#she still primarily lives in suna

[dragonfruitsoup]

temari, who gives so much of her life to her family, to her village. the girl's been aging at an exponential rate since she was 6 (as most nin do, but shhh). temari, battle-worn and bruised and as resilient and proud as ever, being shoved into the kazekage's office. kankuro, (alive. alive.), leaning against the closed door and gaara, (alive. alive.), propped up in his fancy little chair at his fancy little desk with his fancy little hat hanging off the hook behind him. a formal little slip of paper, an ultimatum.

the 'we don't care if you go spend it with your boyfriend. ('my what!!?') or go find a beach house along the coast somewhere. but you're not stepping a single toe in this village for the next year.'

they give her a week to pack, and the second swiftest messenger bird suna has, and the reminder that all the major villages have been informed that any expense of hers is to be billed to suna. (amazing what a united front can do...)

temari, stepping out of her home for the first time without her brothers or backup or a mission. she has her fan, of course. she has her headband, of course. she has her tiny gourd of sand from the youngest and a little wooden weasle cause kankuro is, in fact, a massive dork. she has a new scarf from baki and sandals from ebizo and a very pretty set of kunai from her team, just in case.

temari, who looks east, toward konoha, a familiar trip at this point, but catches a caravan moving south. sits along the shoreline for three months, horrified at so much water. learns to swim through a riptide the hard way. aides the fishermen pulling in nets and fixing their sails and teaching the young ones to navigate by star because some things are constant.

packs herself up and heads north when the weather gets cool. passes through the land of rain and earth to get to the land of iron. learns how to pack snow to insulate and how to make the thickest stews. spends two months picking up swords and getting a crash course in smithing.

she writes letters every three days. keeps them bundled together until the hawk swoops back with its latest delivery. the ache of being without her brothers has shifted, no longer a gaping wound. still hurts, of course. she still turns to ask kank something or point out a plant to gaara, but it happens less frequent. her letters look less and less cohesive and more like notes stitched together as the months wear on. (she keeps a letter tucked between the folds of her shirt, just below her left shoulder. the one where the ink is smudged and splattered, where you can tell the boys were fighting for the pen before the other could fill up the space. curls her hand over it while whispering prayers to the stars. she will die before she admits this to anyone.)

she writes occasionally to baki and ebizo and her team. she starts writing to shikamaru when kank starts ragging on her ('your sad, pathetic boyfriend came looking for you and moped around the village for a week before going home with his tail between his legs. it was hilarious. i definitely took a photo for you. can't believe you dumped him already. what, find someone cuter in your travels? -k' 'shikamaru asked about you while he was here. he was here for standard meetings, don't listen to kank. be safe. -g' she does, in fact, keep the picture kank sent in with the rest of her letters. it's shikamaru, leaning against a railing, head tilted back, smoke curling from his mouth. he's backlit by lantern and she has to press a hand against her chest to quell the stuttering of her heart.)

she stumbles through the gates of konoha two weeks before fall truly hits, the leaves on the cusp of change. her pack's frayed, busting at the seam in one spot. she's come up from the coast, mouth blistered from fruit that apparently she's mildly allergic to, who knew. her hair is long, longer still, summer sun bleached and braided over and twisted up to keep off her neck. probably the longest it's ever been in her life. (she's four seconds from chopping it off herself. holds out solely to take a picture for kank, because she knows he'll want one). seeks out chouji first, her favorite and she makes that no secret.

she shares a whole notebook with ino over plants she's seen. talks weapons with tenten and parts with a small dagger she helped temper. gets drunk and shit-talks with kiba & naru.

she spends a whole day cleaning and talking to the stones of asuma and shikaku. the private ones, tucked into the nara land. she made her rounds to the public graves earlier when she arrived, paid her respects to those that served in the war. but these. these she spends the extra time to honor.

meets the downright horrifying deer the nara are so proud of. learns how to tend the woods and the deer alike. temari decides, that while she understands what an absolute honor this is, she would be okay with never stepping foot in there again, thanks. the deer know things. they see things. (she'd never tell shikamaru, but staring into their eyes is not unlike being on the business end of shukaku's gaze.)

it snows the day she leaves. soft and slow and glittering while she presses a kiss just below the corner of shikamaru's eye outside the gate. her bag's been replaced and her sandals repaired and she's eager to get home to her brothers.

and the homecoming is spectacular. the sun, already hazy and stuttered as it breaks the horizon, lights up the walls. turns them into a crown of brass and copper and gold for half a moment. a blink-and-you'll-miss-it. catches all the little specks of rock and sand that refract from the edges. and oh, oh. she'd been taking her time, meandering her way back on an unfamiliar route. but her heart stops in time with that blink and oh.

she doesn't know when she started running, but the ground rises up to meet her.

the unforgiving earth slides and shifts and throws her towards the silhouettes, parasols in bright red and purple like halos, perfect circles behind them that burn with the sunrise.

the sand in the gourd at her waist hums. like it knows. like it's trying to reach its own brethren, matching grains in matching gourds.

the backpack gets dropped and so do the parasols and the impact makes her teeth clack and gaara wheeze and kankuro, the ass, just topples them back, letting the sand plume up around them as they bump their heads.

[hirazuki]

For Now [Chapter 12 snippet]

Sasori/Haruno Sakura, Sasori & Haruno Sakura | T | Blank Period | canon divergent | angst, hurt/comfort, enemies to friends | ongoing [AO3]

•────────────────────⋅☾ ☽⋅────────────────────•

“Hand,” Sasori demands, holding out his own towards her, palm up.

It’s a day off for Sakura, and they are lounging on the couch after another healing session. The progress is slow, as expected, but more whole than she had dared to hope, and evident in the steadily growing precision and strength of his chakra threads when he periodically tests them – usually on her. 

She’s absentmindedly flicking through TV channels and he’s sitting only a foot or so away, close enough to practically lie across if she extends her legs to the side from where she has them curled up in front of her, reading the latest inter-village pharmaceutical bulletin that came in for her at the hospital yesterday, which he pilfered from the stack of paperwork that she left on the living room table. Like most things she brings home, it’s confidential, as he well knows, but that’s never stopped him from helping himself; it’s never stopped her from not stopping him, either – though, she thinks distantly, she probably should, professionally-speaking.

Instead, she’s been silently encouraging this behavior with her unspoken permission, happy to see him increasingly curious about the post-war world around him, and discreetly admiring how healthy he looks compared to even a week ago, nevermind when he first arrived. 

His complexion has become bright and even – and the fact that, after everything he’s put his body through, his skin is still so much better than hers is both medically fascinating and extremely unfair – his previously lifeless hair is back to being the vivid splash of color that used to stain her dreams, and his nails are neatly shaped, no longer broken and brittle. The hollows between his bones are filling out and, though he’s still all hard angles, it is now primarily due to his build. His eyes, too, have been different, dull blades slowly being resharpened and glinting with that dangerous intelligence that she’s finally had to admit to herself she enjoys, as he engages with more and more things, allowing them to catch his interest. 

