#i actually liked orochimaru in classic naruto

[captnjacksparrow]

What's your top 10 for character designs?

1. Uchiha Madara

The moment he appeared in this scene... That design and his aura... It was well worth the build up. His Gloves are an Extra plus and his Spiky hair, 10 out of 10. [[That costume design of having someones' hand exposed between Gloves and a 3/4 th sleeves would always looks good on everyone irrespective of the Gender]] ((Secret : I have hand kink))

2. Naruto

One Word = Rad

That billowing robe and Forehead ribbon flailing in the air, orange eye shadow.... Is there anything not to like in his design??? His Robe is a clear nod to Jiraiya’s Red Overcoat + Minato’s Lengthy Robe with fire pattern in the edges. Symbolic representation of Naruto emulating the ideals of Jiraiya & Minato. I wish Naruto wear this in Boru.... Never mind.

3. Sasuke

This costume clearly gives off this vibe of an Avenger with bandages in his Hands, Forehead and Chest... Like a Battle trained samurai preparing himself for his next battle donning the Black Robe no less. Initially, I wanted to go for Sasuke’s Chunin Exam Black outfit but somehow this Costume trumped everything. 

(Oh By the way, that Orochimaru Lair slut costume can burn in Hell... That’s totally weird af and after so many episodes... Finally Sasuke started to wear a new one... This design ended up being the best one)

4. Kakashi

When I saw him for the first time, he is the only person that stood out because well, he is an Adult and he has white hair... And he wears mask like a true Ninja... Plus his attitude is just Chill and his costume is nothing special but his steel plated fingerless Gloves differentiates him from every other Jounin. Isn’t his sleeve + Gloves gap were similar to Madara???? 

(Sorryy I have Finger kink too) (I think Kishi just replicated this Glove thingy with Sasuke in Boruto as well).

5. Itachi

This is actually what you call, “Welcome Motherf**ker” pose **Read in Samuel L Jackson’s Voice**

Akatsuki wardrobe is just a Raincoat drawn with Red Clouds... Nothing special.. It’s those accessories and their mannerisms are what that differentiates from one character to another. For Kisame, it’s his Samehada. For Itachi, his beaded chain... And his classic resting his arm in that coat pose. Sitting on the throne no less with legs crossed.... 

Usually, to show the superiority of some character, the usual angle would be to go for a Low Angle shot. Look at that Madara introduction panel I attached above. But Itachi’s pose is another way to show someone’s superiority without going overtly dramatic. 

His design may be plain and harmless but intimidating & mysterious nonetheless.

6. Konohamaru

Easily one of the best character design for a teeny tiny tot. That Blue lengthy scarf around his neck makes him even more cuter than he already is.. Plus the Yellow shirt kinda complements the scarf. And Naruto’s fashion statement -- That trademark Goggle. An excellent clone successor of Naruto.

Even in Boruto, Konohamaru’s design was the only one that’s watchable and you can say he is the only saving grace. Rest are all ugly. [[Someone sent me an ask regarding Boruto designs... The answer is Konohamaru... No one else]].

I can’t able to rate 10 because these are the only characters that made an impact Aesthetically and behaviorally. 

#uzumaki naruto #naruto uzumaki #naruto #uchiha sasuke #sasuke #uchiha madara #madara #uchiha itachi #itachi #hatake kakashi #kakashi #konohamaru

[sazzafraz]

this is about the perfume thing

so anyway the perfume thing.

konoha nine era:

naruto: i have no idea. i’m leaning towards aroon sawat bc uhhh i wanna buy it and a couple offers from this brand are on my shortlist for other characters

sasuke: also have little idea but i THINK i’ve got some in my samples that could work. he thinks he wears sauvauge and is wrong. 

sakura: okay i have the niche one for this which is balinese ylang ylang. i wear this when i run or know i’m gonna do something strenuous because it literally only smells better when u sweat. its also like. complicatedly feminine. my designer is gonna be myth or sci fi from ellis brooklyn. 

kakashi: bespoke answer: i do not think he wears any. a skin scent if we must. though i know cats and dogs particuarly like the smell of ambroxan and vanilla (beaver butt). i have a lot of samples in this genre that i simply don’t wear so it could be fun to look. 

ino: okay THIS one is easy. she’s an iris/orris girl. classic unisex a little powdery. my expensive pick is going to be either oh la la or amyris femme, POSSIBLy eau de magnolia. hmmm.

sai: comme des garcon SOMETHING

gai: soft lawn cape heartache saint julep. this man is a concept. i think his designer is actually a nice fougere but i am NOT FAMILIAR here. 

neji: affluence

tenten: honestly a nice vanilla. la belle. i am not a vanilla expert.

rock lee: i think he’s one of those people with perfect skin chemistry who can wear anything. tenten picks. 

kurenai: portrait of a lady. lady vengeance. third rose femme fatale perfume

hinata: tea service. j’adore. 

kiba: spicebomb.

shino: eau duelle. 

sannnin/third era

hiruzen: disappointment

jiraiya: it’s versace eros. i wish it wasn’t. because i really like this perfume. but its versace eros.

tsunade: lust from lush when she’s drunk and lord of misrule when she’s sober

orochimaru: i DON’T KNOW it TORTURES ME. smoked bloom maybe. EDITED: phloem from jorum. him or kabuto. 

obito: now this one is interesting. a genuinely VERY MASCULINE one. will dive into my samples. probably sauvauge when he was uhhhh fourteen. the axe body spray version. 

akatsuki:

all of them wear tom ford its just which ones

founders era:

hashirama: i hate this. he is the man men think they are when they wear sauvauge, my designer pick is going to be britney spears midnight fantasy.

tobirama: haute provence . i love this one. it’ll probably be a kenzo for designer. 

madara: i was RACKED with GUILT that i could not think of a smoky perfume for him. it can’t be amber kiso because thats my binghe perfume. then i remembered: betwixt and between. it’s polarising. i’ve had people move seats away from me. it got one of the hottest women i’ve ever seen to compliment me. it’s madara. 

mito: i gave tobirama haute provence but i’m going to pick something SO EXPENSIVE for mito. the designer might be salt from ellis brooklyn. 

izuna: o’unknown

#kakashi could be baccarat what a RETURN #vote 4 ur favourite akatsuki now

[golden-bean-soup]

I have a friend who actually thinks Itachi could beat sasuke... it's like girl what are you on? Apparently when sasuke was keeping up with Itachi he was nerfed because of the reanimation jutsu and edo tensei are supposedly a lot weaker than the original? Which I mean sure with Tobirama and orochimaru that's true but kabuto? Even if they are a bit weaker it's not a massive nerf for people who aren't hashirama and madara level. Her proof is that Tobirama stated reanimation are weaker than the original and kabuto only improved it a bit? What? Tobirama's been dead for decades and claiming kabuto only improved it a bit even compered to orochimaru let alone Tobirama is ridiculous. For example hashirama and madara are about equal and the hashirama orochimaru reanimated was puny if you compere him to reanimated madara. And also even if Itachi was ten times stronger he wouldn't be able to even touch sasuke let alone kill him.

Another argument was the totsuka blade and the mirror that I have no idea how to spell. I don't really this needs to be talked about but here we go, Sasuke is way faster than Itachi as we have seen him keep up with SOSP naruto and even kcm 2 naruto would be so much faster than Itachi its not even funny. So keeping that in mind there is no way Itachi is fast enough to hit sasuke with the totsuka blade. And look I'm not completely sure how the mirror works, as in is it actually able to reflect attacks on six paths level, but it's not like the thing is omnidirectional so sasuke can just go behind it shoot an attack at the susanoo and that would be that. Worst case scenario sasuke can just out last Itachi like wait for his susanoo to disappear and then kill him cause sasuke can have even his perfect susanoo activated way longer than Itachi can have his susanoo.

Then the classic genjutsu argument. Again I don't think this needs talking about but sasuke shielded himself and others from the infinite tsukuyomi so there's no way regular tsukuyomi or kotoamatsukami is landing on him. You know you could actually argue that sasuke is better at Itachi at casting genjutsu because he did put all the bijuu in a genjutsu with like a glance and I'm pretty sure Itachi never pulled anything like that off.

At least she admitted that sasuke is better at ninjutsu? But she did say they are even in taijutsu which is blatantly false. Again sasuke was fighting hand to hand with SOSP naruto who moved at light speed so get the fuck out of here with that shit.

So in conclusion saying that Itachi is even relevant to sasuke is ludicrous and I don't have any idea how people have come to this conclusion. Come on guys it's 2022 can we please stop with the Itachi wank?

#uchiha sasuke #sasuke uchiha #anti itachi #I don't really wanna call this anti but putting it in the main tag would be kind of an asshole move #and I don't wanna not tag him at all

[semi-imaginary-place]

the mangekyo is classic kishimoto. he needed a cool powerup thats the explanation, you can clearly tell he was just doodling cool eye design and came up with an excuse later. the mangekyo isn't from killing someone its from the grief of someone you love dearly dying, because the uchiha are the clan of emotion (the one consistency in the manga). all sharingan upgrades are from intense emotions. and mangekyo only unlocks with the most intense emotion: grief. there's plenty of uchiha that awakened it even if they didn't directly kill their loved one. anyways the explanation is that the intense emotion causes a chakra reaction in the brain that causes their eyes to change. see the secret is that naruto is 95% bullshit like this. mangekyo sharingan is a great example of the phenomena.

i hate this explanation so much. special brain chakra... and then the mangekyo is a more extreme version requiring even stronger emotions. the sharingan doesn't normally develop over time. it requires the intense emotions to level up and it just so happens that putting child soldiers in a war in life or death situations where most of their friends and family die tends to meet those requirements.

im rotating the fire lightning sasuke chakra affinity debate in my head. Sasuke's shown talent with both making giant fireballs in like a week and a small one on his first try and lightning chidori in a month. He uses a mix of fire and lighting jutsu. So theres no strong evidence in either those two points that tilts the scales. His mangekyo sharingan is the most unique and personal of his skills and ameterasu (sun goddess) is a fire skill. This is probably the strongest evidence that he's fire affinity. His clan's specialty is fire. On the lighting side is how he's a reincarnation of indra, indra irl the hindu god of the sky (indoeuropean sky father diety thik odin or zeus) so theres a strong association with lightning there, most of the jutsu sasuke's created has been lightning too like kirin or the sword thing.

Finishing up the naruto manga and i have to say sauce-gay is the worst at thinking, truly not a single thought rattling around in there only murder. When naruto is the brains reasoning side of thia fight, you should knkw you've messed up. Im going to kill itachi -> im going to kill everyone in konoha -> im going to kill the kages just because -> save the world teehee -> jk lmao back to killing all the kages, bijuu, and ofc naruto.

