#uzume uchiha

[jacksgreysays]

Fake Fic Title: Seven, For a Secret--Never to be Told.

— Oh shoot I forgot fake fic titles included character and themes. I was going to say Shisui for our favorite Crow adjacent character but honestly any Crow adjacent character for the counting corvids title, and theme chromatic aberration; itsv style.

SHISUI!!!! <3<3<3<3 Also, hello damnsmartblueboxes! Also, also, sorry for the late response, work truly broke me these past few days

Okay, so if we’re doing Into The Spider-verse, but Crow Edition, possible Crows either canon or fanon or AU: Shisui, Amano, Sai, Shikako (because of course there’s an AU out there for this) … oof, who are the other three?

Uzume in an AU in which neither Shisui nor Amano are around to be ANBU Crow T_T

Aoba, maybe?

Which then could do a similar Anko version in an AU in which Aoba isn’t around to be ANBU Crow—although maybe that’s too repetitive of the Uzume one. Maybe it’s just that, in a world where Konoha trusts her (maybe because she sleuths around and is integral in ripping Danzo out of his hole in the ground, thereby saving the Uchiha clan who now have way more political clout, or at the very least, are back to the clout that they had before?) Anko becomes an ANBU and she gets Crow and Aoba—because I will give up ANBU training buddies only when I’m dead—chooses to be ANBU Snake even though everyone is leery of that mask (like everyone is leery of the Fox mask)

… Or is that, maybe, too much of an offshoot/spinoff?

I mean, I always headcanon Mikoto has having been ANBU, though not usually Crow.

… BUT ALSO, in the Spider-verse there are multiples of the same person—with, obviously, Peter Parker being the most common Spiderman—so maybe just different versions of Shisui, Amano, and/or Sai and then the lone Shikako is the outlier? OR it could be that these are distinct Crows, but for the most part, each of them know who the other are—at least by reputation if nothing else—and the fact that no one has any idea who Shikako Nara is (or, bleakly, the ROOT brainwashed non-Shikako version of herself) is the Miles Morales-esque outlier part. SHE’S THE ANOMALY IN THE CROW-VERSE! (But instead of angry, its angsty O_O… or existential?)

Okay, okay, let’s get these Crows in their respective numbers according to the poem, I’m gonna do some logic puzzle nonsense:

Sorrow, Joy, Girl, Boy, Silver, Gold, Secret Never To Be Told

Obviously Shikako is a Secret Never Told. I feel like Uzume would be either Sorrow or Girl, meaning Amano would be the matching Joy or Boy because I want them to be complementary. Then Aoba, Mikoto, Shisui, Sai… let’s see… if Uzume is not Girl, then we could do Mikoto as Girl in a “young Mikoto becomes ANBU Crow because it’s the only way she can see any action because the Uchiha clan is being weirdly gross and misogynistic and are blocking her from taking any risky missions because they want her to marry Fugaku and have extremely powerful heirs with him” kind of way

And while not EXACTLY matching as nicely as Uzume and Amano, I feel like I could then explore my Aoba headcanon as a partial!Uchiha with Boy. And, boy, do I have a weirdly specific headcanon about partial!Uchiha Aoba stumbling into both the Crow summons (he reverse summoned himself!) and the Crow mask—both very Uchiha flavored inheritances—only after the Uchiha Massacre when he is an adult and 1) wouldn’t use the name, but also 2) wouldn’t be able to rub it in the face of the clan that rejected him and his non-Uchiha parent, especially if he was like… a bastard Uchiha child who was never claimed. ( @loveelemental and I had a discord brainstorming session about an Aoba centric fic in which his partial Uchiha heritage makes for a fascinating post-Jashin Sharingan activation, which is where we came up with a lot of details for this partial!Uchiha theory)

Which then leaves Silver and Gold for Shisui and Sai… which feels pretty good? I’d probably—because I’m biased—make Shisui Gold and Sai Silver because even if they are both (maybe) Uchiha, Shisui just FEELS more sun coded even though his Sharingan is “unbreakable genjutsu”, while Sai is moon coded (and also you can get into his brother Shin, the silver of his hair, the shine of moon on blades, and similes of second place and how even as Hikaku no one really wants him first and foremost the way that his brother Shin did T_T sad boy)

So I guess the fic would be these different ANBU Crows somehow interacting with each other, and honestly the easiest way to do this would be Crow!Shikako does a sort of seal space/pocket dimension/temporary mission team using the ANBU Crow mask as a cornerstone. An “I’ve gathered you all here because we all need to murder our respective Danzos, and together we can all help each other do that. Also, imagine the satisfaction of killing Danzo seven times… or more, if he already has Izanagi”

Another way is a more contemplative/abstract “echoes/ghosts of possible timelines” thing in which, again, the ANBU Crow mask is, like, a liminal space. But wearable. Haunted or cursed? And to make it even more angsty the echoes/ghosts only appear when you’re about to die… which, to be fair, ANBU, probably pretty often?

I guess what my brain is trying to do is more of a multi-versal Sense8 than an Into The Spider-verse thing… hm… I don’t hate it at all… it could be fun to puzzle out some more…

... I also realized, for all that I was very excited about your Shisui mention, I literally mentioned him the least, lolol

Anyway, I hope this makes sense and is interesting to you, damnsmartblueboxes :D

#jacksgreyson #damnsmartblueboxes #ask box advent calendar #ask box fake fic titles #dreaming of sunshine #naruto #fanfiction #brainstorm #seven for a secret never to be told #shikako nara #uzume uchiha #amano hyuuga #mikoto uchiha #aoba yamashiro #shisui uchiha #sai

[sneezemonster15]

Submission:

Not liking sasunaru isn't homophobic. By your logic Itachi and Sasuke have romantic feelings for each other. How Sasuke feels for Naruto and chasing him and wanting to stand by his side is that same as hinatas confession. Itachi thought about Sasuke's naked body when he was talking to naruto. They're both obsessed with each other. 

Sasuke and Itachi are depicted as Japanese Gods Amaterasu and Tsukoyomi respectively. Sasuke in the story represents Amaterasu, the sun goddess, and that is evident in many circumstances, such as the fact that he is born in the heart of the summer with sun bathing the whole Uchiha family (also being the only hope for them-as Amaterasu was for people in Japan), the fact that he awakens his Mangekyo staring at the sunset, and also his Mangekyo abilities being based on Amaterasu black flames. Extra evidence to Sasuke being Amaterasu is a Japanese myth where Amaterasu is hidden in a cave (episodes 334-340 where Sasuke is in a cave with edo Itachi), and the whole world falls in darkness (the world was at war with Obi-Madara), and after many attempts, only goddess Ame-no-Uzume who appeared naked dancing in front of Amaterasu seductively was able to convince her to leave the cave and the world was filled with light once and for all (goddess Uzume is our boy Naruto Uzumaki, who stands ''naked'', revealing his true emotions in front of Sasuke, after ''dancing'' aka fighting -''you dance well'' as Madara said to those who were worthy opponents- more fiercely than Sasuke could imagine-and Sasuke was bathed in the morning light). Also, Amaterasu was a female. In our story, Sasuke is mistaken by both Kushina and Izumi as Itachi's sister, is pale as in Japan pale skin is considered a female characteristic that adds to a woman's looks, and in personality he is more on the yin side with the main characteristic of his physche being that he is submissive to the superiority of others, mainly to Itachi and Naruto.

On the other hand, Itachi represents god of the Moon, Tsukoyomi who is a male that has a unique balance of female and male qualities as the Japan poems say. So Itachi has a warm skin tone and a strong jawline which are a male characteristics in Japan, but also has long hair and eyelashes which are obviously female qualities. He is also headstrong and dutiful about his decisions, never wavering when he has to do something, and he generally is dominant, especially towards Sasuke. Further evidence of him representing Tsukoyomi, is that he is almost always depicted with a full moon in Naruto's series in countless circumstances, and of course his Mangekyo awakening on a night with full moon, and his abilities being mainly Tsukoyomi-which is the technique he uses the most. Also, his skin emits a coldness as Japanese mythology said about Tsukoyomi,and that is evident in the night of the massacre.

