#so i don’t give a fuck the worst part of boruto is the fact that he stayed and became hokage he should’ve learned to live beyond the

[nat-the-cat-123]

(this will be a VERY long post)

✨Time to criticize Yashahime ✨

First of all:

I will only criticize the writing aspects, so don't expect me to say anything about the animation since I barely know about that stuff

Because of this I also won't address anything of Sessrin or the discontent because of Moroha's and Inukag's separation because that's more of a fandom thing

And this is only the opinion of someone who isn't any kind of expert in writing or something like that

Uff, Yashahime finally ended and it was... Interesting.

So let's criticize it :)

So first of all let's tell the ✨the good things✨ because even if there are more bad things, infact there are very little good things, we have to give credit where credit is due.

Good things :D

The girls' originality

Something that I saw other fandoms have complained in their own "next generation sequel" (like in boruto) is that the kids were just a "copy paste" of their parents, and when Yashahime was just announced I saw the same concerns (specially with Setsuna and Moroha)

But in the end I think any of them ended up being just female Inuyasha/Sesshomaru, and all were able to be their very own character.

Half of their relationship

Ok, I'm specifying that only half because sometimes the twins would be a little unfair with Moroha, but then be her "new family"(?), But then they proceed to leave her behind, and then AGAIN being like bff's so there is no consistency.

But in the first episodes Sunrise got it right and we could see a pretty good and functional dynamic between the 3 that was consistent and made sense.

Each one had a defined role that worked, Towa was the "moral" one, Setsuna the "cold" one who took more drastic decisions, and Moroha intervenes mediating both and brings information that may help please both sides. (At the beginning)

Moroha

I'M SORRY, I'm sorry, I can't help it, it's just that she has so much charm and is so lovely and innocent. And you can totally ignore the fact that she's InuKag's daughter and still love her just because her personality brings so much to the story.

It's such a shame that they didn't really use all her potential but I'll get to that later.

Aaaand that's all ;-;

Now let's go to the interesting part...

The bad things D:<

Towa

This point I actually want to explore it further in another post, because there's a lot I want to talk about her to specify what exactly went wrong and how I would have managed her but here I will leave it simple.

Towa in any way possible wasn't properly used, and even if almost every character suffered of bad writing, she was the most affected one.

She honestly isn't interesting, everything that could have been done with her according to her backstory was completely wasted, because even if she was the one with the least tragic story, there was a lot to work with (I mean, just look at Kagome's case and still most of the fandom loved her)

She kept changing her personality and ideology according to what the story needed, and at some point her only trait was "Setsuna's protective older sister"

And don't even get me started with how overpowered she is without any kind of training (I get she knows how to fight with bullies, but clearly that isn't the same as fighting demons with demonic energy)

Phasing

When people argue if the phasing is too fast or too slow, I think it's both, but in the worst way possible.

They waste so much time in scenes that aren't really that necessary or could be much shorter, and rush at incredible speed things that should actually be worked slowly and carefully.

The fights

I only can remember two or three that I actually liked because most of them were just exchanging hits with the sword, sometimes an special movement and that's all.

Half of the battles didn't affect the story in the least, and the worst of all was how the villains were defeated wether because they were lame as fuck or because Towa's random power up appeared out of nowhere.

Meanwhile in Inuyasha even if we didn't always had the best fights of all anime, we did get some pretty interesting choreographies and some villains really had an impact on the characters in a natural way.

Talking about villains...

Naraku is laughing from his grave

You know? I'm not a Naraku fan, but he was a bastard that you loved to hate, he maybe wasn't the most powerful character when we talk purely about his strength, but he was intelligent as fuck, he was always one step ahead, he had some pretty interesting abilities and plans, with him he brought other AMAZING villains (or anti heroes) like Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi, the weird baby, or even Sesshomaru back at the beginning, and the best part was how he was written being a complex character (like when he struggled with his human feelings for Kikyo)

But on the other hand we have Kirinmaru, Zero, the four losers (I mean, perils), probably my boy Riku, and who knows what other random villains.

First of all, ONLY RIKU would be a good villain (maybe I should have put him in the good things ;-;)

But then we have the four perils who, out of them the only one who seemed to know what he was doing was the green guy that did weird witchcraft, but the rest? They are just randomly bothering people because they have nothing else to do and honestly they didn't seem to be that powerful.

I'm not sure about Kirinmaru because I don't see anything clear with him, I mean, I'm not even sure if he's a villain.

And Zero... *Sighs*

I don't get what the hell she's trying to do. Anything that she does makes sense. She's just alive because of Riku, without him she can't do anything.

Like seriously, half of the world was after Naraku's ass, even his allies, and still he could get away with it. Zero can't even get her army in order to take care of 3 fourteen years old girls.

(Sorry for letting myself go with this one ;-;)

Not using half of your characters

I guess the best example is Moroha because even with an interesting backstory, mysterious abilities, and most of the fandom's love, they just used her as comedic relief for most of the series instead of developing her character or explaining better her spiritual abilities or Beniyasha.

And not only her, Hisui and the rest of the demon slayers were more of a background character. For example, in Hisui's episode we should have gotten to meet him, Gyokuto, and Kin'u better, but they preferred to focus in the twins AGAIN and not work the MirSan family. (Guys, first season and I still can't tell Hisui's definitive personality)

Same Takechiyo, Kyubi, Yawaragi, Kohaku, the villains, some past characters, sometimes even Riku. Basically every character who isn't Towa and Setsuna are walking tools for them to use whenever the plot needs it.

And no, I'm not saying "The twins shouldn't be the protagonists", a I'm saying "SIDE CHARACTERS AREN'T JUST PLOT DEVICES, THEY ALSO DESERVE DEFINED PERSONALITIES AND CHARACTER ARCS TO MAKE THE WORLD RICHER, OTHERWISE IT FEELS LIKE THE WORLD REVOLVES AROUND THE PROTAGONISTS"

Inuyasha knew when and how to dedicate an episode to a character, Yashahime doesn't.

Lack of character development

No one, except for Setsuna who is learning to rely and trust more on the girls, has any kind of development (sorry Moroha (･ัω･ั)).

I see Towa exactly the same as in the first episode, and because of how they've barely put attention to Moroha, she has barely shown any growth as well.

And I guess Hisui learnt how to trust his dad, but again, I can barely tell which is his personality, and the rest are background characters.

Powers / Abilities / Weapons

Here they neither explained ANY of the characters abilities properly or made them more powerful making sense.

Towa, just randomly learnt how to concentrate her demon energy in a sword and just keeps getting new abilities without training, and any of them seem to have any effect on Towa like (idk) having the risk of running out of energy. And at the beginning I liked how she struggled with her other demon abilities like smelling things but then they just forgot ;-;.

Setsuna's stick just produces wind and lasers without explanation, and her sealed power doesn't really work naturally.

And Moroha... EXPLAIN BENIYASHA BETTER. SAME FOR THE SPIRITUAL POWERS, that was supposed to be impossible!!! And again they recognized that at the very beginning, why did they forgot about it later???

There barely has been any "world" expansion

Something that Inuyasha never really got into was the "demon society", because with the exception of some tribes they never mentioned anything related to that BUT...

With that thing of Inu no Taisho and Kirinmaru apparently being "royalty" I thought they would talk more about that "Demon hierarchy" or if "Setsuna's courage trial" was something like a demon tradition (damn, that was honestly pretty interesting) but NO.

The topic has been barely mentioned and let's keep saying over and over again what the audience already knows for 24 episodes.

Weird Exposition

The way they threw information at us was pretty weird, like it didn't feel "organic" because instead of the girls getting into whatever situation where "x" character tells them certain things because it is related to what is happening, again, they chose pretty weird ways.

There were like 1,000 different options to tell us what happened to InuKag and Sesshomaru and all of them, like the girls talking with Myoga or Kaede...

BUT THEY CHOSE TO BREAK THE FOURTH WALL.

Comedy

I'm not saying Moroha is a bad comedy relief, she actually came with many good jokes, but you can't leave only ONE character to take care of the comedy. Towa and Setsuna also came with some good funny moments, so why would they only reduce the comedy to Moroha????

(In Inuyasha EVERYONE gave amazing comedy moments, even Sesshomaru)

And the worst part is that they only use the same joke with her most of the time! Losing her bounty and being poor.

"Atmosphere" (?)

I Promise I don't want to sound pretentious with this one ;-;

Those scenes where we were supposed to feel sad because of someone's death, intimidated because Kirinmaru appeared or excited because of a fight didn't work out.

I don't know exactly why but I think that it is because of a combination of lazy animation, bad selection of soundtrack, weird dialogue and the characters' lack of reaction.

So now that I think I've said all the points that they got wrong, let's get to the conclusion.

They stablished side plots or mysteries everywhere and didn't really do anything with them.

The girls never advanced with the story, they just kept running in circles around the same point during 24 episodes. (And no matter how long or short a story is, you can NEVER do that or you'll lose the audience's attention).

And with or without a second season, they made terrible mistakes that won't be able to be fixed. If it is only one season, TERRIBLE, they left way to much things uncovered, and if they plan another season, ALSO TERRIBLE, they rushed essential things and if they work them again they'll repeat one of their biggest mistakes.

And honestly I really tried to love this sequel, almost up to episode 12 I really tried to appreciate the small good things but they just kept slapping me with disappointment every single episode, and if they release a second season, I'll watch it but this time only expecting the worst of it.

In resume, yo can only truly enjoy Yashahime if you completely turn off your critical sense, and expecting nothing from it, otherwise you'll only keep asking yourself "why?"

