#naruto fanfic prompt | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

powerful-niya · 7 months

Text

The Tell-Tale Heart

❀Fest No Jutsu 2023❀

Naruhina Oneshot Available on: AO3 | Wattpad | Fanfiction.net |

Prompt claimed fulfilled for @wickermayne 🥰

❀Naruhina RomCom❀

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

Summary: The Fourth Great Ninja War ends and Konoha is at peace; Hinata Hyuga contemplates Naruto Uzumaki's unexpected desire to spend more time with her.

》* 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ * 。° 。 • ˚《

Tags: Blank Period • Canon • Canon Divergence • Declarations Of Love • Drama & Romance • Fake Relationship Trope • Fluff • Happy • Happy Ending • Humor • Light Angst • Love Confessions • Mutual Pining • Naruto Universe - Freeform • No Smut • Post War • POV Third Person • Romance • Teen Rated •Tooth Rotting Fluff •

Word Count - For Entire One-Shot: 8.4k.

Word Count - Tumblr Post: 3.3k.

❀Preview:

Today in Konohagakure, the temperature was moderately warm.

The shining sun rose high in the cloudless, blue heavens, beaming with happiness where it took center stage above.

The residents of Konohagakure, enjoyed every moment of the new day, a day of peace and fun, as the sun smiled down on them with warm but pleasant beams.

The summer breeze flowed through the busy streets of the village, sweeping green leaves within its gentle wake where they carried on powerfully, just as the ninjas, Konoha's defenders, have done each and every day.

A year had passed since the conclusion of the Fourth Great Ninja War, allowing Konoha as a whole to at last settle down.

The streets were alive with laughter and chatter, with kids flying kites and pretending to be the ninjas they idolize, racing full speed through the crowds with their arms thrust behind them as if soaring.

Smiling villagers of all sizes and ages filled the streets, setting up their businesses and outlets to cheerfully trade their produce and wares with one another.

All around, structures and residences stood tall, having all been rebuilt from the devastation that numerous battles, particularly the Pain onslaught, had wreaked upon them.

Konoha was now endowed with brand-new structures, fresh possibilities, and new beginnings.

Ninjas, villagers, and children alike were all beaming and renewed—all appreciative of the timeless peace they had gained by never giving up, by consistently standing up for what is right, and by moving onward no matter what.

Konohagakure was now at peace.

Aside from Hinata Hyūga.

In the midst of the happiness that beamed all around her, the young kunoichi found herself having quite an episode: fingers twiddling together, her breathing escalated, cheeks red, and her mind in scrambles.

Hinata traversed the streets of Konoha dressed in her typical ninja garb, accompanied by her longtime team members and companions, Kiba and Shino.

Kiba, her loud, ferocious friend, shot her a glance with his slitted eyes, lifting an eyebrow as he sensed his shy friend's worried state.

After all, it was Hinata's idea to get together so the three of them could go for a walk through the village, get some fresh air, and just spend some time in each other's company.

However, Kiba and Shino have observed Hinata to be extremely fidgety and quiet the entire time, appearing to be preoccupied with a problem that both ninjas were overly conscious about.

Hinata was unable to stop talking about it after all.

Kiba groaned and shook his head, causing his brown curly hair to tussle about, brushing against the nape of his neck due to its increasing length.

To lighten the mood, the cheerful canine ninja gave Hinata a gentle shove with his elbow—just with the side of his folded arms.

He laughed as he caught the surprised squeak that flooded out of her lips, her body jolting as a result of being shoved out of her troublesome thoughts.

"Come on, Hinata-chan, stop overreacting already. It's not that bad." Kiba remarked with a gruff tone and an amused grin, his lips stretched wide to show off his razor-sharp canines.

Due to his delighted smile, the red triangles on his cheeks raised just a touch, his features quite robust and well-defined given his maturing age.

His voice, which had become deeper over the years, was emitted in a halfhearted manner, with little worry detected within, which did absolutely nothing to calm Hinata's anxiety.

Hinata's predicament was only made worse because of it.

Her pale cheeks grew even redder, and she found herself hiding behind the curtains of her long, midnight-blue hair, unable to meet Kiba's gaze.

"No, th-this is..."

"It's just Naruto, Hinata-chan. What does it matter whether the knucklehead wants to spend time with you? Big deal."

Kiba muttered impassively once again, simply shrugging his shoulders as if everything was normal—and especially normal for Hinata.

She shook her head. There was nothing normal about her situation.

Hinata took a glimpse at her brown-haired pal through the strands of her dark hair, only to be struck by the nonchalant expression found on his tanned face.

Kiba didn't seem bothered by her predicament or even able to understand why she was feeling the way she was, for the matter. It was certainly a sight she just couldn't comprehend.

It was quite obvious why she was so worked up.

Hinata bit her lip briefly, to deal with her nerves.

"B-But every day?" Hinata exclaimed, apprehensive.

"A-Am I the only one who finds it strange that Naruto-kun is suddenly spending so much time with me? It's s-so odd."

Hinata's meek voice broke through the gaps of her delicate lips, bursting into the village's midday hum. Such comments of hers would have been drowned out by the din of the crowd, but Kiba's keen hearing picked up on her words flawlessly.

He heard her loud and clear.

Kiba shrugged.

He genuinely did not perceive anything wrong with her current "situation."

Kiba thought Hinata was acting rather ridiculously, in fact. Every time Naruto was brought up in their many conversations, she would just revert to her usual flustered self.

The mere mention of the goofy blonde ninja always causes her to flush red all over and sends her into a stuttering frenzy. Even in her primary years, she would faint just by being in the blonde's presence.

Hinata has always been a flustered mess around Naruto, but even now, after having Hinata as a teammate for so long, Kiba has never been able to understand the immense anxiousness she would feel because of the blonde.

Apart from the fact that Naruto was now regarded as a war hero as a result of his heroic deeds during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Kiba still saw him merely as a hyperactive, dense, brainless knucklehead.

He just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that anyone would feel immense anxiety around someone like him.

It was all quite ridiculous.

Kiba found nothing odd or different about Hinata's frenzied behavior nor about Naruto's desire to spend more time with Hinata. After all, they were all growing closer to one another—every single one of their friends—now more than ever.

Nothing's strange there.

Shino, on the other hand, saw a different picture.

He let out a hum of curiosity, bringing to light his presence as he walked alongside Hinata.

His eyes were shielded from the sun by black shades, so others couldn't see his facial expressions as well.

One hand of his was buried in the pocket of his long jacket, while the other lifted to stroke his chin.

"Now that you mention it. That is strange."

Shino's voice emerged from his mouth, somber and monotone, phasing with the pleasant breeze around them. He too joined the conversation between Kiba and Hinata, voicing his concerns about the current situation at hand.

Hinata's dilemma.

All in all, it shouldn't really be a dilemma.

Hinata was aware of this.

Her predicament shouldn't be one that keeps her up at night, sends her in a tizzy, and leads her to become a hot, stuttering mess whenever she thinks about it.

Naruto.

Naruto was her dilemma.

Since the war has ended and all of Konoha has spent its time relishing the peace, Naruto has been exhibiting a variety of behavioral shifts—shifts that were pretty different and quite apparent—particularly because they diverged from the customary behavior tactics he has always demonstrated.

Such changes were all very unusual to Hinata, changes that she was unable to interpret or understand.

To put it simply, Naruto's been acting quite strangely toward her.

How strange you might ask?

For starters, Hinata thought it was somewhat odd of Naruto to unexpectedly develop the longing to devote every waking moment with her.

It seemed weird to her that he wanted to see her every day at the same time at Ichiraku Ramen in order to spend time with her.

Hinata bit her lip a bit harder.

She could hear him now.

"Let's eat out again, tomorrow, Hinata-chan. At Ichiraku, same time, same place. I had such a great time with you, dattebayo!"

Hinata could still clearly remember what he said to her almost a day ago when they shared a meal together at the Ichiraku Ramen Shop.

Even then, he showed signs of immense eagerness for her that she had never seen him show before.

Hinata recalled how he constantly barraged her with many subjects of discussion, even as he spoke to her while stuffing ramen noodles into his mouth.

He told her several of his own tales, including mission experiences that actually made her laugh quite a lot. More than she's ever done in her entire life.

It was all so... strange.

Don't misunderstand Hinata; Naruto's excitement was refreshing, albeit a little overwhelming.

Indeed, Hinata has always wished to spend time with Naruto, and she can't stop herself from enjoying those moments when she gets to sit beside him, shoulder to shoulder, and share a meal and a conversation with him, especially after the war is all said and done.

Sharing such moments with him has always been her dream.

Hinata relished the moments when Naruto lavished her with lots of attention, gazing into her eyes with a true sense of joy and care, and wanting nothing more than to spend as much time with her as he could.

And maybe, she's just overthinking.

Maybe, she's just blowing the entire situation out of proportion.

Maybe she was getting ahead of herself, but she was unable to ignore Naruto's peculiar behavior toward her, including the very difference in the way he spoke to her. It consumed her mind and bugged her so much.

Hinata has made a constant effort to understand why Naruto's behavior has drastically changed in the way it did toward her and why he suddenly developed the urge to hang out with her so excessively.

This was a really big deal to her.

Hinata couldn't help but mull it all over.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, Naruto changed from scarcely recognizing her to having just fleeting conversations with her to obnoxiously craving her company all the time.

It's such a drastic change.

This cannot be a coincidence, she thought.

Hinata occasionally found herself questioning whether Naruto's motives were sincere; she wondered if perhaps he was merely allowing himself to be close to her out of pity.

Pity for her losing Neji.

Yes, the war was officially over, but even so, there were still a lot of wounds that needed to be healed, and Neji's death surely left a lot of them. A lot of wounds.

Hinata occasionally finds herself becoming very sad at the mere recollection of Neji being dead, no longer living in Konoha, but instead buried with the other valiant ninjas who fought in the war.

She would frequently experience severe depression as she recalled the events leading up to his death and once more realized that he had indeed left this world and never to return again.

Hinata often thought of such depressing memories and felt their suppressive effect on her throughout her day-to-day life, and thus, she often thought that is why Naruto wished to spend so much time with her.

Because of pity. Because of guilt.

However, she always dismissed the idea, labeling herself as ridiculous for having such negative thoughts about her dear Naruto-kun.

As a result, Hinata discovers herself becoming quite enthusiastic about the alternative reason she came up with for Naruto's behavioral changes toward her.

And that was a result of authenticity.

Maybe, just maybe, Naruto has come to want to be close to her from a genuine standpoint.

Maybe he secretly yearns to be close to her, yearns to learn more about her, or, better yet, just genuinely enjoys her company.

Maybe, Naruto has come to yearn for something more.

But just as Hinata thought of such a thing, just as she allowed her fantasies to intertwine with her thoughts, she was quick to shake them off.

Hinata squealed, covering her eyes with her hands due to her lewd thoughts.

'No, no, that can't possibly be it!" Shaking off the idea, Hinata exclaimed in a frenzy fit in her mind. It was absurd for her to think that the frequent outings she would have with Naruto were anything romantic.

Yes, Naruto yearns to see her virtually every single day.

Yes, he genuinely offers to pay for her meal at each and every get-together.

Yes, he regularly gives her his jacket whenever she grows cold, without her having to utter a single word.

But...

Those were merely the acts of a friend, Hinata thought, a friend that truly cares.

'There's nothing romantic about that.' Hinata dismissed once more, hysterically shaking her tomato-red face as she hurried on carelessly, her open-toed shoes kicking up dirt every step of the way.

However, she was interrupted from her thoughts when she once more heard the voice of her enigmatic friend, Shino, speak after a little period of silence between the three of them.

"Hm, it almost seems like the two of you are dating. Maybe that's what Naruto wants."

It was only hearing those words from Shino that led Hinata to completely lose it.

She began to feel lightheaded. Terribly lightheaded.

'Me? D-Date Naruto-kun?!?' Hinata practically screeched in her head. She was going to faint, she just knew it.

It was only a matter of time now.

She whipped around to face Shino, in an effort to quickly dismiss such a ridiculous notion from his head. She couldn't bear it.

Hinata sweat dropped, her cheeks flushed red, "No, no, Naruto-kun and I aren't d-dating. Dating o-or romance, for that matter, isn't possibly the reason for all of this. There has to be a-another explanation..."

"Hm." Shino rubbed his chin once more, "It's quite obvious what's going on here, Hinata-chan. Naruto's sudden and enthusiastic yearning to spend more time with you when the war is over. All of it seems to be pointing towards the possibility that his eyes may have opened after all this time." Shino hummed.

"The evidence is right in front of you." Shino expressed with a nod, as he tried to piece together the situation and come up with a solution.

Kiba, in contrast, just shrugged. He merely found the two humorous, trying to solve an issue that was so clear.

He shook his head, "Hinata-chan, come on. You gotta stop overthinking."

He brushed his shoulder against hers yet again, doing so with a groan, "Good kami, all of this Naruto stuff is getting you ridiculous, Hinata-chan. Come on, think about it. Isn't this what you always wanted?" He asked, blurting out what he knew had to be said.

With wrinkled brows, he gazed down at the midnight blue-haired woman beside him, watching as her lavender eyes widened at his remark.

He tilted his head, his expression somewhat solemn, "Isn't this time spent with Naruto, or rather, him wanting to spend time with you, something you always wished for?"

Hinata's eyes widened even more. Even her heart skipped a beat.

It was. It's all Hinata has ever wanted.

She's spent her entire life walking behind Naruto, always staring at his back, longing for him to turn and notice her.

She had yearned for him to realize her presence, to recognize all the times she had followed him, supported him, been influenced to become stronger by him, and even risked her life for him.

She yearned to be by his side, showering him with her affection and reverence.

She wished so badly he would one day look at her the very same way she looked at him.

That is all she has ever wished for—Naruto to notice her.

And now...

Hinata's breath caught in her throat as Kiba's words flashed through her mind, finally waking her up and causing her to realize what a blessing this entire situation was for her.

The sudden acts of Naruto wanting to spend time with her; and the genuine smiles he showers her with.