According to Japanese mythology, Amaterasu and Tsukoyomi lived happily together in their palace located at the sky, and were a married couple of siblings. In our story, Itachi and Sasuke share the same room, sleeping together, sharing their thoughts in Uchiha's compound balcony that is filled with the sunset's light. Also, outside the Uchiha household there is a red umbrella, which is an umbrella carried by couples being married in Japan. This balcony scene plays over and over again in Sasuke's mind cause it was when Itachi first declared his love and protection for his little brother (at least to his knowledge, cause when he first said it Sasuke was a baby). To add more to Itachi's feelings towards Sasuke having romantic undertones, when his mom says he will have a little brother, it starts snowing, which is a symbol of the sparkle of a romantic love interest in Japan. Edo Itachi also, says in ep339, at 13.10 with an exact Japan translation ''the night you and I broke up''-wakareta is a verb used in couples. And of course, the ''I love you'' part which is more than it first looks like. Aishiteru is the ultimate word for I love in Japan, and it is rarely, if ever used in real life, and exclusively between couples. The fact is, that this word is used in anime more than in real life, but in the Naruto anime and manga we only witness it 2 times-the first being from Kushina to Naruto, and the second being the above. However, in my opinion, Itachi's love declaration was far more stronger in the way it was depicted through Kishi's art. Whereas Kushina sits near Naruto closing her eyes as she said I love you, Itachi is pulling Sasuke's head to his, saying those magic words looking him straight in the eyes. Also, their faces when touched form a heart. Itachi's love confession feels bold, so much so that it makes Sasuke reconsider his whole crush Konoha plan. On Sasuke's side, I will mention a few facts not discussed as they should, such as the moment he lays his eyes on Itachi at ep 134, he awakens his Sharingan, and most notably at The Last Naruto movie when Sakura says ''When a girl truly falls in love with someone, her feelings won't change that easily; they can't'', we see Sasuke staring at the full moon which is always linked in his mind and heart with Itachi (as he says in ep. 142 to Tobi: ''when I look at the full moon, I remember Itachi''). So, Sasuke's feelings are paralleled after a girl's strong romantic emotions, thinking of his lost love that can't be taken away from his heart in front of the full moon. Fun fact is that I get the impression that the double size bed in Sasuke's room is the same one as the one he shared as a small child with Itachi.

In Japanese mythology, Amaterasu sent Tsukoyomi to Uke Mochi, the food goddess as her representative, but Tsukoyomi killed Uke Mochi because he was disgusted with the way she produced food. When Amaterasu became aware of the incident, she declared Tsukoyomi an evil god, and thus the couple seperated, making day and night. In our story, Itachi is disgusted with his family (the ones that bring food on the table-as a parallel to uke mochi) and the whole clan's way of thinking, killing them all, and leaving a hurted Sasuke believing only the surface of his actions, and not the actual reason behind them, just like Amaterasu did with Tsukoyomi. In Itachi's novel Itachi thinks to himself that '' Sasuke would walk in a road where the sunlight will reach, whereas he will be living in the darkness and in shadows''. He will be allowed only one more reunion with him to give him strength and honour-again this is a reference to the moon eclipse where the sun and the moon meet each other rarely. Sasuke also says at Orochimaru before killing him that people like him-thinking back at Itachi- ''disgust him'', and at Tobi that ''Itachi is evil''. Also, the Black Night Town ending song says ''there is no moonlight in this town, and only loneliness exists here''-meaning there is no Itachi here, and Sasuke is consumed with loneliness.

Last but not least, we have the union of the couple through their eyes, and also the famous forehead tap: the forehead symbolises divine love and protection according to the Bible, and is the place where the love manifests in its full strength, as the forehead is located between the eyes that symbolise wisdom after having faith in this love.

Sneezemonster15 - Okay, here's my first ItaSasu stan. Or am I getting it wrong? It's a little confusing. Anyway.

I am so tired explaining the same shit again. It's like people have no reading comprehension. No one said not shipping SNS means you are homophobic. Reducing their relationship to brotherhood and friendship definitely is, which is my point.

As for anyone shipping actual brothers, hey, we all have our fantasies, who am I to judge. But I can't analyse personal fantasies, only storytelling and characters. So you have fun. Just don't send me anymore submissions about it. It's all I ask for. Thanks.

#sns #anti itasasu #naruto #submission

[kyuremking]

Senjumaki au! New abilities for the Mangekyou Sharingan

For those of you who know what my senjumaki au is, you'll know that I've made the Uzumaki super strong!

Although I'm thinking about what I'm going to do for the Senju, which will probably be inspired by them being said to be the clan with a thousand skills it's time to think about what I'm going to do with the Uchiha.

Let's look at Senjumaki! au Madara and Izuna were not the first to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan so the Uchiha have been awakening and using it for generations in their fight against the Senju.

So the more users the greater the chances of different abilities being awakened. Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanno are the most basic and the ones most people have.

Kamui and Kotoamatsukami on the other hand fall into the category of very rare techniques that also cause a decrease in the power of the other skills or have very long times between each use.

Examples: Mangekyou user with Kamui, is unable to use Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi and sometimes even Susanno and when they do their susanno is unable to reach a full state. Different Kamui users have different speeds when using this technique.

Mangekyou user with Kotoamatsukami, this technique has a very long recharge time, the user is unable to use Tsukuyomi, has a weaker Amaterasu variant and has difficulty developing a full susanno.

Now let's start with these new skills, all of them of course with names related to gods and other related topics:

Kagutsuchi: Usually appears as a substitute for Amaterasu, these flames can be extinguished but have a great capacity to spread so the battlefield can end in flames in seconds so large scale water jutsu are needed to extinguish it.

Hachiman: Summons an armour that attaches itself to the user giving them great defence along with various weapons such as swords, spears or bows. Usually replaces the Susanno.

Ame no Uzume: A genjutsu that traps the enemy in an illusion of eternal pleasure as well as numbing the senses, stiffening the body, if not undone it can lock the enemy in eternity. Usually substitutes for Tsukuyomi.

Ebisu: This technique has two versions. The first and most common version summons a school of spectral fish that the user can control at will.

Second version, it summons a rod with special abilities, from stealing chakra or piercing defences with ease, the range of the rod depends on the user and the hook can cause internal damage.

Benzaiten: Summons a biwa that can be used to create powerful sound genjutsu. This ability causes very little damage to the eyes and is therefore highly prized.

Inari: A very powerful ability capable of manipulating fate to bring good luck to its user, however it causes much more damage to the eyes than normal. The izanagi is a weakened version of Inari.

These are just a few I will add more in the future.

#naruto #senjumaki! au #uchiha #Uchiha Clan #Senju Clan #uzumaki clan #Uchiha Madara #uchiha izuna #uchiha sasuke #uchiha shisui #uchiha itachi #uchiha obito #uchiha fugaku #uchiha mikoto

[dosfanarts]

Tomfoolery and shades

#uzume uchiha #dos #shikako nara #team death au

[sennokami]

* the uchiha clan & avoiding the hapsburg chin.

“The Uchiha Clan is at least five centuries old. Perhaps even older. Record-keeping is, unfortunately, a thankless task that often only gives up its rewards long after one has passed. But our blood is an old one, dating back to the emergence of chakra and ninshu.”

- Uchiha Kyoko, Blood Keeper, Year 3 of the 6th Century.

The Uchiha clan divides its members by five main bloodlines (there was a sixth, but unfortunately, that line went extinct in the 3rd Century after feuding within the clan). Some say that these bloodlines can be traced back to the original sons of Indra, but that’s just pure conjecture. In order of prestige, the lines are:

- Naga (1st son of Indra, married Princess Oto-hime) - Arashi (2nd son of Indra, married Uzume) - Taira (3rd son of Indra, married unknown) - Yume (4th son of Indra, married unknown) - Sena (5th son of Indra, married Hisame) - Hijin (6th son of Indra, married unknown)

In an official capacity, these names mean nothing. But when it comes to breeding, they mean everything. It’s the main way to trace broad tracts of who relates to who and, subsequently, who can marry who.

The matter is both simple and complex. The broad strokes of it is that bloodline clans need to walk the tightrope balance of just enough blood purity to maintain their kekkai genkai, while strenuously avoiding in-breeding.

“Third eyes, horn protrusions, albinism, and mutations in the chakra are one of the many defects an Uchiha child can be born with if his or her parents are too closely related. There was the highest spike of this in the latter half of the 2nd Century, likely due to a poor understanding of genetics and dwindling clan numbers. In those barbaric times, such abominations were given to the hunting dogs. Now, we only drown them.”

- Uchiha Hitomi, Blood Keeper, Year 89 of the 4th Century

Oftentimes, children are given different categories of cousins. There are the cousins who are close, and therefore may only be one’s friends, and the cousins who are far, who are eligible marriage prospects. The tradition is ‘seven generation split’, where one’s blood is removed by seven different generations from another Uchiha (rendering them safe to marry). Of course, some people risk it and marry closer than they should, but everyone else’s caution ensures that defective offspring are minimal.

(And they’ve stopped drowning them. Euthanasia is kinder.)

Uchiha Madara’s birth is considered rather ‘low’ in the clan (Sena’s line, his great-great-great grandfather was a bastard adopted into the clan, born by a runaway). Again, its ultimately unimportant compared to his personal merit, but it’s also not uncommon to point to one’s place on the blood hierarchy and posit conclusions from it.

