#its just that part of his single minded love happens to be konoha-directed | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nejibaby · 3 years

Text

Gorgeous

Pairings: Neji x Y/N

Song reference/inspiration: Gorgeous by Taylor Swift

Summary: You hate Neji… or do you?

A/N: I didn’t know what came over me please don’t sue 🤣 Please let me know your thoughts, although I couldn’t really reply since this isn’t my main blog... (I just really like reading your comments & reblogs 🥺)

You always thought the gods above adore you because of how lucky you are. For years of being a shinobi, you’re able to go on missions without that certain someone.

Everyone knows that you dislike Neji. Some might even go far and say you hate him. But no one really knew why you hated him with so much passion.

So when you’ve been assigned on a mission with him for the first time, your friends — with the exception of Hinata —immediately know you’d invite them for drinks to get piss drunk and rant about the Hyuga boy.

When you arrive at the bar, you wasted no time ordering drinks and downing them one by one.

“Woah, slow down Y/N!” Sakura says.

“Let her be, Sakura. You know how she gets when Neji is involved,” Ino tells Sakura, “No words are going to stop her, might as well just look over her.”

Sakura gives her a frown then slips in glasses of water in between the drinks you had lined up.

“Ugh, I hate this! Why do I even have to be assigned with him?” You complain.

Ino sighs, “It was bound to happen anyway, with the shortage of shinobis from the back-to-back attacks here in Konoha, and all that. You’ve been lucky you hadn’t been assigned on missions with him for this long.”

You huff. “The gods hate me so much.”

Ino just rolls her eyes at you.

“Why do you hate Neji so much anyway?” Sakura asks.

You take a shot before answering. “Have you heard how he talks? He’s always talking about destinies and fates and how we can’t change them!”

Sakura and Ino look at each other. Then Sakura says, “I don’t know what year you live in, but Neji has changed ever since he met Naruto.”

“—And besides that,” you continue your rant, “He’s such a know-it-all. And he just always has to explain everything to us like we don’t understand anything.”

“I mean he’s really good at analyzing things and breaking them down for us so we can follow the reasoning behind things,” Sakura says in defense of the poor man.

“Shikamaru is just the same but I don’t see you hating on him,” Ino adds.

You pay no mind to their statements, knowing they’re probably right but you weren’t just going to admit that. “—And he always sounds so bossy! Everyone looks up to him and heeds his words. It’s like he has this magnetic field that attracts people and shit. It’s so fucking annoying!”

Ino and Sakura were both about to say something about your statements but no words came out despite them opening their mouths. You squint at them, a contrast to the way their eyes had widened.

“What?” You ask.

“I think we should talk, you’re being a little too loud,” someone behind you says.

You bite the inside of your cheeks, knowing who that voice belongs to. You feel your face getting hot — from the embarrassment or from the alcohol, you weren’t sure. You clear your throat, look behind you and greet, “Neji.” You try to make your voice sound friendly, but you were so used to saying his name laced with venom that it’s just impossible for you to sound amicable.

He’s taken aback by the hostility in your voice. He’s aware of your hatred towards him so he tries not to bother you with his presence but you’re talking too loudly about him that it was becoming uncomfortable to him. Besides, you two are going to go on a mission together, it’s better to resolve things between the two of you right now, or at least before the mission starts.

Neji knows he hasn’t done anything to wrong you and as far as he’s concerned, both of you never talked to each other yet so he wasn’t really sure why you despised him so much, until now, that is.

He holds his hand out for you to help you stand. How gentlemanly, you wanted to sneer but you stopped yourself. Instead, you clench your fists and glare at him.

When you don’t make a move to stand up, he gently grabs a hold of your hand and tugs you towards the exit of the bar. You’re too shocked by the action that you didn’t get to protest. You know damn well Neji avoids physical contact with everyone, except during training, of course.

By the time you’re both out of the bar, you aim a punch at him. But with your drunkenness, you miss. That, and he easily dodged it.

“What are you doing?!” Neji asks, surprised by your action.

“You should think about the consequence of touching my hand.”

His brows furrow, trying to understand you. He doesn’t want to make things worse so he chooses to apologize instead.

You don’t respond, opting to lean back against the wall and cross your arms instead, considering your abrupt movement made your head feel dizzy. You tried not to wince at the pounding of your head. God forbid you’d let him see any weakness in you.

Then you take a look at Neji who seems to have shifted to a more relaxed stance after your unexpected attack. Seeing this, you try to collect yourself as well. Or at least as much as your drunk mind can.

Neji takes your silence as a signal to talk. “We’ve known each other for so long now because we have the same circle of friends, but we never really got to talk to each other until now,” he starts. “I have seen you interact with everyone except me. At first it did not really bother me, but then I found out you hated me. In order to avoid unnecessary arguments or whatsoever, I let you be and kept my distance. I did not understand why, until I heard you talking a while ago—”

There was something unnerving about his lavender eyes staring at you so intently that must’ve made your mind short circuit, so you cut him off and blurt out, “You should take that as a compliment.”

To say that Neji is confused is an understatement. The creases on his forehead deepen at your declaration. “What do you mean?”

You close your eyes and just shrug. Your mind wasn’t cooperating with you so you’d rather just not talk. You keep silent for a whole minute meanwhile Neji waits until you speak again. When the minute passes and he still hasn’t said a word, you ask, “Why don’t you just go back to Tenten or something?”

That sounded wrong.

Frankly, that wasn’t what you plan on saying, but your inebriated mind couldn’t comprehend what you just said and its possible implication.

If other people were to listen to your conversation right now, they would probably assume that you were jealous, or maybe even insecure with Tenten, but Neji was different from other people. Luckily for you, you both share a similar way of thinking. He knows you’re trying to deflect.

“Tenten’s your girlfriend, right?” You couldn’t stop your mouth from blabbering anymore.

“No. She’s a friend.”

This was news to you. You always assumed they were together since they spend a huge amount of time with each other.

“So you’re single?”

“Yes.”

“Ugh, that’s honestly worse,” you thought. Or at least you intended it to be just a thought but you ended up saying it out loud.

Neji doesn’t know if he should be offended by your statement or not. Was it worse because no one’s going to keep him in line? Shouldn’t you be glad no one’s going to suffer the fate of being his girlfriend? Those were definitely something you’d say. But he’s uncertain, so he pushed those thoughts aside, knowing full well you weren’t going to answer him properly if he asked the meaning behind your words.

Since you’re so keen on changing the subject regarding your hatred for him when he’s obviously trying hard to make amends with you, he decides to just drop it and talk to you when you’re completely sober. “Is Kiba going to come get you?”

“Why should he?” It was your turn to furrow your brows.

“You’re drunk and he’s your boyfriend.”

You snort. If he said you were seeing Kiba then you definitely wouldn’t deny it and you’d shut your mouth. You aren’t in a relationship with him, or maybe you are, if friends-with-benefits is considered a relationship. So Kiba is in no way your boyfriend — that label entails commitment and of course, love. However, your setup with Kiba was more of an agreement rather than a commitment and instead of romantic love, there was only love for a friend.

To correct him you say, “He’s not really my boyfriend.”

Neji was never one to assume unless there’s a basis. He knows this about himself. So when you deny your relationship with Kiba, he was skeptical, and a smaller part of him was ashamed that he reached such a conclusion without asking first.

It only goes to show that you both have wrong preconceptions about each other, and that you both have a lot to learn about one another.

“Ah, sorry. I thought—”

“It’s fine,” you wave him off.

Neji’s eye twitches. You cut him off twice now and he doesn’t appreciate it at all. He’s a very patient man and it takes a lot to get a rise out of him or maybe even get a reaction. But you had him shift from being apologetic to confused to ashamed and then to being annoyed in a matter of minutes.

Surely this wasn’t normal, right? What kind of power do you hold that you could make him easily shift moods? For a moment, he considers the possibility of you casting a genjutsu on him but quickly dismisses the thought when he senses that your chakra flow is normal.

You quickly notice his annoyance and you immediately feel bad for your actions. “‘M sorry,” you mumble with a pout, looking down on your feet.

The apology softens the Hyuga boy immediately. He’s never really heard you address him so sincerely and without malice all throughout this conversation, or ever. But he’s seen you do this with your other friends; he’s seen you readily set aside your pride for them. Your friends admittedly claimed that this was one of your traits that makes you so special whenever they tried coaxing him to talk to you and befriend you.

Unexpectedly, Neji smiles. It was truly a rare sight, and it was directed to you. You feel your heart flutter.

“I-I should, uhm, head home,” you internally cringe at the way you stuttered the words.

“What about Ino and Sakura?”

“Ah, I’m pretty sure they’ve gone ahead when I left.”

“And Kiba won’t pick you up?”

“Nope. He’s somewhere doing god knows what.”

Neji gives a contemplative stare.

“Anyway, I think you already know that we won’t be able to talk properly since I’m drunk, so I’ll go now. Let’s talk some other time, I guess. Bye!” You say a little too fast.

“Wait! Let me walk you home.”

You huff. “Do whatever you want.”

Silence follows after that. You’re particularly happy that the walk to your home is quick since you aren’t sure how to act around Neji.

He walks you until the door and you quickly mumble a thanks and shut the door.

As soon as the door is shut, you immediately slump to the floor, dropping your facade along the way.

The fact of the matter is that you don’t hate Neji. It’s quite the opposite actually. You just don’t know how to express your feelings properly.

For a moment you wish you could be like Hinata who’s content at watching Naruto from the sidelines. You, however, instead of feeling content, you’re furious. Because there’s nothing you hate more than what you can’t have. And this is what your face chooses to express whenever Neji is around, which is why you couldn’t blame your friends or other people for that matter when they assumed you hated him. You just went along with them, to save face.

The white lie was furthered by their observation that you don’t talk to him. To your defense, it’s not that you don’t want to talk to him, it’s just that you can’t. Your mind literally goes haywire.

Just like in your conversation earlier. When you first cut him off, and blurted out the first thing on your mind.

You should take that as a compliment.

What your mind wanted to say is: You should take that as a compliment because even when I’m drunk, it’s you I keep on thinking about.

Not to mention how embarrassing it was when you asked if he’s single and thought that that was so much worse than being in a relationship. Because how can he be allowed to be single when he’s just so gorgeous it actually hurts?

You bang your head against the door a couple of times in frustration.

Unbeknownst to you, Neji is still standing on the other side of the door, dumbfounded by how fast you shut it in front of his face. Just as he’s about to walk away, he hears a whack on the door. His mind immediately assumes you got hurt. As he raises his hand to knock on your door, he stills at the sound of your voice.

“Stupid Neji and his stupidly gorgeous face, ruining my life by not being mine.”

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snickiebear · 3 years

Note

Hello, snickiebear! Congratulations on your 200 followers! If you have the time, would you mind writing Shisui x Sakura in a nonmass au? I’m actually curious about your take on a time travel scenario with this pairing, but I also understand that a lot of works have been written on time travel already, so it’s still awesome if you don’t do the time travel part!

Congratulations again and thanks for taking the time to read this ask! Your works are really enjoyable to read. Thank you so much for writing and for doing this 200-follower event!

hello lovely anon!!! thank YOU for reading and requesting!!!! this one was so much fun to write! you ask for time travel + nonmass + shisaku? i am helpless to deliver!! this is a bit more angsty than i wanted but are we surprised? (nope, not at all lmao) this is also now on AO3 bc i really liked it!

also, apologies that this took a bit!! lifes been a real fuckin bitch and the wall of writer's block hit me like a train AHAHAHA but i hope you like this one!!! :)))

The sky is sunny and the spring beautiful when the sky splits itself in half with a brillant, blinding flash of light.

Shisui, masked and riding the after mission high, can only stare as a body plummets from that crack, limp and silent.

It is as if the heavens have spit out what they have deemed unworthy.

Or perhaps, the heavens are dropping a gift on their doorstep.

Either way, Shisui is moving before he knows what is happening, catching that body— a woman with shaven pink hair— and holding her close, head tucked under his chin.

She’s breathing, chest rising and lowering feebly.

Shisui catches his breath as the fracture within the sky closes and only then does he notice the mask.

Porcelain and painted. A combination of a snake and fox, a wolf and slug.

His ANBU team materializes next to him, Dog-taicho’s chakra going from lazy to alert at the sight of the woman. “That’s…”

“Yeah.” Shisui says hoarsely. “She- she needs medical attention. I think.” There is a lot of blood, she’s dripping in it. But he can’t see where she’s bleeding from… or if all that blood is even hers.

“Let’s go.” Dog-taicho cuts through his thoughts, voice hard and a bit panicked. Afterall, Kakashi owes his life to this woman, they all did.

Team Ro blurred out of existence in their race to Kohona, their Savior clutched within his arms.

It's funny, really. When she looks back, as she so often does now, it's laughable. The fact that Haruno Sakura, the civilian born, the nobody, the weak one of Team 7 is the only one left.

Sakura was the only one left in the war against Kaguya and she had done what she has always done; what was needed.

So, Sakura was the only one left and she figured out what was left of Naruto’s seals and shot herself through time to fix everything, to save everyone. To take down Danzo, Hanzo, Madara, to save Sai, the Uchihas, Kakashi.

She was the one to heal Obito, to save Rin, to make sure that Itachi’s hands would never be stained with his family’s blood.

And now, now she sits in a T&I room and she laughs, laughs herself hoarse because she succeeded, she won. And now she is in the future, her intended destination, but it is not the same.

In this future, Haruno Sakura does not exist. She is nothing and no one.

Naruto and Sasuke are alive and well and happy. They get to live the lives they could have only dreamed about.

And Sakura. She doesn’t exist.

She laughs herself hoarse, the laughs turning into broken sobs and she drops her forehead to the table, hiccuping and clenching her hands into blood inducing fists.

Alone. As she always has been.

The door creaks open and Ibiki steps in, a folder in hand.

Sakura’s head snaps up, wiping her face as she almost sighs in relief. She loved (loves?) Ibiki, he once was one of her closest friends near the end. She knows Ibiki, trusts him. Or, at least, she had.

Sakura straightens in her chair, careful of the chakra suppressing handcuffs that really do nothing for her, just acting as a hindrance. But, she does not remove them because she is not a threat to Konoha, she never has been, never intends to be.

Ibiki sits down in front of her, eyeing her carefully and it almost feels like coming home. “You say your name is Haruno Sakura.”

“Yes.” She rasps, licking her cracked and bleeding lips. “That’s right.”

Her eyes flit to the glass window, ignoring her own reflection as she narrows her eyes at whoever is behind the wall. An unknown chakra signature, wild and worried. And— and—

Kakashi.

His cool and lazy chakra, almost like a current of electricity. She would know that chakra any where, as if it is engrained deep in her bones. And right now he’s interested, almost antsy.

Swallowing, Sakura looks back to Ibiki, who had been watching her keenly. “You already had Inoichi-san do a mind walk. You know everything I do.” Shoulders back, chin tilted, spine steeled.

The dead man that sits in front of her hums and opens a folder, “We believe you—”

“It is not a matter of believing.” Sakura snaps, eyes flashing. “You know it is a fact. He saw, he showed you, you saw. How could I ever make something like that up?”

“What we know,” Ibiki says too calmly, too pleasantly, “Is that you are severely traumatized.”

And Sakura well, she laughs again. Because. Because what else is she supposed to do? She gives and gives and gives and is given nothing back.

There are no fruits for her labor, no reward for her sacrifice.

Shoulders shaking as she cries and laughs, scrubbing at her face. “We were friends, you know.” She manages. “I made you laugh twice, once after I lost my middle finger,” Sakura holds up her hand to show him, unsure of why she is even talking. “The second when you were dying in my arms.”

Silence rings out as Sakura gathers herself, swallowing harshly. Ibiki is still looking at her, but the way is no longer cynical, no longer studying.