The big, warm hugs he gives her the moment she arrives at Ichiraku Ramen.

The jokes, the laughter, the smiles.

Everything.

Hinata finally considered every bit of her situation, and she used the opportunity to take a step outside of herself, away from the troubling emotions that were stifling her, and instead take in the situation as a whole.

Her breath hitched.

Indeed, she has always wanted this.

Always.

And now, with her eyes opened, she has realized how silly she has been.

She has done nothing but speculate about Naruto's motives, questioning herself as a whole for liking his behavioral shifts.

She was so worried and anxious about the whole thing, as well as flustered and embarrassed by being so close to Naruto so suddenly, that she entirely failed to notice the positive elements of her predicament.

But now...

A smile arose on Hinata's face and in that moment, she felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She suddenly felt the worries she's been dealing with for a couple of weeks now set sail and fly away.

She finally sensed herself becoming free from her worries; free from it all. All thanks to her friends; Kiba and Shino.

She really needed this chat.

Because now, Hinata could finally see the situation from a different perspective, a more positive approach to her situation, and now she finds herself a little bit more...

appreciative.

She bawled her fists tight by her chest, biting her lip briefly, "Y-Yes, this is what I have wanted." She whispered, finally voicing out her own wants for a change, voicing that she indeed has always wanted Naruto to notice her, just in the way he has recently.

Kiba and Shino exchanged a joyful grin, both ninjas flawlessly catching their bashful friend's answer even in the midst of the raucous outside noises around them.

It was undoubtedly like music to their ears, and they were both comforted by the fact that their friend's sentiments of embarrassment and worry were no longer clouding her judgment—no longer keeping her troubled.

The two men were pleased to find that their efforts had been successful and that their words of caution and contemplation had not been merely ignored or overlooked.

Kiba and Shino were certainly pleased to see Hinata finally diverted from her mental woes and the clamor of her irrational thoughts, which had previously blinded and hampered her. And ultimately, keeping her from finding happiness with the one man that almost everyone in the village knows can greatly comfort and increase Hinata's level of contentment.

Peace was now assured.

Kiba exclaimed joyfully, "See, there you go! So I say, quit your overreacting and relax! Enjoy the peace already!"

He shoved her shoulder again which actually caused Hinata to giggle, her body swaying a bit.

"Kami, if you're so worried about Naruto spending time with you, why don't you just ask him? Who knows, Shino might be right, your precious Naruto-kun might have finally woken up." Kiba teased with a laugh.

Hinata instantly gasped, her head space once again flooded by overwhelming thoughts, her body riddled with feelings of flusteredness.

Throughout Kiba's entire speech, one particular detail caught her attention the most.

My precious Naruto-kun.

Hinata's blush rushed back to engulf her whole tenfold, "H-Hey don't call him that!" The flustered kunoichi exclaimed in embarrassment before reaching over to slap Kiba's folded arm.

But her gesture of getting him back due to his teasing only pushed the brown-haired male to laugh and tease her even more.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! My precious Naruto-kun!"

"St-Stop it, Kiba-kun!"

"No! You make it so easy, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata grumbled, her heart racing in her chest as she was teased by Kiba but soon comforted by Shino.

After all was said and done, however, and after a much-needed conversation with her good friends, she found herself looking forward to the dinner get-together with Naruto.

Now, more than ever.

#naruhina #fest no jutsu 2023 #naruhina oneshot #naruto uzumaki #hinata hyuga #blank period #canon divergence #writing prompt #ao3 fanfic #ao3 event #wattpad #fanfiction.net #powerful_niya #🗒️ - niya's drabbles/one-shots ✨

107 notes · View notes

frankencanon · 7 months

Text

I think it'd be funny if we made Kakashi even younger.

Can you imagine Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura finding out that Kakashi is only a handful of years older than them?!

I mean, with how little we see of his face it's extremely difficult to tell how old he is...

It was one thing when he was prepubescent and short with an unbroken voice, but once his voice dropped and he reached an average adult height... How would anyone be able to tell?

He's strong, highly ranked, mature for his age, and the proper height for an adult with an adult voice. Anyone who didn't already know his age would be liable to mistakenly assume he's older than he actually is, especially with the grey hair.

And it's not like it's out of the realm of possibility for a teenager to be a jounin sensei—take Minato, for example. He was, what, seventeen? And as talented as Minato was, he's nothing compared to Kakashi when it comes to rising through the ranks at a young age.

I'm pretty sure Kakashi broke literally every record there was when it came to "youngest ever [blank]". Academy student, genin, chūnin, jōnin, ANBU, ANBU Captain... Sure, Itachi eventually beat him in one or two of those, but at the time Kakashi was the sole record-holder; There'd never been anyone like him before.

If we just modify Kakashi's already contradictory timeline... Unimportant info below about the details for just how this could potentially work in canon!!

—WAIT. FORGET ALL THAT.

If you want to read my calculations as to how this could canonically work you may direct your attention below, however I have just come up with a far better and far simpler and also quite possibly both funnier and sadder idea:

Time-travel, but not in any way you're thinking...

Most people assume the reason why they didn't hear much of Kakashi's exploits over the years is because he was in ANBU and so everything was Top Secret and extremely covert...

But what if the real reason was because Kakashi had somehow been sent about a decade into the future? Hence explaining how he could be a teenager still when he was once the Yondaime's student.

Also possible: Kakashi was somehow held in stasis for the past decade—sealed, perhaps? Trapped? Or maybe the work of a foreign shinobi's jutsu (kekkei genkai?) that took about a decade or so to break/deactivate...

Or, my personal favorite:

He was investigating the Uzushiogakure ruins and got caught in one of their defensive seals — one that would seal him for a maximum of ten years, with the intention of giving Uzushio shinobi as much time as possible to deal with whatever intruder(s) got caught in the trap.

Without Kushina or Minato or any other Uzumaki seal experts however, deactivating the seal would be basically impossible — luckily, the seal was set up so that once time ran out Kakashi would be automatically released.

And he was! Ten years later, with little baby Naruto all grown up and almost ready to be placed on a genin team — his genin team.

—

AFFOREMENTIONED DUMB CALCULATIONS FOR HOW THIS COULD POTENTIALLY FIT INTO THE CANONICAL TIMELINE BELOW 👇

—

It's probably boring!! You don't have to read it!!

⚠️ You have been warned!! ⚠️

(It's mostly just me brainstorming, honestly...)

—

Genin at five, chūnin at six... Then he stalls at chūnin for a while before eventually advancing to jōnin at twelve (wherein Obito "dies").

He's approximately thirteen when Rin is killed leading to him joining ANBU, and then fourteen when Naruto is born and the Kyūbi is unleashed on the village, causing Minato and Kushina to sacrifice themselves.

In canon, he is then twenty-six years old when he becomes Team 7's jōnin sensei...

For starters, I vote we cut those six years of chūnin limbo before Kakashi becomes jōnin, dropping him to about twenty-or-so.

Then again, this is fanfic—who cares about canon timelines?

If we put him on the hyper-speed fast-track...

4: Academy student

5: Genin

6: Chūnin

7. Jōnin (Obito dies)

8. ANBU (Rin dies)

9. Naruto's birth (Minato & Kushina die)

Is this ridiculous? Yes! But who cares?

9+12=21

Hm... That's not right.

Alright, this is getting a bit annoyingly complicated.

Even if I downgrade Naruto to eleven (because for a long time I was convinced for some reason that Naruto was eleven while the rest of his peers were twelve, and I still have absolutely no clue where I got that idea from) that would still make Kakashi about twenty. Hm...

Ugh, I'll figure this out later. Can't we just hand-wave it?

—No wait, I have an idea:

While modifying his canon timeline to make him younger is a hassle and a half, the fact remains that until we saw Kakashi Gaiden we didn't actually have any details on his backstory...

In other words? The beginning of the series managed just fine without it, so why don't we just throw it out entirely?

Afterall, this fic is about jōnin-sensei Kakashi—the details of his traumatic childhood are irrelevant, and it's not like early fans had that information to work with anyway.

Naruto is canonically younger than Sasuke (who was a baby during the Kyūbi attack) so we shall put him at eleven to give us some leeway.

Now let's say we wanted to make Kakashi somewhere around sixteen to eighteen during canon—that would require him to be five to seven years old when Minato dies.

Now let's compress his timeline some more:

Considering the Konoha 9 all attended the very first chūnin exams after they graduated, I don't see any reason why Kakashi couldn't do the same—and unlike them he's a prodigy so it's basically guaranteed that he'd pass. (And that's assuming he didn't get a field promotion...)

Give him up to a year to become jōnin, and then have him join ANBU almost immediately after.

Some months later, Naruto is born and the Yondaime dies.

To compress it further, I am making his graduation even more ridiculous:

Academy student at three, genin and then chūnin at four, jōnin and ANBU at five. God, can you imagine a five-year-old ANBU? That'd be terrifying. Naruto is born around the time he turns six, and eleven years later Kakashi passes a genin team for the first time and is made a jōnin-sensei at seventeen, just like Minato-sensei was.

It'll take Team 7 a while to realize that, however.

...WAIT A MINUTE.***

Why am I even bothering to promote him prior to Minato's death? Am I, perhaps, an idiot?

Minato becomes his sensei as soon as he graduates to genin at five years old, but before that Kakashi spent a lot of time as his apprentice and they bonded. Shortly after Team 7 is formed the Kyūbi attack happens and Minato dies — the how doesn't matter, so don't worry about it.

The war is over so instead of Kannabi Bridge they go on some other dangerous mission with the same results, except this time the reason Minato isn't there is because he's dead.

They send some other inadequate chūnin or jōnin in his place, but they promptly get killed early on in the mission, perhaps at the same time that Rin gets kidnapped.

Kakashi is chūnin at this point so he naturally takes charge, despite being a five or six year old and Obito being — I don't know, twelve? Significantly older.

Obito dies, then Rin, and this time it's the stupid Sandaime that sticks Kakashi in ANBU like he's an annoying unwanted child that he wants to keep out of sight and thoroughly occupied — at least, until he needs a jōnin sensei for the Kyūbi's Jinchūriki and the Last Uchiha...

So, final version:

Five years old when Minato dies and Naruto is born, and about five or six years old when Obito and Rin die and Kakashi gets stuck in ANBU, followed by eleven years of Naruto growing up while Kakashi's in ANBU makes him... About sixteen to seventeen years old when Kakashi becomes Team 7's jōnin sensei.

To Kakashi, this feels almost poetic. (Same age as Minato-sensei was...)

#hatake kakashi #kakashi hatake #kakashi sensei #kakashi #naruto #team 7 #au #naruto au #fanfic idea #fanfic prompt #fan fic ideas #fanfiction ideas #fanfiction prompts #fan fiction idea #naruto fic #naruto fanfiction #kakashi fanfiction #kakashi fic #kakashi gaiden

73 notes · View notes

mrsbakashi · 1 year

Note

Hi! Do you still take requests? I love your headcanons! Can I have (😳) for kakashi from the emoji prompts pls <3

hi, lovely anon! i'm really happy you like my headcanons, they were so fun to write! which is why i wanna thank you for requesting this one - i've been working in five long-heavy projects (because i'm insane) so this one felt like a nice breath of fresh air, plus it was written in like ten minutes AND it gave me the good feeling of finishing something YAY! so thank you!

anyway, i hope you like it!

😳: a confessing headcanon - kakashi

it all started as a joke between guys, you know. on one night, one of the only few nights kakashi agreed to go to the bar with the other jonins, one he regretted so so so much;

they were sitting at the table, the three of them alone: asuma, gai and kakashi, with asuma having drunk a little more than usual and laughing loudly at gai's awful jokes while kakashi politely turned down whatever it was that they kept offering him;

you were there too, at the back of the bar, talking with shizune and anko, laughing, a bottle in your hands and awkwardly dancing sometimes - truth be told, kakashi only did go so he could have an excuse to watch you having fun, the strong and worried kunoichi you usually were out of sight. it seemed unfair that he never got to see that side of you simply because he's an introvert, so there he was, only because of you;

of course the guys knew he liked you - despite the fact that he was great at hiding his thoughts and feelings, gai knew kakashi too well, so it was pretty obvious for him, so of course he made sure it was obvious for asuma too, because it seemed like such a great idea!

so, you see, gai challenged kakashi. not a silly challenge, like it usually is, but he challenged kakashi to ask you out on a date or he would do it himself - and asuma got in the middle of it saying that, if neither of them did it, then he would do it

kakashi tried to talk it off, and say he didn't know what they were talking about, and that he didn't care, but it only took gai's arm around your waist to make him change his mind - the man was beside you in milliseconds, pulling you away from gai's touch

so gai looked at him and laughed, and then kakashi asked you, with his voice so low you could've dreamed your heard it "hey, i was wondering if you're free tomorrow night?"

"tomorrow night? yes! what do you have in mind?"

"maybe we could, uh, grab something to eat"

he cleared throat, clearly embarrassed, and you thought what a precious view that was - the great copynin, embarrassed, almost shy.

besides the fact that he actually had a date with you, kakashi regretted going to the bar because that took him out of his comfort zone - he was more than content just watching you from afar, interacting with you during missions only, and with the occasional dreams where you would kiss him and smile - and now he'd have to spend time with you and act as if he wasn't dying to kiss you

so you went out on a date. you ate in a nice restaurant, where you drank a little too much because kakashi only nodded to everything you said, and then dropped by the book store to see what was new - i mean, you knew kakashi liked to read, so he'd have to be excited, since he acted so weird during dinner, right? wrong! you showed him a bunch of books, talked on and on about a few others that you read, making entire reviews, and the man could only nod. it was getting on your nerves.

you walked up to your house practically in silence, since you're ran out of subjects to talk about and kakashi apparently lost the ability to speak

it wasn't until he left you at your door that you opened your mouth. "thanks, i had a... good... time tonight."

"i'm glad you enjoyed it."

"oh, so you can talk!"

"i'm sorry?"

"kakashi, come on, i know something's up, i know you. tell me, what's going on?"