One thing i find interesting about the third hokage hiruzen is how his belief in the good in others causes so many problems. Hiruzen believes so strongly in people being their best selves than he will overlook anything and everything and do nothing about problems because he thinks those problems will fix themselves. Danzo and orochimaru are great examples of this. Danzo: betrays hiruzen Hiruzen: thats ok you care about konoha Danzo: tries to throw a coup Hiruzen: thats ok you care about konoha Danzo: betrays hirizen again Hiruzen: thats ok you care about konoha Danzo: kidnaps and tortures children Hiruzen: thats ok you care about konoha Danzo: genocides the uchiha clan Hiruzen: slap on the wrist. Really the whole uchiha affair was very indicative hiruzens personality and leadership style. He makes attempts at dialogue but makes 0 policy changes to back up his words or address the grievances of the uchiha. Because he believes it will all work out in the end, the fugaku and the uchiha are good people and a part of konoha so of course hiruzen doesnt actually need to take any action or need to demonstrate that the uchiha that they are a part of konoha. I think in any other job hiruzen would have just been the kindly old man and a good person but because he was in a leadership position where his negligence and willingness to believe the best in people, he was complicit in just a lot of evil like all the torturing kids wow.

The konoha leadership or the narrative potential of it i find very interesting. But thats mostly because i like political dramas. I would happily read a political drama about all the factionalism and clan politics of konoha and probably like it better than the actual series. All the hokages and leadership end up a bit morally ambiguous. On the pretty clearly evil but does have a couple points is danzo who was right how sometimes sacrifices must be made but his vision of konoha was so tied up in his own ego. His foal was what was best for konoha but what he saw as best for konoha oh so conveniently placed him in a position of unilateral total power. And thus anything he did to advanced his own position also in his mind advanced the interest of konoha. On the other end is hashirama who did so a lot to end violence and brokered a lot of peace agreements and instead of 6 year olds he was only sending out 10 year olds to for die for their nation. Progress. And he also went and enslaved the bijuu as war weapons. And rhen theres tobirama who invented public education but also zombies, encoded factionalism into law and isolated the uchiha his clan's rival clan (and we all know how well than ended up).

Back to political drama. Boruto seems really bad like really really bad and i don't think it should have been made at all. But if the premises were to be salvaged i think the best way would be to make it a work comedy/political drama/midlife crisis story geared toward struggling 40 year olds. Of course this would never sell which is why they didnt do it. But you could really revel in the mess of things. Stressed out, overworked, marriage in shambles, dreams all crumbled to dust. Like naruto and hinata married at 19 and had a kid at 20. Yikes slow down. A more interesting take would have been that naruto didnt particularly want to marry hinata but wanted all the things that came with it. Naruto's a people pleaser this is canon, and hinata loves him unconditionally and fiercely in a way he has no reference for so of course he loves her back and wants her to be happy. Naruto is nice like that. He alao has little references for healthy marriages. He wants to be happy, he wants to be loved, he wants a normal family, he wants kids. And you know the hyuuga clan was putting on the pressure. Town hero and future hokage? Oh they are jumping on that. And he likes being with hinata but the pressures getting to him and the job is getting to him, he's wanted this for so long so of course he has to push himself. But he's unhappy and desperately in denial that he is unhappy because he has everything he's ever wanted what could be wrong.

... boruto (the kid) is a boomer. Like a literal post war baby boom

A lot of people were mad at that kishimoto decided to put a war in naruto and im not. The writing is bad but a lot of the writing in naruto is bad..i dont hate the concept because war is a reoccurring theme in naruto. The last continent wide war was a little over 15 years ago so all the adult characters are traumatized by it. Their society is geared towards perpetual war and the constant imminent of threat of war drives the politics of all the nations. And the 4th shinobi war does continues the main themes of Naruto. Because the contingent is caught in a cycle pain and hurt where wars are waged against each other but finally they arent fighting each other they are fighting with each other, they break that cycle. This ties in with the other theme that people cant do things alone (nagato, itachi, madara, obito), people are stronger together (naruto, the allied shinobi force). The "with all our power combined" thing is heavy handed but eh naruto isnt a good series. Ninja war had parts that were very good and them a whole lot of filler inbetween. Pacing was bad.

Contrast this with bnha (which im currently reading) which overall is a better series with better writing but unlike naruto, bnha did not have those underlying themes of war so its was arc is more out of place. In some ways bnha is more political especially in the social justice sense. The dynamic between those with and without quirks in particular i find interesting. In that when quirks first appeared those with them were heavily discriminated against. The term "quirk" itself in universe was an act of early quirk activism. And to this day those with very visually noticeable quirks or bodies that look different are discriminated against in the same society where now a quirkless kid will get bullied for not having a quirk. Those who are oppressed are not innocent of never further the oppression of others. Like irish americans becoming cops

#naruto

[tattah-art]

The soft Orochimaru nobody asked for🌸

I got no excuse for this. Purple lineart seemed to suit him🤷‍♀️… and I like pink.

#yup #thats it #i actually liked orochimaru in classic naruto #he was so creepy and scary #….good times #remember when he freaked out everybody during the chunin exams? #i miss those days #orochimaru #naruto #my art #his theme song is still iconic tho

[madara-fate]

If you think Sakura’s love was a source of strength then how do you explain how it never amounted to a hype moment where all we see is empowerment? She shields Sasuke from Gaara, then what? Cool moment, it even made Naruto recall LOW events, but it’s followed up by her held hostage, savior Naruto saving the day, Sasuke taking the L, telling her Naruto saved her… bc she believed it had to have been Sasuke, but it wasn’t. Perfectly anchored into that trope.

She never got to actually save Sasuke as all her attempts were tanked in order to make Naruto do it. Which is 1 thing, but she didn’t even get /slightly/ successful or lay the groundwork for naruto. between 181 & 693 she’s confined to the same disposition towards Sasuke, implore him, get knocked out, have Naruto do more. Like there’s been absolutely 0 growth in between. Even Naruto who took the VOTE1 L, still actually displayed a peak at that point, Sakura didn’t. He made their parting a classic drama break up rather than a ninja showdown. What’s worse is that after failing to muster up the courage to kill Sasuke post summit, she actually verbalizes the powerlessness. She compares herself to Naruto who’s determined with a rock solid resolve, while she can’t do or even say anything & wavers. She ends it at “all i can do is trust them” how’s that empowerment? It’s the opposite of that, it’s a set back, accepting belonging to a lesser league. Her will to save Sasuke bc of her love, amounts to trusting the great Naruto to do it for her. Exactly my point lol. Previously she tells Naruto she’ll join him, he should wait for her, but it doesn’t amount to anything. forest of death was made about Sasuke, Naruto AND Lee. When she speaks of being behind, she means behind both Naruto & Sasuke, it was that disposition that motivated her not her feelings for Sasuke alone. We see very early on how she can’t introduce herself or voice her dream bc of her feelings for Sasuke, Kakashi says girls that age care more about love than ninjutsu. In the bell test she’s more worried about Sasuke than the test itself, it’s her demise, and ofc the cherry on top before sasuke explains to her that he has someone to kill, she tries to get him to give up as they’d get separated due to the power gap. Now of course the MC needed his wins but it’s hard to comprehend why NS couldn’t work together at any point without having Sakura immediately axed from the clash like the first time they met Sasuke post TS. Tsunade & Jiraya got to square up against Orochimaru… anyways that’s what i mean and i find it so weird people don’t see it when it’s beyond obvious. all of Sakura’s peaks are actually distant from all that. I don’t view her love as an addiction bc it was a simple school crush that blossomed into true love once they met each other, but my perception as a fan doesn’t negate the creator’s perception, and since he doesn’t understand girls (barely respects the gender if you ask me) can’t write romance it’s not that crazy to think that’s how he views it. Most of his prominent female characters have an exaggerated romantic aspect to their personas and character arcs while for male characters it’s simply an afterthought, exception being Obito although the Rub stuff felt more like a tired plot device than real romantic development, and to think that he made half of the romantic aspect for Sakura’s character be associated with negativity because it clashed with the MC amongst other things, truly speaks volumes.

If you think Sakura’s love was a source of strength then how do you explain how it never amounted to a hype moment where all we see is empowerment?

The mere fact that you actually believe that the only way to prove that Sakura's love for Sasuke served as a source of strength is for her to have had "a hype moment", really says all I need to know about how you see love and its worth, goodness gracious man...

She shields Sasuke from Gaara, then what? Cool moment, it even made Naruto recall LOW events, but it’s followed up by her held hostage, savior Naruto saving the day, Sasuke taking the L, telling her Naruto saved her… bc she believed it had to have been Sasuke, but it wasn’t. Perfectly anchored into that trope.

And you honestly don't see the toxicity behind this perspective? You honestly believe that just because Sakura got taken hostage and that Naruto was ultimately the one to defeat Gaara, that somehow means that the significance of Sakura's actions towards Sasuke was non existent? That's kinda crazy.

Let's look at another example - Hinata. She put her life on the line to save Naruto's life from Pain, because she loved him. It doesn't matter that she ultimately didn't defeat Pain, because that wasn't the point. The point was how her love motivated her to stare death in the face and confront it head on, and that was the hype moment.

Similarly, the mere fact that Sakura opted to sacrifice her life to protect Sasuke (which worked by the way, Gaara was going for the kill there, and Sakura saved him from death), was enough to illustrate how her love for Sasuke served as a source of strength. Previously when confronted by Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, she was absolutely petrified in fear at the murderous intent before her:

But when facing Gaara, she stared death directly in the face, and never hesitated in the slightest:

Why? Because she was trying to save Sasuke's life, and it worked. Her love for Sasuke was far more powerful than any fear she may have had, and it served as her strength to stand her ground. So I don't know why you're trying to tell me how Sakura's love never served as a source of strength, despite this and several other examples directly proving you wrong. Just because Sakura then got taken hostage and Sasuke wasn't the one to bring Gaara down, that doesn't take anything away from the significance of that scene.

She never got to actually save Sasuke as all her attempts were tanked in order to make Naruto do it.

Wrong. As I've already highlighted above, Sakura successfully saved Sasuke from Gaara. She also saved him from losing himself to the Curse Seal during the Forest of Death, and she saved him again when he was trapped in the other dimension. Not to mention when she saved both him and Naruto from bleeding out at the end of their 2nd fight. So your definition of "saving", is severely skewed.

Between 181 & 693 she’s confined to the same disposition towards Sasuke, implore him, get knocked out, have Naruto do more. Like there’s been absolutely 0 growth in between.

Are you serious? Are you actually serious? Let me jog your memory.

When Sasuke was leaving the village, she confessed, and tried to stop him with words.