The subsequent fuzzy warmth that blooms inside of her and worms its way through her body is something that she determinedly attributes to satisfaction with his healing – a job well done on her part, especially for how experimental it’s been; after all, who else can say that they’ve rebuilt someone’s entire chakra network? – and not to pleasure at witnessing how boneless with content he seems, after more than a lifetime of being strung-out. Hypervigilance is something all shinobi struggle with, of course, but she’s found that Suna-nin are a particularly bad case; Gaara-kun, for instance, despite the years, still has trouble sleeping.

Sakura looks at the other redhead currently in her life, and on her couch, and raises a brow.

Sasori sighs, somewhat dramatically, but humors her. “Hold out your hand,” he amends.

[shunshinstan]

Couple gaaleesakuino thoughts

Naruto asks Sakura why she's being so friendly with Gaara for no apparent reason (Naruto is oblivious as always). Sakura cheerfully informs him that she's Gaara's sister-bride! Horrified Naruto laments her definitely being forced to join Gaara's harem. Sakura corrects his thoughts after laughing her ass off. Gaara's her brother-husband, too silly! They're both married to Lee! (Gaara came up with the term during one of his maaany one-on-ones with Ino. She, on the other hand, is his 'sister-double-in-law')

Because of *cough* some bullshit *cough* I mean. Good!Orochimaru research, or Sakura's own ingenuity, Metal Lee is gaalee's bio son, even though both his fathers are transmasc, while Inojin is sakuino's bio son, even though both of his mothers are transfem. The kids are both cross-adopted, of course, plus Shinki is their adopted sibling! Still, step?-brothers Metal and Inojin. (Does this technically make Inojin be Shikadai's step-cousin?? Idk. I've tried my best with other headcanons etc but shipping characters in all the different eras (founders, naruto adjecent, boruto era) have made it near-impossible for me to avoid distant incest. A ramble for another post.)

Ino is still a clan heir, of a clan that resides in Konoha and has very strong ties with it through the Akimichi and the Nara. Gaara, as the Kazekage, could pull rank and diplomacy and allow Ino to move to Suna, sure, but Ino loves her clan! And Gaara loves Suna.. I think that Gaara and Lee would be primarily based in Suna (with Shinki and Metal as well) while Sakura and Ino (and Inojin) live mainly in Konoha, but with many many trips and stays and missions and international assignments etc. Sakura and Ino staying in Suna for a couple months "to help with the hospital and mental health infrastructure". Lee and Gaara visiting Konoha every festival and stuff like that.

That's not to say Lee and Sakura don't get their time together! Joint missions for sure, but sometimes only the one of them will visit the other's country, leaving Gaara/Ino behind. They've got fewer clan/political obligations to uphold, so they don't have to worry about excuses nearly as much. They love each other very very much and are suuuper married.

Surnames-wise.. I think Sakura takes the Yamanaka name. Ino keeps her as clan head. Gaara doesn't actually *have* a family surname. Rock Lee would take Haruno, but since Sakura doesn't keep it.. He'd take Yamanaka, too, since he's technically married to one now (Yamanaka Sakura!), but in the end, he stays with his own. What is it, you ask? Hatake, of course! Hatake Rock Lee. So Gaara copies Sakura and takes Lee's surname. Hatake Gaara!!! Kids are Hatake Shinki, Hatake Metal Lee, and Yamanaka Inojin.

[sasodei-is-real]

Good afternoon💙 Well, or just Hello if you have a different time of day 😅💙

Thank you for your answers!)

And I still can’t reply to comments (I don’t know what is wrong), so I’ll answer like this)

@justanotherblonde thank you very much, it's so nice 🥺💙 And I'm glad that it will be interesting for you) Because the topic is actual and worth discussing.

@movethisalong Thanks for the answer!) I will soon work on the text in drafts, I will publish it today)💗

@bodoquehenko Weeell ... it's not directly related. But indirectly, yes. After all, even though Deidara is an adult, he has a big age difference with Sasori. So, for us - Sasodei fandom, this topic is not completely alien. Anyway, in any fandom, this is a very controversial and interesting topic that is worth discussing. As a sasodei shipper, I was asked questions about this topic. I think it would be nice to say my opinion on this issue and put all the points above and. I will talk not only about the general phenomenon, but also about sasodei separately in this topic.

But of course I will continue the analysis💛. This is not even discussed, because it is for this analysis that my blog was invented. But the point is, right now I only have time for one post. And analysis consists of many parts. And if I had written today about Onoki and Gaara (that is, I would have continued the analysis), I would have been able to move on to the next part of the analysis only in two weeks (this is how long my studies at the university will last). And that's not very good. Because although the analysis consists of different parts, the thing is integral. And it is best to read it without long breaks. I already postponed the analysis for a long time because of the uni , and then I did not want to continue again and stop the two weeks between the next part. I thought, since there is only time for one post, why not write about an actual topic that I would still raise and which would fit into one post. And then continue writing the analysis during the holidays and without long delays between continuation in order to maintain integrity.

Well, then the question was whether it would be interesting for you to discuss the topic of the age difference))

As for the ships, I think to talk after a specific stage in the analysis - when we analyze the characters of Sasori and Deidara. That is, the storage of posts turns out to be something like this - 1 question about the age difference 2 analysis where we left off - Onoki and Gaara (Iva and Suna) 3 The next stage of the analysis is Sasori and Deidara's relationship with the rest of the characters 4 Sasori and Deidarf characters 5 Short conversation about crack ships (which is not part of the analysis of sasodei, but what is worth discussing) 6 Philosophy of Sasori and Deidara, the symbolism of their characters 7 FINALLY 😂 Analysis of the relationship between Sasori and Deidara - Sasodei

Thank you for answer ^w^🧡

@deidaraakasuna Yes, I myself really want to move on to their relationship as soon as possible 🤧❤ Yes, they were created for each other. It is obvious.💫💗

And yes. I agree, everyone has the right to ship whatever they want. I am not against any crackships, or ships with questionable context ... well, any. A person's taste is formed on the basis of his lived life and emotions, and this is too personal to criticize.

But. I'm not talking about WHAT they ship, but HOW they raise their ship, for example, how, by substituting facts, they justify their ships.

I will try to explain what I think about this. The bottom line is that Naruto is a very elaborate and fragile story, the essence of which is her philosophy. Naruto has a very interesting build scheme. Recently I talked with my friend, and she noticed that in its structure Naruto is similar to the Russian classic novel "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov. And this is so. The bottom line is that there are a lot of characters in Naruto. Each character has its own story, its own psychology, motivation and internal conflict, the solution of which manifests one thought. The character has a conflict, the opposite or controversial side of his conflict is put in front of him, most often with the help of another character and ultimately, thanks to the contradiction, the truth is found - that is, we get a ready-made thought about any aspect of life. And so on. Everything is connected together, and each such thought, which is formed with the help of the character's life - by doing it with the rest, creates the philosophy of the work.