"it's nothing."

"tell me. you can trust me."

"it's really... nothing." he took a deep breath, but his eyes were set on your lips.

you opened the door and invited him in for a tea, which he politely turned down. so you insisted, and he turned it down once again.

"ok, since you're not coming in, tell me this: why did you ask me out?"

"oh that, hm, i don't want you to take this the wrong way, but gai challenged me-"

"well, of course he did! ugh, i'm so stupid! you know, i actually thought, well, kurenai made me think, that you asked me out because you, hear this: liked me! ha! what a joke, right?"

he heard the words, but took a while to actually understand them. how could he explain to you that the challenge was a mere excuse? he made you feel like a joke, and that wasn't his intention, not even in a million years.

"i mean, i feel so ridiculous! this is what i get for getting my hopes up and falling in love with kakashi fuckin hatake! well done, y/n!"

those words hit him right away, like a punch straight in his stomach, waking every cell in his body - fall in love with kakashi fucking hatake.

"look, i'm sorry, let's just call it a night, forget i-"

"did you say fall in love?"

you sighed. of course you and your big mouth would get you in trouble. "kakashi, look, i'm drunk, i don't know what i'm saying, just ignore it."

he got your hand to get your attention when you threaten to go inside your house.

"are you or are you not in love with me?"

"kakashi-"

"are you?" - he repeated, but this time there was some sort of urgency in his voice, he sounded almost... angry. you felt your head spin.

"well, duh! show me a woman in this whole damn viallge-no, country! show me a woman in this whole damn country who isn't in love with you and i'll show you a dead woman!"

kakashi laughed, and that felt like the last straw for you - it was one thing that you felt ridiculous given the situation, but it was something completely different that he would laugh at you, specially in your face, as if you weren't feeling bad and awful enough.

"oh, it's so funny isn't it? i thought you were so sweet, but you're actually really mean! i bet you already knew that i have a crush on you, and so did gai, and that's why-"

(un)fortunately you didn't finish your sentence because kakashi kissed you, which made you feel confused, but also happy, with your head spiralling into a million thoughts you couldn't even begin to understand because he was there, kissing you, pulling you impossibly close as if you could merge into each other.

he breaks the kiss so you both can get some air, and rests his forehead on yours, planting a kiss on the tip of your nose. "well, it turns out, y/n, that i'm in love with you too".

"ok." is all you say, trying to make it all make sense inside your head - it wasn't just that you were a little bit tipsy, but more how unrealistic the whole thing felt. like one of your dreams. oh god, how many times you've dreamed about him kissing you on your doorstep and telling you he loved you. there was no way in hell that was real. in a few hours you'd wake up in a empty bed, with a killer headache regretting every single one of your life decisions, specially the ones that would lead you to kakashi again and again. always the same fucking team...

"are you ok?"

you looked up at him, realizing you were too lost inside your own head and he was still there, talking to you, like it was - may god allow it to be true - reality. you slapped your own face, which caused kakashi to look at you confused, but intrigued.

if you were dreaming the slap would've woken you up, right? so if it didn't, and if he was still there it was reality. kakashi hatake was really at your doorstep, telling you he was in love with you. do dreams really come true?

"y/n?"

"i'm ok! just making sure i'm not... you know, dreaming."

"oh, so you have these dreams as well?"

"hold up, you're blowing my mind."

he kissed you again, more gently this time. he wasn't in a hurry. he knew, deep down his heart, that he would spend the rest of his life kissing you from now on.

"do you want to go inside or do you want to spend the rest of the night kissing me on my doorstep?"

send me an emoji prompt and i'll write you a headcanon

#it's sweet isn't it?#kakashi x reader #kakashi x you #kakashi x y/n #kakashi fanfic #kakashi fluff #kakashi hcs #kakashi headcanons #naruto hcs #naruto headcanons #naruto fanfic #request #my man #mine #naruto fluff #mrsbakashi #prompts

298 notes · View notes

rainbowfey · 6 months

Text

Day 29: Wearing Each Other's Clothes

@flufftober

It started with a loud noise protruding his rather chaotic dream. For a moment, Tobirama wondered since when crows were able to produce resounding thuds. It took a while for the reality to sink in and disperse the remnants of his dream. Only when he finally opened his eyes did the realization hit him that the noise was indeed not a part of his dream. Still very much groggy, Tobirama sat up and stretched his neck with a groan, wondering about why he felt so stiff. He looked around and blinked a couple times at the sight of his fireplace that most definitely had not been in his bedroom when he had woken up the past couple of days. Shaking his head in hopes to clear his mind, he gazed at the dimly lit room around him. Only when he made out the familiar silhouette of the sofa across from him did he realize where he was. But something about it still didn’t seem to make any sense. The sofa didn’t have the shape he was used to, instead it was quite the opposite. But before his foggy brain could make sense of the slowly moving shape on the sofa, another bang brought him back to reality.

“Damnit,” he growled to himself and got up. He quickly grabbed a sweater lying in a jumbled pile on the ground next to the sofa table and slipped in it. He shivered when the cold fabric grazed his face but he didn’t have any time to think about it as the banging got even louder. “I’m coming,” he yelled, his voice still a bit raucous from sleep.

Tobirama stumbled through the dimly lit room that he now recognized as his living room. Before he slipped through the door, he caught a last glance at the silhouette of his sofa that now seemed to be moving more. He shook his head incredulously and fled the living room, heading for the front door. While walking, he looked down and noticed with relief that he was fully dressed which was at least something.

He reached his front door just in time for another earth shattering bang and he scowled when the sound pierced his ear drums. With a frown, he yanked the door open and blinked at the pale face hovering in the darkness in front of him. From the looks of it, he had been jolted awake only a couple of hours after the midnight, the moon still high up in the sky. This did at least explain why he felt like as if he had been hit by a particularly big boulder. “What?” he snarled at the gadfly who had his hand still raised as if to bang on his door again.

Now that his eyes finally adjusted to the dim moonlight, he noticed that the man in front of him was way younger that he had thought at first sight. He felt slightly guilty when he saw the intimidated look on the shinobi’s face who was more of a boy than a man, now that he examined him more closely.

“What’s the matter?” he asked again, this time a bit more friendly which seemed to do the trick.

“I am sorry,” the boy stammered, averting his gaze. “Hokage-sama sent for you and he asked me to get you as quickly as possible.” Tobirama instantly perked up at these words, a hint of concern stirring in his gut. He stared at the young shinobi and said, “I’m ready to go. Tell me what’s going on while we’re on our way.”

The shinobi nodded, seeming very relieved. He turned around without any hesitation and headed for the building straight ahead, getting ready to jump to its roof. Tobirama quickly closed the door behind him without locking it. The fact that the boy chose the quicker way over the roofs and treetops of Konoha was a sign for how dire the situation had to be. He followed him, his heart pounding in his chest. If Hashirama sent a messenger to shake him awake in the middle of the night, something grave had happened.

The young shinobi led him quickly towards the center of Konoha. While they ran, he told Tobirama between gasps about a big fire that had broken out without any warning and was now threatening several important buildings. Hashirama had called for Tobirama while he was already working on the evacuation of all of the endangered buildings.

Before the shinobi was able to tell him more, they had already entered the area of the fire. Even before they could see the fire itself, Tobirama noticed the unsettling red glow illuminating the surrounding buildings and he quickened his pace, leaving the exhausted boy behind. From this point on, he didn’t need anyone to lead him towards the scene of event as the perilous shine and the pungent smell of smoke sufficed entirely.

When Tobirama finally reached the source of fire, he saw at least two dozen shinobi scurrying through the flickering light and shadows, either leading frightened residents to safety or casting water jutsus at the fire. Tobirama didn’t have to wait for anyone to give him instructions, he was well aware of why Hashirama had called for him. He headed straight for the biggest fire and took a deep breath, focusing on the dancing flames in front of him.

“Water release!” he growled and gathered all his chakra. Only a split second later, the fire started sizzling when the powerful water stream hit.

Again and again, Tobirama used his jutsu, the heat of the fire and the subsequent steam burning on his skin. He barely noticed how other shinobi joined him, following his lead. Together, they attacked one source of fire after another until the village was drowning in steam. Tobirama’s heart was hammering in his chest and he was panting, scanning the area vigilantly for another suspicious red glow. But all he could see was the faint morning light cast by the sun finally rising.

He flinched when a hand fell on his shoulder. He turned around, an angry rebuke already on his lips, when he noticed his brother’s exhausted face. Instantly, his tension faded and he examined Hashirama thoroughly. His concern grew when he noticed the soot and scratches all over his brother. He grabbed Hashirama’s wrist and pulled him closer to examine a particularly big tear in his shirt. “Are you hurt?” he asked urgingly.

Hashirama smiled at him and shook his head, carefully freeing his wrist. “I’m fine, don’t worry. Thanks for getting here so quickly.”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect you to arrive here this early,” someone behind Tobirama piped up and he turned around to see an also very disheveled looking Izuna who smiled at him wearily.

Tobirama nodded to him and noticed relieved that even though Hashirama and Izuna both looked like as they had had a very rough night, both seemed to be unharmed. Now that the fires had finally been put out, the chaos around them slowly calmed down. Another shinobi passed by them and handed all three of them water bottles which they gratefully accepted. Hashirama started chugging the water and Tobirama also took a few sips but Izuna paused. He looked at him curiously over the neck of his bottle and noticed that Izuna was staring at him – or rather at his chest.

Tobirama raised an eyebrow and looked down at his chest but he didn’t find anything weird about it. He eyed Izuna and gave him an asking look, wondering whether Izuna was just zoning out.

But Izuna didn’t seem absentminded at all. “Nice sweater you have there,” he said, leaving Tobirama puzzled at this rather cryptic statement.

Tobirama wasn’t exactly the most socially adept person but even to him this seemed to be a weird thing to say in this situation. From the corner of his eye, he saw Hashirama waving someone closer but he was too caught up in Izuna’s increasingly strange facial expression to give it any attention. He started getting slightly worried when he saw a knowing smile spreading on Izuna’s face.

“So, a good night got cut short, huh?” Izuna asked, grinning at him. “That’s a shame.”

Tobirama stared at him and for a moment, he asked himself if Izuna was maybe a bit befuddled by the smoke still lingering in the air. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he admitted, giving Izuna a slightly worried look.

Izuna nodded exaggeratedly. “Yeah, sure,” he said and winked at him, his voice clearly indicating that he didn’t believe him one bit.

Before Tobirama could come up with another question, Hashirama pulled someone closer to them and Tobirama winced when the sight of dark eyes instantly brought back the memory of the past night. Suddenly, the weird shape of the sofa in his living room made a lot of sense. His cheeks started burning when he noticed the amused glance in Madara’s face and he wished for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He had been so startled at the banging at his door that he hadn’t even remembered that Madara hadn’t left the previous night – and he had just run off with the messenger without even telling Madara that he was leaving.

“Uh, hi,” he muttered, carefully avoiding Madara’s gaze. Instead, he stared at his chest which was covered in soot. Something about it bothered him but he didn’t get a chance to think about it as Izuna started speaking, his voice still sounding weirdly ironic.

“So, when did you plan on telling us about this?” he asked and Tobirama noticed that Madara seemed equally as confused as he was.

“What are you even talking about, Izuna?” Madara growled, giving his little brother an exasperated look who returned it with a wide grin.

“Well,” he said slowly, seemingly relishing in the situation. “If you want to keep it a secret, you should be quite a bit more discreet.”

Madara stared at him and Tobirama could almost see the thoughts rattling through his mind. Hashirama next to him eyed them curiously and Tobirama started feeling like he was in a fever dream.

Izuna stared at them and when neither of them made a move to reply, he sighed and pointed at Madara’s chest. “My beloved brother, if you want to play clueless, you probably shouldn’t show up in your lover’s clothes.”

And suddenly, the scales fell from Tobirama’s eyes and he gasped when he realized what had bothered him about Madara – the sweater he was wearing seemed all too familiar beneath all of the grime. He hastily looked down at himself and froze when he noticed that the sweater he himself was wearing looked exactly like the one Madara had taken off and carelessly thrown on the ground only a couple of hours ago. On the ground next to the sofa table, right where Tobirama had set down his own sweater only a couple of minutes prior.

And while they both started sputtering explanations in horror, Izuna crossed his arms and grinned like a Cheshire cat. And over all the chaos, Hashirama piped up, his eyes wide opened, sounding entirely bewildered, “Wait – are you two like … a thing?”

#flufftober 2023 #day 29 #extra prompt #naruto #madara x tobirama #madatobi #madara uchiha #senju tobirama #hashirama senju #uchiha izuna #romance #enemies to lovers #fluff #naruto fanfiction #fanfic #writing

45 notes · View notes

inkblotm · 9 months

Text

NARUHINA....AGAIN

Im backkk and with another Naruhina Modern AU for all of you ✨💕 Hinata wears fruity gloss and you can't tell me otherwise

I MIGHT have something for underground style Naruto

DO NOT COPY OR REPOST TO OTHER WEBSITES

#fanart #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #naruto #alternate universe #modern au #naruhina fanfic recs #naruto uzumaki #hinata hyuga #naruto fandom #naruhina #writing prompt #true love #boruto

42 notes · View notes

foxxy-sensei · 8 days

Text

In the end, there was no hope.

The lands were ravished and most of the people were gone. Not even the animals seemed to be spared.

The goddess wanted her chakra back and she was determined to have it. The remaining few knew there was nothing left to do, but give in. But what are humans, but bodies filled with egos, determination, and desperation.

There were very few of them left.

Many of her friends had died before the goddess was even released. Neji, Tenten, Choji, Gai, Inoichi, Shikaku Tsunade, and Gaara… Friends and family lost to the initial war. It only got worse from there. Slowly, but surely, the rest of her chosen family started to disappear from her life. Stolen from her by a selfish and vindictive woman.

She had just lost Lee a few days ago as he fought off an army of white Zetsu so that the rest of them could escape. He told her he was okay with this death. It would allow them to live and he would be able to see his beloved team again.

