As I suspected!” Sasuke says, dropping down to his level inside the remnants of the Susano’o. 

“You tricked me? What a crafty brat.” 

“Y-you fool! Why are you engaging him?” Karin asks, and you slap her arm. 

“Haven’t you questioned him too many times? Let him prove himself.” You say with a fond smile, proud of what Sasuke had been able to accomplish. You still wanted to vent your rage, but Madara had a different target in mind for you. 

Danzo tried to stop the Susano’o’s approach with a gust of wind, but it was only delayed. He dropped an elbow down on top of the Hokage, waiting to see if an eye closed. It did. 

“Sasuke! Get away from him now!” Karin panics, outwardly showing her fear. That’s where she made her mistake, and you know it. “Prolong the battle!” 

You groan, watching as Sasuke turns away from her loudmouth. He doesn’t hear her, you don’t think. He’s entirely too focused. “You idiot, if that means that his jutsu is undone, then all of Sasuke’s chakra is still gone and he’s uninjured.” 

Sasuke has his back to you, but when he turns back around he’s flinging shuriken at the man coming at him in the air. Another eye closes. Just two more minutes, two more killing attacks. Danzo disappears from midair, appearing behind him. Sasuke’s palm is encapsulated by chidori, one of the only things that he learned from Kakashi. He forms it into a sword, wielding it by his side as he yells, “How many Uchiha did you kill to get that right arm?!” 

Danzo has a chakra blade of his own it seems. “It was Itachi who enabled me to get it.” 

“You made him do it!” Danzo’s eye grows wider and everyone watches in wonder. Sasuke’s lightning blade rests burrowed deep in his chest. 

“You were too hasty. My eye is still open. Go to Itachi so he can lecture you. I win.” 

You shook your head in disbelief. No, this couldn’t be it. He had done it! What did he mean, he wins, no he doesn’t! Not against Sasuke, not here. 

“You may think you’ve seen through Izanagi..” But then the man’s eyes go wide in a mix of shock and fear. He coughs up a stream of dark blood. It’s not working, you think, Sasuke put him under a genjutsu. The last eye closes, and you clench your fists as you eagerly watch on. Sasuke pushes the man back slightly, freeing his lightning blade from his abdomen.

“You’re the one who is going to see Itachi.” Sasuke states smugly, watching as his opponent fell to his knee with a grunt of pain. Sasuke’s exhaustion was clear, and you hoped this would be the extent of it. You’re not as confident about him having to do this over if the Izanagi was undone. With another yell of suffering, Danzo falls forward on his hands, inches away from Sasuke’s feet. 

“Now that’s battling with your eyes. Don’t underestimate the Uchiha.”

You watch them carefully. Danzo never used Shisui’s eye, perhaps he was worried about you or Sasuke or even Madara getting it back. You knew that he was seeking power and prowess, but you were sure he would allow you to keep your brother’s eye. You want to get it back, it should’ve never been abused like this. None of this should have happened like this. Danzo is the reason your brother is dead. All because they wanted his abilities. You are his second coming, the now mostly heartless version of the boy who had been so kind. Your abilities will make up for the loss of his. 

Ripping you out of your thoughts was Sasuke’s yell of pain. You focus back on the present, moving toward him as far as Madara would allow. Karin runs fully fledged, and you’re annoyed that he lets her. This of course is an ultimate move to keep you out of danger and to allow Sasuke to be the best. Madara knows Karin can’t contribute anything too useful, whereas you could have used your Mangekyo ability to control everything. 

Karin crouches next to him. “Are you alright? Hurry up and bite!” 

You roll your eyes. That would be how her healing works, how stupid. He grabs her arm and his eyes flitter over to you for a moment. He looks back down at her wrist and reluctantly chomps down. You can actually feel your body temperature increase when she moans out and turns red, obviously getting something from this. 

“Bringing that woman was a wise decision, she’s useful. I see why Sasuke chose her.” Madara says, and you wonder if he gets pleasure from pissing you off. You’re fully capable of healing too, it really wasn’t necessary for her to be here at all. Sasuke did want her to join, however, and now you’re wondering why. It felt silly to be so jealous at a time like this, so you force the thought out entirely, choosing instead to watch the scene before you. 

You watch as Danzo summons yet another huge tree from his Hashirama given ability. It makes you wish you could make trees this powerful under your plant jutsu, but the wood style was so unique to the first Hokage. 

“What a persistent guy!” Karin says as Danzo reaches to undo the bandages covering his head and right eye. You almost shout for her to get out of the way, but something causes the words to die in your throat. 

“Not yet. This is where we battle with our eyes.” Your stomach sinks. This could really only mean one thing. The sharingan in his head was Shisui’s. All you see is red, wishing you could throw caution to the wind in order to get it back. 

Almost as if he’s able to read your thoughts, Madara’s other hand claps down gently on your shoulder. “We’ll be getting it back.” He promised, needing both of the Uchiha to unlock their eternal Mangekyo status. His visual prowess combined with yours would make any opponent terrified to stand across from you. 

Sasuke realizes this as well, recognizing the sharingan pattern of your older brother. He charges at Danzo with his left hand consumed by Chidori. But Danzo doesn’t wait for him to make it, choosing to run around to hold Karin by the neck. You clap your hands over your face. Of course, she would be annoying this entire mission and then get herself taken hostage when the battle was nearly won.

“You used your visual prowess too much, didn’t you?” Danzo asks, a smug expression on his face. 

Karin struggles in his grip. “Sasuke..!” 

“Useless.” You mutter, directly arguing Madara’s earlier claims. “I could have healed him faster and avoided this.”

“Isn’t it ironic that you, who glorified self-sacrifice, would take a hostage?” Sasuke asks calmly. You know that he has a plan. 

“It’s not that I consider my life precious. But for the sake of the Hidden Leaf Village…for the ninja world…I cannot afford to die here.” He replies, making it clear how much of a rat he truly is. He cares not for the Leaf like he claims, he only cares about power and winning. “No matter what the means, I must survive. For I will be the one reformer who will change this ninja world. This woman will be sacrificed for that cause.” He adds, tightening his hold on the redheaded healer.

You can’t find it in yourself to care. You just want Danzo dead and your brother’s eye returned to you. You want to get rid of this whiny brat that thinks that she has any of Sasuke’s attention. You want to balance out the scales and go home, wherever that would be. 

“Sasuke help!” She pleads again, not an ounce of self-preservation instinct in her. 

“Don’t move…Karin.” Sasuke says authoritatively, causing the girl to smile with relief. You gasp. He looks terrifying right now, nothing but coldness and brutality emanating off of him. He shoots a beam of his chidori straight out, hitting Karin and Danzo both. 

Karin’s eyes are wide, blood seeping from her mouth. Even you are surprised. Your shock turns into a smile, appreciating his desire for revenge. He would never let Danzo get away, just like he had promised to himself and to you. 

Danzo is stilled, hit in a vital point. It should just be seconds before he draws his last breath. 

“Brother…one down.” He says with a satisfied smile. 

“Sasuke…what was I to you?” She asks desperately, as if the answer was not clear by his willingness to sacrifice her life to get what he wanted. 

“Karin…You managed to get taken hostage, you are nothing but a burden to me.” His chidori finally powers down and Karin’s injured form falls face first onto the cement. Danzo’s breathing grows heavy, and you can still hear the woman struggling for her own breaths. Sasuke is satisfied. There is no guilt or remorse. 

Danzo turns and starts to lightly jog away, his desperation clear. He had no other options, and was cornered once more. Sasuke starts to calmly walk after him, his dark eyes glowering with a crazed desire. He smirks, walking Danzo down. Madara takes you with him as he jumps to the bridge, cutting off his escape. 

“Danzo..I’m taking Shisui’s eye.” He says with finality. Sasuke reflects on the night he found out about Shisui, the pain he felt for you. He couldn’t have imagined what it would be like to lose Itachi yet, and if you felt even a fraction of the way he did now, you deserve this retribution tenfold. 

Danzo seemed enraged. “For the sake of the ninja world…for the sake of the Hidden Leaf…I will not let you three live!” He declares, a black seal appearing on his body. 

“Sasuke! Get away from Danzo!” Madara yells, dissolving into the ground below. You and Sasuke jump into the air.

You shake your head. “No! Shisui’s eye!” You remind, eyes fixed on the man destroying himself just to keep you from having it. The two of you land on the Samurai Bridge, close to Karin’s body. There’s not any time to process what happened, and you think you’re hallucinating when you see Sakura walking toward you two. 

She pleads with Sasuke to allow her to join your team, claiming she, too, has defected. You immediately know she’s lying. If another team seven member left the village, every available ninja in Konoha would be after her. And, as sweet and talented in medical nin as she was, she was not gifted in evasion or lying. 

Sasuke seemed to play her game, telling her she could replace Karin on their squad if she killed her. You could see the terror flashing in her eyes. She wouldn’t do it. Karin groaned in obvious agony, watching all three of you. As Sakura approaches her, you share a glance with Sasuke. You shake your head, eyes flickering over to the other women briefly. He nods, agreeing with you. He lights his hand with what little chakra he has left, but before it goes anywhere, Kakashi flies onto the bridge, swooping the pink-haired woman away.