During their reunion at Orochimaru's hideout, she tried to attack him, her attack was interrupted, but the intent was there.

During their reunion in the Land of Iron, she initially tried to trick him, and after that didn't work, she tried to kill him, and had the opportunity to, but couldn't do it because she still loved him and knew he could still be saved. There, Sakura's love for Sasuke stopped her from making a big mistake, because she was ultimately right - Sasuke could still be saved, and he was.

Then during her second confession, she tried using words again, because what else was she going to do?

It's like you and many other people think that just because Sakura didn't foolishly try to fight Sasuke in that instance, it means that she was a stupid fangirl who lost all her development and regressed. What good would attacking him have done? She was clearly no match for him, and it's not like she hadn't tried to in the past, which you failed to acknowledge. So tell me, where was all the "imploring" and "getting knocked out" between chapters 181 and 693?

Even Naruto who took the VOTE1 L, still actually displayed a peak at that point, Sakura didn’t. He made their parting a classic drama break up rather than a ninja showdown.

And what on earth does that prove?

What’s worse is that after failing to muster up the courage to kill Sasuke post summit, she actually verbalizes the powerlessness. She compares herself to Naruto who’s determined with a rock solid resolve, while she can’t do or even say anything & wavers. She ends it at “all i can do is trust them” how’s that empowerment? It’s the opposite of that, it’s a set back, accepting belonging to a lesser league.

"Accepting belonging to a lesser league"? Where did you even get that from? How does one's decision to let other people resolve their issues, in any way amount to classifying yourself as a lesser being? I mean seriously, what are you talking about? Sakura's love for Sasuke and the effect it has on her isn't being called into question here. It's the fact that she can't exchange fists with Sasuke in the same way that Naruto can. It's the fact that she had resolved to kill Sasuke, and that's what she wavered from, which is not a bad thing.

You're asking "how's that empowerment", when no one said that it was supposed to show empowerment. Not every scene that Sasuke and Sakura are in has to showcase some huge hype scene about the power of love, but you're acting as if this somehow means that her love for Sasuke has never been showcased as such, when I've already proven that to be wrong multiple times already.

Her will to save Sasuke bc of her love, amounts to trusting the great Naruto to do it for her. Exactly my point lol.

Yet another example of not only your severely warped idea of what "saving" means, but also on your problematic perspective regarding how apparently, "empowerment" only matters if you have "a hype moment" and defeat the big bad of the arc. It apparently can't be depicted in any other manner.

Her will to save Sasuke because of her love, amounted to her putting her life on the line to protect him from Gaara (which was "a hype moment" if I've ever seen one). It amounted to her resolving to get stronger so she could help bring him back. It amounted to her never truly giving up on the idea that he could be saved, despite how consumed in darkness he was. It amounted to her pushing herself beyond her limits to the point of almost passing out, in order to save him from the other dimension. But of course, all of that is meaningless to you right?

Previously she tells Naruto she’ll join him, he should wait for her, but it doesn’t amount to anything.

How does it not amount to anything? She kept her word, she got stronger, and went with him. Just because they didn't bring Sasuke back in that instance, doesn't mean the journey was pointless.

forest of death was made about Sasuke, Naruto AND Lee. When she speaks of being behind, she means behind both Naruto & Sasuke, it was that disposition that motivated her not her feelings for Sasuke alone.

No one said otherwise, so why are you even mentioning all of this in the first place?

We see very early on how she can’t introduce herself or voice her dream bc of her feelings for Sasuke, Kakashi says girls that age care more about love than ninjutsu. In the bell test she’s more worried about Sasuke than the test itself, it’s her demise, and ofc the cherry on top before sasuke explains to her that he has someone to kill, she tries to get him to give up as they’d get separated due to the power gap. Now of course the MC needed his wins but it’s hard to comprehend why NS couldn’t work together at any point without having Sakura immediately axed from the clash like the first time they met Sasuke post TS. Tsunade & Jiraya got to square up against Orochimaru… anyways that’s what i mean and i find it so weird people don’t see it when it’s beyond obvious. all of Sakura’s peaks are actually distant from all that. I don’t view her love as an addiction bc it was a simple school crush that blossomed into true love once they met each other, but my perception as a fan doesn’t negate the creator’s perception, and since he doesn’t understand girls (barely respects the gender if you ask me) can’t write romance it’s not that crazy to think that’s how he views it.

I don't even know what the point of all of that was. You weren't reinforcing any of your points, nor did you attempt to refute any of mine. It just seems like a weird tangent.

Most of his prominent female characters have an exaggerated romantic aspect to their personas and character arcs while for male characters it’s simply an afterthought, exception being Obito although the Rub stuff felt more like a tired plot device than real romantic development

Not true, but again, this is completely off topic and I'm not gonna get into that discussion here.

and to think that he made half of the romantic aspect for Sakura’s character be associated with negativity because it clashed with the MC amongst other things, truly speaks volumes.

You're justifying the claim that Sakura's love was associated with negativity because it apparently clashed with the MC? How did Sakura's love for Sasuke clash with Naruto? It never created any friction between them, they resolved to save Sasuke together, and Naruto was one of the biggest supporters of Sakura's love for Sasuke, so where was this supposed clash? And why would it even automatically be a seen as a negative thing if it did clash with the MC? Just because Naruto also liked her at one point, doesn't mean her feelings for Sasuke were automatically bad, goodness.

#Sasuke Uchiha #Sakura Haruno #sasusaku #Naruto Uzumaki

[phantomchick]

Naruto Fic Rec Masterpost!

Adoption by Defenestration; or, A Family Can Be A Fox Demon, Its Jinchuuriki, and Three Dozen Highly-Trained Assassins  by elumish Oneshot, Gen, Fluff, child neglect, Naruto gets unofficially adopted by his anbu guards and it’s incredibly cute Summary: He will not be the ANBU who let the jinchuuriki plummet to his death out a fourth story window. Let that be another ANBU’s legacy.

Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos)  by Pleasedial123 Longfic, Gen, Team Seven, team as family, Bamf Kakashi, Bamf team 7, au, kakashi pov, Complete but part of a three part series and the third part is still ongoing, still highly recommend, what team 7 should have been, Skilled Teacher! Kakashi Summary: In one world, Kakashi awoke, felt grieved at being assigned a team he sees his own in, and he let that grief make him a lazy teacher.  He saw himself in Sasuke, Obito in Naruto, and Rin in Sakura. He woke, saw himself in them, and took a large step back, regretting accepting them as his new team.  In that world he was quite hands off - merely a watcher because it was so very painful to watch. He saw himself and all his mistakes in this new team of his. 

In this world, Kakashi awoke, saw the similarities, and instantly panicked. 

He suddenly realised what he had done, passing a team.  Kakashi was left scrambling not to repeat old mistakes and regrets. This team would not suffer the fate of his team.

In this world, simply put, Kakashi became a teacher.  This is the beginning of a new team seven.

Something in the water by maldoror_gw  Oneshot, Gen, Teen and Up for language, hilarious, Tsunade pov, fluff, mild crack, pre-shippuden post naruto,

Summary: "Sakura...what is that man reading?" Tsunade asked in a dangerous voice. Sakura's gaze twitched away from her ex-teacher to her new - and temperamental - mentor. "Erm...a book...written by a...well-respected member of the community...about...romance?" Tsunade noted with passing approval that Sakura was demonstrating both loyalty and quite a lot of imagination in defending her one-time team leader (who was now trying to edge around a pillar to get away from Tsunade's venomous glare).

backslide by blackkat Time travel, time travel fix it, mature, fluff, team seven, m/m, slow build romance, Naruto adopts himself, Uzumaki heritage, bamf Naruto, complete longfic, Summary: Naruto’s friends are gone, his lover is dying, Konoha is destroyed, and Madara’s second return has pushed the entire world to the brink. Hunted and harried, Naruto is sent back in time to upend Madara’s plan before it even starts, and sets about changing everything. Butterfly effect nothing: the world is at stake, and Naruto is hardly about to let it fall to ruin once more. Not while he’s still breathing.

Tobirama Kicks Some Sense Into Konoha by allseer15 Hurt/comfort, whump, emotional whump, time travel, fix it, time travel fix it, The ‘what if Tobirama came to the future saw an orphaned Naruto and adopted the shit out of him’ Fic, Iconique, child neglect, child abandonment, fluff, so much fluff, completed longfic, look I have a weakness for the time travel fix it trope at the best of times but this fic is good even looking at it without focusing on that! Prolonged Tobirama content, Senju lore, senju feels, Summary: The Hidden Leaf Village in Naruto's time seems to have forgotten just why the village was founded and have lost their way.  Through a mishap with a hiraishin seal, Tobirama finds himself during Naruto's time and he is having none of this nonsense. His brother may be gone, but he won't stand to have Hashirama's dream trampled so. And if he has to cause a civil war or burn the village down to the ground? Well that depends on how much resistance he meets. All Tobirama does know for certain is that no child will suffer underneath the protection of Konoha and if he has to take them in and care for them himself, then he will.

Hardest of hearts by blackkat Oneshot, Gen, look I really like blackkat’s naruto fic okay, part one of a completed three part series, all three parts are great, Fix its are the best, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix It, Orochimaru redemption story, the sheer shadenfreude of one baddie fucking over another baddie, in this case Danzo, Obito has a ‘bad guy but not that bad of a guy’ solidarity moment with Orochimaru at the start and I loved it so there’s that, featuring a low key constantly horrified at this turn of events Minato,

Summary: Orochimaru gets one more chance. Just maybe, it will be enough to save him—and the entire world as well. 

A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door by blackkat Mature, Completed ten chapter fic, Orochimaru redemption story, Orochimaru/Kakashi’s dad, you read that right, quality Sakumo content, Families of Choice, Humour, Fluff and Angst, somewhat crackish, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, baby Kakashi being a cutie Summary: Orochimaru is on the edge of breaking when someone unexpected pulls him back to solid ground. When the time comes, he returns the favour.

Nukenin by WhisperingDarkness Gen, dimension travel, team seven, team as family, Kakashi actually being a good sensei even when he’s not a sensei at all, possessive kakashi, Team Seven is his team, Kinda Fluffy, Protective Kakashi, the ‘this might as well happen’ adaptability is real, Kakashi adopts team seven and team seven adopts kakashi, even though he’s illegal, 4 chapter fic, marked as complete as author doesn’t plan to continue it, but even taking these chapters as stand alone this fic is great,

Summary:  In the sealed scroll he finds a Bingo Book – his own page marking him as an S-class nukenin with flee-on-sight orders.  “Ok. That is definitely different.”  In his head he blames Naruto – even if his number one unpredictable student had been nowhere near him on this mission. When things go this stupidly impossibly wrong it must somehow be the future Hokage’s fault.