#hc #uchiha madara #just some of my thoughts around how clan stuff works #those defects are extreme bc they relate to the sage not to actual irl birth defects #naga is the only one who married high blood #uzume was the daughter of a merchant #and hisame was just a strange woman sena wandered back with #was she a yokai? ;^)

[bopeepwritingsheep]

Ghostly Garden - Part 2

Sasuke soon learns that everyone has ghosts--Most people don’t have half a clan’s worth the way that he does, but some definitely have more than others.

Nearly every ninja has at least one, sometimes he can recognize them as Konoha-nin by their headbands, but other times they are distinctly not Konoha-nin. The ones with more foreign nin are usually older jounin, ones with bingo book pages he remembers from class. He pointedly does not make eye contact with those particular ghosts, it’s better they don’t realize what he can see.

His own ghosts know, the members of the clan who linger in his glorified graveyard of a clan district. It’s a hodgepodge of who’s left, with seemingly no rhyme or reason to who stayed and who moved on. Sasuke’s parents moved on, according to Uzume-ba, and Sasuke hates it but maybe he understands a little bit. If he could leave a world where Itachi-nii could do something so awful, maybe he would too.

Moving on is supposed to be nice, or at least some of the ghosts think so, Uzume says it’s overrated and that the ones fishing for it just can’t handle the reality they’ve been saddled with. She doesn’t say it in a mean way, but in the stern way that she sometimes talked in when Sasuke asked her for help with training. Uzume didn’t spend all of her time around Sasuke, she mostly just showed up at night to check on him before he went to sleep. Sasuke didn’t pry, that she came at all was a small blessing he wasn’t going to risk losing.

Mami-ba is the one with him most often, even if she splits her time between him and some of the younger ghosts--she didn’t really let him spend much time around them yet. Tenjin didn’t actually understand he was dead, just that father was gone and so were the majority of the children from his parent’s orphanage.

Mami-ba was trying to acclimate him slowly, but once he was calmer she assured Sasuke he could come and visit. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to, he’d seen Youko-nee once, wandering around the district and screaming for Noa-nee and Kukuri-nee until she’d broken down crying. Sasuke had trudged over and set a hand on her shoulder, he knew what that grief felt like.

He could touch the ghosts but it didn’t feel like touching a person, it felt almost like pushing against a balloon. Not quite solid but still there, kind of like how he felt most of the time.

Lots of other children at the academy have a ghost, including those in his class, and learning that makes him sit a little easier. Even if no one else can see their’s everyone in Konoha is haunted, it helps him believe they’re actually real. Because maybe he could make up the Uchiha but making up ghosts for his classmates? He doesn’t think he’s creative enough for that.

Naruto’s ghost is especially lively, they have the same face in a way that Sasuke is inclined to believe the ghost much be a family member. Even glowing softly in the ethereal way that all ghosts seem to do, she’s somehow vibrant instead of desaturated like so many Uchiha ghosts. Sasuke wonders if she died on her own terms, to be so content to follow after a scampering brat like Naruto with such a smile on her face.

Ino’s ghost is a surprise, especially because Sasuke has met Ino’s mom before but the way this woman watches Ino, gently brushes hair out of her face during tests and gently nudges her towards greener patches of flowers during recess she must be a mother. They look similar enough, in the clan way, but he can’t be certain beyond his gut feeling.

Hinata’s ghost is absolutely her mother, and Sasuke knows this because he went to her funeral, along with the rest of the Uchiha head family. She looks just as fragile in unlife as she did in death, but the sickly pallor that had taken to her skin was evened out in the ethereal light. She rarely touched Hinata, perhaps a holdover from life when he had heard of the Hyuuga Matriarch was kept in quarantine and only saw her children from a distance. Still, she dropped flowers on Hinata’s desk when no one was looking, and returned toys lost during recess to other children’s cubbies.

So many ghosts are mothers, there are fathers too, and a smaller number of older children he guesses must be siblings. He tries very hard not to think about those things. His parents are resting, it’s better for them to have moved to wherever ghosts go when they’ve finished in the mortal realm. His brother certainly haunts him, but not in the way these children have and that’s for the best, it has to be.

Nara Shikako has the most bizarre ghost Sasuke has ever seen, and he’s seen practically half a village-worth. It’s a young woman who stands in her shadow, who is her shadow the way she mirrors all of Shikako’s movements. She doesn’t even look that much like Shikako, but all her mannerisms and expressions are identical. It’s a little unnerving but it seems like every day Shikako and her shadow are a little closer, the shadow’s appearance taking on a little more of Shikako’s.

He thinks to himself that it must be a Nara thing, and ignores the fact that Shikamaru’s shadow holds no such ghosts.

#gardens. #uchiha ghosts. #uchiha sasuke. #uchiha uzume. #uchiha mami. #uchiha tenjin. #uchiha youko. #yamanaka ino. #boruto uzumaki #uzumaki kushina. #hyuuga hinata. #hyuuga hikari. #nara shikako.

[xxlovendreamsxx]

yours, forevermore [5]

A/N: guess what @kuriquinn, this is still dedicated to you! ily girlie. 😘

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three | chapter four

Sasuke visits Konoha’s burial grounds before the sun has even begun to rise that morning, tired of the constant tossing and turning in the bed of the Hokage suite. There had been no benefit to staying any longer, no rest or peace of mind to be found—so if sleep would not come, he was better off putting what time he had to good use.

(gods know he never has enough of it, these days.)

It had been too long since he last came to his family’s graves, anyway.

Sighing, Sasuke lightly touches his older brother’s headstone as he reaches the familiar site, closing his eyes. Miss you more than words can say, he thinks, as he always does. After a moment, he pulls away and kneels down at his parent’s graves, offering them both a singular flower; a white chrysanthemum for his father, and a white lily for his mother. He bows his head to offer a few silent prayers.

When he is done, Sasuke lets himself smile a little, soft, small, and somewhat sad. He shifts to sit down comfortably beside Itachi’s tombstone.

“I’m late, I know,” he says, breathing in the early morning air and setting his gaze on the orange-pinkish horizon. The sun is finally getting up. “Sorry, niisan. I guess I understand why you couldn’t always hold your promise.”

But he doesn’t go on, and he lets silence take over instead, watching as the sun continues to rise, starts to warm the air. Sasuke sighs, eyes dropping shut once more. A heaviness surrounds him, but it’s far from unpleasant, he finds. He lets himself believe that it’s because the spirits of his family have come, summoned by his stressed, frustrated heart to hold and support him in this too-complicated time.

Letting their comfort wash over, Sasuke feels the tension in him ease, dwindle. Gods, he wishes his mother would really be here. Wishes she could tell him what to do, what to say. He’s sure she would know.

(more than his father and brother would, anyway. he doubts either of them would be particularly more skilled in the matters of the heart—father had always been too busy trying to lead their clan to a better future, and itachi had always been too busy being the council’s tool of destruction.)

Pensive, Sasuke wonders what his family would say if they could see the situation he was in right now. Mother would probably bonk him over the head and call him a dense idiot, he muses with a smile. But then she’d also hug him, kiss his cheek, offer him some wise words of wisdom. The opposite of Father, whom of course, would disapprove entirely. And Itachi…

Itachi would undeniably march him to Sakura’s door, demand that he tell her everything—whatever the hour it was. There would be no excuses with him, no justifying how long it was taking to make things right. He would march him all the way to the hospital, to her parents’ house, or over the village borders, if he had to.

Itachi wouldn’t let him fuck this up anymore.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he hears someone say, then, causing him to stiffen rigidly.

Sasuke turns his head over his shoulder. His gaze narrows as he sees his old sensei carrying a small bouquet of flowers. “What are you doing here?”

Kakashi frowns. “It’s my father’s birthday. I think I’m allowed to visit his grave.”

“It’s early.”

“You’re not the only one who has trouble getting rest, Sasuke.”

Mulling his lips, Sasuke keeps his mouth shut, and turns back to the brightening sky ahead. He doesn’t have the energy to argue with his ex-teacher.

(because truth is, these days, it’s not so much that he has trouble sleeping—he just doesn’t seem to have the time. or maybe he just has trouble managing it.)

Behind him, Kakashi sighs. Sasuke hears him start walking towards him, and clenches his jaw. Can’t he just be alone?

“You should think about getting new guards.”

Sasuke blinks. “What?”

“Your ANBUs—the ones you’re obligated to have watch you around the clock. You should request for new ones—or at least find out which ones you can really trust.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

At this, Kakashi gives him a look. Sasuke doesn’t understand it, but it makes his heart sink with dread for a reason he can’t explain.

That is, until:

“I heard three of your ANBUs gossiping when I was heading out of my home earlier. Whispering to each other in the middle of the street how they were glad their shift was finally over because of the things that they had been awkwardly forced to witness in your office today.”

Sasuke tenses impossibly. Shit—he hadn’t even thought about that. Of course his guards would have to be bystanders to this whole damn mess. He feels the back of his neck heat up. Fucking hell.