[eleanor-devil]

Boruto: Sacrifices [Remade] | Chap.12 - Pursuing Silence

Written by: Eleanor-Devil & @mirage-05​​

Prologue | Chap.1 | Chap.2 | Chap.3 | Chap.4 | Chap.5 | Chap.6 | Chap.7 | Chap.8 | Chap.9 | Chap. 10 | Chap.11 | Chap.12 - You’re here

There was silence for a long moment. "The sound?" then came a voice, low, emotionless... unknown to most. Naruto didn't even realize all the eyes in the room turning towards Orochimaru, his mind fixated on one word. "The woman...?" "She didn't actively take part in attacking the child, but... She did something much worse." The young Yamanaka paused for a moment, gulped, and continued. "You asked why you couldn't hear the child. She was the reason." The tension in the room was so dense that it was almost tangible. "Explain." the Hokage said simply, his voice suddenly dry.

"Yoshida Suzume, from the Sound's Yoshida clan... A clan who is known by a dangerous kekkei genkai. They form strong sound barriers, and in extreme cases, they can even silence the voice of their opponent." "You mean...?" Konohamaru was easily putting together the pieces, and his eyes widened slightly. "Exactly. She trapped Mitsuki in a sound barrier. Coupled with Takeru’s genjutsu, which was the reason the fire and explosion stayed hidden... even with how close and loud they were, we couldn't hear him fighting for his life." The silence was only interrupted by low murmurs - the news was indeed shocking and cruel. Naruto was lost in thought... He was sure there was no woman when they got there, he had personally made sure there were no other rogue ninjas, and then there was Konohamaru... But Ryu stood in front of him, telling him that there was a woman who was responsible for them not reaching Mitsuki in time... "Shikamaru." he said in a clear voice, cutting into the mumblings. His advisor was right beside him in a second. "I'm listening." "Contact the Land of Rice and arrange three tracker teams to immediately head out to the Sound. We should apprehend that woman at any cost." "Of course." Hearing the Hokage's words, half a dozen of the ninja's in the room got to their feet. "Lord Seventh..." Kakashi started, using his formal title. "As one of the best tracking ninjas, I would like a leading role in this mission." Kiba had also got up. "Me and my dogs have caught their scents before. I would like to be one of the team leaders as well." Naruto wasn't really surprised when he saw Konohamaru on his feet, too. "Excuse me Lord Seventh," the young jounin said, a hardened determination in his eyes. "This is a personal matter for me. I ask your leave to go, too." Shikamaru took a half step forward, but catching Naruto’s eyes, he didn’t open his mouth to voice his thoughts. "Lord Seventh..." That was Ryu. "I can sense that woman's chakra and I've seen her face. If you give permission, I would like to join the trackers, too." The Hokage thought about it for a moment, then nodded. Sai and Ibiki could continue the interrogations, and catching this woman was important. The groups were formed relatively quickly, everyone in there wanted to get this done as soon as possible. Shikamaru approached Naruto. "We got this under control. Go get some rest..." The blond laughed, although it lacked humor. "As if I will be able to rest..." Naruto sighed, but not just out of exhaustion… he gave his advisor a side-long glance. ”There is something I should tell you.” “What is it?” Shikamaru was almost hesitant to ask. “Shikadai… he was in the hospital too, during and after the surgery.” The Nara’s eyes slightly widened at that, and he was quick to grasp Naruto’s hand. “Did he… how much did he see…?” “I’m afraid he witnessed all of it.” Naruto affirmed his worst fear sadly. “Ino is with the kids now of course, but…” Shikamaru passed a hand through his hair with a sigh. “Yeah I… I will talk with Temari too. Excuse me for a moment.” With quick paces, he walked to the door and out. ... The groups were all ready. He himself lacked the necessary abilities for tracking, but Konohamaru felt that luck was going to be by his side tonight. This was an important matter. He couldn't afford to fail... As he was re-checking his weapons, he didn’t even hear the door open. He didn’t look up either, until he heard the Hokage’s voice. “Konohamaru...” The jounin glanced only half up, enough to see his advisor there too, before returning to what he was doing. “Is it time?” “Konohamaru, just…” It felt like the blond was trying to choose his words very carefully. “Why don’t you just stop for a minute?” “With all due respect, Lord Seventh, I don’t have a minute. The teams are heading out shortly and-” “That’s actually what we wanted to talk to you about.” There it was again… that guarded tone, although the Nara’s voice was more formal than the Uzumaki’s. It made the jounin finally look up at them, with just the slightest frown on his face. Although he chose a gentler tone, Naruto’s eyes were just as serious. “We are concerned that you might not be well-suited for this mission.” “No.” The young man had not listened to half of what they had been saying, but he didn’t need to. The implication was too clear, and too horrific. “No, don’t do this to me.” “What you had been through tonight…” Naruto paused a minute, but then continued. “We can’t allow you to succumb to your emotions, not in something this crucial.” “That won’t be a problem.” And with that, he turned his back to the two, but more so for the fact that he didn’t want to look them in the eye. “It will. It’s only too clear.” that was Shikamaru. “Look, I know how you must feel-” “No. You don’t.” Konohamaru cut in, and only the slightest tremble in his voice gave away his inner turmoil. Otherwise he sounded… almost cold. “Don’t I?” For the first time since he entered the room, the Nara was hesitant. “I watched, helpless, as Asuma-sensei was killed right in front of me… I know how it is to want revenge, but this is not the way.” The young man’s posture was a little stiffened from the mention of his uncle… today was really not a good time. He raised his head, but didn’t turn back to the other two. “But uncle Asuma didn’t die believing you can’t stand his presence, did he?” There was a big moment of silence, neither Naruto nor Shikamaru expected to hear this. “That… is not true…” the Hokage started to say hesitantly. Having finished his business, Konohamaru finally turned to them, but he was still avoiding eye contact. “Yes, it is. These last couple of days have been hard for me, and I’ve been out of it mostly… But I didn’t realize I was taking it out of my team… out of him especially… Maybe unknowingly, but it was inexcusable.” “This is all the more reason you shouldn’t go.” Shikamaru tried to reason slowly. “You are not in your right state of mind. In this case you might be more of a liability than help.”   “Shikamaru,” Naruto cut in, in a warning tone. “Easy.” “I won’t. I just… it’s all clear in my mind now. If I do this, when I go on this mission… I will have some sort of closure, some peace of mind. I will be able to live with myself and my mistakes. If… you decide to take that from me…” Konohamaru didn’t complete his sentence, but for the two men, it wasn’t necessary. “We don’t intend to punish you with this,” Naruto said, sighing. “I’m more concerned about you really… But,” he added, having made up his mind. “I also have faith in you, that you can pull this out. Just focus on the mission, and see this as a test to yourself.” Konohamaru felt his throat closing in on itself, grateful for the Hokage’s words. He made a quick, formal bow. “I will not disappoint you, Lord Seventh.” There was really nothing much left to say. With a curt nod from Naruto, Konohamaru was out of the room in a flash. ... No one saw him slipping out of the building. He had enough, dealing with these wretched people. So the sannin made his way, slowly, to the apartments where he knew his son lived. A new beginning... just a chance to become more... make friends... that was all Mitsuki ever wanted before coming to Konoha. Much like how he had a second chance... It would be simple... so much more effortless if he could just get Karin over to heal Mitsuki. He had no doubts that it would work, she was an Uzumaki after all, vast resource of chakra, and her healing abilities... But even if she begged herself to help his son (which he knew she would), he also knew that in her current situation, neither of his two other disciples would allow it. Suddenly, a harsh and sharp voice cut into his train of thoughts. "Halt!" Recognizing the voice, and more out of habit than anything, Orochimaru turned... and looked directly into the eyes of Anko, his former student. From the slight widening of her eyes, the sannin understood that she had managed to see through his disguise... Of course, he would expect nothing less from a disciple. "What do you want, Anko?" "What do I want?!" The woman asked incredibly, nothing but pure anger in her eyes. "What the fuck do you think you are doing here?!" The sannin didn't even bother to reply to her for a moment. "I have neither time nor patience for childish games. Leave me alone." "The hell I will!" The woman cried out, leaning forward in an attack position. "Fight me! You are going to pay for attacking Konoha!" A dangerous glint came into his snake like eyes. "I did not commit the crime all of you are so eager to blame on me." "And you expect me to believe it?!" "Since when did I ever deny something I caused?" "I hope you came here to take your little snake back!" Anko spit out, out of malice. "It was high time you realize he doesn't belong..." Before she could complete, Orochimaru appeared in front of her in a flash, lifting her up by the collar and throwing her, hard, into a wall. "No." he hissed through gritted teeth, and for a minute, Anko feared for her life. "Thanks to you and your wretched village, Mitsuki might as well forever stay in Konoha." Trying to get up, one hand on her throat, the former student gaped at him. "Wh... what?" "Oh, you're telling me you were not informed?" the sannin's tone dripped of heavy sarcasm. "What the hell are you talking about?!" The man turned his back on her, sparing only a brief glance at her. "If you value your life, do not try to follow me." And with that, he was gone. ... The sight of the blackened and barren forest right out of the borders came as a shock for the teams. It was almost mind-numbing - surreal - that a fight this ferocious happened so close to them without them noticing anything at all. In a silent agreement, the teams passed the area without a word, almost in a silent respect. Konohamaru was painfully aware that this place was where Mitsuki made his last stand. Still, with his mind set on one thing right now, to reach the Sound and find the woman who almost cost his student his life, he really didn’t expect he would still be paying attention to even the smallest details of his surroundings. Or maybe he was trying his hardest not to, to keep his focus. But he was a ninja, a jounin after all. The faint glimmer of light caught his eye as they were just about to leave the ghastly sight behind. Discreetly parting ways from the group, he made his way to the soft glimmer, something about it just drawing him closer like a magnet... … She didn't even wait to see