Your heart stops, your mind goes blank even. Kakashi? You really must be hallucinating now. You watched him die, how on earth is he standing before you? Is this a joke, no, no, a cruel prank. He sets her down, instructing her to take Karin somewhere else, if you hear him correctly. 

After that, you’re not really sure what happens or what’s being said. You can hear the cold and biting tone in Sasuke’s voice. He’s really going off the rails, he’s getting more cruel and more dark. You knew that was Itachi’s goal for the most part, but only to drive this revenge and keep the name of the Uchiha respected. But he had killed the most prominent motivator behind the massacre, shouldn’t he feel better? Kakashi…it really is him. It’s his voice, all the body language is the same. A strange noise comes out of your mouth and you’re embarrassed when your knees buckle. 

Kakashi is relieved to see you unharmed and relatively safe. He sees the myriad of emotions on your face, and for a moment he wants to pause all of this arguing to give you a hug and tell you that it is really him. That he’s not angry with you and he’ll do anything it takes to keep you safe, even if that includes hurting Sasuke. 

You hear the battle between them commence, a few ninjutsu here and there until Sasuke summons his Susano’o. You know no matter how this ends, you’ll be heartbroken for a time. You wanted revenge too, but even you could admit that you were worried for Sasuke once again. And if Sasuke hurt Kakashi in any permanent way, you would hold that against him. His Susano’o falters, running on fumes of chakra at this point. He taps you in. 

“Y/N, take care of this pretender!” He demands, enraged, that Kakashi has the sharingan and the chakra control to use it as a non-Uchiha. 

But you don’t move. You know you can’t, you could never even imagine it. Deep down, Sasuke knows this too. That’s why he gives you such an order in the first place. He’s losing himself, he can feel that. All his love and care for you has been devoured by this Amaterasu of emotion. The only thing he can comprehend is hatred, is the need for crushing anyone and anything that’s hurt him. He’s jealous and angry at you, too, for having someone care about you like Kakashi does. You didn’t have to experience everything on your own like he did. Once, he wanted you to get revenge too. He wanted your hatred to burn and consume you just as it had him. But yours wasn’t strong enough. No, because you had weaknesses. Your loyalty to him could be blinded by your devotion to the man who raised you. Maybe at some point he had appreciated this about you. Part of him may even be glad that you had a family. But when you denied him the first time he was baffled. He knew you had to care for him more than that, right? But here you sit, on your hands and knees in the river, denying him again. Uchihas feel every emotion deeply, and you love him. You have always loved him, so how dare you choose Kakashi right now? It was your chance to prove that you were indeed strong. 

Kakashi was going to be a few seconds too late. Sasuke moved toward you with the intent to kill this time, and he was stunned. Was he really this close to bringing you back home only to be responsible for your death?

Your eyes widened once you realized that he was coming at you, and then all you felt was a gust of wind and a strong body and chakra wrapped around you. You looked up, arms around the neck of Naruto Uzumaki. Maybe under different circumstances you would smile at him. But now, your emotions are so conflicted. Even when Naruto smiles warmly down at you and sets you back on your wobbly feet, you don’t know what to say. Because really, you are just as bad as Sasuke. You let him attack Karin and you would have let him kill Sakura on a whim, just because you knew you could. You got revenge, but you were devastated about not retrieving your brother’s eye. You fed off of Sasuke’s negativity instead of him feeding off of any of your light. You knew there were more targets, but how many innocent people would you have to hurt to finish attaining revenge?

Part of you died again with Kakashi. With every loss, your heart grew smaller and your eyes more powerful. You enjoyed being powerful, but at this cost…the price was much too high. It becomes clear to you that the only person that can save Sasuke is himself, and only Naruto can get close enough to him to force this. Kakashi’s hand is on your head, bringing you out of your thoughts while Naruto and Sasuke exchange words and promises. Sasuke wants to attack the Leaf, Naruto swears to defend it to no end. Life was so different just moments ago, but you have to let Sasuke go. It’s the only way you can ever hope to mend what you have, if that time ever comes. Kakashi’s hand is large, but it’s a welcome reminder of the best thing to come of this: his return.

“Are you alright?” He asks, eyes carefully analyzing you. He knew this must be beyond difficult, as most your life had been, he understands. 

“I think so.” You reply unsurely. The truth was absolutely not. How could you be okay? You were in the Bingo Books but all you sought was justice, corrupted by the desire toward the end. And now, the only true love you’ve ever known would have killed you had Naruto not showed up. 

Madara and Zetsu show up, trying to de-escalate the situation and take Sasuke away. Zetsu wanted to further the fighting to take you back, and perhaps capture the nine-tails inside Naruto, but he was luckily talked down from that. They disappear, and you’re left looking around at Kakashi and Naruto without a clue in the world what to say. 

“Don’t worry Y/N-chan, Kakashi-Sensei and Old Lady Tsunade will get all of this taken care of! We want you to come home!” Naruto says cheerfully, though you can tell he’s hiding his emotions by distracting himself with yours. 

You look down at the river beneath you. “Is it really that easy? I..I don’t know how I can face anyone..” 

Kakashi’s face softens. He knows the feeling. “You’ll do what you have always done before. You’ll train and go on missions and earn back trust over time. It won’t be easy, but it’s nothing you can’t manage.” 

“Plus we’re always here for you!” Naruto adds, patting you on the shoulder affectionately. “I missed you! I looked everywhere for you Y/N…” He chuckles nervously, clearly not trying to get on your case.

“I know, you got close several times. I’m sorry…I thought that this is what I wanted.” 

“It’s alright, really! Don’t worry about it, you’re coming back home to the Leaf and now we can train together and we’ll be ready to take on Sasuke!” He holds his hand out for you to take, and you do. You squeeze it out of appreciation, and he seems a little lost for a moment. It causes a smile to sneak up on you, he wasn’t familiar with acts of affection and it made you wonder why he held his hand out to you at all. 

“We’ll be ready.” You confirm, heart aching already at the thought of the Last of the Uchiha standing against each other instead of beside. Your smile is weak and it’s easy to tell that you’re still weary, but it means enough to the jinchuriki and your father figure that they both smile softly at you in return. 

“Let’s go home.” Kakashi hums, relieved to have you in tow. But he felt immense guilt over Sasuke, and what lay ahead for you. 

Home. You nod, wondering the same. Wondering what home really means, and if life is always this painful. 

Naruto starts talking about some old story that Jiraiya told him, and you’re grateful that he keeps the journey from being silent. 

“Gaara! I will stay and fight with the Kage!” You proclaim, taking up a spot beside him and aiding Tsunade in his healing. 

He hums his approval. “Good, your prowess will help us well.” He says honestly, the last time he saw you was at the Kage Summit, and you were not so helpful then. But before that, you helped save him from Sasori and Deidara, and before that, you were kind to him at the chunin exams. Overall, he has more reasons to believe in you than not, and he chooses to trust in you. 

The Mizukage sprays a lava jutsu all over the place, allowing the Raikage to pull off some lightning style moves. 

Madara re-emerges from the rubble in a big blue Susano’o not unlike Sasuke’s. You hum, finishing up Gaara’s healing to form a Susano’o of your own. You had been practicing it as far as you really could, stressing yourself out by reliving your different traumas until your summon was perfect. A bright green chakra statue comes together in the sky, your Susano’o standing directly against Madara Uchiha’s. Madara throws attacks at you, Gaara’s sand creating a protective barrier around everyone else. You crush the attacks with your hands. 

“Another pesky one of my own, is that so?” Madara chuckles deeply, almost admiring your perfect Susano’o. “It’s too bad I’ll have to kill you, child!” 

Gaara covers his Susano’o with his sand, preparing for his ultimate sand coffin burial. Madara shoots his chakra through, piercing the layer and preparing for another attack. The Mizukage covers the field in mist, obscuring the rinnegan’s ability to see. The Raikage takes the opportunity to get through, and you follow his lead to take a shot at Madara’s Susano’o too, the sound of chakra against chakra like nails on a chalkboard. You knock him from the being, powering yours down to fight regularly. You punch the ground, creating a physical rift and hopefully some sort of visual one.

The Tsuchikage talks Naruto’s shadow clone into trusting in the five Kage’s abilities, especially with you as added backup. Naruto trusts you too, maybe more easily than you deserved, but his clone sped off and left the six of you to take Madara down. 

Madara wraps vines around the Tsuchikage’s defense, and you recognize the plant style similar to yours. You grin, you summon your own vines in the variety that would smother out his own, considered more powerful but also more chakra consuming. Your seal appears on your forehead, and you’re ready to consume what you’ve had stored for so long. 

Your vines take out half of his plants, but it's not enough. They start to admit a poisonous pollen, which Tsunade advises everyone to avoid. Everyone jumps in the air, giving Madara an opening to reform his Susano’o. The commotion of his summons sends everyone flying towards the tree roots he’s created below. He uses a fire style to light the wood on fire, smoke inhalation making you all fall forward, unable to overpower it. The Tsuchikage uses all of his remaining strength to use a metallic jutsu, repelling the flame away. 

It takes a few minutes, but slowly you all wake, rushing to the Tsuchikage’s aid. Madara reveals his addition of Hashirama’s powers to his own, taking the time to insult Lady Tsunade’s powers in comparison to her grandfather’s. He even calls her a weak woman, to which your promise he will pay for. 