For instance. Sasori and Deidara degenerate their vision of the world in their art. They were a contradiction, in the end they found harmony, Deidara accepted eternity, and Sasori the truth of transience. Thanks to the fact that Sasori took instant and soul - Kankuro managed to dissuade him and Sasori decided to find eternity in the continuation of generations. During Edo Tensei, we see Sasori no longer hide his concern for Deidara with excuses and aggression - he has evolved. Therefore, Kankuro deals with the question of the soul. Sasori dies while Deidara screams and he pretends to embrace his parents. During the conversation, Edo Tensei, with the help of Kankuro and Sasori, reveal to us the theme of the soul. What is the soul? A haven of pain that poisons the heart, but without which you become a weak-willed marilnet. And Sasori's conflict is directly related to Obito. After discussing the soul issue, we see Obito pointing at the hole in his chest and saying that he doesn't feel anything. This is great preparation for Obito. These two characters are somewhat similar. Both wanted to escape their pain and forget themselves in illusions. Sasori replaced people with puppets, and love with universal contempt and control. Obito wanted to forget himself in the eternal Tsukuemi. Sasori accepted his feelings for Deidara. Obito realized that he shouldn't forget Rin. Sasori died in such a pose like hugging his parents. Obito died again while saving his friend Kakashi. Both died in the same situations that doomed them to suffering and pushed them into the dark. Simbolic 👀.(By the way, did you notice that Sasori's main OST is playing in the background? "Despair"). I mean, in Naruto, everything is very closely related to each other. Sasori and Deidara's relationship is their development. And when, for example, I see the sasosaku shippers dismantle the battle scene and say that Sakura influenced Sasori, proving her validity, it's not very pleasant. Primarily as a Naruto fan. Let's imagine for a minute If Sakura really influenced Sasori.

Sasori would not be able to achieve what he most desired - true eternal art. The role of Kankuro would not be needed and he would not have developed as a character and would not have received future Puppets . Since Kankuro is not needed, then his conversation with Chiyo and her acceptance will not take place. Since Sakura has already influenced him, there is no need to talk about the soul - there is no full disclosure of Sasori and the prologue to Obito's conflict. Complete disregard for Sasori's feelings for Deidara and for finding harmony.

And the most important thing. Sasori is a complex and deep character with his own feelings and motives. Each of his actions is based on his state of mind and thoughts. And when they explain Sasori's decision by the fact that he was influenced by a 15-year-old girl who then shouted that she wanted to get rid of her parents and who was unable to understand Sasori continued to scream, and not his character - this is a spit towards Sasori. As a Sasori stan, I am not pleased.

And so with everyone. I love Deidara. Obito is my heart. But in the pairing, Obiday Deidara is presented not as a deep character with his own conflict, but as a cliché "I behave aggressively, but I like you." Rin and Obito's wonderful story...?? No?😅😂

And yes, of course it is clear that in canon these are all crackships.

And I don't mind when people ship characters for themselves, draw art, write fanfiction and have fun. no, that's cool. BUT when they try to prove the canonicity of such an absurdity ... I'm Here 🌚👍

And after all, philosophy really changes. I was talking to my friend last week and he said, "It would be cool if in the Kazekage arc it turned out that Gaara is Uzuma. It would turn out that Naruto Uzumaki saved Uzumaki." Umm ... no. It wouldn't be.

The fact that Gaara was none for Natuto was done for a reason. From the very beginning, Gaara's history and development prepared us for 1 Pain's Philosophy. 2 To resolve the conflict between Suna and Iva. Two old villages.

Remember the first season? As after the fight Naruto said "I understand your pain, I went through the same." Gaara was not Naruto's relative, his friend from the start, he was from another village and was his enemy because

1. This resolved the conflict between Chie and the conservative villages. Chie asked, "Why does he care so much about Gaara? They are from different villages." Chie of the old school has broken the world into structures, forgetting that, first of all, they are all people and not representatives of countries. Kakashi replies, "He doesn't care what village he is from. They went through the same pain and are the best at each other." Chie dies realizing the old mistakes imposed by generations "You will change this world invented by old and stupid people."

2. Gaara was preparing us for a meeting with Pain. Pain's philosophy was that people who were completely alien to each other could understand each other by knowing the same pain. If Gaara was Naruto's relative, it would destroy the entire structure of philosophy.

3 The example of Naruto and Gaara is Jiraiya's true teaching. "We know what pain is and try to be merciful to others." The idea seems to be the same as that of Pain, but at the same time it is completely different. Pain used pain ( ahh sorry 😂) as a weapon. Against the background of Gaara's example, this looks even more obvious.

4 In the future, just like Naruto changed Chiyo, Gaara will change Onoki.

I want to say that in Naruto everything is very fragilely interconnected. This is the order and the relationship of the characters of the link. So why when the same shippers Sasosaku, Tobidei and Itadei prove their "canonicity" by

1 Sakura influenced sasori

2 Tobi called Deidara his favorite senpai

3 Deidara hates sharingan and talks about Itachi

Well, on the one hand, I don't care as the sasodei shipper , because as many canonical proofs and justifications as Sasodey has, not a single ship has

but on the other hand, as a fan of Naruto philosophy, I hate to see how people are ready to distort the idea of ​​anime and the characters of in order to prove their canon.

So,

In a word, I want to talk about this first of all as

1 A fan of the naruto philosophy that becomes meaningless due to the substitution of facts for some ship

2 A fan of all these characters who are distorted trying to prove their "canonicity"

3 Sasodei shipper

In general, I do not mind "I like this ship and I ship it. Ok"

I do not like "I will ignore the facts and at the same time do not care that I made the philosophy of the anime useless, distort the characters of the persona only in order to prove their some crackship's canonicity 🌚👍"

I hope I could explain why I want to talk about it😶

And this one is so sweet🥺💗Yes, I also know people with a huge difference in age who are beautiful and happy together for a long time. And although I agree that a lot is not visible from the outside, but age really does not matter. It's all about people.

And I'm sorry that it turned out so long 😅

This was a good chance to explain why I decided to talk about other ships (/> <)/

So, thanks again for the answers ^=^ ❤💛

I’ll go and write a post about the age difference in the drafts, edit it a little and post 🐥🦂

[cyb-by-lang]

Shell Game (11/?)

Kei and Hayate spend a day strolling around Mustafu and meet a friend.

“What’re we gonna do today?” Hayate asked on Sunday morning. After omurice and tea, the day was theirs. And perhaps feeling generous after the sleepover, he even did the dishes.

“I thought about visiting the beach,” Kei said, holding up her shinobi sandals. “What do you think?”

“Sure!”

Dagobah Beach Municipal Park had apparently been completely trashed before Kei moved into town. Whether due to ocean currents or people being jerks, the accumulated wreckage and waste electrical appliances of an entire civilization ended up on one poor stretch of beach. But over the course of ten months, somebody or something had stealthily removed all the trash and cleared the beach from one end to the other.

It was also within walking distance, since Hayate had gotten fairly burned out on trains the day before.

…Wait a fucking second.

Hm?

Dagobah. Uh, that’s…a planet. In Star Wars.

I do not understand the reference.

It goes…um… “Go to the Dagobah system.” Something, something, Yoda. It could be a star system, I guess?

Isobu sighed deeply, which was impressive for someone without lungs. Kei.

Yeah?