“Haruno—”

“Just Sakura,” She says wearily.

“Sakura-san,” He continues, “When you were brought in you had a mask on. A mask that has been seen countless times saving Konoha shinobi.”

Sakura does not dare mention the fact that she has also interfered with Suna, giving Gaara the childhood he deserves. And with Mist, cutting the head off the snake quickly enough that the caste system would never truly solidify.

So, she nods. “I am aware.”

“And you claim you are the person behind the mask on every occasion.”

Sighing, she runs a hand over what is left of her hair and makes direct eye contact with her once friend, giving a curt nod, “I am the person behind the mask.”

“One last question, Sakura-san.” Ibiki murmurs, jotting something down in his folder. Sakura forces herself not to read the familiar writing. Though, she is well equipped to read upside down. “How did you come to possess the rinnegan?”

The air drops from mildly uncomfortable to freezing and Sakura does not balk at the question. “You saw it for yourself, Ibiki. It was a gift.”

“Yes, but from who?”

Her heart aches, squeezes at the thought of Naruto, of Sasuke, phantom pains. It is as if she has lost a limb, a piece of her heart when they had turned to ash between her fingers. But Sakura does not waver as she says, “It was a parting gift from Uchiha Sasuke before he died.”

The unknown chakra behind the wall erupts into a mess of emotions while Kakashi’s is mildly surprised if not wary. There is tension between the both of them though.

Which is incredibly amusing considering it wasn’t until much, much later did Kakashi ever see anything to be wary about in her.

(It took her flicking the ground and allowing it to split open and swallow any of their pursuers to convince him that she could very well tear him in half without a second thought.

She wouldn’t though. Team 7 and its members will always be a soft and deeply bruised spot for her. A wound she could never quite heal. Sakura cannot remember a time when she has ever been bruiseless. She has come to terms with being wounded.)

Ibiki closes the folder and taps it on the steel table between them, he motions over his shoulder and the door opens swiftly, revealing Kakashi and another Uchiha with curly hair.

He’s just as she remembers him, except not. Her Kakashi had slouched, had a certain energy about him.

This one, he looks the same, has the scar, the slight slouch. But it is clear that ghosts no longer beat on his back, the world's weight no longer bends him to its will.

Pain races through her heart, echoing physically throughout her body. It hurts. It shouldn’t, seeing her old sensei, her once friend, happy. But it does.

Because while she cannot live without Team 7, it is clear Team 7 can live without her.

She straightens, eyes sharp and body tense as Ibiki stands, chair scraping harshly against the floor and then takes her hands into his, calluses and scars scraping against each other.

Sakura could only imagine what Tsunade-shishou would say if she were to see her, riddled with scars and missing fingers. She could have healed them without a second thought, but chakra had been precious then. Every single ounce had been poured into keeping her precious people safe and herself alive enough to keep fighting.

Her once friend produces a key and unlocks the handcuffs, letting them drop heavily into his awaiting hands before standing up, “Sakura-san, this is Hatake Kakashi,” Her former teacher gives her a hard once over. “And Uchiha Shisui.”

Her skin itches and crawls at Kakashi’s look, cold and unfond, nothing like how she remembers him. And of course, of course he wouldn’t be the man who she had come to adore. He is someone else in this carefully constructed future of her own doing.

The blame, as always, rests upon her weakening shoulders. Sakura is crumbling, her sanity chipping away ever so slowly. It is laughable, really. She wants to throw her head back and howl, she wants to bow and allow herself to scream.

But, if she were to begin to scream, she is not sure she would be able to stop.

So, she gives a curt nod, “Hatake-san. Uchiha-san.”

“Shisui, and therefore the Uchiha, have volunteered to bring you into their custody.” Ibiki goes on, taking a step back. Sakura stays where she is, rooted.

A chill runs up her spine and she looks to Ibiki almost pleadingly. “And you can’t simply dump me into ANBU instead?”

“Mah, Sakura-san.” Kakashi drawls and Sakura’s will cracks. (That bruise will never quite heal.) “I can promise that the Uchiha aren’t as bad as they seem.”

Shisui smiles and it is unlike any smile she has seen before.

She cannot remember the last time she had seen a smile.

“Don’t listen to the old man, Sakura-san.” Shisui says and she’s caught off guard at how friendly he sounds, deep and welcoming. Sakura swallows harshly. “We’re a bunch of assholes but no harm will come to you, we can promise that.”

Uchiha men, she thinks with distaste, will always hold a knife to her heart. And they will always know how to twist the wretched blade to get her to bend for them.

But. But perhaps Sakura could bend, bend and lay and rest. Just once. And this time she'll bend for herself. Perhaps.

She finds herself nodding, hands shaking despite the steel in her spine, her shoulders still straight. “You’re going to just let me go.”

Ibiki gives her a hard look and Sakura’s lips twitch. Ah, of course not. The Uchiha compound is just a glorified prison. Then again, it is much better than anything she thought would happen.

Then again, Saura never thought this would happen.

Too desperate, too blind with the possibility of a chance to see them again, to be whole again. She, for all her brains, all her genius, had not even stopped to think of the possibility that her future would no longer exist.

It is laughable, really.

So she laughs, she clutches her stomach and laughs because what else can she do?

Sakura has done what she has always done; what was needed. And once again, like every other time, there is nothing but black at the end of the tunnel. No light exists for her.

She is to blame for her own destruction, her own crumbling.

“You can come out,” Sakura’s voice calls out and Shisui grins.

He steps from the shadows, two mugs in hand as he comes to sit next to her, offering her the drink. She takes it without hesitation but swirls it before sipping from it, Shisui watches as her eyes light up just a little bit.

Hot cocoa with peanut butter. He had noticed, the last time the clan had it, that she’d snuck four mugs worth.

If Sakura was surprised he noticed, she didn’t show it. She was like that, a one way mirror, giving nothing away even as she saw everything.

“Did you want something, Shisui-san?” She twitches as he scoots a little closer, the fireflies floating around the backyard. “Or did you just want some company?”

Shisui smiles boyishly, tilting his head back to look at her, “Heard that Minato-sama called you into the Hokage’s office again.”

“You mean you heard from Genma, who told Itachi while on their date, who then told you that the Hokage summoned me for the fourth time this week.” Sakura snorts, taking a long drink from her mug. There's a little foam on her upper lip that he fights to not wipe away. “He and his wife keep trying to convince me to let them look at the seals I used.”

Shisui pauses, eyes trained on Sakura as she looks to the sky, head leaning back. Her hair has grown out a little, more fuzz on her head than anything, she looks more alive, well fed. Deep bags under her one visible eye, three nasty scars dissect her face and the rest of her body isn’t any better.

She is the most beautiful, most terrifying, most devastating thing he has ever seen.

“The seals you used…”

“To go back and hop through time like a jack rabbit to save the entire world?” She asks, a wry smile on her face. “Yes, Shisui, those seals.”

He hums, leaning back on the heels on her hands, “Why don’t you just let them look?”

“They aren’t my seals to share.” Sakura half snaps, shoulders curling in, her body strung tight. “Naru— my friend was the one to draw them out, I just figured out the last bit of it. Plus, there is no reason why they need to see those seals.” Her tone sharp, unyielding almost pleading.

Shisui stays quiet until Sakura begins to slowly relax. She gets like this sometimes, tense and defensive. As if trying to convince herself rather than him of her deeds. He knew better than to push, he knew that she had gone through more than anyone would ever go through.

The way Ibiki and Inoichi look at her with the utmost respect can verify that. The way Kakashi and Rin and Obito have gone out of their way to greet her, to help her speaks volumes.

He takes a drink from his mug, studying the stars winking above them. “Hey Sakura,”

“Yes?” She sounds oh so weary. His very soul aches.

“Thank you, for everything.” He doesn’t dare look at her, barely hearing himself over the pounding of his heart. “You don’t talk much about what happened but I know, I can tell that it was horrible. And thank you for saving us, the world.”

She had lost everything, everyone. In that future that she had protected them from Sasuke died, Itachi died, he was dead. He could only imagine what the ruins of that world looked like. He could only imagine what Sakura had to do to survive.

Sakura’s fingers are cold, freezing as they brushes the back of his hand. Shisui fights a shiver, the trail of goosebumps, the thrill. “Oh, oh Shisui.” Her voice is heartbreaking and full of nothing but steel. “I would never allow anyone to endure that. You will never have to endure that, I made sure of it. Never. No one will. I promise.”

Her hand draws back as she brings her knees to her chest, eyes far away and breathes quick. And Shisui, he doesn’t know what comes over him as he scoots even closer and carefully wraps his arm around her strong shoulders, drawing her closer.

And. And Sakura, she allows it. She moves to his side, not quite leaning but touching.

“Are you happy here?” Shisui finds himself asking after long minutes of silence. Sakura’s breath evened out and she sits with her chin on her knees.

Her eye flits to him, weighing and heavy. She looks at him and Shisui cannot help but see the age, the ancientness that has taken root. He wants to pull out the misery within her, wants to hold her tight enough that she will never fall apart without somewhere there to catch the pieces.

He wants to love her, he wants her to let him love her.

“No.” Sakura whispers, as if her unhappiness in a world that does not know her, that has done nothing for her is such an awful, wretched thing. “I miss everyone.”

Shisui cannot say anything so he does what he does best; what he wants.

He stays with her, arm resting on her shoulders and slowly, Sakura allows herself to lean into his side.

Around them, the night settles and the crickets chirp. The heavens had nothing to do with Haruno Sakura, with their Savior, coming to them. No, Sakura is the catalyst of this, of this paradise they now all reside in.

If anything, she is the heavens themselves. And it is about time someone tells her that, shows her that.

Sakura sees them for the first time in the five months she has landed in this new future. Itachi invited her to meet his genin team. Itachi, the man who had once been a mass murderer, is now a mednin and a jounin sensei.

Shisui joins her because of course he does, he has been the one constant throughout this entire ordeal. The Uchihas are nothing like she thought they would be. The Uchihas are everything she hoped they would.

They are loving, friendly, welcoming, and thankful. Mikoto is nothing but heaven sent sunshine and cloud soft embraces, Fukago is nothing but a deep rumbling laugh and fond looks.

No one is the same, nothing is the same.

Shisui is there though, at her side, at her back. She trusts him, gods, she trusts him. Despite her better judgement, despite everything. Sakura trusts Shisui.

So, Shisui joins her as she takes to the roofs and to training field 7. She’s finally been cleared for the mission roster and given her jounin blues. Though, Sakura has yet to decide if she even would enjoy going on missions.

Maybe with Shisui.

But she does not think she has a taste for violence anymore, for killing. Maybe she'll spend her days with Kakashi's dogs and holed up in the libraries. Maybe she'll visit Gaara or Chojuro.

She had yet to meet Tsunade, who had been hunting for her since Minato (the bastard) had let it slip that Sakura was in possession of the rinnegan and the byakugan seal. Shisui is exceptionally good at playing discractor as Sakura flees to rock in a corner until he finds her. He's good at that, holding her, letting her breathe, allowing her to find solace within his arms and his space.

They step onto the training fields and Sakura freezes mid step to watch as Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai (oh, oh Sai. Sweet Sai, oh.) attack in perfect sync.

They’re fourteen if her math is correct.

They move smooth and swift, nonverbal communication as if they had been working like this for years. It's beautiful, really.

Something ugly claws at her heart, catching on an already scabbing part to rip open a new wound. Simply another reminder that Sakura is not needed. She never was.

It's laughable, really.

Shisui’s fingers massages the sides of her neck with his fingers, the spot where her skull and neck meet. “You’re tense.”

“They have beautiful teamwork.” She chokes out.

He looks at her, long and open, “We can go home, if you want.”

Shisui’s good at that t00, the open ended question, the way of making her not feel trapped. He's too perceptive for his own good, she has yet to tell him anything except what is on record. But, but. He knows. He knows of Kakashi, of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai. It is both a relief and a terror. “No.” She manages, curling her hands. She is Haruno Sakura. She has faced the impossible her entire life. Ghosts are nothing compared to gods.

At least, that is what she tells herself.

“I’ll be fine.” Sakura glances up at him, licking her lips. He watches the movement before his eyes flit back up hers and he offers one of her favorite smiles. The one where his dimples are visible, where she can see the small chip of his front tooth and the way his top canin is a little crooked.

Itachi calls the spar minutes later, the boys slumping onto the ground and breathing heavily. Sakura offers a small smile as Itachi nears them, waving a hand in greeting.

“Ah, Sakura-chan.” He grins, then looks to Shisui, dry amusement clear in his tone, “Shisui.”

“You’ve trained them well,” Sakura praises, watching as Naruto (oh gods, Naruto with his big blue eyes and blonde, blonde hair) pulls a limp Sasuke (a Sasuke who laughs freely, who smiles, and is loved) onto his feet, Sai huffing a chuckle from the ground.

Itachi practically beams at the praise, “They are very talented. And you would like to meet them, yes?”

Shisui’s thumb traces the bumps of her spine and Sakura is reminded that she has forged herself from the ashes of her friends, that she is borne from war and steel. She can do this. Shisui is here and she can do this. “Yes, I would love to, Itachi.”

Shisui’s hand burns through her clothes as they follow Itachi, the boys immediately catching sight and freezing at the sight of them. Sakura will never admit it out loud that she has been avoiding any and all people from her past (present? future?).

One look at Ino, whole and happy and sassy, and Sakura had almost gone insane. And then Shikamaru and Chouji, all together, all smiling. Gods, Sakura had fallen to her knees at the sight. Such grief, such loneliness—

She’s better now. She is.

“Team 7.” Itachi says, “This Haruno Sakura, and you already know Shisui.”

Silence.

Sakura shifts under the wide eyed gazes of the boys, the men she loved (loves?) with her entire being. “It is a pleasure to meet you,”

Naruto recovers first because of course he does. And he smiles at her, he smiles at her and Sakura wants to claw at her skin and cry. Shisui intertwines their hands, as if sensing that urge.

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” He’s fourteen and he's alive and he’s happy. He isn’t out of the village, he’s here because he has a clan, he has a family. “Is it true that you’re the Savior?”

Sasuke smacks him in the back of the head with a scowl, “Be polite, dobe.” To Sakura he offers a bow, “It is pleasure to meet you, Haruno-san. I am Uchiha Sasuke.”

Sakura’s lips twitch despite herself. Never, not once, did Sasuke ever bow to anyone. He had always been arrogant, but here? Now? It's laughable, really.

She glances to Sai and he isn’t as pale as he once was, his cheeks are full of color, his eyes brimming with life. “I am Senju Sai, Haruno-san.”

And. Sakura pauses at that. Senju Sai, huh. Perhaps she'll have to face Tsunade sooner than later. The thought added to the dread filled pool in her stomach. But. But, she could do it. Maybe.

“It is very nice to meet you all,” She croaks and then offers a very brittle smile. “And Naruto-kun,” She fights a shiver at the honorific. “That information is S class, but find me when you make jounin, hm?” And for a moment she could pretend that everything was okay and she was teasing her Naruto. Just for a moment.

Much to her amusement, all three boys pout, looking to Itachi who shrugs, “You heard Sakura, now, let’s see formation Alpha but reverse.”

The boys groan and Sakura can’t help the smile, a smile with teeth.

She can feel Shisui’s eyes on her before she even turns to look at him. Her body is shaking, Sakura realizes blankly but Shisui still holds her sweating hands, squeezing ever so slightly. “Ready to go?”

Sakura swallows, staring up at him, studying him. And oh, she is so tempted to uncover her eye, to memorize his face. “Yes. Let’s… let's go home.”

He wakes to warmth pressed against his chest, warm breaths against his neck. Their legs are tangled, her arm thrown over his side and brushes against the bare skin of his back. Both of them are missing their clothes, Sakura preferred being able to feel the skin on him, the brush of flesh between them.