(indeed, he is going to need new guards—ones that won’t breach the contracted rules of upholding privacy. he needs to find out who the culprits are.)

“Sasuke… you said this was going on because you hadn’t talked about it yet,” Kakashi goes on, then. He’s so quiet, so clearly deprecating, and it makes his blood boil. “How can you not have worked this out by now? It’s been five weeks—”

Angry from both the betrayal of his ANBUs and everyone’s persistent cursed nosiness, Sasuke cuts him off with a snarl. “And how many times do I have to say that it’s none of your fucking business? Stay out of it, Kakashi—this doesn’t concern you.”

Kakashi glares at him—something that catches Sasuke by surprise. He doesn’t usually lose his temper like this.

“It concerns me that you are tearing each other apart, Sasuke,” he says, his tone low but somehow still frighteningly chilling. “So stop being so goddamn stupid and talk to her already.”

And with that, he walks away, leaving Sasuke to swallow down any resentful retorts.

Sasuke digs his hands into the grass. It kills him to admit that though his ex-teacher is nosy and overstepping, he is also right.

No more screwing around.

.

.

“Ogino.”

“Yes, Hokage-sama?”

“Get me the names of the ANBUs who were on guard duty last night.”

“Right away, sir.”

.

.

He decides to let a week pass by before ultimately doing anything, allowing Sakura some space to cool off from their last encounter. Resolute as he is on finally repairing their complicated, splintered relationship, Sasuke doubts Sakura would like to hear anything he has to say when hours earlier, he’d thoughtlessly asked her to leave a job she loved.

(something that still makes him want to groan—it’s one of the dumbest things he’s ever done.)

But he doesn’t let that time go to waste; every day, he works tirelessly on filing papers and conducting meetings, eager to free his schedule to ensure he would have no pressing responsibilities holding him back. He sets himself on making a permanent change: he can’t take back what he’s done, but he can start making his own time for the people that he loves, and put an end to this toxic habit of sacrificing everything for a singular goal. Finding justice for his family is important, yes, but so is Sakura Haruno. He can find a balance, from now on. He can keep the village safe and happy, reform the system, bring respect to the Uchiha clan—and he can make a life with Sakura, be the good partner she deserves to have at her side.

And it all starts here, by finally granting himself the right not to comply to every request sent his way. And also, delegating.

“Hokage-sama?”

Eyes flickering up from the previously sealed mission report at his desk, Sasuke raises a brow when he sees his young, brown-haired second assistant peeking unsurely from his door.

(because yes, he had finally caved to hiring someone else, pride be damned. though almost annoyingly too meek, the woman really was unworldly good at her job—appointing her was the best decision he’d made all year.)

Sasuke gestures her inside. “What is it?”

“Um…” Looking down at the floor, she tucks a fallen lock of hair behind her ear, and Sasuke knows then that he isn’t going to like what she will say. “The council is waiting outside your office. They’re requesting a meeting now—”

“Fuck no,” Sasuke immediately replies, interrupting her as his eyes narrow. He huffs an irritated breath, and returns to the classified scroll at hand. “Send them away,” he says. “And tell them to call and schedule a meeting like everyone else. I have other plans today, and I aim to keep them.”

“B-But sir, I don’t think—”

“I don’t care, Uzume. They’re not the ones who have to bury themselves in work on a daily basis, nor are they the ones who make the final decisions around here. I am the Hokage—they are merely my advisors. They will work with my schedule. Tell them they will wait until a suitable time, or I will have them escorted out of this office.”

Wide-eyed, his assistant blushes—more out of nervousness than embarrassment, he suspects—and then nods jerkily. She gives him a quick, polite bow. “Ah—of course, Hokage-sama,” she stutters, quickly stepping towards the filing cabinet. She drops a massive pile of completed forms on top. “Um, please excuse me.”

Then she disappears from his office to deliver the news, seemingly uncomfortable. Sasuke thinks it’s probably because she fears disrespecting the elders.

He goes back to work, and ignores the ensuing muffled conversation behind the door.

(although, he will admit, he feels oddly pleased as the voices start to grow in volume, exclamations of irritation and contempt becoming more and more distinct. that will teach them.)

Sasuke only pauses again when someone tries to enter anyway; the door jiggles for half a moment before, judging by the light rustling and surrendering cries, the perpetrator is seemingly stopped.

“All right, all right!” a man snaps, sounding suspiciously like Homura. His tone is dripping with sharp irritation. “There is no need to get physical—we will take our leave without you. Uncultured brats… Come, Council, we will come back another time when our leader isn’t in such a foul mood.”

Try when you have an actual appointment, Sasuke thinks, rolling his eyes.

It’s a few minutes before his assistant comes back inside, looking rather stunned. Sasuke spares her only a flickering glance, still contemplating the report.

“The guards did their job, I take it?”

Uzume’s eyes are still wide. “Uh… yes, Hokage-sama.”

He gives her a small, pleased nod. “Make sure to let them know I want no more interruptions. I intend to leave in an hour.”

She nods, too, and bows again. “Okay—um, I mean, right away, Hokage-sama. I’ll… I’ll be back later to file those papers as well.”

Sasuke hums, and the sound of her clicking heels resound across his office. He stops his assistant only when he hears her click open the door. “Uzume.”

“Y-Yes?”

He nearly sighs. “Good work today.”

Her voice reveals an undeniable smile. “Thank you, Hokage-sama.”

No, it’s you I should thank, Sasuke thinks. For cutting down my work and giving me time to get my life together.

Today is the day.

.

.

An hour later, when he gathering his things, he sends his hawk Takauji with a scroll for Sakura.

Sakura,

Meet me at my apartment in two hours.

We need to see each other. It’s important.

I know you don’t have a shift at the hospital.

Sasuke

.

.

Sakura arrives at his door twenty minutes early, turning the grim expression on his face to one of genuine surprise; he expected her to be late, if anything. Sasuke’s mouth parts, but he closes it quickly, resting his towel on his shoulder. He’d just gotten out of the shower a short while ago.

“Hi,” she says, softly, looking strangely fragile despite still being so lovely. There is a weakness to her gaze that he doesn’t like.

His heart squeezes, and Sasuke swallows. They really are tearing each other apart like this, he muses. Sakura is so much stronger than that.

(but no longer—he will break her no longer.

…or soon, anyway.)

Exhaling a slow, quiet breath, Sasuke lets the tension in him leave. He gives Sakura a nod. “You’re early,” he says. “I didn’t expect you to be early.” There is no displeasure to his tone. Only relief.

Sakura blushes faintly. “I know,” she mumbles, as she looks down at her feet. She seems almost flustered—or even conflicted. Sasuke hasn’t seen her this insecure since she was a young teenager. He hates how much he’s making her pedal backwards. “I just…”

He doesn’t need to hear more. Stepping aside, Sasuke opens the door wider; a silent invitation. Looking up, Sakura blinks at him, swallows, then acquiesces to his offer.

He doesn’t expect her to push him back a few steps and kiss him as soon as she crosses the threshold, one hand tossing his towel away while the other fists his shirt, foot driving the door shut. Sasuke’s breath snags in his lungs, body growing tight. Half a moment later, he finds himself melting against her, utterly overtaken; he draws her close, kisses her back, curling his fingers into her clothes. Her kisses are both hot and wanton as they are sweet and full of yearning, and it makes his head spin.

But then Sakura tugs at his shirt, pulling at the hem like she needs it off, and Sasuke frowns. His thoughts come rushing back to him. No… no, he can’t let this happen again. Not before they talk things out, put everything out in the open—no matter how much she sends his whole body buzzing.

His hands close around her wrists.

“Sakura,” he whispers against her lips, trying to gently tug her away. He hates how much his body screams to get her back, needing her warmth, her closeness. “Sakura, stop. We can’t. This isn’t why I wanted you to come here.”

“It’s okay,” she says, breathless, pulling him close. She kisses him once more, reaching under his shirt to caress his skin. Sasuke tenses, a groan nearly slipping out of him. “It’s okay. I want this too, Sasuke-kun. There’s nothing wrong with this—”

“Sakura—”

“It’s all right.” One of her hands falls to his belly, tracing the faint ridges there. His mind is starting to fog again. Damnit. “Please, Sasuke-kun. I—I need this. You need this.”

“Sakura, this isn’t—”

“Shh,” she hushes, catching his mouth with hers and kissing him deeper. “We don’t need to talk about it. We can keep doing this. We don’t have to stop. Please.”

The hand on his stomach slides beneath the hem of his pants, so close to where he wants her. Sasuke almost chokes, feeling himself spiral. Sharply, he pulls back, deftly slipping away from her too-wonderful fingers. Breaths heavy and choppy, he swallows against his suddenly dry throat, body burning everywhere. Holy shit that was close.

Hurt splinters across Sakura’s face, a few seconds later. The sight keeps him anchored, reminds them why they’re here. Sasuke sighs quietly.