Please go to the beach. I need to see a real one again.

Kei and Hayate made it to the park pretty damned fast after Kei explained that.

In mid-spring, the ocean was still cold as all get out. Isobu wanted to head in and have Kei lie down in the surf, but she sharply vetoed that plan upon putting a toe in to test the temperature.

Meanwhile, Hayate darted down the beach with no difficulty, kicking up plumes of sand as he went. Though it probably wasn’t obvious to onlookers, Kei could feel the little pulses of chakra being emitted as her brother prevented himself from sinking too far. He wanted to goof off, not work out.

“Hey, if you want shaved ice, only one of us has money!” Kei called after him, but that was really an afterthought. Kei was still barefoot and walking in the surf, instead of living up to Isobu’s wish of swimming in the ocean at nine in the morning.

Besides, Hayate was already happily running loose at the water’s edge, arcs of spray following him as he went. The sand, apparently, wasn’t his first love after that whole Chūnin Exam incident in Suna.

It took a little longer before, belatedly, Kei realized Hayate had never seen the ocean before. With Konoha as deeply inland as it was, only shinobi tended to get out often enough or range widely enough to see all kinds of cool climates and piss off the indigenous wildlife. Hayate was still a typical curious kid in some significant ways. Kei had been to plenty of strange places, both on missions and when she counted her previous lifetime, though this gravel-free sand was still novel.

How spoiled she’d become. Not just by her opportunities here, but by what knowledge she carried in her soul.

Isobu gave a deep sigh of contentment, though Kei hadn’t rushed into the sea. He seemed to be okay with the results of today’s morning adventure.

“You can see forever like this!” Hayate declared to the sea and the encroaching gulls.

Kei called back, “Try skipping rocks! My record’s five skips!”

Hayate flashed her a breathless smile, then promptly ignored her idea to try and snatch the miniature fish lurking in the surf. To be fair, this world had more interesting things going for it than Kei.

Hayate did eventually get bored, but it took a few minutes. He also managed to feed the seagulls his tiny haul of fish fry, which made him a troop leader in their eyes for the next few minutes. Perhaps it was youth, hidden viciousness, or just pure silliness that kept him interacting with the seagulls long past the “Mine!” stage.

But once they discovered he did not, in fact, have any more food, they all abandoned him in favor of a man eating takoyaki.

“I feel like I’ve accomplished something,” Hayate said, while the poor guy was being chased to the other end of the beach.

Kei didn’t have it in her to criticize much. Instead, she said, “So, after all that training with your team, how’s your taijutsu?”

Most bladed implements bigger than kitchen knives were highly regulated in Japan, so Kei hadn’t actually been able to spar with her full complement of melee skills. On the other hand, Hayate hadn’t specifically stated that he was training with, say, Gai on weekdays. Iruka and Yūgao were perfectly nice kids, but neither was a melee powerhouse just yet. Hell, Kei had been teaching Yūgao how to use her katana before this mission cropped up, so it was hard to tell if Hayate was getting rusty.

Rust. For a kenjutsu specialist. Isobu snorted. Hah.

A pun for all occasions.

Hayate blanched. “Um…”

A not-so-nice smile stretched across Kei’s face before she managed to hide it. “Lucky for you, I think public fighting is illegal. But you’re gonna catch hell later.”

Hayate seemed to consider this, but Kei felt the spark in his chakra in the split second before he threw a punch.

Kei instantly caught his wrist and judo-flipped him into the surf for being a brat.

Now, Mustafu—how the hell had she missed that little chestnut for two months—was in the same city as UA. It was also the same city as Kei’s apartment, primarily by design, but the point was that running into classmates was not the statistical impossibility it might’ve been if she lived, say, in Hosu. Sure, the greater Tokyo area was a big place, and she didn’t really know if anybody preferred hanging around their super-special high school.

“Is that how you’re training for the Sports Festival?”

Then again, Shinsō had already randomly come across her once. For a kid who didn’t look like he slept much, he was up early on a weekend.

“Hey, Shinsō-san.” Kei waved up at him, because it appeared her purple-haired classmate was actually a cyclist on his days off. Nobody with sense would take even a folding bike into the sand, though she could see Gai making a training exercise out of it. Thus, Shinsō had propped his bike up on a railing and was leaning next to it.

Put him a bit out of splashing range, though. That wouldn’t be a problem for long, because Hayate had caught onto Kei’s lack of attention.

In fact, both of the Gekkō siblings promptly trooped up to Shinsō, though Kei used the access stairs and Hayate hurled himself up and over the railing in a single leap like some kind of saltwater-encrusted kangaroo. Either because of watching Kei during PE or just being too used to a world full of Quirks, Shinsō didn’t react.

“Since when are there two of you, Gekkō-san?” Shinsō pointed past Kei to Hayate, who was sizing up the newcomer.

“Since I was three. This is my kid brother, Hayate.” Kei stepped neatly to the side, allowing Hayate to sidle forward.

Hayate, who was about tall enough to reach Shinsō’s collarbone, sized him up like he expected to have to get into a fistfight. While Shinsō probably outweighed Hayate by a fair amount, Kei’s adorable baby brother was also the next in line to mastery of their mother’s kenjutsu style and had been participating in their family training since he could walk. Now a genin, he could probably take on most of the local toughs before Quirks got involved.

Then everyone blinked and the trance was broken.

Hayate dropped a fist into his open palm, as though something had just occurred to him. “Oh, wait, is this the guy with the mind control power? You didn’t say what he looked like.”

“I didn’t?” Kei tried to think back, but they’d discussed so many things over the previous (extremely tiring) day that she couldn’t remember. “Well, this is Shinsō-san. He’s in my class and… You’re at the top of the class, right?”

“You can’t remember the name of our class rep and you can remember that?” Shinsō shook his head. “You’re hopeless.”

“If he’s at the top of the class,” Hayate said after a second, looking between the other two, “where are you?”

“Well…” Kei began, belatedly realizing that this was probably a poor conversational topic.

“Dead last,” Shinsō said, throwing her under the bus as though on reflex. It was a well-developed instinct for people who hung around Kei for any length of time.

“Shut up,” Kei grumbled.

Hayate very pointedly reached up and pinched his own ear. “Okay, not dreaming.” He took a deep breath, then jabbed a finger into Kei’s chest. “But seriously, what the hell? You were at the top of your class back when you were like eight, and Obito keeps saying you slept through everything and you transferred in late. Again, what the hell?”

Called on the carpet by her very own little brother. And with a witness! Kei jerked her head away, feeling her ears heat up under her hair. “It’s different, okay?”

“I really don’t think it is!”

“She makes up for it,” Shinsō volunteered, after Hayate had started to build up steam.

He demanded crossly, “How?”

“Scaring our classmates to death.” Kei’s glare was redirected to Shinsō instead of her brother. Smirking, Shinsō went on, “It started with the scar, then they saw her Quirk, and then she’s been ignoring them all ever since.”

Hayate smacked his hand directly to his forehead. “You are my favorite sister—”

“Only sister,” Kei muttered.