Naruto sighed tiredly. She wished she could say she cried, but she had no more tears to give. Only a prayer that what her friend wanted, came true in the end.

But that was a few days ago.

Now, the only ones of her precious people that were left were Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kurama, Obito, and the reanimated body of her father. And she knew that, soon, she would probably lose them as well.

For now, they had made their great escape. With the help of a makeshift boat and some seals, they had made it to the waters of Wave Country and crossed the perilous, whirlpool filled waters into Uzushiogakure. The only thing that truly kept them safe was Hinata and Naruto’s affinities for water chakra and Naruto’s Uzumaki blood. She had gripped the edge of the ‘boat’ so tight that the wood bit into her palm and caused her to bleed. The waters seemed to calm a bit after getting a taste. It was then that most of them realized that the destruction of Uzushio had to have been either an inside job or something far more sinister.

They stepped off their boat and onto the beaches. And while the others went on ahead to scope out the ruined village for suitable shelter and food, Naruto and her father were left standing in the sand, the Jinchuriki trembling with rage. Minato laid a comforting hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

“No one could be bothered to come here and lay the dead to rest.” Uzushio had been destroyed. The village was left in ruins… The dead were left in the sand. When her precious Konohagakure had been destroyed, Naruto had risked her life to go back and lay who she could to rest in a funeral pyre. But Uzushio was Konoha’s sister village and no one had bothered, in all of the years, to make sure that their fellow shinobi and citizens had seen a proper burial. Just left them to the sands and sun.

Minato hung his head. “I’m sorry, Naruto… Kushina. If I had known the Sandaime hadn’t seen to it himself, I would’ve come here personally to have it done.” He felt like he had failed his wife and daughter… More than he already felt, anyway.

Naruto bent to kneel in the sand and carefully picked up the skull of what seemed to be a fallen Uzushio shinobi. She was quiet for a long while, just wondering about who the poor soul could have been before they died. Finally, she spoke up.

“I will collect the remains of the dead and lay them to rest in a pyre on the far side of the island. Please let the others know that I would like to be left alone until then.” She created a few clones that set out to work. But before the real her could start the task as well, she felt her father’s gentle hand on her cheek, turning her head to make her look at him.

“I will never leave you alone. Not again. We will do this together.” He placed their foreheads together for a brief moment before pulling away and moving to sift through the sand for bones to collect, creating a few clones himself.

They worked quietly throughout the day and well into the evening. The rest of their group were scarcely seen except for when they were handing off scrolls with bodies that they had found themselves. No words were exchanged. Just quick, mournful glances. Shikamaru always seemed to be able to find the real Naruto when he was handing over scrolls. He would always brush his fingertips against the backs of her hands before disappearing into the shadows again.

The two had gotten closer during the war. They had spilled their souls to each other, surprising themselves about their choice in confidante. Shikamaru had a more analytical mind, so he always thought he would end up breaking down to Kakashi, as he was someone who was logical and reminded him of his father some, and would be able to talk him through his troubles. And it was no secret, Naruto’s love for Sasuke. He was her best friend and her brother. It was more likely for her to turn to him with her woes. Or at least Sakura or Hinata.

But that’s not what happened. They chose each other. No matter how unintentional.

They were out hunting for possible food and scouting for white Zetsus when they were suddenly surrounded. Shikamaru had taken a hit and was trying to convince Naruto to just leave without him and she ran with him hanging off her shoulder. He told her that he would hold them off. She was their powerhouse. He knew that she and Kurama were important pieces to survival. He needed them to live. But Naruto thought the opposite. Shikamaru was their tactician. Even if she could not go on, she knew he could help the others through anything. To her, he was one of the most important people. So it enraged her to hear him speak of sacrificing himself.

She created a clone and was quick to hand off the dark haired shinobi, mumbling about a cave system she knew was not too far from their current location. Shikamaru started to argue, getting angry himself, but Naruto would hear none of it.

She turned to give the shadow user a scathing look. “We will discuss this later.” She said with a growl in her voice.

Shikamaru was surprised, but said nothing more. He just nodded his head and surrendered himself to being whisked away. It was only hours later, after his wounds had been cleaned and the clone was able to feed him, did Shikamaru get to see the real blonde again. She looked tired and singed, but unwounded. Her clone handed over what little food and drink was left before dismissing itself. She was able to eat it quickly and in silence before the man who sat across from her finally just snapped.

Words were exchanged between the two that were surely regretted later on, but words were also spoken that they both needed to hear and say. Shikamaru spoke of his regrets, fear, and feelings while Naruto spoke of her own fears, anger, and dwindling self-worth. They both spoke of the hopelessness that they felt.

They found solace in each other that night. And what started out as clumsy hands and desperation, slowly turned into lingering touches and the budding feelings of love. Which is how Naruto ended up curled into a ball with her face shoved into the dark haired shinobi’s chest with his arms wrapped securely around her as she slept after the funeral pyre.

They had found shelter in what used to be a library. It was one of the only buildings that didn’t seem to be in complete ruin. They had set up what few bedrolls they could find around a small fire that they had created in the center of the room, ventilated through a hole in the roof. Naruto and Shikamaru shared a bed roll while Kakashi and Obito also laid side by side. Sasuke looked surprisingly content laying between Sakura and Hinata as they rested their heads on his shoulders. Minato, being a reanimated corpse, had no need for sleep and took post against a shelf as he read through what scrolls were left in the room. They were resting quietly for a bit, but the silence was eventually broken.

“We cannot continue on as we have been. Resources are limited and Kaguya will find us again soon enough. There is nowhere to run on the island. Nowhere to truly hide. And even if we stood our ground and fought, even if we were able to defeat her, who is left in this ravaged land that we have to fight for besides each other?” Obito spoke in a quiet tone as he sat up to stare into the fire. No one seemed to have an answer for him, but everyone seemed to hold each other a little tighter.

After a moment of quiet, the room suddenly started to get hotter and Naruto squirmed a bit in Shikamaru’s hold as Kurama’s chakra spilled its way out of the seal, forming itself into a miniature version of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He had done this many times in the past after Naruto unlocked his seal so that he could come out and speak to the others freely.

The little fox stretched and brushed his body against Naruto’s back before turning his attention to the older Uchiha.

“Ever since her escape from the moon, my siblings and I have been discussing the matter.” Kurama’s deep voice coming out of the little fox always sounded weird to the Konoha shinobi, but they were used to it by now. “She was powerful. Too powerful. The Sage feared her and made sure we all knew how truly terrible it would be for her to roam this world again. Long ago, before we were all captured and turned into weapons for you humans, we had come up with a plan. One that would work in theory, but would take a significant amount of chakra to pull off and would only be succeeded by one or two of us.” The fox pawed at the locks of Naruto’s golden hair that had grown to about the same length as Hinata’s as time had passed. Once he was sure he had every awakened shinobi’s attention, he settled down against Naruto’s back and huffed in contentment when Shikamaru buried his fingers into soft fur to pet it. “We contemplated the possibility of time travel. Of using space-time ninjutsu to stop the rabbit goddess from coming to be again. Chakra is easy to send away and we believed that it would work, but then there was the possibility that it wouldn’t. That one of us would make it back to the appropriate time and would be overwritten by our younger selves and that the task would have been for naught.” He sighed. “So, then, we contemplated sending a shinobi back. If they went back far enough, they would not be interfering with their own existence and would maybe be able to succeed. But then we were captured and our hatred for your kind increased and we gave up on this plan… Until now.” He lifted his head to look back at his host and her, lesser in his opinion, boyfriend. “We have been talking and we would do it for her. For Naruto.” He turned to look at Minato. “But we could never complete the how of what we were trying to accomplish. But we are here in Uzushio now. Where the world’s greatest Fuinjutsu users originated and made it their business to complete impossible tasks. And we just so happen to have the leading expert in space-time seals and ninjutsu here with us today. I’m sure, with the help of your daughter and any leftover scrolls here in the village, you can create a seal that can accomplish this feat. And I, and my siblings, will power it willingly. Even if there is only a portion of our power left, I’m sure it would be enough to send one and maybe two of you back a significant distance.”

There was a moment of silence before Obito let out an angry huff. “Thank you for that fantasy of a bedtime story, fox. I’m sure to sleep well knowing that tomorrow may as well be my last.”

Kurama growled. “As much of a fantasy as your dead sensei sitting in the same room as us now. As much of a fantasy as you becoming the Juubi Jinchuriki and surviving its extraction. As much as a fantasy as the malevolent goddess who roams the land with her plant minions, hoping to drain your chakra away from you.”

Minato let out a distressed laugh before standing abruptly and heading towards the door. “You all get some sleep. I’ll see what I can come up with.”

Obito glared at the fox. “You’re really having Sensei waste his time with this?”

Kakashi let out a sigh and pulled the blanket up and over the Uchiha’s head. “Just go to sleep, Obito. Besides, Sensei has all the time in the world.” And with that, nothing else was said for the rest of the night.

***

It was a couple of months before anything was actually discovered.

They trained and cleaned up the island, but tensions were high. It felt odd that Kaguya hadn’t come for them yet. Everyone was driving themselves crazy with the thought. Was she toying with them or did she really not know where they were?

Naruto found a few hidden, underground rooms that only opened up to her Uzumaki blood on a seal and was able to find a ton of scrolls and books on Fuinjutsu that she happily showed to her father. She created clones and the both of them studied to their heart’s content. Naruto even found scrolls on the barrier that protects Uzushio. Apparently, it harnesses sage energy to keep the whirlpools going and puts up a type of force field around the island that hides chakra. It was designed so that enemies would never know what type of forces lay in wait on the other side, which may explain their small reprieve. It was also made so that the only people who could get through were the families that made up the island and anyone whose blood was keyed in later.

Which meant there was definitely foul play when it came to the destruction of the island and its people. Naruto wondered if she even wanted to know who the betrayal lay with. Wondered if it would do her mental wellbeing any good. So she threw herself into her Fuinjutsu studies and helped her father search for any clue on what Kurama spoke of being viable.

They caught a lucky break when Naruto found another hidden room in the Uzukage’s tower. It held many secrets and told the history of Uzushio and each family that called the island home.

Naruto looked into the Uzumaki first, of course, and learned that the last Uzukage, Uzumaki Arashi, was forced to marry his distant cousin, the daughter to the daimyo, in a political marriage after his first wife and child died by poisoning. His second marriage is what resulted in the birth of Naruto’s mother, Uzumaki Kushina and her younger brother Uzumaki Ryu.

Minato was surprised. He never knew that Kushina had a brother. He actually wondered if the woman knew herself and if that’s why she never told him. But he and Naruto were even more surprised to learn that the woman who was Arashi’s wife before the political marriage. Was a woman who went by the family name Namikaze.

Namikaze was definitely not a family name for any of the islanders. In fact, Minato knew that his lineage lay in a village not too far from Kumo. Maybe the Uzukage had met a one off member of Minato’s family and gotten married. They put the thought aside with the promise to come back to it later.

They learned more about the Uzumaki clan being related to the Senju and Uchiha clan through the Otsutsuki clan and about how Uzushio and Fuinjutsu were created.

They caught a lucky break when the second family they looked into was the Hoshizora clan. Or more importantly, Hoshizora Sora, the creator of the offshoot Uzumaki clan who specialized in seals meant for transportation. In other words, a specialist in space-time ninjutsu and seals. Coded copies of his journals were found in the hidden room where Minato sat for hours to read through them while his daughter followed along at a slower pace. She was, by no means, stupid, but she was not as quick with learning and reading as her father. She also got tired, unlike the reanimated man. There were many nights where Shikamaru, Hinata, or Sasuke had come looking for them and found Naruto asleep with a book hanging loose in her hand and her head on her father’s lap. The man would slowly untangle his fingers from her golden hair and set the book aside so that her friends or boyfriend could take her to bed. He would give a quiet thank you before continuing his reading.

A few weeks later was the first night in a while that the group had Minato actually join them for dinner. They sat on the beach under the stars with the fire cooking the fresh fish they had managed to catch that day. The entire group glanced up and gave small smiles when they heard the barely there steps in the sand from the former Hokage. He sat down gracefully next to his daughter and bumped shoulders with her as she picked at the fire in front of them with a metal stick. Naruto huffed and leaned into her father’s side. Shikamaru, on her other side, didn’t seem to mind at all.

There were quiet murmurs as everyone talked amongst themselves until Minato finally decided to speak up.

“I’ve figured it out. A seal that can help us traverse through time. Just like Kurama said.” His voice was quiet, but it was heard by all of them. They group stopped their conversations and looked at the blond man over the fire. Even Kurama came out of his seal to settle himself into Naruto’s lap and listen. Minato sighed and ran his fingers through his thick hair. “It’s a seal that has only been used by the Hoshizora clan once and is confirmed to work. The downside is how much chakra it takes to attempt. The amount is so significant, that the one person who used the seal went into a coma and almost died. And even then, they only succeeded in sending someone back to the day before. The seal was then labeled a Kinjutsu and locked away to keep anyone else from attempting it.”

Kurama huffed. “Well I have a significantly more amount of chakra than you worms. And I’m ready to give it all up. My siblings have their portions that they’ve provided to Naruto as well. You will get to where you need to.” He blinked lazy eyes at the blond. “So…what are the rest of the conditions?”

The slight building of excitement in the group at the thought of the out-of-the-box plan possibly working simmered down quickly with Kurama’s question.

“You wouldn’t be here explaining this to us with such little enthusiasm if there wasn’t something else involved. So what is it?” Kurama grumbled.

Minato was quiet for a long moment as he stared into the fire. He knew his daughter had high morals. He knew what he was about to say might hurt her a bit. He felt like crap for even having to bring up the suggestion. The only thing that pulled him out of his spiraling thoughts was a hand reaching over to grab his own and intertwine their fingers together. He looked down at his cracked, pale skin, and compared it to the smooth, tanner hand of his daughter’s. He gave a squeeze back and steeled himself for the rest of this discussion.