Ear to the Wall by Vodkassassin Ongoing, it’s really really good though! great Kakashi content, Minato is very stressed and I love him, Sickfic, Hurt/Comfort, whump, PTSD’d Kakashi gets to relive his childhood but gets a little bit of a real childhood along the way, ADHD Rin, time travel fix it, look I like what I like and what I like is fix its and time travel apparently, Kakashi adopts Orochimaru before he descends into douchbaggery, Orochimaru Redemption story, everyone is alive,   Summary: The Minato-sensei beams at him, and replies, “Kakashi! I’m glad you’re awake,” and, yup, that’s Minato-sensei’s voice. Kakashi falls back down against the bed, closing his eyes. It’s too short of a way down, and he clenches hands that are too tiny and feeble and not his in dog-print sheets he hasn’t owned for decades.

How To Save The World With No One Even Realising by IncompleteSentanc (Erava) Gen, Teen and Up, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, time travel fix it, Canonically Accurate OP Team 7, SuperBadass!Sakura, SuperBadass!Sasuke, SuperBadass!Naruto, RegularBadass!Shikamaru, Canonically Violent Sasuke, Equally Violent Sakura, Saving The World One Murder At A Time, Various Jinchuuriki, Team 7 As Super Villains, Doing Super Villainy Stuff, Like Murder, And Professional Eyeball Removal, Poor Obito, Poor Minato, AKA The Worst Four Months of Minato's Life, And Everyone Else's Too, Dark Humor, Bittersweet Ending, Dark Comedy, Crack treated seriously, completed 3 chapter fic, Well worth the read, Team 7 To The End! Summary: Minato knows at the beginning of the week that it's going to be a hellish one. Mostly because it starts with the kidnapping of one of his two remaining students, only a year after they'd lost the first one. He just doesn't realise at the time that it's not going to be a hellish week - it's going to be hell for quite a bit longer than that. It all starts with Rin's kidnapping, and her subsequent rescue at the hands of a mysteriously appearing, monstrously strong, murderously violent woman. A woman with cotton candy pink hair. It only devolves from there.

Just Killing Time by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling) Gen, Oneshot, Short and Sweet, Classic of The Fandom, Ficlet, Team 7, Kids being Kids, Fluff, Fluff and Humour, Slice of Life, Cute Kids

Summary: After Wave Country and before the chuunin exam, Team 7 kills time while waiting for Kakashi to show up. 

there lies a trail of fire behind us by BowAndDagger Gen, Madara is extremely confused but mostly on board, Time Travel au, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bamf Naruto Uzumaki, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Except Zetsu, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Founders Era, clan wars era, Pre-Slash, POV Uchiha Madara, the Completed part one of an Ongoing/Incomplete series, completed 4 chapter fic, Summary: As he returns from a mission, Madara makes a strange encounter with an even stranger shinobi. Then, he’s summarily kidnapped to go on a quest to save the world by said weird shinobi. (He absolutely did not choose to follow the stranger on his own free will. He was kidnapped. He did not give chase. He did not.)

A Political Perspective by VJ Riddle  / MueraRashaye Ongoing, Possibly (Probably) Discontinued, Teen and Up, Gen, Team 7, training montage deluxe, Konoha is a murder village, Good Teacher! Kakashi, AU, slowly developing into Bamf team 7, Bamf Kakashi, slowly developing into Team as Family, lots of fun ideas, not crack, Minor Spoiler: Zabuza and Haku get x’d before their character development gets its chance to shine in this fic, Sometimes people don’t warn for that in the tags and it can be a dealbreaker in fic for me as I love those two, not a dealbreaker in the case of this fic though! Really good fic so far, kind of verging on dry in places but it always stays fun in the end with lots of interesting elements, I enjoy the character insight from the pov switching, and also how much of a headcase Kakashi is, graphic depictions of violence, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence,

Summary: Hatake Kakashi was a shinobi, and as a shinobi, the only people who could give him orders were his military superiors. The idea that a Council made up of civilians and peers was under the impression they could give him orders...displeased him. Or: He was ordered to pass Team 7. He was fine with that, until they actually passed.

Integrity by Liz_Starling Oneshot, Gen, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Compliant, Integrity, Child Neglect, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Reflections on Naruto’s inner workings as a person, promises,

Summary: Naruto keeps his word. Some people are loyal to their families. Some, their orders. Naruto is loyal to the only thing he’s been able to count on; the promises he makes.

Foundation (Build It Higher, Bury It Deeper) by RayShippouUchiha Ongoing, BUT EXCELLENT, it made me cry, Naruto feels, 6 chapter fic thus far, Bamf Naruto, Bamf Tsunade, Naruto deserved better, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mature, Team 7, Uzumaki Feels, Abandonment, Tsunade gives Naruto the personal talk he deserved instead of finding out from a chakra imprint when he was dying, so we stan, I love this fic

Summary: It’s just… he’d thought, given his fight against Neji and then his confrontation with Gaara, that someone would finally really acknowledge what he’d done.  That beyond Iruka-sensei’s crushing hug and Kakashi-sensei’s absent pat, someone would actually notice that he’d won against both of them.

That he’d beaten a genius on his own and then had battled another jinchūriki to a stand still.

So while he hadn’t really expected to be promoted too he’d still ...

¦ part 1 ¦ part 2 ¦ part 3 ¦

#Naruto #fic rec list #fic recs #naruto fic rec list #fic rec masterpost #naruto fic recs #fanfic recs #team 7 #fic rec list masterpost #naruto fics #Uzumaki Naruto #subject to possible edits in the future #like if i wanna make a part 4 this baby's getting edited #believe it #lol #gen naruto fics

[gakkubi]

Ame Trio's Personalities: Yahiko

I want to share some thoughts on the Ame Trio/Ame Orphans because I do think they have one of the most complex, interesting and beautiful arcs in the Narutoverse.

I will discuss their personalities and thoughts. This post is about Yahiko, there are also Nagato and Konan.

(1/3): I'll start with Yahiko because he's the one who dies first and influences the others' personalities.

YAHIKO:

Also available in Russian: ссылка на русский перевод

Although Yahiko is arguably the character who appears “less” among the Ame Trio - naturally, for dying first - he takes up significant part of the flashbacks he appears in. Jiraiya, Nagato, Konan; even in Obito’s memory of the Ame Trio - which serve the plot purpose of showing how Obito started manipulating Nagato - he spends most of the flashback interacting with Yahiko. Yahiko was extremely remarkable to all the people who met him, there is no doubt that Kishimoto took every opportunity he had to tell us he was a very important character.

Something I find very interesting about Yahiko is how easily he could be a villain; he has many of the personality traits of of classical villains. This is not accidental - in Chapter 372, when Jiraiya finds and confronts Konan, his memories of the Ame Orphans lead him to believe Yahiko was the one who first turned evil (in their conversation, Konan never clearly explains whose ideology they have embraced; it’s very implied Jiraiya was inclined to believe that was Yahiko).

This is built purposefully to confuse the audience regarding Pain’s identity as the one who possesses the rinnegan is Nagato; one has the “villainous” personality, the other has the power.

Of course, we all know Yahiko is not a villain, even though he could easily be. Yahiko’s most powerful personality trait is his ambition; this trait is the one that will always surpass the others.

Yahiko is a survivor; we are shown repeatedly that he would do just about anything to to keep alive (and Nagato and Konan with him). We are shown some of his big and most drastic actions like stealing, but minor details like cooking, gathering supplies and stabilising a house for him and Konan - taking from the story and Nagato’s conversation with Jiraiya, it’s safe to assume Yahiko was the mastermind behind all the actions that allowed them to survive as children. Yahiko knew they needed power to survive, and we’re shown in the anime their journey to find Jiraiya and how he quickly learned to navigate in the warzone by being able to put himself in the shoes of his “enemies” and think like they did. Yahiko always had an extremely clear sense of what he wants and how to get there.

He is also a natural leader; we can’t say for sure how much of his leadership is actually his nature and how much it comes from needing to step up as the leader of the trio, given how Nagato and Konan have more passive personalities. The fact is, by the time Yahiko dies, he has been acting as a leader for more than half os his life; giving orders and being in control is his comfort zone. He will have control and boss others even if they don’t agree with him, which is clearly stated when he tells Konan he believes Nagato is the one who will bring peace; he put Nagato in that position regardless of Nagato’s opinions - Konan will support Nagato and not him, regardless who she thinks is the “bridge to peace” (Chapter 509).

In that particular flashback of Jiraiya, there are two classically villainous traits shown: the first is anger; it’s implied that Yahiko is a kid full of anger and hate, but in fact, he is a very emotional and sensitive person - in that, he is very similar to Nagato - although unlike him, Yahiko will almost always express his feelings. He’s angry because he’s in pain and won’t conform to his fate as a victim of a poor country. The second one is both his ambition and megalomania: He will change the country, no matter the lenghts he has to go through.

Another strong trait of Yahiko’s thought process is that ends justify the means. This is proven by many of his actions; to survive, he will steal; to defend others, he will put his own life at risk - the ultimate proof of this is sacrificing his life to save Nagato and Konan from Hanzo. They are the ones who must survive no matter what; no matter if he dies. Although the famous “the end justify the means” sentence is usually associated with Machiavellianism, Yahiko doesn’t display the other traits needed such as manipulativeness and indifference to morality to classify him as a machiavellian person.

Yahiko could easily become a “villain”; he has unbreakable ambition and he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to get what he wants regardless of the opinion of those around him. I could easily say just about the very same about Obito, Madara and Orochimaru with a few changes here and there; I could even describe adult Nagato like that.

Seeing this particular scene in Jiraiya's memory, his ambition and anger and a "well-intentioned world-domination" goal are enough to convince the reader to believe Yahiko is Pain, even before seeing his appearance. It's notable that Nagato doesn't reply anything while Yahiko is screaming at him, highlighting his more passive personality.

You, reader, must be rather shocked at what I'm saying, because Yahiko is the only one who was never evil among the three of them; in fact, the others turned evil because of his absence. Yahiko is such a special character because he was all those classically villainous traits, the key to his character lies in why he never turns evil despite all of that.

Ambition is the trait that will rule above all; but his vision comes second in command. We are shown Yahiko is a very sensitive child, he cries a lot, he's easy to anger because he's overwhelmed by the situation he finds himself in. In the same flashback that gives the audience all the reason to believe Yahiko could be Pain, Yahiko himself admits inflicting pain on others wouldn't work as a solution.