“—but you’re supposed to be nice to people at least a bit, and I know you’re smart enough to do well in school anywhere. Just put your back into it!” Hayate finished. Then, perhaps realizing that he was still half-soaked, he started scrubbing his hands through his rapidly-tangling brown hair as though it would remove any of the salt or sand.

Kei and Shinsō both leaned back a little from the sudden spray.

“Anyway,” Hayate said before Kei or Shinsō could think of anything to say. “Mind control. How does it work?”

“…Why?” Shinsō asked, notably more hesitant now.

Kei hid her initial reaction, which was the urge to quell Hayate immediately. Though she often pretended not to know what people were feeling or disregarded it, and being unable to read any chakra from the locals made that problem slightly more genuine, she did have compassion. Shinsō didn’t need an interrogation from Hayate.

But her brother was already on a roll.

“Inoichi-sensei can do something like that,” Hayate said. “He just went like this—” here, Hayate made the hand seal for the Mind-Body Disturbance technique, “—and this guy punched himself in the face. It was really cool!”

Shinsō looked at Kei over Hayate’s shoulder as though to confirm that Hayate wasn’t bullshitting him, and Kei said with a shrug, “His sensei’s whole family can do something similar.”

“And that’s…cool.” Shinsō raised an eyebrow. “Not creepy, or villainous, or dangerous.”

“Of course it’s dangerous.” Hayate shook his head. Counting off with his fingers, he went on, “So is setting fires, being a walking thunderstorm, or almost drowning people. Any type of power is dangerous if you’re an asshole about it. And Inoichi-sensei even gave us this huge talk about that like…last month? There was a lot about ethics.”

Ironic, since shinobi education tended to go light on those. Then again, Hayate’s batch of genin were growing up in a more peaceful era. Maybe that meant something.

“If you’re trying to get Hayate to admit he thinks you might randomly go evil,” Kei said in a mild tone, “even jokingly, it’s not gonna work. Mind control Quirks are really common where we come from. You can do a lot of good with good intentions and strong morals.”

Madara notwithstanding, the Uchiha were a respected noble clan. And, while not as rich or as popularly known, the Yamanaka clan sat proudly among the Konoha elite when they felt like putting on airs.

“Besides, I don’t know you,” Hayate said, “but you don’t feel like a bad person.”

Kei dropped a hand onto her brother’s shoulder and asked in a complete conversational left turn, ”Are you hungry?”

“Uh, sort of?” Hayate kept his eyes on Shinsō, however. “Do you think they have taiyaki?”

“Maybe.” Kei had not exactly made a habit of scouting beaches for snack stands.

“I’ll look!” Hayate said, and ran off.

Kei and Shinsō watched him go. Sooner or later, Hayate would remember that he didn’t have any local money.

“So,” Kei said after a few seconds. “Sorry if that was a lot to dump on you all at once.”

“It’s…It’s different, I guess.” Shinsō grabbed the handlebars of his bike and looked around for a second. “I’m going to park this, but I could…stick around. See what you’re doing for training.”

“All we’re doing right now is getting a mid-morning snack,” Kei said, and the pair of them followed vaguely in Hayate’s wake.

It turned out that, much like parking spaces for cars that had timers and pay meters, Japan also had such spaces for bikes. Kei poked at the strange devices while Shinsō locked his bike in one of the empty slots, paying the fee with a few coins.

“Are you looking forward to the Sports Festival, Shinsō-san?” Kei asked, while she idly pinged for Hayate’s chakra signature. Though she’d seen his reaction to the announcement, and perhaps the aftermath of everyone declaring war on 1-A for whatever reason, she still wanted to hear his answer.

As her brother’s lightning signature lit up further down the street, Kei heard Shinsō respond, “Isn’t it obvious?” When she glanced at him, he went on, “If I win, it’s a chance for me to get into the Hero course. I can’t afford not to win.”

Kei blinked slowly. That was a bit more intense than she’d been expecting.

“What?” Shinsō seemed almost offended that she didn’t have an immediate response.

“Good luck?” Kei tried. “Some of the kids you’re gonna be up against are pretty tough, aren’t they?” Kei was fairly certain Blondie McSplode would be totally okay with blowing up anybody near him, Shinsō included. Hell, his own classmates most definitely included.

“It doesn’t matter,” Shinsō said dismissively. “I know you don’t care about this kind of thing, but…people have been telling me my whole life that I can’t become a hero with a villainous Quirk.” Yes, Kei had rather figured that. But she kept silent so Shinsō could continue with, “But that’s my dream. I’m going to prove them all wrong.”

What, exactly, was she supposed to say to that? “Okay. I mean, you’ve probably got a strategy and I’m sure it works for your Quirk, but do you have a backup plan?”

Shinsō clearly didn’t want to listen to suggestions, but managed to grumble “I’m all ears.”

Kei was game enough for it. “Learn to fight?”

“The Sports Festival is in two weeks,” Shinsō said flatly.

“It takes just a few hours to learn basic self-defense.” She crossed her arms. “If your Quirk doesn’t cut it, that’s all you’ll have left. Do you even know how to throw a punch?”

“Of course I do.”

They continued half-seriously arguing this way for a while, following Hayate’s constant window-shopping more than anything. Apparently, in the months since the beach had been cleaned up, more businesses had cropped up to take advantage of the view than Kei had thought. Most of them didn’t have customers this early, but it was actually better that way. It meant no one really had to hear Kei and Shinsō’s ongoing debate regarding his fighting skills.

Hayate interrupted a round of Kei gesturing empty-handed while trying to explain the principles of punching someone in the face or the throat with, “Hey, what’s the law on Quirks again?”

“I know I’m not supposed to use mine in public,” Kei said, which Hayate accepted without elaboration.

She’d given him a very bare-bones explanation of Quirks and Quirk legislation, but it boiled down to about the same reason non-shinobi weren’t supposed to use chakra-based techniques outside of clan holdings. Hayate understood that, and then spent two hours over one summer weekend cheerfully tossing ideas back and forth with Obito and Kei about what his Quirk could be.

Hayate’s decision, in the end, was based on his chakra sensor ability. Besides being the only person in Konoha who could use their mother’s samurai-trained technique, Hayate didn’t expect to be able to carry a sword here or even to fight. The ability to sense other people’s emotions and intent was good enough for wandering the streets, and it covered neatly for shinobi hyperawareness.

“You can use them for self-defense,” Shinsō put in, when Kei was going to let the subject drop. “Technically, you can defend yourself or others, but just enough to run away.”

“Given the number of heroes running around, that can’t be that bad.” Hayate folded his arms behind his head, content to join them while they walked. “And everyone has cell phones, so contacting somebody would be easy.”

“You’d think,” Shinsō said. “There was a kid…last spring.” Shinsō rubbed the back of his neck, though the expression that crossed his face wasn’t particularly kind. “He got captured by a villain and nobody could get him loose until All Might showed up. Three heroes, and between the kid’s explosion Quirk and the villain possessing him, none of them could do anything besides try to keep people away and put out fires.”  

Kei couldn't help but notice that Hayate’s presence seemed to calm both of them down. Or rather, Kei stopped dominating the conversation and Shinsō had a chance to educate a twelve-year-old. Maybe he liked non-judgmental kids?