the first tents - this was no time to sleep lightly. A bright light shone through the night, creating almost a day-like atmosphere, followed by a huge, rippling sound - but this was no explosion. Anyone who knew Yoshida Suzume knew that this was her kind of warning. "Wake up! Get going! Move! We need to LEAVE!" Slowly though at first, people began filing out. Suzume made sure that there wasn't anyone left inside, going into some of the tents herself to drag people out. "What's going on...?" "When did you come back?!" "Where are Takeru and Hideyoshi?" "They are not coming back! No time to explain! We need to move, NOW!" the woman yelled as she came out with a child in her arms. At once, there were murmurings surrounding the hundreds of people in the area. "We are not going anywhere until you make some explanations," came a strong, female voice, and a woman with long, orange-colored hair and fierce brown eyes came to the front. She had a young child clinging to her neck, looking around with sleepy eyes, his mahogany colored hair ruffled. "Why do we need to leave? Where are my husband and Takeru?" "He was killed!" the woman yelled finally. There were loud gasps. "And Takeru probably met the same end, or captured!" "W... what...?" the orange haired woman mumbled, as if in a trance. "Before we could even start the mission, we were attacked by a child! We had to defend ourselves and silence that kid forever - but if what I saw is anything to go by, he is, in a way, related to Orochimaru!" With her words, a silence gradually fell upon the people. Some of them looked very frightened by that last piece of news, but others looked at one another and one expression remained dominant; shock. "You... attacked a child...?" one of them asked finally. "We didn't have any other choice!" the woman snapped. "If we didn't kill that brat, the mission would have failed!" "Looks like it already did," another in the crowd said. "This mission was a mistake from the beginning..." Hideyoshi's wife mumbled. Some of the children had started crying. "Yeah, so what? What else were we supposed to do?! We all decided on this! Are you deaf - Orochimaru is coming for our heads!" "Hideyoshi would never fight a child!" the woman said while she put the child down and walked forward, towards the woman. "He did!" the other woman practically spat, glaring at the brown eyes. "Who do you think guided us to that child? Who do you think marked his route clearly so we wouldn't miss? Who..." SLAP! Suzume's head turned to a side, eyes slightly widened. "You are not gonna insult him in front of me any further." the orange haired woman said in a dangerous whisper. "There is no point in squabbling over a cast genjutsu," came an older voice then, and an aged woman came forward. Seeing her, Suzume immediately went over to her and knelt in front of her. "Kotone-sama, please... I swear that was the only logical solution... We were taught to put our mind before our heart and I swear I just abided by the Yoshida mantra... I..." "That's enough, Suzume." Kotone then raised her head to look at the other woman, who still had her hand in the air, looking at the younger woman with something akin to disgust. "Sasame, you might have ordered the Fuma out of the mission, but might I remind you that the Shiin, the Oberatsu and the Yoshida all agreed? I actually remember your husband being much honored for being called on this mission. You have no ground in lecturing us." Sasame gritted her teeth, her gaze drifting from the elder to Suzume. "If we have to run, let us run," she finally said, her voice tight. "But someone has to remain behind to cover our tracks." Her eyes held no mercy. "Kotone-sama..." Suzume whispered, looking at her with almost a plea. The elderly woman thought about it for a moment. "Even though you obeyed the Yoshida call, my child... Attacking a minor is still not in our book." The black haired woman's eyes widened, but she knew there would be no arguing to the point. "You will be punished... Of course, when you are finished, you will be allowed to rejoin us." Suzume bowed her head, gaze on the forest floor. "Yes, Kotone-sama." The elder woman then looked back at her clan. "Shall anyone wish to accompany her, I give my permission. Others, make your preparations quick. We are leaving." ... What... were all these...? The sannin felt his blood boiling as he gazed upon the Hokage's idea of 'childish pranks' on his son's door. To be fair, they were insignificant, he had seen much, so much worse during his seventy years of lifetime. But for a village that supposedly prided itself with its peaceful ways... They had no idea how this little drop would turn into a huge flood. His fists clenched a bit more, his teeth gritting as he looked at all of the images one by one, the words written... And he had actually believed that Konoha had changed for a better place. That was initially why he had decided to send Mitsuki back to his own village - that and his constant nagging. For one time in his life - foolishly, naively - he had believed in the young man who was now the Hokage - and even his own former teammate, Tsunade. He had thought that, as long as Mitsuki's identity was hidden, he would be safe and live the normal life he wanted - deserved all along. The red paint of the 'fire' stood out, almost mocking his thoughts. And his boy had still defended them. The image of Mitsuki, with all the severe injuries, once again came to his mind, and he closed his eyes for a minute, as if to not see the graffitis. He would make it his own ambition to make sure Konoha would crumble under the weight of his fury. His hands were shaking, the urge to kill, to make blood covering the streets rising. To make them pay... 'Please... spare... the village...' "We shall see how long I can hold on to that promise, child." Orochimaru murmured through gritted teeth and tried the door. It was locked of course, but it was hardly enough to stop him. The apartment was dark, cold and empty... Even more so now that it was missing his son. 'Come now, Mitsuki...' The sudden voice made the sannin do a double take. Where did that just come from? 'Repeat after me, sweetie... Da-ddy. Dad-dy. D... a... d... d... y...' He knew that voice... This was Karin... But how was that even possible - him hearing her voice from who knows how many years ago...? 'D... da... da...' came another, childish voice, stuttering over the basic word. 'That's right, go on. Daddy... call out for him.' Where was that voice coming from?! He started walking around the darkened house, looking around from room to room, following the childish jabbering. Just when he entered the bedroom... It was not enough to say that he was shocked when a small figure, a toddler about a year and a half of age at most, waddled his way towards him, stumbling, losing his balance and almost falling to the ground. After a couple more steps, the toddler started falling forward, but at the last moment managed to grab his legs. Although... he felt no weight. Then little Mitsuki looked up at him with a big grin, flashing a dozen of pearly-white teeth. 'Da-da!' he exclaimed gleefully and in excitement, before he slowly disappeared through thin air. The sannin closed his eyes for a moment... [Flashback] He was about ready to pull his hair off! It was not working. There was something very wrong with this experiment, and he was thinking this was all going good, the ‘donor’ was a good one after all, more than suitable. And during the nine months the fetus was in the tube, there had been nothing wrong - why now?! In a fit of rage - and without stopping to think what he would cause... the sannin let his fury explode. In less than a minute, the lab was lying in ruins... Broken glass, ruined wiring everywhere... Like a scene that was the aftermath of a battle... All... was lost after all... Just then he heard a strong sound, and his world came to a stop for a minute. A crying... a child... Or, more precisely, a new-born bawling his lungs out... Stunned, it took him another minute to get moving, but finally he moved through the broken tubes, to the one at the end of the left row... And there he was - the blue haired baby he watched growing for all this time... wailing so loud it was practically grating at his ears... More to just quiet him than anything, Orochimaru took the baby in his arms... Sniffling a bit, the baby slowly quieted down. [End of Flashback] Opening his eyes, the sannin sighed before mumbling to himself. "I should have never allowed you to come here..." ... A soft, orange light shone in the darkened room as a hand reached out to grab the phone that was ringing. A man with copper colored skin and blond hair squinted at the phone's screen while a woman with light brown hair half turned to look at him from his side. "What is it, baby?" "Naruto...?" Darui mumbled sleepily and pushed on the screen as he pressed a hand over his face. "You better have a good reason for calling me this early..." As he listened on, the young Raikage's eyes widened. "Goro and Hiraku?" Hearing that, his wife straightened up to a sitting position, putting a hand on his shoulder and leaning over. "No time to lose. I'm taking the first train over." He ended the call and hastily got up, getting ready. The woman got up, too, watching him. "Darui, what's going on?" Darui stopped in front of her and grabbed her arms. "Hitomi, I need to go to Konoha. Take care of Kumo in my absence." ... Looking over the vast clearing in the heart of the forest, Konohamaru felt his spirit failing. "We missed them...?" he mumbled, his eyes wide. "They didn't leave long ago." Kiba growled, his eyes scanning everywhere. "We can still follow them..." "That is not necessary." Ryu and two other ninjas who were scouting up ahead came towards them, excitement apparent in their eyes. "She is still here..." one of them started. "From what we saw, she is covering their tracks. There are two others with her, both kunoichi." "You can deal with them." Konohamaru said, determined. "Leave that woman to me." There was a pause. "Konohamaru..." Kakashi began. "Lord Sixth, please. All of you. Just make sure she doesn't run away, if your involvement becomes absolutely necessary. Otherwise stay out of my way, because I'm probably not gonna recognize you in the heat of the battle, so I can't guarantee your safety." Kakashi sighed but at his nod, no one said anything else. At Ryu's directions, the Konoha ninjas all took their places, getting out of sight. The gaze in the brunette's eyes hardened. "This is my fight."

[daraanna]

Broken promise part 3/3

She ran through the training fields, trying to get as far as possible from the village gates. Her behaviour was not rational, she shouldn’t react this way, and yet at the sight of her friend her emotions got out of control again. She should be happy to see him safe and sound and she was. The problem was, along with the feeling of relief, that everything was fine, anger and a sense of hurt appeared, as well as a lot of other emotions which she couldn’t  name.

"Is everything okay?" A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts. She stopped running just before she collided  the black-haired man who appeared in front of her. How distracted she would have to be to not feel his chakra.

