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shinpachirights · 2 years

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Naruto Fics I Live Vicariously Though

Are you tired of searching for hours for a good read, getting hooked on a super long fic, only to burn through 200k words a night and get to the cliffhanger ending chapter? Worse, you discover the author hasn’t updated for months? Now you can skip the searching part because here are like 20 of those

(no offense to ppl who take hiatuses tho if y’all are making fics you’re already going beyond the call of duty, salute)

Anyway,

Of Harrowed Hearts:

http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/8211566/chapters/18817508

Words: 247,273

The one Naruto fic everyone has read/heard of. Naruto meets Kurama early, they're friends. Bamf rookie 9, fuuinjutsu shenanigans, good shit.

Chained to the Magma Pit:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18954877/chapters/45005575

words: 63,458

Fuck yeah this fic is my favorite on this list. Its the opposite of "Of Harrowed Hearts". Naruto meets the Kyuubi early, but their dynamic is they hate each other. (Which seems A Bit more realistic than them getting along instantly)(not to bash on the sacred texts -harrowed hearts- or anything) plenty of Naruto centric angst, as there fuckjng should be. Kurama drops a couple of Thanos level quotes, I think about them and this fic all the time, it’a just really well done guys.

What you Knead:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401478/chapters/40958717

words: 38,483

Kakashi quits anbu after the Uchiha massacre and takes up baking, as well as parenting. He's way better adjusted as a result, and the bakery shenanigans bring me so much joy.

A Political Perspective:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/841890/chapters/1605203

words: 104,584

Another good teacher Kakashi, council wants to pass the team, Kakashi doesn't want to listen to the council but the team passes anyway. 10/10 training scenes, lots of fluff, some good Angst, similar to "being over prepared is impossible" (no.7 on list) but not complete.

A Philosophical generation:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11839182/chapters/26723541

words: 83,432

Canon divergent at the chunin exams, team 7 focus, lots of world building, if you like a Political Perspective you will like this.

From the Corner of Your Eye:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9645254/chapters/21790592

words: 166,986

Sasuke thinks Naruto has a crush on him (which… is he wrong?) As a result he's more invested in the team… kinda. Sasuke centric, it has some pretty neat characterization of Sasuke and good takes on his perception of how things are. Sasuke fans should read!

Being Over-Prepared is Impossible (and other mottos):

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16304705/chapters/38136449

words: 40,028 (part one of a series)(this part is Complete!!)

Good teacher Kakashi, you know the drill. This one has a pretty fun energy to it, very entertaining. A bit of Jiraiya bashing later in the series installments, tho if u do like his character it’s pretty quick to get through that part and on with the rest of the work. A very Good read.

Demon Raised:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23585953/chapters/56592271

words: 41,504

"Fuck off Gyuki" iconic

I want so badly not to elaborate but I want people to read this fic more so here goes. Kurama and Naruto friendship, bamf Naruto as well as bamf konoha 12, Good Uchiha Itachi on the side with a dash of Shisui content. This fic is so much fun guys I promise.

Crossfire:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16746811/chapters/39287344

words: 64,867

Ooooooh this fic is a whole other beast. Sasuke-centric with some good Uchiha Obito, both of them are pretty badass in this, realistically enough that it seems earned. I am always down for great action, which this story has in spades. Sasuke doesn't interact w/ the Konoha 11 much here, but his interactions with Obito are entertaining, they have a fun dynamic. A hint of hint of kisaobi.

Change Fills my Time:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/687192/chapters/1261512

words: 73,401 (Complete!!)

This fic is so good, I was looking for any other good fics I've read to make this list and I found this again. Kakashi centric, one of the only time travel fics I like. A fix-it that doesn't feel like one because there are actual consequences, realistic and gritty, with amazing action and plenty of Kakashi Angst.

Help Me to Open My Eyes:

http://www.archiveofourown.org/works/22577332/chapters/53952943

words: 609,524

Like "from the corner of your eye", great take on Sasuke (those are so hard to find, lots of these fics found their way here because the authors don't fuck up his character) Definitely a good one for Sasuke fans

Through Your Door:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18756016/chapters/51998155

words: 317,860 (they go by so fast though)

Jinchuuriki bonding! Mito made a seal and now all the jinchuuriki can talk through a mental link. Amazing world building, legitimately funny, some good action, you've got everything you need! Unfortunately Kurama's only made one appearance, but we'll get there. Roshi, Han, and Yagara going akatsuki hunting gives me life.

The Rift that Tore this World in Two:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14027274/chapters/32307159

words: 71,565

Same deal as "through your door" less funny and more Angst, still amazing.

The Water Truce:

https://archiveofourown.org/series/493657

words: 86,220 (words in the full series. All entries are complete, last one has a cliffhanger though)

**spoilers!**

The absolute fucking best naruto fic. The best. Godaime Naruto, he and the gang kick ass and run the country respectably, treason is the name of the game. This is actually the second installment of a series where Danzo assassinated Sarutobi, so Kakashi takes his kiddos and yeets for a couple of years b4 assassinating Danzo. The Water Truce picks up after this, where Naruto is Hokage.

Foundation (Build it Higher, Bury it Deeper)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21778495/chapters/51965050

words: 25,672

Tsunade makes Naruto a chunin after the exams. Naruto focused, he distances himself from team 7. Team 7 bashing, but fantastic Tsunade content, as she deserves.

What A Big Heart You Have

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9068524/chapters/20624773

words: 22,754 (Complete!!)

Oooooooooof this one, this one is a lot. Kushina runs into Sakumo in a graveyard the night before he kills himself. She makes him dinner, they become friends, happy ending. So fucking good.

Would You Eat Them With a Fox?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15067217

words: 12,077 (Complete!! it’s a oneshot)

Short but good. Iruka slowly realizing Naruto isn't some demon and reaching out to connect with him. Angst and fluff.

Chase The Wind

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12710388/chapters/28986174

words: 231,815

Gaara/Naruto soulmate AU, you hear a sound associated with your soulmate in your head,, and when you're together the sounds combine. good shit

When You Bleed, I Bleed

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8079490/chapters/18512986

words: 22,583

Another Gaara/Naruto soulmate AU. Your soulmate's injuries show up on your body. Remember Sasuke shoving his hand through Gaara's shoulder? Remember that?

Unspoken

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19722970/chapters/46678030

words: 89,054

Kakashi/Iruka, the only one of those I've ever read, Kakashi stays sane throughout ANBU by stalking Iruka after seeing him once at the memorial stone basically. It's good.

Fruit on the Vine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11879517/chapters/26826471

words: 96,391

Tobidei supremacy. That's all folks. That one undercover scene- so fucking good.

Our footprints in the Dust

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23262517/chapters/55705996

words: 37,046

I lied before, I also love this time travel fic. Sasuke and Itachi centric, they meet by chance when Sasuke doesn’t know The Truth yet. Bam time travel, now they’re 6yrs in the past and immediately run into their fam + past selves. Author states this is more of a character study than a plotty fic, even so the plot is good. The character analysis is the star tho, it doesn’t treat Sasuke’s trauma like something he can just “get over”, and it doesn’t erase Itachi’s agency from his own terrible choices while still acknowledging that he was in an impossible situation. I can’t wait to see where the author goes with this one. Not as long as some of the entries so give it a go if you have a few free hours

Honorable mention to “Pulling My Weight” and other Bamf Sakura fics, the reason I didn’t include those here is 1) There are a lot of them and this list is already long af and 2) I love Bamf Sakura fics and Sakura in general, but I get annoyed when Naruto is portrayed badly, he’s my fav. Finding good Sakura fics with good Naruto content is hard y’all.

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im-still-watching-anime · 3 years

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warning: this post is just me ranting about the writing of the naruto women for far too long

i honestly feel that one of the most frustrating/vaguely hilarious aspects of naruto is how naruto ended up being - and bear with me here - the best example of the extremely specific female archtype that kishimoto seemed to be obsessed with.

like when you focus on sakura and hinata - arguably the most important female characters in the show as the two male leads’ respective end game love interests - you can break them both down into the same general mold:

- both devoted to the same boy their entire lives

- both are shown chasing after their crush in order to stand on “equal” footing (i.e. sakura’s “i finally caught up to them” and hinata’s “no longer chasing but standing by your side” mentalities)

- both suffer and try to overcome feelings of inferiority in their respective character arcs

and i want to be clear that while female characters who fit this mold aren’t usually my favorite thing it can definitely still work when written carefully and written well - to be blunt i personally think both hinata and sakura are awesome character concepts and both had SO MUCH potential and i love their fanon interpretations but i feel that canonically they were poorly written, underdeveloped, and flat characters

most of their canonical character motivations revolve around their love interests - which really sucks because i would have KILLED for a deeper look at everything involving hinata and the hyuuga or even more about sakura’s development of her medical ninjustsu so much got skipped when it came to them which definitely didn’t help anything - that aside this is especially true in og naruto though to be fair - sasuke was still in konoha in og naruto and team seven was together for most episodes which made it especially prevalent in sakura’s case

the point is by the time shippuden came around it was extremely obvious that efforts were being made to improve the female characters - sakura now had much higher combat ability from the start of shippuden and, though she gets much less focus hinata is repeatedly shown doing brave acts and pushing herself to become stronger. and while i really loved the effort and it was definitely an improvement from especially sakura’s original character - it still fell flat to me.

sakura’s fight with sasori was perfect and a great way to revive her character but then she was pretty stagnant in a lot of the following arcs - i.e. injured in the reunion arc, not very important during the two saviors arc, her weird fake love confession during the assembly of the five kage arc, etc. - she constantly bounces between “now i’m strong” and “i still don’t measure up” making her character development - especially pre-war - virtually nonexistent because every step forward gets followed by a step back.

hinata is a bit more difficult simply because she’s such a minor character for so much of shippuden which is insane since she’s literally the protagonist’s future wife. regardless, looking at hinata’s big moments: her fight with neji in og naruto, blocking naruto from pain in shippuden, and the Smack during the war (there’s a few i’m missing i’m sure but those are really what constitutes her biggest moments to me during the meat of shippuden’s actual development phase - not the post war resolution phase) two of three of these moments precede her getting very heavily and soundly beaten which personally irks me - even if i don’t particularly like it i can see why and it makes sense to me she didn’t win the fight with neji or her pain confrontation and it definitely shows that she is brave and emphasizes the all-important devotion to her love interest aspect of her character BUT it’s also a little obnoxious that we never get to see her be REALLY victorious in her major moments.

so to sum up so far: sakura and hinata are both meant to be perceived as innovative and strong female characters but this perception doesn’t work in sakura’s case because she immediately repeatedly reverts back to the damsel in distress archtype and it doesn’t work in hinata’s case because the few strong moments she has are highlighted by failure.

and also the all important point that the majority of their “strong moments” are driven by their love interests - not a bad motivation except for the fact that that is one of their ONLY motivations

to the main point i’m trying to make: lets compare naruto (obviously take this with the understanding that naruto has a MAJOR advantage of having way more screen time and development as the titular character)

in regards to sasuke, naruto:

- is extremely devoted

- repeatedly chases after sasuke to match-up with him and improve

- and, especially in og, struggles with feeling inferior to sasuke

the context is a little different and the motivation behind some of the points changes between the two but it’s the exact same mold as sakura and hinata

the major difference between the two and the main reason that so many more people get frustrated with sakura’s devotion to sasuke and not naruto’s really boils down to development

sakura barely had her own character outside of loving sasuke and when she did, it immediately got downplayed in some way - just look at the war arc and her triumphant “i finally caught up to them” right before both sasuke and naruto essentially gain godlike powers, she then spends the war constantly distracted by sasuke even when fighting “sasuke isn’t worried about me at all” which really downplays her role.

on the flip side, even with his main goal of bringing sasuke back to the village, naruto has tons of motivation and character building outside of sasuke - ex. becoming hokage, gaining everyone’s acceptance, fixing konoha, living up to his parents/jiraiya’s expectations, bringing peace, protecting everyone he can, freeing the tailed beasts, etc. etc. you could go on forever the show is named after him after all.

we are told that sakura always chooses sasuke and nothing else about it but then we are told that naruto chooses sasuke despite everything else.

to sum up: the traditional female love interest that kishimoto wants to invent is the woman who is devoted. she puts the person she loves above everything else because she loves him. she’d do anything for that person even if it puts her at risk, etc. but at the end of the day there’s still the tired trait of still relying on the man in her life for certain things. and he doesn’t bother to expand characters like sakura and hinata beyond that. (great examples of characters who are almost completely separate from this mold are tsunade and temari - though one might argue about the way they were written designed to fit specific tropes for comedic moments - personally i think they manage to dodge that for the most part though)

with naruto and sasuke - naruto manages to fulfill every roll sakura is meant to in a much more elaborated and better way all without the curse of the female love interest that sakura and hinata bear. it’s hard to accept sakura and hinata’s “i’ll love you no matter what” when naruto is already actively outright doing that with sasuke. the roots of sakura’s feelings for sasuke, hinata’s feelings for naruto, and naruto’s feelings for sasuke are all exceptionally similar to one another which is what shoots kishimoto’s main romances in the foot - because it’s hard for them to measure up to the main “platonic brotherly” relationship he built between sasuke and naruto.

this post is obviously disregarding a lot of the Other really deep parts of sasuke and naruto’s relationship and some important points about the other women of naruto. also it’s important to think on the time period naruto and naruto shippuden were written in. we’re in a major incline period for improvement in how women are presented in fiction - just look at the difference of women between og and shippuden. obviously it doesn’t completely excuse anything but it’s a point to consider.

sorry for the rant and sorry if this is all really obvious to you or if it’s worded poorly, kinda just needed to word vomit my thoughts. i really like analyzing how women are represented in fiction and how the representations have developed over the years. i wrote a few essays about it for some of my courses and now i think about it all the time. obviously i’m not claiming this is how everyone should view these characters or anything i just had lots of my own thoughts about the entire situation and dynamics that i had to put SOMEWHERE. if you have any thoughts about it or points you wanna bring up feel free to do so i love fiction analysis a lot so i love hearing other people’s opinions

#naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto analysis #20 years old and doing naruto analysis in my spare time rip #long post #pls ignore my messy thought process i haven't been sleeping super well so i'm not sure about the clarity on this one tbh #also sorry i know this isn't like my usual posts was just in a Mood #if any of you like my awful takes let me know because i have tons of them i just never post any because the posts end up stupid long like so #anyone who read the whole thing im sorry are u okay?#my posts #also i know sometimes these posts can bother some people so let me know if i need to add any tags to help with that! i gladly will

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i-simp-for-gintoki · 3 years

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Being Jiraiya’s adopted daughter

“Hello do you write for Jiraiya? If so can I request hcs for him adopting a little girl and becoming her adoptive father, like what type of dad would he be?”-anon

Oof i could have done better, and yes ik the kakashi one was requested first and im sincerely sorry but this was just so much easier to do

He was in his mid to late 20’s when he found you

All alone in this cruel world, he trained you similar the way he did with nagato and the others

But he just couldn’t leave you to fend for your own, especially since your not even 7 or so

So he takes you in

He gushes over any accomplishments you make

Even if its something like skipping a stone twice

Lots of piggy back rides

He trains you even more to make sure if something ever happened to him you could 100% take care of yourself

Loves to show you off

“LOOK AT MY LOVELY Y/N-CHAN!! ISN’T SHE GREAT?!”