What they have, it is something deeper than any type of physical act. No, what they have… well, Shisui can not put it to words. There are no words. There will never be words.

It is rare for Sakura to sleep soundlessly and through the entire night. Shisui kisses her forehead, above her seal, on one of the many scars of her face. She doesn’t stir except to shift ever so slightly, hugging him closer.

And if Shisui’s heart melts, no one else is there to see the absolute brilliant smile on his lips.

“Sakura,” He murmurs because if she doesn’t get up soon, she’ll miss her lunch with Ibiki (who gets very grumpy when his time with Sakura is cut short), “Sakura.”

She grumbles, limbs tensing for a moment, a single breath before melting once more. “Shisui,” Her voice is rough with sleep, the sound swirls and dances around his bones. “G’mornin’.”

Shisui laughs, a soft push of air, as Sakura leans back to peer at him, both eyes uncovered as she studies him, the look like a physical caress. “Good morning.” He whispers, kissing her forehead once again.

“What time is it?” She murmurs, eyes drooping closed.

“You’ve got about an hour before Ibiki comes knocking.” Shisui chuckles.

Sakura snorts, pulling away to stretch her arms above her head, arching her back in the way that Shisui can admire every muscle, every scar, every part of her. “Then I better get up,”

“Or, you could always stay,” Shisui cajools, to which Sakura only laughs. The sound is beautiful and full and makes his heart beat a little faster.

“The last time I canceled on Ibiki was when I had to help Itachi with his and Genma’s wedding plans, and he sent little Terror Ino after me for a week.”

Shisui cracks an even wider grin, “Well, at least you got some nice clothes out of it.”

Laughing again, Sakura leans down to kiss him, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Go on,” Shisui shoos, making a little gesture with his hand. “Have fun, I’ll be here when you get back.”

“Promise?”

“Always.”

She cups his face, thumbing the sharp of his cheek bone before leaning forward to kiss him again, "I love you." Then. "I am glad that my suffering brought me to you, that I landed here."

"I love you." He returns, barely a whisper as he brushes hair behind her ears. His heart beats for her, cracks and aches and swells. All for her. "There will never be a time that I will not love you. There will never be a time where I do not see you and see everything you are, everything you have done."

The sky is sunny and the spring beautiful as Sakura, the very heavens themselves, mouth splits into a brilliant, blinding smile.

(Sakura has crumbled and broken, she has fallen apart over and over. She has always known how to put herself together, until she couldn’t.

But Shisui, oh Shisui, he has always been readily available with glue and tape. He will always be there to hold her together with his bare hands, ready to bleed for her, with her.

She has given and given and given. He is willing to give everything back to her tenfold.

It is the very least she deserves, the very least the world can gift her. Shisui will always be willing to give more.)

#silly things from silly friends #i hope you like it anon!!! thank u again :'')#shisaku #a shared pen

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depressedhatakekakashi · 3 years

Text

Hello, Princess

Au: Royalty Au

Made with help from @whatshernameis

Words: 1534

Rating: General

Characters: Hatake Kakashi and Konan. Hints of Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai and Konan/Nohara Rin

Warnings: None

Summary: Parties have never been Kakashi’s favourite scene, but they’re a necessary part of his job protecting the prince. Thankfully, this time, he finds someone to keep him entertained.

Beautiful music.

Extravagant decorations.

Visitors from all over the world mingling and waiting patiently for the star of tonight's gathering to make her appearance.

It was all in place. All that had to happen was the big reveal.

The lights would dim, all eyes would turn to the stairs, and the steward would announce the arrival of Her royal highness, the princess of Amegakure. After that, the party would really begin.

Except, the princess was nowhere to be seen.

At least, not by anyone who wasn’t already looking in the crowd that had already formed in the large ballroom.

It was actually rather rude. Kakashi had put up with having his arrival announced, why did she get to sneak in through the back and act like she had been there the whole time?

He was going to have to take matters into his own hands, or he’d be stuck here all night waiting for a princess who was already there to arrive.

Making his way through the crowd, he zeroed in on the purple-haired princess dressed up in a beautiful red and black dress with a simple necklace and earrings that blended in perfectly with her outfit.

The best outfit a person could pick out for the purpose of blending into a crowd full of people trying desperately to get noticed, yet still leagues fancier than the simple blue tunic that Kakashi had chosen for himself.

Sliding in beside the undercover princess, Kakashi leaned himself against the wall beside her and looked out into the crowd for whatever it was that had caught her attention.

“You know, the party doesn’t start until the beautiful princess walks down the stairs,” He greets the glare she throws his way with a playful smile. “I’m sure the royal guards have been sent out to track down their lovely princess. They’re probably scouring the hallways of the castle as we speak.”

“Don’t you have a prince to keep your eyes on?” She shot back, clearly unimpressed with his poor attempts at a conversation starter. “Or does Konoha only hire the worst knights to guard their prince?”

“I have him in sight,” to prove a point, Kakashi directed her attention at the bright green outfit making its way through the room as the prince introduced himself to everyone that he could. “He doesn’t need me interrupting his attempts to make friends. I would just make it awkward.”

“Yet, here you are,” waving a hand between the two of them, she huffed when Kakashi responded with a simple shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to convince you not to tell them where I am?”

“And ruin the show?” chuckling, Kakashi watched as his prince moved onto the next person. This time deciding to chat up a woman about their age in a beautiful purple dress. Princess Rin if he remembered correctly. Single and likely here to secure herself a marriage arrangement with one of the people that Princess Konan did not choose for herself. If she even made a choice at all tonight. “It’s actually kind of fun to watch your knights scramble around the place searching for you, not realizing that you’re right where you’re supposed to be.”

He’d call them stupid, but the Prince was always getting on his case about being ‘rude’ to other people.

“In that case, is there an actual reason that you’re here?” She turned her attention away from him, focusing once more on the crowded room. “Or are you just bored and in need of entertainment?”

‘Bored’ was certainly not a word he would usually use to describe his life. Not with someone like Prince Gai around to make sure there was always something interesting going on. Even if that ‘something interesting’ was a five am wake-up call so that he could do laps around the castle garden with his favorite knight at his side.

Though, in this case, it might actually be a fitting descriptor for how he was feeling. His Prince's attentions were focused on other people, and as long as he had him in sight and nothing was going wrong, Kakashi really had nothing much to do.

So ‘bored’ actually might be exactly what he was, but he wasn’t going to admit it.

“Have you chosen someone?” leaning in a bit closer, he tried to follow her line of sight. To see if there was anyone particular that she was watching. She seemed to pick up on this quickly though and instantly shifted her eyes back to him. “Come on now, it’s a simple question. This is supposed to be a night dedicated to you finding someone worthy of ruling a kingdom with. Surely you have someone in mind.”

Any good future monarch would have done their research before a big ball like this. Save themselves some trouble having to sit down with every single person and get to know them. Or, if it was the most advantageous alliance that Amegakure was looking for surely she would have studied up on which villages would be of the greatest benefit to her own.

Military strength, economic prosperity, other allegiances to be gained through a union of the two villages. There were a lot of things for a future monarch to examine before choosing the person they would dedicate themselves to for the rest of their lives.

He should know. He had been there by his Princes side when he went through the same endless task that Princess Konan no doubt found herself faced with now.

“What did he do?” Raised an eyebrow, Kakashi waited for the Princess to elaborate on her question. “Your Prince. I heard he didn’t even have a ball to choose his partner.”

“He didn’t,” there was supposed to be one of course. Just as Prince Obito had a ball, and Princess Kurenai, and even Princess Konan here at her own ball. It was expected that there would be a celebration for the Prince or Princess to meet with their possible matches and choose from the people placed in front of them. But his Prince, Gai, had chosen not to have such a celebration. “He couldn’t choose any of the people he was presented with as options, so the ball never happened.”

The Princesses eyes widened.

“That...that’s allowed?”

“It depends on one’s parents,” he admitted, his smile covered by the cloth mask that he kept over the bottom half of his face. “Prince Gai’s father has never been one to force his son into doing something he does not want to. After all, he himself was never married. The Prince was born in an agreement between him and the Princess of Iwagakure and was raised by the King alone.”

It was certainly not a common occurrence, but it was one that had allowed the Prince more freedom than others of his rank.

The Princess made a disapproving sound, her eyes returning to the floor in front of her. Except for this time, Kakashi could see exactly where it was she was looking. It was hard not to after all when her eyes wandered to the same spot as his own. Though, Prince Gai didn’t really seem like her type, meaning…

“You know, she has been having troubles picking someone out herself,” If looks could kill, he would be dead. With angry eyes, the Princess reached out to smack his arm, only to have him step out of the way just in time. “If you want, I could introduce you to her.”

Extracting her hand from his grasp, Konan examined him for a moment. Almost as if she was sizing him up. Trying to figure out if he was trustworthy.

“I’m a knight,” he reminded her softly. “I have no reason to do you any harm.”

“You could simply wish to see me embarrass myself.” She argued.

“Princess, I assure you that is not my goal,” Holding out an arm towards her, Kakashi gave her the best smile that he could come up with. Probably not a very welcoming smile, considering his face was usually hidden behind his armor and he wasn’t actually used to smiling at other people anymore. But it was a genuine smile. “The only person I ever aim to embarrass is Prince Obito.”

Speaking of which, maybe after he had introduced Princess Konan to Rin he would be able to find his old friend. It wasn’t truly a party until he managed to embarrass Obito in front of multiple people.

Processing his words, the Princess finally reached out to grab hold of his arm and allowed him to start leading her through the crowd towards the spot where Gai and Rin were still speaking.

It was kind of funny when he thought about it.

Princess Konan’s knights were running around the castle desperately searching for her so that the ball could officially start, all while Kakashi led her highness towards the one person she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off of when she should have been more focused on keeping out of sight.

Maybe if things went well, there would be another couple for Gai and him to spend time with, outside of peace talks and war rooms.

#Hatake Kakashi #Konan #Konan X Rin #Kakashi X Gai #Mostly Konan and Kakashi just chilling and talking #but hints of their feelings for the other two #Royalty au

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rayshippouuchiha · 4 years

Note

god the follow up with jiraiya kills me both because godammit jiraiya you fucked up but also because whats gonna happen when he gets there. that is, what is GAARA going to do when he realizes this guy is here because He Lost Naruto? gaara: i promised naruto i would stop killing people who annoyed me But Im Willing To Make A Fucking Exception

Gaara isn’t sure, exactly, what he was expecting when he was summoned to the Council Chambers directly after returning to the village.

He hasn’t killed anyone inside of the village since before the failed invasion and since Rasa’s death and all that had followed, he’s been attempting to … turn over a new leaf he believes is the way the saying goes.

To protect Suna and its people, to prove himself more than the monster he spent so long trying to be, has become Gaara’s driving force.

‘Well,’ Gaara can’t help but think more than a bit wryly, a hand coming up to press against the pocket sown into the inner folds of his top and the treasure it holds safely against his heart, ‘that is, perhaps, not entirely accurate.’

Gaara’s true driving force is a great deal more … focused.

Either way he’s been making a concentrated effort to be better than he once was so a summons to the Council Chamber is more than a bit unexpected.

Stepping inside and coming face to face with none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin is even more unexpected.

There’s a few minutes of obligatory introductions, the Council making ingratiating small talk and the like, but Gaara stands silent in the center of it all.

He never once takes his eyes off of Jiraiya even as a prickle of unease traces down his spine.

Finally the Council trails out of the room, surprisingly comfortable with leaving Gaara alone with the Sannin. Or, more than likely, less than eager to be trapped in a room with the both of them on the off chance violence erupts.

Normally Gaara would hold his silence but there’s a prickling down his spine and a curiosity and unease itching at his brain that prompts him to speak.

“Tell me,” Gaara says softly, “Jiraiya of the Sannin, where is Uzumaki Naruto?”

Across the way Jiraiya’s brows furrow and his mouth thins.

“That,” Jiraiya says after a too long pause, “is actually what I came here to ask you.”

Gaara’s already rigid posture stiffens even more.

In the back of his mind Shukaku stirs in discontent but Gaara presses the urge down ruthlessly.

He can’t, won’t, attack the Sannin.

Not when he knows exactly who he is to Naruto.

Not unless or when Naruto tells him otherwise.

Because if Naruto were to ever give the word, if he ever even hinted that he would prefer Jiraiya or anyone else gone…

Well.

“Explain.” The demand comes out as more of a hiss than a word, like a kettle steadily building steam.

“Look,” Jiraiya reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose, “me and the kid we had a …. disagreement and he took off. He won’t go back to Konoha, at least not for a while, so I figured … he talked about you. A lot actually. Said you were friends. I figured if he went anywhere that wasn’t Konoha, it’d be here. To you. So if he asked you to act like he isn’t here, if you’re housing him, I’d like to know so we can put this behind us.”

Gaara stays silent, mind whirling like the desert sands.

Naruto had … run away?

The very thought feels almost blasphemous somehow.

So Gaara very carefully doesn’t answer Jiraiya outright.

Instead he just inclines his head in Jiraiya’s direction, a gesture ambiguous enough to hopefully buy him some time.

“Naruto was very … excited about traveling with you,” Gaara states quietly and just the slightest bit leading. “He was very upset when he left you.”

Gaara has no doubt about that.

Jiraiya’s wince is rather surprisingly poorly hidden even as he holds his silence.

Yes, there is definitely more to this than is being said.

Gaara is certain, without a single shred of doubt, that there is more to the story.

And he also knows, as sure as the rising sun, exactly whose side his aid will fall on.

“The Council will provide you with rooms,” Gaara finally says, already turning towards the door. “Refresh and rest yourself. I will return to my rooms and see if a … resolution of some sort can’t be found.”

“Tell the kid I’m not upset,” Jiraiya tells him, something like grief or guilt flashing across his face, tugging the wide set of his shoulders down for a split second. “Tell him I’m … just tell him to come see me. Soon.”

Gaara doesn’t answer, just keeps moving.

~~~

A hour later finds Gaara in his own rooms, settled down in his customary place by the window.

The apartment is empty around him as it always is.

Even though he has made some progress with Temari and Kankuro both Gaara still lives on his own in a set of rooms in a more secluded part of the Compound. So many years on his own, pressed into isolation, makes the very idea of sharing a living space with his siblings … unsettling.

His hand comes up to press against his heart again, a move that’s quickly become second nature to him over the past months.

“Uzumaki Naruto,” Gaara whispers to himself, to the stillness of his home, to the watching moon. “What was done to drive you away and where have you gone?”

Because he’s not here with Gaara no matter how certain Jiraiya seems to be that Gaara would be Naruto’s first stop.

Gaara, on the other hand, is rather certain he knows better.

He likes to think that months of letters being exchanged has given him a certain degree of insight into his first and only friend.

No one had been more surprised than he when Naruto’s first letter had arrived only weeks after they’d last seen each other.

But Gaara had read that letter with a mix of helplessness and elation bubbling to life inside of him.

And then he’d written back.

And things had spiraled from there.

And now Gaara has a chest set aside solely to hold Naruto’s letters as well as copies of the ones he himself had sent to his friend, each copy carefully dated and stored away in their proper order.

The only thing out of place is …

Gaara reaches into his top and removes his prized possession from the hidden and reinforced pocket he always keeps it in.

It is, after all, the first gift he’s received since he killed Yashamaru.

It’s nothing extravagant, just a thin piece of lacquered wood, simple and unremarkable really.

But it’s what was painstakingly engraved on it that matters to Gaara.

Because pressed into the wood is a single, perfect spiral.

An Uzumaki Clan Spiral Gaara knows now.

And nestled, cradled, in the very center of that spiral is a familiar kanji.

Ai.

Love.

His kanji.

The symbolism had been enough to take Gaara’s breath away when he’d first seen it. He still feels a little breathless every time he looks at it even after all this time.

‘It’s you and me,’ the letter Naruto had enclosed it in had explained. ‘My spiral and your tattoo. Now we can be together no matter how far apart we are.’

And in that moment Naruto had disarmed him completely without even trying.

With a nearly silent sigh, Gaara brings the token up, presses his lips against the smooth edge of the wood, and then tucks it back into his top. A comforting ritual now complete.

He doesn’t know what’s happened between Jiraiya and Naruto but he does know where his loyalties lie.

And so he knows exactly what he’ll do.

He’ll do everything in his power to buy Naruto time.

Perhaps he’ll be able to stall long enough to give Naruto even more of a head start on his journey. Maybe he’ll be able to ensure that Naruto has more time to put even more distance between himself and whatever it is Jiraiya has done to hurt him.

It is the very least that Gaara can do.

For Naruto.

His friend.

The one who gave him a new way of life.

His driving force.

Besides, if Gaara doesn’t hear from Naruto soon, he’ll just have to set out and look for his friend himself.

It’s not like there’s anyone in the village who could stop him.