The very fact that Yahiko wanted help from the very people who were destroying his country and were directly or indirectly responsible for him being an orphan (that is, foreigners) shows how the end goal was more important to him than the mean of how to get there; Nagato's initial distrust was the feeling most people would have in their situation, which shows another difference between their thought process; Nagato holds grudges (he could accept Jiraiya individually, but not Konoha, and he couldn't ever get over his parents or Yahiko's death) whereas Yahiko doesn't ever let any past event, situation or prejudice come between him and the goal he wants to achieve.

But ambition, vision and idealism (which I have not mentioned yet) are all traits he also shares with villains.

What makes Yahiko different from other villains, especially Nagato, is that he develops an amazing emotional intelligence to deal with the information his sensitivity gathers from the world.

Yahiko was extremely hopeful, positive and emotionally intelligent, all characteristics he shares with other heroes like Naruto. Throughout his life, the "classically villainous" characteristics of his childhood were outgrown by the "classically heroic" traits that gained strength overtime. Yahiko walked away from the evil path he could have easily taken by confronting his "villainous" traits.

It was through the use of emotional intelligence that Yahiko dismantled the initial megalomania and revengfullness he displays in both Jiraiya's and Nagato's childhood flashbacks. It's important to highlight that Yahiko's "Savior Complex" was something that stayed with Nagato long after Yahiko no longer believed only a single powerful person could force peace upon others. Yahiko "grew out" of his childish megalomania - Nagato did the very opposite when absorbing many of Yahiko's characteristics after his death.

His emotional intelligence can be clearly seen in Obito's memories of him in Chapter 607; in that same instance Yahiko was one of the few characters to rule out the idea of the masked man being Madara. Yahiko was not especially powerful or intelligent, so he rellied heavily in taking accurate conclusions from his observations of the world.

Another sign of Yahiko's emotional intelligence is his mirroring of Jiraiya's behavior - although it may be first seen as something done just for comedy, it shows how Yahiko was eager to understand other people - mirroring is a display of empathy. The natural inclination he had to understand other people led Yahiko to develop his peaceful philosophy, and was also used for him to gather allies (as shown in the anime).

It was both his emotional intelligence and his vision that kept him from becoming arrogant (and doing things like stealing Nagato's rinnegan to himself, as Jiraiya considered plausible). Whereas villains will usually harvest power for themselves, Yahiko knew that the key to the success of his plans didn't depend solely on him and his actions. He had to support others and believe in them. Understanding the value in community and extreme loyalty was a value Yahiko and Konan shared - a value Nagato also had, which was eventually displaced by other traits. It's important to note how Nagato and Konan perceive their memories of Yahiko differently; of course their flashbacks serve plot purposes, but they also show completely different aspects of his personality, and these differences in perception reflect the own values of Konan and Nagato.

Although his ambition, energy and protectiveness are displayed in both of their memories, other characteristics vary in intensity.

In Konan's memories, Yahiko is much more kind and calm, happy but also introspective. In her childhood memories, he appears more joyful and carefree - as an adult, it's shown how he is hurt by the war, how understanding has made him kind and and how he wants to protect his comrades both physically and mentally. In Nagato's memories, he appears much more angry and harsh in comparison - the anime even takes an effort to "soften" some of his actions; in the anime Yahiko gives back some of the stealing and also prays for Chibi in his death (instead of just scolding Nagato for crying and mourning as he does in the manga).

I don't know how manga to anime adaptations work but it's possible that, due to the difference in pace between manga and anime, Studio Pierrot realized Yahiko would come across much more "evil" if he wasn't softened - and I like the adaptations because it makes Nagato's memories less different than Konan's; all they did was add moments foreshadowing a much kinder personality Yahiko would display on the chapters later on.

(Edit: I added this image from chapter 509 to better illustrate Yahiko's emotional intelligence using an actual canon moment where Yahiko himself reflects on his past feelings and how they changed as he grew up. I really like this chapter, and I think it's nice how soft and caring Yahiko behaves towards Nagato in Konan's flashbacks, worrying about his injuries and telling that "it's ok" and encouraging him to rest, as opposed to Nagato's own flashbacks that show younger Yahiko screaming and scolding him for behaving like a "crybaby" and "victim" while they were all struggling to survive. I think it's important to consider the scenarios of those flashbacks; Nagato's flashbacks find the characters all recently traumatized, while Konan's find them in a much more stable and safe period of their lives).

Yahiko was the first among the three to understand that the pursuit of "justice" would only result in more conflict as one's noble justice could be seen as mere acts of vengeance by another. All the Ame Orphans knew in their lives was war, suffering and trauma, so the decision to pursue a different path away from violence could only come from a person who could look inside their own heart without the fear of seeing ugly things and confront their feelings.

Yahiko's unshakable hope on his dream of bringing peace was a result of his ambition, his vision and emotional intelligence. His sensitivity led him to become a kind, caring person, who avoided violence as much as he could. We know he was extremely loyal to his ideals, preferring to sacrifice himself and die instead of giving up the peaceful philosophy he had established for the Akatsuki to fight Hanzo. The extreme loyalty and the will to sacrifice anything for that was another trait he shared with Konan.

Although I consider Yahiko's vision to be one of the pillars in his personality, he was also extremely naïve. Yahiko's hopefulness and faith in his dreams and plans were not countered by opposite personality traits like being cynical or hesitant. The first time we see Yahiko being naïve was at the very idea of approaching the Sannin and begging for training, which could have easily ended with them all killed (or, more likely, just ignored). Unfortunately for Yahiko, his biggest flaw was not putting limits to how much he believed his ideals, leading him to fall in a trap he could have easily avoided - I left this trait for last because the anime makes Yahiko's willingness to believe Hanzo a key reason for falling on his trap, even though the manga never shows evidence for that and only implies Yahiko's innocence by Nagato's perception of them being "still children." However, I still think it's fitting for someone who displayed early signs of megalomania to have such naïvety.

Other traits that were not mentioned are less about his ideals and more about his nature; Yahiko is also naturally expansive, friendly and unafraid- these traits help him to become both the trio and Akatsuki's leader. In Chapter 509 Konan mentions he was adored by the rest of the Akatsuki, and it's very implied in the manga (and shown in anime fillers) he lead the Akatsuki with a egalitarian philosophy, not abusing his positon as leader through authority, which is another important trait of his personality; Yahiko may be bossy and unreceptive to challenges on his orders, but he is not comfortable with hierarchy and the idea of some people acting as if they were better than others.

I won't talk much about Yahiko and Konan's romance as I don't believe "being in love" can be a part of someones personality, and I don't believe his decision to kill himself to save her and Nagato was influenced by being in love. His decision to sacrifice himself comes directly from his “ends justifying the means” logic, even if in that particular case the survival of Nagato and Konan is the end which can be justified by the loss of his own life.

I do believe, though, that there are many reasons why they could be attracted to each other and I'll highlight specially their loyalty. Yahiko and Konan are both extremely loyal people; Yahiko is loyal to his ideals, Konan is loyal to what she considers "her own'' - her friends, her people. They are also people who are full of faith in the things they believe in; we are never shown Yahiko having doubts on his plans, as well as we never see Konan ever doubting the capability of the people she supports. People who share such characteristics of loyalty and faith will find great comfort in each other, creating a positive circle of both giving and receiving love and support.

Yahiko's expansive and dominant personality, as well as his positivity and hopefulness contrast immensely with Konan and Nagato's passiveness and melancholy. He is shown to be a person who could deal with his pain and his traumas, and was likely the biggest emotional support of the other two; as he himself said, he had hopes and dreams, his dreams became Nagato and Konan's dreams. His death left an immense void that could not be filled with positive, healthy thoughts and feelings, as Nagato and Konan always relied on his hopeful ideals.

The very traits that could have easily made him a villain are the same ones which lead him to achieve his and the trio's survival. Yahiko's personality exists in a delicate ballance between many "classically villainous" traits and the abundance of other solid "classically heroic" foundations.

By taking a complete look at his character it's easy to understand why his death was something really, near-impossible to recover from given the circumstances, and why the love and respect they felt endured so long after his death.

#yahiko #meta #mymeta #character study #character analysis #analysis #naruto #naruto meta #amegakure

[theluckiestrose]

Naruto...as good as i remember it...

Couple things ive been noticing tho....

The rope getup Orochimaru and his top Sound ninjas wear, that was just like... what the Grass ninja he disguised himself as was wearing when he killed her... he just fkn saw this girl taking the chunin exam, killed her and took her face, and then made her fit part of his military's uniform?? Idk its pretty funny to me

Also the pacing and usage of flashbacks is interesting to me. It might just be common for shonen anime of its era, but i know i had no fkn clue what was going on when it was first airing on Cartoon Network and they helped me piece together the chronology. Watching it in order, continually, it feels ridiculous to have these emotional flashbacks to things that happened a week ago in the story, but when those things AIRED months apart.... yeah it makes sense. I cant help but wonder what it would look like if Naruto got the DBZ treatment...

Its also just a blast watching it again having forgotten a lot of what happens. I really forgot about Rock Lee vs Kimimaru and was actually worried Lee was going to die in surgery andd hyped when he jumped in to save the day.

Idk, Naruto is a classic for a reason man

Also China exists. Just throwing that out there. China is part of this setting. Might Guy mentions China in one of his flashbacks. Its just...China.

Fantasy world of magic ninjas where it's also the 90's and...China is there, apparently, just to the west of the Land of Wind I fkn guess

[shartingan]

8, 13, 14, 16, 19, 28, 31!

for the naruto ask meme

8. favorite female ninja’s outfit

HMMMMM im gonna have to go with anko! i love her fishnet + trench coat + skirt combo. early 2000s fashion icon. second is konan but she just wears the akatsuki robes most of the time.

13. what ninjas would you want as your teammates

im insane . put me on team ro. i would die but before i did i would love the opportunity to hang out with konoha's most littlest murder squad . plus they would probably do a pretty good job of protecting me before i died and i would also have the opportunity to give them the older sibling guidance they all so desperately need (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

14. which opening is your favorite

AAUGUUGHGHGHHG YOURE KILLING ME WITH THIS QUESTION HGHHH............................ you'll have to settle for top 3

1. blue bird................

2. go!!

3. newsong

can you tell i really like the silly goofy ops that are really catchy. blue bird breaks that trend because i have eyes and a heart and a soul and a brain (❁´◡`❁) honorable mention: diver.

16. how long have you been into naruto

i would say for roughly 6 years! a cooler older lesbian told me to watch naruto when i was in like 8th grade and you know the rest. ive been on the peripherals of naruto tumblr for like 2-3 yrs, but this blog is actually less than a yr old! dec 22 is my 1 yr anniversary ^_^!