He teaches you many things but also forgets simple stuff

It took him far to long to realize he never taught you basic math

He writes alot but doesn’t let you read any of it, ever.

“Maybe when your older…”

Actually sometimes he’ll write kid stories just for you

He cuts back on the drinking and women obsession a bit

Super chill yet protective?

Like he’ll let you throw a rock at a beehive(unless your allergic) but won’t let anyone within 6 feet of you

“No dating until your 130”

“Thats so long!”

He summons a little frog pet for you that just kinda chills on your head all the time

Sometimes when he wants to go and party he’ll let tsunade take care of you or some trusted froggies

If you decide to become a proper shinobi he’ll support you

When you show off becoming a chunin he gets overly emotional and throws a whole party for you

And when your older and become jonin, he cries a bit because damn his daughter is growing up so fast.

Neither of you cares at all that your not related by blood

While hes 300% loyal to the leaf, he’ll tell you that theres more to the world and exploring it is always an option

Lots of goofy moments together

Youre not in the leaf much but you have met tsunade and orochimaru

Orochimaru kinda scared you but your dad said theres nothing to fear

They are basically aunts and uncles to you

Though you only saw orochimaru once or twice

In the future he introduces you to minato and kushina

Kushina loves you and treats you as one of her own

In the future you are like narutos older sister, even if your 17-20 years older

Man figuring out the ages and how this would work is really messing with me

Jiayara is so proud of naruto and you

Especially you

Man every year on your birthday he gets so emotional thinking about how much you have grown

When your finally old enough to drink you bet hes gonna be the one pouring the sake for you two

“Drink up drink up! Tonight we party like theres no tomorrow!”

And if you don’t want to drink he might frown and say he wants to share a drink with his daughter but he’ll respect your decision

Overall an amazing father

#jiraiya #naruto headcanons #naruto x reader #man i miss him...

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depressedhatakekakashi · 2 years

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Wouldn't it be so fun to explore if the modernization concept they're somewhat going for with Boruto was done to the extreme and in their time Shinobi has been an extinct profession for hundreds of years and are history at that point. But their ways are still being taught and passed down- The clans are still passing down their techniques and jutsu's albeit if only for the sake of tradition and self-defense, Tournaments solely made for taijutsu and weapons battles, Chunin exams are still being honored with a more friendly but just as competitive version where all villages would still send their best teams to compete, The Hokage monuments and memorial stones are still honored and respected and was never added once they switched to normal presidency, and of course many medical jutsu's are still practiced and advanced to this day-

The ninja way is still there but without a war no one felt the need for shinobi anymore- so it's even more understandable that if a huge threat comes up again everyone (maybe even the villains lol) are scrambling because they were never raised to be soldiers- but the bloodlines are still there and even if not you can still be taught if you are willing to learn and work hard (not to say boruto isn't doing this well but i haven't finished it yet so- XD)

it could still be Boruto characters but the fanart that i saw was a Reincarnation Au- anyways i just think it's neat XD it was a long time ago but a lot of people i know seemed upset that the chunin exams and the kids in general in boruto seemed like watered-down and weak versions of their parents which- is kinda upsetting not gonna lie XD their KIDS! raised in peacetime! what do want?! but i thought this would be a fun idea because of that lol instead of just maybe about twenty-thirty years the time skip is about hundreds of years where the shinobi world is history and absolutely no one and their relatives has been raised or been through war!

Ohhh i do like the concept. It would be a slow process because as long as people who have faught are still alive some of the old ways will stick around, even if only on a very small scale

But over the years it all starts to fade away and the villages change for the better. There’s now wars as you said, and with the villages trading and working together the way of the Shinobi is gone but far from forgotten.

There would also be a lot more samurai mix, since with everything opening people would start to move and share their cultures more (like boruto we see a samurai join one of the teams which i think is awesome but that’s clearly a stepping stone towards an even more open future)

And then you have the reincarnated characters

Omg how weird it must be for some of them to look up at that old monument and see faces that look exactly like theirs. Imagine Jiraiya and Orochimaru teasing Tsunade because she looks like old lady fifth, or Obito, Rin and Gai always comparing Kakashi to Lord sixth on the mountain.

And the chunin exams. They don’t get promotions anymore since those arn’t needed, but awards. Metals, prizes, fun things. If a person win’s, that’s it they don’t participate anymore because that’s like them being promoted, but until they win they can take it as many times as they want. Some people do it every year because they can and they think it’s fun, maybe it’s even sponsered (sort of like the olympics) with certain people wearing branded clothes for their fights

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coolkat122 · 3 years

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Twisted Teeth: Vampire Gaara x Reader Chapter 2 Part 1

It was originally going to be just one long one-shot, but I thought it best to break it up...which might lead me to going back and editing part one then, in case it's not flowing right.

________________

I had a lot of work to do this morning and found it almost near-impossible to catch a break and when I did Naruto showed up, and I really didn't want to leave, but I had to.

So as much as I didn't want to, I cut our fun conversation short and went out hunting for Gaara's food, I went the extra mile and caught three rabbits for him in case he was really hungry.

"Hey, it's me, I brought you some foo-" I paused in my sentence having seen that, my troubles were for naught, made clear by the two bunny bodies that were discarded in a corner.

Gaara who was looking better though still frail lifted the covers off of his body by a little to peek his head out, he looked at me and towards the three rabbits in my hand and made a gesture for me to bring them over.

"You're still hungry?" Gaara nodded.

"They're too small to supply me with the amount that I need" I bit my lip as I handed the rabbits over, quietly debating if I should ask the question that was on my mind.

Feeling like the answer was yes, I asked, "Just how much exactly do you need?" Gaara who had just bit into the rabbit, draining it of its blood, replied as I looked away.

"What I caught and what you brought me will be enough for the day" That doesn't exactly answer my question, but I left it at that.

"Alright, good" I sat down by the table, Gaara after finishing off the last bunny, sat up even more in his bed, watching me from his side of the room.

"Thank you for the meal" I cut my eyes toward him and gave a slight nod before averting them.

"....is something the matter?" Gaara asked, but before I could reply no, he answered his own question.

"Does the blood bother you?" I gave a tiny strain smile with an awkward laugh.

"Yes, a little."

"Then I will go wash up and refrain from doing this around you in the future" Gaara rose up from the bed and headed toward the bathroom.

I found it nice that he cared enough to wash himself up and was even going to not eat in front of me, I'm not sure if Gaara was just naturally this considerate or if maybe my kindness is rubbing off on him in such short time!

Either way, I'm grateful and really appreciate it, when Gaara got back he was relatively clean, you know besides his clothes which were still very dirty from his fight with the hunters and the dirt.

I think now is the time to perhaps bring him a change in clothing? Maybe Jiriaya left some behind?... I suppose I should check, I stood up from the table and went looking through his old dressers.

As I was hoping I did find some clothing, but uh they weren't going to fit and were pretty dirty them-self... covered in webbing and so much dust, so the purpose even if they did fit it would have been pointless in the end anyway...

Er, well, I guess, I could wash these and he could wear them regardless of their size? I shrugged pulling out a pair I thought he would look good in and proceeded to go clean them.

Gaara surprisingly followed me outside where the sun was still pretty much out and about, "I thought vampires perished in the sun?" kinda went out of my way to ensure that there wouldn't be a chance of him getting even a tiny bit of it on him... feels pretty pointless now.

"...I'm only half" I titled my head to the left a slightly confused, I was unaware of half-breeds among vampires and really didn't even know that they could breed.

I thought being undead kinda put a stop to certain "things" if you catch my drift... shows just how much I know about vampires...

"I.. I didn't know that was a thing" I regrettably voice my thoughts, that now that I was hearing them out loud sounded a bit insensitive or maybe I'm just overthinking it?

"It is rare, not many are capable of it, unfortunate for some or so I've heard, wheres a blessing for others" Gaara sounded a bit off when talking of this, but I didn't want to push, though I think I can guess on where he stood on it.

At least judging from his tone when mentioning certain parts of the topic, "I see... not too different from humans then so that's interesting" I offered my best smile and bright side take on the subject as I washed the clothing.

"... I guess that's true..." Gaara fell silent after that, which I guess is normal for him since he seems to be the quiet type, much like my friend Shino... though in Shino's case, I'm sure he would love to talk more if someone would let him...

"I'm glad you think so... I find it kind of nice that we have similarities in our species, I never really give it any thought till now... but I'm am pretty curious to just how much more we have in common?" I took a slight pause in washing the clothes so that I may gaze upon Gaara as I begin to ask him my question.

"Aren't you?"

"I am...now" A smile broke out on my face, happy to hear he felt the same as I returned back to cleaning, it didn't take me long to get them as good as new, so I smiled happily and begun hanging them up to dry.

"Shouldn't be too long till they are dry, but if they aren't by the time I have to go home, you can always just get them yourself" I turned to face Gaara who was still watching me from four feet away.

"Is it really okay for me to wear those?" I placed my hand on my hip as I shot him a smile.

"Why wouldn't it be? Jiraiya has long since abandoned them and I don't see Naruto wearing them any time soon so what's the harm in you putting them to good use?" I raised a brow, expecting a response, but he remained silent so I took it as him accepting my points.

So with a happy little nod, I lead him back into the cabin with a cheerful hum, I went straight for the table and pointed toward the other chair for Gaara to sit on, like I wanted he followed my little wish and sat across from me.

I placed my elbows onto the table leaning forward as I rest my chin onto my palms, gazing at my red-haired friend while probably looking pretty goofy from how I'm smiling.

"You know... when I saved you, I never imagined I would become such fast friends with you... it's really such a crazy thing that I'm finding it hard to believe even now" Gaara's face showed shock as he leaned back a bit in his seat with eyes wide.

"Friends? You think of me as a friend?" This time I was taken back and was starting to feel silly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I out of line? It just kinda felt like maybe we were so I-" Gaara's eyes were locked onto me as I fumbled around on finding what to say.

"I... I don't think you were... I just wasn't aware you felt so fondly toward me?... and besides" Gaara paused glancing down toward his lap for a moment before staring at the wall dejectedly.

"I've never had a friend before... is this perhaps what it feels like to...have one?" Gaara broke away from the wall to look at me with curious, sad green orbs, I felt pretty sad for him when I heard that, though if I'm being honest I suspect that he was a rather lonely fellow from our previous talks.

Smiling sweetly at my new friend, I assured him, "Yes Gaara, this is what having a friend feels like" a tiny smile made way onto his lips and it was precious.

"I see..." He said in a low, tender voice, it was so sweet and gentle, with a hint of a faint blush upon* his cheeks, I couldn't help but break out into a wide grin.