"Yes ... Uh ... I was running for training," she said, meeting her dad's incredulous eyes. It was a really poor excuse considering her office clothes. Not to mention high heels “ Just a tough day ... That's it.”

“Hn. Good to see you. You grew up ...” he answered without looking away from her. He knew something was wrong. However, he didn't want to push it. It was up to her to decide what she wanted to tell him.

“Mom should finish work in an hour.”

"Ah." There was silence again. ‘I missed you’ left never spoken by anyone. However, none of them was good at stating the obvious things. No matter how important they were.

She couldn't help but giggle. Her father raised one eyebrow in surprise.

"Let’s go home, maybe we can cook something before she returns," she said, heading in direction of their house. Sasuke followed her. Embarrassing silence became comfortable and normal again.

............................................................... The next day after his return, he spend for rest. So, when he finally decided to drag himself out of bed, his father had been at work a long time ago, and his mother was cooking dinner. Coming to the kitchen, he greeted her briefly and wandered into the fridge.

"There's some breakfast left to heat you up for you" Hinata said, looking at her son. These three years changed him a lot. He was already taller than her, he looked much more mature, from a boy he became a young adult.

"Thanks mom” he replied, preparing the pans, but when she saw how he struggled with it, she decided to help him. Maybe some things don't change at all.

“Wooo mom is so good! “ Uzumaki shouted after the first bite ”I missed your cooking...”

She couldn't help smiling.

At this moment Himawari entered the living room clearly not in a good mood. She was all wet and shivering with cold, only covered with Kawaki's .

"What was she thinking?!" They heard a fragment of conversation between newcomers.

"What happened?" asked blue-eyed boy from above breakfast.

“My sensei came up with the brilliant idea of ​​sparring in the middle of a fucking lake! Chakra control training my ass!”

"Himawari!" Her mother reprimand her. Boruto, on the other hand, was shocked to hear such words from the lips of his lovely sister.

"I still thank for your coat," younger Uzumaki sighed, looking at Kawaki who enters the room after her .

"You are welcome, the most important thing is that you don't catch a cold," the boy replied. Himawari hearing his words smiled and kissed his cheek making him blush. Then she ran to her room to change.

Boruto looking at their interactions raised an eyebrow in amazement. Their behaviour was strange ...

Kawaki still flushed sat down at the table.

"Speaking of sparring ... It would be good to check the progress after 3 years, what do you say?"

"Sounds good, but not today ... I should have time on Thursday," answered the black-haired man with a smirk. Despite the fact that Uzumaki felt offended by his answer, he decided to leave it, because on Thursday he will rip that smirk off his face.

................................................................. The fight lasted probably an hour and a half before he managed to defeat Kawaki. It  was intense, they both were exhausted and the training field was devastated. After all, he had to admit that he was impressed of the level presented by his brother at many times he doubted his victory, and when they used karma, he sometimes began to fear for his own health. Despite the fact that they both gave their best, neither of them had lose their control over the seal.

"I won!" he shouted panting, sitting next to the opponent.

“You were lucky, besides, I was getting worse ...”sighed the black-haired man, combing his hand with his mohawk ”We'll see how you will manage in the rematch!”

"Be careful about your  wishes" the blond replied, grinning, "I missed our sparings" he added after a moment.

"Without you village was unbearably calm" answered his brother. "A lot has changed too ..."

They sat in silence for a while.

"How was your conversation with Sarada?" Kawaki finally asked.

“Huh? Actually, I haven't seen her since returning to the village" he answered thoughtfully. "Is it true that they were promoted to Jounin?”

"It's been a week since you came back and you still haven't talked to her?" His sudden reaction shocked Boruto.

“What do you mean!?”

"You're just worthy each other" sighed the black-haired boy getting up from the ground and dusting off his pants.

“Oi! Answer me”

“You really didn't get the idea to talk with her after the way you two split up before your trip?”

Blue-eyed looked at his friend confused. Seeing this, Kawaki headed towards the city.

“ That’s waste of my time”

............................................................... Sarada was sitting on her favourite branch eating onigiri prepared by her mother. Of course, because her dad is back home, it was stuffed with tomato. Still, it didn't bother her. Team 3 slowly began to developed great teamwork. Although it was mainly due to aversion to her strange training methods, it was the best proof that these methods work. The problem was that since her childhood friend returned to the village, her concentration had worsened. Days passed, and she was still not able to sort out the emotions stirring in her. She felt hurt, and the fact that Boruto didn't seem to want to meet her made her doubt that their friendship meant anything to him. She was so thoughtful that she didn't sense his chakra before it was too late.

........................................

Kawaki's words did not give him peace for a long time. Before leaving the village, he invited Sarada to spar to tell her about his trip, he also gave her his necklace. Just thinking about it made him blush slightly. He did not plan this, however, spontaneously decided to leave her something. Despite this the next day, the black-haired girl had something urgent to do and did not come to say goodbye to him. The whole story. However, the next days passed and he still did not see his childhood friend. When they were members of the seventh team, he repeatedly saw her completely by accident on the streets of the village, and now even looking for her, he could not find her. It was a strange feeling, but Konoha without Sarada seemed empty. Today he decided that he would not let go until he solved this problem. After three hours of wandering the streets, he was about to give up when he felt her chakra when he was passing by training fields. The signal was barely perceptible and intermittent, but there was no mistake. He walked towards her, reaching the edge of the village to a wooded area not specially adapted for training, but it could be seen where the traces of the Kunas or ninjutsu were used. Black-haired girl was sitting on a tree branch holding a bento in her hands, her eyes focused on him.

"Hey ..." he greeted. Uchiha did not take his eyes from him, just put the food container aside.

"Hey," she answered, when he climbed onto the branch and crouched next to her. "What do you want?"

It wasn't the reaction he expected, for a moment he didn't know what to do.

"We haven't seen each other for a long time ..."

“Tch. Did you come here just to tell me that?”

"What wrong with you?!" He asked irritated, raising his voice more than he intended. He couldn’t understand his friend's behaviour.

Sarada felt rage rising in her. This is not how she imagined this meeting. The worst thing was that the boy acted as if nothing had happened. As if he hadn't left her, their team for three years, without being kind to even let her know. The whole village knew it! Shikamaru and Team 5 even organized him a farewell party. After so much time she still felt betrayed, hurt ... But it was much easier to replace it with rage.

“What wrong with me? Maybe you'd better think about yourself? Suddenly you remembered about me!?”

Boruto looked at her in ever greater consternation. The girl was pissed at him, but he did not remember him doing something stupid since he returned to the village. Trying a gentler approach, he touched her shoulder. However, the girl quickly pulled his hand away.

"Leave me alone!" She shouted.

"What about spar?" He asked, since they can't easily handle it, maybe the fight will help get rid of negative emotions.

"You don't want to fight me" she snorted, turning away from him. "Just walk away!"

“Of course I want to! You owe me a rematch!” For a long time she looked him straight in the eye and he was sure that if look could kill he would be dead long ago.

"Fine!" She shouted, hopping off the tree. "But don't whine that I won again."

“Don't be so sure of yourself. I trained with the best, there is no way for me to lose!“ he smiled standing in front of her.

"Any rules?" She asked unbuttoning her red coat. So it was hard to focus on the question she was asking right now. Uchiha was wearing a black sleeveless turtleneck and leggings of the same color separated by a wide white belt with tools attached. The outfit was elastic, perfect for fighting or training. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it adhered exactly to her body curves, perfectly emphasizing her figure. Much more rounded than it three years ago. He swallowed hard. This is not something should now think and certainly not about Sarada ...

“ Boruto ?!”

"Um ... no scientific ninja tools, we're fighting till someone lose consciousness or surrender of the opponent," he answered when he heard her irritated voice.

"Okay," she agreed, pulling the belt and the device from her right hand aside. The blond man got rid of his chakra sword.

They gazed at each other for couple seconds. Uzumaki attacked first, the girl responded quickly with counterattack. They started by exchanging taijutsu blows. After three years, Uchiha became much faster, she didn't even need Sharingan to avoid his blows. However, he was faster, not allowing her to attack him. Seeing this, the black-haired woman hopped away from him, throwing kunais at him, from which he shielded himself using Kusanagi borrowed from master Sasuke. Moments later he was again on the attack, using purple-lighting jutsu on the sword, he attacked, cutting through the kunai that Sarada used to block, but to his surprise, moments later his blade stopped. Black-eyed has parried his attack creating a small scalpel with a chakra on her index and middle finger. Despite its small size, the blade was filled with chakra much more intensely than those used by medical ninja.

"A really bad choice of weapon for an opponent," she sighed as, to his surprise, her jutsu chipped his katana. Before he could react, Uchiha used the chidorii, which, passing her scalpel on his Kusanagi, struck him by throwing him five meters back. The sword he used was created to interact with the master Sasuke chakra, so the chidorii was better transmitted through the steel of the katana than his jutsu. As soon as he landed on the ground Sarada was already here, using clones he managed to distract her and hide in the crown of the nearest tree. Deprived of the weapon he had learned to use over the past two years, he needed some time to devise a new strategy. Uchiha stood in the middle of the field thinking about using katana, which was now in her hands. She knew the basics of Kenjutsu, but it did not match her fighting style, and she did not want to damage the tool that meant so much to her dad. She decided to put them aside, hoping that Boruto would come out of hiding trying to get them back. The moment she did it, three kunais flew towards her, which she easily avoided. She was about to use the fireball technique on the tree from which he attacked, when two blades flew towards her from another place. Both these and previous ones had wire attached to them. The next kunai flew towards her creating a certain pattern. Seeing this, she threw shurikens to change their track. Moments later, the boy attacked once again starting taijutsu battle.