“We do need to talk, Sakura,” he murmurs. “Everything about this is fucked up. All those weeks ago, when we—” He pauses here, and mulls his lips. He looks down. He still doesn’t know how to explain that day. “That wasn’t supposed to happen. Things got out of hand. I never meant—”

A wounded noise cuts him off, and Sasuke flinches, eyes settling on Sakura again. He finds her face all scrunched up, mouth twisted as though she wants to cry. She curls a hand protectively over her chest.

“Stop. Please stop, Sasuke-kun,” she pleads, and her voice wavers, cracks. There are tears glimmering now. “I’m begging you—I can’t hear this. I can’t. My heart can’t take this.”

His throat grows tight. Gods, how he wishes he would stop making her cry. Wishes he would stop breaking her heart, wishes he could wrap his arms around her right now and kiss away all her pain. But he can’t. He really can’t. He needs to keep trying, to finally explain to her how he wants so much more than this—how he wants everything, and not just that warm space between her legs.

Sasuke touches her arm gently. “Sakura, listen…”

But Sakura doesn’t want to hear it.

“No!” she wails. She wrenches herself away so fast his heart skips a painful beat. “I’m done doing this with you, Sasuke-kun! I’m done getting pulled in every direction and getting my hopes up, only for you to tear them down! Done being the only one hurt every time you fleetingly grow some kind of conscience!” She’s trembling now, thick tears spilling down her angry cheeks as she seemingly struggles not to burst into loud, miserable sobs. “I’ve loved you for over ten years now, Sasuke-kun. Ten years. And I am tired of getting my heart broken because you can’t get yourself together…

“I don’t want to wait for the impossible anymore. I don’t want to keep hoping you might realize that you want me by your side, or that you might want a life with me. It hurts too much, Sasuke-kun. I’ve already let myself believe it once, when you kissed me all those years ago, but then—then you treated us like we were nothing and I—” A sob escapes her, then, soft and broken and unbearably hard to hear. It takes everything in Sasuke not to look away from her. “When you kissed me again all those weeks ago, I was the closest to you than I’ve been in years, Sasuke-kun… I felt like I finally mattered to you—like I knew I did, once. Even if it was just for this.” Her lower lip trembles. “But now you want to take even that away from me…”

Sakura trails out, and cries even harder, then, so hard she gasps in every breath. Sasuke’s jaw grows rigid at the sight; he doesn’t want to stand here and do nothing anymore.

So with an aching heart clenching so terribly, terribly with every beat, Sasuke cups the face of the woman he loves and gingerly wipes her tears away, careful. Sakura shakes her head with vehemence, pushing weakly at his chest to try and drive him away—but all in vain. She crumbles against his touch, defeated and helpless. She is just as starved for his love as he is for hers, he realizes with downturn of his mouth.

(it’s no wonder she doesn’t want him to take away what they have when she no longer thinks they will ever have anything more.)

Pressing his forehead to her own, Sasuke gathers all the tenderness he can find and kisses her slowly, sweetly, holding her soft, precious face in his hands. He brushes his thumb to her skin as she stills, breath hitching, more tears slipping down her cheeks. He smooths them off, and kisses her once more, just as gently, cradling her trembling body in a warm embrace. Half a sob tumbles from her lips, but she kisses him back, burying her fingers in his hair in desperation.

Maybe he can show her how he feels instead, Sasuke thinks, as he lets her take off his shirt and starts guiding her towards his bedroom. Maybe if he makes love to her with all the devotion and care in his heart, she’ll understand everything.

At least, this is what he tells himself as he lets them tug off each other clothes as they go, lips never parting even as they lightly bump and knock into walls and counters. This is what he tells himself as he kisses her, touches her, keeping himself loving and patient, determined not to let lust take over. Sakura whimpers and holds him closer, hiccupping breaths fading into moans and hot little gasps.

They’re both naked by the time they reach his bed, tumbling onto the soft mattress in the darkness of the room. Dazed, needing to see her, Sasuke reaches to turn on his bedside lamp, cursing when he inadvertently knocks their old team seven frame to the floor. The sound of Sakura laughing startles him, so much that when he turns back to look at her, he can’t help his mind from going back to that time all those weeks ago, where he’d been alone in bed and craving to have her at his side.

And now she was here; naked, smiling, and utterly beautiful, with her sweet, sweet green eyes gleaming at him so brightly. Sasuke’s mouth dries, and raw emotion wells up at him, so thickly he feels nothing short of overwhelmed. He cups her cheek and kisses her with aching gentleness, eyes slipping shut tight.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, earnest as he’s ever been.

He feels the smile drop from Sakura’s mouth, lips trembling against his. Sasuke swears he can feel the hurt flaring to life again in her heart, but he refuses to budge as she pushes at him to try and run away.

“Don’t, don’t—Sasuke-kun, don’t do this—”

She starts to cry again and pushes him harder, but Sasuke holds onto her tighter and grits his teeth, brushing his thumb to her cheek.

“I’m so sorry, Sakura—”

“Just let me leave,” she sobs, struggling against him. “Let me leave, let me leave, I can’t do this, just let me leave—”

“Damnit, Sakura, I love you!” Sasuke says, then, frustration getting to him as it comes out sounding sharp and much more forceful than he’d hoped.

(but he’d said it. at least he’d finally fucking said it.)

Sakura’s breath catches, and she stiffens beneath him. “W-What?”

Sasuke softens. “I love you. Sakura, I’ve always loved you. Since five years ago, since before even that. I never meant to hurt you the way that I did—I never meant to get so caught up in my goals that I never put you, or Naruto or Kakashi first. I threw away what we had without even realizing it because I was so focused on the responsibilities I had trying to get justice for my clan. And I wish I realized that sooner. I really fucking do. I wish I’d known how to solve everything, but I had no idea what to do. Especially not after we…” He swallows, and moves his hand to her jaw, then, stroking so devotedly. “Nothing about this has ever been just sex to me, Sakura. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. I want more. I’ve always wanted more. I want… you.” All of you. By my side. So stay, please. Stay, and I’ll never make those mistakes again. I promise.

For a moment, Sakura says nothing; she merely keeps crying, unable to stop. Yet there is a lightness to her now, a missing heaviness to the way she wipes her tears and sniffles and hiccups, and it makes the tension in him melt away.

“Y-You love me?” she asks, eventually, her voice so feeble.

But Sasuke catches it, that certain hope and fullness that makes him want to smile. He pushes his forehead to her own, running his thump over her cheek. “I do,” he whispers.

Making some noise of relief, Sakura pulls him close and hugs him tight, burying her face in his neck. Closing his eyes, Sasuke breathes in her scent and pulls her closer, finally feeling relaxed and content—like he hasn’t been able to in much too long. His heart swells in his chest when Sakura runs her hands through his hair, whispering how much she loves him, how much she’s sorry she didn’t listen to him when he was trying to make things right. Brushing his lips to her brow, Sasuke pulls back and kisses her, kissing her again, and again, and again.

He makes love to her when she asks him to, a while later, and it’s slow, and good, and wonderful. Better than any of their times before. He feels full, complete, even moreso when he knows she does, too. There is nowhere else he wants to be—he would spend forever making love to her if he could. When Sakura gets close, she whispers to him to tell her again that he loves her, so he does, once, twice, and three times more. He kisses her when she comes soon after, holding him close and whimpering his name. Sasuke swears she’s never looked more beautiful.

They stay wrapped up in each other when they’re sated and spent, whispering conversation in the dim, moonlit room. Sasuke pulls the sheets over them when Sakura shivers a little from the cold, her giggle curling the edges of his mouth. She thanks him, and kisses him like they have all the time in the world, like there is nothing they can’t face together… and he supposes that as of tonight, that is probably true.

For the rest of his life, he will make time to kiss and love Sakura like she deserves, like she wants.

For the rest of his life, he will make sure she never doubts the place she holds in his heart.

Sleep takes them within minutes, and it’s the easiest he’s had in years.

.

.

Sakura comes to find him at lunch the next day, carrying her usual stack of paperwork and two bento boxes, along with the prettiest, happiest blush. Sasuke feels his eyes brighten in an instant, lips curling in the faintest smile. He doesn’t think twice about abandoning his work for the time being.

“Hello, Sasuke-kun,” Sakura says, tucking her files to her chest. Grinning, she shows off the bento boxes. “I thought you might want to have lunch with me. I know I left in a bit of a hurry this morning… since you know, early surgery and all.”

Sasuke hums. “Hmm. Thank you,” he says, and he takes the bento boxes from her hand to put them aside on his desk. He surprises even himself when he tugs her onto his lap, next, fighting back another smile at her slight yelp. The glow from yesterday clearly still has yet to fade.

Sasuke slides a hand to her hip. He peers inside one of the bento boxes. “Onigri?”