19. least favorite character

AUGH. there's so many options. danzo is the literal worst but he's designed to suck so that feels like a cop out... tbh i dont like hate him or anything but my least favorite character is probably kabuto... LISTENNN every time he shows up im just like ugh THIS freak again🙄... he's not even like fun insane like the akatsuki and orochimaru he's just a weird little dude but not even a fun little dude. he just has mommy issues.

28. favorite filler episode

the classic Gotta See! Gotta Know! Kakashi-sensei's Real Face!! like cmon. honorable mention is that one with the ninja ostrich because i love gay rights <3 congrats on the gay marriage kotetsu and izumo!

31. brotp

oughhhhh hmmm... if we're talking strictly canon relationships: i really love team gai! ive said this before but i think they really do have one of the best canon team relationships! i just wish they had been used more and gotten more screentime, comic relief or no(；′⌒`) i love the dynamic of tenten and neji thinking theyre the straight men to gai and lee's antics when in reality theyre all fucking insane.

sorry for getting to you so late! i got rly backed up w irl stuff and didn't have it in me to answer asks T_T

#ask #anon

[archer3-13]

Serious question, been on my mind lately, but like... Itachi, did he actually do anything in his role as a spy for konoha against the akatsuki? Ya know, his super secret mission after that whole genocide thing, since that was suppose to be his other mission and all that? Like a part of this is just the heavily retconned nature of naruto, since itachi was a villain classic back then, and the fact that if he had done anything useful kishimoto would have had to write a more complicated plot, but like...

he doesn’t tell konoha anything about the akatsukis numbers

he doesnt tell them anything about individual memeber strengths or even just identities

he doesnt tell them that ame has been taken over by the leader of the international terrorist organization hes currently working for

he doesn’t tell them anything about the akatsukis goals

he doesnt try to weaken the akatsuki in any substantial manner

he doesnt tell them that the akatsukis supposed leader quite obviously has the legendary rinnegan

he doesnt try and warn them that theres a secret puppet master to the akatsuki who claims to be madara fuckin uchiha

hes actively helping akatsuki in their goal by capturing jinchuriki and quite blatantly almost kidnaps naruto konohas only jinchuriki and supposedly a great balancing force in ninja politics like having a nuke is in real world politics

hell he doesnt even tell them that orochimaru was working with the akatsuki or anything like that which would have been helpful for tracking snakebastardman#lifestyle down and would otherwise be relatively unrelated to the akatsuki/actively benefitable to them considering they want orochimaru gone as well

like, i can accept itachi committing state sanctioned genocide because thats a good twist and narrative device with a lot of narrative implication and dramatic potential [that the narrative then subsequently works to undermine and underutilize but thats a separate topic], but adding the further complication of itachi being an out and out spy for konoha on the akatsuki just for the further insinuation of itachi having always been one of the beautiful people the good ones despite having done nothing to prove or imply such an insinuation so far just... its dumb, its so dumb. It makes itachi look dumb as a spy for being so incompetent and actively forwarding the goals of the organization hes suppose to be undermining, it makes the akatsuki look dumb and like chumps for never catching him, it makes obito look dumb for knowing about it and doing nothing about it despite the potential security leak and potential to completely fuck up his plan, and it makes konoha look dumb for sending a spy to spy on people and then either never receiving information back or any kind of report or even worse having information on the akatsuki provided by an inside agent and then never capitalizing on it. which is probalby why kishimoto spends as little time as possible on it because as soon as you start picking at it the whole thing unravels and bleeds out narratively speaking.

like, the only way any of this would really make sense if itachi was in fact a double agent passing information on konoha back to the akatsuki or atleast intentionally not reporting back to konoha. which in itself would have been an awesome narrative double twist for creating tension and drama but hey ho, id like that remark to have atleast gone fucking somewhere!

#anti naruto #itachi is dumb

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you have opinions on Naruto? (The anime/manga/fandom, not the character)

I mean, I suppose, but not very exciting opinions.

I've never read the manga, so I can't give any opinion on that.

I also haven't interacted extensively with the fandom, so I'm not sure what to say about it.

It seems like your usual, large, fandom. Lots of different subsections, usually revolving around characters and ship. The characters and ships you'd suspect would be popular are in fact very popular. Lots of different kinds of fics, a lot of fics that get very wrapped up in the technical aspect of chakra/jutsus which I find boring but people tend to like.

From what I've seen, it doesn't really surprise me and is the kind of fandom I'd expect from a franchise like Naruto.

As for the anime, I couldn't get into it. It does that anime thing we all know and love, you know what I'm talking about, classic of Naruto/Dragonball Z, in which episodes are just recaps of the previous episode.

And a single fight scene lasts for what in an ordinary show would be an entire season.

I'm actually not big on fights in shows. They can be done very well, can be very visually appealing and gripping, but that's not why I'm watching the show. I'm watching for the story, for the characters, not Kakashi monologuing/explaining to us how this jutsu Naruto is doing right now is super impressive and cool.

For hours.

Repeating the same words he used in the last half hour you watched of this show.

It destroyed my spirit.

I made it to the chunin exams then asked myself "Why? Why am I doing this to myself?" And I stopped. I didn't even make it to Orochimaru, that's how sad my attempt was.

And that's really all I have to say about Naruto in general.

#naruto #naruto meta #meta #opinion

[mrssakurahatake]

8, 15, and 18 for "Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing: 30 Questions for Authors" 😘

Do you listen to music while you write? If so, share a song that’s been inspiring you lately. My playlist is literally all over the place, but at my heart I'm a classic rock girl (and a deadhead) but I don't listen to specific songs when I'm writing, just whatever is there to keep all the life things I should be doing from distracting me. But if you're curious this is my favorite song What shall we say, shall we call it by a name As well to count the angels dancing on a pin Water bright as the sky from which it came And the name is on the earth that takes it in We will not speak but stand inside the rain And listen to the thunder shout I am, I am, I am, I am

I love to sing this lyric when I'm feeling lost or down with the stereo up loud enough that I can belt it out and not actually hear myself. Its cathartic A Hollywood producer tells you that they want to film just one of your fics. Which fic would you want it to be? I think it would be Everyone Goes to Tsunade's but I'd have to finish it first, but in my head it has those gran cinematic scenes. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene. From my fic An Empty Bench Jiraiya didn't answer, not right way. Instead he filled three small sake cups. He placed one in front of Tsuande, took a small sip from the second one, and just looked at the third for a moment before sliding it across from them to the empty side of the table. Such a somber moment was unusual for him. It left a cloud of dread over both of them. In this moment Jiraiya is telling Tsunade, that Orochimaru has left the village, and all the things he done. It's my only real try at writing angst, and a bit out of my comfort zone. I wanted to show that feeling of loss and betrayal, like Sakura and Naruto felt when Sasuke left, but with the emotional understanding that only age can bring.

#msh writes #msh answers #loosie92 #my fics

[teawithshruti]

How did I keep myself sane amidst a pandemic - My thoughts on books, anime, and restaurants.

Yet another review of The Shining

A plot so well written you would want to go in room 217

Hi there! This blog comes to you from a bored 19 year old who has a knack for reading crime thrillers, watching murder documentaries, and loves watching MasterChef just to see Gordon Ramsay. LOL. And did I mention that she also happens to be a Stephen King fan, because who isn’t? So here is where I try and convince you that The Shining  is the best book ever written and how Stanley Kubrick completely butchered the screenplay, as well as why pasta is life.

Welcome to the Rockies!

The story takes place in the town of Boulder, Colorado, where our main protagonist Jack Torrance gets a job as a caretaker of the famous Overlook Hotel. Winters in Boulder are harsh, and the hotel remains closed as travel is not permitted with all the heavy snowfall. Now Jack is a recovering alcoholic with anger issues which led to him breaking his son’s arm prior to where the story begins. This made Wendy, his wife, question her marriage and the safety of their five year old son,  Danny. Danny on the other hand isn’t your average five year old who just watches cartoons and plays with toys. He is aglow with a psychic voltage, and has frequent blackouts. In the words of old Mr Hallorann, the hotel’s head chef, Danny’s a shiner. When the Torrances meet Mr Hallorann, he feels an instant connection with Danny. He warns Jack about the hotel and its sinister secrets and how the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady, killed himself and his family. But Jack is sure that this huge and lonely hotel with its splendid views is just what he needs in order to earn back his family’s trust. But going to a haunted hotel with a troubled marriage and a psychic son? Maybe not the best idea. But in his defense, Jack doesn't believe in ghosts. Little does he know that’s about to change.

Snowbound at The Overlook

The Torrance's begin settling in the Overlook. But as winter closes in and the blizzards cut them off from the outer world, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. Meanwhile, Jack starts growing restless, craving for a friendly drink with each passing day. He also starts experiencing hallucinations, and wonders if they are withdrawal symptoms. Danny on the other hand is experiencing his own share of ghostly sightings, like the terrifying lady in the bathtub of room 217 who seems to have never checked out of the hotel. In one instance, he witnesses her climbing out of the clawfoot tub and advancing towards him with her bloated belly and dry hair as he stands frozen in fear in a blood covered presidential suite. This narrative by King with all its details is the truly the most spine tingling I’ve ever read.  Later when Danny’s parents find him in the room, a thumb in his mouth, that is when Wendy truly realizes that they are not alone in that strange big hotel. Jack goes and sees the tub for himself, but the lady from before doesn't want to greet him. Wendy, in tears, sees that both her husband and her son are being tormented by this place and begs Jack to quit the job. Danny later calms his mom down, who is weeping uncontrollably, by telling her not to worry as his daddy doesn't have the shining, so there is nothing to worry about.

Have you never heard of REDRUM?

Sure you have. Read it backwards.  Yes, you got it right. And so did Danny after seeing this word in his visions countless times. It so turns out that Danny is much stronger than he looks and after failing to possess him, The Overlook has turned to an easier target - Jack. As Jack slowly starts to lose his mind, he gives in and starts drinking again from the bar in the ballroom. His hallucinations keep getting worse to the point he actually sees Mr Grady, the previous caretaker / murderer,  and even has a talk with him. Danny sees his changing behavior and so does his wife, who just doesn't see the man she fell in love with in his cold, distant eyes anymore. With everything going on, Wendy takes Danny to their apartment in the employee wing of the hotel and locks them inside in fear of Jack, who is slowly slipping away from reality. But turns out this move from her proves to be disastrous, as Wendy keeping Jack away from his own son is the last straw for him. In one of his many hallucinations, Jack  meets his predecessor,  his buddy Mr. Grady and the two have a disturbing conversation about how fun it is to kill your wife. Yes , no one trumps King when it comes to the unique combination of horror and psychological thrillers packed into one nail-biting plot!

In other words...