"Is it really irritating you so much that I went on a journey with your father? You could have said something earlier" Uzumaki shouted, parrying more blows. Her fighting style has changed a lot from the one he remembered. So far, she has never used her strength against him, but what confused him most was the fact that she never once activated her sharingan.

“When? You didn’t even have time to tell me you were leaving!”

Her words beat him out of tune.

"I didn’t?" He asked, but because of his lack of concentration he didn’t avoid punch measured directly into his chest, which sent him straight into his own trap made of kunais and ropes. Lines entangled him, preventing him from moving. The impact was so strong that it broke him a few ribs, making his breathing difficult.

Sarada stopped motionless for a moment, looking up at what had happened. She was convinced that the boy had time to avoid it, in addition, provoked by his words, she used more force than she should. However, her worry turned into horror when Karma on his hand began to grow to the limit when a horn appeared on his head.

Boruto felt like he was losing consciousness, apparently the impact was stronger than he had expected. In addition, he felt a familiar tingling in his hand as Momoshiki's chakra began to flood him. His fractures healed, but his consciousness began to flow. He couldn't afford to lose control, certainly not in the middle of the village. To his surprise, a strong push pulled him out of the trance. Sarada grabbed his wrist and a moment later he felt a painful injection of a huge amount of chakra. Moving his eyes to the girl, he saw black patterns covering her body, they resembled his karma pattern, but they were more regular and covered her skin symmetrically. Instinctively, he pushed her away, trying to free himself from uncomfortable feeling, and to his surprise he noticed that the patterns on his body disappeared completely, and the diamond on his hand was secured with something like a seal. Before he could react, he heard a sound like the twittering of a bird. Uchiha stood maybe 20 meters from him with the chidori in her right hand. At this stage, both of them were already at a low chakra level, probably this will be the last attack of this duel. Despite the current pain, he performed rasengan. They ran opposite each other, but before their jutsu collided Sarada grabbed his right hand with her left by the wrist and knocked him off directing his rasengana to the ground and him to the floor. Moments later, he felt her weight on him. Again he was nailed to the ground, her chidori detained just two centimeters from his neck, so that he felt his hair stand as a result of electricity.

"I give up" he said, getting the sand out of his mouth.

The twittering stopped and the girl got up from his back. Slightly wavering because of small amount of chakra, he stood up, turning to look at her.

“I-I told you...” Black-haired girl started, but before she finished the sentence, she lost her balance turning over into Uzumaki’s chest sending them both back to the ground. She definitely overdid the consumption of chakra she was barely able to maintain consciousness. Boruto was definitely in better shape, he was still able to maintain a seated position and to hold her now leaning against his torso. She should move away from him, but she didn't have the strength to keep be mad at him. Even worse, she didn't even want it. For the first time in 3 years everything was fine. She felt safe.

"I was sure I told you ... Then during the sparring" his voice made her tremble. “I’m sorry”

She still felt hurt, but she seemed pointless to her further grudge.

"I'm sorry too ... I overreacted a bit ..." she replied sighing. Still, she couldn't look him in the eye. All this time she blamed him for everything bad that had happened in her life in his absence. It was only now that she understood that her behavior was absurd. She understood that she really missed her friend all this time. Embracing him in the neck, she snuggled into him.

"I missed you," he said, gently stroking her back. She felt her tears welling up. She said nothing but squeezed him harder.

“How did you manage to keep up with me without activating Sharingan? “ Boruto broke the silence.

“ I put you under genjutsu so you couldn’t see when I activated it.”

“What!? It's a cheating! ” He shouted, making a face that made the girl laugh.

"There was no rule about using genjutsu ..." she replied, but he heard her laugh, his heart beat faster, he was not able to be angry with her anymore.

"Okay, what have you done to me here?" The boy asked looking at his hand. He still felt a tingling sensation in it, but the seal around his karma was gone.

“This is the technique we developed, me, Kawaki and Sumire. It allows you to stop the spreading of karma for a while, but to use it you must have a byakugo seal“ she said and revealed a small diamond seal located on her breastbone.

The boy turned his gaze on her neckline.

"Nice place," he replied grinning. Uchiha immediately blushed.

"Uh ... It's not like that ... Sharnigan took too much chakra from me, I was not able to accumulate them in the frontal sinus, so close my eyes ..." She said embarrassed.

"Oh," something else caught his eye at the moment. A silver chain that he noticed on her neck. When he gently pulled him, he saw a screw-shaped pendant. The same one he wore in his childhood and same that he gave her before leaving. Sarada was silent for a moment.

"I missed you too," she admitted, looking into his eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere anymore," he replied. Their faces were separated by a small distance, which was slowly getting smaller. Black-haired girl looked at the boy's lips, then moments later again look into his blue iris. Her heart was still pounding, and there was a thought in her head to kiss him. At the same time, she felt fear. They haven't seen each other for so long, and they were friends. Friends are not kissing! However, her race of thoughts was interrupted when she felt the touch of Boruto's lips on hers. It was a gentle kiss, a bit clumsy. Despite this, as soon as he moved a little away from her, she drew him closer to her deepening their kiss. They continued it until they were out of breath.

Young Uzumaki was confused. It wasn't something he expected, but he didn't regret the kiss. Judging by her smile, Sarada too. It was a new yet undefined thing in their relationship. But now they will have a lot of time to rediscover their bond.

                             ............... Filler Bonus ..............

* Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Hinata hidden in the bushes watching the battle of Boruto and Sarada * Hinata: I can't believe it happened ... Sakura * looking at Sasuka and Naruto* I swear If they gonna amputate their arms you will feel my anger! Naruto: It's not our fault! Sakura: It's your genes that are responsible for this! Sasuke: Tch. Naruto: Hinata help ;-; Hinata: I'm sorry darling, but it's true ... Sasuke: It wouldn't happen if your son wasn't an idiot. Naruto: It's not my son's fault! You know how it is between rivals! Sakura & Hinata: Rivals ... riiiiiiiiiight ... * Boruto and Sarada Rasengan vs Chidorii scene * Naruto: I can't look at it! * Sarada turns over Boruto * Sasuke: ... Naruto: ... Sasuke: I never thought  about it... Sakura: This is my daughter Shanarooo! Hinata: They are talking now... Looks like it's the end of drama. Naruto: Yes, we can probably come back home. * Boruto and Sarada are kissing * Naruto: ... Sasuke: ... Naruto: ... Sasuke: !!! Sakura: Awwww ... Hinata it is happening! Hinata: Yes, we can go back to organizing the wedding! Sakura: We will be family! Sasuke: * dark aura * Not if I kill him ... Naruto: SASKEEEEEEE NOOOOOO!

...........................................................................................

Oh holy Kaguya... It is finally over! It took me so long to write it. And honestly the end result is completely different from my initial plan (for example at the beginning they were about to start make out in the middle of theirs fightXD) But I hope you will like it anyway :) 

[professorsparklepants]

Sorry if this is like too much, but I always like your ideas on changes to Naruto, and I was wondering what you’d like to do if you were handed control of a reboot

Hand it back and say no thank you

THEMATIC SHIT

First off, get rid of the reincarnation plot. Indra & Asura still exist, but Asura is the Sage’s apprentice and not his second son. This is kept as backstory for the Uchiha curse of hatred & makes Indra’s anger at being passed over for inheriting ninshu make more sense to the audience. The generational parallels are still present, but more subdued and closer to implied reincarnation than actually stating it.

Second, keep god tree!Madara the final final boss, and set Kaguya aside for the final movie and/or Boruto. Someone else said it first and better, but having Madara as the final boss means the shinobi world is having to face the problems it created and the ending is about stopping the cycle of war and trying to create peace in the future.

Third: figure out what the fuck you’re saying about fate! OG Naruto has two completely different themes for Part 1 and Part 2. Bringing fate and destiny and generational patterns of violence into Part 2 is fine, but you still need to have Naruto breaking the mold and forcing things to change with his Shonen Protagonist Energy, because that’s what he does. Naruto doesn’t align to people’s expectations, even when it’s a force of the universe! He’s the #1 unpredictable ninja!

Fourth: people can be redeemed but they’re not secretly good. I’m looking at you, Itachi. He did something horrible for what he thought were good reasons, then defected from the village and now wants to destroy the shinobi system for what they forced him to do to his clan. And in case he doesn’t succeed, Sasuke can kill him for clout in the village. Keeps the woobie backstory and makes his status as a villain more secure while still leaving room for Sasuke to grieve what could have been and decide to destroy the shinobi world himself. 

SAKURA

Give the girl the mokuton. Seriously. I don’t care how. Hashirama appears to her in a dream and declares her his successor, she’s just really in tune with nature chakra, she’s descended from a Senju branch clan, I don’t care. It gives her a special power to use when Sasuke develops the Sharingan and Naruto starts chomping fox chakra, and if you give her the connection with Hashirama and bump up Mito’s involvement in backstory (maybe by taking away some of Tobirama’s relevance?) it creates a good sharingan v. mokuton v. jinchuriki/uchiha v. senju v. uzumaki setup for battle of the end 2.0 and 3.0

(Also, stop giving people Mokuton in lab experiments. Implanted sharingan serve a purpose in weirding out Sasuke and furthering his trauma through disrespect of his dead family, but this is just unnecessary. If you want more than one person to have it, have them actually inherit it.)

Give that bitch a signature move! Naruto and Sasuke come out of the Academy knowing the shadow clone jutsu and giant fireball respectively, but Sakura doesn’t have anything. It doesn’t have to be a jutsu, maybe she’s good with senbon or her family has their own style of swordplay, something small but distinct that will let her stand out a little. Give her a second one when Naruto learns the rasengan and Sasuke gets the Chidori.