“Alright it’s time for you to stop talking!” You grit your teeth, watching Tsuande’s 100 healings jutsu seal wraps around her body, and her punch is enough to actually physically crack Madara’s Susano’o. You’re mystified by this, and proud of one of your teachers for defending her abilities. Hashirama was a God amongst men, there is no comparison to be made except for maybe Naruto. The Mizukage has to jump in to extinguish another bout of fire style. Her water dragon comes next, allowing Tsunade and the Raikage to score hits on the chakra shield. Their punches land, cracking the usually impenetrable guard and taking Madara right out of it. 

“I’ll admit it. Undoubtedly you are not weak woman. However, Hashirama, I don’t know exactly what it is you’ve left to all your followers. But this falls short of your abilities. If you’re going to let your underlings take over, you should have taught them how to resurrect you. The only thing that is ever truly passed down, of course, is hatred.” He says smugly, arms folded over his chest. 

Tsunade flies at him. Landing a punch to his chest. The Raikage calls for Gaara, letting him enact his plan. He captures Madara in a sand pyramid, and you jump over to land with Tsunade. 

“Way to go!” You cheer, just as a beam of chakra erupts from the tree root you’re standing on, shooting right through your mentor. It lifts her into the air, the rest of you staring in shock. Apparently Gaara sealed a wood style clone instead of the real Madara. Tsunade yells out, a guttural mix of frustration, anger, and the desire to win. She ‘cha’s’ the chakra beam impaling her,  and this time even Madara is surprised. She holds onto the other end of the tentacle-esque formation, slamming it to the ground below her. Madara sends her flying into a pile of rocks, even more shocked when she pushes them aside and stands ready to fight again. 

The Tsuchikage tries an attack from behind while Tsuande aims one at his front, but Madara is able to deflect. He summons five clones for every one of you, taunting you with the option for them to use Susano’o. Yours forms again, ready to take on most of the clones yourself. Your Susano’o fights with two samurai blades, slashing through several members of Madara’s army. One still hits the Mizukage, sending her flying back as well as Gaara when he tries to intervene. Lady Tsunade and the Raikage land a few shots on their own shadow clones, and then Madara decides to pick the Raikage out of the crowd. He puts him under a genjutsu, and the Tsuchikage’s summon is the only thing that saves the former’s life. 

The Five Kage plus you stand aligned, ready for what came next. You knew the clones were going to be an issue, though Madara seemed less sure about them now that your Susano’o stands tall too. 

The Tsuchikage sends out a particle style jutsu, absorbing the rest of the clones and forcing Madara into his perfect Susano’o. You force yours to his level, knowing that if you don’t, all five Kage will die. Madara hits the cliff, sending everyone but your shielded form back a few hundred yards. His Susano’o walks up to yours. You slash at him, but he’s quick. He lands a hit on your chakra form, making you take a couple steps backward. You block his next attack with one sword, using your other to stab through. For a moment, you believe your attack is what causes him to drop from his Susano’o, but he declares that something is wrong with the jutsu he’s been using. 

You grin, knowing that if you can continue to hold him off, you may overpower him simply from your chakra stores. He obviously has virtually hundreds of years of fighting experience and Hashirama Senju was his opponent, but still, you  tell yourself that your power compares to no one else, not even your brother. 

“It appears that the reanimation jutsu has been released.” He says unbothered, though you feel like it’s a ruse. You drop from your Susano’o in favor of your right eye’s Mangekyou ability, Subete o Mamoru. It allows you to project your genjutsu onto everyone else, giving you the opportunity to give the Five Kage your delayed sense. 

Madara barrels toward you, and the only person you can’t protect is Lady Tsunade, who barrels ahead to meet him. You watch her stutter mid-air, her seal must have worn off. The Raikage jumps to catch her, but she’s gently placed down on a tree root before anyone can actually make it to her. You’re all confused, as she seemed to have passed out in the air. When she comes mentally back, she seems re-energized, claiming she got to see an old friend. It must have been the reanimated souls making it back, someone came to see her. You wondered if it was Dan, or her brother, or even Jiraiya. 

Madara claims that she will see him then again soon, releasing the jutsu. He voices his desire to go for Naruto instead, which you vehemently protest. 

“Even if we can’t stop him, we can’t just let him get to Naruto!” You proclaim, arguing with the Kage of the Villages. You’re not sure what happens next, all you see is the ground beneath you growing closer dangerously fast. 

It’s Kakashi that shakes you awake. The sun is hanging in the sky, things are mostly quiet other than a low rumble of a few people talking here and there. His eyes look at you with worry, but your gentle smile puts him at ease. You were mostly unharmed, just a few scrapes and bruises here and there. You fought valiantly and stood toe-to-toe with Madara. He pats your head. 

“Is it over?” You ask, looking around at the immeasurable damage done. 

He nods slowly. The war is certainly over, but Naruto and Sasuke were standing against each other for the final time. 

“What is it?” You ask cautiously, able to read that there was more to know. Your heart drops, and you fear that you’ve lost your friends. 

“Naruto and Sasuke are fighting in the valley.” He states, watching your expression shift. You didn’t even know Sasuke had shown up, and you immediately feared that he was fighting with the other Uchiha. 

“Sasuke? Did…he–”

“No, he fought for the Leaf…he needs to fight Naruto a final time, I think. To fully put this to bed.” Kakashi explains calmly, lifting you into his arms to take you and Sakura to the scene. He lets the two of you heal each other, silently. There was a quiet understanding that you had between each other, and you were okay with that. 

When you get to the valley though, all the fighting is done. The two boys lay almost lifeless on the rock, missing an arm and bleeding out. Sakura runs over the rock to Naruto, and you find yourself automatically moving the same way, sitting by Sasuke’s side with a pained smile. 

Sakura is in tears, healing Naruto and looking between the two of them in wonder.

You hold your hand over Sasuke’s wound, and the look in his eyes is heartbreaking. His other hand closes around your wrist, pushing your hand away. 

“I don’t deserve it.” He says, seemingly realizing the mistakes he’s made all at once. As he looks at you, someone who had every right to turn out just like him, but someone who was so much better. You were kind and forgiving and full of love for other people, and it hurt him to look at your brightness. Especially when he almost smothered it out, almost killed the person he cares most for simply out of anger. 

You peel his hand off of yours, pooling your chakra to heal the wound. “You deserve to live, Sasuke.” 

“I hurt you. I’m sorry, you didn’t do anything to deserve that.” His voice is thick and shaky, and you know he’s fighting tears. 

You rest your other hand on his face. “Apology accepted. The world doesn’t work off of who deserves what, Sasuke. We can only do that for each other, from now on. I’ll give you what you deserve if you can do that for me.” 

He nods, watching you stop his bleeding and bandage the nub that used to be his right arm. You’re beat up, and he wonders who you were fighting with and against in the war. He wonders how you can forgive him so easily and touch him so tenderly after everything he’s put you through, all the back and forth and the mistreatment and the danger. He can tell by the softness of your features, the gentle smile playing at your lips and the life that shines in your eyes, you aren’t upset. You meant what you said. He feels another emotion, one he’s felt in short bursts before, but this time it’s overwhelming. Anger and hatred burned from the inside, turning everything to blisters and scars. But what he feels as he looks at you, it soothes. It’s a rush of cool water relieving all his burns, stronger than the gusting winds of his doubt. He knows it will be alright, for the first time. He knows he will do whatever it takes to give you what you deserve, it’s the least he can do, so he’ll do even more than that. 

He’ll make it up to you, or spend his life trying. 

Kakashi was chosen as the Sixth Hokage, much to your enjoyment. You knew the job would keep him on his toes, but you couldn’t imagine anyone better for it. He pardons Sasuke for his crimes, citing his war effort and even Itachi’s work to protect the Leaf as the reasons why. 

Itachi and Shisui are officially commemorated as Heroes of the Leaf. It warms your heart to know that this came from Sasuke’s journey. Just like you had hoped, Naruto forced him to save himself and understand his actions. 

In an effort to continue making up for his transgressions, he vows to search the hidden villages for any more Kaguya-level threats to keep the Leaf safe for as long as he lives. Itachi would be proud. Sasuke cites you as the biggest reason he was able to come back to himself, the way you stood strong was inspiring. A true example of the honor, strength, and integrity of being an Uchiha. 

It has only been a few months, but the two of you have become inseparable. All is right in the world, the Last of the Uchiha stand side by side wherever you see them. That doesn’t change even as he gets ready to set out on this mission, your journey unarguably bound with his. He knew you would come with him, but part of him worried that you would change your mind. He worried that you would realize that you were better than him, that he had done unforgivable things, he broke his promise. He swore he would never hurt you yet that’s all he’s ever done. 

So how can you look at him so happily, bouncing up to your fellow Uchiha with a bright smile and a bag hanging off your shoulder, no doubt packed for the trip. How can you leave Kakashi behind in favor of him, the man who almost killed you? The warmth in your heart sparks life in him, determined to take your forgiveness and make the most of it. You look as magical as you usually do, your Uchiha-crested shirt form-fitting to your womanly figure. You took the comfortable and utilizable route of shorts, knowing that you would be active. Your cloak is snapped above your chest, the purple cape flapping in the breeze. And that damned purple headband keeps your dark hair out of your shining and love-filled face. 