~~~

Weeks later a letter embossed with a familiar seal makes its way into Gaara’s hands.

He smiles.

#Naruto #Team Uzumaki AU #Anonymous #RayRambles #Team Uzumaki AU Drabble

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fuckinuchihas · 4 years

Text

Cut The Love You Pieces Out of Me

KONOHAMARU X READER

NOT RATED-WILL PROBABLY END UP EXPLICIT

PART TWO

POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS:

Injury to Reader, Embarrassed Reader, Uzumaki relation implied of Reader, more to be added later I’m sure.

If I’ve forgotten anything be sure to let me know!

PART ONE

You’re cut heals over the next day or so, your leg still isn’t in any kind of running condition but you can walk on it without crying so you push forward. The quicker you get back to Konoha the better.

He doesn’t know he’s doing it but fuck, Konohamaru is a goddamn tease and for once you wish you had Kunochi friends to vent with about him. He’s doted on you for the better part of a week now and as if that wasn’t enough to get your heart to do funny things, he seems to have also adopted the civilian clothing thing and it’s...well it’s not unflattering.

He wears a number of pale shirts so of course the universe decides to smack you in the face with rainstorms that mean his clothes are clinging to him like a second skin. His muscles flex through the material and your eyes track it no matter how many times you force yourself to look away.

It’s a wonder he hasn’t already looked at you with those big sad eyes and told you it’s never going to happen. He’s probably waiting until you get back to Konoha so that it’s not even more awkward than it has been for the rest of the trip.

Ugh, you’re worked up and frustrated and you can’t even let it out by sparring because of your stupid leg.

You finally start to give out, your leg was done a mile back but you pushed ahead anyway. Now you’re paying for it so you tug on his sleeve and he nods in understanding.

It’s easy for you to set the barriers now, your chakra is nearly full capacity given that you haven’t used it for much except dealing with your injury. So you quickly send up the sealing jutsu that you crafted into a specialty all your own, and you will rest easily knowing you’re safe.

After the fire is built and the bedrolls are in place you feel a little tingle in the back of your neck and you smile sadly. “How do you feel about venison for dinner?”

He looks at you and grins, wide and open, “That would be amazing, I haven’t had-

*CRACK*

You drop your hand that had been making a twisting motion just a moment earlier and close your eyes, “Thank you for your sacrifice, rest in peace.”

“Did you just-”

“It’s a quarter mile that way, if you want to lug it back I can prepare it but with my leg as bad as it is now, I can’t go after it,” you say, pointing in the direction where the young buck gave its life.

He nods happily and takes off through the trees.

You turn your head and let the tears you’ve been holding in finally fall.

You don’t like killing, not animals or ninja, but you’ll do it when the job calls for it.

These tears though, are a little bit of everything. Sadness over the last moment of holding that buck’s neck in your hands, petting it softly with your chakra before twisting its neck. Then there’s the emotions you’ve been holding in for the past few days that also escape out with the rest.

You’re able to track every movement within the barrier so you make sure there’s no evidence of your tears by the time he makes it back to camp. Instead you put on a bright smile and welcome him back with gusto. It probably sounds a little fake but for all that he is, and he is quite a many wonderful things, Konohamaru can still be pretty oblivious on the day to day. So you hope he doesn’t see it and comfort yourself with the reassuring truth that a lot of more obvious things have slipped his notice.

He’s more than happy to do the grunt work on preparing dinner so you nod in agreement and mention lying down for a nap.

He stands guard as he works even if he doesn’t really need to.

You can’t sleep despite the monumental effort you’re putting in. Your mind keeps wandering back to the way he picked you up so effortlessly. You shiver at the memory of his biceps curled protectively around your thighs and back. You bite back a moan when your brain draws up the way his jaw clenched as your arms wrapped around his neck.

It’s enough to drive you to distraction and beyond. You want nothing more than to get some alone time but if you ask for it while in camp it would be suspicious. Potentially you could send him after water when he finishes with the deer but then you’ll have to cook the meat and watch the fire so there’s little opportunity for you to take care of yourself in those following moments either.

You doubt he’ll let you use the bath in the lake excuse again, not with how it ended last time, which is fair but still frustrating.

Maybe if you’re really quiet…

No, no… you can’t. He’s a ninja with excellent hearing and no matter how quiet you attempt to be, it is practically impossible for you to stay completely silent.

You groan in annoyance.

“Are you okay?” he asks, softly whispering your name as he moves closer to your bedroll.

“Fine. I’m just having a little trouble sleeping,” you say, hoping he will back away and leave you alone. With as worked up as you’ve managed to get yourself, one look from those big bright eyes and you’ll be lost.

“Oh, I see. Well if there’s anything I can do just let me know,” he says, and you could choke on the sincerity.

Instead you let out a strangled laugh and rub at your tired eyes. “I’ll be sure to let you know if any ideas come to mind,” you lie, because you know exactly how he can help you sleep but you refuse to ask it. Not that it would matter much anyway, if he did it you’d only be able to add it to the neverending list of ways you’ve been a burden to him on this godforsaken mission.

Three years, countless successful assignments, nearly every moment you were a consummate professional and yet less than a week by his side and you’ve proven to be nothing but another useless kunoichi.

You don’t buy into that whole women are useless in the field ideology but there are always a couple that prove the stereotype true, it’s never you, has never been you before.

You absolutely hate that it’s you when you’re with him.

It’s not like you imagined things turning out in some daydream fantasy, that would be stupid and a waste of valuable time. However, the moment you saw his potential, the fire in his eyes, the raw something that he held above all others, you wanted. You ached with it in ways you’d never experienced but since that moment you’ve done nothing but cause him trouble and how would a man like that ever look at you twice if he had to spend the days you have together playing nursemaid.

“You seem to be miles away...homesick?” he asks, coming closer still.

He’s snuck up on you while you were reliving your self loathing spiel.

How rude of him.

“Sort of,” you say, because you certainly can’t tell the whole truth. Though it’s not exactly a lie, you miss the you from before you knew him.

“Ah, I know what this is. You have someone special waiting for you back home that you miss, right?” he asks, smiling brightly.

He’s completely unaffected by the idea of someone waiting for you.

It shouldn’t hurt, but it does.

It hurts bad, the pain in your chest feels like a boulder sitting on top of you.

“Yeah, that’s it..” You lie, and turn over to keep the tears from falling where he can see them. “Don’t forget to keep the organs. We’ll leave them to feed some of the local animals before we move on.”

You swallow hard, grateful that you kept your voice steady and even despite your emotions.

Thankfully he takes the hint and leaves you to your depression burrito.

At least you don’t have to worry about the sexual frustration anymore.

~~~~~!!~~~~~

When you wake up to cook the meat, Konohamaru is quiet. You’re almost concerned that something happened but when you ask he just waves you off and says he’s just looking forward to the meal. You offer him a granola bar and a couple food pills, to your surprise he actually takes them and then thanks you politely.

He goes for a swim/bath and gathers some fresh water from the lake. It’s quiet without him but when he gets back that doesn’t change and you start to feel a little on edge.

He must realize he’s acting weird when you pass him a bowl because he smiles and tries to keep conversation but you can see that it doesn’t reach his eyes and it makes something slimy slither around in your stomach.

What could have possibly happened while you slept?

“I know you say everything is okay and I believe you, I do but if you wanted someone to talk to...well I’m your very own one woman captive audience,” you grin, teasing him a little as you try to poke at his cracking facade.

He leans back on his hands, arms flexing as he stares off into the distance, oblivious to your eyes tracking the clenching of his biceps.

‘Fuck, no...focus bitch,’ you tell yourself in your mind.

“Oh I forgot to mention that you don’t owe me another question,” he says, as if it just randomly occurred to him and also as if you hadn’t just spoken to him before. Did he miss the interaction entirely?

“Okay, how did I manage that...you didn’t ask me anything in my sleep did you,” you say, eyeing him skeptically.

“No no, I uh, it’s just you answered the other question I had, that’s all..”

You frown in confusion and your feel your mouth pull to a slight pout. “And when exactly did I answer your big number three?”

He’s turned away from you, reaching for his bowl that he’d sat down to warm his hands by the fire, “I was just going to ask if you were single, but of course you’re not. That wouldn’t make sense at all..I guess I should have thought of something better huh?” he says, scratching his head as he turns back, the slightest pink tinge on his cheeks.

You blink at him.

He’s not-surely he’s not saying what you think he’s saying…

You must have misheard.

But what if…?

You clear your throat, nerves fluttering wildly in your belly. “Why would you care about that?”

“Oh no reason,” he says, stuffing his mouth full of venison as he looks at anything that isn’t you.

“I’m not, you know...I um, I kinda lied earlier,” you admit, because you just can’t let yourself take the chance that he was actually interested and you let him believe a lie to get away from it. “I just didn’t want to explain where my mind was at, y’know? It was kinda personal and I reacted. I’m sorry...you deserve the truth.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I get it,” he says, and this time he looks at you wide eyed and the smile on his lips grows wider until it actually reaches his eyes and you can’t help the way your heart goes rabbit fast against your ribs.

“What about you… do you uh, have anyone waiting back in Konoha?” you ask, because you’re a glutton for punishment. If you’ve read this entire situation wrong you’re going to be mortified and the chances are still slim that he actually wants you, for more than some fun anyway.

“Not really, there’s not very many kunoichi who are my type,” he says softly, like it’s kind of a secret.

You laugh. “Oh? And what’s your type exactly?”

You assume whatever he’s going to say next will be laughable. You’ve heard that phrase a million times over but they all still end up wanting something you’re not. Blonde, brunette, skinny, short, smart; hell even strong, which you actually managed to convince yourself you were, at least until he showed up.

“Comfortable,” he says, and you’re thrown.

Surprised would be an understatement in the moment.

“Comfortable?” you ask, cause clearly you’re confused. What kind of girl would be ‘comfortable’ to him?

“I don’t really know how to describe it, I guess it’s just something I know when I see it,” he answers, and nods his head as if he’s affirming it to himself.

“Oh that clears it up,” you say sarcastically. Are you his type or not? You’d like to think you’re ‘comfortable’ but mostly only because he hasn’t heard your internal monologue. “Like...comforting?” you ask, because that’s so not your thing, not really.

“I mean, that’s nice too I guess, but it wasn’t what I meant...I could- I could show you,” he says, rushing through the rest of his dinner as if it's his last meal.

“Umm...sure I guess,” you say, ‘I have a pencil and some pages..”

“No- I,” he starts, swallows and tries again. “Just...can I come a little closer?”

He looks nervous and that should probably put you on edge but you trust him implicitly. After everything he’s done for you over the last few days, it's the least you could give him in return. “Sure.”

He smiles directly at you over the flickering campfire and you feel your heart thump thump irregularly. You chuckle to hide the awkwardness when he moves closer.

He sits down beside you where you’re leaned against the tree for support and he’s so close, his face is right there and your hands itch to do something, anything.

You stop yourself before they can actually reach up, thankfully.

But then the next thing you know his head is cradled in your lap and he’s smiling up at you.

“Like this...comfortable.”

You narrow your gaze but there’s no heat in it, “Someone who’s fat?” you ask, and immediately regret it.

His face scrunches up, “I don’t like that word and you’re not, for the record; not even by civilian standards,” he says, shaking his head. “You’re strong and healthy.”

It’s impossible to hold back the snort and you grin down at him. “You sure you didn’t hit your head back there somewhere?” you ask, because he’s obviously being ridiculous and if it were anyone else you’d be worried about hidden agendas, but Konohamaru is like the most sincere, most kind person you’ve ever met. No way would he betray the bond you’ve started.

“You got injured, that happens to all of us. It doesn’t make you weak- Actually if it weren’t for you I might not be here,” he says softly. “That ninja...he was a lot stronger than I am. If you hadn’t sealed him I don’t know that we could have won that fight.”

You find it hard to swallow, but you force down the lump in your throat. You breathe out a shaky exhale before you slowly start to card your fingers through his hair. “Thank you, I-I know I haven’t been of much use since the fight but I am grateful that you recognize my strength anyway.”

He shakes his head but when you pull your hand away he takes it gently in his own and puts it back on the soft, still damp strands of his hair. “That wasn’t meant to be discouraging...this is nice,” he says, back in that softer tone before he goes to a normal speaking voice. “You’ve done twice or three times what most shinobi would in your place.”

You don’t know how to take his compliments. They make you feel warm and flush all over but you don’t want to let on so you go back to your comfort zone. “Yeah, well that’s not exactly a compliment. Most men are useless when they’re injured,” you say, a small laugh escaping your lips after the words tumble out.

He laughs along, “We really are..” he says, and you’re both pleased and surprised he agrees with you so quickly.

You lay there in lazy, quiet comfort for a while before you finally speak up again.

“So when you say comfortable…” you start, biting your lip a bit as the nerves flutter wildly under your skin. “You mean someone like me?”

Konohamaru just nods, you can feel his head move in your lap, feel the direction of it under your fingertips but you need more.

“I need more,” you say, unable to hold it in any longer. “If this is-If I’m someone you want, I need more than a type. I want you to think about it, Konohamaru because I don’t want to scare you or add pressure but if that’s what you want, you should also know that I need more than tonight.”

He sits up and you start to pull away but he grabs gently at your wrist to keep you from getting too far. “Hey,” he says, pulling you back making sure to lift you gently off the ground so there’s no added pressure to your leg. He whispers your name softly as his thumb brushes against your lower lip. “I’m willing to work for it, to prove myself to you.”

“And what if I think you are unworthy,” you say, your lip trembling under the tip of his finger. You’re also particularly convinced you’re dreaming and scared he’s going to disappear right in front of you.

“Oh I have no doubt you will, but I’m hoping that won’t stop you from accepting me.”

Definitely dreaming….was the venison drugged?

“Okay, well...I uh, I should get to bed. You take the first watch, okay?” you ask, but don’t give him time to answer before making a mad dash, or as close to one you can get on one leg toward your bedroll and quickly fake being asleep.

“We’ll reach Konoha tomorrow, I intend to take you out after you’ve recuperated. I would really appreciate it if you’d clear some time out of your schedule for that,” he says, with all the confidence and cockiness you’ve come to love.

You let out a fake snore but it’s not convincing if the way he laughs at you is anything to go by.

Your cheeks burn inside your bedroll that’s pulled over your head as you quietly smile a soft, excited grin.

You really hope this isn’t a dream, but if it is...you don’t want to wake up.

-UPDATED- READ ALL 4 CHAPTERS ON A03

#Naruto #my fic #my hc #konohamaru #readerxkonohamaru #reader/konohamaru #reader insert fic #konohamaru sarutobi #sarutobi konohamaru #my boy kona #part two

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chemicalmagecraft · 3 years

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Foresight is 20/20 Chapter 11

I smiled even before we reached the gates. "It looks like we have a welcome party," I noted, then licked my lips.

"How can you tell?" Gai asked.

"Chakra sensing."

As soon as we were inside the gates of the village, I was tackled by a very energetic blonde. "Kouki!" Naruto yelled as he did his level best to crush me like a tin can.

I awkwardly patted him on the back. "Heyyy, bud. Could I please breathe?" I choked out. I gasped for my breath after he released me from his adamantium grasp. "Stupid freakish Uzumaki strength," I grumbled in between breaths.

"What was that?" Tenten angrily asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Not directed at you."

"Hey Kouki," Naruto said, "why are you all brown?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay first off I think technically it's more 'bronze' than 'brown,'" I said, "and b, it's called a tan."

"How did you get so tan in only a few days?" Dad asked me. "Didn't you have a parasol?"

I sheepishly put my hand behind my head. "Well..."