Sakura’s parents are just the worst. Absolute garbage people. Emotional abuse and belittling day in and day out. Have Sakura hate her parents, for real reasons, so she can serve as a foil that challenges Naruto and Sasuke to understand her instead of the other way around. It also gives them reasons to be protective of her other than “oh she’s weak and a girl” and encourages them to fold her into their dynamic. 

MISC

Make Temari the Kazekage. It’s weird that Gaara takes Naruto’s dream and manages to do it in like two years, since he spent the first 13 years of his life killing people and terrorizing his village. Meanwhile Temari is reasonably strong, has a solid head on her shoulders, and with allowance for the three year time skip definitely could be Kage material.

Involve the whole Konoha 11 in the Sasuke retrieval arc. If Lee can show up 15 minutes late with starbucks than you can swing by your teammates houses to ask if they’re free. It also makes the fact that the kids win more believable. The Sound Four are jounin level, and these kids are just out of the academy. If it’s two on one they have better odds, and you’ll stop breaking show-don’t-tell when you talk about Konoha teamwork.

[temarisnara]

for the meme: naruto, sakura, sasuke, kakashi

THANK YOU!!!!!!! 

naruto

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang  hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (i haven’t actually thought too much about these so i’m going with my gut here but dicey and i were talking tonight about the generational difference between naruto and jiraiya when it comes to loyalty. jiraiya grew up in a time of war and is a solider, he was trained to be loyal to the village. if it came down to it, he’d kill even tsunade if she betrayed the village. naruto is loyal to people. if sakura betrayed the village, he would never give up on her, just like he never gave up on sasuke. naruto wants to protect the village because the village is where the people he loves live. naruto’s entire narrative arc is about bonds so i’m pretty sure he’s a hufflepuff) best quality: god i just wrote a fucking essay above about it- his loyalty and bonds to other people. everyone he meets is now his friend whether they like it or not ! he was just such a lonely kid, desperate for attention, for love, for acknowledgement, anything at all. and it would’ve been so easy for him to sit in that, to let himself hate the village, to resent them- but he didn’t. he set out to prove them wrong and he did. he is so, so, so fucking good. worst quality: HIS TASTE IN MEN. okay like, on the real, it’s not his fault and boruto isn’t real but it’s such UTTER BULLSHIT that the entire fucking series he met these people who got fucked over by the village status quo and he promised them he was going to change it when he became hokage and he fucking didn’t. its BULLSHIT. it’s not his fault, that’s not him, but GOD i’m MAD. ship them with: SAKURA, sasuke, gaara, shikamaru, sai, kiba, hinata.   brotp them with: SAKURA- in fact all of the above list. he has great dynamics with them. also, kakashi, iruka, jiraiya, tsunade, choji, i like to imagine his and ino’s dynamic as fucking hilarious when they’re older. oh and i want him and karin to be annoying cousins together like PLEASE i DESERVE THIS. needs to stay away from: STOP SHIPPING HIM WITH KAKASHI!!!!!!!! ENOUGH!!!!! GO TO JAIL!!!!!!!!! misc. thoughts: that’s my fucking BABY i’ve shed SO MANY TEARS over this blonde idiot. he’s so good. 

sakura

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (again, havent thought about it before now, but my gut SCREAMs gryffindor. she’s so...punchy, and head strong, and hard working. just like. all the gryffindor traits!) best quality: sakura’s character development lives rent free in my head. like. okay. sakura always had potential. she ranked high in her classes, she had better chakra control than naruto or sasuke, mastered things quicker than them, was observant and book smart. but physically and emotionally, she was weak! she could not hold her own in battle the way naruto or sasuke could, and often her fear got in the way, if not straight up controlled her. when naruto and sasuke fought, she could do nothing but beg them to stop. when sasuke left the village, he easily knocked her out. and sakura knew she was the weak link of team 7. so she resolved to get stronger. she sought out tsunade and trained with her for four years. and like, tsunade is an insane person. sakura would break her bones and tsunade would have her keep training and just heal them later. she mastered healing. she mastered chakra control. she developed fucking superhuman strength. she refused to be the weak link anymore, to just sit back helplessly while naruto and sasuke fought. she’s from a civilian family, she has NOTHING in terms of innate ninja abilities like literally everyone else in her class, but she became the strongest female ninja of her generation and surpassed her legendary sannin mentor through sheer hard work and determination. FUCK. she’s so cool.  worst quality: again, this is NOT HER FAULT, it’s bad sexist writing, but sakura is such a fun and obnoxious character who matches naruto beat for beat, but when sasuke comes around she’s a shell of herself. even when she’s MARRIED TO HIM she doesn’t act like herself. she’s reverted back to that inflatuated 12 year old she’s long outgrown! bro, WHAT!  ship them with: NARUTO AND INO. and. ok. listen. i’ve become soft for sasuke/sakura’s potential. if sakura got to be herself with sasuke, they’d be, at the very least, FUN. and sasuke/naruto/sakura is so fun. also rock lee is so sweet, i would not have been mad if they’d been endgame. brotp them with: NARUTO AND INO. kakashi, tsunade, hinata, rock lee.  needs to stay away from: STOP!!! SHIPPING!!! KAKASHI!!! WITH!!! HIS!!! STUDENTS!!!!!!! misc. thoughts: i knew i would love sakura. look at her. she has pink hair and she punches things. 10/10. but she quickly, quickly became not just my favorite naruto character, but one of my favorite characters in all of shounen anime. the ball was dropped with her, multiple times, but she’s still such a dynamic fucking character with the best character development. 

sasuke

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life | there aren’t words to describe how i feel about him  hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (sasuke is...hard. i think the argument for gryffindor could also be made, but i’m leaning towards slytherin) best quality: i’m so tired. the thing about sasuke is....he deserved so much better than he got. i can’t tell you what his best quality is because his entire character arc is him being self destructive. he’s not fucking well!!!! the good parts of him he either tries to snuff out, or the story glosses over them to show how far he’s fallen. I think, the one good quality that refused to die, is his protectiveness. Him protecting Naruto in the Zabuza arc was such a pivotal moment for him, for his and Naruto’s relationship, for Team 7, for the story. It was the moment where everything changed. He was so desperate to protect Naruto from Itachi, he was super protective of Sakura in the forest of death, and even in Shippuden, he’s protective of team Taka, and unfortunately the moment I finally  broke and said fuck it, I love Sasuke, is when he protected Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi from the infinite tsukiyomi.  worst quality: his extremism lmao like. god. again, dicey and i have talked about this, how characters who challenge the status quo are portrayed as ~crazy~ and extremists so yet again, its BAD WRITING but also PROPAGANDA! god. but like, i’m sorry, fuck the village but he wanted to go after people who were not involved in what happened to Itachi. I understand his anger, but I wish the narrative had treated it and him with respect rather than throwing a fucking dart at a board to decide what Sasuke’s character arc was going to be about this week! ship them with: naruto, suigetsu, juugo, and again, lowkey sakura. brotp them with: naruto, sakura, kakashi, team taka, itachi needs to stay away from: STOP SHIPPING HIM WITH HIS TEACHER AND BROTHER. YALL.  misc. thoughts: i’m so fucking tired. what was kishimoto trying to do with him! i don’t understand! sasuke was right! he was fully right to hate the village, to demand change. why did kishimoto have the  village repeatedly doing heinous, evil things, validating sasuke’s resentment, but sasuke was portrayed as being in the wrong. ALSO, the ENTIRE. FUCKING. POINT. of naruto is  bonds, and how important friendship and love is, and sasuke’s entire GODDAMN NARRATIVE is about him breaking those bonds to become stronger, and destroying himself in the process, and everyone he loves telling him this isn’t the right path, and FINALLY he accepts it- and then in boruto he’s JUST. ALONE? HE HASNT MET HIS DAUGHTER IN 12 YEARS WHEN FAMILY WAS SO IMPORTANT TO HIM???? I HATE IT. I HATE IT. THIS IS SO BAD. SASUKE DESERVED BETTER.

kakashi

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (i want to say ravenclaw and make team 7 representation of all the houses but that man is a gryffindor through and through) best quality: honestly kakashi is a lot of good things but he’s not a character i look at and go “oh i love him because he’s _____”. i love him because he’s a character who has suffered so, so much, who has depression and ptsd and truthfully he just wants to fucking die so fucking bad to the point obito has to tell him “fucking no, stay and live”, but he never gives up. he might be 3 hours late because he couldn’t find the strength to get out of bed, but he still got out of bed eventually and showed up. so, actually, i guess that’s his best quality. he keeps going. worst quality:  so like. how did he end up a teacher. i’m just wondering. LISTEN, HE LOVES HIS KIDS SO MUCH. but he is NOT well suited to teaching, he does not fucking like kids, sasuke and naruto are TRAUMATIZED and he’s just like “hm. when’s the new book of icha icha paradise coming out?” BROOOOOOOOOOOOOO ship them with: GAI IS HIS LEGAL HUSBAND AND SOULMATE. obito is his ex-boyfriend who he’ll always love an idolized version of.  brotp them with: naruto, sakura, sasuke, yamato, rin, asuma, kurenai.  needs to stay away from: [screeching] STOP! SHIPPING! HIM! WITH! CHILDREN! YOU’RE! GOING!  TO! JAIL! also i fucking hate kakashi/iruka THEY NEVER TALK?????????? WHY IS IT SO POPULAR??????  misc. thoughts: it’s fucking unfortunate how much he got to me. i knew i wouldn’t dislike him but he ended up being one of my favorite characters and i’m so mad. my reputation of hating fan favorites is on the line here!