“If we were sending someone like Kurama back, then we wouldn’t have to worry about this other condition. He is already only made up of chakra. There’s no body to be involved. We would just send him back and he would just assimilate with his past self and that would be the end of it. But as we’ve discussed, we can’t take this option because it would take the majority of his own chakra to send him back far enough to make a difference. By the time he got to that point, he wouldn’t have enough chakra to merge with himself and be the more dominant soul. He would just be absorbed and this would have all been for naught.” Minato started to fiddle around with Naruto’s fingers. “So, we would have to send one of us back. But the issue is that we are not made up of only chakra and a soul. Neither now or at any time in the past. We cannot just send ourselves back and hope for the best. The only way to do this right would be to send us back to our past bodies. And the only ones who could do that and actually make a difference are either me, Kakashi or Obito.” He let out a chuckle. “And I don’t know about the two of you, but I enjoyed the way I lived in the past. To have to take that life away from myself… To essentially take away my own life. I can’t do that. It may not have been the longest or the best, but it was fulfilling.

Naruto squeezed her father’s hand again and there was a moment of silence before Kakashi decided to speak up.

”I agree with you, Sensei, but is there any other option for us?” They all looked at the undead Hokage solemnly, but eagerly.

“There is one other option.” Minato said quietly. This is the part he knew his daughter would disagree with. He turned his head so that he could look at her in her blue eyes that were the exact same shade as his own. “Naru-chan, do you remember when we first started looking into the families that lived on the island before the fall? And how we found out that the Uzukage was married to a woman by the name of Namikaze before he married your grandmother?” With her confirming head nod he continued on. “If you remember, they had a child together, but both the mother and child died from some type of poison. If we send your soul and chakra back to right before the child dies, I’m sure your chakra would burn the poison away and you would be able to overtake the body.”

Naruto recoiled and let go of her father’s hand. “Overtake the body? Take over someone else’s life?”

“A life that was already lost. Don’t think too hard on this, dobe. It sounds like a solid plan.” Sasuke spoke up from seat across the fire. “You would be older than your parents then. Which means you would be in a time to stop the destruction of Uzushiogakure. You would be able to help stop the beginning of the Third Shinobi War. You would be able to keep your mother from having to be Kurama’s reluctant Jinchuriki. Don’t think of this as you taking someone’s life. If you need to, think of this as you being reincarnated as this person.”

Naruto wanted to argue. She really did. But she had nothing to say. It was all logical, even if she didn’t like it. She gave her friend a pout and crossed her arms over her chest. “I hate that when you decide to speak in more than undecipherable sounds, it’s to call me an idiot and be logical.” Sasuke rolled his eyes at the girl. Naruto decided to let it be. “So… The rest of this lies on me, huh? The idiot of the Leaf Village.”

Minato frowned and opened his mouth to disagree with her words, but Shikamaru beat him to it. The dark haired shinobi reached out and pulled at her hair with a stern tug.

“Don’t talk about yourself like that, Naruto. You are not an idiot. You’re strong, brave, loyal, an excellent tactician on the fly, and one of the smartest people I know. I can look at seals and know that it takes more than a little bit of intelligence to be able to learn the art and make it work. You’ve been learning with your father for less than a year and I’ve seen you do some amazing things with it. Imagine what you can accomplish growing up on an island full of people who know and teach the art. You’ll be a seal master in no time.” Shikamaru leaned forward to kiss her cheek, causing the blonde to blush. “I know you can do it.”

Minato watched the interaction with a fond smile on his face before clearing his throat and sitting up straight.

“And, Naru-chan, because of how much chakra we all have to spare, it wouldn’t be impossible to say that we wouldn’t be sending you back alone. We’d have enough chakra to send back another person to around the same time. The only problem would be figuring out where to place them.” He looked around at everyone else. “I know it’s highly improbable, but does anyone know of any deaths at a young age that would fit our needs?”

Naruto frowned, not likening the way it was worded, but looked around at her friends, hopeful.

Obito and Sasuke shook their heads. “There were, obviously, many deaths in the Uchiha clan, but I don’t know of any actual young deaths from the time we’re thinking about.” Obito mumbled.

Kakashi sighed and leaned into the older Uchiha. “The only death I knew about around that time was my mother. But she was older, so that won’t work.”

Sakura folded her arms over her chest. “My family have always been traveling merchants. There’s not much I would be able to do even if I knew of anyone who had a young child who died.”

Shikamaru had his hands sitting in his thinking position, a habit he couldn’t kick. “I think… I remember my father telling me the story of how I got my name. There was a Shikamaru before me. My grandfather’s younger brother. My father told me that the clan documented that he had been born on the night of the new moon and had died not too long after suddenly and unexpectedly. My grandfather had been devastated about losing his little brother and had named my father Shikaku in his memory. My father, in return, named me Shikamaru with permission from my grandfather.”

Sakura spoke up quickly. “Lady Tsunade used to tell me stories about how babies would sometimes be born with blocked chakra networks and would die suddenly due to it and no one knew what it was for a while. She actually told me that story because of Lee. She said it was a miracle that he lived to be the shinobi that he was.” A tear fell down the pink haired girl’s face that she swiped away very quickly as she continued to speak. “That is more than likely what caused the sudden death of your great uncle and sending your chakra and soul back would more than likely be the influx of chakra needed to unblock those chakra passages and allow for the body to live.” She gave Shikamaru a hopeful smile.

Shikamaru looked at the Hokage. “So we have another possible candidate.” He suddenly flinched, turning his gaze towards Hinata. “Unless you know of someone as well, Hinata?”

The lavender eyed woman had been quiet the entire conversation, deep in thought. She gave the shadow user a bright smile. “Even if I did know of someone, Shikamaru-kun, I would not say it now.” Everyone looked at the Hyuuga, confused. “This war has been tough. And we have all had many losses, but we have also found something here with each other that we’ve never thought possible.” She looked towards where Kakashi had his head rested on Obito’s shoulder and how Sakura held tight to a Leaf Village headband that was attached to a red cloth. Lee’s that he had gifted to her before his sacrifice. And then looked down at how Sasuke held tight to her own hand, probably not even realizing it completely. “Yes, we have all made new connections here. And you, Shikamaru-kun, have the most obvious one with Naru-chan.” The blonde and shadow user blushed. “And I can easily say that I would rather lay down my life here for the opportunity to send you two back together so that you can, one: save our world, and two: be with each other for the rest of your days, surrounded by the people you love and without worry. Please allow us to do this for you two.” Hinata bowed her head, stunning the young couple.

Kakashi gave his closed eyed smile from across the fire and bowed his head as well. “I couldn’t have said it better myself, Hinata-chan.” There were hums and nods of agreement from everyone else around the fire.

Minato smiled and gave a sudden clap. “Then it is decided! I will work on the seal and then, we will do what was thought to be impossible.” He stood and ruffled his daughter’s hair gently before making his way back towards the Uzukage tower.

Kurama huffed at the humans in his life and turned around to face Naruto, having been quiet the entire time. “You better make sure that I’m your Jinchuriki again, brat. I quite like how you treat me.” Naruto gave Kurama a sad smile that slowly transformed into a bright one as she reached her arms around the fox to give him a tight hug. “Don’t squeeze so tight, human.” He grumbled, but didn’t dare to move away.

***

It only took three days of sketches with Minato and Naruto going back and forth about the seal before they were able to paint the official seal on the floor of an intact sealing room in the tower.

Three days of the others meditating and trying their best to not waste any excess chakra. Three days of making peace with themselves and saying their goodbyes.

Naruto was, obviously, the one hit the hardest with the situation. She was about to lose the rest of her friends and be stranded in a time she knew nothing about. Alone until she could be reunited with Shikamaru again. When her father wasn’t bouncing Fuinjutsu concepts off her, she was spending some time with the others.

She had been forced to take lunch with Hinata and Sakura on the first day, listening to the girls talk and try to teach her small, quick things about medical ninjutsu, chakra control, and how to be a real lady and kunoichi. Things she had been neglected in learning when she was much younger.

That same night, Obito sat next to her at dinner and was adamant with talking to her about how she couldn’t become a stick in the mud like Kakashi used to be. The silver haired man had rolled his eyes from across the fire at that. He told her that even though her past hadn’t been the best, and he was mostly to blame for that, that he wished she would use this new life as a new opportunity to live the way she was supposed to the first time around. Naruto had just patted his head and force fed him some of the fish that was cooked for dinner to shut him up. Kakashi laughed outright at the Uchiha’s stunned expression.

Sasuke had woken her up early the next morning to go out to the beach and watch the sunrise on the other side of the island. And he had decided that he would teach her how to handle a sword while they were there. Naruto whined about how she wasn’t going to learn Kenjutsu in a morning, but her broody brother didn’t care. He made her create clones so that she could at least learn the katas. “I’ll have to learn this all over again, Sasuke. I’m not sure why you’re insisting on this.” Naruto had mumbled as the Uchiha corrected her leg positions.

“Because I hope, dobe, that the techniques will imprint themselves on your soul and your chakra. Because if it does, just a little, that’s just one step closer to you being able to protect yourself without me there.” the Uchiha said before stepping away to make her do the move again. Naruto wanted to mention how she had been without him for a while now, but she kept it to herself. If it made him feel better, she was not going to ruin it.

Once she was able to escape the impromptu lesson, she was with her father for the remainder of the day until Shikamaru came to pull her away and feed her dinner on the roof of a mostly intact building. Now, if their small dinner turned into a make out session as well, Naruto wasn’t complaining. But then soft and playful touches and kisses turned into bruising holds and desperation. Like most of their intimate moments. It often made Naruto wonder if they would have ended up together in a different life. If the war had never happened. If they weren’t some of the last few people left. Every one of their intimate moments felt like a last goodbye, but that was the life of a ninja. Maybe she was just overthinking it. Later, before they went back down to join the others, Naruto draped herself over Shikamaru’s body and ran her fingers through his soft hair as he stared up at the sky. “Shika, you know I won’t hold it against you if we get to the past and you didn’t want anything to do with me.” Naruto whispered, putting out all her insecurities in that one simple sentence. The shadow user stopped breathing for a moment before he let out a full bodied laugh, jostling the blonde and making her give an irritated huff.

“You troublesome woman.” Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled them so that he was pinning her to the roof with his body. “You won’t be getting rid of me so easily. We Nara may be lazy, but once we have something or someone, we keep them.” He leaned down to give her a kiss.”And I plan on keeping you, Naru. For the rest of my days.” The blonde blushed and gave her boyfriend a small smile before pulling him down to kiss her again. They never ended up back with the rest of the group that night.

Naruto would have spent her lunch with Shikamaru the next day, but Kakashi was quick to swoop in and take her away to a secluded spot in the woods not far from the tower. He whistled and sat behind her, brushing and braiding her hair. It was a habit that he had started with the girls not long after running for their lives from Kaguya. It had started with Naruto after her hair had grown long enough to start getting in the way while she was trying to fight. She was about to hack it all off one night, but Kakashi stopped her and made her sit patiently as he conjured up his memories on how he used to braid Kushina’s hair back when she was pregnant. Naruto had smiled at him and gave him a small hug, asking if he could do it again for her every once in a while. It eventually turned into him braiding Hinata and Sakura’s hair as well and he did it all happily.

Naruto sat quietly as she nibbled on some fish while Kakashi worked. When he was done, he rested his head on her shoulder so that she could see his eye smile. “All done, Naru-chan.” Naruto sighed and leaned back into the man that she had come to think of as her older brother. Their relationship was weird and strained at first as it seemed like the silver haired man wanted nothing to do with any of his students and then he started to focus on one. Naruto had resented him for a while, and after Sasuke had left, she downright hated him because Kakashi had all but disappeared from her life. But then she left with Jiraiya and when she came back, she was mostly indifferent about her old sensei, if not a little excited to see him, or anyone that she had known, really. He was, technically, still her sensei after all of that, but she slowly started to see him less as that and more of a weird older brother who didn’t know how to truly interact with other people. She had told him as much and he had huffed with a blush on his cheeks and demanded she call him Aniki, which she had refused for the longest time until after they lost a lot of their forces after the initial battle with Madara and then Kaguya during the war. They had been hiding in the mountains of lightning country and Kakashi had had a fight with Obito, so he was huddled close to Naruto as they tried their best to stay warm. Naruto had grumbled and hid her face in her knees as Kakashi had, essentially, draped his body over hers as she was kind of a furnace. “I love you. I really do, Kaka-aniki, but please don’t use me to hide from your boyfriend.” Kakashi had blushed and tried to make excuses as his sensei, Naruto’s father, had laughed from his seat not too far from the both of them. But then Kakashi had realized what Naruto had called him and he held her tighter then, trembling. Naruto ignored the tears that she could feel seeping into her shirt as the man hid his face against her back.

“Thank you, Aniki. Do you want the rest of the fish? I’m not very hungry.” Naruto asked, reaching up to tug at the silver haired man’s mask. Kakashi swatted at her hand and bumped his head against hers.

“I know you’re stressed out about everything that’s about to happen, Naruto, but please at least try and finish your food. You don’t want to make bad habits.” Kakashi let out a dramatic sigh and tossed himself back against the ground. “Geez, what are you going to do without your dutiful aniki in the past? You’ll starve or train yourself to death.”

Naruto rolled her eyes and slapped Kakashi’s leg. “Stop being so dramatic. Besides, I’ll have you again eventually.”

Kakashi let out an amused huff and sat back up. “But then you’ll be the oneechan. I won’t be able to big brother you.” He said with a pout. He tugged a little at her braid.

“From the stories Obito tells from when you were kids, I’m sure you’ll find a way.” She giggled when Kakashi pouted and threw himself back on the ground again while calling her mean.

Not too long after lunch, Naruto and her father had completed the seal. Naruto wanted to wait until the next day to try activating it, but the others, once they learned about it being complete, did not see the need to wait. They all joined the two blonds in the sealing room and Minato explained how it would all work. The seal essentially pulled chakra from any source that wasn’t the chakra or soul being transferred until it eventually drained it. Once all of that was complete, and the seal had built up enough energy to do what it was designed, it ripped the chakra and soul from the intended travelers and transplanted them to where they needed to be. Which means that Naruto and Shikamaru would have to concentrate on their own tasks of leading their energies exactly where they needed to go after they ended up in the correct time.