~~~~ku

I sighed as I lounged on the thankfully clean floor in front of the window.

"Are you sunbathing!?" Temari asked me.

"Soooo waaaarm~" I replied.

"I swear you're a cat or something."

I grinned a catlike grin. "Meow~" She sighed and stormed off.

~~~~ku

"...I guess I get tan really easily?" Okay to be fair I do. And it stays for a while, even if I stay inside most of the time. When my brother, whose complexion is almost exactly the same as mine, got a similarly dark tan from being a lifeguard, my mom noted that it was probably due to our "gypsy blood." I wouldn't put it that way myself, mostly due to the fact that the word "gypsy" is actually kinda offensive what the heck mom, but I guess it's a plausible reason... I was thankful, though, that the sun didn't give me any more freckles. No offense to people with a lot of freckles, but I'm fine with only having like ten freckles on my face that mostly just look like a bunch of beauty marks, thank you very much.

"Welcome back, niisan," Hinata said with a smile. I couldn't help but notice that Kurama didn't at all look like he was annoyed with Hinata carrying him.

"Sup, Hina-chan. Did Kurama-chan tell you guys I'd be here?"

He huffed and turned his head away from me, the tsundere.

"Love you too, bud!"

"So what are you going to do now that you're back?" Neji asked me.

I shrugged. "First I'm going to take a bath, then I'll probably take a nap or something. I'm pooped."

"Surprising to hear that from you," Ai commented.

"Even I have my limits, Ai. Working on the seal was fun, but I'm glad it's over and done with." I yawned. "Now if you guys don't mind, I'd like to go take a nice, long bath now." I waved goodbye. "Thanks for coming to greet me!"

kukukuku~

I yawned, sat up in my bed, licked my lips, and stretched my arms. Then I fell back to sleep.

kukukuku~

"Okay, time to work now," I said after I rolled out of bed. Before doing anything, though, I checked out my window. It was nighttime. I shrugged. "Not that much of a problem to someone with twenty four-plus hour days." I licked my lips. "Right, let's get crackin'." I assumed a meditative position on the floor and reached inward, to my chakra. Mostly the red stuff, but also some of the blue. Just as a human touched by the red (I.E. me or the jinchuriki) has to have over a certain amount of red chakra in them to not die, it seemed that beings made from the red needed at least some blue in them to function. To be honest, I should've figured that out sooner, what with how the Biju Dama uses blue chakra. 'Course, I did figure it out when I sensed not only another biju, but Karura, who was a non-biju red chakra spirit. And with that revelation came some important progress on an idea that I'd had. And over the ride home, I'd honed and perfected that jutsu, one that I was now ready to use. Sure, I'd been wary of potential danger, but I felt a lot better after a message from my future self, or at least a future self... Future vision can get pretty freaky.

And so, I grabbed hold of almost all of my red chakra, just leaving a comfortable yet small amount over the minimum amount I needed to live, as well as enough blue chakra to sustain a demon of that power level. I used yin-yang release and some of the mechanics behind clone jutsus in general to mold that chakra into the proper shape. When I was done, the chakra moved on its own.

I opened my eyes to see my shadow turn pitch-black, then split off into two, one normal and one still a me-shaped abyss. The ebon shadow moved and stretched so that it was across the room from me. The shadow... rose, changing in shape and color to form what felt like an alternate-universe mirror. First off, shadow me looked even more girly than I did. Sure, that wasn't saying much what with how I was still way prepubescent and had girly hair, but she had longer hair and a skirt with leggings, so there's that. Plus she looked a little shorter than me. Second off, she had what appeared to be fox ears and a tail, likely an artifact from Kurama even though they didn't look exactly like his. Third, she was both a pallette swap and mirror image of me. While her complexion was roughly the same as mine, her eye markings were white with black dots instead of black with white dots, her clothes were dark red instead of blue, her hair was a shade of blue so dark it was almost black, and her eyes were red with slit pupils. As for the mirror part, her bangs were parted to the right instead of the left and each of her freckles were situated to be on the opposite side of her face from mine. Though she had fox ears instead of human ears, I could see she still had a rendition of the nubby nub nub thing on her right ear as opposed to my left.

"I am thou, thou art I," she said in almost my voice. Man, that was weird. "Sup, me."

"Sup," I responded, then relaxed my posture. She did the same, though she was mindful of her skirt. I was already kind of sure of the answer, but... "Hey, just to be clear here, you're supposed to be a girl, ja?"

She nodded. "Ja." She blushed. "I have more control over my form than just using the transformation jutsu and I figured I should differentiate myself as much as I can from you, so..." I feel like something could be said about me that "I" felt the need to justify that even to myself...

"I take it you picked out your own name too, right?"

"Yup." She grinned. "To counter your light-light hope-and-fortune name, I picked Chikage."

"Thousand Views?" I asked jokingly.

She facepalmed and groaned. "Okay yes, I guess that that's the traditional reading, but I meant more along the lines of Thousand Shadows. Or even Blood Shadow. Heck, Shadow of the Earth is kinda cool too."

"So does that mean I have your permission to keep 'Kouki?'" I asked.

She gave me a deadpan stare. "Dude, I literally said that I picked a name to balance out yours."

"Yeah, but if you think about it, 'Kouki' is us, not me. The guy that is us combined is Kouki."

She shrugged. "Would be pretty weird if you randomly started to go by another name. You're Kouki Prime and I'm totally at peace with that. Let's stop talking about semantics and see what this jutsu of ours does, exactly."

I nodded and clenched my fist. "I think I got weaker..." I unclenched my fist and did a few small stretches.

"Makes sense," Chikage said. "Even if you aren't using it, your red chakra still enhances you. Still, that also means you should have more control now."

"Right," I said. I held my hand out and tried to make some wind chakra. It felt a little off without my red chakra, but I got the hang of it surprisingly fast. Much faster than I'd managed the last time I'd tried it, wire-thin threads of wind chakra burst from my fingers, curling around my new double/clone/sister maybe? "Sorry, but you understand what I'm doing, right?

She snorted. Curiously, a small puff of smoke came from her nose when she did. "Dude, I'm you. Of course I know. Just make sure to ask future you first to make sure it doesn't screw us both over."

"Right, was going to do that anyway." I activated my eyes for just long enough to get a message coded to a version of myself in the exact situation I was in.

"Yup. Go ahead."

I didn't want to completely spoil every single highly-dangerous-yet-incredibly-interesting experiment I did, but I knew it'd be stupid to actually do them without using the Shoraigan to make sure I didn't end up turning Konoha into a crater. And so in my time of need, I discovered another power of the Shoraigan that was just as good as the ability to tell the future. At least, I'm assuming that's what happened in about a thousand other timelines that I never went down. Or I guess I did go down them, but just not the me that is me? Man, anything involving time travel gives people headaches, doesn't it. I could only time-warp information and yet I still got headaches.

Where was I?

Oh right. Main Shoraigan power number three. Or maybe just another version of the first main power? In addition to being able to download future information directly into my brain, I found out I could send my past self and/or selves information when I randomly got thousands of very similar chronopathic messages saying something roughly along the lines of "Holy crud we can send messages to our past selves!" and some telling me to stop sending messages back to past me, which was very hypocritical of future me, but I complied. I wonder if there's a version of me who found out about the Shoraigan by having that future message sent back by an alternate version of-

"You're getting off track," Chikage said, her eyes now a slit variant of the Shoraigan. Guess that meant she could use it too despite not having my eyes(?). "Stop telling the fans about our cool new power and kill me already."

"Right, sorry." I closed my hand into a fist, causing the Wind Release: Razor Wire to chop her into pieces. Instead of blood going everywhere, though, the cuts became red chakra which reformed back into her body with some loss.

"That hurt," she muttered. "But it seems we won't find out what happens when I die if we use that. Maybe try fire?" She was made from an aggregation of the powers of Kurama (fire/wind) and Shukaku (earth/wind), so while there was some fire in her it wasn't out of the question that fire would hurt her a lot more than wind...

I nodded and we both stood up. I guess maybe it was customary to use fire chakra from the lungs, and yes that was apparently how you got the most power, but I liked the idea of channeling it through my hands better, plus that way I could try to add lightning to it despite not knowing how to do it too well. I knew fire from the hands was possible from the flashback to the time of Ninshu, so theoretically... "Do not try this at home, kids." I made a few hand seals, then held my hand like how Kakashi does with the Chidori. An unfortunately uncoordinated ball of fire and lightning chakra emerged from my palm, as well as the slightest whiff of burning flesh.

Ow.

Chikage waved her arm in front of her torso, creating either a bullseye target or the illusion of a bullseye target. I thrust the ball of plasma right into the center of the target. Her body destabilized almost as soon as the probably-poorly-thought-out concoction of chakra touched her. While some was... ruined, I guess, by the attack, the majority of the chakra Chikage was made from was sucked back into my body. With the chakra came her memories, which was... interesting. I feel like I should note, though, that getting pyrolectrocuted hurts like the dickens.

"Is everything okay?" Uncle asked as he barged in. "I heard crackling sounds."

I casually stuck my hands in my pockets. "Yeah. I tried to use lightning release. Do you think you could ask Dad if I could get official training? That kinda hurt."

He looked concerned. "Are you hurt?"

I gave him a thumbs-up with my unburned hand. "Yeah, just a little stinging. Nothing a little healing factor won't cure. You should see the other guy."

"O...kay..." He thankfully left without much question, allowing me to take the other hand out and assess the damage. The friction from just taking it out of my pocket stung.

"Eeee..." I winced. I mean, it didn't look like it was too bad of a second degree burn, but... it was blackened. I really hoped that was just soot. I applied some red chakra to it and it thankfully just flaked off and didn't scar or anything. "Not doing that again, at least without adult supervision. Hope my pocket isn't ruined..." I tilted my head a bit. "Now before I can forget, I should probably do this." I activated my Shoraigan and sent a message coded to two certain iterations of my past self. Sure, it'd have happened anyway because of diverging timelines, but insert dead Daves joke here. "Right," I said. "Now that that's over. Chikage, out." She didn't do anything. I blinked. I could definitely feel her somewhere in me, but...

Oh.

I was Chikage. Well that was interesting. I concentrated on what I'd done before and felt a small snap in the back of my head.

"I'm back," she said in my head. Red chakra flowed from my body, forming Chikage, arms crossed and leaning back onto thin air. "Is that what it feels like to fuse?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I guess maybe with Pink Steven it was, just with less nearly dying and womanchildish giants."

She chuckled and picked me up. "C'mon, we gotta do it now."

I smiled and hugged her, laughing. She hugged me back. We started laughing and spinning each other until we just melted back together. "Ah, good times," I said. "Now we should probably get a training ground so I can see what I... you... we... can do..." I sighed. "Man, this is going to be weird..."

#fanfiction #naruto fanfiction #naruto #Foresight is 20/20 #F20 CH11

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needdl · 6 years

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Shifting, Part One

“The process of shifting was generally very complicated. It involved changing the caster’s entire essence into a new physical form, all the while hanging on to the magical and spiritual traits that formed their soul. Many shape-shifters lost themselves in the process.

Tenten was a well-seasoned veteran, but she had an added difficulty of keeping their child safe.”

Read on FFN or AO3

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five

Neji didn’t even know that a person could read angrily, but Tenten had always been good at surprising him.

Cautiously, he slid into the bed next to her. Most of the time her anger wasn’t directed at him- in fact, very often she would seek him out to make her feel better (though of course she would deny it vehemently)- but in the few occasions her anger had no palpable cause, he always preferred to tread lightly.

Tenten ignored him for a few moments, before throwing her scroll to the side and demanding, “I’m not moving that much slower, right?”

Neji frowned. “Moving slower…? Tenten, were you trying to spar with Gai-sensei again?”

“...No.”

“You know that at this point in your pregnancy we agreed you would stop.”

“I changed my mind.” Moodily, she kicked the scroll off the bed. “It seems like all anyone will let me do is eat and sleep and sit demurely.” She raised her eyes to meet his, something more vulnerable showing in her gaze.

“I’m just so sick of it.”

Neji’s face tightened, and he felt a stab of remorse for what Tenten had been subjugated to ever since she married into the Hyūga Clan. More than once, he’d caught her baring her teeth in a dangerous smile as someone told her that motherhood would make her settle down, make her stop wanting to fight at the Hyūga Priestess’s side on the front lines any longer.

The very notion of such a concept only proved to him that Tenten would never be understood by his clan, and likely would never conform to their traditions. She was naturally restless, was constantly on the move. A lifetime spend traveling would not be stifled or cast aside on behalf of parenthood. It would be to Tenten like discarding a part of herself.

He would never ask her to do such a thing, and she knew it. Sometimes he thought it was one of the few things that allowed her to endure such long stretches of time spent in a single city, in a single Compound. To him, she was free to leave, as long as she always came back. And she always did.

Instead of verbalizing the sentiment, he reached out and clasped his hand around Tenten’s, tilting his head to rest against hers.

Tenten took the gesture for the silent support he meant it to be, and slid into his embrace with a sigh. Her belly pressed against his abdomen, and he shifted his arm down to press gently against it.

Under his palm, their child fluttered in movement. Tenten made a small sound in the back of her throat and moved her hand to cover his.

“Baby won’t do that when I want to impress Lee and Gai, but will do it for you with no prompting. Figures.”

“What can I say? I’m very charming.”

“See, now that was a good joke.”

Neji let out a long-suffering sigh and bent his neck to kiss her temple. She had other ideas, instead reaching to cup his jaw and meet his lips with her own. She opened her mouth and kissed him lazily, but with purpose.

Before Neji quite knew what was happening, he was on his back with Tenten straddling his waist, looking pleased but breathless. He raised a brow and put his hands to her hips, commenting dryly, “Now what will you do?”

“I hadn’t worked that part out quite yet. Surprised I made it this far, to be honest.”

Neji smirked slightly. “If I may make a suggestion.” Neatly, he undid the tie of her yukata and she shrugged it off, the fabric pooling over her legs.

He took in her exposed skin with as neutral an expression as he could. “No breast band today?”

She huffed in exasperation. “They’re too much work to put on, plus my breasts got bigger and I outgrew my old ones.”

“I see,” Neji said, already lifting his hands. “I’d better confirm that for myself.”

Tenten eventually decided that the best way to prevent her from killing one of his relatives was to take a final vacation away before she gave birth. He was slightly wary about that particular plan.

“Tenten, you’re due very soon, wouldn’t it be better to remain where you can get immediate medical attention? Besides, we need to pack.” With the imminent arrival of their child, their rooms were not spacious enough anymore. They had been planning on relocating to a set of rooms large enough to hold a nursery.

Tenten didn’t seem too bothered by the idea.“Sure, sure, sure, we could do that, or you and I could go to a hot springs resort and love up on each other before little Hyūga shows up.”

Neji paused with his mouth still open in protest. Frankly, it was a sorely tempting idea. Within the Hyūga Compound, their rooms had a tendency to be entered at any time by relatives- Hanabi in particular dropped by unexpectedly. She adored her Tenten-obasan, and was positively vibrating with excitement at the thought of their baby.

She’d had an uptick in the frequency of her “surprise” visits as Tenten’s due date got closer, and while Neji appreciated his cousin’s earnest enthusiasm, some private seclusion with his wife would not be remiss.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But someplace close.”

Tenten snorted. “You’re so long-suffering,” she said. “As if you’re not about to go on a sex-cation.”

“You’re practically on bedrest, Tenten.”

“Uhh, yeah. Sexy bed rest.”

He stared at her for a minute. “How can it be that your libido is so high now, when you can barely move? Earlier in your pregnancy you’d smack me if I so much as touched you.”

She grinned mischievously. “What can I say? Hormones are a beautiful thing.”

A few days later, he and Tenten made their careful way to a hot spring located a small distance away from Konoha. Much to Neji’s aggravation, Tenten insisted on walking for most of the way there, refusing even an enchanted cart.

However, there was something to be said about the entertainment value of watching Tenten waddle determinedly on, hands hiked up to rest on her lower back, brows lowered and mouth scrunched in a stubborn pout.

“Stop laughing at me,” she called over her shoulder.

He grinned. “I can’t help it if you’re the most stubborn, ridiculous person in Konoha.”

“Ugh.” Tenten stopped short, out of breath. She surveyed the hillside they were about to descend, looking thoughtful. “What if I shifted?”

Involuntarily, his eyes flicked to her protruding belly. He frowned. “Have you shifted while you were pregnant?”

“Yes, but it was so early that I didn’t even know yet.” She smoothed her hand over her abdomen. “I’m going to try it. We’re close enough to the resort that I’m sure it will be fine.”

He nodded guardedly. She gave him a sweet, reassuring smile and closed her eyes in concentration. In the next few seconds she shifted into a dhole.

The process of shifting was generally very complicated. It involved changing the caster’s entire essence into a new physical form, all the while hanging on to the magical and spiritual traits that formed their soul. Many amateur shape-shifters lost themselves in the process. Tenten was a well-seasoned veteran, but she had an added difficulty of keeping their child safe.

She stood still for a few seconds in her new form. He had seen her shift before, and her form was nearly the same except for its obvious pregnancy. Finally, she let out a soft whuff and trotted forward to brush against his legs. He took it as a sign of reassurance, and the two of them continued walking, this time at a faster pace.

Just before their arrival at the hot springs resort, Tenten shifted back into her human form. She stretched her arms with a happy sigh. “That was nice.”

Neji pulled clothing out of their bag and passed it to her. “Is everything…”

She patted her belly. “It’s all fine. I actually kept all the baby stuff human, and avoided that conundrum entirely.”

He raised his brows, impressed. That must have taken a particular amount of concentration and skill.

Tenten hummed happily to herself as she pulled on her yukata. In some cases, shifters could keep their human clothes in a separate space as they shifted, and then turn back fully clothed. However, Tenten had been concentrating on keeping herself and her child as safe as possible, and likely chosen to disregard it as inconsequential.

Fully clothed, Tenten drew his face down and kissed him firmly for a few seconds before stepping back and giving him a wild grin. He softened at her obvious giddiness. Clearly this was what she had needed.

“All right. Let’s go check in!”