'Gaara, I promise you I'll be the best first friend you've ever had and when I'm sure that you're ready, I'll help you make even more~' I mentally vowed to Gaara to help brighten his world and fill it with some much-needed love.

~~~~

Before I had known it Gaara had made a full recovery and weeks had flown by since I found Gaara that one fateful night, I thought by the time he would get better he'd pretty much leave and just pay me visit from time to time, but.

That wasn't the case, he asked for my permission to stay in Jiriaya's cabin a little longer so we could continue to spend more time together, I told him yes, obviously, we were friends now and I wanted to get to know him better, which.

I did and like I had hoped from spending as much time as I could with him when I could sneak out or had some excuse to leave the village for a bit, I would go to the cabin and meet with Gaara as he slowly opened up to me more and more with each visit.

Gaara would share and tell me something new and fascinating about vampires, and of himself, this would contain some times sweet and fun information, but it would also yield sad and painful to hear knowledge about him, those times were bittersweet little moments, between us, that I still hold dear nonetheless.

Though as I'm sure you could guess, sneaking out to visiting him wasn't exactly easy, I couldn't be seen going out as often as I was, I didn't exactly have an excuse for it all of the time, it's not like I was a hunter despite knowing a few tricks from my grandfather who was one.

My friends and family would get suspicious as to where was I going and why was I suddenly interested in going outside of the village so out of the blue, if I were caught doing it as much as I was.

It's not as if I could tell them of Gaara, neither party was ready for that step yet, Gaara still needed more time to adjust to human companionship among other things and I somehow have to figure out to ease them into the idea of a friendly vampire.

I'm sure Naruto would be more than ready to welcome such a thing, but the others... hmm well, some convincing was in order... Especially Sasuke.

That boy is from a well know vampire hunting clan after all... wait a second... who exactly were the hunters that were attacking Gaara and just why was he being attacked?

Where I found him wasn't all that far and if I recall Sakura mentioned that Sasuke and a few members were out on a mission from a nearby town to take care of some vampires...

I bit my lip from concern that maybe that vampire could have been Gaara and his attackers could have been the Uchihas... oh lord, please no.

Taking a brief break during my walk toward my sneak-out spot, I stopped to think of what I should do if what I feared were true, how would I go about it then?

It would make everything so much harder which was something that was already going to be quite a challenge given how feared and hated vampires are, and I already knew that Sasuke was going to be the hardest to get on board with this.

'Darn it all!' I frowned as I chewed on my thumbnail out of frustration.

To be continued ➡️

#vampire gaara #naruto #au #reader insert #fanfiction #suna no gaara #gaara of the sand #vampires au #alternate universe #chapter 2 #part 1

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jacksgreysays · 3 years

Note

Hisoka!AU of DOS, Rokudaime(whoever you pick to end up with that job in this verse), A Steady Hand (NOTE: For Hisoka!AU, see Recursive forum pg 489 #14,655 - Snapshots From The Past Of Hisoka by donahermurphy pg 489 #14,665 - A Meeting While Fleeing The Garden & Desert by Tirfarthuan pg 491 #14,716 - A Name & A Gift Passed On by Tirfarthuan)

A/N: Thanks for the biblio [1+2, 3], dona--I did not know who Hisoka was before this, so those helped a lot! I did, also, have to reread the Lone Wolf 'verse since from what I understand Hisoka is an AU of that 'verse specifically? If not, please let me know.

Anyway, on rereading Lone Wolf 'verse, here are the facts that I gleaned:

Danzo is Hokage

Hiruzen died of "natural causes" several years before canon

Kakashi "betrayed the village" somehow and is being called Comrade-Killer more prevalently than canon

Asuma is probably dead

Yuuhi Shinku isn't an entire dick (since Uchiha Uzume can think about him without an automatic insult attached)

Shin is still alive (but very slowly dying)

and Kurenai is helping the Uchiha at the very least cover up a meeting with Kakashi outside of the village.

The facts of the Hisoka!AU are:

Shikako was taken to be ROOT

in order to protect those she cared about she mentally/spiritually maimed herself to the point where she no longer counted as "a Shikako" to Gelel

her partner for the final exam was Sai

she escaped/convinced Sai that the point of the final exam was to fake her death and became a fishmonger on the coast of Wind

when Shikako!Prime leaves via Gelel she "wakes up" from said previous mental/spiritual maiming

Kakashi finds her and they're a lovely wolf and cub pair who aim to kill Danzo (and get rid of their loneliness and maybe heal)

... okay, now that I typed all that out, did you mean Hisoka!AU of canon DoS instead of the Hisoka!AU of the Lone Wolf 'verse? Because those are different things, I think. But I kinda figured Hisoka!AU was intrinsically tied to the Lone Wolf 'verse, so, uh, here's a couple of ideas I had in mind:

1) Akimichi Chouza as Rokudaime.

Because after the absolute worst sort of "warmongering, self-cannibalizing, Konoha first" bullshit that Danzo spewed, the village needs someone who recognizes that being the village leader means making and protecting a home worth living in, not just a harsh taskmaster sending his soldiers out to die.

I considered Shikaku!Rokudaime for a similar sort of reason, but it's not as thematic and, also on a personal level, he can't. In a Hisoka!AU, he has to reconcile the fact that he gave one of his children--willingly or not, even if Danzo wiped his memory later--to a man who he already knew would exploit her horrendously. Maybe he didn't know the full extent of ROOT's training (surely not the final exam) but the fact that he was apprehensive and still went through with it is not a good look.

Even if Hisoka and Kakashi do not return to the village proper (and part of me is like, hey! They shouldn't! And I will go into that more in a little bit) he has to make amends to at least her, if not both of them, and he can't be Hokage and bound to prioritize the village over her if he ever wants to succeed.

Chouza, on the other hand, is the only one of the three who never made that decision (I'm still a little side-eyeing the Yamanaka clan, because surely a clan whose whole deal is KNOWING WHEN MENTAL SHENANIGANS IS GOING ON should have seen that with Fu, especially since he was allowed to keep his name and also, probably, had to have clan training to learn the clan jutsu, but maybe it wasn't Inoichi who made that deal? Maybe it was his predecessor. Either way, still mega sketch. I'm a little hand-wavy with Shibi and the Aburame because I headcanon that the Kyuubi largely wiped out what power they had the most out of any of the clans and they were like. Desperate to survive. And didn't have allied clans to bolster them.) And yes, probably that's because as far as fighting styles are concerned, they rely on their clan jutsu which is very recognizable and thus not great for ANBU (in the same way that I imagine the Inuzuka aren't often recruited into ANBU) but it's still a notable fact. The Akimichi are trustworthy pillars of the village and have been since the beginning.

And it helps that of the Nidaime's team, Akimichi Torifu was one of two of the full six who didn't turn into an old corruptible asshole. Sure, we don't necessarily know what happened to him, but he wasn't specifically seen as an old corruptible asshole so I think he's winning. It reflects well on his clan as a whole. Also, given my headcanon of the Akimichi actively cultivating their ties with civilians and also possibly the Daimyo's family they have, alongside military might, financial and political clout.

Anyway, while a possible Tsunade as Rokudaime would have similar vibes (and does, you know, match canon and have those canon reasons for working) in terms of "healing the village" etc. etc. This is a Tsunade whose most bitter cynicism was proven right? And there's no inspirational Naruto to convince her otherwise. And also, Tsunade shouldn't HAVE to clean up Danzo's mess. Like, the minuscule obligation she had to clean up Hiruzen's mess does not apply to Danzo. (It's a little like... Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were raised to be the ultimate team to take over for Hiruzen except they didn't know it and were dysfunctional. The fact that Hiruzen's death was by Orochimaru's hand and between her and Jiraiya she is the better choice is the only reason why she has that slight obligation to go back to Konoha. Whereas, with Danzo? FUCK THAT NOISE. That's a mess the village needs to resolve on their own. THEY'RE the ones who let it get so bad. THEY'RE the ones who need to deal with it)

And also, another reason why I don't really want Tsunade as Rokudaime is because I kind of like the idea of Kakashi and Hisoka sort of orbiting/paralleling her and Shizune. Like, there's a not-so-secret society of Konoha expatriates who aren't actually missing-nin and both love and hate the village and Tsunade is exasperatedly fond of those two disasters whereas she is sickened by the village. Maybe one day it will have fixed itself enough that she'll go back and visit and whip their Medic Corps into shape, but that is not any time soon!

Also, also, also, and I don't know if you remember this, dona, but in your In Which Someone Attempts to Kidnap Shikamaru, Instead, Inoichi brings up something called the Regency Protocol with Ino in regards to Danzo kidnapping Shikako and brainwashing Shikaku to forget and originally I thought it was some kind of Ino-Shika-Cho contingency plan where the three clans take over the village BECAUSE DANZO IS KIDNAPPING AND MURDERING CHILDREN AND THE SANDAIME WAS LETTING IT HAPPEN ON HIS WATCH? And of the three clans, the Akimichi really do have the traditional fighting prowess to wear the hat, so that's part of this too.

I just think an Akimichi Hokage would be pretty chill about it. Like. They wear power well and are good at managing people without crushing them in the fist of tyranny.

---

2) Maito Gai as Rokudaime.

This one actually for similar reasons as Chouza. Although, in terms of lineage, Gai could be Shichidaime, not that we're particularly holding to that Hokage teacher-student lineage so much.

In terms of semi-parallels where canon goes Tsunade to Kakashi, that means Gai also is a candidate. And in regards to showing the village/world a new kind of Hokage, he's as far from Danzo as one could get. He's straightforward and kind and draws out the potential from everyone and honestly real great but also wouldn't send someone into a mission he himself wouldn't do. Obviously, being a Hokage would mean delegating and sending shinobi on missions, but he would never send them out to die just because. Yes there are risky missions, but he would send those best suited to succeed with every tool available to them so they can succeed. Whereas Danzo would just throw bodies at a problem and kill the survivors for not doing it good enough.

The main difference between a Rokudaime Gai vs Rokudaime Chouza is that Gai's Konoha would rely less on the clan system. Of his three students, two were not from clans and the third is from the Hyuuga Branch (AND YOU KNOW FOR SURE THAT'S GOING TO BE SOMETHING FINALLY ADDRESSED BY A HOKAGE BECAUSE WHAT THE FUCK). Yes, his sensei was Akimichi Chouza, but neither of his teammates were clan either. A Konoha under the rule of Rokudaime Gai is a Konoha that builds up those who don't have the same infrastructure as clans, who strengthens civilian-born and clan-born alike, who make sure that talented civilian-born students aren't only noticed by predatory old men who can sweep there existences under the rug.

Because truly one of the many ways that Danzo's weird self-hating megalomania harmed the village was by draining away the talented civilian-borns of Konoha. He who hated that the Shimura were a near-civilian clan, committed the worst crimes against those who could have proved that bloodline wasn't everything. He was so obsessed with the power of the Sharingan that it became a self fulfilling prophecy. Any talented non-bloodline student who could have proven a challenge were stolen and smothered before they could prove themselves.

Because imagine this: one day some random student with the ubiquitous last name of Satou or Tanaka or Honda beats Uchiha Itachi in a spar. Maybe its an accident. Maybe they got lucky. Maybe Itachi wasn't taking them seriously (after all, what could some no name civilian born do to him?). But those maybes don't matter. Satou or Tanaka or Honda gets in one good hit. Surprises the prodigy of the Uchiha clan. Knocks him out.

The teacher takes a note of it. Talks about it in the teacher's lounge. One of Danzo's spies brings news of that notable spar.

By the next week--maybe even the next day--Satou or Tanaka or Honda is gone. No one beats Uchiha Itachi in a spar anymore. And ROOT adds another nameless, faceless soldier to its ranks.

BUT NONE OF THAT HAPPENS UNDER HOKAGE MAITO GAI. Because it is civilians that make Konoha a village and not just a loose coalition of clans. Because a name and a bloodline are not necessary to make a person great.

3) And here's the angsty/semi-bleak option: Yuuhi Kurenai as Rokudaime.

And I wrote a little bit for it, but I'm a little... mreh... about it because it does revolve a lot around the various men in her life which I'm not exactly proud of, tbh, but aaaaaaaaaagh this is endemic to a lot of Naruto fic. D:<

Yuuhi Kurenai is nobody's first choice.

(She was Asuma's first choice, and he was hers, and that had nothing to do with either of their fathers. Except now Asuma is--)

Her father wanted a son. A proper heir. Someone to elevate the prestige of the Yuuhi clan.

(In another universe, Yuuhi Shinku will think the only way his daughter can benefit the clan is through marriage, not her own merits. In this universe Yuuhi Shinku is a little bit more open minded enough to make do. He's still a dick, but not as much of one as he could've been. This puts Kurenai in an interesting position.)

The Uchiha clan are pursuing another ally with a little more fire power, a little more name recognition, and all the intimidation and influence that entails.

(But look at where that got Kakashi, exiled and with his reputation in tatters. Look at Gai who so eagerly and overtly wants to follow. Look at Asuma who--)

The rest of the village would prefer someone who didn't look so much like the clan of would be traitors. Someone who didn't have black hair and piercing red eyes. Someone who didn't specialize in genjutsu, an art for liars.

(Oh, but they were fine quietly suffering under a man who lied and stole and murdered. A man who manipulated and cheated and framed others for his crimes. A man who ruined everything he touched and Asuma tried to stop him, gods, but then he--)

And the world doesn't quite know what to do with a Hokage like her. Or a Kage that is a her, for that matter.

Yuuhi Kurenai is nobody's first choice.

But that's fine. She can make do.

She can make miracles out of nothing.

So the thought process to get to a Rokudaime Kurenai went kind of like such. Obviously, the Uchiha would prefer an Uchiha Hokage. However that largely depends on whether they succeed in their coup or not. There's the distinct possibility that Kakashi plus Shikako!Prime or Kakashi plus Hisoka will just kill Danzo and then leave, forcing the rest of the village deal with the consequences... AS THEY SHOULD... and thus also sort of cutting the coup off at the knees.

If the coup doesn't succeed (whether out of failure or because Kakashi and a Shikako kills Danzo first before they're prepared to do the rest of the coup) then if the political climate actually matches the one they perceive themselves being in (although, I don't think the Uchiha are as hated as they think they are, but its hard for them to see that isolated as they've been forced to be) then they're unlikely to get an Uchiha Hokage especially if news of them actually seeking an alliance with Comrade-Killer Hatake Kakashi comes out. Much less the aborted/failed coup.

Anyway, no Uchiha Hokage without a successful coup... although, if there were a successful coup, the three Uchiha I would think would be even feasible would be Fugaku--boring, bland, but that's what they know. Shisui--friendly, well liked by those outside the clan, has an international reputation. Mikoto--this is largely based on fanon/headcanon, but she was ANBU Captain? That's pretty neat.

But, uh, to get back to the no Uchiha Hokage... Kakashi's reputation is still in tatters. Maito Gai could be a good option, but while his lack of clan is a good thing for future Konoha, he doesn't quite have the political backing necessary to get there. (Namikaze Minato was an undisputed war hero. Maito Gai hasn't quite proven himself that level yet)

If its brought up that the Ino-Shika-Cho were compromised (ie, Shikaku would have worked closely with Hokage Danzo as the Jounin Commander and also one of Danzo's top ROOT agents is Yamanaka Fu) then even Chouza's candidacy would be suspect.