Sakura smiles sheepishly. “Yes… I didn’t have much time when I got home. But I made your favorite kind!”

As if to prove she isn’t lying, she grabs a ball and peels a layer of rice back, revealing the flaky okaka filling. Amused, Sasuke grabs the onigri from her hand and takes a bite, chewing carefully.

“It’s good,” he offers, and Sakura smiles wider. She eats the bits on her hands, and croons with much satisfaction, happy with the fruits of her labor.

Sasuke shakes his head and smiles. “I’ll grab my stuff and we can leave.”

Beaming, Sakura pushes herself off his lap, allowing him to do just that.

It is at the moment that he stands up, however, that Shikamaru strolls in, sporting his usual look of exasperation and mouth opened to say something. He stills and chooses to refrain himself when he catches sight of them both, something of a frown forming.

Sasuke knows then that Shikamaru dreads what he is about to say. He narrows his eyes.

“What?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Shikamaru says. He points his thumb to the door. “But we have a meeting with the other Kages starting right now. It’s about the upcoming chunnin exams.”

Fuck. That’s right. Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose. He forgot.

But as he exhales a sharp breath and goes to say that he’ll be there in a minute, his eyes briefly flicker to Sakura, sees her falter. That makes him stop.

(because this was how it all started, back then. brushing her aside time and time again, choosing to deal with matters that weren’t always that pressing, simply because he felt it was his duty.)

Sasuke’s gaze lightens, shoulders softening under the weight of yesterday’s memories. He knows what to do.

“Take Uzume with you and attend the meeting without me,” Sasuke says, taking off his Hokage robes and hanging them over his chair. He gives Sakura the ghost of a smile, and moves to rid her of her stack of files, sliding them onto his desk. “I’ll look over the notes tomorrow. I trust you’ll make the right decisions.”

The smile Sakura gives him in return is blinding, positively radiating with the brightest, most brilliant happiness. Sasuke feels his heart swell with pure, simple pride.

“You sure?”

Sasuke nods at his assistant. “I’m sure.” He picks up both bento boxes from his desk, and puts a hand at Sakura’s back to gently urge her forward. He spares her a tender glance. “I have lunch plans with Sakura.”

He’s learned his lesson.

.

.

.

End.

#sasusaku #otp: a once in a lifetime love #ssfanfiction #mel writes things #hokage!sasuke au

[sheagar]

as requested by @wafflelate who is my excuse to draw naruto in 2018. maybe i’ll get around to canon characters someday???

Anyway, this is Uzume Uchiha and Amano Hyuuga, bffs and disasters extraordinaire...they belong to @pepperdoken

#naruto #dos fanart #Sheagar Art #dreaming of sunshine

[wafflelate]

Could I request some nice interaction between Shisui and Kako? Any verse. Work this week was UGH I want to read something cute and funny and Those Two are the best.

lmao i started writing something else for this this morning and it was so sad and serious i had to start something else for you instead

shadows under water verse! that’s the one where Shikako is born the same age as Shisui.

here is a short tale about a D-rank and probably the fluffiest thing i’ve written

word count: 1420

                   ————————————

“There are lots of chakra tricks you can practice while we do D-ranks,” Amano-sensei tells them. The next morning they’re due for their first mission, which Amano has already selected for them.

“My sensei was a fan of taking any D-rank that would make us water-walk,” Amano goes on. “We’re not up to that point yet, of course, but I have a quick trick to teach you that you’ll find useful for this mission.”

Shisui can see Shikako-chan lean forward just a little. She loves chakra tricks, he’s noticed — already he’s caught her at about ten of them, half of which he’s never even heard of before. The most impressive one was the one with the water, but she’d called it ‘basically useless’ even while changing a sphere of contained water into a cube and then a pyramid and back in an amazing show of control. Shikako-chan is very curious and very knowledgeable and very humble.

“This is the great secret of the Hyuuga clan,” Amano adds in that totally-serious way he has of being not serious at all. Uzume-ba says he got that tone from playing devil’s advocate for all the interpersonal client drama they’d stirred up on their C-ranks.

(Shisui can’t wait for their first C-rank, although he thinks Muta will be the one playing devil’s advocate and Shikako will watch like Aburame Shibi had. This Team 4 isn’t exactly like the last Team 4. And that’s good, because Yūhi-sensei was a real dick and a bad teacher, although Shisui is never supposed to say that out loud.)

Shisui flickers his Sharingan on to watch Amano-sensei’s chakra trick. His teammates watch closely, each in their own way — Shikako with her sensing, Muta with a faint buzzing noise.

“Tell me what it does,” Amano-sensei says, because he also needs them to learn how to gather intelligence on unknown techniques.

Shisui knows what it is the moment he starts using it, so he keeps his mouth shut like a good student. Muta and Shikako will enjoy investigating more than being given the answer. And it’s fun to watch them decide things like this, because they work off each other and they do it a lot different than Shisui would.

“It… surrounds you with chakra,” Shikako says. She sounds frustrated, like she can’t believe that’s the only thing she can tell with her chakra sense. Shikako-chan has really high standards for herself.

“So it’s not localized,” Muta says, and he doesn’t glance at Shikako or anything, but Shisui knows he said that only to make sure Shikako would know she’s provided him with information he likely wouldn’t otherwise have. “It also repelled the bug I had on sensei, and my kikaichu cannot land again, although it can feed.”

Both incredulous and uncertain, Shikako asks, “Amano-sensei, is this the first step of Kaiten?”

Amano blinks at her. “How do you even know about that?” he asks.

“What’s Kaiten?” asks Shisui.

(Of course Shikako-chan knows — all she did in the Academy was read. She maybe knows everything.)

“Are you allowed to teach us this?” Shikako blurts out, and then immediately her shoulders shrink again. Shisui gets the impression she was just trying to keep from having to answer where she’d learned what she knows.

Amano-sensei clearly thinks the same thing because he just gives her that secretly amused look he gets when Uzume-ba thinks she’s successfully stirred him into starting an argument she wanted to have but didn’t want to initiate.

“It’s a high-level Hyuuga technique that I don’t know how to do,” Amano says. “This is just a chakra trick to keep yourself clean. If you get really good at it, the transition to the scent-hiding technique is very easy.”

“Ah,” says Muta. “This is how you were clean after your spar with Uzume-sensei.”

Amano nods. “It’s a pretty common Hyuuga trick but it’s not clan knowledge or anything. If you can cover your entire body including anything you’re wearing, it works as a good stopgap for airborne and contact poisons. Unless you breathe in.”

Shikako’s eyes have lit up, her shoulders straightened out. She likes opportunities to learn new things, especially non-Nara things.Shisui’s not really sure what the deal is with her clan — isn’t she clan heir? — but he’s glad she got a kickass team to support her ambitious curiousity.

“We’ll practice this today and tomorrow you’ll have a chance to test it out in a controlled environment,” Amano says. “I’m sure you’ll all pick it up quickly.”

He activates his Byakugan and uses it to watch their progress, to tell them how to move their chakra. He tests them with little handfuls of dirt, too, probably just to be a jerk.

In the morning, they meet at Hironobu’s bakery and are surprised to find that their breakfasts are on the house.

“Oh, didn’t I mention?” Amano-sensei says. “Akimichi Hironobu is our first client.”

Shisui cheers and throws his hands up. Muta and Shikako don’t do either, but he can tell from the way Muta straightens and Shikako leans back, relaxed, that they’re really happy too. Or, he’s definitely sure about Shikako. Muta is probably happy, but maybe is just aiming to be vigilant about the details of their first mission.

As far as missions go, it’s kind of an awesome one.

“We’re rolling and cutting dough!” Hironobu announces. “My wife’s cousin Uchikatsu is getting married and wants a selection of cookies instead of a cake, but all my usual extra workers are busy with other wedding things.”

What follows is a crash course in baking a variety of rolled cookies, starting with basics like keeping the dough chilled and rolling it out evenly. Hironobu quickly reveals the reason Amano had taught them this new chakra trick: they’ll be rolling with powdered sugar and cocoa powder

It’s messy and it’s fun. They all have different cookie cutter shapes, and Shisui scores the butterfly.

“It’s an insect,” Muta says. He seems to be looking hard at Shisui behind his glasses.

Shisui clutches the cookie cutter. “It’s mine, client’s orders,” he says.

“But it’s the best one,” Muta says.

“Yes,” Shisui agrees, and doesn’t give it over. He gives the boar to Muta because he’s so stubborn about his bug theme and gives the deer to Shikako because obviously. Amano-sensei is helping, too, but he’s on dough-fetching and oven-watching duty, so he doesn’t get a cookie cutter.

“Ah…” Shikako says when they turn to their cookie cutting stations. She’s looking down at her deer cookie cutter. Shoulders hunched. Does not continue whatever she was thinking about saying.

Red alert! Red alert!