The only thing I liked about the movie was Jack Nicholson’s excellent acting. Apart from that Stanley Kubrick let go of many crucial parts which were essential to the story. He eliminated the hedge sequence in the book, which was terrifying to just read. The ending was just a complete mess.  I get that you can’t exactly get all the details right of a 500 page book, but at least do justice to the ones you have chosen. Anyways I’m gonna go sulk in my room over this. Bye

.  

Is it too late to start Anime?

Hi there! Good to have you back! Ever since pandemic began, everyone’s been locked in their own house. So this led to me taking up a few hobbies like sketching and painting and binging on a whole lot of sitcoms.. My personal favorite is the alluring world of Anime. Several of my friends began watching it and I cannot exactly term it as peer pressure, but I did give in and start watching Anime too. And now my watchlist includes just a bunch of 2D characters with powers that even Superman himself can't fight. So this is my take on how a kryptonian can be defeated with Jutsu, as Mr Naruto would say. Lol. This one is for all the weebs out there. 

Manga and Anime are not the same!

To put it simply, manga is a Japanese term for comics and graphic novels, whereas Anime is the term for Japanese animations.. There are many similarities  between them, as they both have been created by Osama Tezuka, who is considered as the Japanese version of Walt Disney. Now have you ever seen a simple comic book? The one with black and white newspaper illustrations - like Garfield. Manga is just like that -  A book of illustrations. Now we arrive at the perennial question - Manga or Anime, which is better. Both of them are equally interesting, but I personally have a soft spot for anime. The intro theme songs, intense background music, and the beat dropping right before a big fight move, all these factors pack a punch. You don’t get that adrenaline rush from just a book.

My first anime - Demon Slayer

The story begins with the main character Tanjiro, who returns home after selling charcoal in town to find his entire family murdered by demons. Pretty intense right? His sister, Nezuko, survives but there’s a twist - she turns into a demon herself.  This makes him vow to take revenge and he sets off to train with Sakonji, who has trained many of the elite members of the Demon Slayer Corps. After many years of training and a painful exam called the final selection, Tanjiro finally becomes a demon slayer and is off on missions along with his sister, who unlike most demons doesn’t consume human flesh. On his missions he meets Zenitsu and Inosuke, who both have excellent powers of their own. My favorite story arc was when the highest ranking slayers, known as the pillars, were introduced. But my words won’t do justice to their powers they possess. So simply get your geek on by watching this short yet amazing series.

The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki

The hidden leaf village is not so hidden anymore! The series I am currently watching is one of the most popular anime from 2020 - Naruto.   The story is set around the shinobi villages and their ninjas and how Naruto Uzumaki plans on being the next Hokage [the most powerful shinobi] of the leaf village. He is trained by some of the best ninjas the village has ever seen. Before graduating from the academy, he was a hyperactive boy with lots of energy who just wanted to be the best. After graduation, he was placed in team seven, along with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. This team was trained by Kakashi Sensei who is known for wielding his Chidori and even the Sharingan. The sharingan, to put it simply, is a trait passed down in families. The Uchihas are known for their sharingans and hence it naturally comes to Sasuke as well. The mystery still remains unsolved as to how Kakashi got his sharingan, as he is not an Uchiha. But Naruto does have a super power as well. Not technically his powers per se,  but we can cut him some slack. After all it's not everyday you get to see a beast like the nine tailed fox sealed away in an 11 year old boy. In my opinion the story picks up Orochimaru’s entry, and it paves the way for Sasuke’s powers in the future. My favorite character has to be Sasuke Uchiha. With his effortless fighting skills and sarcastic yet cool personality, he definitely is an excellent shinobi. You have to start this show right away because once you have seen him use his fire style fireball jutsu.....the world just doesn't look the same anymore.

In other words...

My current watchlist includes Naruto Shippuden, Black Clover, One Piece, and a few other naruto spin offs. Anime was something I never thought I would like, but now as it turns out I can't get enough of it. So bye for now, if you need me I'll be at Ichiraku’s eating ramen with barbeque pork. And if you get this reference, have a bowl of ramen on me. K bye.

Home in a faraway land

Good to see you again ! Do you ever get that feeling of an intense craving for your favourite dish? Like say pasta or pizza? My favorite is pasta, but being raised in India, I can’t say no to a classic plate of butter naan and chicken tikka with a glass of buttermilk or chaas if you please. Of Course you can’t beat the taste of a home cooked meal, but let me tell you about the time I went to this amazing little Indian restaurant in Dubai with my family, and how the food there was absolutely heavenly. 

Out and About in Dubai

Skyscrapers, Sleepless nights, Gold Souks and gigantic malls - these are the visions  you'd usually get when someone mentions Dubai. Well, they're mostly right! I went there with my family about 5 years ago. We stayed at the Ramada, which was right next to the Dubai Mall.  The mall happens to be strategically placed next to the Burj Khalifa and we got lucky enough to see mesmerizing musical fountain shows night after night. The streets are spick and span, and everyone follows the traffic regulations dutifully. We also went for the desert safari, which was no less than an actual roller coaster ride. We also visited the Gold Souk, and oh boy. The name definitely fulfills its purpose, as the entire street is occupied entirely by gold stores. Huge gold ornaments are on display like clothes on hangers. I personally don’t have a thing for gold jewellery, but my mom had the time of her life there fawning and gasping over every store we came across. Shortly after our visit here, we came across this beautiful little Indian restaurant, and you can call me old school but at the end of the day, this girl needs a desi meal, because trust me room service gets boring after a while.

Peshwa - Not your typical 5 star restaurant 

Situated away from the hustle of the main city, this place still remains quite underrated. We stumbled across this hidden gem which saved us the efforts of getting back to the hotel for an overpriced lunch. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we could smell the aroma of a classic dal makhani  [ a simple gravy consisting of lentils infused with aromatic spices and hints of burnt chillies ] in the air. So we got a table and had a look at the menu and it was almost like being back home. The endless variety of gravies with paneer in almost every single one of them, to at least 6 different types of rotis, a little piece of heaven in this concrete jungle! We went ahead and ordered a simple meal of rotis and some paneer delicacy, along with dal and rice. Apart from the taste of the food, which was just heavenly, the overall ambience of the place in one word, was exquisite. The restaurant lived up to its very ethnic maharashtrian name. The food was served in those traditional style cutlery, reminding us of a simpler time.

A dish you just can’t miss 

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you definitely have to try the coconut barfi from this place. Made from desiccated coconuts, sweetened condensed milk, a finely ground cardamom, and a hint of saffron, this dish is a match made in heaven. It was freshly made and we could tell it by the intoxicating aroma of pure ghee [clarified butter]. So just for a day, give yourself a break from watching calories and try this mouth watering dish because here’s something to live for.

In other words…

The next time I’m in Dubai, the first thing I will do is find out if the restaurant is still there. And probably avoid the Gold Souk this time. I will most certainly go for the desert safari, because it’s not everyday you get defy gravity and drive through the sand dunes like in a Fast and Furious movie. Lol.  Also thanks for bearing with me throughout this blog. See ya!

[sazzafraz]

dropped a cup of coffee on myself at breakfast lets gooo

nodus tollens is my favourite chapter its not even close

like i actually LIKED writing it. i like writing in general but its about being someone represented with all the scary sword cards in tarot readings not actual fun. still annoyed i didn’t think of anything better than fucking HEMMINGWAY

A year and a half into working for Giri and Sasuke is sitting cross legged on top of a boulder looking out at a clear blue sky. They’re sitting by the edge of a huge cliff in Fire Country resting between assassinating some small time village leader and their next mission which promises to be heavy on full contact fighting. The sun is dipping towards the horizon, warm air ruffling their hair. Yumi is trying to throw Hiki off the cliff into the lake below, Haru is defleaing his dog and Sasuke is debating his next move in the long distance tactical game he’s playing with Juugo and Karin. It’s an Uzushio classic, like shogi but the board is made of three interlocked spirals and the movements of the pieces are based on the tides. Karin is slaughtering him. 

fun fact: literally started designing that uzushio game because i’m a psychopath. it’s also the first of three references, two in the same chapter, of sasuke and his teams, and then one at the end where everyone gets together. to make fun of sasuke. as they should. 

  There are seven graves by the edge of the sea with a bright blooming flowers planted in the centre spilling over the cliff. Tall markers stand as high as three metres in the air wreathed with ribbons in the colours of dawn and day... Sasuke spares a look back as he enters and sees those graves and flowers. The flowers have colonised the side of the cliff, growing strong and sure halfway down the rocks, slipping into crevices and tangling around each other as they race towards the ocean. Huge blooms of colour, bright reds, light pinks and creamy yellows are knocked about by the waves crashing against the cliff.      

if fuyuki even knew how much this colours sasukes opinion of her she’d beat the shit out of him. i think this was the second bit i wrote for her, after a few pieces of her and itachi. actually if she knew how much both of them are coloured by knowing her past she’d commit a crime. its pretty apparent to sasuke that these are memorials to children/those that died young and unfair. how would he know haha. i always intended the hashira and the uchiha as parallels. i think the lack of depth given to other clans sucks, especially when they have literally a thousand years of interaction. the only other one we have are the hyuuga which might have been an intended one but like. i’ve never bought it. 

anyway, back to sasuke. dude loves kids. he doesn’t figure it out until he has nine of ‘em, but he has a view of children that’s incredibly sincere. i pretty much decided that on my own cause: a) its funny, b) he was fucking SWEET as a kid and i’ll kill you before i let you tell me that kid went away, c) he’s from a huge close knit family/community and liking kids is the only way to get through that,

oh. also fuyuki does cotton on to his emotional compromise and IMMEDIATELY lies so he likes her more. morals who?

“It seems,” Fuyuki says into the silence, “that Sunagakure has decided we have a problem. I sent Mamoru as a goodwill ambassador to Wind a few months ago. It went well, and as Suna is a largely neutral player in most conflicts I did not see the problem in allowing a small ambassadorial group into Oto to further the relationship. At the fourth meeting one of the Suna delegation proved themselves to be a puppet and assassinated Mamoru. They were in the process of trying to loot us when they were killed.”

haha oh my god gaara fucks himself so hard here. we’re gonna talk about it. 

Now it’s leaving time and Sasuke is walking fast downtown, faces passing him as he’s bound for home base.

only two people ever commented on this. vip behaviour. 

Shikamaru raises a hand and waves.

Sasuke waves back.