The village wants Tsunade. But Tsunade does not want it. I have no fucking idea what Jiraiya has been up to, but if he didn't want the hat after Hiruzen died he sure as fuck won't want it after whatever Danzo's done with it.

The Hokage's Council is suspect. Yuuhi Shinku, for all that he is similarly important to the infrastructure of Konoha while also not being part of Danzo's corruption (in another universe, he very well would have been, desperate for power), isn't actually that strong and is old, besides. (The village has had enough of old men entrenched in positions of power telling them what to do).

But he does have a daughter. Genjutsu specialist, yes, but with potential and room to grow. And Sarutobi Asuma loved her (and, fuck, what a shitty campaign to run on, the would-have-been-widow of the Sandaime's son, but you know Shinku would be ruthless in pushing that. Remember, not as much of a dick in other 'verses, but still a dick) so she has that tether to the old regime, tentative as it is.

No one really has any major objections, but no one is really all that gung-ho about it either (except for maybe Anko who will punch all detractors in the face and may very well be a one woman Hokage's Guard).

Kurenai least of all. Because she doesn't want to be Hokage, but she'd rather step up and do it than watch her village tear itself apart even further. And maybe she doesn't know who she is just yet, and maybe it sucks that she's going to have to discover that while also being Hokage, but gods she's going to try her best because at least she knows what Danzo was doing was wrong and that there's no way she can do worse than him unless she just actively slaughtered children in the street.

...

Hm, yeah, kinda bleak ending. But as I said. The Rokudaime Kurenai one is the angsty-bleak option. I mean, it gets more hopeful, but it is a struggle I think for both her and the village.

I know its not a proper ficlet fill, dona, but hope you enjoyed this brain storm / meta anyway. :D

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missmillyashford · 3 years

Text

Eight Hundred Eyes Are Better Than One - Reaction

I should have done this a long time ago but I just reread this chapter and reacted to it as I went if you’re interested @anbu-legacy

Because I’ve had a grudge against canon Jiraiya for so long it’s been an interesting but slow process of adjusting to this (better) version of him where his awful traits either don’t exist or are slightly more subdued, and traits I could actually appreciate are more emphasized. And saying that, I love this image of this giant, flamboyant man being so unsubtle about his summons that he just wakes up not just Kakashi but his entire FLOOR. Nice one. This man is a spy theoretically and I love that juxtaposition. At least it makes it easy to let Ryouma know they’re leaving.

“Dodomeki?” he said quietly.

Boyfriends, Kakashi reflected, were supposed to be reassuring. “I’ll bring you an eyeball,” he promised.

“Gross.”

This reminds me of that time Kakashi found a weird creepy bug in that one cave during the kiri mission and instead of leaving it be like a normal person he decides to pick it up and bring it all the way back to the team to scare Ryouma with it. I always find it super funny when Kakashi pulls stuff like this, terrorizing his poor teammates with gross unwanted show and tell. I personally would love a gift like that, though. I am totally someone who would probably keep particularly interesting animal body parts preserved in a jar somewhere in my house because I find anatomy and physiology interesting. I once had the opportunity in one of my university classes to hold a horse’s brain and was quite enthralled. I just wanted a good look at it and was really curious what it would feel like.

“Just bring yourself home safe.”

“Always do,” Kakashi said, which was mostly true. “Captain, too.”

I’m reacting to this on a reread so hahaaaaaaa. Nice one, Kakashi. Your poor hands.

I would say I can’t believe that Kakashi actually WENT INTO THE ROOM to wake up Raidou and Genma, but this is Kakashi, so I can. He could have just knocked on the bedroom window, or just gone to the door, like a person with basic social skills and a modicum of decency. Kids these days. No respect for the general concept of privacy. Sheesh. Boundaries. I’m glad I’m not them. I will admit that I laughed though.

Raidou jerked, sat up wildly, and blurted, “What the hell?”

“Taichou,” Kakashi said, with a little wave.

Genma exhaled, tweaked the sheet so that it covered Kurenai more fully, then sat up — a much smoother operation. “Hatake,” he said tightly, visibly trying for calm.

“Lieutenant,” Kakashi said. And, for good measure: “Yuuhi. Well done.”

Asdfghgfds. This bastard. I love and hate him. DK is always so good at this sort of humour with Kakashi and it never fails to get me.

I feel bad for Genma and Raidou and Kurenai right now though because they didn’t even get to TALK properly the next day after getting together before Raidou had to leave.

Kakashi felt his spine stiffen. Reflexive, pointless defense of his parents, who had raised him on legends and myths, told in the few quiet moments between everything else.

I really love the callback to Don’t Fear the Dark. It’s really interesting when we get little glimpses at what Sakumo was like, and what his family was like before it fell apart. The defensiveness about it has my heart hurting, because it’s one of the few tiny pieces he still has of his father. Speaking of Sakumo, mythology/legends, and Don’t Fear the Dark, I remember that there were traditional masks of demons and things in their home. For a very long time I’ve been very curious to see what the Hatake estate looks like, and what other personal items from Sakumo and their life before are still there. Here’s to hoping we’ll get to see it one day?

I like how these legends have been woven into the worldbuilding too.

Usagi thumped him on the shoulder. “Better dodge, then. We’ll bring some of her scrapings back in a jar for the lab.”

Genma would probably appreciate some jar-scrapings, though.

Genma’s my type of person. I appreciate him.

I’m really enjoying getting to know a little more about the relationship dynamics of the members of team thirteen. Ginta and Usagi’s relationship is so fun.

I love Goya purely on the basis that she’s a badass archer lady with wicked aim and I feel like that’s understandable and valid.

While Raidou and Usagi bartered for shelter, and Jiraiya signed autographs for the goat herder’s starstruck daughter, Kakashi watched a handful of goat kids bounce back and forth over a fence with blithe disregard for its actual purpose.

The goats hopping over the fence makes such a great image. I adore Tarama the goat village, purely because of the goats. And the Katsuko callback.

I am weak to the characters being dumb reckless idiots experimenting with jutsu for science so I was LIVING for the thunderstorm Ginta-Kakashi shenanigans. I’ve also always loved thunderstorms so I might be extra weak to lightning users. Just casually detonating each other’s jutsu and hoping they don’t explode each other irreparably in the process. Good fun.

Actually getting so see Kakashi split lightning was so cool. We keep hearing about it in canon and legacy so to finally see it is so satisfying. I like the description of sharingan vision as “he tracked the bolt zig-zagging down as if it were made of syrup, oozing through superheated air, long, lethal fingers branching out towards them.” And I also particularly liked this line:

The lightning snapped towards him like a massive, elemental predator scenting blood.

I am very amused:

In the dizzying aftermath, Kakashi had just enough time to think ow and awesome before the next strike threatened, and they both ran like hell for the village.

Usagi’s childish glee is so great. And yeah, I feel both her reaction AND Raidou’s are pretty appropriate. But still, lol:

“When did you turn three hundred? Your rookie just did the coolest thing ever. Stop being miserable about it.”

“You want him?” Raidou said.

“Yes,” said Usagi instantly. “Hatake, you’re mine, get over here.”

“Wait, no,” Raidou said.

I’m glad Kakashi is being appreciated.

The conversation Raidou and Kakashi had about KureGenRai hook up was veeeeery interesting. I wasn’t expecting Kakashi to react so harshly. I guess it is hypocritical of Raidou to say what he said then do that, though Raidou has a point that it’s to protect rookies from senior officers. Lieutenants and Captains are different since they’re closer in rank. I’m guessing that Kakashi is kind of frustrated with how he and Ryouma have felt like they’ve had to keep their relationship secret for fear of getting in trouble, even if same rank liaisons are technically not against the rules, unwritten or otherwise. Because of Raidou’s whole boundaries thing and general testiness about that kind of thing?

I’m curious to see how keeping it a secret from Ryouma will go. How long will they even want to keep it from him, and if they do want to keep the secret how will Ryouma feel about both the relationship and Kakashi’s secret keeping once he finds out?

Another thing I’ll be curious to see is if this at all changes if Kakashi wants to keep his relationship with Ryouma secret still, and if so from who. I’d doubt it would since there are other factors but still. I am looking forward for when people find out, but at the same time I’ve been enjoying it being private. I think a temporary shared secret like this can feel kinda intimate so long as it doesn’t overstay its welcome. And we get scenes like Kakashi panicking and hiding in Ryouma’s bathroom while Ryouma clumsily lies and implies he may have hooked up with an Uchiha to evade arrest so that’s a bonus. I think being able to have their own relationship exist in isolation from judgements and comments from the outside allows them to take some pressure off their relationship, and gives them time to figure each other out and how to just be together unhindered. I can see why they’re doing this the way they are.

A mass grave. Whoever had dug it — Kusa ninja, most likely — had missed the small body on the hill.

“Poor bastards,” Usagi said quietly.

Kasumi, of all people, went back for the body.

I like this detail about Kasumi.

“Now we track,” Jiraiya said. He gave a little wave in Kakashi’s direction. “Do the nose thing.”

Some days, Kakashi didn’t feel entirely respected in his workplace.

Loooool

It took two more days to even get close to the Dodomeki. For Kakashi, it was like living in dual headspaces — the clean, sleek arrowhead mind of a predator, and the disordered tangle of everything human. Team Thirteen, with their… themness. Jiraiya — firmly, unignorably himself. The discomfort of Raidou and the unhappy friction between them. No Genma to smooth down the rough edges. No Ryouma to distract with chatter or an unexpected, brilliant idea.

I really liked this section for a couple reasons:

1) I like how when certain members of the team are absent it highlights just how important they are to the entire team. Genma the vital lynchpin and mediator; Ryouma the emotional heart, friend, and innovator. I also appreciate that it’s not just their skillsets that are addressed either. They’re valuable for things like their kindness, level-headedness, and company.

2) I love the acknowledgment of duality of Kakashi’s headspace and social interactions. The headspace required to do his job as a tracker vs. working as part of a team of antsy, ridiculous people are very different. The interactions he is going to be having with the wolfdogs that don’t even so much as speak human vs. his human coworkers are going to be very different too. Kakashi having an entirely different headspace with the dogs to the point he actually separates it from being entirely human (like referring to “humans” as if it were a group he isn’t entirely part of) reminds me of all the way back to the thread Lost in the Dark when Raidou sees Kakashi speaking to the entire pack for the first time. He realizes Kakashi’s social skills have likely been influenced by his exposure to the dogs he grew up with. It was such an interesting revelation to me. This is the part I mean if you’re curious:

What followed was one of the strangest conversations Raidou had ever witnessed. Kakashi, with his economy of speech and movement that seemed so disjointed in human interaction, slotted into place as naturally as breathing. Raidou recognized that questioning head tilt echoed back by listening dogs; the silent, watchful glances that lingered a second beyond comfortable; the predatory edge polished like a fine weapon. Here, Kakashi’s hair and mask just looked like markings, no more notable than that shepherd’s black-tipped ears, or that hound’s white-ticked coat.

It explained a lot.

I really liked seeing Raidou defend Kakashi from Kasumi’s crochety and unjustified remarks. Progress!!! I’m proud.

I’ve probably said it before and I’ll probably say it again, but I always love your dialogue. There’s so much personality and liveliness in it. The banter is so entertaining. Usagi and Ginta especially right now.

I know the mythology the Dodomeki comes from is very different, but there is something about the descriptions of her that make me think a lot of what I felt watching the Netflix the Witcher series. Which might not mean anything to you if you haven’t seen it. Similarly horrifying and deadly and gross. It’s great.

The entire fight scene had my heart pounding. It was so intense and fast-paced. So many close calls and how fast she was was so terrifying. We just saw Kakashi with his sharingan so fast he was able to split a lightning strike in half, yet she’s so fast he can’t even hope to keep up. Fuck.

Abe had to chase him nervously around, attending to whatever bits of Jiraiya’s face he could reach, until the medic finally lost his temper and ordered Jiraiya to sit.

I loved this.

I don’t have anything interesting to say about them theorizing about her sickly state, but I am very intrigued. I also love when little bits of real life actual science are incorporated in fantasy like this (ex. the mention of ketosis).

I am still very very worried for Kakashi’s hands. I suspect he won’t get out of this entirely unscathed even after treatment.

#anbu legacy

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peepingtoad · 4 years

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OKAY SO.

It’s not that often that I talk about what I really think about Jiraiya, and I guess I mean more how I feel about him, since I always try to write my ‘deeper’ headcanons/metas from a more... idk, trying not to get too emotional about it point of view. Basically it’s because I know how controversial he is, and I pretty much ritually avoid a lot of takes because I don’t want to get irritated about something that really doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme, because we’re all entitled to our opinions and I largely get my say through the act of writing and developing him how I see fit.

Which is enough for me, mostly, but for the purpose of reinforcing/building upon how I see my muse’s plight, working through some of my Sannin-feels and also to dip my toes into why I find blindly judgemental/single-faceted takes of him, his priorities and the Sannin’s bond so exasperating, I kinda feel like rambling my thoughts (feelings) anyway!

Politely sticks this stream-of-consciousness mess under a cut.

So sometimes I do think about the fact that Jiraiya kinda, lmao, forgot about Everything Else in the world because of Orochimaru and his (frankly) obsession with him/them. And the fact that a ridiculously significant portion of bad shit that happened is down to his actions/inaction. And the fact that he really did go and leave the likes of Naruto (and maybe to a degree Kakashi, although there’s zero actual evidence he didn’t get involved given the strong indications of a great rapport in the canon), just because he was so hellbent on pursuing Orochimaru, who was not even shown to be affectionate towards him at the best of times. When I think about it in terms of Jiraiya being gone and the main reason we’re given for it, things suck for a number of people, and quite largely because of potentially unrequited/horribly communicated/obsessive JiraOro pursuits, in essence :’)

(And for all it’s still quite the rarepair, Jiraiya does express on accounts that he was destroyed when Oro left. I mean... this is the guy who rarely acknowledges his sadness so... It’s not my bias at all I sware)

Of course JiraTsu is very real in my eyes too, albeit a very different kinda tragic, as is OroTsu. And the messy poly ship? Ohohoho, even better, but... yeah. Tsunade does at least go her own way for a long time, as messed up as that is in itself, for reasons including the fact she seems to pointedly not heal or move on from her grief. And given the absolute debacle that was her and Jiraiya reuniting... and both her and Oro even discussing a possibility of sacrificing him... and just, them in general for that whole arc :’))) yeah. They are without a doubt messy and troubled, but even despite how fraught things become I genuinely think all the furtive expressions and the undercurrents of longing and the evasion of their past exhibits a history much deeper and full of lost love compared to many other team dynamics we get (otherwise the Three Way Divorce wouldn’t have been quite so horrible on them, would it? That and they’d probably have split up after Team Hiruzen was no more, if they really hated each other/just tolerated each other out of familiarity like I sometimes see speculated).