Tenten slid into the water with a happy sigh. At Neji’s inquiry, they had been directed to one of the cooler springs, where Tenten would be more comfortable. It had an added benefit of being nearly empty as most of the clientele went to the hot springs, so the two of them were in private.

Tenten tilted her head back to rest over the back of her seat. After a moment of consideration, she turned her neck to look at him.

“You know what would be really fun?”

Neji raised a brow. “What.”

“Giving me a back rub.” She gave him a cheesy smile, her eyes looking impossibly dark and soulful. He gave her a flat look, despite knowing he was going to cave. Immediately. He always did, and they both knew it. At his point putting up any front of resistance was only for his dignity’s benefit.

Tenten turned around, and he pressed his fingers firmly into the muscles between her neck and shoulders. She instantly sagged against him, rolling her shoulders slightly with a quiet sigh.

They spent over two hours in the spring before returning to their rooms for the evening and ordering a tray of food to be brought up.

At Neji’s suggestion (insistence), they ate by candlelight, their fingers entwined except for every half a minute when Tenten would pull her hand back in order to shovel food into her mouth faster.

Eventually she grew sick of the repeated motions. “Let’s make this simple,” she announced. She walked around the table and nestled into his side. “There. Cuddling plus eating. My two greatest pleasures. Except for later tonight, ha!”

Neji paused mid-bite, then slowly continued to eat, his face turning pink. Tenten laughed. “You’re such a blushing virgin. We’ve very clearly had sex before, my love.”

“There’s a difference in speaking so openly about it-”

“Open- what do you mean openly? It’s just the two of us here.”

Neji ignored her, focused on his rice as his face darkened. Tenten snorted.

“You Hyūgas. Always with the blushing.”

“I have fair skin,” Neji said primly.

“Yes, I can see all of your veins. I know exactly where to cut you to get you to bleed out fastest.”

“You knew that already anyway.”

“Aw. You always know just what to say.”

They took their time returning to the Hyūga Compound three days later, neither of them really willing to return to the real world. Just out of sight of the gates, Neji drew Tenten aside and kissed her firmly.

“I love you,” he told her intensely. “I know that living with my family is hard for you, and it means everything to me that you do it.”

Tenten kissed him again. “It’s what you do when you love someone. You support them.”

Neji thought of his father, writhing on the ground, clutching his skull, of Hinata whimpering over her broken hands, of the seriousness that was already etched into Hanabi’s face. “Not always.”

She tenderly pressed her lips to his forehead. “It’s what I do. An it’s what you do. And it’s what our child will do.”

Three steps back into Konoha, Tenten had her first contraction.

i had this up months ago for nejitenmonth2018, but it didn’t show up in the tags because of that sweet sweet tumblr algorithm

anyway, ao3 and ffn have all of my author’s notes about this au if you’re looking for explanations on anything. there’s some stuff that may not make total sense without them, but i tried to write in a way that left things relatively clear.

#neji #tenten #nejiten #nejitenmonth2018 #fanfic #my writing

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raendown · 6 years

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@mouseymightymarvellous I hear your cries for more same age au and I deliver, with pleasure my dear.

Pairing: KakashiSakura Word count: 2744 Summary: Growing up together means changing together and Kakashi has always seen her from afar.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

When We Were Young

She was soft and too pink and Kakashi hated her. How was he ever meant to become a great ninja and erase the stain of his father’s name if he couldn’t even be paired with decent teammates? He’d thought since Obito and Rin were both sick his temporary team might be better, might have stronger members that would help him grow instead of hold him back like usual. This was not what he had expected.

As if the rambunctious blonde who failed to catch him in a poorly concealed trap when he arrived wasn’t enough, the idiot pink-haired girl moping off to one side was a whole different story of terrible. Upon discovering that he would be standing in for “Sasuke-kun” today she had all but folded in half with disappointment and the already incorrect grip she had on her kunai had fallen out of place even more. Kakashi sniffed in her direction, thoroughly disappointed. These two were barely ninjas and would probably never make it past genin. Was the blond one really Sensei’s son?

For the entire day of training under the strangely emotionless Sai-sensei, all that Haruno Sakura did was compare him to her precious Sasuke-kun. She spoke of the boy constantly and told Kakashi how in love she was three times in just the first hour. By the end he was ready to stab both her and the poor idiot who obviously didn’t like her back.

And why should he? There was nothing to like; there was no substance to her. Sakura’s feet stood for Sasuke, her arms lifted for Sasuke, her heart beat for Sasuke. There was not a single part of her that fought for her own sake and Kakashi couldn’t stand the weakness of it. Didn’t she realize that love would break her? He would have pitied her if he could be bothered with the emotion but it was much easier to dismiss all three of these useless people from his mind.

When Kakashi left training he left his thoughts of Sakura behind him. He went back to Obito and Rin, still just as useless but at least a kind of useless he could work with. He went back to Minato-sensei, the strongest shinobi he had ever met who he just knew would cave and teach him the hiraishin one of these days. If he didn’t then Kakashi would just have to learn how to be faster by himself.

ii.

He was broken when she found him and even if he didn’t know it then this was only the first time that she would put him back together. She led him back to the fading light with whispers of hope, of Obito surviving, of a surgery gone well. Kakashi felt like she was pulling his head above the water and giving him air to breathe when for a minute he’d forgotten how.

Later it would shame him that he’d forgotten her so quickly in the moment, although she always insisted that she didn’t blame him. He was only twelve and the only friend he’d never even realized he had was alive, alive, alive. Obito was breathing despite odds. His arm would never be the same again and his leg had been amputated but his heart was beating steadily as Kakashi collapsed across his chest and wept like he hadn’t since his father had been alive.

Only after the storm had passed and he sat wiping at his face in embarrassment did a very tired Rin murmur quietly that it was all thanks to Sakura-chan.

“She did what I couldn’t,” his teammate told him with a hitch in her breath. “You both did. I was no help; I never am. But you brought him home and Sakura-chan brought him back to life and I just stood there like a stupid lump!”

“You’re not useless, Rin.” She looked at him like she’s never seen him before and Kakashi found that somehow more embarrassing than crying in front of her. “It was my fault the both of you were in danger in the first place. Obito was brave. And so were you. Both of you are always…really brave.”

Brave for facing the emotions that he’d never been able to face before. What he had always seen as a weakness they used as a strength and that was something he admired. Minato-sensei had been trying to teach him for years the truth about teamwork but it had taken him until now to get it. A team was not built on the back of whoever was strongest. No, a team was built on the strength of all of its members, every person bringing a skill to the table to cover the weaknesses of others and create an impenetrable unit.

He found the one he was looking for slumped over and sleeping on a bench. Sakura was only twelve years old, just the same as he was, but she had assisted with a seven hour surgery after being awoken in the middle of the night and she must have been very tired. Instead of disturbing her, Kakashi sniffed out the closest linen closet and brought her a blanket. It settled over her like the peace settling in his chest, a feeling he wasn’t familiar with. Fitting, he thought. The whole world around him looked unfamiliar now.

“Thank you.” He left his words as a whisper in her ear before disappearing down the hallway back to Obito’s room, not bothering to check over his shoulder to see bright green eyes fluttering awake.

iii.

Obviously he heard about Tsunade. The whole village had heard about Tsunade. She was sort of hard to miss as she came marching down the streets of Konoha bellowing, “Bring me your prodigy!” as though she hadn’t abandoned the village years ago.

Kakashi didn’t find out the context for this until late that night, huddled behind the academy with Rin and Obito, trading sips from a can of red bean tea. That was when Rin told him with only the shadow of jealously in her voice that the Lady Tsunade had returned to Konoha to chase the rumors of a medical prodigy.

She was here to apprentice Haruno Sakura.

Turning this information over in his mind slowly, Kakashi contemplated what he should say to that. She deserved it, in his opinion. If not for her Obito wouldn’t be sitting beside him wearing a prosthetic leg, tired from a long day of physical therapy. On the other hand, she wasn’t who his loyalty was owed to.

“Well you’ll just have to show her that there are two prodigies in the Leaf,” he said, carefully not looking over in Rin’s direction. “Lady Tsunade better be ready to have two apprentices.”

He dodged the hug and scowled at the hair ruffling. It was as easy as ever to turn Obito’s teasing comments in to light hearted bickering, the very foundation of their friendship which continued to this day no matter how much stronger their bonds had grown. Just because he was learning what it was to have friends didn’t mean he enjoyed being the center of attention any more than he used to. What mattered was that Rin was smiling again and looked more determined than ever and he hoped Sakura was prepared for a little competition.

iv.

She split the ground with her fist the first time he saw her in a battle and Kakashi felt his heart cracking along the fault lines, fluttering like a weak thing behind his ribs. It was hard to believe she was the same bubblegum girl he had hated on first sight and a part of him wondered if she still moved and breathed and fought for her Sasuke-kun. Joining ANBU had kept him from fighting with the regular forces – even Rin and Obito hadn’t been at his side in nearly a year now – so it was rather easy to see how he might have never seen Team 7 fight before.

It was also easy to see he’d been missing out.

Although it might have been an odd detail to latch on to, Kakashi couldn’t help but notice that she had cut her hair. The pink strands were sweat drenched and dirt stained; they clung to her face and neck in a manner that should not have been anywhere near as alluring as it was. He almost lost his footing, actually stopping to stare in awe, as he bent herself to the earth and tore it open with a roar that shook the spine inside him.

Stupidly, he mind couldn’t help repeating that old line he couldn’t remember the origin of: she’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll punch you in the face.

Even more stupidly, for some reason he felt as though he wouldn’t mind if she punched him in the face. He shook the feeling off by turning and sliding his kunai through an enemy’s throat. It was pure coincidence that his targets had happened upon a group of fellow Konoha shinobi just before Kakashi caught up to them, darting out of the shadows and in to the fray with nary a word to those already fighting. Sakura and her companions had grown so much since that day he dismissed them all as useless.

After the dust had settled and the only people standing bore the symbol of the Leaf, Sakura turned to him with a smile streaked in blood and eyes so bright he almost shielded his own.

“Thank you for your assistance, ANBU-san,” she called. “You fight pretty good.”

He was forever thankful that his double masks neatly covered the blush rising on his cheeks as he slipped back in to the shadows without a word. The Uchiha, whom he presumed was the fabled Sasuke-kun, watched him go with a single eyebrow raised. He looked a lot like Itachi, although the same could be said of everyone in their clan.

Kakashi made sure to casually mention the encounter to Minato-sensei later when he made his report in the Hokage’s office. He watched his old teacher swell up with pride that his son’s team had made such a good impression on one of his best, asking eagerly what Kakashi thought of them. Before he could stop himself the words seemed almost to fall from his lips like a cart running out of control.

“I think she’s beautiful.”

Minato-sensei laughed until his belly must have hurt. Kakashi smacked his shoulder and left without being dismissed.

“Do you still live for someone else?”

Probably it was a weird question to ask someone when their hands were wrist deep inside your abdomen and their chakra was the only thing stopping you from bleeding out. Kakashi had never been too concerned with social norms, though.

Instead of answering Sakura gave him a desperate wild look as she screamed over her shoulder for someone to signal the Hokage. He knew what that meant. They wouldn’t be able to transport him back in time. Minato-sensei’s teleportation was their only hope of keeping him alive. Maybe that should have bothered him more but when Kakashi was twelve he had seen this girl perform a miracle and if ever there was someone who’s hands he trusted it was her.

“S-Sakura.” His voice was small and wet. How strange. “Sakura do you…still live for someone else?”

For some reason it felt important that she answer. It wasn’t as though her answer would matter, in this life or the next. There was no way for her to know that the shadows watched her sometimes as she laughed at the bar with her friends. There was no way for her to know that the flowers that sometimes showed up on her doorstep came from his hand. There was no way she knew how hard he had fallen for a girl who felt so strongly and yelled so loudly that it shook away the darkness in him until all he knew was the light she gave off so freely.

“Don’t speak, ANBU-san,” she admonished him. Her brow creased in concentration as she forced more chakra in to his belly. Kakashi barely paid attention to the arching of his spine or the way blood bubbled up between his lips.

“You…lived for him. You breathed and broke and fought for him.” Breathing was more difficult than it should have been. “You shouldn’t.” When she looked down at him he prayed she couldn’t see through the holes in his mask or the cracks in his soul. “You are…enough on your own. No one should own who you are.”

He didn’t get to see Minato-sensei arrive. Too soon his vision faded and Kakashi spared a thought for Rin and for Obito, hoping they wouldn’t take this too hard. Better friends he could never have asked for. He owed them so much but he was certain both of them knew what they meant to him. No ghosts came with him when he felt the world fade to black around him.

vi.

“You’re stupid,” were the first words he heard upon regaining consciousness.

“I hear that a lot,” he croaked, “though never in regards to my actual intelligence. What have I done now?”

Only after he spoke did he crack his eyes open, immediately closing them again. His hospital bed – and he was obviously in a hospital bed – was set directly underneath the harsh halogen lights. A quick jerking tug sent his bed skittering to one side with a terrible squealing noise, obviously not the sound of a bed on wheels, and that answered the unspoken question of who had just called him an idiot before he was fully conscious.

“Hello Haruno-san,” he murmured, opening his eyes again now that he was out of the light’s path.

“Don’t you Haruno-san me you stalker creep.”

Despite her words she sounded more amused that anything else. That was the only thing that gave Kakashi the courage to roll his eyes to the side and take her in, knowing that if he moved his head a headache would start up. She looked as good in her medic’s uniform as she always did. Her hair, recently trimmed, was held back with a few cute little pins. On her face she wore an expression he’d seen too often on Rin, a mixture of irritation, exasperation, and fondness. He was more surprised than usual to see the fondness.

“Uhm…”

“If you wanted to ask me out you would have been better served using words instead of waiting around outside the hospital every morning.”

“You…saw that?”

“No but Rin-chan and I chat. Girls do that, you see. She’s been an absolute gold mine of interesting tidbits while you were sleeping.”

“Note to self: murder Rin.”

“Don’t you dare! We made a bet and I’m going to win; I won’t let you make me lose, you hear!”

“A bet?” Doing his best to ignore the way his head immediately began to pound, Kakashi turned to look at her in curiosity. “What kind of bet?”

Sakura waved one hand through the air casually. “Oh just a little thing. If I confront you and get a date then she has to go confront Obito and get a date out of him too.”

Kakashi stared. Swallowed. Shifted in his bed. Stared some more.

There was no porcelain mask to hide the blush this time and it was doubly embarrassing for her to see the line of red that crept overtop the small paper one some nurse had stretched over his mouth. Unless it had been her that put it on him. Had she been a part of his surgery? Had she peeked?

Putting that small panic-inducing thought aside for later, Kakashi had to clear his throat twice before he could string enough words together to respond to his long-time crush.

“Well. I’ve been telling those two to get their heads out of their asses for ages now. Who am I to turn down such an opportunity for them?” He smiled shakily when Sakura snorted.

“For them. Of course.”

“That’s me, the dutiful friend.”

“I hope you make as dutiful a date, Hatake Kakashi.” Sakura’s hand brushed his rather deliberately as she stood and made for the door. “Rumor says you have a habit of being as late for everything as Obito is. If you’re late for our first date I’ll remove your teeth for you.”

She was pink and only soft if you weren’t looking at her muscles – and Kakashi was so in love.

#rae writes #where did all this inspiration come from #i wrote this in like four ish hours #kakasaku #kakashi #sakura #fanfiction #naruto shippuden

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meapistrash · 7 years

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Beautiful Nightmare - SS Fanfiction

#ss fanfiction #sasusaku #uchiha sasuke #haruno sakura #naruto au #meapwrites

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coaldplay · 4 years

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Promise of Mother’s Love: chapter 2 - “Day of Naruto’s Birth”

On the mountainside, there was an entrance. It was closely guarded by an ANBU unit, but for him - they weren't a problem.

Standing at the entrance, he couldn't hear any echo. The very sound of his footsteps, as he went deeper into these corridors, deafened in black space without making no noise. He seemed to flow in the shadows, like a ghost, surrounded only by the sea of darkness.

But he knew where to go. With every turn, Zetsu guided him. The corridor led to the tunnels and the tunnels led to the rooms.

They were all empty, except just one.

After a while he finally heard it. And in the next moment, he saw a light that was coming out of the gap below the door.

He could hear it clearly; a woman's cry of pain. Now he would wait.

The room was wide and well lit. Directly in its center was a table, on which a red-haired woman was lying.

She was giving birth.

To her right, was a tall man with blond hair falling over his eyes. He was a characteristic man, you wouldn't forget his appearance. Bright blue eyes, now full of fatigue and nervousness. Determination. His son was being born.

He kept his hands on the belly of his wife. Around his palms, if one would look closely, it would be possible to see a distortion, same, as if when looking just above an edge of flames.

They waited for the delivery for ten very long months. Normal gestation period lasts only nine. Both of them just had enough.

The delivery itself was very difficult, mainly because of the Nine-Tails. The Four Trigrams Seal, which was used to seal beast's chakra in Kushina, became too weak for it. Minato had to keep strengthening this seal, for every single second.

Kyuubi's chakra, despite all his own strength, still leaked into the Kushina's body. Every time she pushed, some part of the Nine-Tails' chakra got through the navel-string to Naruto, who because of it backed away.

Finally, after hours of both them fighting, mother's last scream was heard - the one, which heralded the birth of her son. Because she already knew.

"He is born," said Minato, staring wide-eyed at the bundle.

Kushina cursed Kyuubi. Until now, Nine-Tails were her burden and hers alone. Minato always helped her as much as he could, but he could not relieve her of it entirely. She will never be free and has come to terms with it long ago. Today everything changed.

Today she fought, they both fought the demon. And today was the day of their victory.

She was overwhelmed by euphoria. Her son. Son. Her Naruto. Naruto. It was his name, chosen ten months ago. If it were a boy, his name was to be Naruto. She felt tears welling up in her. She let them go slowly. It ran down the hair that stuck to her face.