[ryodan]

Aside from NH, what else didn't you like about naruto ending

Oh boy.

A lot of my followers (this is not me tooting my own horn, I have a bit over 1k followers that I am very thankful for, but I am no where near tumblr famous) have a misconception that I hate the ending because of naruhina but it’s really the other way around. To get this out the way: had naruhina been written better (or actually, written at all LMAO) I would have not shipped it much but I wouldn’t have hated it. See, the shy girl - loud boy dynamic is dry and boring to me…It’s not interesting, it’s not realistic if written too perfectly, it’s not even something I can even relate to (if you think I am outspoken and social here you should see me irl ifejjfa) despite me hating self insert ships and it’s not something I can find myself interested in..But I still would not have hated it. The ending tramples naruhina; the last DESTROYED that ship by making naruto ‘fall in love’ after a genjutsu after not giving a shit and by making fillermaru and fillerkura have to give naruto a pep talk to chase hintos, but even so I would have not been ‘anti ending’ just because this ship is under developed and done in a gross way. I only became anti ending when the authors canonization of ships (My own SS ship included) overshadowed things such as:

- The main character whom I loved’s happiness. He looks miserable ‘living his dream’ that he even missed the inauguration for.

- Character importance. Neji was one of my favourites and he died for a ship.

- Naruto’s nindo. ‘never go back on my word’ did you not do that by never showing me what happened to the Hyuga on panel? I’m sure the Hyuga conflict is resolved but the issue had an ENTIRE arc, I am sure you could have included a single panel showing the Hyuga together post ending no branches and heads involved? Didn’t you promise to bring Sasuke home lmao? Why is his ass not home? Didn’t you promise to find an answer to the hate in the ninja world? Did you not promise to find your own individual path as a ninja? Why did you end up a nationalist like all the other leaders? 

- why is naruto such an absent father? can his not make thousands of clones to do his work for him? In Sasuke’s shinden it’s revealed that there is open communication of village affairs between the 5 villages meaning Naruto can employee fuckers to delegate his tasks for him.

- why the fuck is ten ten owning a dead weapon shop that has no business? why would you think she deserves that Kishimoto?

- Why would you find fit to give sasuke and sakura the happy ending they deserve only to have him gone for so long? I don’t hate SS because of Gaiden nor do I hate the message behind it but I just wish he picked a better plot premise for this message..Sasuke looked so depressed away from him family and I am sure Sakura missed him like hell…and don’t even get me started on Sarada, the kids always have it the worst in these situations. This is not me disrespecting Sasuke’s sacrifice for the world and his family; this is just me annoyed that Kishimoto decided to put him in this position for a shitty ‘save the world plot’ that gets resolved by a 12 year old in the boruto movie

- what the fuck is chapter 700, everyone’s appearances aside from Naruto’s annoyed me

- why does borutos hair look like this

- what? - me, seeing the kids’ designs (saradas grew on me a lot as she looks like a female sasuke with hints of her mama here and there and hima is cute)

- why did you not settle plot holes and inconsistencies 

- why was sasukes character arc so rushed towards the end

- why was the ending so rushed for sasuke vs naruto 

- why is Sasuke’s shinden just a sad diary full of Konoha induced self hate and where is Naruto through all of this???? He obsesses over Sasuke for years only for this shit to be pulled??? Sasuke suffering on his own for years while Sakura suffers from over work and missing him and Naruto is suddenly MIA like ANY of this is in ic for these 3

- why did SP end the anime like a shitty soap opera

- why in the fucking hell are team 7 and sns separated when this was one of the biggest plot points of part 2

- why were the side characters sidelined so bad and what happened to their endings

- hi we are called kunoichi and we demand some spotlight

- hi i am called sakuras genjutsu potential, please tap me

-  WHERE IS TSUNADE

- WHY IS OROCHMARU ALIVE AND WHO THE FUCK IS INVITING HIM TO WEDDINGS

- why are taka stuck with him

- what the fuck happened with taka

- why is itachi, who painted himself in a negative light being glorified for his destructive obedience that caused the genocide of an entire clan 

and most fucking importantly

The fact that Naruto Uzumaki ended up being a nationalist piece of shit who went against his fore principals and hid the uchiha clan massacre; going against basic government transparency and failing to give the people of the village he is ruling (and his best 'friend') the justice they deserve  

There are so many things to be against even excluding naruhina being a shitty thing continuously shoved down our throats; I genuinely can’t believe there are some people with 0 issues with the ending..Like were you just here for the ships? I don’t get it. Because honestly:

[notimeliketoday]

queen-geee replied to your post “@queen-geee These answer your question. As for everyone else Is this...”

That is an assumption because he even said that naruto changed him! And if he only retains some aspects of his former ideals which ones did he retain and which ones did he not? You don't know so you can't hear canon that he's trying to reform his clan your still wrong He didn't keep some of his former ideals that is a big headcanons you have no proof of that he never wanted to be shadow hokage that's basically what naruto appointed him

I said he was reformed and free of hatred that’s why his ideals about being a shadow hokage has changed drastically. He didn’t change his stance about being the shadow hokage right? He didn’t change the fact that he will “rule” from the shadows right?

As you said, his hatred is the one prompting him for his ideals to drastically change the shinobi world.

He wants to gather all hate and focus them on himself. He wants everyone to unite against him.

He will rule everything in the shadows.

That’s the list so far. So let’s check how that has changed after Naruto defeated him.

He is defeated and gave up on his revolution.

He wants to atone for his sins.

He wants to protect the village from the shadows.

He is essentially the Shadow Hokage because of the above and thus “rule” from the shadows.

Naruto didn’t appoint him to it. Fact.

Those are not headcanons and I am not wrong on that reformation. Did you see him pester Sakura to follow tradition with the fire release? Did you see him do the same to Sarada?  Did you see him changing his stance about wearing the crest? No? So then, stop with the headcanons.

Since we’re on the subject of assumptions. Let me remind you of the following statements you said:

Yo I’m crying at that hinata and naruto are more capable of wearing the uchiha crest without shame 😭😭😭😭 

All kishi did was let sakura wear the crest that STILL doesn't make her an uchiha any poser can wear a crest hinata isn't an uzumaki sai isn't a yamanaka and temari isn't a nara like why do you find this so hard to understand? And how does Sasuke beg to differ? He doesn't even where the crest anymore he doesn't give a shit about sakura or what she does he has his own mission to worry about 

are you dumb?? We're talking about CLANS!!!! SAKURA ISN'T APART OF THE UCHIHA CLAN SHE CANT EVEN DO A SIMPLE FIREBALL JUTSU this isn't coming from me this is from the original manga that the original Arthur wrote! This came from the head of the uchiha clan HIMSELF you can say whatever you want but in CANON sakura isn't an uchiha she can have the last name that's her right as a married women but that does not make her a TRUE uchiha she doesn't have the uchiha blood running through her 

what do you mean it doesn't change facts? That manga panel is a fact the panel came BEFORE gaiden and that OP blocking you is not my problem they still served you facts on a plate with that manga panel sasuke dad was the head of the clan he ran the clan! He makes the rules for the clan so your gonna disregard what he says? Just so sakura can be a uchiha in your eyes?

Please sakura is not a real uchiha get over it, It's not that big of a deal that's the worst of your worries about this ship lol 

That's not what the uchiha clan cares about though just because sakura is strong doesn't mean they would want her in the clan there's a lot of strong shinobi that doesn't mean they would just allow them all in the clan!

The uchiha clan never gave a fuck about the hokage are you dumb they wanted to do a coup to get rid of the people in office that's the reason there dead! Please read the manga they never cared about getting closer to 'the seat of power' they just wanted to be treated fairly like every other clan in the leaf village 

also,  SASUKE NEVER STATED THAT SAKURA WAS APART OF THE UCHIHA CLAN can you show me where he said that? Sasuke doesn't even seem to care about the crest anymore because he doesn't wear it himself so if he doesn't care for it would he really care if sakura wears it? 

Madara and obito were gone when they decided the coup and the ONLY reason sasuke wanted the position was to change the shinobi system and sasuke NEVER made sakura wear the crest can you stop wth the headcanons? 

And madara and obito wanting to be hokage doesn't mean the WHOLE CLAN cared about the hokage or government officials 

when you can give me facts FROM THE MANGA then I'll listen to your argument but right now your stating head canons your just assuming everything your assuming sasuke made sakura wear the crest or take his last name she COULD'VE said no 

Your assuming that the uchiha's cared about the hokage when clearly they didn't they just wanted to be treated equally your assuming that sasuke marrying sakura would get the clan closer to the seat of power but news flash they were one of the most powerful clans in the leaf! 

I'm not contradicting myself your saying it like the WHOLE uchiha clan waned to be hokage or wanted someone in there clan to be hokage that's far from the truth only because 3 people in there clan wanted to be hokage doesn't mean it matter to the rest of the clan because it DIDN'T the uchiha's just wanted to be treated equally THATS IT!!! 

Also if sasuke wearing the crest would make him a target wouldn't it be the same with sakura and sadara wearing the crest? If he REALLY cared he WOULDN'T want sakura or his daughter to wear the crest even in boruto didn't sakura tell sadara not to show her sharingan because that would make her a target but sakura dumbass got the child wearing fucking uchiha crests everywhere she goes and sakura does the same! 