But yeah, back to our main man. Jiraiya’s intense (and frankly very Scorpio of him) love for our first series Big Bad kinda did ruin him and what he was setting out to do in some ways, to the degree that the actual story of Naruto wouldn’t be very much without him in terms of drama. I mean, he always loved a good story, right? So art imitates life, and innit just pathetic poetic.

And in so many ways it is incredibly tragic and pitiable that he’s Just Like That. Idealistic and warping everything terrible, no matter how bad, into adventure in his mind! As growth! As pain that makes you TOUGH and makes you a stronger man! As something to be pushed aside while you just keep on truckin’! Whatever anyone you love throws at you, it’s Totally Fine!

After so long narrating through his personal lens, I’ve come to realise he truly is so convinced that everything bad that happens, is sort of just... something he has to deal with and feel big and guilty and feelsy for while spinning it in ways that enable him to keep going. He just loads it on himself and sorta holds it. The fact he’s so sad and filled with sickly pining grief that he has to try and exorcise it with impulsive bouts of decadence? Fine. And it’s not abnormal at all, how he approaches things with such broad scope and just kinda... thoughtlessly wrecking-balls his way through everything he thinks is a great idea at the time. He experiences the fallout of these things and simultaneously feels the entire ravages of it acutely while compartmentalising it ever so neatly away. The crazy thing, too, is that he’s exceptionally convincing at making everything he does and how he handles things seem so grand and noble and romantic and tragic... but in a humorously self-deprecating and still ultimately very hopeful way, to the degree that I as a mun get caught up in his relentless optimism and forget he actually is a sad and heartbroken guy wrapped up in all this grandiosity.

Sometimes I do step back and look and I just think yeah, fuck, he really is a total disaster! He’s a walking disaster and he’s been so damaging to himself and others in so many ways, all because of acting on emotions and impulses without really thinking about the impact! He really did kinda give up on those who needed him and for what? A love that will never love him or prioritise him back?

A wonderfully tragic theme that I do love with him, don’t get me wrong.

But then at the same time, there’s always more nuance to be had than just ‘he is a disaster and made bad choices, as tragic and romantic as it is, he was actually just selfish and kinda sucked in the end, pathetically whipped by his friends and unable to let go of what they had’. There’s more nuance to be had than reducing him to a purely romantically-inclined character, who just snubs everyone else for a doomed love... because in the end, I think a huge part of JiraOro’s demise in particular was that Oro felt immensely snubbed by Jiraiya when he stayed in Ame, when his loyalty to Konoha (as a place and people, not necessarily a system) and of course loyalty to his own ideals was prioritised over Oro.

To an extent, I feel like Tsunade could have been a similar case, were she not preoccupied with already having lost so much, and besides I really do think she and Jiraiya were quite firmly in best friend zone at that point. With Tsunade not being able to get comfortable around Jiraiya or to pursue any underlying affection for him because of the dumbass way he always behaved (understandably of her tbh), probably until she got with Dan, by which point I reckon Jiraiya started to really come through by showing how he valued her for her, where we see by them having each other’s backs so closely in the second war. Not to mention him generally respecting that his feelings for her have no place by the time he gets her back to Konoha.

In terms of that first split in Ame, Jiraiya, I feel, simply didn’t think him leaving was going to be a big deal, because the three were always fiercely headstrong people who had their own shit going on (simultaneously independent while also being, perhaps not to their knowledge, So Very Codependent). Not only that, but his overly affectionate ways and incessant jolliness were probably considered such a joke that he was basically like ‘they’ll be fine without me’. I certainly don’t think he felt needed by them, which I don’t think is their fault or a point of angst and ‘waaah poor blameless Jiraiya’, because quite honestly, the strain on their relationship was something I fully believe even he didn’t realise he needed out of at the time. His one-track mind was just on ‘save kids, teach kids, this is right, must seize opportunity to be the change I was told I’d be, not continue with this godforsaken war’

Selfish? Maybe. Well-intentioned? Certainly. Intended to hurt anyone or imply he stopped caring? No.

In essence, when it comes to why in the end Jiraiya seemed to be so horrendously bad at being around at the worst of times, at being responsible, whatever else (and I’m not even going to go into scenes intended to be comedic because, they are comedic)... I’ve got to look at it from more than just one view. It’s easy to say ‘he’s ridiculous and terrible because he pretty much flaked on what was important based on his whims/a doomed love/his dick’ (which I have seen said lmao) but there are so many other things at play here.

So I’m thinking, while he was shirking duties (godfatherly mainly)... did he actually consider that his most important duty? Was it anyone’s place to tell him it was? Minato didn’t, as I recall, and when he sacrificed himself he specifically left it to the Third because he (presumably) respected what his teacher was about and knew he wasn’t for staying put. Did Jiraiya not consider his primary duty to be to the prophecy, and in a more general sense fixing the big wrongs and trying to foil big dangers to his home? Were these things not pretty much what he existed for (as much as his faith wavered and went off the rails at times)? Was that not the main source of any real purpose he ever had, being a kid who showed practically no ambition before? Did he not pretty much redesign himself as being ‘from Mt. Myōboku’ rather than Konoha after two devastating wars, and thus is it not understandable for him not to focus solely on Konoha—not outright destroying it, still ultimately loyal to his home and not about to let anyone destroy it, but seeing that the world is in fact so much bigger than just his little town? Is that really something that’s so bad and wrong of him, in a story where the main cast’s country has a pretty fucking nasty system and is established to do so very early on? Is he not pretty revolutionary in his own brand of not blindly serving, but not going on a destroy-it-all frenzy either?

Also, was he not the only one who actually bothered to investigate Akatsuki and the forces that would see Naruto dead, in time? For all he did help bring Akatsuki into existence in ways, it was inevitable from before he even met the orphans that they were going to be groomed/moulded into what they became, regardless of whether Jiraiya came onto the scene. Jiraiya leaving them was just a different kind of suffering to what they were inevitably going to suffer anyway, and hell, with his influence at least there was a time where they might’ve stood a chance of going totally against Madara/Obito’s path, especially while Yahiko was still around. Jiraiya didn’t know that the whole thing with the Ame orphans was, by a design out of his control, doomed to end horribly. So while he felt personally responsible not knowing this, and it’s taken as a given that he was... actually, was he, when there was a master manipulator at play? Was it wrong to want to give some kids a chance?

With regards to all those things I see people say he should have stayed and fixed, that he should have been there, he should have done x y z... Is it not the responsibility of everyone not satisfied with their lot to step up to the plate and make where they live better? Jiraiya wasn’t the only adult. Tsunade, and I absolutely love her, does seem overwhelmingly to be absolved of leaving Konoha because... ??? Kicker is that she too is related to Naruto, of course.

So... was she not also needed for the very material ways she could’ve helped at numerous points? Was she not also placing her grief and lost love before everything else? Are some reasons inherently more ok than others to ditch? As Kakashi’s generation grew up, was it not also then up to them to decide whether they’d change the status quo? Were Minato’s own generation, presumably his own peer group, not complicit in Naruto’s ostracisation? We got a slight taste of rebellion with Asuma, Hiruzen’s own son, but the fact is many Konoha-nin were overwhelmingly complacent with how things were. And yet never get demonised at all for it. Because it’s Jiraiya’s fault for... not staying and giving it all up to be a guardian who could well be depressed and unfit to raise a child... or just being a flaky as hell one that’s never there anyway because he has shit to do? (and in doing the former would let too many things go unchecked by a completely tuned-out Hokage, not gathering all that spicy useful intel, y’know... essentially he wouldn’t have ended up largely doing his job along with the personal shit in between).

Basically when I see claims saying that Jiraiya as an individual should have done pretty much everything better, and somehow been there for everyone that needed him at any given time, and that (mostly Naruto’s) suffering was a failing on Just His part because of his selfish whims... I feel like the point of his tragedy is absolutely missed. That tragedy being that barrelling through things alone is definitely a failing and harmful in numerous ways, as we see with Itachi shouldering everything alone too, and we see them both miss out on Naruto and Sasuke as a result... but at the same time, is just settling down and leaving everything else to chance not also a huge failing, when there are so many other circumstances and enemies acting against you, when you do have the power to change tides, and when so many other people refuse to or can’t seize their own agency? Jiraiya does put his faith in a lot of people too, and a lot of people fail. Don’t fail him, but in a general sense many, like Minato, fail to make the change they wanted to. That’s life in this world, it’s tragic, and after losing a lot of loved ones yeah, he retreats and goes at it alone.

But how can he win? How does he do what’s right, other than by chasing what he thinks he can do to actually help the world, which happens to be bigger and not centred on individuals, even those he cares about?

(and remember, nobody knows Naruto is special-reincarnation-prophecy-boi, which is why I tend not to blame-game any characters for him being treated like so many orphans were because... while it’s not morally right or nice at all, it’s tone deaf to how the world is, to the fact all characters having different degrees of knowledge and priorities, and it’s insensitive of the fact most the characters had their own struggles and were just doing their best with a bad lot gdi).

Hell though, Jiraiya even does put Oro, his big obsessive wild goose chase that whisks him away into selfish pining hopelessly devoted land, on the back burner at points. Maybe not in a lasting way, particularly by the last databook where he’s inspired anew by Naruto, but he does prioritise other shit on numerous occasions. And there’s a lot of shit to try and prioritise.

What I’m trying to say is, Jiraiya can’t solely be held responsible for people. Sure, he’s a character whose decisions were pivotal to events, but what of every other character in the story? Why are they not held to the same crazy high standard of doing and protecting and preventing and somehow doing everything ‘right’ that would have also meant him fitting neatly into the Konoha mould? Would other characters really have been that much better in the position of The Big Guide/Martyr/Tragic Hero/Force For Change character? And also is having a tragic Chaotic Good bastard of a hero not a sign of a damn good and interesting character, that at the very least tried where so many others didn’t? Would Naruto not have been a boring as hell story, whose main protag didn’t really have much conflict to make him compelling, without Jiraiya (among others) being a mess with the best intentions? Without so many other characters having failed him, for him to overcome it and still be able to love and inspire change (albeit through sometimes-clumsy talk-no-jutsu)? Was I missing the point of the story?

............. Hmm!

No longer sure where else I’m going with this now, so.... here, I guess, ends my ode to why character hate (especially that reduces them to One Thing) is dumb, why demonising truly well-meaning characters doesn’t feel particularly woke to me in a cast full of flawed characters and horrible circumstance, and why I’ll defend this poor bastard with far too damn much hinging on him to the end I guess :’)

TL;DR HE’S A DUMBASS AND HE TRIED, OKAY?!

#i feel like this is like... about as bold as i'll get with this subject #{ooc}#{memoirs(headcanons)}#not sure about it being a headcanon as such but it does include some of mine so.... for now it can be #{long post}#{meta&analysis}

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secret-engima · 4 years

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Today in “SE works through the Chuunin Exam Arc and gets increasingly incredulous over how a show so beloved can have so many GAPING PLOT HOLES and also wow you can actually tell when the animators were getting paid to be enthusiastic or not can’t you”:

1. Sarutobi why did it take you so long to realize that the stadium and village were under attack.

2. Sarutobi why did you let Orochimoron take you hostage for even a hot second KAWARIMI IS A LITERAL ACADEMY BASIC TECHNIQUE JUST SWAP OUT WITH A NEARBY TILE YOU IDIOT I’VE SEEN IT DONE BEFORE FROM THAT CLOSE RANGE. KAKASHI DID IT. SO CAN YOU.

3. Sarutobi I don’t want to say you DESERVE to be trapped in a giant purple death box with your failed student and two dead guys trying to kill you but honestly you deserve to be trapped in a giant purple death box with your failed student and two dead guys trying to kill you.

4. Anbu. My guys. My dudes. I KNOW that the barrier is deadly and made of horrible purple fire and you can’t jump in but like- the barrier holders are right there. Wasting chakra to make an extra barrier around themselves. The barrier protecting them can’t be that thick. You have these lovely things call FLAME RESISTANT STEEL SWORDS you could be using to try to crack open the barrier. Or if you were REALLY smart you could, I don’t know, TUNNEL UP THROUGH THE CEILING??? The barrier is just a box that’s been turned upside down, there is no sign of a barrier floor underneath the tiles and even if there is you guys could have checked. You don’t need to just- sit there. Watching an old man, two dead guys, and a snake wearing makeup beat each other up.

5. Who let Kakashi make the plan. Why did Kakashi decide that it would be better to send the civilian girl he hasn’t bothered to train, the loud blond who he also hasn’t bothered to train, and the boy who tried to fake sleep to get out of helping go alone with just a tiny pug as escort. There were other genin RIGHT THERE who could both help AND be conveniently out of the line of fire in Kakashi’s fight. He was sending them after Sasuke, who was chasing three genin we’ve already seen wipe the FLOOR with the average genin. Having more numbers would be HIGHLY ADVANTAGEOUS.

6. And don’t tell me “he did it because Stealth” he sent the girl with bubblegum hair and the boy in neon orange out there, stealth is a non-factor and also it’s AN INVASION, nobody is going to care about a bunch of wacky kids running by they’re too busy trying not to die to the blur of green spandex that is Gai.

7. Where is Lee in all this anyway he just kinda vanished from the screen. Or was he passed out on the floor and I just missed him. I know he can’t fight, I just wanna know if he’s okay.

8. Was it bad that I didn’t know Asuma could actually fight? I knew he was one of the Guardian Twelve or whatever but mostly fans only talk about him getting owned by Itachi or murdered by Hidan so I guess I just assumed he was ... kinda a sucky fighter. I have been proven wrong. Nice job saving your deer boy, Asuma, I’m impressed.

9. There’s an actual budget for the Hokage fight? Nice. Also who gave Sarutobi the right to actually be cool NOW when he’s been acting senile for the past 10+ episodes excuse you.

10. EXCUSE YOU SARUTOBI YOU DON’T GET TO MAKE EPIC FEELS-INDUCING SPEECHES ABOUT THE WILL OF FIRE AND THE VILLAGE AS YOUR FAMILY, NOT WHEN YOU HAVE FAILED ON BOTH THOSE ASPECTS SO HARD.

11. How dare you make me regret your impending death even a little bit Sarutobi. How dare.