You love him, he realizes again. Once, it upset him. He felt entitled to your love without even really knowing what it meant. He thought a woman’s love was pure devotion, that it was something mindless and just another facet of life. From his earliest ages, he remembers assuming he’d marry you. He remembers not being bothered by the idea, but didn’t think you were much like a wife when you were little. His mom was quiet and sweet, and you were a yelling demon of a girl. His mom always made good dinners and always made him happy when he cried,so that’s what thought love meant. And he could live without a good dinner or and he doesn’t cry often enough to need someone to cheer him up. 

That’s what he used to believe, until now. Now that he’s watching you carefully pack onigiri in a small box, rambling on about Shikamaru and Temari’s wedding that would happen while you two were gone, it all makes so much sense. The unfathomable care and worry he had for you that night, grieving your loss as a child, wondering if he would ever see you again. The jealousy of watching you become close with Naruto and Shikamaru, the deep need to have you by his side at his lowest mental point, it’s because he loves you too, and it means so much more than he thought. 

You fill the emptiness in him with your smile, the sound of your laugh makes his heart beat funny but he likes it. If anything happens to you, he fears what he truly would become then. He decides to push that out of his mind, knowing he would never allow that. You would be safer than you’ve ever been, because he would die for you. 

Your eyes narrow at him. You could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t listening, he was lost in his own head again. You wonder if it’s a good or a bad place, whatever he’s thinking about. You think it’s pleasant, from the small grin betraying him. His hair ruffled slightly with the breeze, his dark cape doing the same. He stood tall, seemingly growing more even over the past few months. He traded his purple clothes for black, knowing you would keep the purple alive. His robes were simple, but you thought he would get too warm on the long road ahead. 

Over the past few months, the two of you had grown closer, however that was possible. It seemed easier now, like after your traumas you were able to let things flow more freely. Unfortunately, neither of you were magically gifted with the ability of affection all of a sudden, though you were each trying to work up the nerve to display your true emotions in a more bold way. So far, the furthest confirmation you had received from him was the green paper heart tucked still in the pocket of your bag, and the most he had from you was your utter stoppage of Karin every time she was around. It was clear how much you meant to each other, and you were able to say as much. You usually stayed with him in his old apartment, which made conversations flow unfiltered and with plenty of wonder from you, gazing at the nearly barren place. 

He’s been here since you were kids, and it didn’t have any personal decoration or flare to it. It barely looked lived in, though you imagine his desertion at 12 had a lot to do with that. Yet still, it was a time capsule of comparison. You had six years of learning to be a person with Kakashi, he had six years of beige walls and a ticking clock on the wall. Nothing but his own mind to keep him busy, his emotions and need to get stronger motivating him to train hard. You marveled at the dust settled over everything, opening the window to air the apartment out. You two had spent that afternoon cleaning the entire place, and you displayed a few pictures and some of the origami he made you to decorate. He smiled at the gesture, a picture of the two of you as rogue nin framed. It made him want to chuckle, so he did, though it sounded strange.

“What, you don’t like it?” You pouted, moving to grab it back. He quickly stopped you by stepping in between the picture and origami setup on the dresser and your lunging form. 

“It’s just an interesting picture, that’s all. I do suppose that’s the only one you have, though.” He admitted with a shrug, a tiny smile on his lips. He was amused by the pouting and by the effort to make his apartment seem more like a home despite the fact you two would be leaving it to dust over again in a few months anyway. “I like it.”

You arched a brow. “Are you lying?” 

“No. I don’t get the point of decorating when we’ll be leaving again, but I think it’s nice of you to worry about things like that.” He says, and you look at him critically, deciding he was telling the truth. 

“Because it’s still yours. It makes me a little sad to think about tiny Sasuke growing up here. I guess I can’t undo that, of course, but..I can make the future better.” You say, pouting again at the idea. 

He smiled and nodded. He definitely agreed, you were just about the only thing that could make him better. 

So now that you two are ready to set out, he wonders if he has the nerve to push things just a little further with you. You set all his paper origami creations on his table that day a couple of months ago, all except the most important one. 

“Hey, did you keep the..paper heart-thing I made you..?” He asks just as you were about to ask if he was listening. So that’s what he was thinking about. The question and his awkwardness makes your heart quicken. 

You nod. “Yeah, it’s right here.” You reply, undoing the button on your bag so you can pull it from the pocket to show him. 

He smiles softly when he sees it, and almost instinctively looks away. “Why did you keep it, instead of putting it up in my apartment?”

“Because this one means something else, I thought.” You say back, quicker in response than he anticipated. There’s a knowing tone to your voice, like you understand what he’s working towards and are letting him have the time to do it. 

“It does.” He confirms, and it wasn’t as hard as he expected. He holds his hand out to you again, like he did in the cave months earlier, but instead of letting you grab it, he looks down at it like he wasn’t sure how to accomplish what he wanted. He wasn’t sure how to simply express his affection for you other than what you did to him after the war. He tilts his hand a little and rests it on your cheek instead. When you touched him like this it was gentle and sweet, he could feel your forgiveness. He hoped you could feel his love for you.

“I love you too.” You hum, sinking into the touch. He could feel your cheek move for your soft smile. Your fingers close around his wrist, The two of you just looking at each other. There was nothing else to say, out loud anyway. His heart softened at you words, you did know him so well.

Time heals most wounds, and so does working missions with your partner. It felt like the two of you versus the world, in a good way. The way you had always imagined it would feel. The wide open sky welcomes you both, stars lighting the way of your walk. It had been another few months since the two of you left the Leaf to start exploring threats, and since you confessed your previously unspoken love for one another. Not much had changed since then, other than the two of you holding hands as you talked about all kinds of different things and explored the hidden villages. 

The beautiful night sky just served to highlight your beauty, in the eyes of Sasuke. It really was a miracle that you didn’t fall for someone else while he was gone, truly the Last Princess. Uchiha were unusually beautiful, but you were angelically so. Not to even factor in your immense power and perfect persona. He wasn’t completely sure anyone deserved to be with you. He was lucky you gave him that chance. 

“We should rest here for a while.” He says in that ever calm voice of his. You hum your agreement and begin to set up a little pallet bed for each of you. He came over to help set up his own, remembering something you had said a few months ago. “Hm. Isn’t Shikamaru and Temari’s wedding today?” 

You gasp and nod, pilfering through your bag for a scroll to write them a letter. “Yes! I completely forgot, thank you for reminding me!” You say, taking out the paper and bearing down on the ground with your ink pot. 

“Silly girl.” Sasuke mused, summoning two crows. “This will be faster, and they’ll show clones of us. What would you like to say?”

You stand back up, pleasantly surprised that he would send chakra birds to deliver your message faster. “Of course, of course, uh let’s see.” 

You stare off at the stars above you, biting your lip. Maybe everything really was worth it, if in the end he gets to keep you. You’re impossibly seductive, even when you’re simply thinking of what to tell your good friends.

“Congratulations, Shikamaru and Temari! I’ve known that this is how your story goes since we were chunin, the chemistry you two have is so amazing! I love you two so much and so does Sasuke!! We’re sending you a wedding gift when we get to the next village so be on the lookout for that. Can’t wait to see you both soon! Sasuke, say bye!” You say, cheerful and bouncy. He can’t help himself, everything in his body aches to grab you in his arm and kiss you, uncouth as it may be. So he does. He steps forward and wraps his left arm around your waist, tugging you close.. You look up at him when he does this, only surprise and excitement on your face as your hands brace yourself on his chest, waiting expectantly. He brings his hand up to hold your face in the way he likes so much, thumb gently stroking over your cheekbone. He leans down, trusting his body to know what to do. Your lips meet his, soft and warm. He finds that he does know what to do, mouth moving over yours easily. You feel him relax, hands still balled up in his clothes. His body is tingling, your breath giving him life and motivating him to keep going on. Only when he’s breathless does he pull away, resting his forehead on yours. His heart races but in a comforting way. Like he would spend the rest of his life chasing that feeling, of your hands and lips on him and no one else. 

His eyes widen when he realizes that the chakra crows would replay the scene, and you seemingly understand this at the same time. You giggle and shake your head, turning back to them. “He gets a little excited, sorry about that you guys.” 

He smiles sheepishly, waving towards the birds. “Um, yes, I apologize. Congratulations on your marriage,” He weaves the sign to send the birds, looking horribly embarrassed when he turns back to you. 

You can’t help but laugh again, giving him a shorter but just as sweet kiss. “Well now the Leaf gets to commemorate our first kiss!” 

The journey involves a few firsts for the young couple. You discover that you have an insane fighting chemistry, able to read each other’s moves and capitalize. Fighting together feels amazing, like all is right in the world. You train and keep your abilities sharp together, eat every meal by each other’s side. 

You’ve been traveling for a little over three years, marked by your eighteenth birthday. Sasuke had already celebrated this milestone earlier in the year, but he wanted to make it more of a spectacle for you, if that can be believed. He visited a shop and had cookies made, and even sacrificed some of the money to spend the night in an inn. It still wasn’t nearly what you deserved, but he wanted you to feel loved by him. He’s not stupid, he knows he’s not very romantic verbally, so he had to rely on his actions to help. 

You, of course, nearly sob at the gesture. It was impossibly sweet, and it got his message across perfectly. 