“Was that kid the blond jerk from 1-A?” Kei asked, unable to think of anyone else who could create explosions on demand.

“The very same,” Shinsō confirmed. Okay, that was definitely a bitter sort of smirk. “Guess that fancy Quirk didn’t do anything for him.”

Lots of bitterness.

“We might both have to face him in the Sports Festival,” Kei said, while they turned toward a shopping district instead of the beach. “Your strategy’s set, right?”

Shinsō nodded. “Shouldn’t be too hard to piss him off.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to see that while it happens,” Hayate grumbled. To Kei, he said, “You haven’t done an exhibition match since you were eleven. How bad do you really think it’s gonna get?”

Good of Hayate not to mention the Chūnin Exams by name. The death toll was rather higher than would be accepted in a peacetime society. Sure, nobody tended to die in the finals, but the Second Exam was the obstacle course round and fairly unrestrained. Certainly people tried to kill each other, with varying levels of success.

“I’ll be fine,” Kei said.

“I know that,” Hayate griped, as Kei affectionately ruffled his hair. “But are you aiming for the top? Do you have a strategy?”

“Dazzle everyone with my skill,” Kei suggested sarcastically. When Shinsō and Hayate both gave her skeptical looks—disturbingly alike, actually—Kei huffed and said, “Depending on what the events are, I might be able to just use my athletic ability to get past them. But up against people like the explosion kid…yeah, that’d be about when I should bust out my Quirk.”

Kei needed to figure out what mechanism allowed Blondie McSplode to act like a walking minefield. If his Quirk was anything like the half-magic fūinjutsu explosions she favored, countering him would be harder. If he relied on a chemical balance, though…

Shinsō shook his head slowly as they passed a bank. “Are you sure you should be talking about this with me? We’re going to be rivals in the Sports Festival.”

“Whatever.” Kei flapped a hand dismissively. “If we both get that far, then I’ll worry about it.”

“She said the same thing before her last exhibition match,” Hayate said to Shinsō, in a stage whisper. “And then she and one of her friends beat the crap out of each other.”

“It was Gai,” Kei defended herself. “If I wasn’t prepared to use everything I had, I’d lose.”

“Shots below the belt are illegal everywhere else,” Hayate muttered, while Shinsō paled.

“Hey, we both knew there weren’t any rules,” Kei argued.

“What the hell kind of dojo did you two join?” Shinsō demanded incredulously. When both of the Gekkō siblings looked askance at him, he clarified, “Who was your teacher?”

Kei and Hayate exchanged looks. Then, in unison, “Mom.”

Shinsō’s purple gaze flicked rapidly back and forth between them, and then he pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “That explains so much.”

At least Shinsō knew now that Kei came by her weirdness honestly. Couldn’t be anything else if Hayate was also affected.

It was at this point that the bank next to them started to rumble.

Hayate’s first instinct was to pause and look at the potential problem, his eyes narrowed and entire body tensed for a fight. So was Shinsō’s, but he was a bit closer to the street in comparison and didn’t have any combat training to fall back on.

Kei grabbed both boys by the backs of their jackets and flung them clear before the front doors shattered.

[karukv-moved]

👀 + hit me with those shikatema headcanons. I enjoy your thoughts. [ or just headcanons on temari in general is cool ]

send me 👀 + a ship ( PLATONIC / ROMANTIC / HATE ) & i’ll give you 3 headcanons!

I. // 

Shikamaru && Temari takes a very long time to actually get together. This is primarily due to the distance && both of them having a lot of responsibilities to their own respective villages. While the feelings might have been there for both of them, I can see them both putting this possible relationship on hold till the alliance is more stable.  They are both important political figures && fighters for their respected villages. There would just be too much work, && other priorities for a relationship pre-war. 

Also while we are at it, Temari forming a relationship && marrying someone outside the village would be seen as a big deal. Something that could lead to political unrest between all the nations && within Suna. Now, this might sound a little farfetched, but they both hold vital positions in their respected villages like I’ve said previously their union could be seen as a way to strengthen the leaf/sand bond at the exclusion of the other nations. This is something I only see as problematic to begin with as the alliance is still new && on shaky grounds. The matters within Suna, however, are far more troublesome. 

In Suna the kazekage comes from the Kazekage clan. I have hcs about this being due to kekkei genkai that’s born into this clan, controlling sand would be the best defense for a village surrounded by the desert.  So any child Temari has could pass on one of Suna’s greatest strengths the kazekage clan kekkei genkai to an outside village. 

II. //

 Have some soft hc to make up for all the political mess I gave you. during the build-up to their relationship, they spent a lot of time working together, but that slowly shifted to a lot of time together outside of work too. Shikamaru had been her guide for so many years would have shown Temari some of his favorite places && slowly they would soon become here’s as well. On some rare afternoons where they have actually caught up with Work, Shikamaru would nap in the sunshine && Temari will happily sit there soaking up the warmth of the sun, she might read or just spend some time thinking. Sometimes they even nap together, it’s peaceful && just nice, but soon enough the work piles up again. 

III. //

 Alright, their relationship would have a lot of letters, to start with they are long distance, Temari would live in both villages but she would always return Suna. && I can imagine that it becomes harder every time as they get closer. it ’s not something that’s easy but it’s just the life they lead. They write seemingly boring letters about their respective days, nothing that’s of much interest to others, but in-between the lines it’s filled with longing && private jokes. 

IV. //

You know that time Shikamaru is placed beside Temari in his dream && call’s marriage troublesome. I don’t think he’s calling actual marriage troublesome. (This can be better seen in the Manga since the Anime makes Asuma freak out over a baby???) He’s actually talking about forming attachments with someone in the word they live in. Both his father && Asuma have died to leave their loved ones, alone && their children without a father. this is something that probably weighs on Shikamaru’s subconscious. && probably Temari’s as well. They would both be nervous about going there in case it ended in tragedy as so often shinobi x shinobi relationships did. But I guess over time the risk of heartbreak was overshadowed by the risk of never getting the chance to be together. 

&& HERE, a nice Shikatema song. 