12. There’s a monkey king? That’s an actual THING? I mean I knew there was a monkey king but I didn’t expect him to be so amazing. Now if he would just stop waiting for Sarutobi to grow a spine (because we all know he won’t) and actually kick Orochimaru while the snake was distracted taunting his old sensei maybe we’d actually get somewhere with this show.

13. Seriously Monkey King you turn into a adamantine pole or whatever that can change shape and size, just play dead on the ground for a minute then expand and extend to the size and length of a tree. You don’t even have to do any damage yourself you just have to shove him/wack him into his own barrier and let him go up in flames. It probably won’t kill him, since Plot and also Orochimoron, but hey at least it will do damage and distract him for a few seconds.

14. Turning to Naruto real quick because clearly Sarutobi’s Senile Damsel Syndrome is contagious- Naruto. You are an Uzumaki. You have so much chakra you can barely do chakra control exercises. I know you’re tired from the Neji fight, but I ALSO know via fandom that you’re going to summon a freaking Boss Summon in a few episodes. When Shikamaru says “someone needs to stay behind and be a diversion” why didn’t you, I don’t know, SPAM A FEW SHADOW CLONES? You didn’t even have to use only shadow clones for the diversion, you could have just dropped off a few to help out Shika in his rare moment of self-sacrifice. Half a dozen screaming orange genin would go such a long way in providing a distraction so Shika could make a plan (may I suggest, catch the sound ninja in shadow possession and then have the Naruto’s slit their throats before their ninth member has a chance to catch up?). But no. We can’t possibly spam clones the one time a comrade could find them terribly useful, let’s go back to running through the trees worrying about the boy who knows an A-Rank assassination jutsu and would be totally fine surviving on his own for another several episodes of dialogue and reaction shots ten minutes.

15. Where the ACTUAL freak is Jiraiya. He came to Konoha specifically because he heard Orochimaru was planning something. There is an INVASION HAPPENING. GIANT SNAKES. BUSTING DOWN THE WALL. ENEMY NINJA EVERYWHERE. YOUR SENSEI IS TRAPPED IN A BARRIER JUTSU WITH THE GUY YOU SPECIFICALLY CAME HERE TO LOOK FOR. You don’t suppose you could leave your drinks and women and pity party long enough to- I don’t know- HELP? I mean I know it would be hard for someone who has such niche skills like SUMMONING GIANT TOADS and USING FUUNJUTSU THAT COULD PROBABLY BREAK THE BARRIER YOUR SENSEI IS TRAPPED IN but come on man, put forth a little effort.

Maybe you show up in a later episode miraculously doing something important to help stop the invasion, who knows.

Pros of this arc tho:

1. When they decide to actually use their animation budget THEY REALLY GO FOR IT. The fights that have a budget are epic.

2. Sakura got to be useful! For 20 seconds! She fended off a genjutsu and woke up Naruto and told him what was going on! That counts as useful! *devolves into sobbing because why are the girl characters not allowed to be both good guys AND competent onscreen*

3. I genuinely cheered when Asuma swooped in to save Shika. That was cool.

4. Some of the exam fight bits were cool. Naruto vs Neji dragged on a bit but the ending tactic was as rewarding as I’d hoped it would be from reading about it in the fandom. Also I really enjoyed the Shikamaru vs Temari fight. A-tier victory from the resident Deer Boi.

5. Sasuke using Chidori first time on screen was cool, and even though I’d read about it ahead of time, Gaara wigging out over seeing his own blood genuinely startled me.

6. I was glad to see that Sasuke still remembers how to use other jutsu than Chidori. When Temari started fighting him I was afraid the show writers would forget he HAD any jutsu other than Chidori tbh. Like Naruto and his many versions of the same jutsu (see: all the clone spam variations, all the harem jutsu variations, and all the many MANY different rasengan variations).

#Secret Engima Rambles #SE rants #naruto #SE watches anime #Salty SE is Salty #surprisingly I am actually enjoying the show #i just get a steady build up of salt and eyerolling over the plot holes #and need to expel it before continuing to watch the show #still confused why people think this is somehow better than boruto #at least boruto remembers that its characters can DO THINGS #other than sit and look shocked at different angles for minutes on end

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razeluxe · 4 years

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Razeluxe’s Top Ten Male Characters

So I’ve been thinking about doing a particular list for my favorite characters across anime and games for quite a while and with some advice I decided to break it into my favorite male and favorite female characters. Most people that know me can probably guess at my top three favorites but if you don’t know me... well you ‘bout to learn lol. This was harder than I thought to compile...enjoy my fanboying of the boys lol.

By the by, I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum.

10) Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright Series)

I’ve played only two games that this character was in (Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies, slowly working through Spirit of Justice) and this character particularly in Dual Destinies struck me even more than Edgeworth who is another amazing character. Apollo has an amazing spirit and it was only through playing Dual Destinies that I really got to understand Mr. ‘I’m Fine’ and his stupid ‘Here comes Justice’ puns. I feel his original game didn’t allow him to shine (still a great entry in the Ace Attorney series I don’t care what anyone says) and Dual Destinies allows him the development he deserves. He gets hurt during a trial and it allows a deep dive of his character even if his personality shifts for a while. Damn he’s savage. He’s considered the underdog in the Wright Anything Agency but he’s to me the hardest working person there who is also the most factual in court.

9) Gokudera (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Or as I like to call him, Scowludera since he’s scowling like 90% of the time. This Ichigo ripoff’s character development is insane. And I think that trend follows most if not all the characters in this list. His relationship with his sister is interesting and he’s pretty explosive in terms of personality and intelligence. His fights are all really interesting too, he has some of my favorite interactions in the series thus far (haven’t read the post anime manga chapters yet sadly, but he’s more than earned this spot on this list). He butts heads with people a lot and he can be ignorant but he grows from his experience and you get to see it bit by bit. This dude is loyal to the bone. RIP if you aren’t Tsuna or Reborn. Also, I’d like to shout out this anime as one of the few to do the shounen genre proper justice. Go watch it. Also his sister Bianchi is <3. Oh wait. Male list. Oops. Can we also talk about his weapon? Not gonna say spoilers but that thing is dope and probably one of the best ever designed weapons. And his kitty Uri <3

8) Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky)

This will be short as I don’t want to spoil anything, but Joshua is a very easy character for me to connect to personally. His feelings, actions, development probably relates more to me than a lot of characters on this list. He’s got good people around him...I’m very happy for his ship and support it 120%. Also the Trails Series, both Sky and Cold Steel are probably my favorite series of anything period. Go play it. There is more to this character that meets the eye and has broken my heart more than once ;_;

7) Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

Neku Neku Neku. Another very relatable character for me (see the theme here? lol) He initially shuts out people and over time, through his experience in the Reapers Game, he starts to open up and bring people into his circle. He goes through some crap, like a lot of trauma. When you learn of him it’s no wonder he wound up disliking people and society. He’s extremely creative and that creativity manifests itself in different ways. Kinda like me. It’s worth mentioning I used to roleplay this character back in the day, the very first canon character I used to write for.

6) Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

One of the only blonde’s on this list. Shulk is a character that is driven by revenge but eventually changes. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff that I absolutely will not spoil. His personality when he encounters a certain characters shifts big time and it’s kind of scary considering how early you see this. Also he gets points for being a notably intelligent character. I mean, the dude has his own lab...and is able to fix and adjust stuff. He’s really a great and well balanced character despite all the crap he goes through. Also I used to make fun of this character and dislike him a little bit, but then I grew up.

The list gets real starting...now. Not that it was fake before. :o

5) Jaden Yuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Anyone who has actually watched the entirety of GX might know why he’s here. His character development in the latter seasons so unreal and interesting. I’m not spoiling crap but there is a lot more to the character than meets the eye. Like a lot lot. Over the course of the series he loses his innocent eyes and his personality changes a lot...His character is probably one I can relate to in terms of the reasons for his actions, the way he gets down about himself, the way he acts in the final season...it hits me hard...he’s too dang relatable...just like..

4) Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel)

Surprise surprise. Rean is here. -hears crickets- Guess you’re not surprised. I wonder why. I think I relate to this character more than anyone else on this list. Except number one. Number one is in his own league. Rean is a character who generally carries a happy disposition...he has a unique power but you can see he is actively scared of it. It’s something I actively deal with...he’s so scared of himself that he puts distance between family and friends. He never feels he’s good enough. He’s made headway through this, but...

One thing that’s extremely interesting about this character is his selflessness. You may think this is driven to the ground in character stereotypes but for Rean it’s different...his selfless has been described as abnormal by characters in game, and it’s not for positive reasons...Rean deals with some real unhealthy stuff. This is getting long.

As of this post Cold Steel 4 comes out in one month and I’m extremely worried for his character. If you’ve played 3 then you’ll know why. Also if you haven’t played the Trails series, go play it. No buts. Heck I’ll even buy the game(s) for you if I can.

Oh look we’re at the top three. I want to say that while numbers two and three here are pretty interchangeable, these characters have been in my top three for over a decade and a half and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Rean I love you but you have your work cut out if you ever want to breach the top 3. I wanna post a few honorable mentions here. They didn’t get into Smash but they do get Mii Costumes at least! -shot-

Davis Motomiya (Digimon Adventure 02)

This character was everything I was when I was a kid. The way he tries everything to woo Kari is too cute. Also his unwavering faith in Ken. Also Davis Cries Veemon.

9S (Nier Automata)

Not mentioning any spoilers. Just watch this character and see how his vision of the world changes over time.

Okabe Rintaro (Steins; Gate)

Okabe’s shift from his ‘persona’ as things get real and his efforts to fix everything is too relatable for me ;_;

Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4)

No, I do not ship him with Yu. They’re great buddies for sure, and he’s pretty cool. Really likable character for me personally save for a few moments in the game...he’s also the main in the Arena games. “Let’s do this, Jiraiya!” He’s so cool lol.

Top 3 time. Fiercely dedicated to these guys.

3) Robin (Teen Titans Go! 2003)

Robin is such a raw character that carries his past and tries so hard to move from it yet it embodies him to his core. He has since gained a softer side from forming a team, and has been doing normal teenager stuff...which is good for him. However at times that Batman side impacts him so hard that he can only concentrate on his mission, and starts shutting out everyone and everything to do things himself. It actively gets in the way of his interactions. He deals a lot with moving on from failure and acknowledging his friends more, which he does get better at over time. He is also represented by the color red. My favorite color. He’s badass and yet carries so much crap. I connect to this character a lot even now. Third canon character I ever wrote for.

2 Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)

I love Lloyd. I love his voice, I love his attacks, I love his stupid double sword logic. He says wielding two swords makes him twice as powerful lol. I love his development. I love his idealism and how it matures over time. I love everything about Lloyd. It was legit love at first sight. I remember being 15-16 and seeing him on that Gamecube boxart and saying “I wanna play that guy” Most people I feel (guys in particular) probably looked up to certain characters growing up as a child/teen. Lloyd was mine.

1. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

While it was love at first sight for Lloyd, that was not the case for number one on this list. I was 13 when I first played FFIX. Zidane upon encountering him, I always thought he was a cool character, but he was nothing special. Even at Zidane’s lowest point I thought he was an okay character at best. I had not finished the game.

Fast forward a few years and I decide to play FFIX again, this time determined to finish it. I had went through some things, grew up a bit before turning this game on. This damn bandit...I remember writing this bit years ago: “His infamous mantra labeled above describes him well, but under his ability to console others with a smile, to cheer people up and meet them at their point of need with his abundant optimism lies a blonde who masks his pain and keeps his issues to himself. Despite his many friends and buddies he harbors a deep loneliness that, like his problems, he keeps to himself. One would have to look carefully to notice his character flaws for Zidane does an impressive job of hiding these problems. Whether it be through his energy, his theatrics, or focusing on other people, Zidane can cover things up quite well.”

Zidane has an absurd amount of depth to his character that I was never able to comprehend as a kid, beneath his flirting, his playful attitude, he hides a lot of feelings, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. It used to boggle me how he’s able to uphold his sense of virtue despite what goes on in his life and the end of disc 3 answers this for me. It goes without mentioning that this was the second canon character I’ve ever written for, and I still love writing him. I could and write walls of text about how Zidane is so amazing, a chivalrous thief, a lover and a flirt but I think I can let you go lol. Hit me up if you really want to hear me ramble about any these characters, also play FF9.

...So I wrote all of that and forgot to write about Zidane’s ship...have to give it its own paragraph because I love these two together and she does wonders for Zidane as a whole as does he to her. She’s a princess and he’s a thief, they take their time to show them together through different things, different ordeals...particularly the ordeals. Its interesting seeing them both at their worst moments and the many funny moments..Man, that boat scene gets me every time...If I ever write a top ten couples list this couple would no doubt be in the top two if not number one. And I’d probably write way more than this about them because they’re great. Also they’re canon. A healthy canon. Also Dagger’s hot. Oh wait wrong list.

Okay finally done. Not editing this anymore :P

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laminate-dust216 · 4 years

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What do you think about Boruto? As a character I mean.

Heyo! Ah, yes, the true question anyone who watches Boruto must answer at some point in their time with the series. You know, anon, I’ve been grappling with this one. I’ve seen so many opinions about Boruto as a character, most of them negative, some indifferent, some positive, and I’ve had to take some time of my own to really grapple with my own opinions about Boruto. Honestly, though, yes, I do like him. Now, anyway. When I first got into the series, I didn’t like him at all. Even now, he isn’t perfect. He still acts like an entitled, spoiled, selfish, inconsiderate, bratty kid. For me, that was a major put off for his character when I first started the series. However, having had some time to think about it and having watched every episode at least three times and having read the manga through a couple of times- which is an entirely different arena than the anime is- I do honestly like Boruto as a character. And please allow me to explain that further so that it may make sense to you and buckle up cause it’s gonna be a long one:

Yes, Boruto is selfish and entitled and self-centered and bratty. That’s how he’s been established since Kishimoto-sensei put out chapter 700 and it’s sort of what I come to expect of his character in many different situations- it almost has a comedic nature to it. But, I think it’s important to understand that he feels- or at least felt before everything went down with the Otsutsuki during the Chunin Exams- neglected and ignored by Naruto. He got to spend a lot of time with Naruto before he became Hokage and by the look of it they were actually very close before Naruto became Hokage. Unlike Sarada, for instance, he remembers all of the time he got to spend with his dad. And then to suddenly have all of that time and attention taken away because Naruto now holds the most important position in the Village probably didn’t make sense to Boruto, considering how young he was when Naruto became Hokage. Then add to that the fact that no one, Naruto especially, ever properly explained to Boruto why it was important for Naruto to work as much as he does and spend so much time and effort into maintaining the peace and stability of the Village and even the Shinobi world as a whole. And I will say that I personally think they didn’t learn enough about it in the Academy or that it wasn’t taught to them properly. Everything they ever said to him just sounded like excuses for Naruto’s absence and never provided the appropriate clarity that Boruto needed to fully grasp the weight of Naruto’s responsibilities. He needed to understand that Naruto wasn’t putting everyone else above his family, his wife, his kids, but that he was doing everything he could for them and everyone in the Village. He needed to understand why Naruto considered everyone in the Village his family and why those connections were so important to him and certainly why they are important for Boruto to learn for himself. He needed to understand Naruto better and Naruto himself didn’t recognize that in his son and make efforts to talk to him as his father about those things. Boruto really needed to learn about his dad to understand him and why being Hokage is so important for Naruto. We as fans of Naruto know the sacrifices he had to make to get where he is today. We understand the pain Naruto went through, the growth Naruto had to go through, the loss he endured, all of the sacrifices he had to make, the dedication he had for his dream, and the work he put into achieving it. Boruto didn’t and that isn’t his fault. (As a side note, this is a widely used literary techniques wherein the audience knows something that the characters don’t, which helps to push along the plot and provide a satisfactory resolution to the readers when things come full circle- when done properly, at least- and the characters learn what the readers already know, so I understand why they did the story as they did, even though it frustrated me to no end before I realized that’s what they were doing.) Now, does that excuse Boruto’s behavior? No. But take into consideration that Boruto is still a young boy who grew up feeling distant and neglected by his father, whom he needed by his side growing up, and plenty of kids like him react in the same way and lash out, get into trouble, and do whatever they know will work to get their parents’ attention. It happens in real life all the time and I’m honestly glad that they are portraying it because young kids read these types of Manga and identify with characters like Boruto for their experiences and I can see this situation helping plenty of kids deal with similar issues that they are experiencing. We can sit around and gripe about Boruto being so bratty and obnoxious all we want, but if we don’t try to understand why Boruto acts the way he does, then we won’t appreciate his growth when it does happen. And he still has a lot of growth to go through and certainly a lot of maturing to do. Thinking about that, it’s definitely glaringly obvious how immature Boruto still is when you compare him to, say, Mitsuki and Sarada who are leagues ahead of him in the maturity department. But, for me, that’s going to be one of the most enjoyable things to see in the series: how Boruto went from being so bratty, to being a mature young man with a good head on his shoulders. It happened with Naruto and it’ll happen with Boruto, guaranteed. And on that note, it is happening with Boruto, even now. Boruto has matured slightly, has learned a lot about Naruto, the role of the Hokage, and at the very least now has a dream of his own to work towards. As a quick example, think about this: early on in the series, Boruto didn’t care about Shinobi, being a Chunin, or even particularly care to be a Genin, despite inspiring so many of his friends to appreciate those positions and that status. Jump over to the time skip at the beginning of the series and Boruto is proud to represent himself as a Shinobi and wears Sasuke’s headband with pride. He obviously goes through a considerable amount of growth to get there from where he was early on in the series and even where he is now. Right now, he’s still very head-strung, stubborn, and selfish, but he has definitely learned the importance of being a Shinobi- even if he doesn’t quite understand what that means for himself as a person, and yes, I do think he doesn’t quite understand that, yet. He has shown more respect for his father recently, has learned the importance of working on a team, and he does go above and beyond for his friends, even putting himself in danger and risking his future to do so. He still has a long way to go before he actually grows up, but he’s one of those characters with immense potential for development that’ll leave people speechless- it’s kinda one of those “started from the bottom, now we’re here” type things. And that’s honestly why I do like Boruto as a character. His potential is fascinating to me and I know he’s gonna go far. Plus, as much as people like to say it isn’t, I think Boruto is completely separate from Naruto as a series and the experiences these characters are going through- although they are paralleled to Naruto’s characters- are different because it is a whole new set of emotions behind it. Maybe that’s just me, but that’s what makes me see Boruto as he is and like him for who he is and to like the series for what it is. It’s not perfect, but I’m definitely here for all of the potential.

As a last note, I will add that I like Boruto’s character because he is smart, funny, compassionate (at times), adorable, and, honestly, very innocent. He’s also an amazing brother to Himawari, considerate of Hinata, and a dedicated student of Sasuke’s. Also, the day he actually gets to read Jiraiya’s books is going to be a great day for everyone.

Thank you for the ask! It is much appreciated!

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the9thbestchojin · 3 years

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Hello again I'm the 9th best chojin and since childhood I've been an absolutely massive fan of Pokémon ever since I watched Ash Ketchum journey across the land I also wanted to go on a Pokémon journey and one birth day my dad brought me into a GameStop and there it was on the Gameboy shelf a green game with a badass dragon the cover Pokémon emerald was my first game and since then I've played every gen but I've spent enough time on the intro so let me tell you about my favorite Pokémon from every gen

Gen 1 Slowbro

So out of every mon from the original 151 why Slowbro why not charizard or nidoking well its simple I like his dopey smile...yep that's it sure alot of cool Pokémon exist but a good cute boi every now and then is all I need plus he has that cool ass shellder tail sure it doesn't really look like a shellder but if you squint step back 3 feet tilt your head and ignore the fact that the shellder on its tail was its own Pokémon seprate from shellder till it got cut part way through development and gamefreak were to lazy to redesign so its a shellder now it then yea it looks just like a shellder plus its got some damn good stats and the coveted psychic type that dominated gen 1 that make it worth the wait till the second to last gym in my opinion

Gen 2 Crobat

with the creation of gen 2 there was a bunch of evolutions and pre-evolutions for gen 1 added to the game and while some of these were done to add new types to old Pokémon like syther into scissor and onyix into steelix other Pokémon wee given new evos to make them better crobat is one of these Pokémon golbat isn't terrible but crobat is a whole other beast with a much better speed stat there isn't a hell of a lot out speeding him plus getting one is super easy even with zubats lowered encounter rate in gen 2 its not terribly hard to get one then you just gotta get him up to level 22 and then use the power of friendship to evolve him into crobat friendship evos are annoying most of the time but for crobat its worth it know some of you are probably wondering why crobat? he,s only pseudo gen 2 mon why not a pokemon introduced in gen 2 and id agree with you if only they let you use more then half the Johto dex before the post game

Gen 3 Sceptile

Now if you have the memory capacity to remember the intro then you know emerald was my first game and yes this is a case of this was my first Pokémon so I have an emotional attachment to it and every time I play trough Hoenn I always pick treecko even recently when I decided to play through oras again soft reset for an entire day so I could play through the game with a shiny treecko it may not be the best Pokémon ever but I still love it and no matter how many times I play through Hoenn ill always pick treecko

Gen 4 Froslass

when new giving new evos to old Pokémon your kinda putting every new pokemon at a disadvantage since this a new thing for a Pokémon their already familiar unless you fuck up really hard and make lickylicky but thankfully gamefreak didn't fuck up giving my second favorite Hoenn mon a female exclusive evolution giving it 2 immunities in exchange for a new ghost type weakness by giving it the ghost typing and giving it a cool design based off a geisha and yuki onna makes this one mon that I don't mind waiting till the 7th badge to get

Gen 5 Darmanitan

This one was kinda hard tbh because despite the fandom consensus the unova dex has some bangers haxsaurus samurott braviary but out of the sizable chunk of Unova mons I like there's only one who can be my favorite and that has to be darmanitan he’s so cool having the origin of a Pokémon designer going to an end of year party and seeing a daruma doll burning in a fire and saying *imma a make a fucking Pokémon outta that* AND IT FUCKING WORKED! this bastard does two things be fast and hit shit and it does that like a fucking G also it has a zen mode and that's ok coulda been done better AND THEN IT WAS because with regional variants being a thing now they made darmanitan British and an ice type and made him hit shit harder because his zen mode doesn't make him a special attacker but all things considered I prefer original recipe Unovan darmanitan because I like its design more yep simple as that tho I cant like Galarian darmanitan does have a funky afro

Gen 6 Greninja

If you know my thoughts gen 6 you know its not positive but I cant deny its got a decent pokedex and whos the best Pokémon of this dex? its a cool frog ninja based off Jiraiya from the romance of the 3 kingdoms or if you're uncultured Naruto but unlike Naruto greninja doesn't run after some emo for 500 plus episodes but he does get a pseudo mega in the anime later the games and its a cool form imo he’s fast he’s strong got cool design with a cool origin and I don't need much else

Gen 7 Minior

Now let me start with this I'm perfectly ok with minior not being a pre-evo for solrock and lunatone just because two Pokémon have the design origin doesn't mean they should be related maybe a tangential relation from pokedex entries but I don't think they should be part of the same line now with that out of the way let me tell you why minior is great first off its meteor form looks so cool it looks like a Pokémon that would be used by the goron from the legend of Zelda it its meteor form isnt al it has since its gimmick is that once it hits half health it *casts off* and takes off its shell and two things about this form 1 look at his lil face cute mans 2 look at his speed and attack boost dangerous mans all that plus its colour gimmick making it so I can get it in orange and how can I not love it

Gen 8 Perrserker

so here we are the most recent gen and I can say without a word of doubt gen 8 has one the most solid pokedexs in years I love most Pokémon and sorta just tolerate others but out of all these Pokémon I love perrserker the most ever since I ran into it as a Galarian meowth I was kinda shocked it looked like some thing that would shit in your shoes and take pride in it I had to catch it and after evolving it it keeps that same energy but now slightly taller perrserker is a great mon with a great hidden ability steely spirit which I lovingly call communist steel worker making it onto most of my galar teams what can I say I love this 3 foot tall Viking gremlin and altho gen 8 is still relatively new I can confidently say perrserker will say my favorite

so that's it my favorite Pokémon of every generation I've loved Pokémon for the grand majority of my life and I hope to love it in the future and cant wait to see what Pokémon from gen 9 will join the ranks of my favorites in a few years time and with that thank you for reading and I hope to see you again in the future

#pokemon

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kusunogatari · 4 years

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[ ObiRyū October | Day Eleven | Barbeque ] [ @abyssaldespair ] [ Uchiha Obito, Suigin Ryū, Hatake Kakashi, Nohara Rin, Jiraiya, Uzumaki Naruto ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ Vulgarity ]

[ Previous ] [ Next ]

It’s become a bit of a tradition. The last day of Summer break, before everyone heads back to school, there’s a neighborhood get-together for all of the students, no matter their grade. Hosted at the largest house on the end of the street (which also happens to have an in-ground swimming pool), it’s one of the most anticipated days of the year, even though the day after is rather depressing.

The parents might even enjoy it more than the kids at that point, gaining their school year freedom with their kids shipped off for each weekday.

Though she used to be more into the participation aspect, as a senior in high school now, Ryū is pretty much part of the planning and executing committee alongside her father as hosts. The day before, she helps in pre-preparing all of the food for the barbeque, ensuring the pool is up to snuff and stocked with toys and supplies, and tidying up the yard to place all the outdoor furniture.

“How’s it looking out here?” Jiraiya asks from the porch.

Ryū, down below, is hosing off the dust from all of the lawn chairs. “Good! Almost done! How’s the menu? Do we need to get anything else?”

“We’ve got enough hamburgers and hotdogs to feed an army!” he replies with a signature grin. “Add in the chips and dip, the beans, and the drinks, and we’re good to go. I got a bit more than last year just to be sure. We can always have leftovers for a day or two!”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Pool partyyy!”

Seeing her little brother come flying out the back door, Ryū manages to drop the hose and scoop him up, twirling to help with his momentum. “Not until tomorrow! And you know you can’t go in the pool without your water wings, Naruto! It’s not safe!”

“But I wanna swim!” the four year old rebukes, cheeks puffed in indignation.

“You can! Tomorrow. I thought you were helping Dad in the kitchen, huh?”

“That’s boring,” the little blond mutters. “I don’t wanna make food, I wanna eat it!”

Ryū just laughs. “But you have to make food before you can eat it!”

“Nuh uh, that’s adults’ job!”

Grey eyes roll. “Well you’ll have to cook when you’re an adult, then. And you better learn how before then, huh? Or you won’t know how!”

Still struggling in her grip, Naruto grunts and drops the subject. “Lemme down!”

“Do you promise not to go in the pool?”

“Yeah, I promise!”

“Okay. Go back inside, it’s almost dark.”

Clearly displeased, he nonetheless follows her orders, dragging his bare feet the whole way.

She sighs, then looks over her handiwork. Seems everything on her list is done. The plastic furniture will dry overnight, so she shuts off the hose and then closes the cover on the pool. One last sweep, then inside she goes to help with dinner.

“Excited for tomorrow?” Jiraiya asks, still in the kitchen.

“Yeah! But I’m sad it’ll be the last one for me…”

“Nonsense! You can still participate while you’re in college, kiddo. And then you’ll just be one of the adults dragging your kiddos over, hm?”

Ryū gives him a look. “Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

“What, I’m not allowed to tease you about grandkids?”

“You don’t need any for a while, you’ve got Naruto to worry about!”

“And he’s gonna need some kiddos to play with!”

She groans, bringing out more supplies from the fridge. “Oh my gosh, Dad…”

He gives a booming laugh. “You’ll get baby fever one of these days. Just do me a favor and finish college first, that’s all I ask.”