“Happy birthday, Y/N.” He says after showing you the room you two would rest in for the night. You were taken with the space, it was bigger than Kakashi’s apartment, and it was decorated beautifully. The Mist definitely knew how to leisure. 

“Sasuke…this is great!” You beam, throwing your arms around his neck. “I love you!” 

“I love you. Don’t waste the cookies.” He says, returning your hug. He relished the way your body felt pressed against his, the way you tucked your face into his neck and the way your hands rubbed circles into his shoulder blades.  

You giggle at the sentiment, releasing him in favor of trying your birthday cookies. 

That night, you celebrate another first time, gifting all of yourselves to each other and demonstrating all your love. 

“I think we should be married.”  He says almost absentmindedly, the two of you walking by some official-looking building in the Stone. 

“Oh, is that so?” You reply with a short hum, wondering if he was being serious. Though, admittedly, he’s not the type to joke around. 

He hums in reply. “Yes. We’ve loved each other our whole lives, I think it’s safe to get married…I know that ladies enjoy things like that.” He adds, as if he hasn’t been daydreaming about marrying you since you sent chakra crows to celebrate that occasion for friends of yours. 

You arch your brow. “Just ladies, hm?” You tease with a gentle yet mischievous smile. 

“Not just, I…I believe you deserve to be a wife and not a girlfriend. That title undermines your importance to me.” He says, cheeks turning red despite your closeness.

You squeeze his hand. “Well, is that your way of proposing, Sasuke?” You whisper, almost afraid of looking up at him for his answer. 

He squeezes back. “Yes.”

“Then I say yes.” 

He stops walking and looks at you, a soft smile on his face. He holds your cheek and gives you a loving kiss. It says what he cannot find the words to, that you’ve made him the happiest man with that answer, that he wants to have your marriage in order immediately. 

“Would you like to have it done here, in the Stone?” You ask, looking over the village you were visiting. To be transparent, you didn’t much care where you were married and you didn’t care for a big party in an event. You would be more than happy to marry Sasuke quietly in the Hidden Stone and have the legal work forwarded to Kakashi to announce the celebration. 

“I would like that, dear Y/N.” 

And so that’s how it went, you visited the officials in the Hidden Stone and had them perform a short and simple wedding ceremony. You both remained in your regular shinobi clothes, only the giddiness on your face revealed the importance of the situation. 

You promised to love and support each other always, be honest and loyal forever, and to respect and honor each other above all else. When the village official pronounces you man and wife, you whoop and holler just to aggravate your new husband. He flusters, the only other person in attendance was the officiant, and even he chuckles at the scene. 

“Well go ahead, kids, make it official and kiss!” The old man cheers, his day made by the charm of young love. 

You don’t have to be told twice, leaning in to each other for a lengthy union. His lips were always a tad icy, giving you goosebumps every time. Everything else about him was warm, his hand on your face and the care he took in kissing you. Like usual, he rests his forehead against yours. This time his smile is hard to miss. 

“My lovely wife.” He muses, proud of himself for making the moves. He wishes Itachi were here to see him, he’s sure he would be proud of his choice of bride. He hopes that Shisui would be happy to see his little sister married to him. This was a long time in the making, fated to the highest degree. You were practically made for each other, and now you two will make a new Uchiha name. 

You two continue your missions as husband and wife, the last of the Uchiha united. Another year passes without incident. You miss Kakashi and the rest of your friends, getting word from Gaara in the Sand that Naruto and Hinata were married shortly after Sakura and Rock Lee. It makes you happy to know that all of your classmates were safe and enjoying their lives. Gaara congratulated you two on your marriage, just passing your first anniversary. He graciously offers for Sasuke and yourself to stay in the Sand for around a month or two, in order to rest and help them with some recurring invaders. 

The two of you agree to stay, being put up in a nicely sized inn room for the duration of your rest. The Inn reminds you of your birthday treat, and you two can’t help but recreate that night several times over the course of the next two months. 

It takes three and a half months to fully absolve Gaara of his concerns with the Sand. 

  There had been a string of violent robberies in the village, yet it seemed like the perpetrators were traveling into the village each time. It ended up being a team of rogue nin from another village, and you were able to take them into custody easily. Later that day, when debriefing Gaara on the situation, you nearly fainted. You were hit with a bout of lightheadedness and felt yourself fall into the wall that is your husband. 

One of the Sand shinobi brought you a chair and Sasuke helped lower you into it. Gaara hummed in concern. “Are you alright, Y/N? Should I send for the medical team?” He asks Sasuke, who looks to you. 

You wave off their concerns with a hum. “I’m probably just a little dehydrated, I can check.” You say in an effort to ease their worries. Your palm is covered in your chakra, allowing you to scan your body for any ailment. You place your hand over your kidneys, expecting to see a little damage. You were not expecting what you found instead as you gasp dramatically. 

“What is it?” Gaara asks with more concern. 

Sasuke crouches beside you, taking your free hand in his own. 

“I’m pregnant.” You say softly, lips parted with shock. The room is quiet for a few moments, Sasuke visibly surprised. His hand squeezes yours tighter. 

“Congratulations again, you two.” Gaara says with the trace of a smile. “Should I send word, or would you like to keep this between you for now?” 

“We need to make arrangements to go back to the Leaf.” Sasuke replies, his mind made up. You still couldn’t quite tell how he was feeling, but you didn’t want him to assume you were useless now. 

“Woah, Sasuke, I don’t want to go back home yet. We can wait until I’m further along! We can get so much more done.” You advocate, anchoring the hold on his hand to make him look at you instead of the Kazekage.

“I’ll not have you in harm's way, not now.” He says, effectively dismissing your argument. Anything can happen to you at any time. You’ve just changed his life, the entire way he thinks. He was going to be a father…

He couldn’t risk anything happening to you on this journey. You were the most important person in the world, the thought of anything happening to you already was unnerving but he selfishly wanted you to come along. But now it’s not just you, you were rebuilding the clan, a job much more important than his. He nods to Gaara, as if to say, ignore her and do what I’ve asked. Gaara nods back. 

“Sasuke, please, don’t just banish me!” You pout, still worried that he was upset about this surprise. He turns to face you, his features softer than just a few moments ago. 

“My love.” He breathes, holding your face and placing a kiss on your forehead. “I’m not punishing you, I could never carry on if something happened to you and now the child. You won’t ever for a moment be alone if you don’t want to be, Kakashi would never forgive me if I didn't send you home. I’ll join you before it’s time, I promise. It’s my job to protect you.” He reminds, smiling softly. It’s a mix of emotion, he doesn’t want to miss you like that ever again. But he had to make a choice for someone other than himself, for you and what’s best for you now that you’re giving him the greatest gift a wife can give her husband, especially in this case. 

You reluctantly sigh. He was right, and you knew it. Part of you knew you wouldn’t be able to be a shinobi in the same capacity again, so you wanted to keep fighting to stay. 

In the end, Sasuke won. You’ve been back in the Leaf for five months, estimating yourself around six and a half months along at this point. You basically moved back in with Kakashi, who spends all of his spare time preparing for his grandchild. All the ladies of the Leaf are thrilled, doting on you as you dote on them. Many of you are pregnant, hoping for another generation of classmates, you all would joke. 

Hinata and you schemed the same way Sasuke’s and your mother did, planning playdates for children that aren’t even here yet. Sasuke was right, you were happier in the village with other women that knew what you were going through and the comfort of Kakashi and Naruto. Sasuke stays by your side in other ways, regularly sending his chakra crow clones to make sure that you and baby are healthy. Being apart this time isn’t as hard as it was before, maybe because you know he’ll come back this time or maybe because your relationship was much more concrete than it had been in years passed. In any event, you were counting down the days until he came home, just missing your lover.

You were over at Naruto and Hinata’s place when Sasuke came home, and he figured that would be the case based on the amount of times his crows had to track you there instead of his apartment or Kakashi’s. Hinata gets the door when you hear the knock, giggling happily at the visitor and escorting him into the living area. Sasuke hums at the sight of you, letting you jump all over him once you’ve realized he’s back. 

He chuckles at your behavior, kissing your forehead without embarrassment. Naruto and Sasuke exchange pleasantries, you can tell how the men have missed each other and you make a mental note to let them have some time to catch up soon. He comes back to you, resting his hand gently on the small bump you’ve formed. He thought pregnancy looked amazing on you, and he wondered how it was possible for you to grow even more beautiful to him. 

“I missed you.” You hum, resting your hand over his. 

“I missed you, my love.” He returned, and the sound of his voice makes your baby kick ferociously. You gasp and then giggle, Sasuke’s brow arching in careful confusion. You move his hand to the location of the kicks, and his eyes widen slightly when he feels the sensation of pressure. 

“They like the way your voice sounds, I think.” You giggle again, memorizing his shocked look. It was sweet, he was fascinated by it and couldn’t believe that he was the cause. 

“Oh, well, be nice to your mother.” He said, a small grin on his face, his hand moving in subconscious circles over your belly.  At this moment, everything is perfect. He never imagined a life like this for himself. His friends laugh and are happy to see him, the woman he’s wanted his entire life is at his side and growing his child in the first step to rebuilding their clan. 

You’re at peace, knowing the only thing you’re missing now is Kakashi, who was probably still working hard at keeping the village secure. You’re safe, loved beyond measure, and living the dream. You know your family would be proud of the shinobi and woman you became, and now you can only pass on their memory to the Uchiha you would give life to. 