For a split-second she thought, asking what the hell was going on. She always considered herself emotional, but not like this. This thought disappeared as soon as it appeared.

Love. Love boiled in her like never before. She will never, ever, even at the price of her life, let anything happen to him. She promised herself that. Herself and him. "Never. Never. Never." she repeated in her mind. She felt so much relief and happiness.

Finally came desperation and impatience. She wanted to see him. Her son. And never let go.

Out of the excess of emotions boiling up in her, she did not notice that there was a no tearful cry from the child. Naruto was quiet.

"Give him to me," she said weakly.

Biwako and Tarumi looked at each other.

Minato saw it.

"Something happened? Is everything well with Naruto?" he asked, his hands still on his wife's stomach. He felt cold sweat on his back. Panic was rising inside of him, but he pushed it away.

"Biwako, one of the older women, the one who was responsible for the whole procedure, the wife of the Third Hokage, looked into his eyes and said:

"I've had hundreds of births, Minato... but I've never seen anything like this."

Kushina suddenly jumped up to a sitting position. She winced at the pain.

"Is something wrong with Naruto?!" she shouted.

Biwako closed her eyes in concentration and hurriedly made a sign with one hand. Forefinger of her left hand was covered with a blue chakra, and in her right arm she still held the bundle. She touched Naruto's forehead. After a short moment, she opened her eyes, evidently surprised.

"He is just sleeping."

He was well and sound, despite all the hardships. But he is sleeping.

"Give him to me!" Kushina demanded.

What happened to him? Biwako thought as she approached Kushina. He must be taken for examination as soon as possible.

Minato's mind and body were both exhausted, but the thought, that something unexpected happened to his son, horrified him. And it was exactly this thought, that caused the awareness, as if he was looking on his own body. He just became a father. It hit him with all its might, He was speechless and scared to the bone, unable to take his eyes off of the small bundle.

Biwako put Naruto on his mother's shoulders. She, as delicately as she could, took him. Biwako then looked at the Fourth. He looked back at her and noticed her eyes expressed uncertainty.

Naruto was sleeping in his mother's arms. The bundle slowly rose and fell every time he breathed. He had bellows of short blond hair, and on each of the small cheeks three straight lines, short and black, a bit like a cat's or fox's whiskers.

"I can finally see you," Kushina whispered, with love.

He slept so peacefully as if nothing happened.

She didn't dare try to wake him up.

Minato, who was on opposite side of Biwako, leaned in to see his son's face for the first time. Tears welled up in his eyes. He must be strong now. For his new family, after ten difficult months, family finally complete.

Kushina smiled at him, moving slowly the bundle, so he could see Naruto better.

"Why is Naruto sleeping, Biwako?" he asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it," she looked at Kushina. "I'm sorry, my love, but for Naruto's sake, we must go to the hospital as soon as possible. We must examine his vital and brain functions. Only then will we be able to tell you whether something is wrong. Why he was born this way. I did the initial inspection, I can assure you that anything serious is happening, but we must get to the village hastily."

She spoke slowly, but firmly, always looking in the eyes.

"Fourth, when can you move us from here to main hospital?"

Kushina raised her head to look at him. He returned her gaze. He gently placed his left hand on her stomach, where seal was, and put the other hand on her forehead.

They looked at each other for a moment, but then Minato looked up at Biwako seriously.

Kushina relaxed, letting the tension go down for at least a moment. She always found solace in him, and he knew it.

She focused her attention again on their son.

"We must strengthen and renew the Four Triagrams seal. This must be done first. We cannot allow Kyuubi to get out and although labor is over, it is too dangerous for Kushina. Immediately after, I will teleport us all back to Konoha. Besides Kushina should not be transported or teleported in this state. As I said we must close the seal before this," he repeated.

"Very well," said Biwako.

"This won't take long. You and Tarumi-san should stay with us. ANBU will stay in the area for now."

He looked at his wife. He felt sorry for separating them now, but she had to lie down straight, if he was to close the seal.

Suddenly, everyone heard slow footsteps coming from the corridor. They appeared already being very close. Whoever it was, he must've been waiting.

Minato frowned. ANBU was ordered to guard the entrance to the mountain. They were also ordered not to enter, unless safety was at stake. And if things came to that, he would hear a different kind of noise - a kind of a running people and agitated voices.

Someone stopped by the door.

Everyone looked in that direction.

It opened with no creaking.

A pale room light shone on a shadowy figure standing in the doorway.

He or she was tall, in a long black night coat with a large hood. He was probably a man. He had an orange mask with fiery black patterns, with a visible hole for his left eye.

"You will not try to close the seal," said a hoarse male voice.

Minato now stood between Kushina and the stranger.

They were all surprised. His previous fears transformed into anger.

"Who are you?! Identify yourself! You are not from our ANBU, I do not recognize this mask!"

"It's a different kind of mask. And as for who I am... it doesn't matter. I am nobody. I am no one."

Minato scoffed without even an ounce of smile.

The man raised his right hand and pointed straight at Hokage.

"Behind you, Fourth, is the Kyuubi. And now, time has come for him to be released."

Minato took a moment to imagine it.

"Have you gone mad?" said Minato dangerously.

Stranger lowered his hand.

"This will only be the first step, Fourth. If you want your son to survive until this morning, you'll do the right thing."

As he finished speaking, he ran straight at Minato.

He, surprised, took out a kunai and threw it accurately at the mask. He expected this man to try to avoid the missile.

But kunai did not hit the mask, it just penetrated through it without even stopping, or doing any damage. It was, as if head of this man was only an illusion, as if it was... immaterial.

There was a metallic sound of a rustling chain combined with the echo of a blow as the kunai dug into the wall behind the door in the corridor.

"Wh...?!" Minato couldn't even finish.

Kushina watched in horror as the man, who appeared at the door, went through Minato as if her husband wasn't even there. After a second, he also went through her and the stone table on which she still was. Before she could react, the chain stopped on her. Its momentum caused her body to be pulled backwards with such force, it caused Naruto's bundle to escape from her warm embrace into the cold.

Biwako, who was still next to Kushina, could only look when Death herself looked into her eyes through the opening on the mask.

Genjutsu didn't even start to make her body saggy, when the assailant reached her and, grabbing her by the neck, crushed her to the wall behind her.

Somewhere nearby, there was a deaf sound of a body falling to the floor.

Kushina's mind froze for a moment, when she concluded, that it had to be her new-born son.

With the last of strength, she started turning her head, lying on the floor.

Firstly, she found the man. Chain hung behind him, strapped to his wrists. She couldn't see, what was between him and the wall, but he stood there. It gave her time to rest for a moment and turn her head further. She had to make sure.

She saw Minato with their child.

Relief washed over her. If she could, she would smile.

But who...? Then, she saw Tarumi. Girl's throat was cut open. Tarumi looked at her in terror as she choked on her own blood. She tried to stop bleeding with one hand; with second she was reaching to her in silent cry for help.

But she, whose help Tarumi sought, had no longer the strength to fight it.

Kushina fainted.

Only because of this man's strength, Biwako has not yet fallen to the floor. Under the influence of genjutsu, her body was completely flabby. Her throat was crushed, she wouldn't breathe even if this man let her go.

Minato held his son. He had to act quickly. He bit his thumb. Blood flew.

He put Naruto on the floor in front of him.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

Fugusaku emerged from the smoke.

"Fugusaku-sama, there is no time to explain! You must take my son to Myoboku! He is not safe here!"

Fugusaku only looked at him, then at the bundle, and, touching it with one hand, he made a sign by the other.

The masked man turned his head towards Minato. He began to approach Kushina. Biwako slumped to the floor against the wall.

"Go!"

The toad nodded and disappeared with Naruto in a small cloud of smoke.

"Smart. Maybe I could use your son as a bargaining chip, but it doesn't matter now."

This man was already next to Kushina. He knelt beside her and touched her arm with his hand.

Minato could focus on defending only her now.

Madara knew his technique. Kamui indeed worked faster, the closer and smaller the object were, that had to be teleported. The speed though, of this technique, was only a technical detail, which just didn't matter most of the time. Kamui was too fast.

Therefore, he was surprised, when the Fourth Hokage was the first to ever outrun Kamui at all - the more surprise, it was set at maximum speed. He did not use any less chakra, because he knew he couldn't underestimate the Yellow Flash. He still did.

"Your speed is truly legendary," he said quietly.

But Minato was already gone.

"Zetsu."

It showed.

"Our mission is not over yet. Search the outskirts of the village. He shouldn't run more than a few kilometers from Konoha, if he is out of it. If you find them there, let me know."

"Understood." said black Zetsu.

"What 'bout ya?" asked white Zetsu.

"He will probably be in the hospital. I know where, when and who will be with the Jinchuuriki. I captured the old woman here in my genjutsu. I know everything I need. They don't know the source of my power, so they won't expect it."

"You sure? You don't have the fox and this brat is on that stupid frog mountain, so he is out of the picture. It is too far even for us." said white Zetsu.

"Besides, by the time you will find this woman, Hokage will close the seal. If he hasn't done it already." added black Zetsu.

"It matters not. I will kill her."

A pause.

"Wha... kill the Jinchuuriki? But we will have to wait for how many years after? Ten? fifteen? It's the Kyuubi!"

Madara looked at white Zetsu.

"I am going to kill her. If we are to wait, so be it. Kyuubi, one way or another, will be sealed last. By the time he will reappear, we will wait for it with him." he paused for a second." We will have around fifteen to twenty years to make everything happen. That's enough. We will make sure how many."

Madara started walking. Then stopped.

"I want Minato to know my pain."

The ceremony of submitting Biwako to the sanctuary of the Sarutobi family took place two days later.

Masked man's attack fell under secret category of S, thus the only ones present were the Third Hokage, his daughter, her husband and the Fourth Hokage. Asuma was also informed about the funeral, but this year, instead of returning to the village, he extended his time of service in the capital. Cause of his mother's death was not yet given to him. He would get to know it, when he comes back to Konoha.

Hiruzen held his Mirai in her arms, who was crying in his chest. His son-in-law stood next to them.

Hiruzen looked at Minato, who was standing in the place of honor and was giving a speech.

He felt cold sweat on his back. He felt like he would fall to the ground. He was already so old… spent forty of his years in the Hokage chair. He knew, he wouldn't make it if it wasn't for her. It was thanks to her, that he shook himself off after Orochimaru abandoned him and Konoha. She comforted him when Asuma ran away too. And now she is gone. Now she is gone… too.

He looked at Minato again. Naruto was so similar to him.

The boy was under observation in the hospital. His body was overtired, which, considering all the circumstances of the delivery, was not a surprise. He also seemed to be sleeping all the time. They still had yet to see what was the color of his eyes.

Kushina did not step aside to rest. When Minato offered to replace her, despite all of Hokage's duties, she just looked at him and shook her head.

It was the eyesight of a shinobi who had seen too much. He had seen this sight too many times in his life. It saddened him that such a young person had it. It was evident, that only her Uzumaki blood kept her standing and awake.

Hiruzen decided to be strong for them. For Naruto. For Biwako. Like she was strong to him.

Back then, yesterday, at the hospital, he came to Kushina and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him tiredly.

"I give you my word, Kushina, that although I am not his godfather or a member of your family, I will be a friend to him in the future, if he accepts my friendship. If you allow me, Kushina."

He admitted it a long time ago. As far as Minato had a mental bond with him same with Jiraya, Kushina did not show him the love that her husband had. And he didn't expect it from her.

He felt responsible for Uzushio. Konoha did nothing when it was destroyed. He did nothing. Her home was destroyed, which she was taken from; to become Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki in a foreign village. But now... he couldn't afford anything other than finally trying to win her sincerity.

Kushina saw in his eyes, how much it meant to the old man. He looked like he aged ten years more since he heard, what happened.

She looked at her beloved son, who slept soundly, in a sweet ignorance. She smiled subconsciously. She turned her head towards the former Hokage and looked back at him. She nodded. She had no psychical strength now to say words that weren't for Naruto.

Tears welled in his old eyes.

"Thank you," he said softly.

He has lived long enough. He promised himself, that if the need arose, he would do the same. He no longer served as a Hokage. He was retired for two years now. He could do it and would do it.

He hoped that Kami would forgive him, if he gave his life for Uzumaki.

Kyuubi only snorted, when the man, who had the title of Professor, and who was supposedly regarded as the Kami of Shinobi, ran away with his tail rolled up.

Another human was born.

"Eeeh... what of it?"

This damn kind multiplied like bugs they were. Pitiful animals.

However, because of what happened, it was irrelevant. He saw everything, even things humans did not.

For he knew the Sharingan. He knew hatred of these eyes, he remembered it all too well. This man spoke like Madara, acted like him and was ruthless like him.

Kyuubi smiled. Still, he doubted. This man was powerful, but the fox remembered fighting in the Valley of the End. Previous generations have always been more powerful. Law of nature. This man couldn't be compared with this one Uchiha.

This man's hatred though… was more potent than Madara's.

Inside this room, was Kushina, with their child, Naruto.

He was in the basement of the Konoha Main Hospital. Entire complex was guarded. There were guards on each floor, and ninja were patrolling the streets around the building.

They were all useless efforts.

Madara stood alone in the corridor outside the door. There was no one beside him. He cleaned the entire floor with Kamui.

"No..." Kushina breathed, when she saw him in the opening door. At first, she couldn't believe it. The whole hospital was manned by ANBU, and he still...

When she shook herself out of shock, she felt calm determination enveloped her.

She held Naruto in her arms. He still didn't open his eyes. She laid her son gently in the cot.

Then, she turned to the masked man and looked at him. He just stood in the doorway without saying a word. The only light right now came from the corridor behind him.

"I won't let you touch him."

"I want nothing from you... except what is sealed inside of you."

"My husband closed the seal."

"I know. I intended to send Kyuubi to Konoha to attack it, but in this situation, Konoha is to be spared. At least for now."

"So why did you find us? I will protect Naruto to the death."

"I know. I want you to defend him, to the death."

Kushina frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I expect, you will protect him, even if it costs you your life. Because it will."

She began to understand. He didn't care about Naruto. He just wanted to kill her, and only her. She felt wave of relief, because for her son, she was selfless.

"You are to be killed."

A very long minute passed by before she spoke again. Emotions dwelt up in her, but she did not let herself to show them.

"Let me teleport my child to my house," she asked weakly.

It surprised him.

"Why would I allow this to happen?"

She looked at Naruto.

"I won't risk a fight with anyone, when he is here. I am not Minato. I can't defend him in my condition. I need him to be safe. I promise you, that if you let me send him away, I will let you do this voluntarily and you won't have all of Konoha on you, after you... kill me. If that's what you want, so be it."

She paused, but he saw that she still wanted to say something.

"I don't know, why you want to kill me. What you aim for. I don't know, what I did to you to deserve this. But give me this one favor."

"I don't grant favors. For me, there are only deals."

He should not risk using Kamui too much. Not here. Kakashi could be nearby.

"How do I know that after Naruto isn't here, you will do as you say?"

Kushina looked straight into the hole on his mask.

"You're from Konoha, stranger. And I am from Konoha, since I married Minato, even though I didn't forget my roots, like you did. But despite everything I know I am no stranger to you. You know me from before. I can feel it."

Obito's eyes widened, but it wasn't visible.

He snorted. Even after all these years...

"Yes. I think it is now obvious."

Kushina tried one last time. Maybe she could talk him out of doing this. Maybe, he could let both of them go.

"Who are you? Who... were you?"

"I am, I was and I will be nobody, Kushina. I don't want to be anyone. I am no one. There is no self in me. I am selfless."

"Do you really want to destroy our village?"

"Konoha's fate doesn't matter to me. When the end finally comes, all people will become one. And I am not from this village. No more."

She frowned, she didn't know what this man was talking about. But before she could ask, he raised his hand to stop her.

"Prepare everything."

Emotions held before, then exploded, from within her.

She was crying, could not stop.

She felt like she was betraying her child.

She hoped, she will be able to look at him in the future and ask him to forgive her.

When she finished, she put Naruto's bundle on the seal.

She was about to make the sign sending him away, when she saw that Naruto was looking straight at her.

His eyes weren't blue, like hers or Minato's. They had no pupils, and their entire surface was purple with black circles, that narrowed to the centre,

Masked man still didn't move, so he didn't see Naruto's face.

She knew that eyes. Everyone in Uzushio did. She was still an Uzumaki, and still cultivated traditions of her clan. It was the only thing, that connected her with her long-lost family.

Sage of Six Paths. Legendary forefather of Senju, Uchiha and Uzumaki. And Uzumaki worshiped him the most.

She did not understand why, when. Did not understand anything about reasons. Only facts. The Rinnegan itself manifested in Naruto.

But why?

It did not matter now. He was her son.

She raised and hugged him very tightly. She was happy, though confused. Here, at the end of her life, she knew the last Uzumaki would renew their murdered clan.

"Forgive me," Kushina whispered, with love.

She put him down again and finally made the sign.

He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Do it fast," she said, still kneeling in the same place.

Madara couldn't understand, what he witnessed. He never thought a mere human could be so brave in the face of death. That reminded him of Nagato.

"Swallow this pill."

"Will there be pain?"

"No."

#naruto shippuden fanfiction

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chemicalmagecraft · 5 years

Text

I Would Totally Kick Jiraiya’s Butt Chapter 11

I smiled even before we reached the gates. "It looks like we have a welcome party," I noted, then licked my lips.

"How can you tell?" Gai asked.

"Chakra sensing."

As soon as we were inside the gates of the village, I was tackled by a very energetic blonde. "Kouki!" Naruto yelled as he did his level best to crush me like a tin can.

"What was that?" Tenten angrily asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "Not directed at you."

"Hey Kouki," Naruto said, "why are you all brown?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay first off I think technically it's more 'bronze' than 'brown,'" I said, "and b, it's called a tan."

"How did you get so tan in only a few days?" Dad asked me. "Didn't you have a parasol?"

I sheepishly put my hand behind my head. "Well..."