“I haven’t even dated anyone yet,” she counters, grinning.

“Much to my disappointment. I haven’t gotten to give anyone the tough, intimidating dad talk yet! I’ve been practicing!”

And so the banter goes as they cook, finishing and calling Naruto down for dinner. After dishes are done, Ryū retreats to her room and her computer. Social media is little more than everyone groaning about heading back to class, and seniors in particular being “so done” with high school already.

Scrolling through her feed, Ryū smiles softly at a post from Rin. Seems she and Kakashi went to the beach today, if her selfie is anything to go by. She’s already confirmed they’re both coming tomorrow. Technically Rin lives a few streets over, but...best friends get to bend the rules. And Kakashi is a few houses down. Then there’s some younger students, like grade schooler Itachi and his little brother Sasuke, who’s best friends with Naruto. Quite a few of his soon-to-be classmates tend to come over, too. Ryū often has to corral them all herself, the self-appointed babysitter.

Rin teases her about it and her mother nature. “Sure you don’t wanna be a daycare worker or something? You’d be great at it! Kids love you.”

“Not sure my energy levels could survive it,” she’d countered with a grin. As much as she likes kids...they’re a ton of work. She gets enough of that handling Naruto whenever she’s home to deal with her godbrother.

Otherwise her feed is just the typical, and Ryū soon abandons it for a bit of game-playing until bedtime. Already she’s prepared for both tomorrow and the day after: the last first day back of high school.

But it still takes her a little while to fall asleep, thinking it all over. Despite Jiraiya’s reassurances otherwise, something still feels really...final about tomorrow. Another stepping stone she won’t be able to come back to. Another year ending, and one beginning.

Either way, she can’t stop the passage of time.

Come morning, she wakes groggy, her lying awake meaning a slow start. No one is supposed to arrive until noon, so at least she has some buffer before having to handle anyone beyond her dad and brother. Breakfast is slogged down with many a yawn before changing into her outfit for the day.

Given there’s going to be swimming, she puts on her suit first: a longline bikini top and a skirt over the bottom piece until she actually decides to take a plunge. Her hair she ties up in a tail, a few shorter locks framing her face alongside her bangs.

By then, she’s finally fully awake, heading back downstairs to help Jiraiya with the last few finishing touches.

“How’s it looking down here?”

“So far so good! You got a lot done last night, thanks.”

Smiling at the praise, Ryū then glances up at a familiar voice. “Rin!”

Grinning ear to ear, the little brunette rushes into the yard, hopping up to cling to her taller friend. “Hiii! Hope you don’t mind that we’re early?”

“Not at all!” Holding Rin up, Ryū just nods to Kakashi rather than wave. “I can’t get over how tan you are. How many times did you go to the beach this Summer?”

“A few,” Rin replies coyly, letting herself be put down onto the grass. “Look, even ‘kashi has a bit of a tan line! And he’s always pale!”

Sighing lightly at his girlfriend’s antics, Kakashi lets her do as she pleases, lifting his sleeve to show the slight change in tone beneath it.

Ryū just laughs. And is then promptly cut off by Naruto running and crashing into Kakashi head-on.

“Oof!”

The girls giggle, Naruto throwing a slew of questions at the teens. As some of his late father’s favorite students at the high school he taught at, Rin and Kakashi are rather close to the little Uzumaki.

“Look how tall you’re getting, Naruto!” Rin praises, scooping him up. “You’re almost as tall as me, aren’t you?”

“He’s got a ways to go yet,” Ryū replies. Rin may be short, but not that short.

“You must be eating your vegetables like I told you to, huh?”

The blond sticks out his tongue. “No way!”

From there, once noon strikes, people begin filing in. All of the neighborhood children and their parents arrive, the large rear yard filling. Ryū opens the pool and it floods with splashing and squealing kids, all watched over carefully by a rotating squad of adults.

Ryū bustles around helping, distributing food and drinks while checking to make sure no one is missing anything. In between, she chats with others from her class, all smiles.

But eventually she notices something seems...off about Rin.

“Hey, you okay?”

She jumps a bit, turning to Ryū sheepishly. “Well, I uh...I might’ve invited somebody.”

“That’s okay! They not here yet?”

“No...I’m afraid he won’t show up...he seemed kinda on the fence about it.”

Ryū’s head tilts curiously. “Too shy, or…?”

“Yeah. And he, um…” Rin bites her lip. “...it’s kinda hard to explain. He’s not very...popular. He tends to butt heads with people sometimes…?”

“Uh, okay…” Ryū can’t help but hesitate. Is this going to cause any problems, or…?

“Maybe he won’t come. I was hoping he would so he could try and ease into things, y’know?”

“Is he new?”

“Well, no. But he had to change schools for a while.”

Something starts to click in Ryū’s head. “...wait...you mean Obito? The one who got in that accident?”

“Yeah! He’s been in a, um...a different school since he fell so behind after the wreck. And it...didn’t go well. Apparently it was pretty rough…”

“...I see…”

“But he’s able to come back this year to graduate with us, if all goes well! So I wanted him to come and sort of...reintroduce himself, you know?”

Ryū nods. “That’s fine.” She remembers that kid, vaguely. Ryū had mostly hung out with Rin back then, mostly only catching glimpses of him back when he’d try to woo her friend. But, well...Rin’s got a boyfriend now, so she doesn’t have much to go off of.

“Just, um...he’s a little rough around the edges now, if...you catch my drift. He had to be, after dealing with all those jerks.”

“Well, so long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, I don’t mind. Let me know if he shows up, and I’ll -”

“Oh! There he is!”

Jolting, Ryū follows Rin’s pointing finger to a figure coming down the sidewalk. His posture is slightly hunched, dressed in an outfit that makes her want to start sweating. Full pants, full shirt...he’s got to be dying! But as he gets closer, Ryū gets the feeling she understands why.

A myriad of scars pepper one side of his face, and she can see them go down under his shirt. Probably from the accident, then...he must want to keep them covered up. His posture is defensive, as though he expects to be attacked at any moment. And when he meets her eyes, there’s a weight behind his gaze she can’t identify...but immediately sympathizes with.

“Obito!” Rin calls in greeting, moving to the fence. A few people stop at her voice, looking to the newcomer uncertainty. “Hey, hey! Remember her?”

Ryū follows, feeling a bit unsure. “Hey,” she greets, flashing a tentative smile.

“This is her house! Remember what I was telling you?”

Obito’s eyes flicker over the property, and Ryū feels a sudden surge of self consciousness.

“I remember,” he replies, tone a bit awkward.

“It’s been a long time,” Ryū offers, trying to be friendly. “I’m glad you get to come back this year! I’m sure a lot of people miss you.”

“I doubt it.”

The girls exchange an awkward glance.

“Well...feel free to come in, if you’d like! Dad’s still barbecuing if you’re hungry. He’s a really good cook.”

“Oh please, we all know you prep the food and he just cooks it,” Rin laughs.

“Well, still!”

“...Obito?”

All three of them pause as Kakashi steps up.

“...Kakashi.”

“I...didn’t know you were coming.”

“Rin invited me.”

The couple exchange a look, and Ryū can’t help a small grimace. Seems that particular decision wasn’t discussed.

“...didn’t know that either,” Kakashi replies coolly.

“Didn’t know it was your business who she talks to.”

“So, uh -?” Ryū tries to cut in, only to be drowned out.

“I like to know who my girlfriend talks to, sure. That a problem?”

“Kakashi, please,” Rin murmurs. “Let’s not do this now, okay? Obito’s free to be here. Ryū said so.”

The boys stare at each other a long moment.

“...you’re right. Enjoy the party,” Kakashi then relents before an arm around Rin’s shoulder steers her away.

...well that was awkward.

Nervously itching her arm, Ryū mumbles, “...sorry about that…”

“It’s not your fault,” Obito retorts bluntly. “He’s always been an asshole. Not sure what Rin sees in him.”

“...guess we all have our reasons.”

“I can leave if you want.”

“Wh-? No! Please stay,” Ryū cuts in, her expression falling. “...really, it’s fine. You’re more than welcome here. If Kakashi’s going to be an ass, then...let him. But don’t let that turn you away, okay?” She softens. “...I know it can’t be easy coming back here after so long, so...maybe it would be good to sort of...take today as a test run…?”

Obito sighs, hands in his pockets. “Not sure it’ll make any difference. Everyone’s got their opinions already.”

“...maybe so. But, if it means anything...I’d like to get to know you again.” She offers a smile. “It’s been a long time, and...we didn’t know each other that well before. Maybe this is a good excuse to...try again?”

He looks her over suspiciously before softening a few degrees. “...all right.”

Her smile grows. “Okay! Hungry?”

“...yeah, a little.”

“Come on, we’ve got a whole barbeque going. It’s really good!” Ryū opens the little gate into the yard, letting him through. “So, hamburger or hotdog?”

“...hamburger, I guess.”

“Okay - we’ve got a whole bunch of chip types, too. And beans! We go all-out every Summer for today, so take as much as you want!”

As they approach the table where Jiraiya is serving, Ryū notices a momentary look on Obito’s face: one that says he’s far hungrier than he’s letting on.

...it makes her hesitate, a suspicion growing in her mind. But for now, she lets it slide. “Dad! Got a fresh burger? We’ve got a new arrival!”

Jiraiya looks up. “Sure! Just a minute, almost done with another wave!”

“You can pick all your condiments in the meantime,” Ryū offers with a smile.

A bit hesitant, Obito takes a plate and sheepishly prepares a bun. A mountain of chips follows, along with several scoops of beans.

Watching from over the top of the grill, Jiraiya exchanges a knowing glance with his daughter.

“Ryū, you want to eat? You’ve been running around all day!”

“Okay, sure. One more for me, then!”

“Coming right up.”

Taking up her own plate, Ryū stacks it high. She has indeed been busy up until now. Then Jiraiya gives them each a patty.

“Enjoy!”

“Where do you want to sit?”

“...uh…” Obito glances around.

“We can sit along the poolside if you want and put our feet in! It’s such a pretty day...and all the little kids are out now, so we shouldn’t get splashed!”

“...sure.”

Ryū leads the way, slipping off her sandals and sitting along the pool’s edge. Feet lazily kick through the water. Beside her, Obito kicks off his sneakers, rolling up his pant legs slightly to do the same.

“That’s better, huh?”

He doesn’t reply. Seems he’s too preoccupied with his plate full of food. Obito scarfs it all down like he hasn’t eaten in days. Teenage boys tend to have voracious appetites, but…

Well, she was going to try and talk to him, but...he’s clearly got other priorities. So Ryū goes ahead and eats too, watching as Kakashi and Rin, and Asuma and Kurenai start a water battle. The girls sit on the boys’ shoulder, trying to topple one another over.

“Gonna join in?”

She gives a start at the sudden question. “Huh?”

Obito nods to the pool, chewing another bite before swallowing. “You’ve got your suit on, right?”

“Oh...well, um…” There’s a sheepish pause. “I don’t...have anyone to play that with. But I might swim a bit after my food settles.”

His brow furrows at her answer, but he doesn’t rebuke. “...so how long have Rin and Kakashi been a thing?”

“...two years now, I think? It...took a while. According to Rin, Kakashi was worried about dating affecting his grades and time to work on school stuff.”

Obito scoffs. “Typical. He’s still top of the class anyway, right?”

“Er...yeah. Always has been.”

That earns a sigh. “Mister perfect...gets the girl, gets the grades…”

Unsure what to say, Ryū glances down sheepishly to her plate.

“Heads up!”

Jolting, Ryū barely has time to shout in surprise as Rin and Kakashi’s tower falls toward them. Rin tumbles forward, but Kakashi slams back against them. Water rushes over the pair of them with shocked gasps.

“God damn it, Kakashi!” Obito yells, struggling to his feet.

“It was an accident, Obito!” Kakashi counters, already crossing back to the other side of the pool and ignoring him.

“I’m soaked! You stupid -!”

Looking up at Obito’s strange, sudden silence, Ryū gasps - he’s gone rigid, clearly having some kind of attack. Balance lost, he topples head-first into the pool.

“Obito!” Slipping in over the side, Ryū finds a grip under his arms, hauling his head back above the water to let him gasp for air.

Immediately, the others react. Kakashi and Asuma help lift him up to the concrete walkway around the pool, Ryū turning him on his side in case he needs to cough up any more water. Fishing around in his pockets, she finds what she thought she’d find: a sealed pill bottle. Thankfully it was closed tight enough no water got in. She fishes out a tablet, stuffing it into Obito’s mouth. “Swallow!”

He does so with a little difficulty. And after a painful minute, his body starts to relax.

By then, several adults including Jiriaya have gathered around, the latter looking gravely serious. “Let’s get him inside and dried off.”

As the rest of the teens linger in the pool, shocked, Ryū follows in her father’s shadow. In another room, he trades Obito’s soaked clothes for some spares of his own, throwing the rest into the dryer. Obito is then laid on a couch to regain his head.

Ryū sits right beside him, brows pinched with worry. Her hands fiddle subconsciously with the bottle.

Slowly, color comes back to his cheeks, breathing regulating. His foggy gaze refocuses, and it turns to Ryū. “...h-how did you -?”

“I, um...I-I’d like to be a nurse, so...I read a lot of medical junk online,” she admits softly, a bit sheepish. “So I kinda...knew what to look for. It’s a good thing you had these on you.”

“...good thing you knew what to do with them,” he sighs, head rolling back to stare at the ceiling.

“...you okay?”

“...I will be. Thanks for, uh…” He pauses awkwardly. “...saving my ass.”

“Of course...I’m just glad you’re all right.” After a moment, she hands him the bottle, which he keeps clutched in a hand. “...is that...because of your accident?”

A gusty sigh escapes him. “...yeah. Happens randomly, but...especially when I get stressed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Not your fault.”

“No, but...I still feel bad. Maybe I...should have let you go home.”

His eyes flicker to their corners at her. “...I’m glad I stayed.”

In turn, she looks up from her lap in surprise.

“Well...hopefully I won’t be too stiff tomorrow. I tend to get locked up after one of these…”

“Maybe you can call the school and -?”

“They don’t care. I’ll be fine.”

“...but -?”

“It’s fine. I’ll live.”

Given all she’s learned (and guessed) about Obito today, Ryū feels her heart clenching for him. The poor guy… “...well, if you need any help, just let me know...okay? I’d be happy to.”

“...thanks.”

By then, the day begins to wind down, and guests start filtering back out the way they came. Near the end, Rin and Kakashi come in.

“...you okay?” Rin asks, wringing her hands.

“Fine.”

“...sorry about all that,” Kakashi mumbles.

“Wouldn’t kill you to be more careful,” Obito counters with a glance.

Kakashi has no rebuke.

“Well, we’ll...see you guys tomorrow,” Rin then offers, still looking nervous.

“Bye guys.” Ryū gives a little wave, watching them go.

“I should head home, too.”

“You sure? Can we give you a lift back?”

“No, I -”

“I’d be happy to. It’d save you the walking.”

“It’ll be good for me to stretch my legs.”

“You won’t, um...there’s no chance you’ll relapse on the way?”

“Probably not.”

Ryū nibbles her lip. “...can I...give you my number, and you can let me know you make it back in one piece?”

“My phone got soaked.”

Oh. “...do you have a landline at home you can call from?”

He gives a huff of a laugh. “Stubborn, aren’t you?”

Her cheeks tinge pink. “...yes.”

“All right, fine. If that’ll stop your mother henning, so be it.”

Ryū walks with him out to the road, watching him like a hawk. “Be careful on your way.”

“Will do. Thanks for the food.”

“...thanks for staying.”

He nods, giving a salute before heading down the sidewalk.

After a pause, Ryū calls, “See you tomorrow?”

Obito stops, looking back. “...yeah!”

A small smile pulls at her lips. Well...maybe today wasn’t a total disaster.

Phew, just barely got this done. Weekend was busier and more exhausting than I figured, so this is...late :’D But better late than never. I wanted to base this in Obito’s bully verse, but idk if I really wrote it well kjdfdkjhg so forgive me, I’m not very learned in writing that kind of thing lol I guess otherwise I...dunno what else to say? I’m very tired :’D Thanks for reading!

#obiryū october #abyssaldespair #uchiha obito #suigin ryū #hatake kakashi #nohara rin #jiraiya #uzumaki naruto #best years of your life [ au ]#vulgarity //

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