“Would you like to go home?” Sasuke asks, and for the first time, you know exactly where home is.

-

-

-

tags: @cococola-cocaine @hinari27 @bbylime

[animeomegas]

Ah, sorry! I meant after they get married and maybe are starting a family, which omegas would become stay at home parents vs working parents

-sauce anon

Okay, I got it! Here are my thoughts~ I've just done parents, because I don't think many of them would retire after a marriage. I think the only ones who might retire after marriage might be Kankuro and maybe Sai. Itachi would too, if he was allowed, but eh, the clan probably don't agree to it until he's pregnant.

Working parentings (workload that takes them away from family time more often):

Naruto - Becoming hokage was his dream, and he feels a great responsibility for his village that he could never let go off. It's a massive part of his life, and he couldn't give it up, no matter what.

Sasuke - He does not have the mental fortitude to be a stay-at-home parent. He quite simply couldn't cope feeling cooped up and trapped by his child. Sasuke is a better parent when he has some time alone, and some time to travel a bit.

Shikamaru - I've put him here and in the category below, because I think it does fluctuate. He has a massive workload, and it's something he feels he doesn't have a choice in taking. He's the sort of person who never feels like he's done enough, and yet is always working too much. It's not his identity though. He works because he feels he has to.

Gaara - Again, another kage here, with the massive workload that comes with that. To his credit, I think Gaara manages to find the best balance out of the men in this category, but he still works a lot. I think, like Naruto, he feels the responsibility and care to his village, and he could never abandon them.

Working parents (workload that keeps them around more often):

Shino - He's a teacher at the academy, so while he is a working parent, he is around a lot, as he goes to school with the pups, and then also walks home with them. That being said, he would probably take leave when his pups were babies/toddlers and stay at home full time, unless his alpha was staying at home with them. Aburame culture dictates that one parent should stay at home if there are pups, and the clan helps support that financially.

Shikamaru (again) - However, continuing on Shikamaru, if his alpha ever made a breakthrough on getting him to make his own decisions, or it got to the point where Shikamaru had to step back from being the Hokage's aid to run the clan, he's around a bit more. I think this balance would be the one that made him happiest, but he needs a push to get there.

Iruka - He's similar to Shino, although depending on his age, he might be the head of the academy. He stops taking extra shifts or missions once he has children and focuses on teaching. He could never leave his students. I think he would get bored just staying at home, so working suits him better.

Flexible parents (those that might not work, but might as well, depends on the circumstances):

Chouji - I think he would want to be around when his pups were very young for sure, but after that, I think it depends. He would eventually be taking over the clan, but that might be when his children are older anyway. He might run missions on occasion, if he's well suited. If his children needed him more for whatever reason, he wouldn't though. It's very situational.

Kisame - I think he wouldn't mind staying home with small children, but once they hit school age, he would get too bored without things to do. I'm not sure what work he would be doing in a world where he was stable enough to have children, but he'd find something, maybe collecting bounties.

Yamato - He wants his children to know that he is always there for them no matter what, so I think he'd feel guilty working. But once they were in school, he'd probably find a job that fit around school hours. Even if it was just helping around the village with the mokuton. I think he'd like to do that.

Stay-at-home parents:

Kiba - He's got far too many to dump on someone else XD No, Kiba is happiest with his family. Work schmerk. There is literally no way he could be bored. With how many he has, he often has a child small enough to require attention all day.

Neji - He is determined to go back to work after having a baby. Absolutely, 100% sure. But every time it gets to the point where he should be returning to taking missions, he makes up some arbitrary reason why he can't. "They've been anxious about nursery, I think I should stay at home until they settle", "They need to finish their medicine for the infection, I'll stay home to make sure they take it", "They said they don't enjoy school... maybe I should homeschool?" He ends up staying home until they leave the house, and by then his priorities have changed.

Itachi - All he wants to do is stay at home. He would have retired after marriage if his clan wouldn't have thrown a fit over it. Once he quits taking missions, he's never going back. He's a bit lost after his children leave home, and he mourns not having as many as he would have liked. Until he's provided with grandchildren or chickens to look after lol.

(I was really, really torn on Minato and how I wanted to characterise him, so I left him off. If it was canon Minato, it would be the top one for sure, but I don't know if that's how I want to go with him, idk.)

[idl3nova]

Sketchy Kage mama comic bc I love her

Reigen “emotional support con man of the kageyama family” Arataka,bc i say so ❤️I thought about espers being abandoned by their parents bc if their powers and how scary the accident must of been for mob’s parents 😢

[mixelation]

reborn au but it's minato & kushina trying to have friends in their 30s

so i do like the headcanon that mikoto and kushina are close friends. we know they were canonically at least FRIENDLY and so in reborn AU kushina went to mikoto a bunch with baby questions after naruto's birth and they went from "friendly" to "close friends." their sons are the same age, so there's a ton of playdates.

i feel like the natural outcome would be "couple friends" but. but but but. i can't see fugaku getting on very well with kushina OR minato? like there's no active dislike. there's just no.... platonic chemistry.......

they do hang out as couple/families sometimes, but what effectively keeps happening is kushina will run off with mikoto and then minato and fugaku just have THE most stilted and awkward conversations. minato doesn't mind him around in group conversations but the moment it's one-on-one and it's not, like, a professional conversation about the police force then minato is just going "aaaaaah!!!" internally. fugaku's advice on fatherhood sounds... mediocre? minato didn't have parents, but he's pretty sure it's not that good. they have no shared interests. their most interesting conversation was on AC unit repair.

at some point minato realizes he literally prefers talking to itachi (who is a child and also notoriously bad at cpmversation) and he's like. oh no. oh fuck because fugaku is his only adult friend*

*kakashi and jiraiya are both adults but their student/teacher relationship to him means they don't count. i think minato would count his genin teammates as friends but canon didn't even give us a name for one of them so for reborn au, i'm killing them off.

and also! he can't even make new friends!! because he's hokage and that makes him EVERYONE'S boss!!!!

rasa comes for the chunin exams and minato is like. a little bit desperate for socialization. their sons are the same age! their both kage! oh, you-- assassins, you say? and then kushina loses her mind and then rasa gets unseated. NOT good friendship real estate

B U T i think the ame trio are like the same age and sasori is only like ~5 years younger. prime friendship real estate

ame trio: (invite minato to visit as a power move)

minato: yeah okay i'm here. do you want to share a beer and complain about the cost of fish

[audreyscribes]

"Sand Sugar" Young! Gaara x Older Sibling Figure! Reader- Naruto Fanfic

Author's Note: I was looking at my old devianart page, looking for an art I did years ago and I found the small amount of fanfic works I posted there. The basis of the story was too good and much like what I did for the Clarisse x Reader fic, I thought why not post it here? For archival purposes. So here it is. Please enjoy and thanks for reading! NOTE: This was originally once a "Gaara x Big Sister OC" that was posted in 2014 but I have re-edited it to be a Neutral Gender Reader fic instead. I am also not that deep into the Naruto fandom or too much of the lore. I did at one time watch all of S1 and S2, but that was years ago so don't expect too much.

You sighed as you walked through the Village hidden by Sand. It was one of those days that you had to walk around following your gut. After a while, you found yourself at the playground. You stared at the entrance of the playground, wondering if your subconsciousness wanted to bask in the nostalgia of a long gone childhood; before you had aspirations, before you realize the reality of living as an adult. 

Not knowing what to do else, you decided to lean against the wall, watching a group of kids play ball. Their laughter brought a small smile to your face, before you caught something in the corner of your eye. Your eyes wandered to a kid with red hair alone by his wholesome.

You stared at him before your eyes narrowed down in worry. Why was he out there alone? Where are his friends or his guardians? His parents or siblings? You did a quick scan around to have some indication of company belonging to the boy, yet nothing stood out to you. 

You heard the ball fly and your head turned back to the playground. The ball that the group of kids were playing rolled to the lonely kid as he stared at it like it was a foreign object. So foreign yet so familiar.

After a few seconds, he picked it up and seemed to want to give it back to the kids but you quickly caught the look of absolute fear and disgust, as they yelled something about a demon or some sort. They all ran away as the kid seemed awfully depressed as he watched the kids run away from him like he was going to kill them. 

Your heart clenched at the face he was making ad before you knew it, your feet had carried you over to him. You made sure to make your footsteps known before you gently touched his shoulder. Yet he jumped still as if he was spooked. His head whipped towards you and stared at you with frightened, wide eyes. The sand seemed to rattle and you thought it was the wind, but the voice in the back of your mind whispered something else.

You didn’t want to scare and agitate  him any further so you took a step back, hands up in the air with the best non-threatening gesture you could muster. You saw his tensed shoulders drop slightly and the agitated sand from before, seemed to go silent almost. A suspicion and realization was forming in your mind, but you were committed and crouched to his level. You gave him a smile, your hands still open for him to see.

He seemed to relax more, making you smile more. 

“Hey” you greeted first. 

“Hi…” he said, a bit afraid like he wasn’t used to talking to people.

“What’s your name?” you asked him.

“G-Gaara…” and you blinked at the name. So this was Kaze-Kage's son? From what you’ve heard, he has one of the tailed beast inside him; the Shukaku. Now you were starting to get the picture and the voice in your mind was becoming more right. 