And where is that stated in the MANGA??? I've never seen a panel that even suggested that only madara obito and sasuke wanted to be hokage but they don't make up the whole clan so you saying that the WHOLE uchiha clan wanted to be closer to the seat of power is false because out of the whole clan only three people wanted to be hokage 

What do you mean what I'm talking about? Just because they live in a village doesn't mean they are safe from attacks if they were sakura wouldn't have asked sadara not to use her sharingan 

She stated that in boruto! And boruto is canon 

It is canon just because you don't believe it is doesn't mean it's not and that's besides the point all of this is distracting to the real reason why were arguing the uchiha's don't care about hokage sasuke marrying sakura wouldn't necessarily make the uchiha get closer to the seat of power they were already one of the most powerful clans next to the hyuga's and sasuke never forced sakura to wear the crest also sakura is not a REAL uchiha 

But the uchiha didn't do the coup to become hokage THEY WERE SICK OF THE RACISM FROM THE LEAF VILLAGE!!!! They wanted to be shunned from the village that doesn't mean they wanted 'a seat of power' 

Sasuke didn't give sakura the crest!!!!!! WHERE DID YOU SEE THAT HE GAVE IT TO HER?!?!!? There is no proof of that! The proof is that sakura is married to sasuke and she carries his last name but shes not a true uchiha and once again that's not coming from me that's coming from the former head of the clan HIMSELF!!!!!!! She can wear the crest all she wants but she's wearing it IN SHAMEEEEEE!!!!! 

And do you really believe that sasuke marrying sakura would bring one of the uchiha's closer to becoming hokage? That's not true they shunned the whole clan and said the clan was deemed to be 'cursed by hatred' sakura marrying sasuke would've made that all go away? No if danzo and all the other government officials were still around they wouldn't want an uchiha to be hokage so sakura wouldn't have done shit for an uchiha to be hokage 

She's wearing it in shame because she can't do a simple fireball jutsu that's a canon fact from the manga

She's wearing the crest because she WANTS to when did sakura ever really care for what sasuke wanted? She does what she wants sasuke a REAL uchiha doesn't even wear the crest anymore and you can say he doesn't wear it because that would put a target in his back but was that stated in canon material or one of your other headcanons? 

Okay that still doesn't mean that the whole uchiha clan wanted one of there own to become hokage that's your own head canon you just think they did and the elders play a huge part into picking the next hokage the hokage can't just will who they want into power doesn't work that way 

But that's what you believe but that doesn't make it true! Who are you to say that her reputation is enough to allow her to wear the crest? You are not apart of the clan!! YOU ARE NOT HEAD OF THE CLAN WHAT YOU WANT DOESN'T MATTER she will always be wearing the crest in SHAME because she can't do a fireball jutsu why are you disregarding CANON!!!!!! 

Did I say the crest didn't matter? And when did sasuke ever let anyone wear the crest? He never did!! Not even sakura!!! Because we never seen him tell her she can wear it!!!! 

And are you an uchiha? I didn't know you get a say in there clan business and what THEY decide what qualifies someone to be an uchiha or not because if you haven't read the manga the HEAD of the uchiha clan had already came up with a way to determine who would be worthy of   wearing the crest or not and what the head of the clan decided was that you have to be able to do a fireball jutsu to be able to wear the crest proudly 

She can wear the crest I didn't say she can't BUT SHE IS WEARING THE CREST IN SHAME

YOUR the one disregarding canon because it's canon that you have to be able to do a fireball jutsu to be able to wear the crest proudly that's CANON even before gaiden came out ! 

And your right I have no say if her reputation is or isn't enough to allow her to wear the crest proudly because I'm not an uchiha just like you but the HEAD OF THE CLAN already determined that if someone can't do a fireball jutsu they can't wear the crest proudly so it doesn't matter what she does sakura does she could've even revive the whole clan for fuck sakes but if she can't do that fire jutsu she will ALWAYS wear the crest in shame 

And that's the point! Sasuke dad already came up with the rules regarding the crest and sakura breaks them so that means she is wearing the crest in shame 

Yes I can claim that because we never saw sasuke do it If we don't see if it's all just head canons 

Your head canyoning that sasuke allowed her to wear the clan crest proudly but WE NEVER SEE THAT! 

Also sasuke is now the head of the clan but when do we ever see sasuke refute his father words about wearing the crest proudly? He doesn't so you claiming that sasuke lets sakura wear the crest proudly is once again a head canon 

You know what's not a head canon though? The head of the clan saying that if you can't do a fire ball jutsu you can't wear the crest proudly you know who can't do a fire ball jutsu? Sakura you know you can do a fire ball jutsu? Madara obito sasuke itachi to name a few and they are allowed to wear the clan crest proudly! Because they can do the fireball jutsu! 

The ONLY thing I'm saying is sakura is wearing the crest in shame THATS not a head canon 

No it's not a head canon because sasuke doesn't need to apply the rule because THE RULE WAS ALREADY APPLIED BY THE LAST CLAN LEADER!!!!! 

The rule was already set in place before the genocide of the uchiha clan before so it applies to any new and up and coming uchiha's down the road only if sasuke lifts the rule but WE NEVER SEE HIM LIFT THE RULE so it's still canon that if you can't do the fireball jutsu you wear the crest in shame 

Are you dumb? It's not a head canon because sasuke never lift the rule it's a rule WITHIN the clan why would anyone that's not an uchiha care about there rules it's there clan there business 

I'm not saying sadara isn't an uchiha that's not sasuke dad said!!!!! He said if you can't do the fireball jutsu you are not a full fledge uchiha you wear the crest in shame so that means that sadara isn't a full fledge uchiha until she can do the fireball jutsu sorry I don't make the clan rules I'm just telling you the clan rules 

Sasuke dad didn't reprimand him either he was telling him! That mean Sasuke dad allowed him to wear the crest but he still isn't a real uchiha just how sasuke allows his daughter to wear the crest but she's not a real uchiha until she can do the jutsu Sasuke dad doesn't beat him belittle him or anything he's just tell him that he will not be a full fledge uchiha until he can do the fire ball jutsu! 

No you think that's a new canon!!! Just because you think it's a new canon doesn't actually make it a real canon you THINK he doesn't apply the rule anymore we never seen him lift it and if we never seen him lift that means the rule is still in affect

Now, read your statements again. I can clearly see many headcanons and assumptions here. The most prominent is Sakura wearing the crest in shame.

Where in the manga was that shown?

At any rate, I will properly break down this statements in a future reblog. I don’t have time for this yet.

If someone is kind enough to nitpick statements, be my guest.

[fineillsignup]

So I’m working on the Kakashi’s Wish translation (the time travel comic) and there’s a part where Minato is quoting Hiruzen as saying that a Hokage has to consider every person in the village as his own family, which definitely comes from canon. I don’t believe canon ever calls Hiruzen out for his hypocrisy on this one, especially given that Boruto heavily relies on the theme of “Naruto the Hokage must put the village’s needs above his family’s wants”, but Hiruzen is such a hypocrite on this one.

Why do I say that? Because you can compare the treatment of Konohamaru, the Sandaime’s orphan grandson, to the other orphans in the series, and it’s not even close.

The reader first meets Konohamaru--who gets called “Honoured Grandson”--with his dedicated tutor Ebisu, who was in fact a tokubetsu jounin who specialized in teaching--in short, the person who Konoha considered to be the best teacher in all of Konoha. Ebisu got assigned to Konohamaru when he was just starting out at the academy, to teach him one-on-one. And sure, Konohamaru showed talent, but certainly less than Sasuke did; and one could easily argue that if Ebisu was going to have one-on-one time with anyone, it ought to have been Naruto, who was so massively underperforming considering the potential of his heritage and his chakra pool.

So Konohamaru, the Third’s grandson, got the best teacher in Konoha as his personal tutor, whereas other orphans didn’t get any tutor at all. Plus I will bet you a hundred thousand ryo that Konohamaru didn’t live alone, didn’t have to cook and clean for himself, and didn’t have to budget to be able to afford enough instant ramen to live.

“Everyone in Konoha is like my family”. Hiruzen could be such a great character because he’s such a flawed person, someone who 100% believes his own bullshit and who sincerely thinks he’s doing the right thing. His nickname of “the Professor” is too right because he’s honestly the worst of that kind of ivory tower stereotype that has these lofty ideals and believes in them so passionately but lacks the self-awareness to see how completely he’s failing these ideals in practice. He believes so hard that he’s Kindly Grandpa Hokage, but so many of the worst tragedies of the series are directly traceable to his actions or inactions.

Naruto the series came so close to giving some really powerful examples of how just intending to do the right thing is not enough (Itachi is an even more tragic example). The story shows so clearly how their choices massively backfired that I honestly forget sometimes that the story right to the end seems to think that the only thing that matters is that they were Good Guys Who Did the Right Thing. Don’t look any closer than that, don’t ask yourself if they did have other choices (even if they honestly didn’t perceive any), definitely don’t ask if some of the “wrong” choices wouldn’t have been more moral or had better results than the ones they actually took. (Would the death toll of innocents have truly been higher if Itachi had allied with his clan’s coup? If he had taken out Danzo and his sympathizers covertly to allow Hiruzen and the more moderate elements control? If he had attempted to whistleblow to Konoha at large all the fuckery that was going on? If he had decided “fuck you, fuck you, and especially fuck you, we’re out” and took li’l Sasuke and ran off to another country to open a dango and tomato stand? But I’m getting down a rabbit hole now. [Somebody write me an AU about Itachi and Li’l Sasuke’s Tomato ‘n’ Dango Shoppe.])

IDK if I should tag this hiruzen sarutobi or not? Does this count as character hate? IDK. If there are any Hiruzen fans who feel offended that this is tagged that, let me know and I will remove the tag and/or throw down with you about Hiruzen’s fuckboy-ness at your leisure.