Shikamaru looks at him expectantly across the crowd. Distantly Sasuke notes that he’s the taller of the two. Head’s bob and weave around the marketplace, someone drops an avocado which is swept up a child and her friends, the scent of cooking spices drift down from the top of one of the buildings. Sasuke and Shikamaru stare at eachother.

i never wrote the short for this but this is shikamaru’s nightmare scenario. finding sasuke when naruto is not with you is the k12′s personal hell. because konoha and giri are tentative allies it would be poaching to bring him back and thats something people still take seriously. shikamaru goes and gets FUCKED UP so no one trusts his report and he can claim that it was ONLY MAYBE THE PRETTIEST MAN IN THE FLEA MARKET. naruto finds out like a decade later and is extremely pissed even if he gets it. 

It’s a tale as old as the dust of the desert or the mountains that divide the nations. There is a boy who loses something. His honour, a cow, a sword. He has to leave his home to find it. He has to grow strong enough to do what has to be done. In the Son of Nobody the titular Son has to journey to the city to meet the princess and while he is away his family is murdered by a group of wandering bandits. Along the way he meets a beggar girl, the princess in disguise, and he allows her to tag along. There are many twists and turns, the Son becomes a noble shinobi protecting the princess and falls in love with the beggar. He finds the bandits that destroyed his home and avenges his family. But! Disaster strikes! The samurai have been told a lie about the princess and feel that their honour must be avenged. A group sneak into the princess’ room one night and defile her. One of the samurai is late to the scene and feeling so sick and ashamed of their actions kills them and ignites a real war between samurai and ninja. The disgraced samurai takes his own life in front of the princess as appeasement. When this doesn’t work the Son goes on to win the war and marry the girl.

this is just hatake sakumo. some creative liberty but its just the story of how he died embellished. i think some shinobi stories filter out and become like folk tales? like we’re gonna get to it. but there's no way they can have that kind of presence and no cultural impact. 

‘Heart, liver, eyes ’ Kabuto says when he’s done, ‘and put the rest in the garbage.’

for sensible reasons kabuto is the scary one. 

. Illuminated in the light of the lone flickering candle, bundled in odd cloth and grime, Kabuto looks faceless and formless. His skin has no color, his hair is limp, his eyes are turned completely inward searching himself for an some answer, some lodestone for the next leg of his journey. He looks like an orphaned version of himself. Sasuke has a brief moment of complete self-awareness. He stands above himself and looks down at the length of his hair, the uneven tan on his hands. His own eyes look at his boots, his non-descript travelling coat, the way he is never carrying more than enough money to carry him to the next town. He recognises nothing original, nothing remarkable. He’s as interchangeable as any soldier capable of swapping hands at a moment's notice. Many tools, many masks, many uses. He realises that that shifting formlessness is as much a part of him as his burning rage. It forms him just as fully.

i remember having a moment like this and it was so shocking it took me years to write about it. this nearly got cut, even though i now think its important. becoming ‘just a knife’ is important to sasuke’s development towards being just a guy. relating to kabuto is so personally disturbing that its sort of his turn towards leaving giri. kabuto actually disgusts him. unlike orochimaru.

“We called her the Fruit Eater after the foul seeds she planted in others which grew into giant poisonous fruit trees. When they’d plundered and destroyed the world enough for her foul tastes she’d eat the fruit from the trees and crush them to bone and blood under her feet. Her own children plucked out her organs one by one and cut them up into pieces. What they couldn’t eat they threw to the animals who turned into nine ravenous demons. They brought the demons together and sealed them into the form of a beautiful princess who was coveted by all.”

goddamn space aliens. i hate it less than most. i think i was still deciding if they’d show up at the end. either way i thought i’d just put them in in case i did. again, there SHOULD be a cultural footprint. 

The problem is that the Uchiha are predisposed to have thick hair and the main branch, the one that descends directly from Madara’s betrayed brother Izuna, comes with a tendency for...unruliness that Sasuke has gotten threefold. At this length it seems to be largely growing up and out, gravity be damned.

aww my loving rendition of his stupid duck butt. i have unruly hair so his maintenance is essentially mine. its such a distinctive thing i think people should take more advantage of. i wrote in crashing tides that he’s just an awful fashionista and i think that holds true. he tries new hair oils ALL THE TIME. 

#the author is present #part one part one

[inrainprose]

Isn't sad how all those children preferred to live in a dark cave, caged, all being used as test subject for Orochimaru's bizarre experiments, living like animals, than in their natal villages with their "companions"?

F***ING WEBSITE FROM HELL I F***ING DELETED THAT F***ING META BECAUSE I CLICKED BACKSPACE ONE TIME TO MANY F**K THIS okay here we go again because I thought hard about this and I’m not gonna let it go.

SO. I think Orochimaru is a far more interesting character when written as a cult leader for outcasts than with just the children-snatching psychopath view, because we don’t get the impression that he coerces people into following him. There’s no doubt he did some abducting but that’s not the core of his recruitment strategy.

It was a strong theme at the beginning of the story with Zabuza and Haku – how far would you go for the first person to ever show you kindness and give you safety, even if it was for selfish reasons, even if they’re terrible people? I seem to recall Naruto thinking something along the lines of “I was lucky it was Iruka for me, had it been someone else…” and relating to Haku’s loyalty to Zabuza despite knowing he was just a mean to an end. It makes for great AUs too – what if Naruto had latched onto someone less recommendable than nice Iruka? It's too bad that line of thinking was dropped because it also served as a harsh criticism of their world, the fact that it produces so many bitter, abandoned orphans that have no choice but to turn to brutal mercenaries and unhinged scientists. The shinobi world created many of its own enemies, within and outside the villages.

I don’t think the kids “prefer” to live that way, but they would still be starving in the streets or abused by their village without Orochimaru, so it’s normal to do whatever he wants in return, right? Including kill or fight each other to death or subject themselves to whatever he wants to test on them… Of course it’s textbook recipe for abuse, the “you owe me” card. He takes full advantage of this, that they have nowhere else to go, that they will owe him. He also makes it even harder for them to go back, what with the body modifications and making it to every village’s shit list with the killing and stuff he has them do.

(more under the cut cause that got a bit out of hand)

He basically runs a cult – he’s shown to be charismatic, having a great power of attraction and persuasion, and he doesn’t treat them that badly, I mean in a way we often see bad guys do, being belittling and acing them off for fun just to show he’s eeeeevil. He does give them what they want, safety, shelter, power, companionship, purpose. I can imagine him playing the benevolent card for a while before introducing his newest refugee to the downside of getting under his wing. He preys on the vulnerable and they come willingly.

It’s most likely their only option, including once they’re in and realize they’re really not into this after all. It’s not like any of them was ever offered a way out – what would they do if they left, who would help them? The shinobi world doesn’t seem big on rehabilitation, for all Naruto’s “villain-turning-good” powers. Most of them pay their “redemption” and their return to the light by death anyway. Would be too hard to actually question their morality and choices and see what they would become if they went back to the world…

Ironically enough the only one who sort of gets that is Orochimaru lmao but it doesn’t count because there was no redemption nor questioning of any kind they just decided he got to stay and not be held accountable for any of his actions. And I don’t know why any of us is surprised by this actually or why we expected better we should be used to this by now. Ah. Moving on.

As the kids grow up, they would either develop a stronger sense of morality/self-worth and wouldn’t be able to go along with this shit anymore, no matter how grateful they are to him, or they would stay blindly loyal. Or they would just be dead, dying, or imprisoned and unable to escape heh. I guess some would also take a deeper turn because since this world sucks so much and abandoned them why wouldn’t they wreak havoc in it on his orders? He must play on this too because he IS outside and against the system and it would attract those who seek revenge against it, even if he serves his own interests above the "Strike back at the System" cause. It served him well when he was in Konoha after all and isn’t that his biggest grievance in the end? That he played within its constraint and was still cast out, because he crossed a line he didn’t even know was there? We don’t get a feeling that he’s inherently against the whole child-soldiers/kill for hire/waging pointless wars thing, on the contrary it suits him quite well, but the problem was the hypocrisy, that they condone those things but still try to take the moral high ground.

I’m sorry but I can only imagine Orochimaru being like “assassination ok torture for information ok civilian casualties ok sacrifice anything for the village including your health life and those of your friends ok train to death and do whatever it takes to get stronger ok experiment on people… no?” I’m not trying to justify his actions but just, how is anyone surprised by how some of them turned out? I think we saw people like this among his followers, you know who were trained to kill from a young age, but when they got a taste for it and went outside the mission frame, the villages were like "huh huh no no” and they went ???? excuse me how was I supposed to cope with being made into an assassin as seven apart from convincing myself that this was all fine and fun actually? And of course the classic “I lived in a cage/I was driven from my home at 5/I was enslaved, and this guy comes around and offers a way out was I just supposed to say no?”.

(This apply to Sasuke too by the way, because had this boy been given some freaking support as a child he wouldn’t have made it his lifelong goal to kill his brother while disregarding absolutely everything else in his life and Orochimaru played him like a damn flute and someone should just have… seen this coming. Or just NOT have the entire Uchiha clan pointlessly wiped off but that’s another point entirely)

The lines of who is good and who is bad in Naruto are very foggy. Murder is not a criterion, child abuse either, so what? At some point we have to acknowledge that the characters who are "good" in Naruto are simply the ones we're told are on the good guys' side. I mean it’s a valid morality system – being good means serving your village. Whatever you do to that end is okay. It’s exactly Danzo’s mentality and it's easy to see where it comes from, it is how their world is built. It’s also how they manage to say with a straight face that Itachi was a good guy actually, and you can build a story on that, you can put it into question.

But the story doesn’t commit to this. It still tries to tell us that being mean and killing people is bad, when half of those characters are paid assassins for freak’s sake, when the good guys have an entire clan build on arbitrary slavery, when they massacred one of their own clan. Once again it started right with Zabuza, when they make the characters (and us) realize that the only thing opposing them is that they have different employers. Zabuza isn’t bad because he’s a mean guy who kills people, he’s bad because he gets in the way of their mission. Of course he conveniently works for an asshole while they work for the guy trying to lift his community from its shithole, but that’s not why they help him. They help him because he pays them to so.

Anyway, going back to the topic at hand and concluding this long-ass rant, it’s hard to infer whether Orochimaru sees them solely as pawns and expendables bodies or if he has any form of attachment to them or some to them. I found his writing to be very inconsistent and not compelling at all because it never dwells into these topics, and the narration can’t make up its mind about him. But I don't like to cast him as just a one-dimensional evil psychopath because that's… bad, y’know, and I don’t think the number of people willing to follow him should be dismissed. In many ways Orochimaru and his people him are a direct product of their world

That got out of hand really fast but. Well. You’re right. It’s sad.

#ask #askinrain #naruto #naruto meta #orochimaru #why do i spend so much brain juice on this story #when i know the story didn't #but anway #that's this on that #rambling #will i ever answer that kind of ask with some chill #probably not #tw cult #tw abuse #i guess #it's orochimaru after all #Anonymous