“Hey Gaara.” you greeted once more, “My name is [first name].”

“Hi…” He said meekly.

“Why are you out here, alone?” you asked him, a bit worried. He looked down like he was about to cry. Immediately, you begun to panic while feeling like an idiot. Trying to cheer him up, you searched through your back pocket. It was a weak gesture but you grabbed a bunch of objects and held it out to him. He looked at your hand while you slowly revealed some candy to him.

“Here…want some?” you asked, stuttering with your heart beating against your chest with cold sweat prickling on your skin.

He stared at it before shaking his head. You were confused and more worried, as you kept up your appearance and tilted your head at him, “You don’t like candy?”

He shook his head, “No…I like candy.” He said, “But I don’t know if it’s poisoned or not.”

That threw you in for a loop as you blinked at him in surprise. He already knew about food having poison in them? This kid’s life must be tough. Was your thought before it transitioned to “man is this what being generations of ninjas have to deal with?" To the horrifying thought, “Oh dear Kami, someone has tried to poison before.”

You looked at the colourful sweets in your hand, pondered for a moment before you looked at him, “I promise there isn't any poison in them, but if you’re not sure, why don’t you pick a few out and I’ll eat it, okay?”

He stared at you before looking at your hand. He seemed to ponder and probably thought you were bluffing before pointing a few out. True to your word, he picked those up the most colourful candies and you opened your mouth. He slowly unwrapped one before dropping one inside. You closed it and chewed it, crunching it. You then grinned and tried not to show how you were going to regret this decision, “Come on, did I say to pick out a few more?” 

Gaara looked at you bizarrely before you opened your mouth waiting and he quickly unwrapped a few ones and it wasn’t long before your mouth was stuffed with candy. You then puffed your cheeks to exaggerate how much candy you had and imitating yourself as a hamster. Garra giggled and the sweetness of it almost made your heart burst (Nooo, it wasn’t the rush of sugar that was sitting in your mouth, what were you talking about?)

After a while, letting it dissolve, you then opened your mouth to show him it was all gone. You waited for a few minutes while playing Tic-Tac toe in the sand, before Gaara seemed to be convinced there wasn't any poison in it. He looked expectantly at the candy and you patiently held them out. He seemed to ponder the flavours and colours before he picked one up and tentatively ate it. His whole face brightened up as you giggled. Without thinking, you softly patted his head as he seemed surprised but quickly seemed to enjoy it. You tried not to let your face falter as you felt your heart breaking at the reaction, even more so as he tentatively held your hand to lean his head more.

You got up before you held your hand to him, leading him home. A ninja appeared in front of me as Gaara yelled “Yashamaru”.

You merely let go of Gaara’s hand as he ran up to him. Seeing as he knew the ninja and he was happy, you began to leave; now that Gaara is now with his guardian.

(you wondered where he was this entire time…was he watching you this entire time? But if that was the case, then he should’ve appeared earlier… questions begun to fill you and the sugary sweetness of the candy in your gut begun to turn bitter-)

You turned around to go back to your own home and give yourself a long teeth brushing session, when you felt a tug on my leg. You stopped to look down and saw Gaara, looking at you with his light wide, turquoise eyes. You then knelt down to his level as he gripped your arm like an actual child. You smiled softly at him, tilting your head to the side as you saw Yashamaru not too far away. “What’s wrong Gaara?”

He looked down like he was struggling to say something but you waited. He looked up like he was a bit hesitant but he finally got the courage to speak, “Will I ever see you again [f/n]-Nee/Nii?” 

You blinked at Gaara; thinking me as his older sister already but you merely smirked at him. You messed the top of his head, tickling him. “Of course! All you have to do is call me and you’ll see me~” you said, giving him a grin. 

He beamed before giving me a hug. You admittedly froze for a moment before you returned back with a warm hug and a kiss to the forehead before he ran to the ninja waiting for him. You stood back up while waving him good bye as he did the same. (You could see Yashamaru silently observing and deducing you from over his shoulder and you had a feeling you were going to be interrogated later).

When they were out of sight, you merely sighed to yourself before smiling. Whatever it may be, you had a feeling you were going to this kid no matter what, for a long long time.

[theheirofthesharingan]

I might be dumb, but I don't get why Sishui killed himself. I really don't think there was need for such drama. He left Itachi completely alone, he left a cryptic letter to the Uchiha that only made them distrust Itachi and he allowed Danzo to get away with stealing his eye. In the novel he was supposed to be poisoned (I guess they had to add some reason for such a extreme decision), but still, he could have tried to get medical attention, right? It just feels so silly. Sorry, Itachi, I failed. I don't know what else I can do so I will kill myself now to traumatize you so you get extra powers (anime only) and leave you alone in this mess.

Sorry for the rant. Nice blog, by the way!

I didn't think I'd live to see Shisui slander in my ask box one day.

But it is an interesting question and I've seen this discussed before as well.

Speaking of the novel, Shisui was going to die anyway whether he did or did not seek any medical help.

This is an excerpt from their last conversation. Shisui makes it abundantly clear that he's not going to live. So the little time he had left he used it to relay his final message to Itachi.

Now, in manga things are left vague, and like you said, the change in the novel could have been made to give his death more justification as well as more context. However, even without it, even if we remove the whole poison thing for a moment, Shisui's death still makes perfect sense.

We know Danzo took his eye, and things were already bad enough. If Shisui, instead of dying, went to the Uchiha district, the clan members would want to know what happened to his one eye. Shisui's MS was quite famous because one man in the Five Kage Summit arc and then Killer Bee mention him. It wouldn't be hard to zero in to Danzo or any Konoha leader, because you can't keep things like this hidden for long. In those circumstances, Itachi wouldn't come under suspicion for sure.

If Uchiha found out Shisui's MS had been taken by an enemy - a Konoha leader, no less - it would add fuel to the fire. Shisui was trying to stop the coup, not be the catalyst to an already delicate situation. Things would escalate quickly, resulting in everything he and Itachi were trying to stop.

If he died instead, Itachi would still have some time in his hand, and he could find a way. I think Shisui hoped Itachi would find a way, even if he didn't truly believe it himself.

But it all backfired, obviously. Itachi was left alone afterwards, and everything was too much. Danzo wanted them all dead. It wasn't Shisui's letter, but lack of support from his family, and especially Fugaku giving up on him eventually that things came to the point they did. Maybe if he still stayed in touch with his parents they could have been saved, because it was Danzo preying on a solitary child.

No worries about the rant and thank you. :)

[littlemonstert-blog]

Explaining What I Shouldn't have to...

My Aynalsis

People act like this explanation came out of nowhere when it was literally right in our faces.

Since there only so many panels I can add i might even do a mini part 2

Yes Naruto reasoning for his crush on Sakura was because his rivalry with Sasuke.

Let's started from the beginning where the author set of the dyanmic between team 7.

This is how

Had it from the very beginning

"Sakura a cute girl i like alot" like this is it. So basically from the start from what we know she's cute. That's it

then introduce sasuke already we seen they already know each other.

People tend to "call cap" like there isn't a whole ass chapter explaining the ONLY reason why he even liked her in the first place. Chapter 3

" All I want is for you to acknowledge me." Naruto really took this up as a competion to go out of his way to make Sakura dislike Sasuke.

He did in certain ways at time saw sakura a trophy in a competion.

How did people take this seriously. A immature boy who grew up without parental guidance.

Chunnin Exams

Chapter 37

For somebody who as a crush on Sakura he much more worried about Sasuke having the attention then rather Lee who's blowing kissing & asking her out on a date.

"Always Sasuke"

Forest of Death

Chapter 57

Don't even get me started on the forest of death that the real kicker for me.

in the dream sequence we finally get to see how Naruto wants to one up Sasuke & Sakura as the trophy

And when Naruto wakes up not asking about her injuries but... about her hair.

Chapter 74

Ya' know this could been a true moment between the two, but Naruto doesn't really care. Always turns to be comedic relief nothing to take seriously.

(This is how sum up there 'moments" could have been romantic but ends up as a joke because the author never takes them seriously.)

Naruto vs Gaara

Chapter 129

'What are we suppose to do?"... Now, thats not something you say when the girl you like is in danger of dying.

It took Sasuke throughout this chapter to remind him to do something.

In contrast with other characters there's no questioning what to do. Naruto does two things; will get super mad and go berserk if you mess with Sasuke or Hinata regardless of what point you read in the story

After the Tsunade arc

chapter 172

Now, people say he was sad because how Sakura ran up to. No form this panel Naruto sees that Sasuke was at peace that why we get that "sasuke..you..." he's been through then decides to leave.

If naruto was all that upset about it we would have gotten a flashback to the scene. But then here we are again with Naruto & Iruka eating more concered if Sasuke will become a chunin chapter 172

Then went back to see sasuke smiling as if nothing happened

Even after this to prove my statement he still wants to check on Sasuke & his wellbeing chapter 173

The promise

chapter 183

Seen people say Naruto was truly heartbroken during this. Which is not true Naruto always knew Sakura has feelings for Sasuke. If it was that they would have had a flashback to the hospital scene. In truth Naruto understands her too and is hurt because he cares about Sasuke leaving too.