~~~~ku

I sighed as I lounged on the thankfully clean floor in front of the window.

"Are you sunbathing!?" Temari asked me.

"Soooo waaaarm~" I replied.

"I swear you're a cat or something."

I grinned a catlike grin. "Meow~" She sighed and stormed off.

~~~~ku

"...I guess I get tan really easily?" Okay to be fair I do. And it stays for a while, even if I stay inside most of the time. When my brother, whose complexion is almost exactly the same as mine, got a similarly dark tan from being a lifeguard, my mom noted that it was probably due to our "gypsy blood." I wouldn't put it that way myself, mostly due to the fact that the word "gypsy" is actually kind of offensive what the heck mom, but I guess it's a plausible reason... I was thankful, though, that the sun didn't give me any more freckles. No offense to people with a lot of freckles, but I'm fine with only having like ten freckles on my face that mostly just look like a bunch of beauty marks, thank you very much.

"Welcome back, niisan," Hinata said with a smile. I couldn't help but notice that Kurama didn't at all look like he was annoyed with Hinata carrying him.

"Sup, Hina-chan. Did Kurama-chan tell you guys I'd be here?" He huffed and turned his head away from me. "Love you too, bud!"

"So what are you going to do now that you're back?" Neji asked me.

I shrugged. "First I'm going to take a bath, then I'll probably take a nap or something. I'm pooped."

"Surprising to hear that from you," Ai commented.

kukukuku~

I yawned, sat up in my bed, licked my lips, and stretched my arms. Then I fell back to sleep.

kukukuku~

To be honest, I should've figured that out sooner, what with how the Bijū Dama uses blue chakra. 'Course, I did figure it out when I sensed not only another Bijū, but Karura, who was a non-bijū red chakra spirit. And with that revelation came some important progress on an idea that I'd had. And over the ride home, I'd honed and perfected that jutsu, one that I was now ready to use. Sure, I'd been wary of potential danger, but I felt a lot better after a message from my future self, or at least a future self... Future vision can get pretty freaky. And so, I grabbed hold of almost all of my red chakra, just leaving a comfortable yet small amount over the minimum amount I needed to live, as well as enough blue chakra to sustain a demon of that power level. I used yin-yang release and the general idea of clone jutsus in general to mold that chakra into the proper shape. When I was done, the chakra moved on its own.

I opened my eyes to see my shadow turn pitch-black, then split off into two, one normal and one still a me-shaped abyss. The ebon shadow moved and stretched so that it was across the room from me. The shadow... rose, changing in shape and color to form what felt like an alternate-universe mirror. First off, shadow me looked even more girly than I did. Sure, that wasn't saying much what with how I was still way prepubescent and had girly hair, but she had longer hair and a skirt with leggings, so there's that. Second off, she had what appeared to be fox ears and a tail, likely an artifact from Kurama even though they didn't look exactly like his. Third, she was both a pallette swap and mirror image of me. While her complexion was the same as mine, her eye markings were white with black dots instead of black with white dots, her clothes were dark red instead of blue, her hair was a shade of blue so dark it was almost black, and her eyes were red with slit pupils. As for the mirror part, her bangs were parted to the right instead of the left, that one freckle of mine that looked like a beauty mark to the left side of my lip was over on the right, and that other freckle that used to be a second beauty freckle near my left eye back in the Before Times when I wasn't a magical toddler being the only freckle by my right eye were the most obvious clues. Though she had fox ears instead of human ears, I could see she still had a rendition of the nubby nub nub thing on her right ear.

"I am thou, thou art I," she said in almost my voice. Man, that was weird. "Sup, me."

She nodded. "Ja. I have more control over my form than just using the transformation jutsu and I figured I should differentiate myself as much as I can from you, so..."

"I take it you picked your own name too, right?"

"Yup." She grinned. "To counter your light-light hope-and-fortune name, I picked Chikage."

"Thousand Views?" I asked jokingly.

"So does that mean I have your permission to keep 'Kouki?'" I asked.

She gave me a deadpan stare. "Dude, I literally said that I picked a name to balance out yours."

"Yeah, but if you think about it, 'Kouki' is us, not me. The guy that is us combined is Kouki."

I nodded and clenched my fist. "I think I got weaker..." I unclenched my fist and did a few small stretches.

"Makes sense," Chikage said. "Even if you aren't using it, your red chakra still enhances you. Still, that also means you should have more control now."

She snorted. Curiously, a small bit of smoke came from her nose when she did. "Dude, I'm you. Of course I know. Just make sure to ask future you first to make sure it doesn't screw us both over."

"Right, was going to do that anyway." I activated my eyes for just long enough to get a message coded to a version of myself in the exact situation I was in.

"Yup. Go ahead."

I didn't want to completely spoil every single highly-dangerous-yet-incredibly-interesting experiment I did, but I knew it'd be stupid to actually do them without using the Shōraigan to make sure I didn't end up turning Konoha into a crater. And so in my time of need, I discovered another power of the Shōraigan that was just as good as the ability to tell the future. At least, I'm assuming that's what happened in about a thousand other timelines that I never went down. Or I guess I did go down them, but just not the me that is me? Man, anything involving time travel gives people headaches, doesn't it. I could only time-warp information and yet I still got headaches.

Where was I?

Oh right. Main Shōraigan power number three. Or just another version of the first main power. In addition to being able to download future information directly into my brain, I found out I could send my past self and/or selves information when I randomly got thousands of very similar chronopathic messages saying something roughly along the lines of "Holy crud dude we can send messages to our past selves!" and some telling me to stop sending messages back to past me, which was very hypocritical of future me, but I complied. I wonder if there's a version of me who found out about the Shōraigan by having that future message sent back by an alternate version of-

"You're getting off track," Chikage said, her eyes now a slit variant of the Shōraigan. "Stop telling the fans about our new power and kill me already."

"That hurt," she muttered. "But it seems we won't find out what happens when I die if we use that. Maybe try fire?"

Ow.

"Is everything okay?" Uncle asked as he barged in. "I heard crackling sounds."

I casually stuck my hands in my pockets. "Yeah. I tried to use lightning release. Do you think you could ask Dad if I could get official training? That kinda hurt."

He looked concerned. "Are you hurt?"

I gave him a thumbs-up with my unburned hand. "Yeah, just a little stinging. Nothing a little healing factor won't cure. You should see the other guy."

"O...kay..." He thankfully left without much question, allowing me to take the other hand out and assess the damage. The friction from just taking it out of my pocket stung.

"Eeee..." I winced. I mean, it didn't look like it was too bad of a second degree burn, but... it was blackened. I really hoped that was just soot. I applied some red chakra to it and it thankfully just flaked off and didn't scar or anything. "Not doing that again, at least without adult supervision. Hope my pocket isn't ruined..." I tilted my head a bit. "Now before I can forget, I should probably do this." I activated my Shōraigan and sent a message coded to two certain iterations of my past self. Sure, it'd have happened anyway because of diverging timelines, but insert dead Daves joke here. "Right," I said. "Now that that's over. Chikage, out." She didn't do anything. I blinked. I could definitely feel her somewhere in me, but...

Oh.

I was Chikage. Well that was interesting. I concentrated on what I'd done before and felt a small snap in the back of my head. "I'm back," she said. Red chakra flowed from my body, forming Chikage, arms crossed and leaning back onto thin air. "Is that what it feels like to fuse?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I guess maybe with Pink Steven it was, just with less nearly dying and womanchildish giants."

She chuckled and picked me up. "C'mon, we gotta do it now."

kukukuku~

A/N: So yeah, two formatting quirks that are going to happen at least some of the time from now on. First, ~~~~ku is used whenever the narrative enters or exits a flashback. Second, while almost all of this is going to be from a first-person perspective, now there's going to be more than one narrator. Who is the same person. To avoid confusion, I'd like to clarify now that Kouki prime is the default and anyone else will be noted. And next chapter we get to see more special super awesome powers. And Konoha will almost get destroyed!

#I Would Totally Kick Jiraiya's Butt #fanfiction #IWTKJB CH11 #naruto #naruto fanfiction

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