[moviegooo]

The Naruto series ended with most of the central cast of characters in their late teens. A time skip saw them (mostly) married with kids and leading the village in a new generation. Shikamaru ended Naruto Shippuden as a war hero, adviser to the Hokage, and a young man picking up the pieces after losing several people he cared for. By the events of Boruto, he became the Hokage’s right hand, married a formal rival, and was raising one third of the next generation of Ino-Shika-Cho.Shikamaru began the franchise as a lazy kid who couldn’t be bothered to study. He wanted nothing more than an average life where he could watch the clouds go by. Uninterested in marriage, intimidated by women, caring only for his close friends, and preferring to use his genius intellect for board games, it might surprise some fans to see where Shikamaru ended up.The Naruto arc that saw Shikamaru seek revenge for his sensei Asuma began the shinobi’s true growth spurt. Though he led teams before, his plans took out two Akatsuki members, avenged Asuma, and helped his friends grieve. That marked a turning point for him to grow into the man he became during the franchise “Blank Period” set between Naruto and Boruto.It’s during that period that Naruto’s generation was busy carving out new lives for themselves in a changing Konohagakure. Shikamaru more than made up for his lazy childhood, and we’ve got 25 Things Shikamaru Did Between Naruto And Boruto to prove it. 25 Shikamaru Married TemariAs the Naruto series wound to a close, the Fourth Shinobi World War occurred. During the events of the war, Shikamaru wasn’t in an office as an adviser, but out on the front lines of battle. His father Shikaku, the head of the Nara Clan, was in the intelligence office with Inoichi Yamanaka.The duo stayed in the headquarters during an attack, both losing their lives. By the time the war was over, Shikamaru had to become the head of the clan as the only son in the head family (that we know of). This particular storyline hasn’t come into play in the Boruto series, but with Shikadai next in line, perhaps it will. 23 He Became A JoninAspiring ninja in the Naruto world begin their journey at the Ninja Academy. Once they graduate, they become genin. Teams then enter the Chunin Exams to vie for promotion. Shikamaru was the first of the Naruto generation to achieve Chunin status, doing it the same year he graduated.The franchise never makes it clear just what Chunin have to achieve Jonin status. During the early days of Naruto Shippuden though, as nearly everyone in their generation are Chunin, Temari points out Shikamaru could easily make Jonin status. At some point following the Fourth Shinobi World War, he did just that. By the time The Last: Naruto The Movie occurs, he’s a Jonin team leader. 22 He Led The Hanabi Rescue MissionFollowing Shikamaru’s promotion to Jonin, he found himself selected to lead an important mission. Not only did he have to lead a team of his friends (Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Sai), but he had to rescue Hanabi Hyuga and stop the moon from crashing into the Earth.Hinata was the original target of a kidnapping plot as the “Byakugan Princess.” When she fought back, Toneri snatched away her little sister instead. Shikamaru wasn’t initially supposed to lead a team that included her, but Hinata didn’t want a rescue mission launched without her. It’s a good thing she came along because Shikamaru needed Hinata’s specific chakra to help save the day in the end. 21 He Had A SonThe Ino-Shika-Cho trio includes the children form the current head families of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans. Traditionally, it appears they were always three male. Shikamaru’s generation was the first to have a girl in their trio in the form of Ino Yamanaka, so he probably wouldn’t have been upset to have a daughter. Temari and Shikamaru, however, had a son.Staying close to the traditional Nara name format, the two named their son Shikadai. The Shikamaru Hiden novel revealed the duo had a hard time settling on a name. Since the birth of his son, Shikamaru worked to teach Shikadai some of their family specific jutsu, carrying on the old traditions. 20 He Fought A Lot Of PuppetsPuppet mastery is a unique shinobi skill. Of the main and recurring characters, only Kankuro uses puppets to fight on a regular basis. That’s why it’s interesting that some of Shikamaru’s major battles during the Blank Period involved puppets.During the events of The Last: Naruto The Movie, Shikamaru stayed behind to battle Toneri's puppets, allowing his team to move forward and continue to fight without him. During the light novel Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage, Shikamaru also fought a puppeteer. This time, it’s to save Temari during a major meeting when she and Gaara are attacked.19 Shikamaru Advised Two New HokagesFans watched Shikamaru become a valuable fountain of strategic wisdom when Lady Tsunade acted as Konohagakure’s Fifth Hokage. She believed in Shikamaru’s skills and placed him in leadership positions as soon as he became a Chunin. After her time as Hokage ended, Shikamaru’s advisory position didn’t end.Shikamaru also acted as an advisor to Kakashi Hatake when he became Sixth Hokage. Like Tsunade before him, Kakashi gave Shikamaru assignments that placed him in charge of different missions or divisions. Following Kakashi stepping down, Shikamaru acted in the same role for Naruto. We’ll have to wait and see if he advises another new Hokage in the future.18 He Ran The Blood PrisonIf you’ve ever wondered what happened to the most dangerous shinobi when they were captured by authorities, wonder no more. One of the Naruto movies showed fans that they ended up in the Blood Prison, but a light novel gave fans a bit more detail as well.Set a year after the events of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kakashi Hiden: Lightning In The Icy Sky saw Kakashi and Might Guy just wanting a little vacation. Instead, they ended up in the middle of a hostage negotiation. While they were busy doing that, Tsunade placed Shikamaru in charge of running the Blood Prison. By the end of the novel, he was back in an advisory position.17 He Brokered A Deal Between Tsunade And KakashiOne of the reasons Shikamaru didn’t last long as the director of the prison was because Kakashi recommended someone else for the job. He wanted Kahyo, the woman at the center of the hostage situation in the light novel, to run the prison as part of her sentence instead of losing her life.Shikamaru is the first to agree that it’s a good plan (probably because it got him away from the prison and back in the Hokage’s office). He and Lady Tsunade agreed to Kakashi’s terms, as long as Kakashi agreed to take over as Hokage. Everything worked out just fine.16 He Became Coordinator For The Shinobi UnionIt’s a good thing Shikamaru didn’t remain in place at the prison because he had quite a few other responsibilities on his hands. For the two years following the Fourth War, he was the coordinator of the Shinobi Union. Like the real life United Nations, the Shinobi Union was comprised of representatives from the major shinobi nations. They met to create treaties and make sure they could have a lasting peace. Shikamaru worked to coordinate schedules and set up meetings. As a result of his effort, the shinobi world experienced the longest period of peace they knew.15 He Started Keeping Secrets From FriendsNot one who could be bothered with keeping secrets as a kid, that changed as an adult. During the light novel Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting In Silent Darkness, the title character ended up with a new assignment from Kakashi. He had to infiltrate another land, and possibly take out the dangerous leader.Shikamaru chose not to tell any of his close friends about the mission. He reasoned that Temari was an outsider since she was from Suna, that Choji and Ino shouldn’t be involved in such “foul business,” and that Naruto might lose faith in his abilities. Shikamaru lied to all of them until after the mission was over, something he’d never had to do. 14 He Refined His Shadow SkillsWhen Shikamaru first learned the skills inherited in his family, he had to take extra steps to perform certain jutsu. Primarily, when completing his Shadow Possession Jutsu, Shikamaru couldn’t enact it without utilizing hand signs.Hand signs help a shinobi to focus and refine different skills. Some jutsu require them. In Shikamaru’s case though, he became so adept with his shadow skills that by the time the Boruto series rolled around, he didn’t need hand signs to use every jutsu he performed with his shadows in combat. At some point during the Blank Period, he must have gotten in a bit more training.13 A Cult Leader Captured ShikamaruDuring the novel Shikamaru Hiden, the