Minato explained that the seal would not hurt the others, but would more than likely put them to sleep before they died of chakra depletion. Naruto bit her lip and trembled as her father approached her and Shikamaru and drew seals on their foreheads that would help guide them and keep the seal from draining their chakra as well. Minato had seals painted on his hands as well so that he could keep the seal going until the very end.

There was no need for goodbyes in the moment either, as everyone had already made peace with what was about to happen. Naruto had as well, reluctantly. But that didn’t stop her from crying tears that she hadn’t in a while. Shikamaru turned to her and wiped them away before giving her a kiss and whispering that everything would turn out fine.

Right before Minato was about to activate the seal, Kurama released himself from Naruto’s seal and pulled as much chakra with him that he could compress into a slightly larger form without invading the entire room and without completely pulling it all from Naruto. “I’m counting on you to make yourself my Jinchuriki again, brat. Do not disappoint me.”

Naruto let out a choked laugh and bowed her head. Of course those would be Kurama’s parting words with her. “You got it, fuzz ball.” The Kyuubi huffed and they all turned to Minato to begin the seal. The man nodded and began a long sequence of hand signs.

”Remember, Naruto and Shikamaru, concentrate on your intended vessels and where your souls and chakra should migrate. Do not waver.” They both nodded, determined, and Minato quickly finished off the rest of the hand signs. “Fuin!”

Immediately, the others began to feel it. One by one, the seal drained the chakra from the remaining shinobi in the elemental nations. The more chakra they lost, the more the seal began to glow. They were all sitting down already, but Sakura was the first to wane and eventually fall over onto her side, asleep then gone, as she was the one with the least amount of chakra. Hinata was next. Naruto had to close her eyes tight to keep from seeing her family die. But she could still feel them leave her. Her body trembled so hard that Shikamaru had to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, whispering to her that everything would be okay.

Kakashi, as dense as his chakra was, was the next to falter. He reached out to take Obito’s hand before falling unconscious. The Uchiha took him into his arms and held him close as he and Sasuke followed the others into death not too long after.

Kurama’s chakra would take the longest to drain, but it was draining surprisingly fast. The fox shifted uncomfortably as he pulled more chakra from Naruto’s seal to compensate before there was almost none left to pull. He left that there so that his Jinchuriki didn’t die before the sealing was complete. Eventually, he became small enough so that he could curl up against Naruto and Shikamaru and let the girl bury her fingers and face into his warm fur. He let out an amused huff, but said nothing more. No words were needed right now.

When Kurama’s chakra was finally gone, Naruto was a sobbing mess. Shikamaru held her as tight as he could and told her it was time for her to concentrate. They didn’t have time for tears. Naruto slowly pulled herself together as the seal started to pull away at her father’s chakra.

Just then, off in the distance, the two blonds could feel the Uzushio sage shields break and then they felt her. Kaguya. She had finally found them.

Minato let out a loud and vindictive laugh as more Edo Tensei cracks began to form across his borrowed body as his chakra left him. It was too late for the goddess. By the time she arrived, the seal would be complete. He smiled and looked up at the two travelers.

”Good luck to you both. I love you so much.” He forcefully pushed his remaining chakra into the seal and his body crumbled apart.

Naruto and Shikamaru gripped each other tight as they could feel the seal pulling at them, ripping them apart. The last thing Naruto heard was the vicious scream of the rabbit goddess in the distance before everything went dark.

***

Light, colors, and sounds slowly came back to her. Everything felt odd as she tried to move around and realized that there was no actual body holding her together. She looked around and noticed that she was in a room where attendants rushed around and what looked like doctors tended to a pale woman with long, curly, golden hair who held tight to an equally as pale baby with red tufts of curls on its head. Both of their breathing was labored and they didn’t look like they would be alive much longer.

This, Naruto realized, was her vessel. She slowly floated down towards the child and the woman, probably its mother, opened her eyes and seemed to look right at her. A gasp escaped the woman and she used trembling arms to hold the baby up to Naruto.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please save my baby girl.”

The doctors sighed and tried to make her put the child down. “We have someone still working on it, Uzumaki-sama, but the poison is something new from Suna. It’s not anything we’ve seen before.” The doctor didn’t sound particularly sad, but he knew this was a lost cause. Their Uzukage would not be happy.

The woman shook her head and held the baby closer to Naruto. “Not you. The angel. Please save my baby.” The doctor thought that the woman was hallucinating and marked that down as a symptom of the poison, but Naruto knew the truth. The woman could see her and thought she was an angel. With pure determination, she forced her chakra and soul to take on a more human form. Naruto reached out her hands and covered the woman’s hands on the baby, giving a slight squeeze before she shifted them to gently stroke the baby’s head. Naruto could feel the seal that her father painted on her shift around until it settled itself on the baby.

This was it. She was about to take over this child’s life. She understood, realistically, that the child would not survive much longer without her intervention, but it still pained her to have to do this.

“Thank you.” The whisper startled Naruto out of her thoughts and she glanced at the woman as she started to feel her chakra being absorbed into the small body. “Thank you for saving her. My little Tsubaki will grow stronger than the rest. She has an angel on her side.” The woman’s face looked pained, but she was still smiling. She slowly lowered the baby back to her chest and started to hum a song. Color returned to baby Tsubaki’s skin as Naruto’s essence started to burn away at the poison that was ravaging the body just moments ago.

The doctor was stunned and called for aid as it looked like the child now had a fever when just a few seconds ago she was ice cold.

The door to the sick room slammed open and a man with long red hair ran into the room. He fell onto the bed next to the woman and reached out to touch her pale cheek. “Nikko! I came as fast as I could.” He looked over his wife before turning his attention to their baby. “No one explained anything to me. What happened to my wife and child?” He said with a growl, turning his attention to the doctor. Uzumaki Arashi, the Uzukage, was not a man to be trifled with. He had a reputation that made people tremble if they saw him in battle. He wasn’t just named after the storm. This man was a storm.

The doctor looked away, wondering where his help was. “It is poison, Uzukage-sama. Something from Suna that we’ve never seen before. There seems to be nothing we can do, but your child has started to develop a fever and your wife is having hallucinations. We have them marked down as more symptoms of the poison.”

Arashi snarled and stood. “If you are not going to do anything for my family, then what is the point of you?” The doctor flinched away, but Nikko lifted a weak hand to take her husband’s. And just that quickly, the storm faded and the man returned his attention to his love. As dangerous as a shinobi this man was in his daily life, he was always a gentle soul to those that he loved. Naruto, who was just barely finished with being assimilated into the child, was getting a bit of whiplash from the swinging emotions in the room.

“Arashi. I’m sorry that I have to leave you.” Nikko whispered as her husband came closer. The man tried to shush her, but she just shook her head and brought their baby closer to him. “You won’t be alone though. An angel has saved our Tsubaki. Raise her well. Raise her to be strong and brave.” She gave him a weak smile. “Raise her to be a warrior far more tenacious and powerful than any Namikaze before her.”

The Uzumaki’s hands trembled as he reached up to stroke his wife’s hair out of her face. “I promise, Nikko. Tsubaki will want for nothing and she will be the fiercest woman anyone will ever encounter. I promise.”

Naruto closed her eyes, giving the two their last moment together just as she was finally absorbed into the body of the baby. She opened her eyes to a white room with a small bundle laying on the floor not too far from her. She slowly approached and looked down to see a small baby girl with curly red hair and blue eyes just slightly darker than her own. She did not look well either. Silent cries came from the child and her face was scrunched up as if in pain. Naruto got down to her knees and reached out to lift the baby. When they physically touched, the sound of the cries hit Naruto like a slap to the face.

“Tsubaki,” she whispered. “I am so sorry, little one.” She rocked the baby gently in an attempt at comfort. It seemed to work as the cries started to quiet down and got softer. “I’m so sorry that this has happened to you.” She pulled the baby into a soft hug. “Rest now. Everything will be okay.”

On the island nation of Whirlpools, a baby opened ocean blue eyes to the world to see the blurry form of a red haired man leaning over her and crying. The baby let out a little gurgle to try and tell the man that everything would be okay. A gasp escaped the man and the baby felt large hands scoop her up and left her against a solid chest.

“Oh Tsubaki. Thank the gods. Nikko was right.” He nuzzled his cheek against hers. “Your mother was right. You were saved. I promise this will never happen again. Papa will keep you safe, okay?”

The baby, Tsubaki, just let out a little sigh and closed her eyes, too tired to do anything but sleep.

***

Not too far away, in the Land of Fire, a certain shadow user had significantly less time than his counterpart to come to peace with what was about to happen.

His chakra and soul took shape in a small room that was familiar, but foreign at the same time. A small medical room inside the Nara compound. A place he did not see often from before.

Inside the room a woman with dark brown hair was having a difficult time with coming to terms with what the doctor was trying to tell her.

Green glowing hands hovered over her youngest son. A precious life that she had only just brought into the world the day before. She was told that he didn’t have much longer to live.

”His chakra passages are blocked, my Lady. No matter what I try, I am only prolonging the inevitable.” The doctor said with much sadness in his voice.

The woman stood and glared at the man with tears in her eyes. “What use are you if you cannot save my son?” She asked with a hiss, forcing the doctor out of the room. She knew she wasn’t being completely fair, but her heart was breaking. She returned to her child’s side and whispered to him that he would be okay. That she would take care of him forever.

Shikamaru watched this and let out a small chuckle. Troublesome woman. He reached out and placed a hand on the baby’s head, wishing he could alleviate some of his grandmother’s pain, but he was more concerned about assimilating himself with his vessel in hopes that it would survive. He hoped that what Sakura said was true and that his chakra would force the body’s coils unblocked.

As soon as he laid his hand on the child, he could feel the seal transfer itself and he heard the woman let out a gasp. He glanced over and saw her looking right at him with tears in her eyes.

“Please don’t take my baby.” Shikamaru was confused at first, but if he thought about it he knew how this must look. If she would see him, she was more than likely seeing him as a wavering light. She had just heard that her baby was in a dire situation. He must look like an angel or a grim reaper, come to take a soul. Unfortunately, that was half true.

He reached out his hand to the woman who hesitated at first, but lifted her own to touch it, making a shiver run down her spine. She seemed to relax though, as if feeling something familiar. The Nara may be an underrated clan in the village, but there were things about them that not everyone knew. The clan were shadow users because they were born with shadows in their souls. The blessed children of Daikokuten, the god of great darkness. Their chakra was easily recognizable to any other Nara in the vicinity because of this. They used the shadows because they were born from the shadows. He didn’t understand the lore of his clan at first, thinking it was just a silly story, but he knows now. Has lived the lore for the remaining days of his previous life. Shikamaru’s soul and chakra, by now, were enriched in darkness.

His great grandmother recognized him for who he was. A shadow. A Nara.

The woman nodded her head, not knowing exactly what was going on, but knowing what must be done. Shikamaru nodded his head as well and turned his attention back to the baby, placing both hands on it and forcing his chakra and soul into the vessel, hoping that the intense influx of chakra would do what it needed to.

Shikamaru opened his eyes to darkness and found himself laying on his back, his fingers just barely brushing against something small and shaking. He turned his head and could make out the small, frail shape of his vessel. The original Shikamaru’s soul. He could hear little pained breaths as the soul reflected the body’s ailment.

He rolled himself over and brought his body closer so that he could wrap around the baby and touch his cheek with a gentle touch.

”I’m sorry that you didn’t have more time in this world, but I thank you for everything you’re giving me.” He placed a kiss on the baby’s head. “Rest now, Shikamaru.”

In the dark of the night in the middle of the Nara compound, a woman held her breath as she watched as color returned to her baby’s skin and a thick shadow settled into the corners of the room. Her hand trembled as she reached out to give him a gentle touch and let out a relieved sob when she felt a strong fluttering heartbeat under her fingers. She picked up her baby and held him to her chest as she cried and thanked the ancestors and gods for sending someone to save her son.

”You are so strong, my little fawn. My Shikamaru. And you have a family full of shadows who will protect you and make you stronger.” She whispered to him as she rocked the boy back and forth, smiling when he let out a little sigh. “Such a Nara already.”

She stood and moved to the door to introduce her little deer to his older brother and the rest of the clan.

9 notes · View notes

veroniquesboutique · 30 days

Text

smutty poll

I like to alternate between writing smut and writing angsty things, just to give myself a little *~variety~*.

I finished writing my nanago angst and have my next long form angst lined up and ready to go (for the small knb community on here), but I need some direction for my next smut fic. Figured I'd take to asking Tumblr for some ideas.

10 notes · View notes

silverutahraptor · 4 months

Note

We live for another year! (unlike Izuna T-T ) So a prompt! Whats your take on an AU where Madara uses his eyes to send his soul(and maybe Izuna or the other founders!?) into the future after they die, to be like reincarnated and stuff....what if Madara and Izuna wake up in the bodies of dead children during the massacre?

Anon. MY HEART,,,,

okay so first of all, for dttb/my Izuna In Canon timetravel fic one of my alternate ideas was to have Izuna wake up as Sasuke, which was… a special kind of fun :) I decided to go with the fic as it is now, but I did think about it a lot back then. So the following drabble is in part inspired by my considerations back then.