Shisui sighs theatrical, because over exaggerating the exchange is better than trying to minimize it. “You want the butterfly, too, huh Shikako-chan?” he says. “My one true treasure in this world? The only worthwhile thing I’ve ever held in my entire life? You’d ask that of me?”

“Shisui, you’ve only had it for about two minutes,” Muta says, sounding irritated but in the good way — like Amano gets irritated when Uzume does something dramatic and loud that he secretly finds hilarious.

“Love has no concept of time,” Shisui informs him. “But… in the spirit of teamwork… and since Shikako-chan is my favorite teammate…”

(“Thanks,” Muta says. Shisui beams at him, but then resumes his tragic character.)

“…you should have it, and I will just suffer through my feelings from a distance,” Shisui finishes, holding the butterfly cookie cutter out to Shikako.

He gets a smile from her, and a little laugh. A laugh! They swap deer for butterfly and get to work, Amano-sensei calling out to them when he sees their new chakra trick wavering. To Shisui’s surprised, Shikako is best at it — or maybe it’s not a surprise at all, given how often he’s seen her passing the time trying to fold paper with just her chakra, or get a marble to stick to her skin but slide around under the control of gravity.

At the end of the mission only Amano-sensei is spotless and they’ve made a mountain of cookies and each of them is given a small package of cookies to take home in addition to the money they’ll make. Amano will bring his to Uzume-ba’s house, but Shisui stops by the Uchiha clan orphanage house with his package.

Shisui is a real shinobi with a real team that he even enjoys taking D-ranks with. He’s gotta spread that good luck around as much as possible, because the clan needs it.

#to someplace else #asks #dreaming of sunshine #shadow under water #shisui #shikako #muta #amano #hironobu #ask prompt #words words words #shikako all #shisui all #amano all

[jacksgreysays]

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 

#jacksgreyson #donapoetrypassion #prompt response #brainstorm #meta analysis #writing #fanfiction #could should actually fic #dreaming of sunshine #naruto #the many gardens of shikabane-hime #hisoka #lone wolf #chouza akimichi #maito gai #kurenai yuuhi #kakashi hatake #shikako nara #danzo shimura #shikaku nara #tsunade senju #shinku yuuhi #asuma sarutobi

[cosmic-rage-blog]

The Mangekyou Sharingan of my three Uchiha OCs + their abilities — •Sarutahiko: The Mangekyou Sharingan belonging to Hisao Uchiha, named after the shinto god. Sarutahiko allows for quicker movements and strengthens both muscles and chakra. However it has a limit of ten seconds, otherwise it causes a dip in chakra levels and intense soreness throughout the body. •Omoikane: The Mangekyou Sharingan belonging to Yuri Uchiha, named after the shinto goddess. Omoikane, when active, grants the ability to look into the minds, influence the thoughts, and influence the emotions of others. Unlike Sharutahiko, It has no known time limit, but excessive use can cause migraines, bleeding from the active eye(s), and the loss of recent memories belonging to the user. •Uzume: The Mangekyou Sharingan belonging to Miyabi Uchiha, named after the shinto goddess. When active, Uzume causes the target to enter a state of euphoria similar to a daydream. It doesn't always, but it has been said to induce minor hallucinations in both the target and the user that increase in severity the longer Uzume remains in use. Like Omoikane, it allows the manipulation of emotions, but only if they're positive. Excessive durations with it active can cause confusion and migraines and even bleeding usually from the left eye.

#naruto oc #uchiha oc #hisao uchiha #yuri uchiha #miyabi uchiha #mangekyou sharingan #oc sharingan

[dis-blog-ded]

Team 14

Members: Boruto Uzumaki, Uzume Uchiha, Jade Lee Haruno, led by Konohamaru i guess, still confused why he’s not leading InoShikaCho as a Sarutobi

The three families were already close, so they were happy to hear the news that their children were also put on the same team together

Uzume specializes in Ninjutsu, with abilities including the Sharingan, Sensing, Chakra Chains (eventually), and the Heal Bite, albeit one that’s not as strong as her mother or brother’s. Her main chakra natures are Fire and Earth, and she is associated with the color purple, specifically violet.

Jade Lee specializes in Taijutsu like her father, but being Sakura’s daughter she also inherited the ability to use Ninjutsu and uses it to learn medical jutsu and the Yin Seal (again, eventually). As Rock Lee doesn’t have chakra natures, she has her mother’s Earth and Water, and she is associated with the color green (specifically, jade of course).

Boruto’s main difference is that he actually has the Byakugan. (Naruto or Hinata’s eyes is up to you). Pink color, Lightning and Wind elements, etc.

The three of them get along pretty well, although Boruto’s loud, rude personality and temper can annoy his teammates at times, as can Jade Lee’s too-nice and airheaded personality, and Uzume can be overprotective at times. Uzume likes Jade Lee, Boruto likes Shikadai, and Jade Lee is pretty oblivious to it all.

#naruhina #sasukarin #leesaku #pro sasukarin #pro naruhina #pro leesaku #i'll write up more stuff another time

[sennokami]

* hanahaki disease 2.

Part 2 of this. This work has also been posted in its entirety on ao3. Check there for updates.

⋯ 

Love was the most dangerous emotion humanity could feel. Love drove men mad before it ate them alive.

Madara was fifteen years old when he watched his uncle die from suffocation. It was a slow death, stretched over a thousand minutes. Kazuma had been incredible once but when his time was up, he was already dead in every way but physically.

Flower petals continued to fall out when they strapped him to his pyre. They were soft and crumpled by the lax pressure of his cold mouth, but they were still vibrant, scattered on the ground like letters never sent. His father stepped on them without a second glance, his eyes on his brother’s corpse, but Madara watched the petals, riotous pink and deep fuchsia, get crushed underfoot. By the time Kazuma’s spirit was released, the petals were gone, churned into the mud by too many feet.

“This is what happens,” he heard some of his kinsmen say later, “when you aren’t careful.”

For the longest time, he didn’t know what being careful was until his cousin, Uzume, was struck by the same illness. One day after battle, they were tiredly strapping off their armor, sluggishly helping each other undo straps and pull off buckles, when she coughed next to him and spat out four tiny petals.

There was a scandalous silence after that. Heads turned and stared. Madara watched Uzume go white and run, still wearing half her armor, until she disappeared around the tents.

Unlike Kazuma, Uzume didn’t die. She just… came back, with new stitches above her belly and death in her eyes. She never coughed up a single petal again.

It took Madara five more years to understand the true meanings of these moments. He was in the grips of his feral twenties, all fresh tendons and ripe strength, and every emotion he felt was a hurricane in his chest. They said that the sickness of the flowers was what happened when your emotions took physical form. When your heart grew too full and the secrets spilled over, they grew as flowers inside the fertile soil of your secrets. After that, they could only come out.

Their clan wasn’t the only one who suffered this sentiment’s plague. But, in a way, they were the ones who felt its price most keenly.

 ⋯

 Some people will tell you that love is an endless, ever-growing thing, that it’s some eternal fountain that will always give and give. But they are wrong. Love is not air. Love is love, and it needs space. Take it out, and a hole will be left behind.

Some of his kin avoided the disease by being open with their affections. It couldn’t take root if the soil was thin was the reasoning, and so some Uchiha came to use their words like heavy knives, cutting through the stems of these treacherous, choking feelings. Others avoided sentiment entirely, because what had no seed would never grow. These tactics worked in their own ways. And yet.

Humans were the only animals whose greatest predator was the self.

Madara thought he was safe. While his peers coughed fragrant jasmine and gorged up buds of lily, he kept his eyes down. His heart felt no tugging strings because he was its gardener and whatever grew inside, he tore it out by the roots. He truly, genuinely, thought he was safe.

 ⋯

 The stupid man may burn himself, but only the blind man walks into the fire.

Madara was still picking leaves from his teeth when he walked into Hashirama’s office. It was late – the place was nearly empty – but civil administration didn’t understand time outside of working days.

Working days. He was using these words now, adopted them from the soft creatures of the capital.

He tore out another spiny bit of leaf and threw it away, slamming open Hashirama’s door as he did so. Hashirama jerked upright but it was too late – Madara had caught him red-handed in the middle of a stolen nap.

“Are you done with the clearance requests?” he asked bluntly, unfazed by Hashirama’ soft blinking and the indents on his cheek from where he’d rested it on his sleeve. “I told you we need them by tomorrow morning.”

“…I’m almost done,” Hashirama said. He had the decency to look sheepish. He was also still half-asleep, his mouth parted, as gentle as the sunset in spring. It was this way of his, this gentle, unassuming form he wore, that it made it hard to remember he killed as many men as Madara had.

Madara bit back his unkind retort and strode over. Hashirama wasn’t lying at least – mostly everything was done, the scrolls stamped and signed with the Hokage’ approval, but there were still a few left undone. Madara plucked these up.