title character was sent on a rescue mission of sorts. An odd letter from Sai alerted Kakashi and Shikamaru to the fact that Sai was compromised. Shikamaru and a team went to the Land of Silence to rescue Sai and eliminate the land’s leader, presumably the one responsible for Sai’s strange messages.When Shikamaru got there, it didn’t take long for his team to be compromised as well. Gengo, the shinobi leading the Land of Silence, laced his voice with genjutsu, controlling his people. He captured Shikamaru and held him in prison when Shikamaru couldn’t quickly be swayed. The anime adapted a version of the arc for its final special episodes.12 He Refused To Leave His Job BehindThough Gengo found it odd that his genjutsu didn’t work on Shikamaru, he still gave the Konoha ninja the option to become one of his advisers instead. All Shikamaru had to do to get whatever he wanted in the Land of Silence was leave his position as adviser to the Hokage (and the shinobi lifestyle) behind.Shikamaru refused. He decided that if the people he cared about, like Temari and Naruto, were still back in Konoha, no amount of genjutsu was going to sway him. That resolve nearly worked. Over the course of several days, Shikamaru was tired of hearing his friends in pain and, given the choice to stay, he almost changed his mind.11 Temari Rescued HimIt’s lucky that, despite having genjutsu thrown his way with every word in the Land of Silence, Shikamaru remembered Temari and Naruto. Temari might have been more than a little upset when she mounted a rescue and he didn’t respond.Just as Shikamaru was seriously considering giving into Gengo’s genjutsu, a gust of wind lifted him off his feet. That wind cleared his head and gave him hope. Said wind was the result of Temari coming to the rescue with her giant fan. It was this particular rescue mission that allowed the two of them to realize how much they cared for one another.10 He Grew A GoateeShikamaru still sports his signature updo in Boruto, but in between the Naruto and Boruto series, a few other aspects of his appearance changed. Not only does he not walk around in the Konoha military issued flak jacket anymore, but gone is his baby face appearance.Taking after his father, Shikamaru grew a goatee during the franchise Blank Period. It seems like the artists really wanted the character to more closely resemble Shikaku. After all, since the early days of Naruto, even his hairline changed to resemble Shikaku’s. With the hairline and the goatee, the two look even more alike than they did initially.9 He Became Closer With NarutoOne of the hallmarks of the Naruto series was that Naruto was a friendless orphan who somehow hadn’t lost his faith in people. He wasn’t particularly close with anyone as a child because nearly his entire village was afraid of him - or more specifically the Nine-Tailed Fox inside him. Flashbacks revealed that Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, and Kiba skipped school together. Somewhere along the way, Naruto became the outsider again. That changed as he literally saved the world time and time again. Shikamaru resolved to help him become Hokage, and along the way, the two developed a close friendship. Shikamaru promised to never lie to him, and their sons became best friends. 8 He Turned Down A Mission For A DateAs a kid, Shikamaru was all about putting in as little effort as possible. He even pretended to be caught in a genjutsu during the Chunin Exams to avoid defending the village, though he was caught in the act. Losing Asuma and being on the front lines in the Fourth Shinobi World War forced him to grow up quickly. As a result, he began taking on more and more missions for the Hokages who trusted him. It wasn’t until the events of Shikamaru Hiden, when Kakashi assigned him a mission that anyone could complete, that he actually flat out turned a mission down. He decided to spend his day off finally taking Temari on a date.7 Shikamaru Spent A Whole Day Searching For A GiftWhen Naruto and Hinata married, the entire village wanted to attend the ceremony. It created a headache for Kakashi. He had to plan out guard shifts to keep the massive number of attendees safe from any lingering war resentment. The matter of the gifts also created a headache for Shikamaru.All of the happy couple’s friends wanted the perfect gift. Shikamaru seemed to be the only one who hadn’t figured out his present. As a result, he spent an entire day getting advice from everyone else. After speaking with his former classmates, he finally enlisted Temari’s help in getting the newlywed’s a honeymoon at a spa.6 He Worked Out His Communication Issues With TemariFans know Temari and Shikamaru wound up married, but the road to get there was rocky. They started off as rivals during the Chunin Exams. They repeatedly saved one another from enemy shinobi over the next few years. The two became friends thanks to being paired up (in the anime) to proctor Chunin Exams for the next generation as well.Despite spending so much time together, the two never really learned how to communicate. While trying to enlist Temari’s help with a wedding gift (after their less than stellar first date), Shikamaru mistakenly let her think he wanted help planning their night at a spa! They both eventually realized their mistake and began to talk things through more. 5 He Became Mirai’s SenseiWhen Shikamaru lost Asuma to a battle with the Akatsuki, he vowed to protect his sensei’s unborn child. While he did stand guard over Kurenai and her daughter Mirai when the village faced attack, he also went a step further as an adult.The light novels reveal a bit of information the manga and anime haven’t delved into yet. When Mirai graduated from the Ninja Academy as a child, she didn’t suddenly jump to the position of body guard for the Hokage like she is in Boruto. She still needed more training. Shikamaru became her sensei, guiding her the way Asuma guided him in shinobi skills, team work, and logic.4 He Attempted To Get Gaara MarriedWhen Temari and Shikamaru finally decided they were ready to marry, they ran into a bit of a problem. As the sister of the Kazekage, Temari wasn’t supposed to marry until after Gaara did. Both Shikamaru and Temari set about helping Gaara find a wife.A marriage was arranged between Gaara and a woman named Hakuto in Gaara Hiden: A Sandstorm Mirage. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Gaara wasn’t interested in more than friendship. Hakuto was also already in a relationship with someone else. Their meeting also got attacked by missing ninja, so it was all around a difficult engagement.3 He Helped A Couple Get New IdentitiesWith Hakuto not interested in wedding the Kazekage, and Gaara being a relatively good sport about the whole thing, they formed a plan. Shikamaru and Gaara helped Hakuto start a new life.Gaara’s idea was to file a report stating that Hakuto and the real love of her life met their ends while traveling through the desert. All he needed was for Shikamaru to file a report in Konoha saying the same. Shikamaru did. He also got the two new documentation with whole new identities so they could live in Konoha with no one knowing the truth.2 He Reconciled His Childhood Dreams With His Adult LifeAs a child, Shikamaru made very clear what he desired in the long term: to live an unremarkable life. In fact, he was less interested in shinobi missions and more interested in laying back and watching the clouds, or playing a game of shogi.When Shikamaru Hiden gives us a glimpse into his point of view, the novel sees him wondering just how he ended up as one of the hardest working shinobi in the village. His desire to help overrides his desire for laziness, something he had to reconcile during the Blank Period. He can still take time to relax and play games with his son, and then go work for the village.1 Shikamaru Found A Temporary HokageIn order to become Hokage, there is an official induction ceremony in Konohagakure. It looks pretty bad if the person at the center of the presentation doesn’t show up at all. That’s what happened to Naruto.The animated short “The Day Naruto Became Hokage” revealed what happened. When attempting to stop a squabble between his kids, Naruto's daughter awakened her Byakugan and sealed his chakra points. He was unconscious when he was supposed to become Hokage! Luckily, Shikamaru came up with a plan on the fly. He instructed Naruto’s student Konohamaru to disguise himself as Naruto and stand in for the unlucky dad. The two helped prevent a village panic.---With a little more detail about the Blank Period between Naruto and Boruto, do you have more of an appreciation for all the things Shikamaru has done? Or does he still have a ways to go to make up for his childhood inactivity? Let us know in the comments.

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