I also love pain, so here you go with a lil Izuna POV for “what if Madara and Izuna wake up in the bodies of dead children during the massacre?” under the Read More. It totally didn’t take me down a rabbit hole of “omg that would be so neat” and I absolutely didn’t spend a whole lot of time on it

Izuna wakes up to, unsurprisingly, find himself bleeding from a deep wound in his chest and fierce pain radiating through his entire body, making his thoughts hazy. The latter might explain why his chakra stores feel utterly parched, his hands when he tries to instinctively reach for a weapon are… tiny, and he’s… surrounded by bodies? Very small bodies. Izuna wipes at his face and succeeds in dragging himself into a mostly upright position. Then he startles badly because there’s someone else in the room. “Izuna. Izuna!” The kid—a girl—hissing his name while grabbing his shoulders painfully tight is unfamiliar beyond the typical Uchiha features, but the way she says his name… The way her eyes spin into a Sharingan and then further into a dizzying and achingly familiar Mangekyou pattern. “Nii-san?” Izuna rasps against all hope, spattering flecks of blood across the girl’s pale face. “Yes,” she says and presses one of her hands right atop of the stab wound on Izuna’s chest. “I… something went wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen, I—you weren’t supposed to be still hurt.” The hand begins to glow a dim green, and almost immediately Izuna can breathe a little easier. Izuna has a lot of things to say, most of which include shouting, questions, and shouting questions, but the girl’s—no, Nii-san’s… this is going to be so confusing—Madara’s chakra is nowhere near the usual hurricane flood and draining frightfully fast even as Izuna feels less and less like he’s still dying. “That’s enough, stop,” he demands and follows it up by shoving Madara away. They stare at each other. Izuna now, however small he is, is still nearly a head taller than the girl’s body Madara has somehow ended up in. “...perhaps my imouto can explain the situation a bit more,” Izuna eventually says, the corners of his mouth twitching despite everything. He knows this is Madara, he knows that they’re both alive somewhere they shouldn’t be; but together, what can they not figure out? What can they not do? The girl—Madara huffs. “Well, you died, and then—” The room is suddenly filled with shinobi, strangers, in bone-white animal masks. It’s only the rapid flick of a single handsign from Madara—so quick it looks nearly accidental—that stops Izuna from burning everything around the two of them with a Katon. Follow. There’s some irony in this; usually it’s Izuna telling his brother to wait before turning to decisive action, to gather more intel before striking. But Izuna has a feeling Madara knows far more about this situation, far more about these strangers-maybe-enemies than he does at the moment, and he trusts him. For now, he’ll play the part of a small and injured child just like Madara will.

Further thoughts:

Okay, ngl, the first thing going through my mind after reading your prompt was “WHAT IF Madara… but reincarnated into a tiny girl?” + Izuna immediately and gleefully regarding himself as an older brother because of that :D

putting both of them into the bodies of killed children and using that to put some constraints on the power they can wield at first (Izuna being injured, tiny chakra stores, etc.) is a neat way to introduce some tension and also force them to interact with the current Konoha, as imo if they had all their original power they might just decide to flatten the entire Village immediately.

You also mentioned “other Founders” but consider: there are very few conveniently killed Senju or Uzumaki descendants around for certain people to be reincarnated into.

Thanks for the prompt, anon! I hope you liked my answer!

#uchiha izuna #uchiha madara #dttb #don't trust them brother #raptor writes #my writing #prompt raptor hours #naruto founders #naruto #fanfic #ask #writing prompt

10 notes · View notes

on-the-edge-of-dune · 1 year

Text

《ancient modern au idea》

kid Gaara lives with Yashamaru, has never even seen his siblings, and only vaguely remembers his fathers frowning face when he dropped him off at his uncles place before he could even walk

everything is cool and all, Yash is hanging out with him, they watch TV together, study, assemble this huge puzzle the man won in a raffle some years ago at forced team-building at former workplace

"you are sick, Gaara" his uncles says, "you don't want to infect the other kids now, do you?" and so he never approaches any of the children he sees when playing in the garden

all he does is observe the kids playing, and then tries to imitate it with his stuffed toys, which isn't the same, but he fights through the disappointment

he never leaves the property, at least not alone, and not during the day

Yashamaru sometimes drives him around town when he comes from work, which is usually past normal bedtime, since the guy works 12 hour shifts

one night, Yashamaru finds Gaara sitting in the living room (possible ISD, chemical/hormonal imbalance, no one really knows why he doesn't sleep much because he saw a pediatrician only once), reading, and asks him if he would like to go for a ride

excited, Gaara agrees

as always, belt is forgotten since he loves to lean from the window, watch the stars and feel the wind caress his face

this time tho, Yashamaru acts weird

he talks about their distant family, and how difficult it is sometimes to look at Gaara and not feel resentment, which is a word the kid doesn't really understand, and so he doesn't expect the sudden burst of tears, whining, mentions of his deceased mother

and he surely does not expect the sorrowful "please die" uttered by his uncle, the collision, the fall, the pain of being forcefully bashed against the dashboard before he by some miracle manages to put the belt on

that was the last restful "sleep" Gaara had

(and here is where i fucked up and somehow began writing amateur story)

heat lickes his cheek, but it doesn't burn as much as his forehead, leaking something warm down his face, getting into the corner of his eye, successfully flooding it and making it very difficult to see

so he closes that eye, squishing the warm liquid inside, and watches the flames eating what used to be pretty orange front hood with the other

reality doesn't hit as much as it slowly creeps in

his left eye is drowning, so to see he has to turn his head, which hurts, but little neck pain is nothing compared to the terror he feels when Yashamaru not only doesn't seem to be moving, but is getting eaten by the same flames he's seen earlier

the belt clicks, faux leather creakes, an orchestra of sizzling fire and panicked breathing

Gaara grabs his uncle's shirt and pulls, trying to get him away from the flames, begging him to wake up and move

emulsion of blood and tears stream down Gaara's pale face as his little fists uselessly tug at Yashamaru's sand coloured button up

maybe it's the adrenaline finally kicking in, or something gave, but suddenly Gaara finds himself pinned to the seat by Yashamaru's head, facing up, and Gaara wishes the warm liquid to blind both of his eyes

for what he sees will haunt him for the rest of his life

(please... do not read ahead if you're squeamish.. i didn't have to be so thorough with my descriptions, but i was, and therefore what follows is probably a bit disturbing)

half of what used to be his uncle's kind beautiful face is mangled and charred

it reminds Gaara of that one time he rummaged through "these are not for children" DVD's and watched The Mummy for the first time

part of him wishes in that moment his uncle won't wake up like the mummy did and try to kill him, only to feel guilty about it

until he recalls what happened before the crash, and how the only person he ever loved cursed him with death, so technically, he already did try to kill him

still, staring down at the brutally mutilated head resting in his lap, Gaara can't help but feel sympathy, and while he sits there, paralysed with terror, Yashamaru's last words overshadow every possible escape plan his 6 year old mind could have come up with at the moment

so he keeps staring, hypnotised by the still sizzling skin, whatever remained of the left eyeball sitting unnaturally deep in its socket, the pretty blonde hair he loved to touch whenever he had the chance, suddenly curling close to his uncles head, black and short

every single detail is burned into Gaara's retina, and it really does burn, because he didn't blink once since he got trapped in the car, and also....you know, the fire

it occurs to him how strange it is that skin dissolves like heated up plastic, stretching, splitting and creating holes

he contemplates the imperfection and weakness of human body, as he looks at the light yellow pools spreading across umber land, and as he keeps staring, he feels more and more disconnected from the whole thing

smell of gasoline and smoke don't bother him, as long as they cover up the smell of burnt meat.. that's what humans are, really.. just meat

Gaaras universe expands and shrinks, trying to find a place for his quickly deteriorating sanity, but a 6 year old mind can only take so much, and so it gets misplaced, forgotten about, and the kid leaves whatever is left of his humanity in the lifeless eyes of his uncle which never stopped staring right back at him

it seems like a lifetime until he hears distant shouting from outside his hell

and then someone pulls the door open, grabs his small frail body, and drags him out

but the Hell never left, instead Gaara took it with him

(im gonna keep it short again, okay? okay.. i just needed to get THAT out of my system, since it has been playing on repeat inside my head for years now)

since then, the insomnia gets worse now that he sees Yashamaru every single time he closes him damn eyes

unfortunately not sleeping doesn't solve the problem, because even when Gaara somehow doesn't believe himself to be human, he needs rest, and when the brain doesn't get it, it starts to compensate by projecting dreams into reality, and there is only one thing Gaara can dream of...

he doesn't consider it to be a hallucination, but a spirit reminding him of surviving the unsurvivable, haunting him for doing so

Gaara lives, if only out of spite

(holy shit okay so from NOW im really going to keep it short..)

the red head is still a bit of a dick considering all of this, basically the same little asshole he was in org Naruto before...you know, he met the blonde

he doesn't tell anyone about his uncles corpse always standing in his peripheral vision, or the trauma, and people somehow believe it was him who steered the car out of the road

👏👏👏Explanations 👏👏👏

~ai 'tattoo'~

(btw i always considered it to be more of a scar than a tattoo.. i mean, logically)

Yashamaru used to wear iron pendant with the symbol, as a token from his departed twin sister

Gaara found it on the dashboard during his whole 'sanity is for losers' crusade, and after seeing the gash on his forehead in the rearview mirror, his dissociating oxygen deprived brain thought it poetic to slap that hot iron on the wound, but to his credit, he didn't even flinch

(edit: and of course he read somewhere in the rich collection of his uncles books that a bleeding wound is best to be cauterized)

~family bullshit 1# Rasa~

Rasa dumped Gaara at Yashamaru's because his rich bitch ass believed him to be infidelity child, due to his hair and eye colour (but he's an idiot because he himself literally has darker version of red hair, which seems almost brown and the eye colour is from Karura's side of family)

since he's the CEO of a big company, he couldn't afford the media to know his wife cheated on him (which she didn't) so he took the kid and threw him at his estranged brother-in-law

~family bullshit 2# Yashamaru~

he sort of ran away from the whole ordeal after Karura died

couldn't get over the fact that she was gone, so he simply left and pretended it never happened, ignoring the existence of the entire family

that is until the reality knocked on his door and the reason for his anguish was quite literally shoved in his arms

~family bullshit #3 siblings~

they do remember the kid, but were forbidden to talk about him, or their mom

all they know is his name, since that was the last word that left their mothers lips before her candle burned out

after that, he was just gone, and they were kind of afraid to ask what happened to their little brother, because Rasa grew bitter and ill-tempered

Temari and Kankuro sort of had to raise themselves, since their uncle also ditched them for some reason

that's about all i have, the backstory

as for what happened to Gaara after the car crash? i have no fucking idea. logically, he would be in a hospital, most probably interviewed by a psychologist, who might not be impressed with the results, therefore Gaara could end up in a psych ward ( @atqh16 ????? )

6 years is the minimum age for admission into psychiatric hospital where i come from, so that lines up perfectly

anyway, thanks to those who just spend an hour reading this very short au modern fic prompt

41 notes · View notes

themidnightguardian · 10 months

Text

i sit down to write a simple little oneshot

i look up from computer once I am done, eyes red and vision blurry. the time is 2 AM. the word-count is 16k. we are 6 chapters deep, and now there will be a spin-off sequel. i have lost control of the narrative. i have lost control of my life.

#writing #fanfic #i am working on naruto rarepair week prompts and things are rapidly spiraling out of control

15 notes · View notes

frankencanon · 7 months

Text

Naruto Fanfic Prompt (Kakashi-centric):

At some point between the Wave Mission and the Chūnin Exams, Team 7 gets into some sort of accident involving a strange seal that results in Kakashi-sensei turning into a much smaller Kakashi-sensei who claims that he's thirteen years old, the Kyūbi attack was only a few weeks ago, and he is most definitely not a sensei—nor will he ever be.

In other words, a young Kakashi who just lost his very last team member and second father figure winds up twelve years in the future...!

Think of it like those Kakashi-centric time-travel AUs, but in reverse: instead of a future Kakashi taking the place of his past self, it's his past self who takes the place of present-day Kakashi.

Imagine how Team 7 might react to meeting their sensei's younger self... And he's not just younger, he's their age! Imagine how weird that must be? Your sensei as your age... Your sensei as a kid...!

Is this permanent or temporary? Who knows...

(Also, is he okay? Like, for real, is he okay? Because Team 7 is getting real concerned about their sensei's mental health...)

#naruto #hatake kakashi #team 7 #uchiha sasuke #uzumaki naruto #haruno sakura #dai nana han #fanfic #fic #fanfiction #fanfic prompt #fan fic #fan fiction

38 notes · View notes

mortyvongola2-0 · 2 years

Text

Kinktober 2022 Masterlist

The Kinktober Prompt list I'm using can be found here. And the hentai manga for the art of the banner can be found here.

Inconsistent updates and some prompts or characters may change

Day 1: Praise & Lipstick || Obito Uchiha

Day 2: Mutual Masturbation || Gaara of the Sand

Day 3: Touchless Orgasm || Kakashi Hatake

Day 4: Dominance/Submission || Madara Uchiha & Obito Uchiha

Day 5: Aphrodisiacs || Shino Aburame (For @justmyownreality)

Day 6: Hair-pulling || Gaara of the Sand

Day 7: Face-fucking & A/B/O || Kakashi Hatake

Day 8: Blindfolds & Loud || Orochimaru (Naruto Series) (For @sneetsnoot)

Day 9: Spitting & Outdoors || Hashirama Senju

Day 10: Wet Dreams & Spreader Bars || Sasori of the Red Sand

Day 11: Dry Humping || Dedue Molinaro x Byleth Eisner (For @skydaddy01)

Day 12: Phone Sex || Itachi Uchiha (For @hashira-mal)

Day 13: Finger Sucking & Monster Fucking || Tobirama Senju

Day 14: Size Difference || Dimitri Blaiddyd x Byleth Eisner

Day 15: Recording || Hidan (Naruto Series) & Kakazu (Naruto Series)

Day 16: Overstimulation & Teacher/Student || Dimitri Blaiddyd x Byleth Eisner

Day 17: Mirrors & Bladder Control || Sylvain Gautier x Byleth Eisner

Day 18: Ice Cubes & Fellatio || Neji Hyuga

Day 19: Forced Orgasm & Transformation || Seteth x Byleth Eisner

Day 20: Glory Hole || Sylvain Gautier x Byleth Eisner

Day 21: Fingering & Blood || Dimitri Blaiddyd x Byleth Eisner

Day 22: Pantyhose, Creampie, & Orgasm Control || Kakashi Hatake & Obito Uchiha

Day 23: Spit-Roasting & Handcuffs || Hashirama Senju & Madara Uchiha

Day 24: Accidental Stimulation || Rock Lee

Day 25: Voice Kink & Gags || Madara Uchiha

Day 26: Discipline || Kankuro (Naruto Series) (For @therantingfangirl)

Day 27: Massages || Might Guy

Day 28: Breast Worship, Stranger Sex, & Cum Dumpster || Kankuro (Naruto Series) & Kiba Inuzuka (For @therantingfangirl and @justmyownreality)

Day 29: Lap Dance || Dimitri Blaiddyd x Byleth Eisner

Day 30: Humiliation & Pillow Talk || Madara Uchiha

Day 31: Free Day || Season 2 Preview

tagged list: @therantingfangirl @justmyownreality @hashira-mal @skydaddy01

#kinktober 2022 #naruto series #fe3h #reader insert #kinktober 2022 masterlist #mortyvongola 2 0 fanfic #mortyvongola2 0 masterlist #mortyvongola2 0 fic #mortyvongola2 kinktober 2022 #smut prompts #smut #reader is female

141 notes · View notes

laceyjane44 · 8 months

Text

GaaSaku 2023 FanFest Day3

Prompt: Childhood Crush

(AU)

The last time had been different from her others; the last time had hurt.