After Pein Arc

In this scene it just shows us how they just incompatible they are. Never being able to console each other ( other then when it comes to sasuke) when it comes down to it. Naruto needs cheering up to & I understand Sakura needs it as well because Tsuande is her teacher.

Naruto never paied attention when Sakura has been feeling down unless it possibly about Sasuke.

If it isn't Team 7 mission related or Sasuke what do they honestly talk about? I've never see them bond about anything else. When it comes down to it there friendship has always been rocky.

The kage summit arc

The Promise

Chapter 457

What we've all been waiting for

Here we have it brought up again the conversation between Naruto & Sai

Couldn't keep his promises... Not only did he not answer the question we have the next time when it's brought up again.

Chapter 470

"Doesn't matter about the promise." I want to save Sasuke for my own sake."

Naruto telling her it doesn't matter if there a promise between them and if he never made he still chase after Sasuke....

Then what the hell is it then? This just tells us that his "feelings" for Sakura are shallow as hell and fading.

After this it's never brought up again. Normally if the girl you love did a fake confession like this be heartbroken & could never see them again.

But, Naruto acted as if this nothing ever happen. It's never brought up again.

If he really wanted Sakura wouldn't he have ask his mother advice/tips on this?

Looking back

Chapter 693

you have Sakura confess again right in front of Naruto & he isn't even fazed nor cares by it.

Chapter 691

At the end Naruto still doesn't even mention her to his father at the end.

At the end of it Naruto still doesn't know a damn thing about romance or girls. Why would he? Honestly an orphan at birth will be ignorant to certain situations. Just look at how long it took for Naruto to understand Sasuke.

but the question is when did Naruto start to grow up & mature?

I'd say it the time Jiraya died that when he truly grew up & matured.

May revise when I feel like it.

[virtualcarrot]

Polycule ask: can you share some fluff and angst scenarios? And what is a day in the polycule life of Tenzo?

Ooh, missed this one!

Hmm I haven't plotted anything regarding them, so I'm coming up short on scenarios.

Iruka might feel insecure, surrounded by kage level shinobi, and question his legitimacy in the polycule. Yamato may feel similarly about being the only one among them who's never known what it is to have parents. And perhaps Kakashi wakes up in the middle of the night and slowly extricates himself from their many tangled limbs to indulge in some survivor guilt over being, well, happy.

As for Gai, he probably has an adjustment period after the war to learn to live with his disability and the end of his career as a warrior. For the man who told his beloved student Lee that it's best to risk dying for one's dream than live with a disability, I assume even his optimism will dim. Even harder because this is a man used to smiling and hyping himself and others and being helpful and encouraging in the face of struggle. I don't know that he'd dare burden people with anything negative.

But Kakashi's there, who knows him like no other, and the signs that Iruka and Yamato wouldn't catch on, he does, and from then on so do them, so Gai's not alone.

-

A day in the polycule life depends on when it takes place, who's working, who's retired. If it's their day off, Yamato wakes up with his arm gone numb from pillowing Iruka's head, to the barely hushed clatter of Gai getting ready for his obnoxiously early morning run. Yamato meets Kakashi's open eye(s?) in the dark, who smiles back before shutting them again, because Kakashi's the kind of early riser who stays in late in bed and rests with intent.

Yamato usually keeps up with only half of Gai's jog--because Gai is a freak of nature and while Yamato's assiduous in his training there's a time and place for it and he's now an adult free to make his hours, and the hours say it's time for breakfast. So he comes home, grabs the batter Kakashi leaves at the ready in the fridge and heats up a pan. The smell of warm pancakes draws Iruka out of the bedroom, staggering with his eyes half-closed like he's under an enchantment, while Kakashi saunters behind looking deeply entertained. Gai crashes in just as they're about to start eating, giving everybody a sweaty hug or kiss before taking his place.

They'll probably soak at the onsen sometime during the day, because a day off means relaxation, and being slowly marinated in hot water is something they all agree sparks joy. Yamato usually sticks to Iruka's side, there, because they both respect the sanctity of thermal baths, and if Gai and Kakashi feel tempted to start a competition of some sorts they should know better than to trouble their little corner of the pool. Yamato appreciates Iruka taking care of the necessary yelling when they don't.

Kakashi will make something easy and mild and light to eat in the evening, and they'll all sprawl lazily around afterwards. It's one of the times Yamato feels bold enough to drop his head against Kakashi's thigh and doze off. Around the time he reaches the threshold between dream and reality, Kakashi's fingers will start carding his hair, only leaving it to turn a page.

Iruka and Gai are talking taijutsu on the other side of the room. There's the scratch of pen on paper.

"They're not supposed to be working," Yamato mumbles.

Kakashi snorts, shushes him, and resumes petting his hair.

[thelonelysoulhome]

Doumeki is the first person ever that hold out his hand to Yashiro:

(Part 1)

Doumeki is the first person ever to stop yashiro's assault, in their first encounter doumeki stop's the guy that is pinning roughly Y down on a desk,

look right in his eyes and ask him a question, THE question that never been asked to him before :

"Are you okay ?"

This question that no one before cared enough to bother ask, a simple question that is so meanfull and important but never been asked to Yashiro.

No one ever cared enough about Y to just chek if he was alright, he always been abused neglected and used, he's whole life, by everyone he encounter's in he's life :

He's mom :

The little nine years old yashiro never been ask by his Mom if he was okay, we have no clue to know if she knew or not what was going on with her son, but as a mother not seeing that your own son is being raped by his stepdad is kinda off ( he literaly raped Y just behind her while she was sleeping..)

we know that play's a big part in Y's trauma and fucked up mindset, this disgusting peace of sheat that raped him violently used that to brainwash Y to think that he liked feeling pain, to convince a literal child that dosen't even understand what's going on, that if he feel pain than he would get pregnant and if his mom find out she gonna be mad and abandon him, he was so young and clueless that he didn't even understand that it's imposible, but in the mind of a child, if an adult say something than it have to be true.

How horifying and disturbing to hear that for a child ? How much those words shaped the way of thinking and logic of the current Y ? How much of an impact those fucked word disturbed his way of thinking and helped him shape his facade that he lived with for 40 years ?

This panel is one of the most hurtfull (and one of my favorite btw) in this masterpiece, its speak's without words, him watching a little kid being sheltered by her mom with an umbrela from the rain speak so loud, the pain, the lonelines is screaming.

Why not me ? Why my mom, the one person that should be protecting me from all the bad of the world, didn't care about me and the abuse I lived ? Why didn't she sheltered me ? Why didn't she protect me ? Why she never asked me if I was okay ?

So heartbreaking (just for doumeki to return to the car with an fuking umbrella...crying right now).

I'm not saying that his mom knew but I'm saying there is always clue from abuse, she negleted him to the point that she didn't even bother enough to notice or maybe even ignored them (the sighs) in purpose.

And after all of that she abandon him like a piece of a trash that Y is already convinced to be at this point, dirty, twisted beyond repair, unloveable, a livestock that no one want, like he say's himself .

A parent or carer’s belief in the child, and support and actions to stop the harm after the child’s disclosure have an impact on the child’s resilience and recovery from the sexual abuse. If a child is not believed and supported appropriately after a disclosure it can lead to a higher level of relational trauma for the child leading to significantly more negative health and mental health outcomes for the child in the long-term.

Kageyama Kanji:

Now come kageyama, yashiro's first friend and first Love, when Y met kageyama he's already deep in self destruction by seeking violent sex with violent men (mostly yakuza men that are more violent and homophobic) as a coping mecanism from what he lived from his childhood to his puberty.

(At this point Y didn't see his step dad for 3 years and he stoped the rape surely because Y body changed and growed up, disgusting pedo.. And he didn't see his mom for aroud a year)

With kageyama Y encounter for the first time physical touch without pain but he's to deep to even realize it at this point.

intersting to notice how Y did not seek out sex when he though about kage.

At this moment Y try to seek a reaction from kageyama but the only thing that he would have is :

"Okay" okay ? like WTF ! (Y look so disappointent), he's beging for attention here, he's beging for care, for confort, even if he dosen't realise it, he want's someone to care so bad.

But Kage is again An another person that did not care enough to even try to ask him a simple "are you okay ?" and after this indiference he take his distance from Y (the worst thing to do in this situation) I know kage is an akward teenager and just a random classmate but for god sake he couldn't have tried a little harder...

Again we can see how Y try so hard to seek a reaction from kage he want him to care so bad, deepdown he want someone to notice that he isn't well.

I know Kageyama feel sorry for Y and care for him in a way but never verbalize it he just tell's him that he's pitiful and pathetic because he is all alone..(something he continue to think even now) he pity him but he's not bothered enough to really reach out to him.

And that lead to again one of the most hurtfull and heartbreaking moment, Y break's down in tears cause he can't hold it anymore (the one and only time we see him cry). No one care about him, he have no home, no roots, no one to rely on, no one to trust. He is all alone, in both physical an mental distress.

So he seek a sort of "confort" in what he know's : pain, physical one, as a form of self harm but also mental pain relief, to not feel emotions up there (brain) to numb his unbearable existence.

Yashiro learned with Kageyama, by loving someone for the first time, again, the deception, the emptiness and the loneliness, of not being loved.

And the despair of this first person being a man. Those same men that raped him, abused him, used him, crushed him, breaked him. He hate's them but he finish by falling for one of them.

See you in part 2