“This is stupid,” he declared a few moments later, tossing it into the reject’s pile. The next one he did the same to. By the time he was done, he had four requests that would be sent back to their writers. “Where are the other rejections? I’ll get one of the chuunin to send them back.”

Hashirama, who’d been watching him tear through the requests, scratched the back of his neck. “Ah… there are no rejects. Beside the ones you just did, I mean.”

“What?” Madara looked at the approved pile. Now that he was actually examining it, it seemed a little too hefty for his liking. “No. Not all of these can be actually critical.”

“Well, people want their space and –“

“This isn’t about what people want,” Madara sneered, already snatching up the first approved request. “These first requests need to be dedicated to only clan-critical infrastructure, not vanity land – look at this! The Hideki clan made a request for ‘space required for tranquility’. Tranquility.”

He pushed his nail into the wax seal on the scroll and cracked it off. “That is not critical to anything.”

“Madara…” Hashirama said, but he was quiet when Madara glanced at him. He continued to be quiet when Madara ripped through the rest of the pile, muttering unsavory comments under his breath at the audacity. The Shimura want private training grounds – feh!

By the time he was done, the actually approved pile was much smaller than the rejects. Madara began writing halfway through, noting his reasons for rejection.

These requests need to be critical to infrastructure, he wrote down, his characters sharp with impatience, secondary requests regarding personal desires can come after the village is actually formed.

It wasn’t as diplomatically put as Hashirama could have done, he thought as he began to arrange the piles for tomorrow, but sometimes, you just had to stop beating around the bush and tell people where the line was. If they really thought that Hashirama’s pleasant attitude translated into tolerance for this kind of –

Madara stopped halfway through a sentence. His skin prickled and he snapped his head towards Hashirama. “What?”

He caught the look Hashirama was giving him and his heart chose that moment to do flips. Hashirama… he looked tired, because of course he was, creating a village out of a disparate handful of clans was a monumental task, but he also looked…

Gentle, a soft voice inside Madara supplied. Gentle was a good word for it, because Hashirama was still in his long Hokage robes, now rumpled by sleep, and the soft light of the lanterns he’d been working by made him glow like dark gold. Their light reflected in his eyes and Hashirama was smiling in a way that made it impossible to think.

“What?” Madara snapped again. He felt out of breath. Punched stupid.

“Nothing,” Hashirama said. His smile quirked up higher, the one dimple on his right cheek becoming more pronounced, and oh, fucking damn it, Madara felt like he was losing his mind. “I was just thinking about how you’re still more suited to being Hokage than I am.”

Nothing in the room changed, but Madara could have sworn it was getting hotter. Or was it just him?

“The people chose you,” he pointed out, too aware of how still he was. He must have looked like an idiot, sitting there with a wet brush in his hands, bent over the desk, doing work that wasn’t even his responsibility.

“But I wanted to choose you,” Hashirama replied. He propped his elbow up on the desk, putting his head on both his hands like he was a child. Madara watched his hair slide over his shoulders, his fingers going numb with the trembling urge to touch it. Wrap his hand up in it. “People just… don’t know you like I do.”

“I wasn’t that great of a choice anyway –“ Madara began, not even knowing why he was trying to deflect Hashirama’s sincerity. Probably because he might spontaneously combust if he let himself believe Hashirama really meant everything he said.

“You were the best choice,” Hashirama shrugged and Madara opened his mouth to instinctively counter him when he felt something bloom inside his throat.

He clamped his mouth shut so quickly that his teeth clicked. He straightened suddenly, his chest constricting, and he shoved his notes over, ignoring the smears of ink on his hands. “Well, it’s your position now,” he said roughly, feeling the flowers growing wildly, threatening to pour out of his mouth at any second. “So you need to actually do it properly.”

It came out sharper than he meant it. He wanted to say I’m doing this because I want to help you, because this is our dream, because these snakes will take advantage of your kindness, but it was too late for any of that. He needed to leave. He needed to leave now.

“I’ve written down why those requests were rejected. Someone else can write it down properly for you later. I’m done here.”

All his words were sharp now, glistening knives falling out of careless lips, but Madara didn’t have time to see if they were drawing blood. He left before Hashirama could say anything, his hair flying wildly behind him, his steps thundering in the empty building.

Madara made it down two hallways before he knelt down and coughed. It came from deep inside his chest, the noise echoing. He reached into his mouth and snagged the tip of the bloom – used it to reel the rest out. Through the corner of his eye, he saw frothy pale blue that deepened into a violet blush, and the wisteria continued to grow and grow as he heaved it free.

 ⋯

 Love is not gentle. It doesn’t care who it pricks with its arrow.

A shinobi was one who endured. The Uchiha clan didn’t do anything else but endure. Seventeen years old and growing, Madara watched his clan slowly starve. They were poor – they used up all their armor until they cracked off their backs and their weapons were spotted with rust. Food was equally scarce – lean bodies grew leaner and their mantles swallowed them up. They were all animals now, on their hands and knees, only thinking between one mouthful and the next.

Those starving years taught Madara a few things about hunger, of gaping dark mouths and wild-eyed desperation. So he recognized the way hunger migrated from his stomach to his heart, and how it made him greedy. He wanted to stuff himself with Hashirama’s presence. He wanted to gorge on his company and swallow his words; he wanted to devour him until he was finally full.

But this is a meal he could – dared not – touch. So Madara continued to starve, choked by avarice. He would rather die with his heart filled to bursting than confess anything. Hashirama didn’t feel the same way, he was sure of it, and having his pity would be the worst thing in the world. If his silence meant that he had to suffocate, then so be it.

Still. Sometimes, Madara tortured himself with thoughts of reciprocation. At his lowest, he stitched together fantasies of confessing and Hashirama smiling at him and saying, yes, I want you too. It was despicable; he always loathed himself after the heat of the fantasy cooled off into sweat and he had nothing to show for it but an empty bed and sticky hands.

Maybe if he were ten years younger, he would have seriously entertained the possibility of asking for more out of their friendship. But he was twenty-eight now, and feeling even older after everything he’d lost. He didn’t want to upset their fragile equilibrium just to have rejection thrown back. He didn’t want pity to taint what respect Hashirama had for him, if he had any at all.

 ⋯

#hashimada #uchiha madara #senju hashirama #madara #hashirama #drabble

[inoxbliable-blog]

『Eras』

**This will be updated when other verses come into mind.**

Founding Era’s verse Main verse Details: In this verse, Sakura is the matriarch of the Haruno clan, she was entrusted with her clan by her father before he had died in war during the warring states. At first, Sakura was hesitant to be a part of a shinobi village but joined soon after discussing with her elders and fellow clan members.

Warring States Era’s verse: Second Main Details: In this verse, Sakura is the newly appointed matriarch of the Haruno clan, she was entrusted with her clan by her father right after he had died in war. Her clan had requested that she be the new clan leader because she knew first hand and she’s first and only born of her family. In Sakura reign, she had decided to stay strictly independent between the two warring clans, which happened to be the Uchiha and Senju clan. Sakura is respected among her clan.

Billionaire Modern verse Details: Songbird verse is where miss Haruno is a multi-billionaire heiress of two very popular high end CEOs. She lives in California most of her time. She sways with the waves with a pretty chill attitude that could get anyone in a good mood. She’s intelligent for a 22-year-old living at home still. However, she spends most of her on YouTube, creating videos and goes out and takes pictures. She’s laid back for a rich gale, though she pretends that half of money doesn’t exist. She loves gossiping, chatting, painting, speaking French on occasion. Just because her parents are high end CEOs, doesn’t stop her from having fun and being humble.

Deity (Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto) Details: Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is the wife of Sarutahiko-no-O-Kami. It was Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto who, through a dance, caused the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu-OmiKami, to emerge from a cave, thus restoring light once again to the earth. Sarutahiko-no-O-Kami, guardian Kami of the martial arts as well as courage and justice, is the ancestor of the earthly Kami and stands at the junction of earth and heaven, Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Mie, Japan. Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto, known as the fearless one, is the guardian Kami of art and entertainment, marriage, joy, harmony and meditation; her main shrine is also Tsubaki Grand Shrine in Mie, Japan…

Haikyuu!!! Crossover AU Details: A female team member of the Karasuno High boys volleyball team. She serves as a right wing attacker and best friend to Asahi and Hinata. Sakura is often teased about being on the boys team but he is proud that they have accepted her. At least to her knowledge, however she does have her moment where she feels insecure about her abilities, er team is always there to comfort her...

[dosfanarts]

Other random requests

#team shi #shishui uchiha #shikako nara #guy!shikako #uzume uchiha

[kwon91]

My Sketches  of FANON CHARACTERS of  @naepyon Uzume Uchiha @kirabook Arashi Uzumaki Hanami Uzumaki original version I will continue to make others next time...

#narusaku #sasukarin #hanami uzumaki #arashi uzumaki #uzume uchiha