Much like the others she’d found herself in, Sakura’s last relationship hadn’t even lasted six months before she was yet again left for greener pastures. Dating had been negligible in the beginning; her first boyfriend in middle school had been a classmate that she only saw for one period and then hadn’t even called once the following summer, her second was a friend of her friend – a trend she would end up developing – and that had lasted about three weeks during her freshman year before they both just…fizzled out, and she hadn’t bothered dating again until she had been introduced to the first man that she would have an actual breakup with.

Sasuke was a good friend of her neighbor, Naruto, and had started visiting quite a bit during their third year in high school. She and Naruto had grown up next to each other their whole lives and had a very kindred and platonic friendship that she cherished, though his friends he introduced her to usually had different hopes in mind. But Sasuke was very charismatic and he had a lot of confidence, she quickly fell for him and he’d swept in ready for the catch. To Sakura, her junior year ended in bliss; she’d gotten her driver’s license, had a boyfriend who was constantly visiting her neighbor, her parents even met him, and she thought she would start off her senior year the same way.

But she had been wrong.

One summer night before the start of the fall semester, Naruto had come knocking on her door. He was looking down with his hands in his hair, he was conflicted and upset. She had managed to get him to talk and he spilled about he’d gotten back from a bonfire out of town and saw Sasuke, his friend that he had introduced to her, cuddling up with another girl by one of the fires, and he refused to go further into detail.

It had been messy after that; phone calls, lots of yelling, lots of tears, Sasuke tried to deny it and that only set her off more, Naruto hadn’t stopped apologizing even though her boyfriend never did. They were finished after that.

The start of the school year had come and, with every new subject she walked into on that first day, her heart was pounding at the possibility of him being in her classes again. She didn’t want to see him, she was sure her blood would run cold, and it did when she got to her third period English class and saw him sitting at the far side of room. She’d been thankful for the relatively empty classroom she’d walked into; it allowed her to pick the seat furthest from him with plenty to choose from, and she buried her nose in a book, bunkering down for a long semester of this discomfort.

Four long weeks had passed and it felt like an eternity, but at least her classmates didn’t give her side glances anymore. A lot of them knew what happened at the bonfire, or heard about the fallout, and she’d begun her senior year of school embarrassed beyond belief. During that Friday lunch period, however, she and Naruto were sitting together and he was excited to tell her something.

“Sakura!” he called out as he tossed his cafeteria tray down on the table beside her. He quickly took a seat next to her and shoved her things out of his way. “Sakura, guess who I saw!”

His blue eyes were ecstatic and she choked back a laugh at his sudden appearance while swallowing her mouthful of food. “Your dad, for once?”

Naruto, her dear friend, the closest thing she had to a sibling, cackled at her. “Shut up, you bitch!”

“Oh my god - What? I’m eating!”

“Guess who I saw!” he cried out again, a toothy grin covering his face. She merely shrugged and took another mouthful of food as he scoffed at her, answering his own question with a gleeful declaration. “I saw Gaara in town last night after the movie with Hinata!”

Sakura felt her stomach suddenly flip and wasn’t sure if she could swallow without choking. “What?”

Naruto began to go on about how he and Hinata left the movies and went walking around the old lake park on the other side of the city. They ran into Gaara there, of all people, and spent a little while catching up. Sakura stopped eating and let Naruto regale her with the night’s conversation, disbelief ringing in her ears. That was the last name she had expected him to say.

Splitting hairs, Sasuke wasn’t the second friend of Naruto’s that she’d fallen for; he was the third. The first had been years ago, even before her first boyfriend in middle school, after Naruto found him kicking gravel down the street by himself on the outskirts of their neighborhood.

Gaara Sabaku was a young boy at the time, rough around the edges, and poorly equipped with social skills. She remembered Naruto saying that he was new to town and didn’t have any friends since his family moved around a lot; military father, or something like that. He took a while to warm up to someone, but with Naruto’s boisterous and social personality, it wasn’t long before Gaara became another addition to his ever-growing roster of friends. He would often come over to hang out with the two of them, or get invited over when Naruto was hosting his other friends, too, and there were even a few times he’d knocked on Sakura’s front door after finding that Naruto had gone out for the day.

As a young girl herself, Sakura found that his standoffish nature and aloof expressions were as much a deterrent as they were an intrigue. He was of few words, prone to a stubbornness at the time that rivaled that of a bull, but his company had become a welcome one and, once she finally got a little under his skin, she discovered an exception for herself against that cold exterior.

But that was as close as they got before his dad was reassigned right before eighth grade and the family moved again; friends, and only friends.

The Sabaku’s moved a few states away, none of them had the means to keep in touch, and Sakura had been so sad when he left town. That was her first time having a good friend move away but it was likely his third or fourth, always trying to remake a space for himself. She’d been sad over it for a while. Time marched on, however, and after a few months, new norms set in and new people came over to her neighbor’s house. Sakura had always carried a little torch for him, though. The Gaara from her memories filled such a unique mold of confidence and intelligence, as well as indifference and quiet passivity that was difficult to balance, a little exciting to partake in, and now she wasn’t so sure if that flame she carried for him had ever gone out.

“He lives on the other end of the city now,” Naruto continued. “They didn’t get the old house back, but since his brother and sister graduated already, he reenrolled over here to finish out his credits. Isn’t that great?” he beamed.

“I had no idea, that’s awesome,” she agreed, keeping that lump in her throat in check. “Did he say when he was starting class?”

Naruto said something about the following Monday, and then proceeded to gush about how he’d already told Gaara that if he needed somewhere to stay a few nights a week, he’d let him crash at his place like old times. Sakura listened quietly, absentmindedly pushing her food around her tray, and just like that; another one of Naruto’s friends was back on the forefront of her mind.

Her weekend had been spent close to home trying to convince herself it wasn’t because she wanted to see if Naruto invited Gaara over, and she tried to pass her time focusing on her homework or helping her mom with errands. She never noticed any visitors at her neighbor’s place, especially Temari’s old car that Naruto said Gaara was using, and she ignored the feeling of dejection upon going to bed Sunday night after an uneventful weekend.

Monday morning had been like a repeat of the first of the year, her heart was beating in her throat the entire walk through the school parking lot, scanning the whole way for a familiar car. She’d been indecisive on what to wear, though she ended up dressing no differently, and was badgering herself for this sudden flustered behavior over an old friend that might not even remember her. The cafeteria at breakfast was crowded but she hadn’t seen Gaara as she waited for class to start with her friends, she didn’t see Naruto all morning either. First and second period passed by at a snail’s pace and each time she stepped foot out of one class to walk to another, she felt that anxiousness spread through her blood again. Her short walk up the stairs to her third period English class, however, had her taking hesitant steps. This time when she walked into class, she hadn’t wanted to see her ex for a whole different reason.

Her halfway-excitement for English fully died when she walked up to the door and noticed Sasuke down the hall with his new girl. They were leaned up against the lockers talking quietly between themselves and Sakura felt that familiar cold pang shoot through her gut. Quickly ducking into class, Sakura found her seat before he would have to follow in after her to make the bell. Her stomach turned; she didn’t want to be mad at anyone, it was too exhausting to maintain that anger, but seeing it right in front of her was just…humiliating.

Sakura reached into her bag and pulled out her most recent book from the library, she was nearly done with it and thought if she made it to her classes early enough, it could be a distraction while she didn’t wait to see if Gaara was really starting school today. She was a quick reader, and she had a few pages done by the time the bulk of the students began filing in. Chairs screeched against the waxed floors, a distinct before-class murmur resonated between the walls, and with a couple minutes until the bell, students began to find their seats.

Someone’s bag also found its way on her desk.

She jumped a little at the sound of the backpack thumping down in front of her, the book she held now suddenly clutched to her chest as she gasped. Looking up, she stared at the young man in front of her before trying to find her words. He smirked, seemingly amused by her surprise, and she glanced away, her face growing unexpectedly hot in the middle of class.

“Hey, Sakura,” Gaara said, extending a casual greeting, his tone and demeanor as if he’d just seen her the week before. He pointed over to the empty desk next to her and asked, “Is this one taken?”

“Hey,” she managed to croak out, her voice certainly could’ve been smoother, and she shook her head and offered, “No, go ahead.”

Gaara slid his bag off her desk and took a seat in the one next to her. A few of their classmates that they’d gone to middle school with recognized him and gathered around to welcome him back. He caught up with them before class started, his voice sounded different then it did in the distant memories that Sakura kept of him, and she took the opportunity to glance over from her book to get another look.

He'd clearly gotten taller, and back in the day he’d mentioned that his father had been teaching him some martial arts from his training, that appeared to be…going well. Some things were still the same; his disheveled red hair and dark eyes, the silver chains always tucked under his collar and dangling from his belt, his wardrobe that looked like his father supplied it from the military surplus. The piercings in his ears were new, though, as was what looked to be a healed tattoo. Once the bell rang and everyone took their seats, Sakura spent the class period unable to focus on her teacher; there was static in the air around her and she was sure she could see Gaara stealing glances from her peripheral. Maybe she had changed, too, and maybe he was noticing.

Fifty minutes never felt so long.

When the bell rang again, everyone got up and exited into the hall and Gaara had been right behind her in the line out of the classroom. Pressed together by the commotion of the student body, he stuck close to her, so close that he even steadied a hand on her hip when the person in front of her suddenly stopped in their tracks. He said it was good to see her again when he leaned in from behind to speak closer to her ear – she felt her hair stand on end – and that Naruto had mentioned being excited for the three of them to hang out like they used to.

“Yeah,” Sakura agreed, clearing her throat a little as she nodded. “That would be great, whenever you want. It’s really good to see you again, Gaara.”

He had been observing her face as she spoke and seemed satisfied. Continuing to follow her down the stairs, they made some small talk that Sakura was sure she was bombing, and as they crossed through the front lobby toward the other end of the school Gaara asked, “What’s your next class?”

“Horticulture,” she answered. “Yours?”

He shrugged, readjusting his bag at his shoulder. “1-13C, I don’t know, something about plants or some shit,” he said as he returned a wave from another one of Naruto’s old friends that recognized him in passing.

Sakura bit her lip as he looked away, trying not to give into the smile pulling at her lips. “You don’t remember what the subject is called?” she teased a little. Of course not, he countered back, and she had to agree. He possessed a mind for numbers and math when they’d first been friends, and if he was still any similar to back then, remembering names and subjects probably wasn’t how he was going to get around his first day. “I’m pretty sure that class about ‘plants or some shit’ is Horticulture.”

He glanced over at her, his expression a little different now, and he grinned. Sakura watched the hall ahead of her after that, he hadn’t been one to smile so much when they were younger, and – shit, it was infatuating. “That’s perfect,” he said with an uplifted tone. “Lead the way, then.”

They walked to their next class together and Sakura only had a mild moment of panic when she misread the number on the horticulture door and thought for a second that she had actually taken him to the wrong room, but no; she had been right. Being an elective and often used a free credit slot for seniors like themselves, it wasn’t a very full class. With open seating available and the desks swapped out for two-person lab tables, Sakura soon found herself with two classes in a row sat next to her old friend, and he’d scooted his chair closer to hers before the start of the period.

He said he wanted to see the book she was carrying around, and she had showed him but, when class was about to start, Gaara didn’t move his chair back. The teacher walked in, students all began to sit down before the bell rang, and he leaned over toward her. He was close enough for her to feel the heat of his arm against hers, ironically it gave her goosebumps, and he asked her quietly, “Do you have lunch after this?”

She busied her hands with putting her book away in her bag and nodded, hoping she was coming off as collected and casual. “Yeah,” she murmured, trying to ignore the few people in class that had noticed her behavior with the new kid. “Naruto and I both have lunch after fourth period.”

“Good,” he said, leaning back in his chair. Sakura couldn’t feel the heat from him anymore, but he’d made himself comfortable and the boot of his left foot was definitely invading her space. It was like the whole atmosphere around her had shifted; heavy and charged, and if she couldn’t keep her face from blushing, she was going to die of embarrassment. “From now on, I want you to save me a seat next to you.”

Sakura swallowed as she tucked her feet under her chair, her anxiousness ringing in her ears, rejecting the urge to fidget with the hem of her t-shirt. “Okay,” she said with shrug. As the teacher moved to the front of class, she took the chance to lean over slightly and whispered, “Or you could just walk with me to lunch, too.”

Gaara smirked again, his bottom lip pulled from between his teeth. She was quickly growing frond of how those expressions complimented his face and made her heart beat a little faster, and before the teacher called for class to start, he whispered back, “I was hoping you’d ask me that.”

Thanks for reading!

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaceyJane

FanFiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2120361/WiccadBaltane0501

#ao3 #gaasaku fan fest #gaaraxsakura #gaasaku #sabaku no gaara #sakura haruno #fanfic #fanfest 2023 #naruto au #high school life #writing prompt

9 notes · View notes